Invading Europe

Batu Khan's military successes inspired Ögedei Khan to have him invade Europe. He had already conquered the Crimean Peninsula.

Spies were sent into Poland, Hungary, and Austria for reconnaissance. Having planned their approach, three separate armies invaded Central Europe: into Hungary, Transylvania, and Poland. The column into Poland defeated Henry II the Pious.

The second and third columns crossed the Carpathians and followed the Danube, combining with the Poland column and defeating the Hungarian army under King Béla IV of Hungary on 11 April 1241. They killed half the Hungarian population, then proceeded to German territory. Béla had sent to Pope Innocent IV for a Crusade against the Mongols, but the pope was focused on the Holy Land. (The illustration is from a 14th century history, the Chronicon Pictum, or "Illustrated Chronicle," and shows Béla fleeing.)

Austria, Dalmatia, and Moravia were occupied. While this was going on, a group led by Ögedei's son Güyük was conquering Transylvania.

Further advances in Germany were paused when the Great Khan died in 1241. Batu's thirst to continue was quenched by a reminder of Mongol law, that the chief descendants of Genghis had to return to Mongolia to elect his replacement.

Batu took his time returning, and the election was delayed for several years until Güyük was elected in 1246. Batu became the viceroy over the western empire. Batu returned to the western front and summoned the Grand prince of Vladimir, Yaroslav II. Batu put him in charge of all other Russian princes.

Around this time Batu came into contact with Europeans and their culture. Giovanni of Plano Carpini was sent by Pope Innocent IV to take a letter to Ögedei, protesting the Mongol invasion. Giovanni met with Batu, who gave him permission to continue to the court of the Great Khan. Giovanni described Batu as "kind enough to his own people, but he is greatly feared by them. He is, however, most cruel in fight; he is very shrewd and extremely crafty in warfare, for he has been waging war for a long time."

William of Rubruck also encountered Batu, describing him physically as about the same height as John de Beaumont (which tells those who never met John de Beaumont nothing useful, but other sources put him at 5'7"), and that his face was covered with red spots.

Others whose paths crossed with Batu are Queen Rusudan, who sent her son David to Batu for recognition. Sorghaghtani Beki sent Batu a warning to beware of a summons from Güyük. Before Batu reached Güyük, Güyük died mysteriously; Rubruck wrote it was one of Batu's brothers who did the deed.

The position of Great Khan was again available. What would Batu do about it? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Batu Khan

History tells stories of Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes and Kublai Khan meeting Marco Polo, but Batu Khan is a name that is less-known but quite a large part of Mongol history—and European, when it comes to it.

Batu founded the Golden Horde, a large territory on the outskirts of the Mongol Empire. His father, Jochi, was possibly a son of Genghis Khan; based on his relations with known family of Genghis, this could well have been the case. In fact, Genghis' will left 4,000 Mongol soldiers to Jochi's family. Upon Jochi's death, the remaining children agreed that Batu should succeed him.

Genghis' son and successor, Ögedei, got along with Batu, who would have been Ögedei's nephew. Together they made conquests of other peoples, including forays into China. Ögedei gave lands in northern China to Batu after successful campaigns.

By 1235, Batu had conquered the Crimean Peninsula, and Ögedei wanted Batu to continue westward and conquer Europe. Batu and several relatives (including Güyük, Möngke, and others) with an army of perhaps 130,000 crossed the Volga River and invaded Bulgaria in 1236. A year of fighting led to success.

Batu then sent men west to Vladimir-Suzdai (east of Moscow) demanding allegiance, which was refused. Batu invaded and in less than a week destroyed the city of Ryazan (it recovered; now it has a population of over a half million). The Horde burned Moscow, and made short work of any who dared oppose them. Batu divided the army and sent the subdivisions all over Kievan Rus, subduing and destroying cities. Only Smolensk and Novgorod survived, the one because it surrendered and the latter because it was too distant (and separated by marshlands) to bother with.

Trouble arose when Batu was ridiculed by his cousins, annoyed that he had claimed a large and fertile territory. They mocked him and walked out of a banquet. Batu complained to his uncle, who recalled the two chief offenders, Buri and Ögedei's son Güyük. Buri was sent home, but Güyük was reprimanded by his father and sent back to the Russian steppe.

Then they planned the invasion of Europe. We'll pick up that story tomorrow.

Mongol Women and Influence

Sorghaghtani Beki stood firm after the death of her husband: she would not re-marry into the family (as was often Mongol custom), even at the request of the current Khan, because her sons needed her to focus on them (and they would each grow up to be Khan themselves as grandsons of Genghis Khan).

Sorghaghtani was respected enough that she even shamed the Khan, Ögedei (her brother-in-law), to hand over more territory that had been her husband's. Ögedei did, however, absorb some of her territory, and also conscripted much of the military attached to those lands.

Again underscoring the power held by women, upon Ögedei's death in 1241 his widow was regent for the Mongol Empire for the next five years until she got their son Güyük elected khan over other claimants.

Güyük had not been raised to respect women sufficiently, however, and he targeted several women who were holding power that he wanted. The first was his own mother, Töregene Khatun (Khatun = queen), who had worked to get him elected; next was Sorghaghtani. Genghis Khan's third daughter, Alakhai Bekhi, who was regent for areas in China, was another target. Ebuskun, the wife of a grandson of Genghis, had been regent after her husband's death (and son's minority) over the Chagatai Khanate, an enormous region.

During Güyük's attempts to undermine these women, Sorghaghtani allied herself with Batu Khan, Güyük's cousin, ruler of the Golden Horde. In 1248, Güyük started a military campaign to the Middle East, which put him in Batu's direction; it is possible he intended to deal with Batu's opposition. Güyük died suddenly and with no particular cause. (Some insinuate that Sorghaghtani brought it about; she certainly had motive and ability).

Whatever Sorghaghtani's role in Güyük's fate, it was an opportunity for her to propose her eldest son, Möngke, as khan. He had fought alongside Batu, who organized a kurultai (Mongol political and military council) that elected Möngke to be Khan in the late 1240s.

Sorghaghtani became ill and died in the late winter in 1252, and had a Christian burial. She did not live to see three other sons become khans, nor to see her son Kublai Khan capture her youngest, Ariq Böke, in conflict and imprison him until his death. Perhaps if she were alive a little longer she might have counseled them and avoided the hostility.

What about Batu Khan? He was powerful enough that Sorghaghtani turned to him for help, but was okay with letting someone else become Great Khan. He was far more influential in history than Möngke—and better known to Europe—and we'll see how tomorrow.

Mother of Four Khans

The youngest son of Geghis Khan, Tolui, married a Christian woman named Sorghaghtani Beki. They had similarly noble backgrounds. Sorghaghtani was a Keraite princess. Keraites were one of the five dominant Turco-Mongol confederations, and they were Eastern (Assyrian) Christians.

Sorghaghtani's uncle was the very powerful Keraite leader Toghrul, and around 1203 was more powerful than Genghis (when he was still going by his original name, Temujin). Temujin proposed a marriage between their tribes. Toghrul rejected this, and even tried to kill Temujin. Not long after ,Toghrul was killed. Toghrul's brother, Jakha (Sorghaghtani's father), was on better terms with Temujin, and offered his daughters to Temujin. Temujin gave the teenage Sorghaghtani to his teenaged youngest, Tolui. (Not long after, the Keraites revolted against Temujin, and Jakha was killed.)

Because Mongol men were often away on military campaigns, Mongol wives had to manage the home and had more rights and power than women in some other cultures. Sorghaghtani could not read or write herself, but she raised her children to learn the languages of the regions they were likely to rule. She also respected other religions, and she raised her sons to be the same. The policy of the Mongol Empire was that the state was more important than religion, and could tolerate any religion that did not interfere with political matters. Sorghaghtani made donations to both Christians and Muslims.

Tolui died in 1232 under mysterious circumstances. Tolui's older brother, Ögedei Khan (he had succeeded Genghis in 1229), gave her authority to handle Tolui's estates (eastern Mongolia and parts of Iran and northern China), and put her in charge of his empire's administration. Mongol widows often re-married into the same family (keeping inheritance attached), and Ögedei suggested that she marry his son Güyük. She refused, claiming that her sons needed her.

Her sons were Möngke Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulagu Khan, and Ariq Böke.

The next Khan would not be so hospitable. We'll find out what happened afterward tomorrow.

The Great Mongol Hope

Pope Honorius III (fl.1216 - 1227), in a letter dated 20 June 1221, referred to "forces coming from the Far East to rescue the Holy Land." This was solely speculation, based on old legends of Prester John, a reported Christian king in the Far East who would come to the aid of the Crusades. Stories of the expansion of the Mongol Empire caused some Europeans to believe that the Mongols were Prester John's people, and an important alliance would be forthcoming.

An alliance between Western Europe and the Mongols was not a ridiculous idea. Mongols were already familiar with Christianity: there were Nestorian Christians in the Mongol court (a few decades later, William Rubruck would meet several while traveling). Nestorianism was condemned as heresy at the 431 Council of Ephesus, but at least they weren't Muslims.

Muslims were a problem for Western Christians; they were also enemies of the Mongols. While the Fifth Crusade was besieging Damietta in Egypt in June 2018, stories of Genghis Khan's successful conquests sparked the belief that this was Prester John or a descendant heading westward to aid the Crusade. The hoped-for arrival of a powerful army to help the Crusade did not appear, but attempts were made afterward to form an alliance with Genghis and his descendants.

Pope Innocent IV (fl.1243 - 1254) was the first to write to the Khans, sending letters with envoys that would take years to find their recipients and return with replies. Alliances were hampered by the deaths of Genghis and his successor Ögedei (Innocent's letter never got to Ögedei). The next Great Khan, Güyük Khan, sent a less-than-satisfying reply.

Despite their common enemy in the Muslim world, the difficulty was that the popes wanted obedience to themselves as pope, expecting Mongols to convert to Christianity, and the Mongol Khans expected obedience to them as secular rulers, demanding homage.

Military cooperation was still a possibility—assuming the pope's demands for conversion stayed out of the negotiations. Öljaitü (fl.1282 - 1316) wrote in 1305 to Philip IV of France, Pope Clement V, and Edward I of England (see illustration for the letter in the French archives, the only copy extant), suggesting military collaboration, assuring him that Europeans could travel safely through their lands:

"Now all of us, Timur Khagan, Tchapar, Toctoga, Togba and ourselves, main descendants of Gengis Khan, all of us, descendants and brothers, are reconciled through the inspiration and the help of God. So that, from Nangkiyan [China] in the Orient, to Lake Dala our people are united and the roads are open." [link]

Mongols by this time had converted to Islam, but still were open to allowing Christians free access to the Holy Land. That did not mean, however, that the Mongols were not bent on expanding their empire as much as possible. One of their conquests was the large Kingdom of Georgia, whose queen submitted in order to save the lives of her people. I'll tell you that story next time.

John of Plano Carpini

Marco Polo is known for traveling to the Far East from Europe and observing things unknown to Europeans, but there were many travelers from Western Europe who went into unfamiliar lands for various reasons. One of these reasons was to bring Christianity to the inhabitants. The Franciscan John of Plano Carpini was one of those.

Carpini (c.1185 - 1 August 1252) was from central Italy. He was a companion of St. Francis of Assissi. In 1245, he was sent by Pope Innocent IV to the east with a letter for Ögedei Khan, who had defeated European forces four years earlier at the Battle of Legnica and almost took over all of Eastern Europe. The pope's intention was to protest the Mongol intrusion into Christendom, and to bring Christianity to the East. Incidentally, the mission could learn more about the enemy's intentions and strength.

Carpini had been at that time the Franciscan provincial in Germany. He set out with the pope's letter on Easter Day 1245 (16 April), with a fellow Franciscan, Stephen of Bohemia. They passed through Kyiv, where Stephen became ill and was left behind. They passed the rivers Dnieper, Don, and Volga; those names were first recorded by Carpini.

At the Volga they came to the camp of Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, where they were made to walk between two fires (similar—but not as dangerous—as the Ordeal of Fire endured by Peter Bartholomew) to remove any impure thoughts or poisons before they were bought before Batu. Batu sent them on to the court in Mongolia. This second part of the journey set off on Easter Day 1246 (8 April).

This was arduous, and they had suffered through Lent, melting snow for water and eating millet with salt for their sustenance. Their journey of 3000 miles took 106 days. Before they arrived at their destination, Ögedei died, and the envoys were in time to witness the instatement of the new Supreme Khan, Güyük Khan. You can see his response to the pope's letter here.

Güyük kept Carpini and his party until November, and then sent them on their way during winter. Carpini records that they often slept on ground after scraping away the snow. It took them until 10 June 1247 to reach Kyiv. From that point their journey became easier: Slavonic Christians welcomed them and treated them hospitably.

Carpini was given the archbishopric of Serbia and became papal legate to Louis IX of France, a much more comfortable task after his grueling journey eastward. He wrote a record of his trip, the Ystoria Mongalorum ("History of Mongol People"), the first European history of the Mongols. Not long after, a much more accurate account of Mongols was written by William Rubruck.

Rubruck, like Carpini, was a Franciscan. Tomorrow I will start an account of the life of their founder.

The Golden Horde

The name "Golden Horde" for the northwestern section of the Mongolian Empire is the English translation of a borrowed phrase from Russian, Zolotáya Ordá (literally "Golden Horde). Ordá also means "camp" or "headquarters." The Modern English "horde" referring to a large and threatening group comes from the reputation of the Mongolian armies advancing against their enemies. Legend says that the tents of the Mongols were golden-hued, hence the adjective.

Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, was the founder. A Franciscan named William Rubruck, who traveled all over the Middle and Far East, said he was: 

kind enough to his own people, but he is greatly feared by them. He is, however, most cruel in fight; he is very shrewd and extremely crafty in warfare, for he has been waging war for a long time.

Batu was given the charge to conquer lands to the west by Genghis' son Ögedei 1186 - 1241); Batu's efforts gained what became his headquarters, the Horde.

The Horde was the outskirts of the Empire, and as such very little exists of any written Mongol history or literature from it. The conquered locals were largely Cubans, and important decrees were probably translated from Mongol to Cuban to be distributed to the inhabitants. In the mid-13002 Arabic-Mongol and Persian-Mongol dictionaries began appearing, suggesting their necessity in translating Mongol documents.

Because "Horde" meant "headquarters" or "palace" or "camp," there were other Hordes. Russian chronicles referred to the eastern part of Batu's area as the "White Horde," and the western part became known as the "Blue Horde." Over the years, rule of the Horde changed hands many times up until 1419, when it became split up between different forces.

Still, it was the closest part of the Mongol Empire to Europe, and since the goal of the Khans was to control the entire world, Europe was a target. The Mongolian Invasion of Central Europe will be the next topic.

Mamluks & Mongols

[source]

The Mongols were expanding westward. Under Genghis Khan they had taken a huge chunk out of Asia, from what is now the Koreas, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan and the areas south of it, all the way to the Caspian Sea. Twenty years later, under Ögedei and Güyük and Möngke, they held most of what is now China in the east, and had extended into Ukraine and Belarus in the west and south to the Persian Gulf. Through conquering Turkey, they had control of the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean.

Mongol hordes were ruthless when taking over a new territory. Iran's resistance required such force to subdue that much of the country's agrarian infrastructure was destroyed, causing famine and serious population loss in the years following the wars.

The Mongol Empire had benefits, however, to others as well as itself: an enforced peace throughout this realm made travel and trade safe for foreigners as well as residents. Given time, they might have conquered—and therefore united—North Africa and Europe as well. For the first time in their history, however, they were stopped, defeated when they encountered the Mamluks.

Hulagu, a grandson of Genghis and brother to Kublai and Möngke, managed the southwestern front of the Mongol Empire, moving from Persia toward Egypt. He took down the Assassins, and conquered Baghdad by defeating the Abbasid Caliphate. He then sent a message to Qutuz in Cairo, advising him to submit to Mongol rule. Qutuz killed the messengers and stuck their heads on one of Cairo's gates.

Then word came that Möngke Khan had died, and Hulagu took much of his army back home to lobby for the throne. When Qutuz learned that a much smaller military force had been left behind in the Middle East, he gathered his Mamluk army and marched out of Cairo. Two armies of about 20,000 men each met on 3 September 1260 at Ain Jalut ["Spring of Goliath"] in Galilee.

The Mongol army did not know the territory as well as the Mamluks did (Qutuz had allied himself with a Mamluk leader from the region who knew it well and planned their strategy). The Mamluks played a "hit-and-run" game, then pretended to retreat, luring the Mongol army to follow them into the highlands where the largest part of the army was hidden, its archers waiting to ambush the Mongols. Although the Mongols rallied somewhat, they were unable to gain the upper hand. For the first time, their forward advance to expand their territory was stopped, placing a western border in the face of Genghis Khan's dream of a worldwide Mongol empire.

The Mamluks had another advantage: explosives, specifically hand cannons. Hand cannons were metal cylinders packed with gunpowder and set off with a flame. They were not good for aiming projectiles with any kind of accuracy, but in the Battle of Ain Jalut they were used to startle the opposing cavalry mounts and create confusion.

Möngke Khan

Among the western Europeans who traveled eastward and wrote of the wonders of "The Orient," we have mentioned William Rubruck (c.1210 - 1270), who traveled to Karakorum, the capital of the Khans. The Khan at the time was Möngke Khan.

Möngke was a grandson of Genghis Khan. He ruled the Mongol Empire from 1251 to 1259, and was succeeded by another of Genghis' grandsons, Kublai Khan. During his reign, Möngke continued to conquer more territory and bring it under Mongol control.

He was also a politician who cared about proper governance of the empire. One of the things that needed correction was the Mongol monetary system. Paper money (first authorized by Genghis shortly before his death in 1227) was being printed and issued without control since the reign of Ögedei Khan. (Ögedei was himself childless, and Möngke and Kublai had been raised at his court.) Möngke created a Department of Monetary Affairs in 1253 to control the printing of paper money and create currency standards. An empire-wide silver standard was established—the sukhe, a silver ingot that could be divided into 500 sub-denominations—although conquered territories could continue to mint their own traditional denominations. Eventually, coins of other metals were introduced.

As for William Rubruck's mission to convert people to Christianity: Mongke was busy, and refused even to see William for many months. Möngke was probably aware of Carpini's envoy to Güyük Khan's court in the previous decade, carrying a letter from the pope that chastised the Khan. When he finally received William, a debate ensued in which William did not fare well. Möngke decided that they should all write down their questions and have a formal debate. This took place a year later, with arguments being put forward before three judges: a Christian, a Muslim, and a Buddhist. The affair became heated. Möngke finally summed up:

"Just as God gave different fingers to the hand so has He given different ways to men. To you God has given the Scriptures and you Christians do not observe them". He explained God had given the Mongols their shamans. [Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, By J. McIver Weatherford]

Möngke died on 11 August 1259, while conducting a war in China. His death led to a four-year civil war between two younger brothers, at the end of which Kublai defeated Ariq.

The First Polo

Marco Polo was not the only, or the first, western European to travel to the East. When Pope Innocent IV wanted to send a letter to the Great Khan of the Mongols, who was persecuting Christians, he sent it with Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (sometimes called Friar John of Plano Carpini).

Giovanni was born about 1182 in Umbria, Italy. He was a companion of St. Francis of Assissi, and therefore one of the first Franciscans. He was instrumental in the Franciscan missions to Northern Europe. Pope Innocent chose Giovanni to carry a letter to Ögedei Khan, after Mongol forces made serious inroads into Europe at the Battle of Legnica in 1241.

Giovanni was about 65 years old at the time of this journey. The letter and its reply were discussed here. What interests us more about Giovanni is that he recorded what he saw in the Ystoria Mongolorum ["History of the Mongols"]. (Keep in mind that this is all happening more than a generation prior to Marco Polo's trip.) He records many of their customs and past events, such as in Chapter Four, "Their Good and Bad Customs, their Food and their Habits":

The aforesaid men ... obey their lords more than anyone else in the world, whether clergymen or laymen, and they respect them greatly and do not easily lie to them. The Tartars seldom argue to the point of insult, and there are no wars, quarrels, injuries or murders among them. In fact, there are no robbers and thieves of valuables there, so that the camps and carts where they keep their treasures are not protected by locks or bars. 

Their women are chaste, and one never hears scandals about them, though they tell coarse and vulgar jokes.

For his efforts on behalf of the pope and Christendom, Giovanni was made Primate of Serbia. He died on 1 August 1252, two years before Marco Polo was even born. 

Dear Khan, Dear Pope

Ögedei Khan, who never got the letter

Relations between the East and West have always been strained, generally because of radically different world views, and because neither saw any benefit in submitting to what the other offered.

One example is the letter sent from Pope Innocent IV (you can read about him setting down guidelines for torture) to Ögedei Khan. Word had reached Innocent that the Mongols were attacking Christian territories, and Innocent wanted to broach this subject. Dated on 13 March 1245, it goes a little like this:

Seeing that not only men but even irrational animals, nay, the very elements which go to make up the world machine, are united by a certain innate law after the manner of the celestial spirits, [...] it is not without cause that we are driven to express in strong terms our amazement that you, as we have heard, have invaded many countries belonging both to Christians and to others and are laying them waste in a horrible desolation, [...].
We, therefore, following the example of the King of Peace, and desiring that all men should live united in concord in the fear of God, do admonish, beg and earnestly beseech all of you that for the future you desist entirely from assaults of this kind and especially from the persecution of Christians, and that after so many and such grievous offences you conciliate by a fitting penance the wrath of Divine Majesty, which without doubt you have seriously aroused by such provocation; [link]

Innocent makes clear in the letter that he expects the "King of the Tartars" to obey him in this. Before the letter could receive a reply, Ögedei Khan died and was succeeded by Güyük Khan (whose reign began 24 August 1246). Here is part of his message back to the pope:

A Letter from Kuyuk Khan to Pope Innocent IV
By the power of the Eternal Heaven, we are the all-embracing Khan of all the Great Nations.  It is our command:
This is a decree, sent to the great Pope that he may know and pay heed.
After holding counsel with the monarchs under your suzerainty, you have sent us an offer of subordination which we have accepted from the hands of your envoy.
If you should act up to your word, then you, the great Pope, should come in person with the monarchs to pay us homage and we should thereupon instruct you concerning the commands of the Yasak.
Furthermore, you have said it would be well for us to become Christians. You write to me in person about this matter, and have addressed to me a request. This, your request, we cannot understand.

There is more, but the essence is: "You want to talk? Then come here yourself and subordinate yourself to me, so I can explain things to you, like the Yasak (tribute) that you can give to me."

Neither of these rulers was about to "give in" to the demands of someone thousands of miles away, when each felt he had the god-given right to be doing what he was doing. Nor, given the distances involved, was it likely that either would ever be able to influence or affect the other.

Here's a question: given the distances involved, how does one deliver a letter across thousands of miles to someone whose address you probably don't even know? Tomorrow we will talk about the postman, a Franciscan named Giovanni da Pian del Carpine.