Khutulun: The Warrior Princess Who Refused to Lose

Khutulun was the great-great-granddaughter of Genghis Khan and possibly the most feared warrior in the Mongol Empire. While other princesses were married off for political alliances, Khutulun had a different plan - she would only marry a man who could beat her in wrestling. The stakes? Suitors had to bet horses. If they lost, she kept the horses. She never lost.

By the time she was done, Khutulun had won 10,000 horses and remained unmarried, despite her father's pressure to settle down. Marco Polo himself wrote about her, describing how she would ride into enemy ranks, snatch a captive like a hawk grabbing a chicken, and bring them back to her father. Mongol commanders feared facing her in battle because she was simply unstoppable.

Her father, Kaidu Khan, wanted ...