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The Extent of the Mongolian Empire
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The Mongols
At the end of the twelfth century, the Mongols were merely one of the Turco-Mongolic tribes who lived north of what is today China. Around 1209 these groups, who till then had been continually at war with each other, were united by Temüchin, who was to become known as Ghengis Khan ("Very-mighty Lord"). Within twenty years he had conquered northern China, eastern Turkistan and the vast Khwarizmian Empire, which included Persia, Khorassan, Transoxonia, Samarkand and much of Afghanistan. His successor Ogedei added Korea and established protectorates over Georgia, Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and much of southern Russia. Other Mongol forces advanced through Poland and Silesia and defeated the King of Hungary.
Of course, these attacks on Christian Europe caused some consternation. Pope Gregory IX's attempts to raise a crusade against the Mongols in 1241 petered out almost at once. In March 1245 Pope Innocent IV wrote two letters to "the King and people of the Tartars." The first contained a resume of Christian doctrine, the second astonishment at the attack on Christian peoples. Several missions were dispatched to the Mongol-governed territories. The missions were succesful in reaching the Mongol rulers, but not successful in obtaining the desired results. The mission led by the Italian Franciscan Giovanni di Pian di Carpine reached the Mongol camp near Karakorum, the Mongol capital, where the new Grand Kahn, Güyük, was being elected and crowned. The Italian friars presented their letters, but the new Great Kahn rejected the Pope's arguments and his demand that the Kahn make a personal appearance at the Vatican and submit himself to the Pope. (Click here to read Güyük's letter to the Pope.)
Missions by André of Longjumeau, sent by King Louis IX of France, and by the Fleming William of Rubruck were no more successful. Although their diplomacy was a failure, they did write about their travels and experiences. However, few people actually read their reports and fewer still believed them to be true. The Empire of the Great Khans underwent changes. With the emergence of Möngke as fourth Great Khan, the Mongols turned again to expansion. Möngke himself, with his brother Khubilai, began to take over China. In the west their younger brother Hülegü was assigned Persia and its neighbors. After destroying the Assassins, conquering Baghdad, Aleppo and Damascus, Hülegü's forces were defeated at the battle of Ayn Jalut in Galilee. The limits of Mongol expansion in the West had been reached.
An enormous empire lay to the east of Europe, but it remained largely unknown until Marco Polo, his father and uncle embarked on their 23-year trip.
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Page 2 -- The Mongols
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