Mongols

Novogrod Chronicle 1222

What about 1350?

'for our sins, unknown tribes came, noone knows who they are or from whence they came... nor what their language is... God alone knows who they are'

- Christian awareness of the Far East and Eurasian steppe was not widespread by the 1220s.

- Yet by the time Kirakos is writing in Armenia in the mid-thirteenth century, he is able to compile a substantial word list, recounting the names of animals, parts of the body, and parts of the day

Timothy May quote on Toregene

'Toregene singlehandedly orchestrated the election of her son Guyuk to the throne'

Timothy May quote on Mongol legacy

'for decades, and perhaps even centuries, historians viewed the Mongols as simply a destructive phenomenon that left neither a Parthenon nor a philosophy'

Kinetic Empire

Pekka Hamaleinen

- Friction not just movement, creates energy.

"The Comanches became and remained dominant by keeping things—markets, warfare, attachments, possessions, themselves—fluid and in motion."

- Empires based on movement

- Both empires built on mobility, both depended on animals, both used raiding.

Letter of Guyuk to Pope Innocent IV in 1246

'Through the power of God, all empires form sunrise to sunset have been given to us, and we own these'

What do Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen's letters suggest?

HRE Frederick II Hohenstaufen's letters to other kings indicate that there was a desire to unite against a common enemy

How did traders minimise risk?

Ortogh system, caravans of 70-100 traders at a time, pooling resources to minimise risk. If the journey failed they would each individually be fine financially.

What counters Joseph Askew's argument that no sources mention real trade?

Rubruck - Details 'Basil, son of an Englishman who had been born in Hungary' 'we were discovered by a woman from Metz in Lorraine'

Carpini - 'Michael the Genoese' and ' Manuel the Venetian'

Daniel Goleman on Chinggis

Leadership theorist. 18 Competencies that best leaders have. Effective leaders display 4, top leaders display 6, C displayed 15

Matthew Paris on war strategy

'if by chance they did spare any who begged their lives, they compelled them, as slaves of the lowest condition, to fight in front of them against their own kindred.'

Timothy May on war strategy

Their unusual haircut made it difficult for new recruits to desert

What was different about Chinggis' war strategy (Timothy May)

- Warfare prior to GK often descended into individual combats where 'victory was often thrown away as the victors stopped fighting in order to plunder their enemy' camp'

- Often, nomadic leaders would often raid and loot areas. However, Temujin would obtain the areas he had conquered. He saw this as a means of guaranteeing security against outside threats

And how did he unite the tribes?

- The tribes were broken down and often stripped of their traditional leadership" had been used in earlier nomadic empires such as Turks and Khazars.

- In return for submission to the Cinggisid state, the tribesmen would now be able to rise up in a meritocratic system with 'careers open to talent'"

Environmentalist argument

The mean annual temperature of Mongolia declined throughout the late 12thC. This fall in temperature probably translated into a reduction in the height and the amount of grass in the steppe land. The animals that depended on the grass were endangered, and the Mongols, who relied on their herds, were similarly threatened. Survival dictated migration out of Mongolia.

In which conflict were soldiers to execute 24 people each?

Khwarazm; 100,000 total death toll

Chinggis about Steppe and governance post death

'If the grandees and warriors who serve them (new emperors) don't maintain the yasa strictly, the empire will become shaky and end. 'They will wish they had Chinggis Khan, but they will not have him'

What does Chinggis do after being initially defeated by Ong Khan in 1203?

'insisted on sharing his limited food supplies equally with his men'

What did Chinggis do after 1204?

The Uyghur script as the writing system for Mongolian. He employed captured scribes to begin recording decrees, orders, and censuses.

John Masson Smith Jr on Mongol army

In comparison to the Mamluks of Egypt, the Mongols were poorly trained

- This is a poor comparison because all Mamluk soldiers were recruited and trained solely to serve as soldiers; The Mongols could not be considered an elite army because they were not individually selected; all-able bodied men fought in the army.

How did they oversee captured cities?

They often left local rulers in place but left them under the supervision of a Mongol overseer.

At the same time it was a kinetic empire defined not by fixed borders.

How did Ogodei change the tax system?

He demonstrated the value of a rational system of taxation over short-term plundering by forecasting the ta revenue

How did Mongke reform taxation system?

By mid-13thC taxation was a combo of local taxes and new levies every 4 months or so; Mongke created a new system in which all adults were subject, concentrating power at the imperial centre

How do we know through Carpini that women participated in social activities in the Steppe?

Women, 'although they may get very drunk, yet in their intoxication they never come to words or blows.'

What has recent historiography revealed about women's roles in the steppe?

Modern anthropological approach with careful mining of he historical sources to propose the following: young people seem to have been taught to have a sense of honour, a respect for hierarchy, admiration for elders, and an appreciation for working with others - also encouraged to develop a certain 'agility of spirit'.

Chess and riddles taught strategy. Also learnt how to care for specific animals.

Why is it difficult to avoid masculine bias when approaching medieval sources?

Women are normally referred to in terms of their relationship to men: as 'wives of', 'daughters of' etc.

How did women help to establish the Ortogh system and wider trade?

The Khatuns were encouraged to invest their wealth through trade.

- Commerce flourished particularly as Toregene and Oghul Qaimish favoured merchants. According to Rashid Al-Din, Oghul Qaimish received the first mission from Louis IX

- There were attempts at imposing taxation on Traders during ogodei's rule when trading was at its peak however Torgene replaced the Ministers who were in favor of tax impositions.

- Sorghaghtani was in charge of not only her personal camp but also the people and revenues of her deceased husband Tolui.

How did Kublai's government help trade - and how does this show an integration of other cultural norms?

It built and expanded roads, canals, and waystations - notably ordering the excavation of a direct waterway between his newly founded city of Daidu and Hangzhou, expanding the Grand Canal and shortening the distance between the two cities to 1,794km - a very 'Chinese' strategy

What shows that the Pax Mongolica was not fully safe?

Marco Polo; he and his relatives ended up on the Volga River only to find that fighting between the Golden Horde and Il-Khanate meant 'no one could travel without peril of being taken', thus, they were forced to move deeper into Central Asia, into Bukhara where they found 'they could neither proceed further forward nor yet turn back again', staying there for three years'

How do Persian sources treat women

Torgene: As an extremely smart and capable woman, yet always in slightly negative terms. She is cunning or shrewd, not intelligent; or she is described as clever but not attractive

'all manner of men bent their steps towards her' (juvayni)

Sorqoqtani: Positively, a 'match for men in governance'

Oghul Qaimish: Hard to find anything complimentary

Fatima: Negatively

Why is it unsurprising that women played large roles in successions?

- They ran domestic economies and campsites while men were away.

- In Mongol culture, power followed the household, and the royal women were matriarchs of powerful dynastic branches

- Women raised the people campaigning... easy to underestimate the roles they played in society.

What shows that women had to know how to use their power?

Oghul Qaimish failed to understand the importance of a kurultai and allowed her sons to develop rival camps, weakening her political base at a critical moment and ultimately failing to secure lasting authority.

- Decision to raise taxes on herders from 1% to 10% just prior to election of new Khan in 1250 also lost her support.

Theories for why the Mongols didn't invade Europe? (4)

- Geographic concerns; Hungary plain's surrounding area: mountains and dense forests. Marshes and frequent flooding

- Ogodei's death in 1241

- Batu also faced problems within his own command, for his army had been weakened by the desertion of the qaghan's son Guyuck.

- May not have planned European expansion

John Phillips quote on Pax Mongolica

The Mongols 'created a desert and called it peace'

Why do Carpini, Rubruck, and Simon highlight Mongol weaknesses?

Captives had every interest in exaggerating the vulnerability of their captors in the event of a Western attack

How can we argue against Mongol religious 'tolerance'

To be tolerant is to be a bit distant, I don't want anything to do with this but you can do what you want. They are interested.

- Rubruck reports that "the khans were deeply interested in Latin books and examined them diligently,"

Why are historians rarely appreciative of captives?

'We see the Mongols through the eyes of the educated men who travelled under the protection given to envoys, missionaries or merchants and returned to write and disseminate accounts of what they had seen. This obscures the fact that captives supplied much of their information'

Why so many different faiths in the camps?Give an example

They actively sought the services of the clerical classes of the different groups, requiring each to offer prayers and blessings within public and private ceremonies.

As William and his party traveled through steep and jagged rocks, his guide requested a 'prayer which could chase away the demons because in this place the devils were known to carry away men

Benedict the Pole (1247)

'there were about 3,000 ambassador envoys from different parts of the world present bringing letters, answers, and every kind of tribute and gifts to the court'

James Ryan on missionaries

The Franciscans and Dominicans became involved in mission work because of their own sense of purpose, not on papal orders.

Chinese Scholar Wang Li on religious integration in the Yuan Dynasty under Mongol rule

'The land with the Four Seas had become the territory of one family... brotherhood among peoples has certainly reached a new plane'

Why does Anne Broadbridge suggest the persian chroniclers were so critical to Toregene?

The sources' negative portrayal of Töregene does not imply inaccuracy but is rather an outcome of their context; both authors were writing in societies where women did not customarily have authority in public view, and thus have the underlying implication that women were unfit to rule

Who is the only female in the persian sources to not derive her power from a man?

Fatima, yet this fact can be seen as the cause of her demise. Her downfall is orchestrated by government officials who were threatened by her power

Mongke's capital of Krakorum contained...

A Muslim quarter with markets, a Chinese quarter notable for its craftsmen. 12 Buddhist temples, 2 mosques, and Christian church

What does John Tolan say about conversions? How did Rubruck change this?

Early Franciscan missions equated spiritual success with martyrdom more than with actual conversions

Used scholastic theology to prove the truth of Christianity to infidels.

What shows that the faithful struggled to practice their faith in the Steppe?

Rubruck details people asking him how to maintain their Christian beliefs without priests

Types of conversion

Historians often think of conversion as a flip moment thing e.g. St Paul going blind on the way to Damascus. But a real-world conversion would be softer and slower.

- Converions generally were small-scale and deeply theological

Why convert to Islam over Christianity?

Everyone in that region is used to being ruled by Muslims. Converting to Christianity would be much more disruptive than converting to Islam in this period (their people in the government were Muslim).

immanentist vs transcendentalist - how does this manifest in the empire?

Immanentist: worldly assistance (mongols)

Transcendentalism: centred on salvation from the human condition

- Imminentist religion looking an transcendentalist you might not really understand what they're up to - might not being interesting to you. Everything is about the world around you. They allow people to be anything within the empire because they don't see religion as a hindrance, they see themselves as above the other religions.

- it is a choice to adopt someone else's framework; staying with the Mongol framework works for them

Example of Christian rulers seeking to build coalitions

Rabban Sawma's embassy (1287) was received warmly, especially in Rome and Paris, because European leaders hoped to use Mongol power to reconquer Jerusalem

What source highlights the extent of travel and cultural exchange in the empire

Hu Sihui's dietary-medical manual from 1330 - presents his findings to Mongol Emperor Tu-Temur - manual reflects a synthesis of food and medical ideas from persian, Arabic, Turkic and Chinese sources.

Joseph Askew on Pax Mongolica

'myth'

'The accounts of people who actually dealt with the Mongols are by no means supportive of the view that Mongols even understood the idea of trade.'

Secret History - Who?

- Unknown, court insider

Language is vernacular - Mongolian though it survives today only in Chinese transcription

Secret History - Purpose?

To be a guide and instruction for Mongol descendants and to shape their historical consciousness

Secret History - Writing to?

Secret History - Content?

- Begins with ancestry of Mongols, mythic birth of Bodonchar (forefather of Chinggis)

- Born c. 1162 near Onon River

- Father Yesugei is poisoned and family is cast out by their tribe the Tayichiud

- Börte kidnapped by the Merkits

- Temuijin rescues Börte with Toghrul and Jamukha

- Unifies the steppe slowly

Is proclaimed Chinggis Khan in 1206

Secret History Issues

- Probably written around or shortly after 1228; William Hung suggests as late as 1254.

- Intended for the Mongol elites, so it is unlikely to include anything that paints them negatively.

- The authors "weren't there" for early events; much of the narrative is retrospective and possibly mythologised.

Secret History on CK

'this son of yours is a boy who has fire in his eyes, who has light in his face'

Secret History on unification

'He united the people who had scattered'

Secret History on loyalty, honesty, and courage (4)

1) Subedei - 'I shall be a rat, and with the others I shall hoard up goods for you; I shall be a black crow and with the others I shall gather for you

2) C to Subedei and Jelme 'you two, when I had no friend but my shadow, became my shadow'

3) During fight against Tayicuit, Jelme sucked the blood from C's injured neck all night

4) When Jebe came to submit, he openly acknowledged that he had shot C's warhorse

Secret History on women raising children (3)

- Yesugei is poisoned, Chinggis family abandoned by their clan

- 'You who have destroyed human life' after Chinggis kills his half-brother

- Alan Qo'a's parable of five arrows

Secret History - CK on yam system

'if one causes even a piece of string to be lacking, he shall be guilty and liable to splitting in half along the top of the head'

John of Plano Carpini - Who?

Sent by Pope Innocent IV in 1245

Italian Franciscan friar and papal envoy

One of first Europeans to reach the Mongol court

John of Plano Carpini - Purpose?

- Attempt to convert the Mongols to Christianity and persuade them to stop their attacks on Christian lands

- To inform Christendom of the Mongols' military strength, customs, administration, and attitudes towards Christians

- Do the Mongols want to invade Europe?

John of Plano Carpini - Writing to?

- The Pope (Innocent IV) and Christian rulers in Europe

John of Plano Carpini - Content

- Includes a list of those he came into contact with

- Defensive of his writing as he has a large role - to defend Christendom

- Reached court of Guyuk in 1246

- Response letter from Guyuk rejected papal authority and demanded submission

- Concludes that Christendom's best defense lies in peace and unity among its leaders

John of Plano Carpini - Issues

- Written shortly after returning from his mission, around 1247.

- Religious bias: describes Mongols as "infidels" or "heathens."

- Written for the Pope, so the content is shaped around what European leaders needed to know rather than a balanced or full account.

- Greatly indebted to Rus captives, who had every incentive to exaggerate Mongol weaknesses to encourage Western military support.

- Tends to interpret Mongol society through a Christian moral lens, e.g. criticises Mongol reverence for animals but disregard for human suffering.

What was Carpini scared of?

- 'we were afraid that in the near future the Church of God would be threatened by danger from that quarter'

- Mongol ambassadors coming with them, as they may 'spy out the land or they may kill the ambassadors, for our people are for the most part arrogant and proud'

Carpini on Mongol military tactics (4)

- The Tartars are more obedient to their masters than any other men in the world'

- If a group of ten flees, rest of the hundred are put to death. If one or more of the ten are captured, the rest are put to death if they do not rescue them

- If they see that they are opposed by a large army, they attack and pillage another part of the country

- They retire, going back into their own lines, then ambush the enemy when they follow

Carpini on the personality of the Mongols

- 'when they are without food, eating nothing at all for one or two days, they do not easily show impatience, but they sing and make merry'

- 'At first indeed they are smooth-tounged, but in the end they sting like a scorpion.

Carpini on women in the steppe

'in all their tasks they are swift and energetic'

'young girls and women ride and gallop on horseback with agility like men'

Carpini on food and horses + Chinggis' decree

- 'when they are without food, eating nothing at all for one or two days, they do not easily show impatience, but they sing and make merry'

- 'they have such a number of horses and mares that I do not believe there are so many in all the rest of the world'

What happened to Michael...

Michael, Duke of Chernigov executed for refusing to perform the court ritual of bowing to the South, claiming that such a gesture was unlawful for Christians

Carpini on the yam + Polo on the yam

C - 'we had fresh horses three or four times almost every day and we rode from moon till night'

P - 'as they approach they sound a sort of horn that can be heard from far away as a signal to prepare the horses'

Proof that Carpini is well-educated on Mongol life

He opens with geographical descriptions of Mongol world including detailed references to the correct placement of the Uyghur and the Naiman tribal groups

William of Rubruck - Who? - Who sent him

- Flemish Franciscan Friar, sent by King Louis IX of France in 1253

- Travelled East through the Mongol Empire to the court of Mongke Khan

- Not a formal papal envoy like Carpini; mission was more spiritual and inquisitive

William of Rubruck - Purpose?

-Settle with a community and provide pastoral care, as well as converting the Mongols to Christianity

- Understand Mongol religious beliefs, customs, and administrative systems

- Provide detailed ethnographic and geographic report for Christendom

- William was writing with a clear aim, to persuade sacred and secular leaders, especially those in France, to adapt and better equip missionaries for dealing with the Mongol world

William of Rubruck - Writing to?

King Louis IX of France

William of Rubruck - Content?

- Chronological narrative of his journey; leaves Constantinople in 1253 → Golden Horde and sees Batu → Mongke's court → return journey, leaving Karakorum through the Volga region and back to Constantinople to report to Louis IX

- Describes his limited ability to convert; a man may speak in Mongke's presence only as much as he (the Khan) chooses; also lacks the resources

- 'The Nestorians there are ignorant', always conducting their services in Syriac without knowing what it means

William of Rubruck - Issues

- Likely written between 1255 and 1257, shortly after returning to France.

- Strong Christian bias; interprets Mongol life theologically.

- Some influence from Rus captives, like Carpini, who may have distorted the portrayal of Mongol weakness.

- Although less politically charged than Carpini's, his work may still be shaped by hindsight and nostalgia.

Rubruck on authority of Chinggis

'In Heaven there is only one eternal God; on earth there is only one lord, Chinggis Khan'

Chinggis on the importance of leadership (Rubruck)

'it is because we have no leader that we are oppressed by our neighbours'

Rubruck on Chinese craftsmen

'they are excellent craftsmen in whatever skill'

The religious debate at Mongke's court

- Mongke forbade insults or interruptions

- Buddhist priest asks William to begin with either creation or the soul's destiny, he starts with nature of God.

- William there is one God, Buddhists there are many, William is any of your gods omnipotent? Buddhist - no, William wins. Drinking and celebrations afterwards

What was Rubruck carrying

- Liturgical books

- Vestments for celebrating mass

- Altar cloth (so potentially also an altar for conversions)

What is signifcant about Mongke's brother

Arabucch - he 'stretched out his hand, making the sign of the cross like a bishop' (Christian religious learning?)

2 Negative encounters in the Steppe from Rubruck

'excreting without troubling to move a respectable distance away'

- When drinking wine the Monk's servants would 'crowd in on us like dogs'

Mongke on religion (Rubruck)

'Just as God has given the hand several fingers, so he has given mankind several paths'

- Its basic premise was that the four great religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Taoism) prayed to the same God, more specifically, to the God who had given Chinggis Khan victories in his wars.

How much money did a monk ask Mongke for to restore an Armenian church (Rubruck)

2,000 marks (600kg silver)

Also, in Mongke's court he sees an altar which has been 'really beautifully decked out'

Lady Cota

grew very ill, Mongke asked WR and the monk for help, WR told Mongke about holy roman water and Mongke was open to trying it

What happened when Rubruck went barefoot

'People gathered round, gazing at us as if we were freaks'

What showed that leading Mongols were not swayed by the Christian message?

After preaching at Batu's court - 'Batu gave a slight smile, and all the other Mongols began to clap in derision'

Rubruck on female power

'Batu had 26 wives, each of whom has a large dwelling'

'During processions the wife's seat is second-most elevated after the Khan's own seat'

'Women's task is to drive the wagons, to load and unload the dwellings, milk the cow, dress skins and cover the dwellings'

Rubruck on lack of female power

- 'the women are astonishingly fat'

- 'they are allowed to do what they like with their female slaves'

What did they do with mare's milk according to Rubruck

From the milk left over from the butter they let it turn sour and dry in the sun, storing it in bags until the winter

Rubruck on Mongol wealth

- 'His (Batu) own dwellings had the appearance of a large city'

- WR asks Mongke for accomodation but pleads because he has no silver to offer. Batu: 'just as the sun spreads its rays in all directions, so my power and that of Batu are spread to every quarter, and therefore we need no gold or silver from you'

What influenced some historians like Joseph Askew to conclude that the early sources are 'by no means supportive of the view that the Mongols even understood the idea of trade'

- Details their ingratitude when their pestering finally secured them a gift

- When he meets the Mongols they ask where he has been and who sent him. They took some of his win

Rubruck warning Louis IX about length of text

'You did also adonish me not to fear writing a long letter'

Evidence of Rubruck's patriotism

- 'If the Tartars were to hear that the Pope were launching a crusade against them, they would all flee to their wastes'

- (On Karakorum) -'it is not as fine as the town of St Denis, and the monastery of St Denis is worth ten of the place'

Ethnographic and comparative in Rubruck account

'The Tartars differ here from the Turks, in that the Turks tie their tunics on the left and the Tartars always on the right'

Rubruck joke about Mongke near end of passage

'If I had possessed the power to work miracles, as Moses did, he might perhaps have humbled himself'