Töregene Khatun (also Turakina, , ) (d. 1246) was the Great Khatun and regent of the Mongol Empire from the death of her husband Ögedei Khan in 1241 until the election of her eldest son Güyük Khan in 1246. Background Töregene was born into the Naiman tribe. Her first husband was a member of the Merkit clan. Some sources state that his name was Qudu (d. 1217), son of Toqto'a Beki of the Merkits. However, Rashid-al-Din Hamadani named her first husband as Dayir Usun of the Merkits. When Genghis conquered the Merkits in 1204, he gave Töregene to Ögedei as his second wife. While Ögedei's first wife Boraqchin had no sons, Töregene gave birth to five sons, Güyük, Kötän, Köchü, Qarachar, and Qashi (father of Kaidu). She eclipsed all of Ögedei's wives and gradually increased her influence among the court officials. But Töregene still resented Ögedei's officials and the policy of centralizing the administration and lowering tax burdens. Töregene sponsored the reprinting of the Taoist canon in North China. Through the influence of Töregene, Ögedei appointed Abd-ur-Rahman as tax farmer in China. Great Khatun of the Mongol Empire Soon after Ögedei died in 1241, at first power passed to the hands of Möge Khatun, one of Ögedei's widows and formerly one of Genghis Khan's wives. With the support of Chagatai and her sons, Töregene assumed complete power as regent in spring 1242 as Great Khatun and dismissed her late husband's ministers and replaced them with her own, the most important of whom was another woman, Fatima, a Tajik or Persian captive from the Middle Eastern campaign. She was a Shiite Muslim who was deported from the city of Meshed to Mongolia. She tried to arrest several of Ögedei's main officials. Her husband's chief secretary, Chinqai, and the administrator, Mahmud Yalavach fled to her son Koden in North China while Turkestani administrator Masud Begh, fled to Batu Khan in Pontic Steppe. In Iran Töregene ordered Korguz arrested and handed over to the widow of Chagatai, whom he had defied. The Chagatayid Khan Qara Hülëgü executed him. Töregene appointed Arghun Aqa of the Oirat as governor in Persia. She put Abd-ur-Rahman in charge of general administration in North China and Fatima became even more powerful at the Mongol court. These actions led the Mongol aristocrats into a frenzy of extortionate demands for revenue. Role in Mongol conquests Töregene had friendly relations with