The Mongols had a huge impact on medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This book provides a comprehensive survey of contacts between the Catholic West and the Mongol world-empire from the first appearance of Chinggis Khan’s armies in 1221 down to the death of Tamerlane (1405) and the battle of Tannenberg (1410). This book considers the Mongols as allies as well as conquerors; the perception of them in the West; the papal response to the threat (and opportunity) they presented; the fate of the Frankish principalities in the Holy Land in the path of the Mongol onslaught; Western European embassies and missions to the East; and the impact of the Mongols on the expanding world view of the maturing Middle Ages. For courses in crusading history and medieval European history.

The Mongols had a huge impact on medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This book provides a comprehensive survey of contacts between the Catholic West and the Mongol world-empire from the first appearance of Chinggis Khan's armies in 1221 down to the death of Tamerlane (1405) and the battle of Tannenberg (1410). This book considers the Mongols as allies as well as conquerors; the perception of them in the West; the papal response to the threat (and opportunity) they presented; the fate of the Frankish principalities in the Holy Land in the path of the Mongol onslaught; Western European embassies and missions to the East; and the impact of the Mongols on the expanding world view of the maturing Middle Ages. For courses in crusading history and medieval European history.

The Mongol period (1206-1368) marked a major turning point of exchange – culturally, politically, and artistically – across Eurasia. The wide-ranging international exchange that occurred during the Mongol period is most apparent visually through the inclusion of Mongol motifs in textile, paintings, ceramics, and metalwork, among other media. Eiren Shea investigates how a group of newly-confederated tribes from the steppe conquered the most sophisticated societies in existence in less than a century, creating a courtly idiom that permanently changed the aesthetics of China and whose echoes were felt across Central Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe. This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, fashion design, and Asian studies.

The Routledge Handbook of the Mongols and Central-Eastern Europe offers a comprehensive overview of the Mongols’ military, political, socio-economic and cultural relations with Central and Eastern European nations between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in history, and one which contributed to the establishment of political, commercial and cultural contacts between all Eurasian regions. The Golden Horde, founded in Eastern Europe by Chinggis Khan’s grandson, Batu, in the thirteenth century, was the dominant power in the region. For two hundred years, all of the countries and peoples of Central and Eastern Europe had to reckon with a powerful centralized state with enormous military potential. Some chose to submit to the Mongols whilst others defended their independence, but none could avoid the influence of this powerful empire. In this book, twenty-five chapters examine this crucial period in Central-Eastern European history, including trade, confrontation, and cultural and religious exchange between the Mongols and their neighbours. This book will be an essential reference for scholars and students of the Mongols, as well those interested in the political, social and economic history of medieval Central-Eastern Europe.

The renowned historian “combines exhaustive research and accessible prose for this . . . definitive study” of the Mongol empire’s military practices (Publishers Weekly). The armies of the Mongol empire are one of the most successful, yet least understood, military forces in history. Often viewed as screaming throngs of horsemen who conquered by sheer force of numbers, they were in fact highly organized regiments who blindsided their opponents with innovative tactics and combat skills. Through the leadership of brilliant military strategists, they achieved the largest land empire ever established, stretching across Asia and into eastern Europe. In this pioneering study, historian Timothy May demonstrates how the Mongol military developed from a tribal levy into a disciplined and complex military organization. He describes the make-up of the Mongol army from its inception to the demise of the empire. With profiles of Mongol military leaders such as Chinggis Khan—also known as Genghis Khan—May shows how their strength, quality and versatility made them the pre-eminent warriors of their time.

The Middle Ages are often thought of as an era during which cruelty was a major aspect of life, a view that stems from the anti-Catholic polemics of the Reformation. Daniel Baraz makes the striking discovery that the concept of cruelty, which had been an important issue in late antiquity, received little attention in the medieval period before the thirteenth century. From that point on, interest in cruelty increased until it reached a peak late in the sixteenth century.Medieval Cruelty's extraordinary scope ranges from the writings of Seneca to those of Montaigne and draws from sources that include the views of Western Christians, Eastern Christians, and Muslims. Baraz examines the development of the concept of cruelty in legal texts, philosophical treatises, and other works that attempt to discuss the nature of cruelty. He then considers histories, martyrdom accounts, and literary works in which cruelty is represented rather than discussed directly. In the wake of the intellectual transformations of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, an increasing focus on the intentions motivating an individual's acts rekindled the discussion of cruelty. Baraz shows how ethical thought and practice about cruelty, which initially focused on external forces, became a tool to differentiate internal groups and justify violence against them. This process is evident in attacks on the Jews, in the peasant rebellions of the later Middle Ages, and in the Wars of Religion.

"By far the best modern narrative account of the most extensive land empire in the history of the world."—David Morgan, author of The Mongols

From the Khitans to the Jurchens & Mongols, A History of Barbarians in Triangle Wars & Quartet Conflicts is the third book of The Scourge of God Tetralogy. This is a book with comprehensive writeup of the barbarians’ history spanning more than one thousand years, from before the anno domini eras and inclusive of the expulsion of the Mongols from China. The subtitle about the barbarians in triangle wars & quartet conflicts is self-explanatory for the historical environment of different groups of barbarians successively rising up on the steppes to overpower the former with more savagery. This third book, while carrying a title with emphasis on the Khitans, the Jurchens and Mongols, also covered the Hsiung-nu (Huns), Hsien-pi (Xianbei), Tavghach (Tuoba), Juan-juan (Ruruans), Tu-chueh (Turks), Uygurs (Huihe), Kirghiz, Tibetans, Tanguts and southern barbarians. This book, being not merely about the barbarians, chronicled, without omission, an annalistic history of China’s dynasties including the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Five Dynasties, and the two Soong dynasties, with the interwoven theme of a civilization’s good fight against barbarism. There are many unique and groundbreaking contents, such as collation of the missing one-year history of the Mongols’ Central Asia campaigns and restitution of the unheard-of Mongol campaign in North Africa. This kind of discoveries is similar to this author’s trailblazing work done in other areas of sinology like rectifying the Huns’ war with the first Han dynasty emperor to 201 B.C. and correcting one year error in the Zhou dynasty’s interregnum (841-828 B.C. per Shi-ji/840-827 per Zhang Wenyu) in the duology The Sinitic Civilization.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.