Franco-Mongol alliance

Letter from the Ilkhan Mongol Öljaitü to King Philip IV of France, 1305. The huge roll measures 302 by 50 centimetres (9.91 by 1.64 ft)

Many attempts were made towards forming a Franco-Mongol alliance between the mid-13th and early 14th centuries, starting around the time of the Seventh Crusade. Historians note that in hindsight an alliance between the Mongols and the "Franks" (European Crusaders) often appears a logical choice. The Mongols were already very sympathetic to Christianity as many Mongols were Nestorian Christians. The Europeans were open to the idea of assistance coming from the East, due to the long-running legend of a mythical Prester John, an Eastern king in a magical kingdom who many believed would arrive someday to help with the fight in the Holy Land. The Mongols and the Franks also shared a common enemy in the Muslims. There were numerous exchanges of letters, gifts and emissaries between the Mongols and the Europeans as well as offers for varying types of cooperation. However, despite many attempts, there was never any long-term successful military collaboration. Modern historians also debate whether or not such an alliance, if it had been successful, would have been effective in shifting the balance of power in the region, and/or whether it would have been a wise choice on the part of the Europeans. Traditionally, the Mongols tended to see outside parties as either subjects or enemies, with little room in the middle for something such as an ally.

The closest thing to actual Frankish cooperation with Mongol military actions was the overlord-subject relationship between the Mongols and the Frankish Principality of Antioch. Other Christian vassal states included Georgia and Cilician Armenia. Once these countries had submitted, they were required to provide military forces to fight under the Mongol banner, and these forces often showed great enthusiasm in attacking Muslim targets.

The most successful points of both collaboration and non-collaboration between the Mongols and the Christians were in 1260, when most of Muslim Syria was briefly conquered by the joint efforts of the Mongols and their Christian vassals. However, that same year there were other Christians, the Franks of Acre, who entered into a passive truce with the other side, the Egyptian Mamluks. This unusual neutrality on the part of the Franks allowed the Muslim Egyptians to advance northwards through Palestine, to obtain a major and historic success against the Mongols at 1260's pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut.

The Mongols again invaded Syria several times between 1281 and 1312, sometimes in attempts at joint operations with the Europeans, though there were considerable logistical difficulties involved, which usually resulted in the forces arriving months apart, and being unable to satisfactorily combine their activities. Ultimately, the attempts at alliance bore little fruit, and ended with the victory of the Egyptian Mamluks, the total eviction of both the Franks and the Mongols from Palestine by 1303, and a treaty of peace between the Mongols and the Mamluks in 1323, the Treaty of Aleppo.

Early contacts (1209–1244)

See also: Christianity among the Mongols and Mongol invasion of Europe

Expansion of the Mongol Empire.

Among Europeans, there had long been rumors and expectations that a great Christian ally would come from "the East". These rumors circulated as early as the First Crusade, and usually surged in popularity after the loss of a battle by the Crusaders. A legend developed about a figure known as Prester John, who lived in far off India, Central Asia, or perhaps even Ethiopia. This legend fed upon itself, and some individuals who came from the East were greeted with the expectations that they might be the long-awaited Christian heroes. In 1210, news reached the West of the battles of the Mongol Kuchlug, leader of the largely Christian tribe of the Naiman. Kuchlug's forces had been battling the powerful Khwarezmian Empire, whose leader was Muhammad II of Khwarezm. Rumors circulated in Europe that Kuchlug was the mythical Prester John, and was again battling the Muslims in the East.

In 1221, during the Fifth Crusade, as the Christians were unsuccessfully laying siege to the Egyptian city of Damietta, the legends of Prester John again conflated with the reality of Genghis Khan's rapidly expanding Empire. Mongol raiding parties were beginning to invade the eastern Islamic world, in Transoxania and Persia in 1219–1221. Rumors circulated among the Crusaders that a "Christian king of the Indies", a King David who was either Prester John or one of his descendants, had been attacking Muslims in the East, and was on his way to help the Christians in their Crusades. In a letter dated June 20, 1221, Pope Honorius III even commented about "forces coming from the Far East to rescue the Holy Land".

Genghis Khan died in 1227, and his empire was split up by his descendants into four sections, or Khanates, which also degenerated into civil war. The northwestern Kipchak Khanate, also known as the Golden Horde, expanded towards Europe, primarily via Hungary and Poland, while simultaneously opposing the rule of Genghis's successors back at the Mongol capital. The southwestern section, known as the Ilkhanate, was under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson Hulagu, who continued to support the Great Khan, and was therefore at war with the Golden Horde, while simultaneously continuing an advance towards Persia and the Holy Land.

Papal overtures (1245–1248)

The 1246 letter of Güyük to Pope Innocent IV, written in Persian

The first official communications between Europe and the Mongol Empire occurred between Pope Innocent IV (fl. 1243–1254) and the Great Khans, via letters and envoys which were sent overland and could take years to arrive. The communications initiated what was to be a regular pattern in Christian–Mongol communications: The Europeans would ask for the Mongols to convert to Christianity, and the Mongols in return would simply demand submission.

The Mongol invasion of Europe subsided in 1242 with the death of the Great Khan Ögedei, successor of Genghis Khan. However, the relentless march westward of the Mongols had displaced the Khawarizmi Turks, who themselves moved west, eventually allying with the Ayyubid Muslims in Egypt. Along the way, the Turks took Jerusalem from the Christians in 1244, which prompted Christian kings to prepare for a new Crusade (the Seventh Crusade), declared by Pope Innocent at the First Council of Lyon in June 1245.

The loss of Jerusalem also revived hope in the Europeans that the Mongols, who had Nestorian Christians among them and had brought so much destruction to Islam, could be converted to Western Christianity and become allies of Christendom. In March 1245, Pope Innocent IV issued multiple Papal bulls, some of which were sent with an envoy, the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini, to the "Emperor of the Tartars". In Cum non solum, Pope Innocent asked the Mongol ruler to become a Christian and to stop killing Christians. He also expressed a desire for peace. However, the new Mongol khan Guyuk, installed at Karakorum in 1246, replied with a demand for the submission of the Pope and a visit from the rulers of the West in homage to Mongol power:

"You must say with a sincere heart: "We will be your subjects; we will give you our strength". You must in person come with your kings, all together, without exception, to render us service and pay us homage. Only then will we acknowledge your submission. And if you do not follow the order of God, and go against our orders, we will know you as our enemy."

— Letter from Güyük to Pope Innocent IV, 1246.

A second mission sent in 1245 by Pope Innocent was led by the Dominican Ascelin of Lombardia. The mission met with the Mongol commander Baiju near the Caspian Sea in 1247. Baiju, who had plans to capture Baghdad, welcomed the possibility of an alliance and sent a message back via his envoys Aïbeg and Serkis, who accompanied the embassy back to Rome, where they stayed for about a year. They met with Innocent IV in 1248, who replied with his own letter Viam agnoscere veritatis, in which he appealed to the Mongols to "cease their menaces".

Christian vassals

See also: Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia

Among the Christian states in the Levant, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (in blue) and the northern Frank realms of the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli (green) were the most regular allies/subjects of the Mongols, and were required to supply troops to participate in Mongol campaigns.

As the Mongols of the Ilkhanate continued to move towards the Holy Land, city after city fell to the Mongols. The typical Mongol pattern was to give a region one chance to surrender. If the target acquiesced, the Mongols absorbed the populace and warriors into their own Mongol army, which they would then use to further expand the empire. If a community did not surrender, the Mongols moved in and simply slaughtered everyone, thousands at a time. Accordingly, many communities simply surrendered immediately, including some Christian realms in the path of the Mongols. Christian Georgia was repeatedly attacked starting in 1220, and in 1243 Queen Rusudan formally submitted to the Mongols, turning Georgia into a vassal state which then became a regular ally in the Mongol military conquests. King Hetoum I of Armenia submitted in 1247, and became the main conduit of diplomacy between the Mongols and the Europeans, as he strongly encouraged other European monarchs to follow his own example. He sent his brother Sempad to the Mongol court in Karakorum, and Sempad's positive letters about the Mongols were influential in European circles. However, the only monarch who followed Hetoum's advice was his son-in-law, Prince Bohemond VI of Antioch.

Antioch

The Principality of Antioch was one of the earliest crusader states, having been formed in 1098 as a result of the First Crusade. At the time of the Mongol advance, it was under the rule of Bohemond VI. Under the influence of his father-in-law, King Hetoum I of Cilican Armenia, Bohemond too submitted Antioch to Hulagu in 1260. A Mongol representative and a Mongol garrison were stationed in the capital city of Antioch, where they remained until the Principality was destroyed by the Mamluks in 1268. Bohemond was also required by the Mongols to accept the restoration of a Greek Orthodox patriarch, Euthymius, as a way of strengthening ties between the Mongols and the Byzantines. In return for this loyalty, Hulagu awarded Bohemond all the Antiochene territories which had been lost to the Muslims in 1243. But for his relations with the Mongols, Bohemond was also temporarily excommunicated by Jacques Pantaléon, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, though this was lifted in 1263.

In 1262, the Mamluk leader Baibars threatened Antioch for its association with the Mongols. Baibars attempted an attack, but Antioch was saved by Mongol intervention. In later years however the Mongols were not able to offer as much support. In 1264–1265 the Mongols were only able to attack the frontier fort of al-Bira, and in 1268 Baibars completely overran the area, and the 170-year-old principality was no more. In 1271, Baibars sent a letter to Bohemond threatening him with total annihilation and taunting him for his alliance with the Mongols:

"Our yellow flags have repelled your red flags, and the sound of the bells has been replaced by the call: "Allâh Akbar!" (...) Warn your walls and your churches that soon our siege machinery will deal with them, your knights that soon our swords will invite themselves in their homes (...) We will see then what use will be your alliance with Abagha."

— Letter from Baibars to Bohemond VI, 1271

Bohemond was left with no estates except the County of Tripoli, which was itself to fall to the Mamluks in 1289.

Saint Louis and the Mongols

Main article: Seventh Crusade

Louis IX of France had engaged in communications with the Mongols since his first Crusade, when he was met on December 20, 1248 in Cyprus by two Mongol envoys, Nestorians from Mossul named David and Marc, who brought a letter from the Mongol commander in Persia, Eljigidei. The letter communicated a more conciliatory tone than previous Mongol demands for submission, and Eljigidei's envoys suggested that King Louis should land in Egypt, while Eljigidei attacked Baghdad, as a way of preventing the Saracens of Egypt and those of Syria from joining forces. Louis responded by sending an emissary, Andrew of Longjumeau, to the Great Khan Güyük. However, Güyük died, from drink, before the emissary arrived at his court, and his widow Oghul Qaimish simply gave the emissary a gift and a condescending letter to take back to King Louis, instructing to continue sending tributes each year. demanding that the king pay tribute to the Mongols.

Statue of Louis IX at the Sainte Chapelle, Paris.

Louis IX's crusade against Egypt did not go well. Despite initial success in capturing Damietta, he then lost his entire army at the Battle of Al Mansurah and he was himself captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated, in return for a ransom (some of which was a loan from the Templars), and the surrender of the city of Damietta.

A few years later, in 1252, Louis tried unsuccessfully to ally with the Egyptians, and then in 1253 he tried to seek allies from among both the Ismailian Assassins and again from the Mongols. When he saw a letter from the Armenian noble Sempad which spoke well of the Mongols, Louis dispatched the Franciscan William of Rubruck to the Mongol court. However, the Mongol leader Möngke replied only with a letter via William in 1254, asking for the King's submission to Mongol authority.

King Louis attempted a second crusade (the Eighth Crusade) in 1270. The Mongol Ilkhanate leader Abaqa wrote to Louis IX offering military support as soon as the Crusaders landed in Palestine, but Louis instead went to Tunis in modern Tunisia. His intention was evidently to first conquer Tunis, and then to move his troops along the coast to reach Alexandria in Egypt. Some French historians, such as Alain Demurger and Jean Richard, suggest that that this Crusade may still have been an attempt at coordination with the Mongols, in that Louis may have attacked Tunis instead of Syria following a message from Abaqa that he would not be able to commit his forces in 1270, and asking to postpone the campaign to 1271.

Envoys from the Byzantine emperor, the Armenians and the Mongols of Abaqa were present at Tunis, but events put a stop to plans for a continued Crusade, as Louis died there of illness. According to legend, his last words were "Jerusalem".

Relations with the Ilkhanate

Hulagu (1256–1265)

Main article: Hulagu Khan

A certain amount of military collaboration between the Christians and the Mongols did not really take place until 1258-1260, when the forces of Bohemond VI of Antioch, Hetoum I of Armenia, and the Christian Georgians combined forces with the Mongols under the leader of the Mongol Ilkhanate, Hulagu, a grandson of Genghis Khan. Though an avowed shamanist, Hulagu was nevertheless very tolerant of Christianity. His mother Sorghaghtani Beki, his favorite wife, and several of his closest collaborators were Nestorian Christians. One of his most important generals, Kitbuqa, was a Naiman Christian.

Hulagu's army, with the forces of his Christian subjects, effectively destroyed two of the most powerful Muslim dynasties of the era: both that of the Abbasids in Baghdad, and the Ayyubids in Syria.

Fall of Baghdad (1258)

Main article: Battle of Baghdad (1258)

Mongol attack of Baghdad (1258)

Hulagu and Queen Doquz Qatun depicted as the new "Constantine and Helen", in a Syriac Bible.

Baghdad, the seat of the Abbasid dynasty, the jewel of Islam and one of the largest and most powerful cities in the world for 500 years, fell on February 15, 1258, an event often considered as the single most catastrophic event in the history of Islam. The Christian Georgians had been the first to breach the walls, and as described by historian Steven Runciman, "were particularly fiercest in their destruction". When Hulagu conquered the city, the Mongols demolished buildings, burned entire neighborhoods, and massacred nearly 80,000 men, women, and children. But at the intervention of Hulagu's Nestorian Christian wife Doquz Khatun, the Christian inhabitants were spared.

As far as Asiatic Christians were concerned, the fall of Baghdad was cause for celebration. Hulagu and his Christian queen Doquz Khatun came to be considered as God's agents against the enemies of Christianity. The Mongol royal couple was described as "another Constantine, another Helen" by Kyrakos of Ganja for the Armenian Church as well as Bar Hebraeus, and was even represented as such in painting. Bar Hebraeus also wrote of Hulagu that nothing could compare to the "king of kings" in "wisdom, high-mindedness, and splendid deeds".

Invasion of Syria (1260)

After Baghdad, in 1260 the Mongols with their Christian subjects conquered Muslim Syria, domain of the Ayyubid dynasty. They took together the city of Aleppo in January, and in March, the Mongols with the Armenians and the Franks of Antioch took Damascus, under the Christian Mongol general Kitbuqa.

With both the Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties destroyed, the Near East, as described by historian Steven Runciman, "was never again to dominate civilization." The last Ayyubid king An-Nasir Yusuf died shortly thereafter, and with the Islamic power centers of Baghdad and Damascus gone, the center of Islamic power transferred to the Egyptian Mamluks in Cairo.

However, before the Mongols could continue their advance towards Egypt, they needed to withdraw because of other internal matters in the Mongol Empire. Hulagu departed with the bulk of his forces, leaving a small force under Kitbuqa to occupy the conquered territory. Some Mongol raiding parties were sent southwards into Palestine towards Egypt, with small Mongol garrisons of about 1,000 established in Gaza.

Incidents

See also: Mongol raids into Palestine

Kitbuqa besieging Sidon after his nephew's murder by Julian de Grenier.

With Mongol territory now bordering the Franks, a few incidents occurred, one of them leading to an incident in Sidon. Julian de Grenier, Lord of Sidon and Beaufort, described by his contemporaries as irresponsible and light-headed, took the opportunity to raid and plunder the area of the Beqaa Valley in Mongol territory. When the Mongol general Kitbuqa sent his nephew with a small force to obtain redress, they were ambushed and killed by Julian. Kitbuqa responded forcefully by raiding the city of Sidon. These events generated a significant level of distrust between the Mongols and the Crusader forces, whose own center of power was now in the coastal city of Acre.

The incidents raised the ire of the Mamluk leader Baibars, who declared that the treaty that had been signed between the Crusaders and the Mamluks in 1240 had been invalidated when Christian forces assisted the Mongols to capture Damascus. Baibars demanded the evacuation of Saphet and Beaufort, and when the Christians balked, Baibars used that as his excuse to violate the pre-existing truce, and start launching new attacks on such settlements as Nazareth, Mount Tabor, and Bethlehem.

Battle of Ain Jalut

Main article: Battle of Ain Jalut

The Franks of Antioch aside, other Christians worked against the Mongols. The Patriarch of Jerusalem saw the Mongols as a clear threat, and had written to the Pope to warn him about them in 1256.

In 1260, the Franks of Acre maintained a position of cautious neutrality between the Mongols and the Mamluks.

The Franks did send the Dominican David of Ashby to the court of Hulagu in 1260, but also entered into a passive truce with the Egyptian Mamluks. The Barons of Acre allowed the Mamluk forces to move northward through Christian territory unhampered in order to engage the Mongols, in exchange for an agreement to purchase captured Mongol horses at a low price.

The truce allowed the Mamluks to proceed north with their army, camp near Acre, and engage the Mongols at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut on September 3, 1260, where they achieved a decisive and historic victory. It was the first major battle that the Mongols lost, and set the western border for what had seemed an unstoppable expansion of the Mongol Empire.

Following Ain Jalut, the remainder of the Mongol army retreated to Cilician Armenia under the commander Ilka, where the Mongols were received and re-equipped by Hetoum I.

Papal communications

Pope Urban IV (1195–1264) communicated with the Mongols in 1263

In the 1260s, a change occurred in the European perception of the Mongols, and they became regarded less as enemies, and more as potential allies in the fight against the Muslims.

As recently as 1259, Pope Alexander IV had been encouraging a new Crusade against the Mongols, and had been extremely disappointed in hearing that the monarchs of Antioch and Cilician Armenia had submitted to Mongol overlordship. Alexander had put the monarchs' cases on the agenda of his upcoming council, but died in 1261 just months before the Council could be convened, and before the new Crusade could be launched. For a new Pope, the choice fell to Pantaléon, the same Patriarch of Jerusalem who had earlier been warning of the Mongol threat. He took the name Pope Urban IV, and tried to raise money for a new crusade, but could not succeed, since the French clergy pointed out that there was a truce with the Muslims.

On April 10, 1262, the Mongol leader Hulagu sent through John the Hungarian a new letter to the French king Louis IX, again offering an alliance. The letter explained that previously, the Mongols had been under the impression that the Pope was the leader of the Christians, but now they realized that the true power rested with the French monarchy. The letter mentioned Hulagu's intention to capture Jerusalem for the benefit of the Pope, and asked for Louis to send a fleet against Egypt. Hulagu promised the restoration of Jerusalem to the Christians, but also still insisted on Mongol sovereignty, in the Mongols' quest for conquering the world. It is unclear whether or not King Louis actually received the letter, but at some point it was transmitted to Pope Urban, who answered in a similar way as his predecessors. In his papal bull Exultavit cor nostrum, Urban congratulated Hulagu on his expression of goodwill towards the Christian faith, and encouraged him to convert to Christianity.

Historians dispute the exact meaning of Urban's actions. The mainstream view, such as that espoused by British historian Peter Jackson, states that Urban still regarded the Mongols as enemies at this time, though the perception began changing a few years later, during the pontificate of Pope Clement IV, when the Mongols were seen more as potential allies. However, the French historian Jean Richard argues that Urban's act signaled a turning point in Mongol-European relations as early as 1263, after which the Mongols were considered as actual allies. Richard also argues that it was in response to this forming coalition between the Franks, Ilkhanid Mongols and Byzantines, that the Mongols of the Golden Horde allied with the Muslim Mamluks in return. However, the mainstream view of historians is that though there were many attempts at forming an alliance, that the attempts proved unsuccessful.

Abaqa (1265–1282)

The Mamluks defeated the Armenians at the Battle of Mari in 1266, killing one of Hetoum I's sons and capturing another (the future king Leon II). They then ravaged the land of Little Armenia.

Main article: Abaqa Khan

Hulagu died in 1265, and was succeeded by Abaqa (1234-1282), who further pursued Western cooperation. Though a Buddhist, upon his succession he received the hand of Maria Palaiologina, an Orthodox Christian and the illegitimate daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, in marriage.

Abaqa corresponded with Pope Clement IV through 1267-1268, sending envoys to both Clement and King James I of Aragon. In a 1268 message to Clement, Abaqa promised to send troops to aid the Christians. It is unclear if this was what led to James's unsuccessful expedition to Acre in 1269. He initiated a small crusade, but a storm descended on his fleet as they attempted their crossing, forcing most of the ships to turn back. The crusade was ultimately handled by James's two sons Fernando Sanchez and Pedro Fernandez, who arrived in Acre in December 1269. Abaqa, despite his earlier promises of assistance, was in the process of facing another threat, an invasion in Khorasan by Mongols from Turkestan, and so could only commit a small force for the Holy Land, which did little but brandish the threat of an invasion along the Syrian frontier in October 1269. He raided as far as Harim and Afamiyaa in October, but retreated as soon as Baibars' forces advanced.

Edward I's Crusade (1269–1274)

Edward I requested assistance of the Mongols, against the Mamluks

In 1269, the English Prince Edward (the future Edward I), inspired by tales of his great-uncle, Richard the Lionheart, and the second crusade of the French King Louis, started on a Crusade of his own, the Ninth Crusade. The number of knights and retainers that accompanied Edward on the crusade was quite small, possibly around 230 knights, with a total complement of approximately 1,000 people, transported in a flotilla of 13 ships. Edward understood the value of an alliance with the Mongols, and upon his arrival in Acre on May 9, 1271, he immediately sent an embassy to the Mongol ruler Abaqa, requesting assistance. Abaqa answered positively to Edward's request, asking him to coordinate his activities with his general Samagar. But Edward was able only to engage in some fairly ineffectual raids that did not actually achieve success in gaining any new territory. For example, when he engaged in a raid into the Plain of Sharon, he proved unable to even take the small Mamluk fortress of Qaqun. However, Edward's military operations, limited though they were, were still of assistance in persuading the Mamluk leader Baibars to agree to a 10-year truce between the city of Acre and the Mamluks, signed in 1272.

Council of Lyon (1274)

Pope Gregory X promulgated a new Crusade in liaison with the Mongols, in 1274.

In 1274, Pope Gregory X convened the Second Council of Lyon. Abaqa sent a delegation of 13–16 Mongols to the Council, which created a great stir, particularly when their leader underwent a public baptism. Abaqa's Latin secretary Rychaldus delivered a report to the Council which outlined previous European-Ilkhanid relations under Abaqa's father, Hulagu, affirming that after Hulagu had welcomed Christian ambassadors to his court, he had agreed to exempt Latin Christians from taxes and charges, in exchange for their prayers for the Khan. According to Rychaldus, Hulagu had also prohibited the molestation of Frank establishments, and had committed to return Jerusalem to the Franks. Rychaldus assured the assembly that even after Hulagu's death, his son Abaqa was still determined to drive the Mamluks from Syria.

At the Council, Pope Gregory promulgated a new Crusade, in liaison with the Mongols. The Pope put in place a vast program to launch the Crusade, which was written down in his "Constitutions for the zeal of the faith". The text put forward four main decisions to accomplish the Crusade: the imposition of a new tax during three years, the interdiction of any kind of trade with the Sarazins, the supply of ships by the Italian maritime Republics, and the alliance of the West with both Byzantium and the Mongol Il-Khan Abaqa.

Following these exchanges, Abaqa sent another embassy, led by the Georgian Vassali brothers, to further notify Western leaders of military preparations. Gregory answered that his legates would accompany the Crusade, and that they would be in charge of coordinating military operations with the Il-Khan.

However, the papal plans were not supported by the other European monarchs, who had lost enthusiasm for the Crusades. Only one western monarch attended the Council, the elderly James I of Aragon, who could only offer a small force. There was some fundraising for a new Crusade, and plans were made but never followed through. The projects essentially came to a halt with the death of Pope Gregory on January 10, 1276, and the money which had been raised to finance the expedition was instead distributed in Italy.

Invasion of Syria (1280–1281)

See also: Mongol invasions of Syria

Without support from the Europeans, some Franks of Syria, particularly the Hospitallers, and to some extent the Franks of Cyprus and Antioch, attempted to join in combined operations with the Mongols in 1280–1281.

Following the death of Baibars in 1277, and the ensuing disorganization of the Muslim realm, conditions were ripe for a new action in the Holy Land. The Mongols seized the opportunity and organized a new invasion of Syria. In September 1280, the Mongols occupied Bagras and Darbsak, and took Aleppo on October 20, where they massacred many inhabitants.

The king of Cyprus Hugh III and Bohemond VI also mobilized their combined army, but they could not intervene because the Mamluks had already positioned themselves between them and the Mongols. In October 1280, the Mongols sent envoys to Acre to request military support for the campaign, but the Vicar of the Patriarch indicated that the city was suffering from hunger, and that the king of Jerusalem was already embroiled in another war.

Abaqa urged the Franks to start a new Crusade, sending an embassy to Edward I of England, demanding troops and provisions from Acre, and urging Bohemond VII of Tripoli and King Hugh III to join forces with him, though there no record of any response from the Franks. Some local Hospitallers from Marqab (in the area which had previously been Antioch/Tripoli) were able to make some raids into the Buqaia, as far as the Mamluk-held Krak des Chevaliers in 1280 and 1281. But the main forces of the Franks and the Mongols were prevented from joining, by the new Muslim Sultan Qalawun, who advanced north from Egypt in March 1281, and positioned his own army between them.

Defeat of the Mongols (left) at the 1281 Battle of Homs.

Qalawun further divided the potential allies by renewing a truce with the Barons of Acre on May 3, 1281, extending it for another ten years and ten months (a truce he would later breach). He also renewed a second 10-year truce with Bohemond VII of Tripoli, on July 16, 1281, and affirmed pilgrim access to Jerusalem.

In September 1281 the Mongols returned, with 50,000 of their own troops, plus 30,000 others including Armenians under Leo III, Georgians, Greeks, and about 200 Hospitaliers knights of the fortress of Marqab, who allied with the Mongols in spite of the Frankish truce with the Mamluks. The Hospitallers of Marqab fought together with the Mongols against the Mamluks at the Battle of Homs on 30 October 1281, but the encounter was indecisive, with the Sultan suffering heavy losses. In retaliation, Qalawun later besieged and captured the Hospitaller fortress of Marqab in 1285.

Arghun (1284–1291)

Main article: Arghun

Abaqa died in 1282 and was briefly replaced by his brother Tekuder, a converted Muslim. Tekuder reversed Abaqa's policy, offering instead an alliance to the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun, who continued his own advance, capturing the northern fortress of Margat in 1285, Lattakia in 1287, and Tripoli in 1289.

Embassies

1289 letter of Arghun to Philip the Fair, in the Mongolian script, with detail of the introduction. The letter was remitted to the French king by Buscarel of Gisolfe. 182x25 cm. French National Archives.

In 1284, Abaqa's Buddhist son Arghun, with the support of Kublai, led a revolt and had Tekuder executed. Arghun then revived the idea of an alliance with the West, and sent multiple envoys to Europe. The first embassy was led by Isa Kelemechi, a Nestorian Syrian scientist who had been head of Kubilai Khan's astrological observatory in China, who met with Pope Honorius IV in 1285, offering to "remove" the Saracens and divide "the land of Sham, namely Egypt" with the Franks.

The second embassy, and probably the most famous, was that of the elderly cleric Rabban Bar Sauma, who had been visiting the Ilkhanate during his own pilgrimage from China to Jerusalem. Through Bar Sauma and other later envoys, Arghun promised the European leaders that if Jerusalem were conquered, he would have himself baptised and would return Jerusalem to the Christians. Bar Sauma was greeted warmly by the European monarchs. However, Western Europe was no longer as interested in the crusades, and the mission to form an alliance was ultimately fruitless.

Buscarel of Gisolfe was also sent several times to Europe as Ghazan's ambassador, and in return the English ambassador Geoffrey of Langley was sent to the Mongol court in 1291.

Joint construction of a fleet

Of all the plans of combined operations, only a joint naval operation between the Genoese and the Mongols was put in place in 1290, consisting in building a fleet of two galleys to attack the Mamluk ships in the Red Sea, and to operate a blockade of Egypt's trade with India. As the Genoese were traditional supporters of the Mamluks, this was a major shift in policy, apparently motivated by the attack of Qalawun on the Armenians in 1285. To build and man the fleet, a Genoese squadron of 800 hundred Genoese carpentors and sailors as well as crossbowmen went to Baghdad, and entered in the service of Arghun on the Tigris. The Genoese however entered into internal fights with one another, splitting between the Guelfs and Ghibellines, and killed each other in Basra, putting an end to the project. Genoa finally cancelled the agreement and signed a new treaty with the Mamluks instead.

All these attempts to mount a combined offensive were too little and too late. On March 1291, the city of Acre was conquered by the Mamluks in the Siege of Acre. When Pope Nicholas IV learned of this, he wrote to Arghun, again asking him to be baptized and to fight against the Mamluks. But Arghun had died on March 10, 1291, and Pope Nicholas IV died as well in March 1292, putting an end to their efforts towards combined action.

Ghazan (1295–1304)

Main article: Ghazan

After Arghun's death, he was followed in rapid succession by some brief and fairly ineffective leaders, some of whom only held power for a few months. Stability was restored when Ghazan took power in 1295, though in order to secure cooperation from other influential Mongols, he made a public conversion to Islam when he took the throne. Despite being an official Muslim though, he remained tolerant of multiple religions, and worked to maintain good relations with his Christian vassal states of Cicilian Armenia and Georgia. Ghazan's military plan was to try and coordinate actions between his forces, the Christian military orders, and the forces of Cyprus. In 1297, he had consolidated power enough that he was able to resume Mongol offensives against the Mamluks.

Invasion of Syria and Palestine (1299-1300)

See also: Mongol invasions of Syria and Mongol raids into Palestine

Victory of the Mongols (left) over the Mamluks (right) in the December 1299 Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar.

In the summer of 1299, King Hetoum II of Armenia sent a message to Ghazan to obtain his support against the Mamluks. Ghazan marched with his forces towards Syria and sent letters to the Franks of Cyprus (the King of Cyprus, and the heads of the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights), inviting them to come join him in his attack on the Mamluks in Syria.

The Mongols successfully took the city of Aleppo, and were there joined by their vassal King Hetoum, whose forces participated in the rest of the offensive. The Mongols and their allies defeated the Mamluks in the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, on December 23 or 24, 1299. The Mongols then overran Palestine as far as Gaza and occupied the Holy Land for a few months, temporarily occupying Jerusalem, or not, before departing in May 1300. These events led to greatly exaggerated accounts of a permanent reconquest of the Holy Land by the Mongols, and the myth that Jerusalem was ready to be, or had already been, remitted to the Christians.

In July 1300, the Crusaders launched some naval operations to press the advantage. A fleet of sixteen galleys with some smaller vessels was equipped in Cyprus, commanded by King Henry of Cyprus and Jerusalem, accompanied by his brother Amalric, Lord of Tyre, the heads of the military orders, and Ghazan's ambassador "Chial" (Isol the Pisan), who raised the banner of the Il-Khan on the ships. The ships left Famagusta on July 20, 1300, to raid the coasts of Egypt and Syria: Rosette, Alexandria, Acre, Tortosa, and Maraclea.

Ruad expedition (1300-1302)

Combined offensives in 1300-1301.

In 1300 Templars and Cypriots then attempted a major operation to link up with the troops of Ghazan, following Ghazan's invitation to participate to operations against the Mamluks in late 1299. Ghazan occupied Palestine until May 1300, when he had to retreat from the Mamluks. A force was prepared consisting of approximately 600 men: 300 under Amalric of Lusigan, son of Hugh III of Cyprus, and similar contingents from the Templars and Hospitallers. These efforts were led by the enthusiastic Master of the Knights Templar Jacques de Molay and the brother of the king of Cyprus, Amalric of Lusigan, and represented a considerable commitment as the manpower being engaged corresponded to "close to half the size of the normal complement for the twelfth-century Kingdom of Jerusalem". In November 1300 they attempted to occupy Tortosa on the mainland, but then moved offshore to the nearby island of Ruad to establish a base.

The Mongols were delayed, and the Crusader forces ended up returning to Cyprus, leaving only a garrison on Ruad. In February 1301, the Mongols finally made and advance into Syria. General Kutlushka went to Cilicia to fetch Armenian troops and moved south through Antioch. He was also accompanied by Guy of Ibelin, Count of Jaffa, and John, lord of Giblet. He had a force of 60,000, but could do little else than engage in some raids around Syria.

Plans for combined operations between the Europeans and the Mongols were again made for the following winter offensives, in 1301 and 1302. In mid-1301 the Egyptian Mamluks attacked Ruad, which surrendered a year later in the Siege of Ruad. The Mamluks slaughtered many of the inhabitants, and captured the surviving Templars to send them to prison in Cairo.

Last attempts

Ghazan ordering the King of Armenia Hetoum II to accompany Kutlushka on the 1303 attack on Damascus.

In April 1302, Ghazan sent letters to the Pope asking him to send troops, priests, peasants, in order to make the Holy Land a Frank state again, but again Ghazan did not appear with his own troops.

In 1303, the remaining Templars from Cyprus continued making raids on the Syrian coast, and ravaged the city of Damour, south of Beirut. But since they had lost Ruad, they were not capable of providing important troops. Also in 1303, Ghazan had again sent a letter to Edward I, in the person of Buscarello de Ghizolfi, reiterating Hulagu's promise that they would give Jerusalem to the Franks in exchange for help against the Mamluks. That year, the Mongols appeared in great strength (about 80,000) together with the Armenians, but they were defeated at Homs on March 30, 1303, and at the decisive Battle of Shaqhab, south of Damascus, on April 21, 1303. It is considered to be the last major Mongol invasion of Syria.

Ghazan died on May 10, 1304, and dreams of a rapid reconquest of the Holy Land were destroyed.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's (1285–1348) depiction of the martyrdom of some Franciscans on their way to China accurately portrays the garb of a Mongol commander of a thousand (conical hat with the feather).

Oljeitu (1304–1316)

Oljeitu, also named Mohammad Khodabandeh, was the great-grandson of the Ilkhanate founder Hulagu, and brother and successor of Ghazan. In his youth he at first converted to Buddhism and then to Sunni Islam together with his brother Ghazan. He then changed his first name to the Islamic name Muhammad. In April 1305, Oljeitu sent letters to the French king Philip the Fair, Pope Clement V, and Edward I of England. As had done his predecessor Arghun, Oljeitu offered a military collaboration between the Christian nations of Europe and the Mongols against the Mamluks.

Relations were quite warm: in 1307, the Pope named John of Montecorvino the first Archbishop of Khanbalik and Patriarch of the Orient. A Mongol embassy arrived in Poitiers to see the Pope in 1307.

European nations prepared a crusade, but were delayed. In the meantime Oljeitu launched a last campaign against the Mamluks (1312-13), in which he was unsuccessful.

A final settlement with the Mamluks would only be found when Oljeitu's son signed the Treaty of Aleppo with the Mamluks in 1322.

Last contacts

Hayton of Corycus remitting his report on the Mongols, to Pope Clement V, in 1307.

The French Pope John XXII was the last to request the help of the Mongols in 1322.

In the 1300s, some diplomatic contacts continued between the Europeans and the Mongols, until the Ilkhanate dissolved in the 1330s, and the ravages of the Black Death in Europe caused contacts with the East to be severed.

A few marital alliances between the Mongols and Christian rulers continued between the Christians and the Mongols of the Golden Horde, as when the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II gave daughters in marriage to the Golden Horde ruler Toqto'a, as well as his successor Uzbek (1312–1341).

In 1320, the Egyptian sultan Naser Mohammed ibn Kelaoun invaded and ravaged Christian Armenian Cilicia. In a letter dated July 1, 1322, Pope John XXII sent a letter from Avignon to the Mongol ruler Abu Sa'id, reminding him of the positive contacts between his ancestors and Christians, and asking him to intervene in Cilicia. At the same time, Pope John advocated that Abu Sa'id abandon Islam in favor of Christianity. Mongol troops were sent to Cilicia, but only arrived after a ceasefire had been negotiated for 15 years between Constantin, patriarch of the Armenians, and the sultan of Egypt.

After Abu Sa'id, relations between Christian princes and the Mongols became very sparse. He died in 1335 with neither heir nor successor, and the Mongol state lost its status after his death, becoming a plethora of little kingdoms run by Mongols, Turks, and Persians.

In 1336, an embassy to the French Pope Benedict XII in Avignon was sent by Toghun Temür, the last Mongol emperor in China (Yuan dynasty). The embassy was led by a Genoese in the service of the Mongol emperor, Andrea di Nascio, and accompanied by another Genoese, Andalò di Savignone. They carried letters from the Mongol ruler representing that they had been eight years (since Monte Corvino's death) without a spiritual guide, and earnestly desired one. Pope Benedict replied to the letters, and appointed four ecclesiastics as his legates to the khan's court. In 1338, a total of 50 ecclesiastics were sent by the Pope to Peking, among them John of Marignolli. In 1353 John returned to Avignon, and delivered a letter from the great khan to Pope Innocent VI. But soon, the native Chinese rose up and drove out the Mongols from China, thereby launching the Ming Dynasty in 1368. By 1369 all Christians, whether Roman Catholic or Syro-Oriental, were expelled by the Ming Dynasty.

Timurid relations with Europe and after

Main article: Timurid relations with Europe

Letter of Timur to Charles VI of France, 1402.

In the early 1400s, Timurid Mongol relations with Europe again became friendly, as a strong hostility remained between the Mongols and the Ottoman Turks as well as the Egyptian Mamluks. There was the possibility of an alliance between Timur and the European realm against Muslim powers in the early 15th century, much as the Franco-Mongol alliance a century before, especially since the Ottoman advance on Constantinople was threatening the Christian world. Ambassadors and offers of offensive, defensive and commercial alliances were exchanged, until Timur's death in 1405.

The next contacts between Europe and Timurid Persia would be those of the Venitian traveler Niccolo da Conti from 1420 to 1425. Contacts failed to develop much further anymore, although Spain's desire of a rapprochement with the Mongols remained until the time of Christopher Colombus in 1492, whose objective was to reach the Great Khan in China. The next momentous alliance between a Western and an Eastern power would be the long-standing Franco-Ottoman alliance in the 16th century.

Dispute about the existence of the Franco-Mongol alliance

There is dispute among historians as to the existence, extent, or even wisdom of an alliance. The mainstream view describes the contacts as a series of attempts, missed opportunities, and failed negotiations, though a few historians have argued there was an actual alliance. Even among the latter though, there is dispute as to the details: the French historian Jean Richard argues that an alliance began around 1263, while another French historian, Alain Demurger, says that an alliance was not sealed until 1300. Other historians lament that the lack of alliance was a "lost opportunity". According to the 20th century historian Runciman, "Had the Mongol alliance been achieved and honestly implemented by the West, the existence of Outremer would almost certainly have been prolonged. The Mameluks would have been crippled if not destroyed; and the Ilkhanate of Persia would have survived as a power friendly to the Christians and the West". However, these historians were also writing from the benefit of hindsight.

Most other historians, however, stress that there were only attempts towards such an alliance, which ultimately ended in failure. Joshua Prawer said simply, "The attempts of the crusaders to create an alliance with the Mongols failed." Steven Runciman lamented that "chances of a Mongol alliance with the Christians faded out." David Nicolle said that the Mongols were "potential allies", but that overall the major players were the Mamluks and the Mongols, and that the Christians were just "pawns in a greater game." Christopher Atwood, in the 2004 Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire summed up the relations between Western Europe and the Mongols: "Despite numerous envoys and the obvious logic of an alliance against mutual enemies, the papacy and the Crusaders never achieved the often-proposed alliance against Islam."

Reasons for failure

The Mongol Empire, ca. 1300. The gray area is the later Timurid empire. The geographic distance between the Ilkhanid Mongols, along with their Great Khan in Khanbalic, and the Europeans was large.

There has been much discussion among historians as to why the Franco-Mongol alliance never came together, and why despite all the diplomatic contacts, that it stayed a chimera, a fantasy. Peter Jackson, in his 2005 book The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410 discussed multiple reasons for the failure of an alliance:

One was that the Mongols at that stage in their empire, were not entirely focused on expanding to the West. By the late 1200s, the Mongol leaders were several generations removed from the great Genghis Khan, and internal disruption was brewing. The original nomadic Mongols from the day of Genghis had become more settled, and had had to turn into administrators instead of conquerors. Battles were springing up that were Mongol against Mongol, which took troops away from the front in Syria.

There was also some confusion within Europe, as to the differences between the Mongols of the Ilkhanate in the Holy Land, and the Mongols of the Golden Horde, who were making attacks on Eastern Europe, in Hungary and Poland. Within the Mongol Empire, the Ilkhanids and the Golden Horde considered each other enemies, but it took some time for Western observers to be able to distinguish between the different parts of the Mongol Empire.

Another reason for the failure, was the decreased interest in Europe in pursuing the Crusades. After Jerusalem had been lost to Saladin in 1187, and the Crusaders fought an ever more desperate battle against the advancing forces from Egypt, it became harder and harder to drum up enthusiasm for the Crusades back in Europe. Monarchs often gave lip service to the idea of going on Crusade, as a way of making an emotional appeal to their subjects, but in reality they would take years to prepare, and sometimes never actually left to go do battle. Internal wars in Europe, such as the War of the Vespers, were also distracting attention, and making it less likely for European nobles to want to commit their military to the Crusades, when they needed them more at home.

Economics also played a factor, as the cost of Crusading had been steadily increasing. Some monarchs responded positively to Mongol inquiries, but became vague and evasive when asked to actually commit troops and resources. Logistics also became more difficult – the Egyptian Mamluks were genuinely concerned about the threat of another wave of Crusader forces, and so each time the Mamluks captured another castle or port, instead of occupying it, they systematically destroyed it so that it could never be used again. This both made it more difficult for the Crusaders to plan military operations, and also increased the expense of those operations.

Another factor had to do with concerns among the Europeans about the longterm goals of the Mongols. The early Mongol diplomacy had been not a simple offer of cooperation, but a clear demand for submission. There was awareness that the Mongols would not have been content to stop at the Holy Land, but were on a clear quest for world domination. It was only in their later communications with Europe that the Mongol diplomats started to adopt a more conciliatory tone; but they still used language that more implied command than entreaty. If the Mongols had achieved a successful alliance with the West, and destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate, there is little doubt that the Mongols would have then proceeded to conquer Africa, where there would have been no strong state standing in their way until Morocco; and the Mongols would have also turned upon the Franks of Cyprus and the Byzantines. Even the Armenian King, the most enthusiastic advocate of Western-Mongol collaboration, freely admitted that the Mongol leader was not inclined to listen to European advice, and that even if working together that European armies and Mongol armies should avoid contact because of the Mongol arrogance.

Jackson also points out that the court historians of Mongol Iran made no mention whatsoever of the communications between the Ilkhans and the Christian West, and barely mentioned the Franks at all. The communications were evidently not seen as important by the Mongols, and Jackson argues that the communications may have even been seen as embarrassing, especially when the Mongol leader Ghazan, a Muslim, could be seen as trying to gain the assistance of infidels, against his fellow Muslims in Egypt. Also, when the Mongol historians did make notes of foreign territories, they were usually categorized as either "enemies", "conquered," or "in rebellion." The Franks, in that context, were listed in the same category as the Egyptians, in that they were enemies to be conquered. The idea of "ally" was foreign to the Mongols.

There was also not much support among the populace in Europe for a Mongol alliance. Many in Europe were writing "recovery" literature with their ideas about how best to recover the Holy Land, but few mentioned the Mongols as a genuine possibility. In 1306, when Pope Clement V asked the leaders of the military orders, Jacques de Molay and Fulk de Villaret, to present their proposals for how the crusades should proceed, neither of them factored in any kind of a Mongol alliance. A few later proposals talked briefly about the Mongols as being a force that could invade Syria and keep the Mamluks distracted, but not as a force that could be counted on for cooperation.

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