Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Common Themes
- Part II The Church in the Thirteenth Century
- Part III The Western Kingdoms
- Part IV Italy
- Part V The Mediterranean Frontiers
- Part VI The Northern and Eastern Frontiers
- 22 The Mongols and Europe
- 23 Scandinavia and the Baltic frontier
- 24 Eastern Europe
- 25 The Celtic lands of the British Isles
- Appendix Genealogical tables
- Primary sources and secondary works arranged by chapter
- Index
- Plate section
- Map 1 Europe in the thirteenth century
- Map 3 France, c. 1260
- Map 5 Germany and the western empire
- Map 6 Genoa, Venice and the Mediterranean
- Map 8 The Latin empire of Constantinople and its neighbours
- Map 10 Aragon and Anjouin the Mediterranean">
- References
22 - The Mongols and Europe
from Part VI - The Northern and Eastern Frontiers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Common Themes
- Part II The Church in the Thirteenth Century
- Part III The Western Kingdoms
- Part IV Italy
- Part V The Mediterranean Frontiers
- Part VI The Northern and Eastern Frontiers
- 22 The Mongols and Europe
- 23 Scandinavia and the Baltic frontier
- 24 Eastern Europe
- 25 The Celtic lands of the British Isles
- Appendix Genealogical tables
- Primary sources and secondary works arranged by chapter
- Index
- Plate section
- Map 1 Europe in the thirteenth century
- Map 3 France, c. 1260
- Map 5 Germany and the western empire
- Map 6 Genoa, Venice and the Mediterranean
- Map 8 The Latin empire of Constantinople and its neighbours
- Map 10 Aragon and Anjouin the Mediterranean">
- References
Summary
THE RISE AND CHARACTER OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE
THE founder of the Mongol empire was a chieftain named Temüjin, who in the late twelfth century had become leader of one of a number of nomadic tribes which paid tribute to the Chin dynasty (1123–1234) in northern China. But within a few years the Mongols had subdued their pastoralist neighbours, notably the Tatars, the Kereyid (Kereit) and the Naiman; in 1206 Temüjin was proclaimed Chinggis Khan at an assembly (quriltai) representing the tribes of the eastern Eurasian steppe; and from 1211 he was at war with his former over-lord, the Chin emperor. By his death in 1227 his dominions extended from the Siberian forests to the Hindu Kush and from the Yellow Sea to the Caspian.
The Mongol empire rapidly evolved into more than just a confederacy of nomadic tribes as it incorporated semi-sedentarised and even settled elements: the Önggüd, inhabiting the intermediate zone between China and the steppe; the Khitan, semi-nomads in the region adjoining Manchuria; and the Uighurs, town-dwellers in the Tarim basin. The Khitan were remnants of an earlier imperial power which had reigned over Mongolia and part of northern China as the Liao dynasty until their overthrow by the Chin in 1125; under the form ‘Cathay’ (via the Arabic-Persian Khita), their name would later become current in the west for China as a whole. In their war against the Chin, the Mongols benefited from the assistance of Khitan officials and military units seeking to avenge the defeat of their forebears. The Uighurs too had been masters of an extensive steppe domain three centuries earlier, but had latterly been subject to the empire of the Qara (‘Black’) Khitan, founded by a fugitive Liao prince whose dynasty reigned over much of central Asia under the title of gür-khan (‘world ruler’). In 1218 the Qara Khitan empire, which had been taken over by one of Chinggis Khan’s enemies, the Naiman prince Küchlüg, was in turn incorporated in the Mongol dominions.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge Medieval History , pp. 701 - 719Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
References
(1977), 1274. Année charnière: mutations et continuités, Colloques internationaux du CNRS, 558, Paris
(1822, 1824), ‘Mémoire sur les relations politiques des princes chrétiens, et particulièrement des rois de France, avec les empereurs Mongols’, Mémoires de l’Institut royal de France, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
6: ; 7:Google Scholar
(1987), Mongol imperialism: the policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia and the Islamic lands, 1251–1259, Berkeley and Los Angeles
(1924), Die Dominikanermissionen des 13. Jahrhunderts, Breslauer Studien zur historischen Theologie, 3, Habelschwerdt
(1911), Die Mongolen und ihre Eroberungen in kaukasischen und kleinasiatischen Ländern im XIII Jahrhundert, Historische Studien, 91, Berlin
(1995), Mongols and Mamluks: the Mamluk–Ilkhanid war, 1260–1281, Cambridge
(1926), ‘Priem tatarskikh poslov pri nikeiskom dvore’, in Sbornik statei posviashchennykh pamiati N.P. Kondakova, Prague
Google Scholar
(1983), Levant trade in the later Middle Ages, Princeton
(1970), ‘Notes sur l’activité maritime des Génois de Caffa à la fin du XIIIe siècle’, in Mollat du Jourdain (1970)Google Scholar
(1977), ‘Les Génois en Asie centrale et en extrême-orient au XIVe siècle: un cas exceptionnel?’, in Mélanges Edouard Perroy, Paris
Google Scholar
(1985), ‘Missions to the east in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries’, in Setton (1969–1990) V
Google Scholar
(1968), Turkestan down to the Mongol invasion, 3rd edn. by
with additional chapter trans. by Mrs
, Gibb Memorial Series, n.s., 5, London
(1970), ‘Les relations économiques des occidentaux avec les pays d’orient au moyen âge: points de vue et documents’, in Mollat du Jourdain (1970)Google Scholar
(1966), The achievements of Prester John, London; repr. in his Between Islam and Christendom, London (1983)
and
(eds.) (1996), Prester John, the Mongols and the Ten Lost Tribes, Aldershot
(1974), Die Mongolen in abendländischer Sicht (1220–1270): ein Beitrag zur Frage der Völkerbegegnungen, Berne and Munich
(1971), I Tartari e l’Apocalisse: ricerche sull’escatologia in Adamo Marsh e Ruggero Bacone, Florence
(1963), ‘Kirakos of Ganjak on the Mongols’, Central Asiatic Journal
8: ; repr. in Boyle (1977)Google Scholar
(1964), ‘The journey of Hetʿum I, king of Little Armenia, to the court of the Great Khan Möngke’, Central Asiatic Journal
9: : repr. in Boyle (1977)Google Scholar
(1968), ‘Dynastic and political history of the Il-Khans’, in The Cambridge history of Iran, V: The Saljuq and Mongol periods, ed.
, Cambridge
Google Scholar
(1976), ‘The Il-khans of Persia and the princes of Europe’, Central Asiatic Journal
20:Google Scholar
(1977), The Mongol world empire, 1206–1370, London
(1929), Recherches sur le commerce génois dans la Mer Noire au XIIIe siècle, Paris
(1973), Die ‘Nationes Christianorum Orientalium’ im Verständnis der lateinischen Historiographie, Kölner Historische Abhandlungen, 22, Cologne
(1975), ‘Die Mongolen im Weltbild der Lateiner um die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des “Speculum Historiale” des Vincenz von Beauvais OP’, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte
57:Google Scholar
(trans.), The monks of Kûblâi Khân emperor of China or the histoy of the life and travels of Rabban Sâwmâ…, London (1928)
(1935–1945) ‘Un traité entre Byzance et l’Egypte au XIIIe siècle et les relations diplomatiques de Michel VIII Paléologue avec les sultans mamluks Baibars et Qalâʾûn’, in Mélanges offerts à Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Cairo
Google Scholar
, ‘Ystoria Mongalorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus’, ed. in
, Sinica franciscana, 1 ; trans. in Dawson, The Mongol mission
(trans.), Histoire de Mar Jabalaha III et du moine Rabban çauma, Paris (1895)
(1896), ‘Notes sur les relations entre le roi Arghoun et l’Occident’, Revue de l’Orient latin
2:Google Scholar
(1973), ‘Western views of the origin of the “Tartars”’, Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
3:Google Scholar
(1992), Marco Polo’s book, Aldershot
(1983), Histoire et institutions des églises orientales au moyen âge, London
(trans.), The Mongol mission: narratives and letters of the Franciscan missionaries in Mongolia and China in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, London and New York (1955)
(1971), Papal envoys to the Great Khans, London
(1973), ‘Some remarks on the ideological foundations of Chingis Khan’s empire’, Papers on Far Eastern History
7:Google Scholar
(1989), ‘The title Cinggis Qan re-examined’, in
and
(eds.), Gedanke und Wirkung: Festschrift zum 90. Geburtstag von Nikolaus Poppe, Asiatische Forschungen, 108, Wiesbaden
Google Scholar
(1989)
(ed.), ‘Lettre des Chrétiens de Terre-Sainte à Charles d’’Anjou’, Revue de l’Orient latin
2 (1894)Google Scholar
(ed.), ‘Drei Texte zur Geschichte der Ungarn und Mongolen’, Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse
6 (1956)Google Scholar
(1981), ‘Strategic implications of the slave trade between Genoa and Mamluk Egypt in the second half of the thirteenth century’, in
(ed.), The Islamic Middle East 700–1900, Princeton
Google Scholar
(1983), The crisis of medieval Russia 1200–1304, London
(1975), Chrétiens syriaques sous les Mongols (Il-Khanat de Perse, XIIIe–XIVe s.), Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Subsidia, 44, Louvain
(1966), ‘Sino-western contacts under the Mongol empire’, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
6:Google Scholar
(1986), ‘Auf der Suche nach der Wirklichkeit: die Mongolen und die euro-päische Erfahrungswissenschaft im 13. Jahrhundert’, Historische Zeitschrift
243:Google Scholar
and
(eds.), Der Mongolensturm: Berichte von Augenzeugen und Zeitgenossen 1235–1250, Graz, Vienna and Cologne (1985)
(ed.), Biblioteca bio-bibliografca della Terra Santa e dell’oriente francescano, 5 vols., Quaracchi (1906–1923)
(ed.), Catalogus fontium historiae Hungaricae, 3 vols., Budapest (1937–1938)
(1941), ‘Die Tataren im Spiegel der byzantinischen Literatur’, in
(ed.), Jubilee volume in honour of Prof Bernhard Heller, Budapest
Google Scholar
(1971), ‘Simon of Saint-Quentin and the Dominican mission to the Mongol Baiju: a reappraisal’, Speculum
46:Google Scholar
(1972), ‘Simon of Saint-Quentin as historian of the Mongols and Seljuk Turks’, Medievalia et humanistica
3:Google Scholar
(1978), ‘Marco Polo in China: problems with internal evidence’, Bulletin of Sung and Yüan Studies
14
Google Scholar
(1966), ‘Diplomatie pontificale et activité missionnaire en Asie au XIII–XIVe siècles’, in Comité international des sciences historiques. XIIe congrès international Vienne 1965. Rapports, Vienna, IIGoogle Scholar
(1983), ‘Russia in the Mongol empire in comparative perspective’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
43
Google Scholar
and
(eds.), Acta Innocentii PP. IV (1243–1254), Vatican City (1962)
(1985), ‘Prester John and the Three Kings of Cologne’, in
and
(eds.), Studies in medieval history presented to R.H.C. Davis, London
Google Scholar
, ‘La flor des estoires de la terre d’orient’, in Recueil des historiens des croisades: documents arméniens, II, Paris (1906)
, The chronography of Gregoy Abü’l-Faraj, … commonly known as Bar Hebraeus, ed. and trans.
, 2 vols., London and Oxford (1932)
(1984), ‘De Marco Polo à Christophe Colomb: comment lire le Devisement du monde?’, Journal of Medieval History
10:Google Scholar
(1885–1886) Histoire du commerce du Levant au moyen âge, trans.
, 2 vols., Leipzig
(1977), From Saladin to the Mongols: the Ayyubids of Damascus 1193–1260, New York
and
(trans.), The mission of Friar William of Rubruck: his journey to the court of the Great Khan Möngke (1253–1255), Hakluyt Society, 2nd series, 173, London (1990)
(1998), ‘Marco Polo and his “Travels”’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
61:Google Scholar
(1993), Ursprung und Ausprägung des abendländischen Mongolenbildes im 13. Jahrhundert: ein Versuch zur Ideengeschichte des Mittelalters, Wiesbaden
(ed.), Peregrinatores medii aevi quatuor, Leipzig (1873)
(1953), ‘Tatarskoe nashestvie na Vengriiu v sviazi s mezhdunarodnymi sobytiiami epokhy’, Acta historica academiae scientiarum hungaricae
2:Google Scholar
(1968), ‘The relations between Edward I and Edward II of England and the Mongol Il-khans of Persia’, Iran
6:Google Scholar
(1970), ‘Les méthodes commerciales des marchands occidentaux en Asie du XIe au XIVe siècle’, in Mollat du Jourdain (1970)Google Scholar
(ed.), ‘Annales monasterii de Burton’, in Annales Monastici, 1, Rolls Series, London (1864)Google Scholar
(ed.), Die Beziehungen der Päpste zu islamischen und mongolischen Herrschern im 13. Jahrhundert anhand ihres Briefwechsels, Vatican City (1981)
(ed.), ‘An unknown letter of Hulagu, Il-Khan of Persia, to King Louis IX of France’, Viator
II (1980)Google Scholar
(ed.) (1970), Sociétés et compagnies du commerce en orient et dans l’océan indien, Paris
, ‘Epistolae’, ed. in
, Sinica franciscana, I
(1989), ‘The Mongols and the eastern Mediterranean’, Mediterranean Historical Review
4: ; also in
, et al. (eds.), Latins, Muslims and Greeks in the eastern Mediterranean after 1204, London and Tel Aviv
Google Scholar
(1986), The Mongols, Oxford
and
(ed. and trans.), Les lettres de 1289 et 1305 des ilkhan Aryun et öljei tü à Philippe le Bel, Cambridge, MA
(1930), Christians in China before the year 1550, Cambridge
(1979), Popes, lawyers and infidels, Liverpool
(1988), ‘Jean de Montecorvino (1247–1328) – premier archevêque de Chine’, Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft
44:Google Scholar
(1960), Marco Polo’s Asia, Berkeley and Los Angeles
(ed.), Hystoria Tartarorum C. de Bridia monachi, Berlin (1967)
(1955), ‘The domestic enemy: the eastern slaves in Tuscany in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries’, Speculum
30:Google Scholar
, Chronica majora, ed.
, 7 vols., Rolls Series, London (1872–1883)
(1977), ‘Mongol′ skii pokhod v glub′ Evropy’, in
(ed.), Tataro-Mongoly v Azii i Evrope: sbornik statei, 2nd edn, Moscow
Google Scholar
(1923, 1924 and 1932), ‘Les Mongols et la papauté’, Revue de l’orient chrétien
23: ; 24: ; 28:Google Scholar
(1959–1973) Notes on Marco Polo, 3 vols., Paris
(1973), Recherches sur les chrétiens d’Asie centrale et d’extrême orient, Paris
(trans.), The Hypatian Codex, part two: the Galician-Volynian Chronicle, Munich (1973)
(1998), The medieval expansion of Europe, 2nd edn, Oxford
, Le divisament dou monde (Latin text in MS Z), ed. and trans.
and
, Marco Polo: the description of the world, 2 vols., London (1938); trans.
, The travels of Marco Polo, London (1931)
, ‘Relatio’, ed. in
, Sinica franciscana, I ; trans. in Dawson, The Mongol mission
(1991), Genghis Khan: his life and legacy, trans.
, Oxford
(1949), ‘Le début des relations entre la papauté et les Mongols de Perse’, Journal asiatique
237: : repr. in Richard (1977d)Google Scholar
(1955), ‘L’extrême-orient légendaire au moyen âge: roi David et Prêtre Jean’, Annales d’Ethiopie
2: ; repr. in Richard (1976)Google Scholar
(1957), ‘La mission en occident de Rabban çauma et l’union des églises’, in XII° Convegno Volta. Oriente e occidente nel medio evo, Rome ; repr. in Richard (1976)Google Scholar
(1973), ‘Ultimatums mongols et lettres apocryphes: l’occident et les motifs de guerre des Tartares’, Central Asiatic Journal
17: ; repr. in Richard (1976)Google Scholar
(1976), Orient et occident au moyen âge (XIIe–XVe s.): contacts et relations, London
(1977a), ‘Les Mongols et l’occident: deux siècles de contacts’, in 1274. Année charnière (1977); repr. in Richard (1983)Google Scholar
(1977b), ‘Chrétiens et Mongols au concile: la Papauté et les Mongols de Perse dans la seconde moitié du XIIIe siècle’, in 1274. Année charnière (1977); repr. in Richard (1983)Google Scholar
(1977c), La papauté et les missions d’orient au moyen âge (XIIIe–XVe siècles), Rome
(1977d), Les relations entre l’orient et l’occident au moyen âge: études et documents, London
(1979a), ‘Les causes des victoires mongoles d’après les historiens occidentaux du XIIIe siècle’, Central Asiatic Journal
23: ; repr. in Richard (1983)Google Scholar
(1979b), ‘Une ambassade mongole à Paris en 1262’, Journal des savants: 295–303; repr. in Richard (1983)Google Scholar
(1983), Croisés, missionnaires et voyageurs: les perspectives orientales du monde latin médiéval, London
(1986), ‘La lettre du Connétable Smbat et les rapports entre Chrétiens et Mongols au milieu du XIIIème siècle’, in
(ed.), Armenian studies in memoriam Haïg Berbérian, Lisbon
Google Scholar
(1994), ‘A propos de la mission de Baudouin de Hainaut: l’empire latin de Constantinople et les Mongols’, Journal des Savants:Google Scholar
(1968), ‘European navigation in the Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea (12th–15 th centuries)’, Iran
6
Google Scholar
(1989), ‘La croisade de 1270, premier “passage général”?’, Comptes rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
Google Scholar
, ‘Carmen miserabile’, ed.
, in Szentpétery, Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum, II
(1988), Khubilai Khan: his life and times, Berkeley and Los Angeles
(1992), Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the first journey from China to the West, Tokyo and New York
, ‘Itinerarium’, ed. in
, Sinica franciscana, 1 ; trans. in
and
, The mission of Friar William
(1977), ‘Die Tataren 1241/2. Nachrichten und Wiedergabe: Korrespondenz und Historiographie’, Römische Historische Mitteilungen
19:Google Scholar
, Historia Tartarorum, ed.
, Simon de Saint-Quentin: histoire des Tartares, Documents relatifs à l’histoire des croisades, 8, Paris (1965)Google Scholar
(1969), ‘Matthew Paris and the Mongols’, in
and
(eds.), Essays in medieval histoy presented to Bertie Wilkinson, Toronto
Google Scholar
(1971), The histoy of the Mongol conquests, London
(1977), ‘The Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut and the restoration of the Greek empire’, in J.J. Saunders, Muslims and Mongols, ed.
, Canterbury, NZ
Google Scholar
(1979), ‘
Gesta Dei per Mongolos 1300: the genesis of a non-event’, English Historical Review
94
Google Scholar
(1994), Europa und die Fremden: die Mongolen im Urteil des Abendlandes vom 13. bis in das 15. Jahrhundert, Sigmaringen
(ed.) (1992), Wahlstatt 1241. Beiträge zur Mongolenschlacht bei Liegnitz und zu ihren Nachwirkungen, Würzburg
(general ed.) (1969–1990) A history of the crusades, 6 vols. (I and II, 2nd edn), Madison, WI
(1952), ‘Un voyageur du treizième siècle: le Dominicain Julien de Hongrie’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
14: ; repr. in Sinor (1977b)Google Scholar
(1956), ‘Les relations entre les Mongols et l’Europe jusqu’à la mort d’Arghoun et de Béla IV’, Journal of World History
3: ; repr. in Sinor (1977b)Google Scholar
(1972a), ‘Horse and pasture in Inner Asian history’, Oriens extremus
19: ; repr. in Sinor (1977b)Google Scholar
(1972b), ‘The mysterious “Talu Sea” in Öljeitü’s letter to Philip the Fair of France’, in Analecta Mongolica dedicated to Owen Lattimore, Bloomington, IN ; repr. in Sinor (1977b)Google Scholar
(1975), ‘The Mongols and western Europe’, in Setton (1969–1990) in ; repr. in Sinor (1977b)Google Scholar
(1977b), Inner Asia and its contacts with medieval Europe, London
(1984), ‘ʿAyn Jalut: Mamluk success or Mongol failure?’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
44:Google Scholar
(1930), Il papato, l’Europa cristiana e i Tartari: un secolo di penetrazione occidentale in Asia, Milan
, ‘Historia pontificum Salonitanorum atque Spalatensium’, in Gombos, Catalogus, III
(1965), Die Goldene Horde: die Mongolen in Rußland 1223–1502, 2nd edn, Wiesbaden
(1985), Die Mongolen in Iran: Politik, Verwaltung und Kultur der Ilchanzeit 1220–1350, 4th edn, Leiden
(1893), Der Einfall der Mongolen in Mitteleuropa in den Jahren 1241 und 1242. Innsbruck
(1982), ‘Thomas of Spalato and the Mongols: a thirteenth-century Dalmatian view of Mongol customs’, Florilegium
4:Google Scholar
(1956), ‘The mission of Giovanni di Piano Carpini and Benedict the Pole of Vratislavia to Halicz’, Journal of Economic History
7
Google Scholar
(ed.), Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum, 2 vols., Budapest (1938)
(ed.), Vetera monumenta historica Hungariam sacram illustrantia, 2 vols., Rome (1859–1860)
, Hawak ῾umn Patmut ῾ean, trans.
, ‘The historical compilation of Vardan Arewelc ῾i’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers
43 (1989)Google Scholar
(1941), ‘The Mongol orders of submission to European powers, 1245–1255’, Byzantion
15:Google Scholar
(1995), Did Marco Polo go to China?
London
(ed.), Sinica franciscana, I: Itinera et relationes fratrum minorum saeculi XIII et XIV, Quaracchi and Florence (1929)
and
(eds.), Cathay and the way thither, new edn, Hakluyt Society, 2nd series, 33, 37, 38, 41, London (1913–1916)
(1966), Diplomaticheskie otnosheniia Zolotoi Ordy s Egiptom, Moscow
(1879–1880) ‘Der Priester Johannes’, Abhandlungen der phil Klasse der sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig
7: : 8:Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by