Abstract
Al-Husein b. Muhammad b. 'Ali al Ja'fari ar-Rughdi or simply known as Ibn Bibi after his mother, many times uses the term of “ilkhan” in his Anatolian history of Al-avamir al-'ala'iyye fi al-Umur al-'ala'iyye.
Carefully examining the uses of this title in the faximile of the unique Istanbul manuscript, the author of this paper concludes that Ibn Bibi called by this title Törege Khatun, Ögedei's wife and regent after his death. So, the meaning of this term would not be “the subjugated khan”, but “khan of the people”, because the other title of this regent was “Ulus Beg”, which means “the lord of the state”.
Accordingly, Hülegü's title of “il-khan”, when he assumed this title about after twelve years, would mean also “the khan of the people”. This regental title should not be maintained after the conversion of Ghazan-khan so this word was omitted from the legend of his coins as well as his soccessors, just like another inscription of “khaghanu nereber (by the order of the khaghan)”, which was turned into “Möngke tengrin küchündür (in the strength of the eternal Heaven)”.
