Yabgu or yabgu (yabgu, less often yabghu) - West Turkic title of supreme ruler. Presumably, the title comes from Kushan "yavug." The title is “yavuga” (Chinese exu 葉 護), according to cz. 231, part 2 “Xi Yu” (Westfall) of the Chinese dynasty history “Xin Tang Shu” (New History of the Tang Dynasty) was worn in the VI-VII century. the rulers of Tokharistan, obeying tujue (Turki of the Ashin clan).
One of the last references to the use of this title outside the Turkic environment dates from the middle of the Tan period — the Shih-li-man-tse-lo yavug in the middle of the 8th century. asked the Tang emperor for help in the fight against nomads. The Tokhars most likely adopted this title from the Turkic-speaking nomads.
Relative to the ruler of the West Turkic possessions, the Chinese sources mention the title yabgu-kagan (Chinese ex-khehan葉 護).
As the historian Kovalevsky writes [ specify ] : “the king of the Oghuz Turks is called yabgu and this is the title of overlord.” Yabgu Alli , according to Oguz traditions, was the king of the Oghuz Turks and the ruler of Yangi-Kent in the X century . The most powerful yabgu was Abakun ali Akhmat, who ruled from the middle of the 11th century. Under him, all nomadic tribes were united in the territory from the Caspian to the Amu Darya River. At the beginning of the 12th century, Turkic troops in the amount of 135 thousand soldiers, 400 thousand horses, 3 thousand camels and 1000 fighting elephants began to advance to the west, capturing the Persian kingdom, southern Georgia and northern Iraq, began to threaten the existence of the Byzantine Empire . After the death of Abakun-al-Akhmat in 1102, his grandson Saladdin Ali Abdul Merhenrad became a new yabgu, who assumed a different name, calling himself Seljuk, which means “master of all people” in Turkic. Since then, the title yabgu has ceased to be used, and instead the ruler began to be called the Sultan.