The Secret History of the Mongols

Timeline

1. c. 1228–1229Ordo on the Mongolian Plateau · Mongolian PlateauAfter Genghis Khan's death in 1227, court historians began recording in Mongolian the genealogy of earlier generations and the conquests, against the backdrop of the great assembly in the Year of the Rat, for circulation within the Golden Family.
2. c. 1240–1241Mongolian Plateau · Mongolian PlateauThe surviving text's narrative ends in the early reign of Ögedei, showing that once completed at the khagan's court it was treated as a family history kept secret, not circulated in the style of Chinese official histories.
3. 1400Ming court—Hanlin tradition · BeijingMing scholars transcribed the Mongolian word by word in Chinese characters with interlinear and full translations, allowing the Secret History to be reconstructed after the original was lost; modern textual criticism established it as a foundational document of the Mongolian language and imperial history.