Mongol Partners

There was a surprising amount of connection between the Mongol Empire and culture and the people of Western Europe. Part of this was because of the traditional Mongol tolerance for other religions and cultures. It did not hurt that the Mongol Empire saw Islam as a threat and was willing to form an alliance with the Christian West to hold back the spread of Muslims.

Although a permanent alliance was never formed, there was plenty of collaboration. We've recently looked at the merchant brothers, the Polos. Let's talk about some of the men who worked with Ghazan of the Ilkhanate.

A letter from Pope Boniface VIII to the Archbishop of Nicosia refers to Isol the Pisan as "Vicar of Syria and the Holy Land for Ghazan the Emperor of the Tartars." Isol seems to have been at the court of Ghazan for several years, rising to be Ghazan's ambassador to Cyprus. (It was not uncommon for the Khans to employ outsiders to various positions; Marco Polo is an example.) Isol had been around for a while in Persia: when Ghazan's younger brother Öljaitü was baptized a Christian, Isol stood as godfather. (Öljaitü did not stay Christian: after succeeding Ghazan, he changed in 1310 to Shi'a Islam.) (Ghazan and Öljaitü  are together in the illustration.) 

A man from Genoa served as ambassador to Europe from 1289 to 1305, working for Öljaitü, his brother Ghazan, and before them their father Arghun. Buscarello de Ghizolfi traveled back to Europe on Arghun's behalf to try to form an alliance. Buscarello carried messages for Philip IV of France and Edward I of England saying that, were they to bring their armies to his aid, Arghun would meet them with 20,000 to 30,000 horses and supplies to help retake the Holy Land. If Egypt could be conquered, Arghun would deliver Jerusalem to the West.

Edward agreed, but did not commit to a firm date for the endeavor. Buscarello returned to Persia with an English ambassador, Sir Geoffrey de Langley. A second attempt a few years later by Öljaitü to invite France and England to join him amounted to nothing.

Still, the commerce between Europeans and lands to the East brought many innovations such as gunpowder and paper currency, silk, different foods and spice, etc.

I want to talk a little more about Buscarello and his family tomorrow.

Mongol-Christian Alliances

Ghazan Khan (1271 - 1304) was not the first Mongol leader to communicate with Christians, but he set about to firm up an alliance to deal with what he considered a greater issue: Egyptian Mamluks. This was the time of the Crusades, and therefore Christian military groups were all over the Holy land and nearby. Armenia also had a Christian state.

Unfortunately, at this point the goal of the Crusades, Jerusalem, was no longer under Christian control. The plan was to unite all these forces with the Mongol Empire to conquer Egypt, whereupon (it was agreed) that the Christians would be given control of Jerusalem.

With plans in place, Ghazan marched to Syria in October 1299, where he was joined by the army of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (which a few years later would have its own problem with Egypt).The Armenians also had some Knights Templar and Hospitallers among them. They defeated an army of Egyptian Mamluks at the battle of Wadi al-Khazandar.

Aleppo had already been taken, and Damascus surrendered soon after. The majority of Ghazan's army then retreated for the rest of the winter, going north where they could find grazing for their horses. The Mamluks sent a delegation to Ghazan (who had recently converted to Islam) at his camp (see illustration) in January 1300 to speak to him, saying:

"You claim that you are a Muslim and you have with you Mu'adhdhins, Muftis, Imams and Shaykhs but you invaded us and reached our country for what? Although your father and your grandfather, Hulegu were non-believers, they did not attack us and they kept their promise. But you promised and broke your promise."

A Mongol-Christian plan was made for late 1301. Ghazan wrote to Pope Boniface VIII to send troops and priests so that the Holy Land could become a Frankish state. He also wrote in 1302 to the pope and to Charles II of Anjou. Unfortunately, troops did not arrive.

Ghazan failed to conquer the Mamluks after several battles, and gave up after a decisive loss in April 1303. When he died on 11 May 1304, his brother Öljaitü succeeded him.

Since the title of this post is the Mongol-Christian Alliance, I want to talk more specifically about some of the Christians and Europeans who worked directly with Ghazan and the Mongol Empire. See you tomorrow.

Ghazan Khan

A direct descendant of Genghis Khan, Ghazan Khan ruled the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate (southwestern part of the empire, what now is Iran) and lived from 1271 to 11 May 1304. No, he did not have a long life, or a long reign, but he accomplished a lot out of necessity.

He had, as was customary for Mongol Khans, several wives, but he first came up in this blog in yesterday's post when we learn that he married a princess, Kököchin, who had been chosen for Ghazan's father by Kublai Khan himself. Kököchin's journey took so long that her intended, Arghun Khan, was dead by the time she arrived, and Ghazan married her himself. (It probably pleased her that Ghazan was the same age as she.)

On the death of his father in 1291, rule of the Ilkhanate went to Ghazan's uncle, Gaykhatu. One of the innovations during Gaykhatu's reign was the introduction of paper money to the Ilkhanate, but Ghazan rejected the idea in his territory of Khorasan, because the humidity of the region made the paper unfeasible.

Gaykhatu was killed in 1295, probably by the same people who killed Ghazan's father in order to put Gaykhatu in charge. That faction chose Ghazan's cousin Baydu to take over and be a figurehead. Ghazan marched on Baydu, who after some battles offered co-rulership to Ghazan. Ghazan rejected this, but was concerned because Baydu had a much larger army.

A powerful noble named Nowruz urged Ghazan to continue to attack Baydu and become ruler. Nowruz pledged his support, but with a condition: Ghazan had to convert to Islam. The Mongol attitude toward religion was one of curiosity and tolerance. Ghazan had been raised as an Eastern Christian, and had also been tutored by a Chinese Buddhist monk. Ghazan did not hold religion as high a priority as politics, so he made the change. Their political bid was successful, and Ghazan (seen on a horse in the illustration) became the next Khan of the Ilkhanate.

The traditional Mongol tolerance for other religions went out the window. Nowruz led persecutions against Buddhists and Christians. Churches were looted and destroyed. Despite this, Ghazan was willing to work with Western Europeans against a common enemy: the Egyptian Mamluks. We will talk about those alliances tomorrow.

Escorting a Princess

Arghun Khan (1258 - 1291) was the son of Abaqa Khan and ruler of the Ilkhanate, in the southwestern part of the Mongol Empire. Arghun (shown here with one of his brides) wanted a new bride after the death of his favorite, Bolgana (who had also been his father's consort), and he asked his great-uncle Kublai Khan to provide him with one.

Kublai chose the 17-year-old Kököchin, of the Chinese Yuan dynasty. Her escort to the Ilkhanate included three of Kublai's envoys and a young Venetian named Marco Polo. Marco, along with his uncles, had been "guests" of Kublai for many years. Kublai did not want to lose the company of his foreign guests, but his envoys insisted. In the words of Marco Polo from his account:

The overland road from Peking to Tabriz was not only of portentous length for such a tender charge, but was imperiled by war, so the envoys desired to return by sea. Tartars in general were strangers to all navigation; and the envoys, much taken with the Venetians, and eager to profit by their experience, especially as Marco had just then returned from his Indian mission, begged the Khan as a favour to send the three Firinghis* in their company. He consented with reluctance, but, having done so, fitted the party out nobly for the voyage, charging the Polos with friendly messages for the potentates of Europe, including the King of England.

There were problems on the voyage

involving long detentions on the coast of Sumatra, and in the South of India, ...; and two years or upwards passed before they arrived at their destination in Persia. The three hardy Venetians survived all perils, and so did the lady, who had come to look on them with filial regard; but two of the three envoys, and a vast proportion of the suite, had perished by the way.

Not only had some of the escorts died along the way, but so had Arghun by the time his anticipated bride had arrived. In fact, he had died before the escorts had even set out, a fact they did not know until they had arrived.

The trip was not wasted, however, because Arghun had a son, Ghazan, who was about the same age as the princess Kököchin. Although not as handsome as his father, he was in many ways an excellent ruler and war-leader. He also had good diplomatic relations with Europeans and the Crusaders. Let's talk more about Ghazan Khan tomorrow.

*Firinghis or farang is Persian and originally intended to refer to Franks, lumping all Western Europeans together.