Erketü Qatun was born in 1551 in Mongolia. Erketü Qatun is a title, means powerful lady, rather than a name and was probably given to her later in her life. Her original name is not known. She was the granddaughter of Altan Khan, a Mongolian prince of the Borjigin clan, by his daughter. Her early life is unknown.
To appease the Ordos prince, Altan-qan compensated him with the intended second wife of his grandson Baya-aci. Baya-aci was furious, so he went over to the Chinese settlement under the Ming government, which historically had been in conflict with the Mongols. He took with him his first wife and more than a dozen subordinates, offering themselves to Fang Fengshi, the grand coordinator of Datong.
Fang Fengshi received the emperor's permission to try to bring peace to the region. Negotiations resulted in the opening of trade between the Mongols and the Chinese. Baya-aci was returned to Altan-qan, to his grandfather's great joy, and, in 1571 the Ming emperor granted Altan-qan the title prince of obedience and righteousness - a title that would be much contested for the next several decades. Erketii Qatun had three sons by Altan-qan; of the three, Budasiri was to distinguish himself and play an important role later.
In 1582 Altan-qan died, leaving Bayising and his personal troops in the command of Baya-aci, his favored grandson. As his favored concubine, Erketii Qatun held the official seal of prince of obedience and righteousness, used for communication with the Ming officials - paying tributes, holding horse fairs (to exchange goods with ethnic Chinese), receiving annual gifts, commanding other chieftains, and so on. Altan-qan's almost unchallenged power was thus divided. Nevertheless, before she remarried and another enfeoffment was made, Erketii Qatun alone, in possession of the princely seal, wielded the power of the inheritance.
Given Erketii Qatun's prestige with the Ming court and her command over a good portion of the Mongol nobility, Altan-qan's eldest son Sengge (Huangtaiji in Chinese) soon realized that he needed a marriage alliance with Erketii Qatun in order to improve his own standing with both the Mongols and the Chinese. Since in Mongol and general central Asian custom a son could inherit his deceased father's concubine, such a marriage was not extraordinary. In 1582 Erketii Qatun and Sengge were married, and in April 1583 Sengge was appointed the new prince of obedience and righteousness.
A few months later, on August 1583, Baya-aci died in an accident, leaving his command of Bayising and Altan-qan's troops to his widow Baya-beyiji, since their sons were very young. Erketii Qatun hoped that Baya-beyiji would marry her son Budasiri to consolidate another branch of power; however, in 1584, to her great chagrin, Baya-beyiji married Sengge's son Ciiriike (Chelike in Chinese), his father's rival. For a while, the tension was high, and all sides placed their troops at strategic locations and made small raids and counterraids: Budasiri moved south of Bayising, Erketii Qatun readied her troops for the imminent situation, and Curüke sent his troops into the mountains north of Bayising.
Sometime between 1585 and 1586 Sengge passed away. This second marriage had provided Erketü Qatun with much more military power. She hid the princely seal, hoping to benefit her own son Budasiri later. Meanwhile, Curüke was finding it hard to improve his standing with the Chinese without Erketü Qatun's backing.
The Chinese also pressured him to make a marriage alliance with Erketü Qatun, maintaining that the princely title would go to someone else if he did not. Since Erketü Qatun had by then more than 10,000 well-trained troops, the marriage alliance would indeed bring Curüke much power and prestige with both Chinese and Mongols. He, therefore, divorced all his wives, including Baya-beyiji, the widow of "the favored grandson," and married Erketü Qatun in 1586. Sometime later Baya-beyiji married Erketü Qatun's son Budasiri, just as she had hoped, and the tensions between the two factions finally dissolved through marriages. In 1587, well respected by Chinese garrisons at the border as well as among the Mongol forces, Erketü Qatun was given the title of Mistress of Loyalty and Obedience by the Ming court, both as an acknowledgment of her military power and as appreciation for the continued peace along the borders she had guaranteed. For the next twenty years, the area between Xuanda and Gansu was at peace.
After the death of Curüke in 1607, contenders for his title of Prince of Obedience and Righteousness included his grandson Busuytu (Pushitu in Chinese) and Erketü Qatun's own grandson Sodnam (Sunang in Chinese). Sodnam was the most legitimate heir, as the direct grandson of Altan-qan, partly to forestall her from marrying Busuytu, who held an inferior position in the clan (as the grandson of Altan-qan's grandson Curüke).
Erketü Qatun herself, now about sixty years old, resisted another marriage for as long as she could. However, the Chinese were not willing to leave the title of Prince of Obedience and Righteousness unfilled indefinitely since it was an important channel of communication and a guarantee for border peace; they seemed to believe that anyone who married Erketü Qatun would inevitably be influenced by her pro-China stance. It might have been logical for her to ally with Sodnam, but she could not marry her own grandson.
A marriage between Erketü Qatun and Busuytu would provide some stability for the Chinese. The marriage took place on 21 June 1611 but still did not end all the difficulties. Erketü Qatun apparently did not entirely trust her newest husband and did not give him the seal of the Prince of Obedience and Righteousness, although at one point she did show him the gold, silver, brocades, furs, and gems that she had accumulated and stored in the Buddhist temple Hongci si (Vast Kindness Temple) through her life with three generations of Princes of Obedience and Righteousness. The sight must have impressed him greatly, for he turned to ask the Chinese for increased subsidies and a new title, an indication that he did not receive the old seal upon his marriage with Erketü Qatun.
Probably the most significant military role Erketü Qatun played was commanding substantial military power to keep the peace. For the forty years of her married life, she had under her command the best troops among the Mongol nobilities. Although she had clashed with other chieftains, there were no records of any major battles fought by her in either Chinese or Mongol records. Yet she was revered by both sides, and the border between the Ming Chinese and Mongols enjoyed the longest peace in history.
Erketü Qatun was of strong character is shown in two ways: first, before the marriage she forced Sengge to renounce all his previous wives; second, after the marriage she took advantage of Sengge's neglect of duty by taking control of his best troops and stationing herself in the Western Patrol, far from Sengge's headquarters at the Eastern Patrol.
In 1570 Erketü Qatun was to marry a prince of Ordos, possibly a nephew of Altan-qan, but struck by her beauty, Altan-qan decided to keep her for himself. He married his own granddaughter. Qatun had three children with Altan-qan, including Budasiri.
In 1582, after Altan-qan's death, Erketü Qatun married Sengge, Altan-qan's son. To Erketü Qatun, the marriage was as much one of the convenience as it was to Sengge, who basically pursued a dissipated life of women and pleasure. Sometime between 1585 and 1586 Sengge passed away.
Erketü Qatun married third-time to Curüke. In 1606 Curüke fell very ill, and the princely seal was once again in Erketü Qatun's hands. He died in 1607.
On 21 June 1611, Erketü Qatun married Busuytu, Curüke's grandson. A marriage between Erketü Qatun and Busuytu would provide some stability for the Chinese, even though he was a minor figure in the Mongol scene.
