Hulagu Khan

Hulagu Khan was a grandson of Genghis Khan (Genghis had 43 grandchildren—known ones, that is, because he slept with a lot of women in his lifetime, and his descendants are too numerous to estimate). He was born about 1217CE to Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki; the only item known about his childhood is an anecdote that he met his grandfather Genghis once when Hulagu was seven years old.

When Sorghaghtani died, his father married Dokuz Khatun, an Assyrian Christian and granddaughter of Ghengis Khan's blood-brother Toghrul. When Tolui died, Dokuz was given to Hulagu to marry. Her Christian background would be important later.

When Hulagu's brother Möngke became the Great Khan in 1251, Hulagu was given the charge of making sure southwest Asia was either firmly in Mongol control or destroyed. He was told to be kind to those who submitted and ruthless to those who did not. As it turned out, he was just the person for the job.

The massive army he marched out with had been assembled slowly over two years, conscripting 10-20% of the empire's fighting men. He had series of successful engagements: Transoxiana,* the Lurs of southern Iran, the Ismailis (Assassins) of Alamut, and the destruction of Baghdad. Because the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad refused to submit, the vengeance of Hulagu's army was overwhelming; however, Dokuz (who accompanied her husband on his campaigns) pleaded successfully to spare the Christian population.

Hulagu then conquered the Ayubbid dynasty in Muslim Syria, killing their last king. The remaining center of Islamic power was in the Mamluk capital of Cairo. Hulagu sent word to Cairo to submit or be destroyed like Baghdad. Rather than proceed to Cairo, however, Hulagu needed to consider the army. Syria did not have the resources to feed his enormous army, so he withdrew to Azerbaijan, leaving a force of 10,000.

He personally left for Mongolia: his brother, Möngke, had died, and there was a dispute over who should take over the empire. The fight was between the youngest brother, Ariq Böke (10 years younger than Hulagu), and a brother two years older than Hulagu named Kublai.

With the succession settled and Kublai in charge, Hulagu returned to his so-far-successful westward campaign. Here's where it gets tricky: tomorrow I hope to explain how, in this next stage, the destruction of the Islamic capital of Baghdad set in motion Hulagu's defeat, and a big problem for the Mongolian Empire.

*Lower Central Asia, what is now eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, southern Kazakhstan, southern Kyrgyzstan, and parts of Turkmenistan.

The Destruction of Baghdad, Part 2

Part 1 is here.

Hulagu Khan did not execute the Abbasid leader, Caliph al-Musta'sim, immediately; he wanted him punished for his foolish defiance. He was captured and made to witness the slaughter of his citizens, the destruction of his city, and the plunder of his treasury.

Even then, a simple execution was denied him. al-Musta'sim was pulled up in a rug and laid on the ground for the Mongols to ride their horses over him repeatedly until his death was certain. This was considered an act of "caution" on the part of the Mongols, since they believed spilling royal blood on the ground would be offensive to the earth. (A colorful 15th century legend, pictured here, is that al-Musta'sim was imprisoned with his treasures and allowed to starve to death.)

Wassail, Persian historian who was born seven years after this event, but no doubt had access to eyewitness accounts, wrote:

They swept through the city like hungry falcons attacking a flight of doves, or like raging wolves attacking sheep, with loose reins and shameless faces, murdering and spreading terror...beds and cushions made of gold and encrusted with jewels were cut to pieces with knives and torn to shreds. Those hiding behind the veils of the great Harem were dragged...through the streets and alleys, each of them becoming a plaything...as the population died at the hands of the invaders.

Not every inhabitant of Baghdad was slaughtered, and some had an advocate among the Mongols. Hulagu had an Assyrian Christian wife, Dokuz Khatun, who begged him to spare as many Christians in the city as possible. He honored her request, and offered the royal palace to a Nestorian Christian Patriarch Mar Makikha, to be made into a cathedral.

Baghdad itself, however, took awhile to recover. Hulagu left 3000 soldiers behind to rebuild the city, but irrigation canals that had been damaged were not repaired. Agrarianism suffered, and it was many years before Baghdad once again became a great city under the Ilkhanate.

The destruction of the House of Wisdom and its contents has been disputed in recent years: there is a belief that some members of the Mongol army had more respect for learning and would have preserved the volumes for installation in other libraries. Hulagu had brought with him to Baghdad a scholar, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, who had been in the fortress of Alamut (and some believe was the Mahdi's servant who betrayed him). There are stories at the time that al-Tusi would have saved much of the library.

Such an outcome might have looked good for Hulagu's future career. In fact, while on his campaign westward, his brother Möngke Khan died at the age of 50, and Hulagu, eight years younger, might have looked like a suitable successor.

But that was not to be, and I'll tell you more tomorrow.

The Siege of Baghdad

The House of Wisdom was a marvelous repository of knowledge from all over the world. It also functioned as an informal university long before those institutions sprang up in Western Europe. It was founded and flourish in what is called the Islamic Golden Age. All that ended in 1258, however, with the sack of Baghdad by Mongols. The sack was preceded by a 13-day siege, and that's where we should start.

The Mongol forces were expanding and marching westward, destroying any resistance. The Siege of Baghdad was brought by Hulagu Khan, another grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of Möngke. Baghdad might have been spared: Möngke told his brother to forego overthrowing the Abbasid Caliphate if they were willing to pay tribute. 

The current caliph, al-Musta'sim, was not so inclined. The Abbasid Caliphate was not as strong as it had been previously: despite the jewel that was Baghdad; the Abbasids no longer possessed what was once a far-reaching empire. al-Musta'sim had not prepared militarily but believed Baghdad was strong enough to survive an attack. (He is still criticized for not acquiescing to Hulagu's demands and saving his city and people.)

Hulagu had just marched through what is now Iran, facing and overcoming such widespread opposition that Iran's agrarian potential was devastated for a generation. The mountain stronghold Alamut had recently fallen to him, and he had vanquished the breakaway Nizari-Ismaili sect called the Order of Assassins. His successes were credited with planning as well as numbers. This military push had been a couple years in the making, conscripting 10% of the Mongol population. It also included Christian warriors from Armenia, Frankish Crusaders from Antioch, and (perhaps most important for the current campaign) 1000 Chinese artillery specialists.

The siege began 29 January 1258. Hulagu had sent two columns of soldiers, one on each side of the Tigris, surrounding Baghdad. They brought up their siege engines (pictured above in a 14th century painting). al-Musta'sim sent a hastily gathered and poorly prepared force of 20,000 to leave the city and attack, but they were no match for the Mongol forces, who quickly breached dikes on the Tigris, flooding the area behind the Abbasid forces, trapping them.

And then things got worse. Join me tomorrow for what was probably the single bloodiest loss of life in the entire history of human warfare.

Mother of Khans

Toregene (pictured here, with her name in Mongolian) has been called one of the most powerful women in history. Born into the Naiman tribe (in western Mongolia), and married into the Merkit tribe, when Genghis Khan conquered the Merkits he singled her out and gave her to his sone Ogedei. Ogedei was already married, but to a woman who bore him no sons. Toregene bore Ogedei five sons, including Guyuk.

Toregene was ambitious, and assumed more and more authority in the court, aided serendipitously by Ogedei's alcoholism. (When his brother Chagatai appointed someone to watch Ogedei's intake, Ogedei promised to drink fewer cups each day; he then had cups made that were twice the size of regular ones.) When Ogedei died in 1241 after an all-night drinking session with his friend and advisor Abd-ur-Rahman, one of his other widows, Moge Khatun (she had been a wife of Genghis, but then was given to Ogedei), took over administrative duties.

But not for long. Toregene was named regent in spring of 1242 as Khatun (the feminine of "Khan"). She dismissed Ogedei's ministers and placed her own favorites in power. Some of them she arrested, unless they fled first. One of her more controversial appointments was Fatima. Fatima was a Shia Muslim captured from Persia, who started as Toregene's slave. Fatima became her constant companion and advisor.

Eventually she tired of her role and managed the ascension of Guyuk as Great Khan in 1246. She retired to an estate on the Emil River that flows through China and Kazakhstan. 

One of her influences was changes to the tax system. She didn't like the centralization of authority that was the norm in her husband's administration, even though it had a practical purpose: reducing the need for revenue. She persuaded Ogedei to appoint Abd-ur-Rahman as tax farmer in China.

What does a tax farmer do? Good question. Answer coming soon.

Möngke Khan Ascends

Möngke Khan (11 January 1209 - 11 August 1259) was the son of Tolui (c.1190 - c.1232), the youngest son of Genghis Khan. Möngke had been successful between 1237 and 1241 while commanding the part of the Mongol army that campaigned in southern Russia and Eastern Europe. He was very effective at getting his point across: when he conquered the tribes north of the Caspian, and the tribal leader Bacman refused to kneel before him, Möngke simply had him cut in half.

After the leader of the Mongol Empire, Ogedei Khan, died in December 1241, there was disagreement over which of Genghis' descendants was fit to rule. After a five-year regency by Ogedei's widow, Toregene, Ogedei's oldest son Guyuk was chosen.

But Guyuk was not a popular choice for everyone; he reversed several edicts from his mother's time as ruler, and executed for treason several of her high-ranking officials. In 1246, he ordered an empire-wide census, after which he imposed a tax on everything, and a poll tax on males in Georgia and Armenia. His reign lasted only 2 years, and there is suspicion that he was poisoned on the eve of his plan to attack the western part of his own empire who had not supported his ascension to the throne.

Möngke came to the throne after some similar familial rivalry, but the clan of Genghis' eldest son, Batu, supported Möngke. They were the clan in the west whom Guyuk had planned to attack. Möngke's mother had done them a favor by warning them of Guyuk's scheme.

The new Khan purged his empire of those who might have been more loyal to previous administrations. The most prominent execution was that of Guyuk's wife, Oghul Qaimish, who had been regent between Guyuk's death and Möngke's accession: she was wrapped in felt and thrown into the river. Others across the empire deemed not suitably loyal or trustworthy due to their connection to different descendants of Genghis who might feel their claim to the throne was stronger, were punished by having hands and feet cut off, or having their mouths filled with stones, or simply being trampled by horses.

Relations with Batu and his tribe remained good, however. And he placed his loyal brothers in charge of parts of the empire: Hulegu in Iran and Kublai (yes, that Kublai in northern China.

We know more about Möngke's reign thanks to the Itinerarium of a Franciscan monk, William Rubruck, about whom I've written here. And you can learn more about Möngke's reign in previous posts here and here, and of course about Kublai, and even more about Guyuk. I have not written in the past about Toregene, whose years ruling the empire were not just a place-holder until a male came along. I'll talk about her next.

The Seventh Crusade

King Louis IX of France could not convince any of the rulers of Europe to accompany him on a Crusade to free Jerusalem, which had been recaptured in 1240. He organized and funded (by taxing the church) the Seventh Crusade himself. It could have gone better.

Battle of Mansura

After wintering in Cyprus, he took the town of Damietta in Egypt to use as a base, then had to sit there for six months while the Nile flooded, which gave his enemies time to assemble their forces. Marching toward Cairo, he was stopped by a canal near Mansura, on the other side of which was an Egyptian army larger than his.

Louis tried building a causeway across the canal, but the Egyptians simply dug away at their side of the canal, widening it and putting their bank every farther out of his reach. After two fruitless months, he sent his cavalry to cross at a shallow ford 4 miles upstream. Louis' brother Robert was to hold the cavalry until a signal, but he charged into Mansura, probably seeking his own glory, and succeeded in wiping out most of the cavalry. The Crusaders were too weak to take and hold Mansura, and so Louis retreated to Damietta.

On 6 April, 1250, at the Battle of Fariskur, the Egyptian Mamluks defeated the Crusaders and captured Louis. His ransom was 800,000 gold livre and the return of Damietta to the Egyptians. Louis sailed to Acre in Syria, where he tried to get help to continue the Crusade. He negotiated with the Mongol Möngke Khan through his emissary, William of Rubruck, which infuriated the Mamluks, whose territory to the east had been invaded by the ever-spreading Mongols.

By 1254, Louis had run out of money and, word coming that his mother, Blanche of Castile, who had been running France in his absence, had died, he had to return to France. Louis would try another Crusade, the Eighth, in 1270, where he would die on 25 August in Africa from "a flux in the stomach." He should have simply stayed home.

The Tolerant Khan

There were many Khans in the Mongol Empire, but none quite like Tëmur. Tëmur was a grandson of Kublai Khan, born on 15 October, 1265; his father was crown prince, but died before Kublai, and when Kublai died in February 1294, the choice to succeed him was between Tëmur and his brother Gammala. A competition was held between them to see which one knew better the sayings of Genghis Khan; Tëmur won.

Over the next 13 years, Tëmur continued the policies and economic reforms of his grandfather. His personal accomplishments were few, and mostly in the realm of cultural diversity and tolerance. A Mongol and a follower of Buddhism, he expanded the presence of various other religions and ethnic groups in his administration.

Besides Mongols and Han Chinese, he had Muslims and a few Christians working for him. He declared that Confucians were to be respected; he hired a Confucian, Hargashun, as grand chancellor. He increased the number of Tibetans in the administration, and a Tibetan even married into his family. Kublai had been anti-Taoist, but Tëmur appointed a Taoist as head of his Orthodox Unity School.

He also relaxed the burden of taxes on his subjects, and gave exemptions for taxes several times. Mongol commoners, for instance, were at one point given two years free from paying taxes to the crown. (Unfortunately, this largesse would have a bad effect on the economy, since the loss of revenue weakened the paper currency.)

Everything passes, however. Tëmur Khan died on 10 February 1307.

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.