Kaidu

Kaidu (; Middle Mongol: , Modern Mongol: , Khaidu ; c. 1235 – 1301) was a grandson of Ögedei Khan (1186–1241) and thus leader of the House of Ögedei and the de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a division of the Mongol Empire. He ruled parts of modern-day Xinjiang and Central Asia during the 13th century, and actively opposed his cousin, Kublai, who established the Yuan dynasty. Medieval chroniclers often mistranslated Kadan as Kaidu, mistakenly placing Kaidu at the Battle of Legnica. Kadan was the brother of Güyük, and Kaidu's uncle.

==Early life== Kaidu was born in c. 1235 during the reign of his grandfather, the Great Khan Ögedei. Kaidu was the posthumous son of the Mongol Prince Kashin, who was himself the 4th son of Ögedei and his chief consort, the Great Khatun Töregene, and thus a vital part of the House of Ögedei even in his early childhood. His mother was Sebkine Khatun from the Bekrin (Mekrin) tribe of mountaineers, who were "neither Mongols, nor Uighurs". During Kaidu's early years, his grandfather, the Great Khan Ögedei, would die in 1241: leading to his grandmother Töregene becoming regent and thus the de-facto ruler of the Mongol Empire until 1246 when Kaidu's uncle Güyük Khan was elected as Great Khan. Güyük himself would rule the Mongol Empire till his own death in 1248 after merely two years on the throne, and his widow Oghul Qaimish would serve as regent until the election of the next Great Khan, a Toluid named Möngke Khan in 1251.