Aïbeg and Serkis: Difference between revisions
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'''Aïbeg and Serkis''', also '''Aibeg and Sergis''' or '''Aïbäg and Särgis''', were two embassadors sent by the Mongol ruler [[Baichu]] to [[Pope Innocent IV]] in 1247-1248. They were the first Mongol envoys to [[Europe]]. |
'''Aïbeg and Serkis''', also '''Aibeg and Sergis''' or '''Aïbäg and Särgis''', were two embassadors sent by the Mongol ruler [[Baichu]] to [[Pope Innocent IV]] in 1247-1248. They were the first Mongol envoys to [[Europe]]. |
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Revision as of 14:47, 10 February 2008
Aïbeg and Serkis, also Aibeg and Sergis or Aïbäg and Särgis, were two embassadors sent by the Mongol ruler Baichu to Pope Innocent IV in 1247-1248. They were the first Mongol envoys to Europe.
Aïbeg ("Moon Prince") is thought to have been a Turcophone Christian, possibly a Uighur, and Serkis (from the Christian name "Sergis") a Nestorian, possibly Syrian. Both were sent by Baichu , to accompany the 1245 embassy of the Dominican Ascelin of Lombardia back to Lyon, France. They stayed there for about a year.[1]
Aïbeg and Serkis met with Innocent IV in 1248, and remitted to him a rather vexing letter from Baichu, expressing his difficulty in understanding the Pope's message, and asking for his submission:[2]
"By the strength of the Kaghan, the word of Prince Baichu. You Pope, know that your messengers came to visit us and brought to us your letters. They made strange discourses to us, and we do not known if you ordered them to utter these words, and if they did so of their own accord..."
— Letter from Baichu to Pope Innocent IV, 1248[3]
As a reply to the letter from Baiju, Innocent IV remitted to the envoys the letter known as Viam agnoscere veritatis.[4] [5] According to historian Kenneth Setton, it "stated that Innocent IV had acted out of a sense of duty to let the true religion be known to the Mongols, and that he regretted the Mongols' perseverance in their errors and adjured them to cease their menaces."[6]
In his communications to the envoys, the Pope appealed to the Mongols to stop their killing of Christians,[7] and in the response he remitted to them deplored the delays in establishing a general alliance between the Christians and the Mongols.[8] Runciman also states that Aibeg and Sarkis returned to the Mongol realm in November 1248, "with complaints that nothing further was happening about the alliance".[9]
Aïbeg and Serkis stayed at Lyon for about a year, before returning to the Mongol realm on November 22, 1248.[10][11]
See also
Notes
- ^ Runciman, p.259
- ^ Roux, p.316
- ^ Quoted in Roux, p.316
- ^ Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.316: "Sergis et Aibeg were finally sent back on November 22, 1248, with an answer, known as Viam agnoscere veritatis" (Original French quote: "Serbeg et Aibeg furent finalement congédiés le 22 Novembre 1248 avec une réponse, la lettre connue comme Viam agnoscere veritatis").
- ^ Setton, p.522 "The Pope's reply to Baidju's letter, Viam agnoscere veritatis, dated November 22, 1248, and probably carried back by Aibeg and Sargis"
- ^ Setton, p.522[1]
- ^ "Reaching Innocent in 1248, they were given his final communication, an appeal to the Mongols to end their slaughters, especially of Christians (Rachewiltz, 87, 115-118)." in David Wilkinson, Studying the History of Intercivilizational Dialogues [2]
- ^ "Histoire des Croisades", René Grousset, p523: Grousset mentions the "response remitted to Aibag and Sargis" in which "he deplored the delays to the general agreement between Mongols and Christiandom" ("Innocent IV congédia Aibag and Sargis en leur remettant pour Baiju une réponse dans laquelle il déplorait les retards apportés à une entente générale des Mongols et de la Chrétienté.").
- ^ Runciman, p.259
- ^ Runciman, p.259
- ^ Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.316
References
- Jackson, Peter, Mongols and the West
- Roux, Jean-Paul, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, 1993, Fayard, ISBN 2213031649
- Kenneth Meyer Setton, "A History of the Crusades"
- Grousset, Rene, Histoire des Croisades, III, Tempus, 2006 edition, ISBN 226202569X
- Runciman, Steven, History of the Crusades, III, Penguin Books, 2002 edition, ISBN 014013705X