Chapar (Hanja: 察八兒, Čapar; ? – 1315?; reigned 1301–1306 and 1308–1310) was a prince of the Mongol Empire and the illegitimate eldest son of Kaidu, and the last khan of the Ögedei Khanate.
Through the scheming of Du'a of the Chagatai Khanate, he succeeded to the khanate after his father's death, but he was attacked by surprise and driven out. In 1308 he regained his strength and fought against Konchek Khan of the Chagatai Khanate, but was defeated. He then fell into turmoil and fled to the Yuan dynasty with his family. Emperor Wuzong of Yuan granted him Changzhou and the appanage lands as a fief and enfeoffed him as Duke of Chu, and in 1315 Emperor Renzong of Yuan enfeoffed him as Prince of Runing (汝寧王). In the Persian chronicle Jami' al-Tawarikh, he appears as Chapar (چاپار).
Life
Before becoming khan
He was the son of Kaidu, who was khan of the Ögedei Khanate and had contested the great khanate with Kublai Khan, but he was Kaidu's eldest son by a secondary wife. He was a great-grandson of Genghis Khan, a grandson of Ögedei Khan, and his grandfather was Kashi, who died early. No record of his date of birth exists.
Even after Baraq of the Chagatai Khanate died, Kaidu remained alive, and he repeatedly replaced and expelled khans of the Chagatai Khanate at will. In the midst of this, the people of Bukhara, who bore the brunt of the Ilkhanate's invasions, were the ones who suffered (1273). Kaidu eventually installed Du'a as khan of the Chagatai Khanate (1274), but Du'a was no better than a tiger cub. At first, Khan Du'a faithfully carried out every dirty task that Kaidu ordered.
Before he died, Kaidu named his second son Orus as his successor, but Du'a of the Chagatai Khanate ignored this, presided over Kaidu's funeral, and there proclaimed Chapar, who was stationed in the area of Talas, as the next khan of the Ögedei Khanate. Members of the Ögedei house who followed Kaidu's will and supported Orus opposed Chapar's accession. In 1303, Du'a set up Chapar, Kaidu's illegitimate eldest son, as the formal khan of the Ögedei Khanate. After his father's death in 1301, he joined a power struggle together with his younger brother Orus, whom Kaidu had named as successor, and his sister Qutlugh-Tölün (the prototype of Princess Turandot).
Under the support of Du'a, Kaidu's vassal, Chapar was formally enthroned as khan on the banks of the Emil River in May or June 1303. Just as Du'a intended, conflict arose within the house of Ögedei.
Khan of the Ögedei Khanate
Orus, Güyük Khan's descendant Tokmer, Kutlun and others objected to Chapar's accession. Shortly after he took the throne, Chapar came into conflict with Du'a, the khan of the Chagatai Khanate, and in 1306 he was attacked jointly by Du'a's army and reinforcements from the Yuan dynasty. Unable to withstand the pressure of both armies, Chapar surrendered to Du'a, and Du'a and the Yuan divided the territory of the Ögedei Khanate between them. Four years later, in 1310, Chapar rose in rebellion together with other Ögedeid princes, Orus, Yanggichar and Tügme, but was suppressed and fled to the Yuan dynasty. With Chapar's flight to the Yuan, the house of Ögedei effectively collapsed.
Du'a had actively cooperated with Kaidu in his struggle against the Yuan dynasty, but after Kaidu's death he openly revealed his true intentions. He deceived Kaidu's son Chapar (once Du'a was defeated by Chapar, he proposed peace, and then attacked as soon as Chapar disbanded his army) and, as a result, reconquered the East Turkestan region, which was Chapar's domain within the Ögedei Khanate, and completed the unification of the Chagatai Khanate (1306).
Du'a convened a Kurultai, deposed Chapar, and proclaimed Yagichar as the new khan of the Ögedei Khanate. In 1307 his younger brother Yagichar was appointed as the new khan of the Ögedei Ulus, but after Du'a's death in 1308 he attempted to become independent of the Chagatai Khanate and was decisively defeated. Furthermore, Du'a divided the area along the Ili River and had it governed by Tukme, the son of Hoku and grandson of Güyük Khan.
Exile in China
He led an army together with his younger brother Orus, Yanggichar and others and attacked the Chagatai Khanate, but the army they led was utterly defeated after a decisive battle near Almaliq against the army of the Chagatai Khanate led by Konchek Khan.
In 1308, turmoil broke out in the Chagatai Khanate: Du'a's son Konchek suddenly died, and Nariq, grandson of Büri, who was the grandson of Chagatai, took up the leadership of the Chagatai Khanate, and internal strife broke out within the Chagatai house. Chapar attempted to restore his position, and in 1309, after Nariq was assassinated while drunk, Chapar raised troops, leading his younger brother Orus, Yagichar, Tügme and others. Chapar again attacked the Chagatai Khanate following the death of Konchek Khan, but was driven back by Du'a's other son Shah, who supported Du'a's other son Kebek, and by the armies of several royal members of the Chagatai house. Chapar then led his family and close followers into exile in the Yuan dynasty.
Emperor Wuzong of Yuan, Qaishan, granted him Changzhou (常州路, now Changzhou) in Jiangsu and the area of the appanage lands (投下領) as a fief, and enfeoffed him as Duke of Chu (楚国公). On 29 April 1315, Emperor Renzong of Yuan, Ayurbarwada, granted him the title of Prince of Runing (汝寧王), and in May of that year a princely residence was established for him.
The Yuan History records that he received the title of Prince of Runing and that he died afterward. It is unclear whether he died in the same year he received the title of Prince of Runing or after that.
Afterward
Chapar's title of Prince of Runing was inherited by Öljeitemür. The title continued until Öljeitemür's son Kuraltai was ruined by El Temür and murdered by Isüder. The exact time of his death is not recorded. It is said that for seven years after his death, Chapar's descendants tried to recover the former territories of the Ögedei Ulus, but failed.