Franco-Mongol alliance

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 supplied troops to participate in Mongol campaigns.

Many attempts were made towards forming a Franco-Mongol alliance between the mid-1200s and the early 1300s, starting around the time of the Seventh Crusade. Historians note that in hindsight, an alliance between the Mongols and the Franks 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 longrunning 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 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 or not 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 alliance, or overlord-subject relationship, between the Mongols and the Frankish Principality of Antioch and County of Tripoli. 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 the Christians of Armenia and Antioch. 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 1322.

These contacts were part of a broader web of Mongol alliances in the Middle-East which occurred throughout the second half of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, and involved widely spread polities. These multiples alliances were organized between, on the one hand a North-South axis consisting of the Mongol Golden Horde, the Egyptian Mamluks and the Genoese, and on the other, a East-West axis consisting of the Mongol Il-Khanids, the Armenians, the Franks. The Byzantine Empire would ally with the two parties alternatively.

Christianity among the Mongols

File:Stone 1-1-.jpg

The Nestorian Stele in China, erected in 781.

Main article: Christianity among the Mongols

Overall, Mongols were highly tolerant of most religions, and typically sponsored several at the same time, though shamanism, Buddhism, and Christianity were the most popular in the early 1200s. When Temüjin, a shamanist who would later be titled Genghis Khan, declared the Baljuna Covenant with 17 of his companions, several of them were Christian. Many Mongol tribes, such as the Kerait, the Naiman, the Merkit, and to a large extent the Kara Khitan, were Nestorian Christian. All the sons of Genghis Khan had taken Christian wives, from the tribe of the Kerait. While the men were away at battle, the empire was effectively run by the Christian women. Genghis Khan's grandson Sartaq was Christian; as was the general Kitbuqa, commander of the Mongol forces of the Levant. Under Mongka, another of Genghis Khan's grandsons, the main religious influence was that of the Nestorians. Marital alliances with Western powers also occurred, as in the 1265 marriage of Maria Despina Palaiologina, the Christian daughter of Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, with Hulagu's son, the Mongol khan Abaqa, who himself was a Buddhist.

Early contacts (1209-1244)

Genghis Khan (1162-1227)

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, which resulted in a natural human desire that a Christian hero would arrive from a distant land, to help save the day. This resulted in the development of a legend about a figure known as Prester John. The 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. For example, around 1210, news reached the West of the battles of the Mongol Kuchlug, leader of the largely Christian tribe of the Naiman, against 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.

During the Fifth Crusade, as the Christians were unsuccessfully laying siege to the Egyptian city of Damietta in 1221, the legends of Prester John again conflated with the reality of the Mongols under Genghis Khan. 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".

In 1220, the Mongols invaded Persian territory, successfully destroying the Turkish Khwarezmian Empire (some of the remains of which moved West in 1244 to ally with the Egyptian Mamluks, taking Jerusalem from the Christians along the way). But Genghis Khan then returned to Mongolia, and Persia was reconquered by Muslim forces. In 1231, a much larger Mongol army arrived, under the general Chormaqan. He ruled over Persia and Azerbaijan from 1231 to 1241. In 1242, Baichu further invaded the Seldjuk kingdom, ruled by Kaikhosrau, in modern Turkey. The Mongol conquest was seen by the Europeans as a positive one, since the Mongols were eliminating an enemy of Christendom.

Genghis Khan died in 1227, and his Empire was split up into four sections, for each of his sons. The northern section, known as the Golden Horde began to encroach upon Europe, primarily via Hungary and Poland. The southwestern section, known as the Ilkhanid, under the leadership of Genghis Khan's son Hulagu, continued to advance towards Persia and the Holy Land. City after city fell to the Mongols, including some Christian realms in their path. 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. This was a common practice in use by the growing Mongol empire -- as they conquered new territories, they would absorb the populace and warriors into their own Mongol army, which they would then use to further expand the empire.

See also: Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia

See also: Mongol invasion of Europe

Papal overtures (1245-1248)

File:Letter from Guyuk to Innocent IV.gif

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

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, and on their way to ally with the Ayyubid Muslims in Egypt, took Jerusalem from the Christians in 1244. This event prompted Christian kings to prepare for a new Crusade, decided by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyons in June 1245, and revived hopes that the Mongols, who had their Nestorian Christian princesses among them and had brought so much destruction to Islam, could be converted to Christianity and become allies of Christendom.

In 1245, Pope Innocent IV issued bulls and sent an envoy in the person of the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini to the "Emperor of the Tartars". The message initiated what was to be a regular pattern in Christian-Mongol communications: Pope Innocent asked the Mongol ruler to become a Christian and to stop killing Christians. The new Mongol khan Güyük was installed at Karakorum on April 8, 1246 and received numerous personalities and ambassadors from foreign countries including John of Plano Carpini: the Grand Duc of Moscow Yaroslav II of Vladimir, the incumbents for the throne of Georgia, the brother of the king of Armenia Sempad, the future Seljukid Kilij Arslan IV, ambassadors of the Baghdad Califate and of the emperor of India.. He replied to the Pope's letter with a demand for his submission 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.

Coin showing the Christian Armenian king Hetoum I with his wife and predecessor, Queen Zabel of Armenia. Hetoum I was a major ally (some say vassal) of the Mongols.

This pattern was to be repeated over and over during the coming decades. In 1245 Innocent sent another mission, through another route, led by the Dominican Ascelin of Lombardia, also bearing letters. The mission met with the Mongol commander Baichu near the Caspian Sea in 1247. Baichu, who had plans to capture Baghdad, welcomed the possibility of an alliance and had envoys, Aïbeg and Serkis, accompany the embassy back to Rome, where they stayed for about a year. They met with Innocent IV in 1248, who again appealed to the Mongols to stop their killing of Christians.

Christian vassals

See also: Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia

As the Ilkhanid empire 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 Hethoum 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 (some call them propaganda) about the Mongols were influential in European circles. However, the only monarch who followed Hethoum's advice was his son-in-law, Prince Bohemond VI of Antioch.

Antioch

Coat of arms of Bohemond VI of Antioch

Main article: Principality of Antioch

When the Principality of Antioch joined with the Mongols around 1259, a Mongol representative and a Mongol garrison were stationed in the capital city, 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 patriarch, Euthymius, to the patriarchate of Antioch, as a way of strengthening ties between the Mongols and the Byzantines. In return for this loyalty, Hulagu awarded to 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 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 hundred-year-old principality was no more. After this defeat, Bohemond obtained a truce with Baibars, but was left with no estates except Tripoli.

In 1271, Baibars then 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

Saint Louis and the Mongols

Main articles: Seventh Crusade and Louis IX of France

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 proposal to form an alliance against the Muslim Ayyubids, whose Caliphate was based in Baghdad. Eljigidei 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 to the Great Khan Güyük in Mongolia. However, Güyük died, from drink, before the emissary arrived at his court, and his widow Oghul Ghaimish simply gave the emissary a gift and a condescending letter to take back to King Louis, 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 historians say 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

Mongol attack of Baghdad (1258)

Main article: Battle of Baghdad (1258)

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 were among the 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, the Christian inhabitants were spared.

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, and on March 1, 1260, the Mongols with the Armenians and the Franks of Antioch took Damascus, under the Christian Mongol general Kitbuqa. The three Christian rulers entered the city of Damascus together in triumph. Mass was celebrated in the Grand Mosque of the Umayyads (the former cathedral of Saint John the Baptist), and numerous mosques were profaned.

With both the Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties destroyed, the Near East was never again to dominate civilization. The last Ayyubid king An-Nasir Yusuf died in 1260, 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 a new internal conflict in Turkestan. Hulagu departed with the bulk of his forces, leaving only about 10,000 Mongol horsemen in Syria 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 and Naplouse.

Incidents

See also: Mongol raids into Palestine

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 Bekaa 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, although the Castle of the city was left unattained. Another similar incident occurred when John II of Beirut and some Templars led a raid into Galilee. 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 also raised the ire of the Mamluk leader Baibars. He 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. He 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 the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli and the Armenians 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 powerful Venetian commercial interests in the city regarded with concern the expansion of the northern trade routes opened by the Mongols and serviced by the Genoese, and they favoured an appeasement policy with the Mamluks, that would support their traditional trade routes to the south. In May 1260 they sent a letter to Charles of Anjou, complaining about Mongol expansion and Bohemond's subservience to them, and asking for his support.

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 through Christian territory unhampered in order to engage the Mongols, in exchange for an agreement to purchase captured Mongol horses at a low price in the event of a Mamluk victory (a promise which was not honoured by the Mamluks).

The truce allowed the Mamluks to proceed north with their army 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 communicated with the Mongols in 1263

A change occurred in the European perception of the Mongols around 1260. 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 Armenia had submitted to Mongol overlordship. Alexander had put their 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, offering again an alliance. 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. Though Hulagu promised the restoration of Jerusalem to the Christians, he also still insisted on Mongol sovereignty, in the Mongols' quest for conquering the world.

King Louis transmitted the letter to Pope Urban, who answered in the same way as his predecessors, by asking for Hulagu's conversion to Christianity. However, the timing of Hulagu's communication was good, as the Muslim Sultan Baibars was engaging in new offensives against the Crusaders. This made Westerners more open to the idea of an alliance, and the Pope issued the papal bull Exultavit cor nostrum, which congratulated Hulagu on his expression of goodwill towards the Christian faith. This was a turning point in the relations with the Mongols, after which the Mongols were considered more as potential allies, than as enemies. The French historian Jean Richard 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.

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 devout Buddhist, upon his succession, he received the hand of the Christian Maria Despina Palaiologina, the illegitimate daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, in marriage.

Abaqa corresponded with Pope Clement IV through 1267-1268, and reportedly sent a Mongol ambassador in 1268. He proposed a joint alliance between his forces, those of the West, and the Byzantine emperor, Michael VIII Palaeologos (Abaqa's father-in-law). Abaqa received responses from Rome and from Jaume I of Aragon, who sent an ambassador to Abaqa in the person of Jayme Alaric de Perpignan. It is unclear if this was what led to Jaume's unsuccessful expedition to Acre in 1269. Jaume initiated the small Aragonese Crusade, but it was ultimately handled by his two sons Fernando Sanchez and Pedro Fernandez after a storm forced most of the fleet to return. The ships arrived in Acre in December 1269. Abaqa, despite his earlier promises of an alliance, was in the process of facing another threat, an invasion in Khorasan by fellow 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.

Jaume's ambassador Jayme Alaric returned to Europe in 1269 with a Mongol embassy, again proposing an alliance. Pope Clement welcomed Abaqa's proposal in a non-committal manner, but did inform him of an upcoming Crusade.

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 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, but was also still busy with other conflicts in Turkestan. He did send 10,000 Mongol horsemen under general Samagar from the occupation army in Seljuk Anatolia, plus auxiliary Seljukid troops, and though the force was small, it triggered an exodus of Muslim populations (who remembered the previous campaigns of Kitbuqa) as far south as Cairo. Edward, for his part, was never able to actually directly combine his activities with those of the Mongols. He primarily engaged 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. The Muslim leader Baibars later taunted Edward for not even being able to take a small fortified house. 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 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 Richardus (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 Qaghan. According to Richardus, Hulagu had also prohibited the molestation of Frank establishments, and had committed to return Jerusalem to the Franks. Richardus told the assembly that even after Hulagu's death, Abaqa was still determined to drive the Mamluks from Syria.

At the Council, Pope Gregory promulgated a new Crusade, to start in 1278 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 Byzantium and the Il-Khan Abagha.

Following these exchanges, Abagha 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 Gregory X 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)

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 Baghras and Darbsak, and took Aleppo on October 20, where they massacred many inhabitants.

The king of Cyprus Hugues 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. The Mongols also requested support for a campaign the following winter, informing the Franks that they would bring 50,000 Mongol horsemen and 50,000 Mongol infantry, but the request apparently remained without a response.

Abaqa and Leo III of Armenia urged the Franks to start a new Crusade. Edward I of England responded favorably, but said he could not participate due to lack of funds. Some local Hospitallers from Marqab (in the area which had previously been Antioch/Tripoli) were, however, able to make some raids into the Buqaia, and won several engagements against the Sultan. They raided as far as the Krak des Chevaliers in October 1280, and defeated a Mamluk force from that fortress in February 1281. However, the Mongols again retreated, pledging to come back for the winter of 1281.

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

In order to prevent new combined actions between the Franks and the Mongols, the new Muslim sultan Qalawun renewed a truce with the Barons of Acre on May 3, 1281, extending it for another ten years (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 as promised, 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 considered they were not bound by the truce with the Mamluks. On October 30, 1281, the Mongol army engaged the Mamluks under Qalawun at the Second Battle of Homs, but they were repelled, with heavy losses on both sides.

Arghun (1284-1291)

Main article: Arghun

Abaqa died in 1282 and was briefly replaced by the Muslim Mongol ruler Teguder, who was not as aggressive as had been Abaqa. This freed the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun to continue his own advance, whereby he captured the northern fortress of Margat in 1285, Lattakia in 1287, and Tripoli in 1289.

In 1284 the new Mongol ruler Arghun, the Buddhist son of Abaqa, again revived the idea of an alliance with the West, and sent envoys to Europe. He sent multiple emissaries, and promised that if Jerusalem were conquered, he would have himself baptised, and would return Jerusalem to the Christians. However, Western Europe was no longer as interested in the crusades, and the mission was ultimately fruitless.

A maritime raiding force consisting in two war galleys was prepared in Baghdad in cooperation with the Genoese, in order to curtail the maritime trade of the Mamluks. Genoese carpenters and sailors were sent to Baghdad, as well as a force of arbaletiers, but the enterprise apparently foundered when an internal fight erupted among the Geneose (between the Guelfe and the Gibelin families)

When the Muslim leader Baibars was threatening the last stronghold of the Crusaders, Acre, Pope Nicolas IV proclaimed a Crusade and negotiated agreements with Arghun, Hetoum II of Armenia, the Jacobites, the Ethiopians and the Georgians. On January 5, 1291, he addressed a vibrant prayer to all the Christians to save the Holy Land, and follow Edward I in a Crusade.

However, all these attempts to mount a combined offensive were too little and too late. On March 1291, the city was conquered by the Mamluks in the Siege of Acre. Arghun himself died on March 10, 1291, and Pope Nicholas IV in March 1292, putting an end to their efforts towards combined action.

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".

Ghazan (1295-1304)

Combined offensives in 1300-1301.

See also: Mongol invasions of Syria

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 with the installation of Ghazan in 1295. In 1297, he had consolidated power enough that he was able to resume offensives against the Mamluks. Despite being a Muslim himself he still maintained good relations with his Christian vassal states of Cicilian Armenia and Georgia, and his plan was to coordinate actions between his forces, the Christian military orders, and the forces of Cyprus.

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.

In July 1300, the Crusaders launched some naval operations, presumably in support of Ghazan's land-based actions. 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. The ships left Famagusta on July 20, 1300, to raid the coasts of Egypt and Syria: Rosette, Alexandria, Acre, Tortosa, and Maraclea. The ships then returned to Cyprus, and prepared for an attack on Tortosa in late 1300.

A joint force of Cypriots was sent to the island of Ruad as a staging area, from which raids were launched on Tortosa, while awaiting the arrival of the Mongols. However, the Mongols were delayed, and the Crusader forces ended up returning to Cyprus, leaving a garrison on Ruad. When the Mongols did arrive in February 1301, they were only able to engage in some minor raids before having to withdraw.

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 besieged the island of Ruad, which surrendered a year later. The Mamluks slaughtered many of the inhabitants, and captured the surviving Templars to send them to prison in Cairo.

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.

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

In 1303, the remaining Templars from Cyprus continued making raids on the Syrian coast, and ravaged the city of Damour, south of Beyrouth. 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 Damas, 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.

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.

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

A few marital alliances between the Mongols and Christian rulers would continue to occur, 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),

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

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 alliance of his ancestors with Christians, asking him to intervene in Cilicia. At the same time he advocated that he 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 without heir and successor. The state lost its status after his death, becoming a plethora of little kingdoms run by Mongols, Turks, and Persians.

An embassy to the French Pope Benedict XII in Avignon was sent by Toghun Temür, the last Mongol emperor in China (Yuan dynasty), in 1336. 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. These letters from the Mongol ruler represented that they had been eight years (since Monte Corvino's death) without a spiritual guide, and earnestly desired one. The pope 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. Soon, the Chinese rose up and drove out the Mongols from China however, thereby launching the Ming Dynasty (1368). By 1369 all Christians, whether Roman Catholic or Syro-Oriental, were expelled by the Ming Dynasty.

Technology exchanges

In these invasions westward, the Mongols brought with them a variety of eastern, often Chinese technologies, which may have been transmitted to the West on these occasions. The original weaknesses of the Mongols in siege warfare (they were essentially a nation of horsemen) were compensated by the introduction of Chinese engineering corps within their army, who therefore had ample contacts with Western lands.

Weaponry

Earliest picture of a European cannon, "De nobilitatibus, sapientiis et prudentiis regum" Walter de Milemete, 1326.

One theory of how gunpowder came to Europe is that it made its way along the Silk Road through the Middle East; another is that it was brought to Europe during the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century. Direct Franco-Mongol contacts occurred as in the 1259-1260 military alliance of the Franks knights of the ruler of Antioch Bohemond VI and his father-in-law Hetoum I with the Mongols under Hulagu. William of Rubruck, an ambassador to the Mongols in 1254-1255, a personal friend of Roger Bacon, is also often designated as a possible intermediary in the transmission of gunpowder know-how between the East and the West.

Other innovations, such as printing, may have transited through the Mongol routes during that period. John of Marignolli came back from the Mongols in 1353, with a request from the Great Khan to send more Franscicans to China. Most contacts were interrupted however when the Great Plague started to sweep Europe. The reopening of relations would not occur until the 16th century.

Cartography

The Kangnido world map (1402).

The Mongol Empire connected the European and western Islamic world with the Chinese sphere. It enabled the integration of a large amount of geographical knowledge.

In 1286 Jamāl al-Dīn made Khubilai Khan a proposal for merging several maps of the empire into a single world map, and it resulted in the Tianxia Dili Zongtu (天下地理總圖; now lost). Since most of the official maps are lost, relatively new manuscripts of private, supposedly less accurate maps are known today. The most famous one is the Kangnido (1402), a Korean variant preserved in Japan. Like Istakhri's and al-Idrisi's, the Kangnido depicts Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe. The Kangnido also mentions a hundred European place names.

Rashid al-Din, the Jewish Prime Minister of Ghazan and later Oljeitu, wrote an extensive History of the Franks (1305/1306), probably based on information from Isol the Pisan or Dominican friars, providing much details on Europe's political organization, the use of mappae mundi by Italian mariners, and regnal chronologies derived from the chronicle of Martin of Opava (d. 1278).

A Mongol embassy (documented in Chinese sources but not European ones) visited Europe in 1314-1320 and brought back geographical knowledge which was incorporated in a Chinese geographical treatise of the middle of the 14th century. Chinese maps produced in the 13th and 14th century do provide some information about Europe.

The 1453 Fra Mauro map may have been partly derived from a Chinese map brought from Cathay by Marco Polo.

Conversely, in Europe the landmark 1459 Fra Mauro map is also said to have been partly based on a Chinese map. Ramusio explained that Fra Mauro's map is an improved copy of the world map brought from Cathay by Marco Polo.

Aftermath

Events reminiscent of the Franco-Mongol alliance occurred in the 15th century, when the Mongol ruler Tamerlane developed a friendly, if remote, relationship with Western powers. Tamerlane exchanged letters with Western rulers, inviting ambassadors and traders. He also fought the Ottoman state as it was on the point of conquering Constantinople in around 1402, and defeating the Ottoman ruler Bazajet in 1402. Tamerlane was long considered in a very positive light in the West due to his actions against the common Turk enemy.

Modern interpretations

Main article: Franco-Mongol alliance (modern interpretations)

There is disagreement among historians over the nature and extent of the alliance between the Franks and the Mongols. There is also dispute about the definition of the term "Frank", and whether it should refer to the Kingdom of Cilician Armenia. Most historians agree that the Armenians, when the Mongols were advancing into their territory in the mid-1200s, did ally with the Mongols for a few years. The neighboring Frank Principality of Antioch and County of Tripoli, headed by Bohemond VI, was also long-time recognized allies of the Mongols. But there is dispute about whether or not the Mongols ever had a formal alliance with the Franks, meaning some of the Crusader States, Western Europe and the Papacy. Also, some historians describe the relationship of Armenia and Antioch/Tripoli as a "vassal" relationship, not as an alliance.

See also

• Medieval Roman Catholic Missions in China
• History of gunpowder
• History of printing
• Al-'Āḍid, the teenaged Muslim caliph in Egypt, who entered into an alliance with the Christians in the 1100s

References

Medieval sources

• Adh-Dhababi, Record of the Destruction of Damascus by the Mongols in 1299-1301 Translated by Joseph Somogyi. From: Ignace Goldziher Memorial Volume, Part 1, Online (English translation).
• Jean de Joinville, The Memoirs of Lord of Joinville, translated by Ethel Wedwood Online (English translation).
• Le Templier de Tyr (circa 1300). Chronicle du Templier de Tyr, Online (Original French).
• Hayton of Corycus (1307). Flowers of the Histories of the East, Online (English translation).
• Guillaume de Tyr (circa 1300). History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, Online (Original French).
• Kirakos (circa 1300). History of the Armenians, Online, (English translation).
• The history and Life of Rabban Bar Sauma. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help) (online)

Modern sources

• Amitai, Reuven (1987). "Mongol Raids into Palestine (AD 1260 and 1300)". JRAS: 236–255.
• Balard, Michel (2006). Les Latins en Orient (XIe-XVe siècle). Presses Universitaires de France, Paris. ISBN 2130518117.
• Barber, Malcolm (2001). The Trial of the Templars (2nd edition ed.). University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-67236-8. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Bournoutian, George A. (2002). A Concise History of the Armenian People: From Ancient Times to the Present. Mazda Publishers. ISBN 1568591411.
• "The Monks of Kublai Khan Emperor of China", Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. Online
• Dailliez, Laurent (1972). Les Templiers (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 2-262-02006-X.
• Demurger, Alain (2007). Les Templiers (in French). Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot. ISBN 2877479552.
• Grousset, René (1935). Histoire des Croisades III, 1188-1291 (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 2-262-02569-X.
• Grousset, René (1935). L'épopée des Croisades (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 2262018642.
• Encyclopedia Iranica, Article on Franco-Persian relations
• Foltz, Richard (2000). "Religions of the Silk Road : overland trade and cultural exchange from antiquity to the fifteenth century". New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-23338-8.
• Demurger, Alain (2007). Jacques de Molay (in French). Editions Payot&Rivages. ISBN 2228902357.
• Eddé, Anne-Marie (2002). L'Orient au temps des croisades (in French). GF Flammarion. ISBN 2080711210.
• Hazard, Harry W. (editor) (1975). Volume III: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. A History of the Crusades. Kenneth M. Setton, general editor. The University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-06670-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
• Jackson, Peter (2005). The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410. Longman. ISBN 978-0582368965.
• Lebédel, Claude (2006). Les Croisades, origines et conséquences (in French). Editions Ouest-France. ISBN 2737341361.
• Luisetto, Frédéric (2007). Arméniens & autres Chrétiens d'Orient sous la domination Mongole (in French). Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner S.A. ISBN 9782705337919.
• Maalouf, Amin (1984). The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. New York: Schocken Books. ISBN 0-8052-0898-4.
• Maalouf, Amin (1983). Les croisades vues par les Arabes. JC Lattes.
• Michaud, Yahia (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) (2002). Ibn Taymiyya, Textes Spirituels I-XVI (in French). "Le Musulman", Oxford-Le Chebec. {{cite book}}: External link in |title= (help)
• Mutafian, Claude (1993, 2001). Le Royaume Armenien de Cilicie (in French). CNRS Editions. ISBN 2271051053. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Newman, Sharan (2006). Real History Behind the Templars. Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-425-21533-3.
• Nicolle, David (2001). The Crusades. Essential Histories. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-179-4.
• Oldenbourg, Zoe (2006). The Crusades. Phoenix Press. ISBN 1842122231.
• Phillips, John Roland Seymour (1998). The Medieval Expansion of Europe. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198207409.
• Prawdin, Michael (pseudonym for Charol, Michael) (1940/1961). Mongol Empire. Collier-Macmillan Canada. ISBN 1412805198. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Prawer, Joshua (1972). The Crusaders' Kingdom: European Colonialism in the Middle Ages. Praeger. ISBN 9780297993971.
• Richard, Jean (1996). Histoire des Croisades. Fayard. ISBN 2-213-59787-1.
• Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1987, 2005). The Crusades: A History (2nd edition ed.). Yale Nota Bene. ISBN 0-300-10128-7. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1996, 2005). Atlas des Croisades (in French). Autrement. ISBN 2862605530. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Riley-Smith, Jonathan (2002). The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192803123.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Jean-Paul Roux, L'Asie Centrale, Paris, 1997, ISBN 9782213598949
• Runciman, Steven (1987 (first published in 1952-1954)). A history of the Crusades 3. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140137057. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Saunders, J. J. (2001). The History of the Mongol Conquests. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812217667.
• Schein, Sylvia (October 1979). "Gesta Dei per Mongolos 1300. The Genesis of a Non-Event". The English Historical Review. 94 (373): 805–819.
• Schein, Sylvia (1991). Fideles Crucis: The Papacy, the West, and the Recovery of the Holy Land. Clarendon. ISBN 0198221657.
• Schein, Sylvia (2005). Gateway to the Heavenly City: crusader Jerusalem and the catholic West. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 075460649X.
• Sinor, Denis (1999). "The Mongols in the West". Journal of Asian History. 33 (1).
• Stewart, Angus Donal. The Armenian Kingdom and the Mamluks: War and Diplomacy During the Reigns of Het'Um II (1289-1307). BRILL. ISBN 9004122923.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1980). The Mongols. Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9780850453720.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Tyerman, Christopher (2006). God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674023870.
• Weatherford, Jack (2004). Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80964-4.
• Wood, Frances (2002). The Silk Road. University of California Press. ISBN 0520243404.

External links

• Template:Fr icon "Alain Demurger interview, "La Chute du Temple"". Le Point. 11/08/2005. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)