No More Learning

Finally, after a series of victories Jenghiz overcame his last opponent,
Wang Khan, and became supreme over the nucleus of the Mongols. From
the date of the Kuriltai, or general convocation, which took place after
this event, in 1203, the beginning of the empire is usually considered to
date. The title of Khan, was, however, assumed in 1206 at another
assembly by the river Onon. The period from this date until 1227, when
Jenghiz died, comprises the era of extension and conquest. The first object
of attack was China, which consisted of two main divisions: the Northern,
with Yenkin (near Pekin) as its capital, and the Southern, the chief town
years


## p. 633 (#675) ############################################

Conquest of Turkestan and Khwārazm
633
of which was Lingan, also called Hangchow or Kinsai. This Empire was
ruled by the Sung Dynasty and the Northern by the Kin. The Kin rulers
were supreme over Tartary. Subject to their sway were the Khitans, who
had previously been supplanted in the dominion of the Northern Empire.
Preliminary invasions of Hia or Tangut, the province to the west of the
Yellow River, were successfully undertaken in 1208; the Kin army was
defeated and the territory within the great wall reduced to submission.
These victories paved the way for an attack on a larger scale, and in 1213
three grand armies were despatched. The main expedition under the
command of Jenghiz himself and Tulē, his youngest son, followed a south-
eastern direction. He sent his three other sons—Juji, Jagatai, and Ogdai-
with another force to form his right wing and operate on the south, while
the remainder, under his brothers, were despatched to the east in the
direction of the sea. It is unnecessary to follow the steps of these armies
in detail; it is sufficient to record their complete success. The subjugation
of the Hia occupied him from 1208 to 1212, and the Kin and Kara-Khitai
in Eastern Turkestan from 1212 to 1214. Having crushed these foes,
Jenghiz turned his ambitions to the western horizon. His dominions now
reached as far as the territory of Muḥammad, the Shāh of Khwārazm.
This mighty empire was bounded on the west by Kurdistān, Khūzistān,
and the Persian Gulf; to the east it reached nearly to the Indus. It
included the littoral of Lake Aral, and partly of the Caspian, on the
north. It comprised Azarbā'ījān, 'Irāq 'Ajamī, Fārs, Kirmān, Mukrān
(Beluchistan), Sistān, Khurāsān, Afghanistan, the Pamirs, Sughd, and
Mā-warā-an-Nahr (Transoxiana) among its main portions. The empire
had been originally founded by Anūshtigin, a slave of Malik Shāh the
Seljūq. At the time of Jenghiz, Muḥammad, the Shāh of Khwārazm, was
at the height of his power, and it is estimated that he could put into
the field an army of half a million soldiers. War was inevitable; the
insatiable ambition of Jenghiz supplied the casus belli; the execution by
Muhammad of the Mongol envoys was alleged as a pretence. In 1219
Jenghiz left his capital Karakorum with two divisions under his sons
Juji and Jagatai. Massacre and pillage were the concomitants of their
victories. Piles of corpses and the blackened traces of ruined cities marked
their progress. Pity was unknown to them; the most atrocious treachery
and disregard of oaths and of promises of quarter were employed to hunt
out and extirpate the scattered survivors of their barbarity. The
flourishing cities of Tashkent, Nur, Bukhārā, Samarqand, and Balkh were
utterly destroyed, and their inhabitants ruthlessly butchered, according to
the well-known Mongol principle,“Stone dead hath no fellow. " Muḥammad
fied to Nīshāpūr, but was pursued to the shores of the Caspian, where he
died, leaving a shattered wreck of a kingdom to his son Jalāl-ad-Dīn.
Merv and Nīshāpūr shared the fate of the other cities. Finally Jenghiz
and Jalāl-ad-Dīn met in battle on the banks of the Indus; the latter was
utterly defeated but managed to escape to Delhi, where he found a refuge
CH. XX.


## p. 634 (#676) ############################################

634
Empire of Jenghiz Khan
and peace for a while at the court of the Sultan. The last act of
Jenghiz in this campaign was to massacre all the inhabitants of Herat,
since they had ventured to depose his nominee from the governorship.
According to Douglas, 1,600,000 people were slain within the walls.
Jenghiz returned, but did not long enjoy the fruits of peace. Not
even the enormous booty which his victories had brought him could
induce the conqueror to spare his neighbours. The death of the last of
the Kin Dynasty in 1223 removed the final shadow of autonomy in North
China, and Jenghiz was now face to face with the Sung Dynasty in the
South. He set out on a fresh expedition, but died in 1227 by the Sale
river in Mongolia. The funeral escort that bore his corpse homeward
slaughtered every person whom they met, in order to prevent the news of
his death from being divulged.
Jenghiz Khan deserves to be remembered as a ruler, not only as a con-
queror. In the intervals of bloodshed, he found time to promote the arts
of peace and order. He organised a regular service of posts and couriers,
and rendered the highways secure for travellers. His tolerance to all
religious beliefs was probably due less to superstition than to indifference.
Not being deeply attached to any definite faith, he was not anxious that
one creed should secure preponderance. Divines, physicians, and learned
men were exempted from taxes. Perhaps the only plea by which a captive
might save his life was that of learning, though few instances of such
clemency are preserved. Jenghiz introduced the use of the Uighur
character, and caused his subjects to acquire the art of writing. He com-
piled a code of laws, or rather authorised the codification of existing
tribal customs, which he raised to a legal value, and to which he imparted
the sanction of his authority. His personal habits were such as could be
expected from his character. The joys of the chase, mingled with frequent
drinking-bouts, were the normal relaxations of Jenghiz. His wives and
concubines numbered five hundred. But, though he ruled his subjects with
an iron hand, his death found him at the zenith of popularity.
The Empire of Jenghiz Khan was the largest that ever fell to one
conqueror. The brain reels at the thought of the slaughter by which it
was achieved. In China over eighteen millions of human beings were
slain by his armies. No plague, no other “Scourge of God," has ever
smitten so severely. Howorth? would seek to palliate his record, but it
is impossible to do so.
The death of Jenghiz was followed by an interregnum of two years.
The affairs of state were administered without interruption by the sons
of the late chief and by the officers whom he had appointed. At length,
in 1229, a Kuriltai was held in order to elect an overlord. It is important
to notice the names of four sons of Jenghiz whose claims were considered
at this Kuriltai, for their subsequent dissensions contributed in no small
1 See Howorth, op. cit. 1. pp. 113 seqq.


## p. 635 (#677) ############################################

Conquest of Northern China
635
degree to the disruption of the Empire. Juji, the eldest son, had died
during his father's lifetime, but the claims to the succession which were
his by right of primogeniture passed, according to Mongol custom, to
his family. His three brothers, in order of age, were Jagatai, Ogdai, and
Tulē. The pretensions of Juji's family might without injustice have
been passed over in favour of Jagatai, but the Kuriltai had no free choice.
Jenghiz before his death had settled the destinies of his sons and, although
he ventured to break down the regular Mongol ideas of inheritance, the
force of his authority remained binding beyond the grave. The Kuriltai,
after due deliberation and no little hesitation, carried out the commands
of Jenghiz. Ogdai, who was elected chief Khan and successor to his father,
retained Tulē near the seat of government, appointing him to various
official posts. The family of Juji received possessions in the west, Jagatai
in the Uighur country. For the present there was loyal co-operation
between the brothers, and with the accession of Ogdai a new stage in the
history of Mongol expansion begins.
This expansion proceeded in both directions, towards China and
towards Europe. The death of Jenghiz found the Mongol possessions
extending “from the China Sea to the Dnieper. ” In China, the Kin
Dynasty had been beaten and reduced to submission. In the west,
the kingdom of Khwārazm had been destroyed and its ruler driven far
away from his home. Numerous expeditions had spread the fame of the
Mongols and shaken Europe with terror. The time was ripe for another
ebullition. In China the subjugated Kin were beginning to shew signs
of revival. Sporadic hostilities had occurred. In 1228 and again in 1230
the Mongols were defeated; the battles, though by no means serious in
character, were sufficient to raise false hopes among the Chinese; the
Mongols no longer appeared to be invincible. Eventually Ogdai roused
himself to punish the rebels and determined to teach them an enduring
lesson. It was not merely the effect of the Kin victories and various
incidents of a provocative nature that set the Mongols in motion;
it was the prospect of further conquests beyond the territories of the
Kin. The Southern division of China under the Sung Dynasty, pro-
bably alarmed at the fate of the Kin, had endeavoured to propitiate the
Mongols and avoid any collision with them. It is in any case doubtful
whether this course would have had any efficacy, but a political error at
this juncture gave the Mongols a casus belli, which when they had finished
with the Kin they were not slow to utilise. The Sung Emperor refused
to grant the Mongol armies leave to pass through his dominions, and
slew their envoy. This refusal was to cost him dear. Meanwhile Ogdai
marched against the Kin from the north ; Tulē invaded Honan from
Paoki, in the Shensi province. After various campaigns, battles, and
massacres, the Kin were finally swept out of existence in 1234, and the
descendants of Jenghiz maintained the supreme rule until displaced by
the Ming Dynasty in 1368.
CH. XX.


## p. 636 (#678) ############################################

636
Advance westward
The overthrow of the Kin was speedily followed up by an attack on the
Sung. The Sung Emperor had ended by assisting the Mongols in their
war against the Kin. His reward was to have been the province of Honan.
This the Mongols refused to evacuate. Having secured all that they de-
sired from the Sung Emperor, they were in no mood to keep their
promise, and alleging as a pretext his former refusal of a passage to the
Mongol forces, they despatched an army in 1235.
At this stage it is desirable to turn back to events in the West. The
last years of Jenghiz Khan were marked by signs of activity among the
conquered cities of Khwārazm. When Muḥammad Shāh, defeated by the
Mongol armies, died of illness on the Caspian shore, he left a son Jalāl-
ad-Din. The destruction of the Khwārazmian empire deprived the latter
of a throne. A beaten fugitive from his Mongol pursuers, he reached
Delhi. Here the Sultan received him with kindness and gave him his
daughter in marriage. Jalāl-ad-Dīn watched for a favourable opportunity,
and, with the aid of his father-in-law, succeeded in regaining piecemeal
large portions of his lost heritage. He crossed the Indus and marched
north. Although his troops were few in number and had suffered severely
from the hardships of the journey, he effected the expulsion of his
surviving brother Ghiyāth-ad-Dīn, who ruled 'Irāq 'Ajamī, Khurāsān, and
Māzandarān, and seized his dominions. He attacked and defeated the
Caliph of Baghdad. In 1226 he captured Tiflis in Georgia, between the
Black Sea and the Caspian, and, in the following year, overcame a small
Mongol army. The important city of Khilat, in Armenia, now fell into his
hands and his power increased on all sides. But vengeance fell upon him
swiftly and suddenly. Ogdai sent a large force to reduce him, and before
the news of its coming reached Jalāl-ad-Dīn he was surrounded in
Diyārbakr. No chance of combat remained, for the Khwārazmian troops
were far away. Jalāl-ad-Dīn took refuge in flight but was slain by a Kurd.
His death brought an end to the Khwārazm Shāhs and their kingdom. But
the Mongols did not cease their campaign. The horror inspired by their
name was such that their victims abandoned all thoughts of resistance.
It is related that the whole population of a large village obeyed the
command of a single Mongol, and stood in a line while he slaughtered
them, one by one. Terror and devastation spread all over the country.
By 1236 they had overcome Erbil, Diyārbakr, Khilat, Mesopotamia,
Azarbā'ījān, Georgia, and Armenia. They made terrible examples of Kars
and Tiflis. The Caliph of Baghdad preached a jihad (sacred war) against
them and won a victory at Jabal Hamrīn on the Tigris. In 1238 he was,
however, defeated, and the Mongol armies marched northwards.
The hordes of Mongols seemed as inexhaustible as they were irre-
sistible. In 1235 Ogdai organised three large expeditions: against Korea,
the Sung Dynasty, and the country beyond the river Volga. The King
of Korea had submitted to Jenghiz Khan in 1218, but subsequently
various incidents stirred up discord between vassal and overlord. The


## p. 637 (#679) ############################################

Invasion of Europe
637
murder of a Mongol envoy in 1231 was followed by a victorious invasion,
led by Sabutai, who set up Mongol governors in many cities of Korea.
In 1232 a popular upheaval resulted in the assassination of many of
these officials, and the King of Korea, frightened of the consequences,
fled to the island of Siang-Hua on the west coast. Ogdai summoned
him to appear before his judgment-seat to answer for these acts; a re-
fusal led to the expedition of 1235. By 1241 the Korean King submitted
and gave the required hostages.
The expedition against the Sung Dynasty, though generally successful,
effected no permanent conquests, and the Southern Dynasty was not finally
reduced until the time of Kublai Khan, the second son of Tulē.
The third army requires further mention, for this force swept down
upon the West like an overwhelming avalanche. No crowning mercy, such
as the victory of Tours in 732 against the tide of Islām, saved the destinies
of Europe. Divided, and distracted by internal strife, the Christian
countries could offer no opposition to the invading hordes. The Mongol
wave spent its energy and fell back, shattered by no rock or impediment.
Had not the death of Ogdai recalled Bātu and his generals, there is little
doubt but that Paris and Rome would have shared the fate of Kiev
and Moscow.
It was originally the wish of Ogdai to lead the Western army in
person, but on reflection he changed his mind and assigned the command
to Bātu the son of Juji. With Bātu the renowned Sabutai was associated
as adviser. Ogdai's sons and nephews accompanied the expedition. The
forces met in Great Bulgaria in 1237. The Mongol onslaught was charac-
terised by its usual speed; indiscriminate slaughter, rape, and destruction,
as before, marked their path. A list of Mongol victories resolves itself into
a catalogue of doomed towns and ravaged country-sides. Blow after blow
followed in quick succession. Bulgar, Ryazan, Moscow, Vladímir, are but
a few of the places that succumbed. Princes, bishops, nuns, and children
were slain with savage cruelty. It is impossible to describe the bar-
barities that prolonged the death of the unfortunate inhabitants. None
remained to weep or to tell the tale of disaster. Novgorod was saved
by a thaw which melted the ice and turned the country into an im-
passable swamp. Koselsk was the scene of such exceptional severity
that the Mongols themselves noted the occasion by calling this place
“Mobalig,” town of woe. In 1240 the Mongols advanced still further,
towards the Dnieper. Pereslavl, Chernigov, Glokhov, and finally the
metropolitan city Kiev, were destroyed. The Mongols divided their
forces, one part marching against Poland and the other through the
Carpathians against Hungary. At Mohi on the Theiss the whole
chivalry of Hungary was crushed in an overwhelming defeat. The nobility
and clergy shared the fate of the common soldiers, and the King Béla IV
escaped as a fugitive to the Adriatic. In the same year (1241) Henry,
Duke of Silesia, was overthrown at Liegnitz near Breslau by the Mongols,
CA. XX.


## p. 638 (#680) ############################################

638
The recall of Bātu saves Europe
and the whole of Silesia was given up to slaughter. The area over which
the Mongol hordes were spreading seemed limitless; no country was safe.
Bātu followed up the capture of Pesth by crossing the Danube and
assaulting Gran, which he took. Europe was now prostrate, and no
saviour arose to ward off the Mongols. But the death of Ogdai, in the
sanie year as that of Pope Gregory IX, involved the return of Bātu to
Karakorum, in order to assist in the election of a new Khan, and the
western portions of Europe were freed from the terror of the Mongol
armies.
The coming of the Mongols found Europe utterly unprepared and
heedless. The first invasion of 1222, when the forces of Jenghiz Khan
crossed the Caucasus and ravaged parts of Russia, created little notice.
The west of Europe seems to have been ignorant of the event, but in
the years 1235–1238 two circumstances combined to awaken the Christian
kings to a knowledge of the perils awaiting them. The first of these was
an embassy from the Ismāʻīlīyah, and the second was the arrival of the
Mongol armies under Bātu and his generals. Those Ismāʻīlīyah, or
Ishmaelites, who are known to the general historian by the name of
“Assassins," were themselves marked out by the Mongols as a prey, but
they escaped attention until the time of Hūlāgū. Stirred by premonition,
or roused by the fate of their neighbours, they strove to effect a com-
bination against the all-conquering Mongols among all nations, even those
mutually hostile, that were confronted by this same foe whose coming
would involve them all in common ruin. The efforts of the Assassins
were not limited to the rulers in their immediate neighbourhood. In 1238
they sent envoys to the Kings of France and England, asking their aid.
The fame of this sect was great among the crusaders. Many distin-
guished men, Muslim and Christian, had fallen victims to their daggers,
and Saladin himself narrowly escaped assassination. It would have been
thought that, seeing the terror of their dreaded enemies, the Christian
princes would have awakened to a sense of their position and have
concluded an alliance, at least until such time as the Mongols had
been repulsed. Who knows what the effect of such an alliance might
have been? Apart from all military results, it is impossible to estimate
the effect on Europe of friendly intercourse and military co-operation
on a large scale with the Easterns? . But the warning fell on deaf ears.
The Emperor Frederick II did indeed realise what was at stake. He
wrote an extremely important letter to Henry III urging combined
action, and giving what was for that time a fairly accurate account of
the Mongols.
i Hayton, King of Little Armenia (1224-1269), was a friend and ally of the
Mongols. He sent missions and himself visited Bātu and Mangu in 1254, after the
accession of the latter. An account of his travels was compiled by one of his fol-
lowers. See Enc. Brit. s. v. Cf. supra, Chapter vi, p. 175.
2 Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora (Rolls ed. ), pp. 112 ff.


## p. 639 (#681) ############################################

The Papacy and the Mongols
639
Other rulers also bestirred themselves.
In 1241, a few weeks before
the battle of Liegnitz, the Landgrave of Thuringia appealed for aid to
the Duke of Brabant, and the Church assisted in publishing the danger
by proclaiming fasts and intercessions. In an often misquoted passage,
Matthew Paris relates that in 1238 the fishermen from Friesland and
Gothland, “dreading their attacks, did not, as was their custom, come to
Yarmouth, in England, at the time of the herring-fisheries, at which place
their ships usually loaded; and, owing to this, herrings in that year were
considered of no value, on account of their abundance, and about forty
or fifty, although very good, were sold for one piece of silver, even in
places at a great distance from the sea. ”
Nevertheless, despite the growing feeling of insecurity, no active steps
were taken. The envoys were given empty answers. Nothing but the
quarrel between Emperor and Pope occupied men's minds. Some alleged
that Frederick II had manufactured the scare in order to help his cause.
Others, whose lack of political foresight was only equalled by their
ignorance of the Mongols, suggested that, if Europe remained inactive,
Mongols and Muslims would destroy one another and the triumph of the
Cross would be assured. The mass of the population were too apathetic
to be moved: nothing except the thoughts of Crusades could arouse them
from their torpor. Pope Gregory IX had written letters of sympathy to
the Queen of Georgia and to the King of Hungary, when these rulers
had been smitten by the Mongol scourge, but his mind was concentrated
on his quarrels with the Emperor. He died shortly after the battle of
Liegnitz, when the death of Ogdai recalled the Mongols and gave Europe
a breathing-space. The successor to Gregory was Innocent IV, who was
elected in 1243. He, as none before him, understood what was at issue,
and conceived two main plans for saving Christendom from the Mongols
-attack and persuasion. In order to stimulate the former, he ordered a
new combination of forces against them, and invested the expedition
with the dignity of a crusade by offering to all who fought against the
“ ministers of Tartarus” spiritual privileges similar to those offered to
the crusaders. Little came of these efforts, but the second plan, though
equally ineffective, has proved of infinite value to later ages on account
of the information thus gleaned concerning the Mongols.
The Pope imagined that, if the Mongols could be converted to Christi-
anity, they would be restrained from attacking Europe through religious
fears. Wonderful stories of Prester John filled Europe; it was possible
that the Mongols were in some way connected with this strange monarch.
There were the legends ascribing to the Mongols Semitic origin: they
were the lost ten tribes, shut up by Alexander within impenetrable
mountains, from which they had broken forth to ravage the world. In
short the soil was ripe for the seed of the gospel, and the monk would
succeed where the knight had failed.
This fond hope resulted in the missions of Friars John of Pian di
CH, XX.


## p. 640 (#682) ############################################

640
Ogdai and Kuyuk
Carpine and Benedict the Pole in 1245, and of Friar William of Rubruck
(Rubruquis) in 1253. The former were envoys of the Pope, the latter of
Louis IX. The itineraries of these travellers have been preserved, and
can well be ranked with the accounts of Marco Polo and Don Clavijo.
The mass of information contained therein constitutes one of the principal
sources of extant knowledge concerning the Mongols of this period.
Diplomatically and spiritually the mission of Friar William was as un-
successful as that of his predecessors, but from the point of view of the
historian both journeys were signally fruitful.
Ogdai's death, which delivered Europe, occurred in his fifty-sixth
year, on 11 December 1241. His comparatively early end was due to
excessive intemperance, a fault to which Mongols were prone. His chief
pleasure lay in hunting. He built a palace for himself at Karakorum, to
which he gave the name of Ordu Balig or City of the Camp. The site of
the palace and the marvels that were to be seen there have long been dis-
puted, but the Central Asiatic expeditions of N. Yadrintsev (1889), of the
Helsingfors Ugro-Finnish Society in 1890, and of Radlov in 1891, have
succeeded in fixing the position. The use of paper currency was known
to Ogdai, but it is uncertain whether he actually adopted this expedient.
Certain reforms are also ascribed to him, notably the curbing of the
extortionate demands and requisitions imposed by the princes and state
officials upon the common people. His personal gentleness forms a
contrast to the severity of Jagatai; but there was little evidence of
tenderness in his government. The policy of rule by brute force was not
modified until the later reigns of Mangu and Kublai.
After the death of Ogdai, the succession did not pass to either of his
nominees, Kuchu or Shiramun, the son of Kuchu. The former was the
third son of Ogdai and had predeceased his father in 1236. Shiramun
was kept from the throne by the instrumentality of Turakina, the widow
of the late Khan; Kuyuk, the eldest son of Ogdai, was ultimately, in 1246,
elected as Khan, as Turakina wished.
The Kuriltai at which Kuyuk was chosen is of interest because of
the presence of Friar John of Pian di Carpine, who gives a full descrip-
tion of the ceremony in his itinerary. The ill-will between the houses of
Jagatai and Ogdai was all this while increasing, but the dominion of the
house of Ogdai was not yet ended. The reign of Kuyuk, on the whole
uneventful, is noteworthy on account of various incidents. A Musul-
man called 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān was allowed to purchase the farming of the
taxes; this circumstance was greatly resented, because the efforts to dis-
tribute the taxes on a just basis were beginning to bear good fruit. The
foreign wars were maintained and armies sent against Korea, the Sung,
and Persia. Both in Mesopotamia and in Armenia the conquests and
ravages of the Mongols continued. At the court of Kuyuk Nestorian
Christians frequently appeared; Islām, Christianity, Buddhism, and
Shamanism were tolerated on an equal footing.


## p. 641 (#683) ############################################

Downfall of the Assassins
641
At the death of Kuyuk (1248) considerable confusion ensued; Kaidu,
grandson of Ogdai, and Chapar, son of Kaidu, successively held the
Khanate for short and troublous periods. Discontent among the nobles
and rival claims robbed the titular rulers of every shadow of authority, and
finally in 1251 Mangu, the son of Tulē, was elected Khan. The feud
between the houses of Jagatai and Ogdai was quelled and the house of
Ogdai ruled no more. The house of Tulē, youngest son of Jenghiz, now
took the lead.
The accession of Mangu brought a settlement to the political strife.
A period of prosperity followed. Rubruquis, whose visit happened at
this time, bears testimony that the luxury prevalent at Mangu's court
was not incompatible with the stability of the State, efficiency in govern-
ment, order and peace thoughout the Empire. Internal administration
was wise and popular. The Mongols were beginning to learn the lesson
of ruling as well as of conquering. But fresh conquests were soon under-
taken; a new outburst was ready.
Reference has already been made to the Assassins. The Mongols
decided that these dangerous foes could no longer be tolerated, and orders
for their extermination were given. Hūlāgū, the brother of Mangu, was
appointed for this work at the Kuriltai of 1252. He sent his chief
general Kitubuka in advance to invade Kūhistān, where the Assassins
were strongest, and after various military operations and the capture of
important towns and castles laid siege to Maimundiz, a fort of great
strength. Rukn-ad-Dīn, the head of the Assassins, surrendered to Hūlāgū.
Once in his power, Rukn-ad-Dīn was forced to dismantle all his fortresses
and strongholds, the investment of which might have caused the Mongols
some trouble. Later on he set out on a journey to Mangu, who refused
to receive him, and ultimately Rukn-ad-Dīn was slain on the homeward
journey. His end synchronised with the termination of the political
power of the Assassins.
Having freed the world from the Assassins, the Mongols advanced
against the citadel of Islām. Baghdad, the Rome of the Muslim faith,
vied with and surpassed Mecca in importance. The first four Caliphs
had ruled from Medina; the Umayyads who rose to power in 661 under
Mu‘āwiyah transferred the seat of government to Damascus. On the fall
of the Umayyads in 750 the capital was again changed, and Baghdad,
which was built by Manşūr in 762, became the centre of empire. The
position of the Caliph, or Successor to Mahomet, was in many respects
comparable to that of the Papacy. Endowed, at the outset, with temporal
well as spiritual power, the holders of the office were gradually divested
of the former. Lieutenants and governors made themselves independent;
separate states soon began to break the unity of the Empire of Islām.
But the spiritual ascendancy of the Caliphate maintained, to a far higher
degree than in the case of the Papacy, both the union of all Muslim
states and the authority of the Caliph in politics, international and
as
C. MED, H, VOL. IV, CB. XX.
41


## p. 642 (#684) ############################################

642
The fall of the Caliphate of Baghdad
domestic; it was the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols that brought
the old Caliphate to an end. Resurrected by the Mamlūks of Egypt, it
was a shadow and the holder of the office a puppet, maintained in a
fettered pomp that scarcely concealed the name of captivity. Sultans
such as Baibars found the presence of a Caliph convenient in order to
legitimate their claims and procure popular support, but the power of
the Caliphate was gone. The Ottoman Turks, who conquered Egypt in
1517, compelled the last Abbasid, Mutawakkil, to resign his claims in
their favour. By virtue of this and of the possession of the sacred relics
of the Prophet, the Sultans at Constantinople claim to-day to be the
vice-gerents of Allāh over all Islām.
Yet in 1250 the Caliphate was still a formidable foe. Musta'sim,
who held the office, could count on the allegiance of many princes.
Egypt, Rūm, Fārs, Kirmān, Erbil, and Mosul were all loyal, although at
the time of Hūlāgū's attack several feudatories had accepted the Mongol
sway. Nevertheless many internal causes contributed to the downfall of
the Caliphate. The feud between Sunni and Shi'ah sapped the forces of
Islām. The Caliph, though devoted to luxury, was a pious recluse who
abandoned the affairs of state to his viziers; of these it must be said that
their conduct can only be cleared from the blackest treachery to Church
and State by the plea of almost incredible folly and ineptitude'. Hūlāgū
wrote to Musta'sim, accusing him of sheltering Mongol enemies and of
withholding support from the Mongols when they crushed the Assassins;
he also demanded complete submission and the dismantling of the
fortifications of Baghdad. To this the Caliph, mainly relying on mistaken
ideas of his powers and the amount of help that his vassals would afford,
returned a refusal couched in boastful terms. Hūlāgū advanced and
laid siege to Baghdad, which fell on 15 February 1258. The Caliph
suffered a terrible death; the city was given up to pillage and the in-
habitants to slaughter. The massacre exceeded even the usual Mongol
limits; 800,000 perished and scarcely a stone remained standing. Horror
and woe spread to the confines of Islām; no event in the annals of the
Faith roused such consternation. Baghdad was the centre of the arts;
literature and science found a home under the aegis of the Caliph. The
Muslim rulers fostered and endowed the humanities, and encouraged the
progress of civilisation at a time when Europe was swathed in obscurantism.
Philosophy and scholasticism flourished ; rhetoric and all forms of learn-
ing and education were cultivated. In the realms of art, learning, and
commerce, no less than in the sphere of religion, Baghdad was the cynosure
of all Muslim eyes; its fall brought about a complete re-arrangement in the
political world also. Fresh boundaries, alliances, and centres of government
had to be found. Yet the great catastrophe had some effects that were
beneficial. Cairo, the new focus of Islām, was nearer Europe and more
1 See Browne, E. G. , Literary History of Persia, 11. pp. 464 ff. , 484.


## p. 643 (#685) ############################################

Defeat of the Mongols by the Mamlūks, 1260
643
accessible. The scattering of Muslim savants, diffusing learning among
many places, gave the impetus to a renaissance in Islām. It gave Egypt
a short breathing-space to prepare for the Mongol attack, with the con-
sequence that the victory of Quțuz at 'Ain Jālūt in 1260, which warded
off the danger from Egypt, saved Christendom as well; the signal service
that the Sultan of Egypt rendered to Europe was beyond the power of
any Western king to accomplish.
The fall of Baghdad was the prelude to the invasion of Syria. Even
so great an object-lesson failed to teach the Muslims the necessity of
union. The feud between Shi'ah and Sunnī still continued, carefully
fostered by the Mongols to their own advantage. Hūlāgū favoured the
former, and took precautions to preserve the tomb of 'Ali from destruc-
tion. Some of the princes of Syria submitted. Nāşir Şalāḥ-ad-Dīn
Yusuf, a descendant of the famous Saladin (Şalāḥ-ad-Dīn), who was
prince of Aleppo and also of Damascus, defied the Mongols and prepared
to offer a brave resistance. He sent his wives to Egypt, where the Sultan
Quțuz protected them, and gathered an army for battle, north of
Damascus. But under the influence of terror his men fled; Hūlāgū
marched to Aleppo, capturing and destroying as he went. The town fell
and was razed to the ground; death or captivity was the lot of the victims.
Damascus surrendered and was spared. Antioch surrendered but was
destroyed. A terrible famine and pestilence broke out and completed the
devastation of Syria, Mesopotamia, and the surrounding lands. Hūlāgū
meditated a march on Jerusalem and probably after that a campaign
against Egypt; but while at Aleppo the news of the death of Mangu
reached him. He was obliged to return for the great Kuriltai, just as the
death of Ogdai had previously recalled Bātu. The leadership of the
Mongol army was given to Ketbogha.
Quțuz, the Sultan of Egypt at this time, 1260, was a Khwārazmian
Mamlūk, who had displaced the son of Aibak and seized the throne.
Roused by the approach of the foe, he gathered an army and anticipated
their attack. The Mamlūks advanced to Acre, where they reckoned on
the support of the Crusaders. The latter were too timid to offer any aid,
and the burden of the war lay on Quțuz alone. At ‘Ain Jālūt (1260)
the armies met. The bravery of Quțuz and of Baibars, his general, won
the day and Ketbogha was slain. For the first time in history the Mongols
were fairly and indisputably beaten in a decisive battle. The effect was
magical. Wherever the news of the Mamlūk victory became known,
men gave themselves up to the wildest transports of rejoicing. The spell
was broken at last, and it was clear that the superhuman power, claimed
by Mongol boasts and credited by the fears of their victims, was a myth.
Damascus rose and cast off the Mongol yoke. The Mamlūks did not
remain satisfied with the fruits of a single victory. The Mongols, broken
and crushed, were driven out of Syria beyond Emesa. Quțuz reinstated,
where possible, the former officials as governors under his command and
CH. XX.
41-2


## p. 644 (#686) ############################################

644
Hülāgū and the Il-khāns
reduced the country to order. His return was a triumphant progress;
he was accompanied by prayers and thanksgiving. Wherever he passed
signs of popular joy were manifest. Extraordinary preparations were
made to welcome the conqueror. As he drew nearer to his own kingdom
the celebrations became grander, and the decorations of the towns and
villages increasingly costly. All Cairo united to honour its victorious
ruler as no other before, but Quțuz was treacherously robbed of the fruits
of his victory. He was stabbed by his general Baibars, who usurped his
master's throne and rode into Cairo, a second Zimri, amid the plaudits
destined for his murdered lord. The erstwhile Mamlūk slave, who had
saved the proud sovereigns of Europe and had succeeded in a task which
they dared not undertake, fell a victim in the height of his glory to the
dagger of another slave.
The land which Hūlāgū had conquered became his own, and he re-
tained possession of such parts as were not recaptured from him. The
dynasty which he founded in Persia ruled for several generations under
the title of Il-khāns, acknowledging the Khan of the Eastern Mongols as
their overlord. In 1282 Aḥmad Khān became a Muslim. Islām had
entirely permeated Persia by 1295, when Ghāzān Khān succeeded to the
throne, but it did not altogether eradicate many superstitions. Ghāzān
broke off his allegiance to the Supreme Khan. The inauguration of in-
dependence by the Īl-khāns is marked by the alteration in the legend on
their coins. Ábū-Sa'id (1316) was the last of the great Īl-khāns, and after
his death (1335) the kingdom split into petty states, which by 1400
were incorporated by Tīmūr in his dominions.
In the meanwhile there had been considerable military activity on the
eastern borders of the Empire. Reference has been made to the continual
hostilities that disturbed the relations between the Sung Dynasty in
Southern China and the Mongols. In 1252 the latter ordered a great
forward movement. Kublai, the brother of Mangu, was to advance into
Yunnan, a province outside the Sung borders to the south-west, and in
1253 he assembled his forces at Shensi as a preliminary step. The
Mongols were favoured with their usual success, but Kublai was a man
of different temperament from his predecessors. He saw that the policy of
wanton destruction and indiscriminate slaughter, though effective for in-
spiring terror in the foe and thus aiding the conqueror, was inimical to
the future government of the captured area. It was easier to rule a settled
country than a desert waste. Industry and commerce can be overthrown
with ease and speed, but cannot be revived except with infinite trouble
and delay. Moreover Kublai's nature was averse to bloodshed. His
ambition sought to effect great conquests with the minimum loss of life.
Thus Tali, an important city of Nanchao in Yunnan, was taken by him
without causing a single death. After this exploit Kublai returned to
Mangu, leaving the famous general Uriang Kadai, the son of Sabutai, to
continue the campaign. With various intervals the war continued until


## p. 645 (#687) ############################################

Mangu
645
1257. The Mongols captured Annam (Tongking) in 1257, and achieved
many successes. Kublai, who had been appointed governor at Honan,
had not abandoned his policy of conciliation. The popularity which he
gained from the wise and considerate treatment of his subjects provoked
the jealousy of Mangu, who sent a Mongol called Alemdar from Kara-
korum to supersede Kublai. The latter, however, returned to Mangu,
and by tact and submission recovered the favour of the Khan and the
position of which he had been deprived.
In this same year, 1257, Mangu held a Kuriltai and determined to
lead the army against the Sung. Kublai accompanied him, and three
strong forces invaded the province of Suchuan. Two years were spent in
conquests, and in the Mongol operations the gentle spirit of Kublai
asserted itself. Finally, in 1259 siege was laid to Hochau at the junction
of the Kialing and the Feu, near the point where these rivers join the
Yangtse Kiang. The besiegers suffered much from dysentery, and Mangu
himself succumbed to the disease. The funeral procession, which bore
the dead Khan to his last resting-place at Burkan Kaldun, according to
previous custom slew all whom they met en route, to prevent the intel-
ligence of the death of the Khan from preceding the bier.
Mangu's sudden death created some difficulty in the appointment of
a successor. The vast extent of the Empire prevented a Kuriltai from
being summoned at once. According to the Mongol custom, the new
Khan should be chosen from among the brothers of Mangu, and of these
Hūlāgū was in Syria, Kublai in China. Of Mangu's other brothers, the
next in age to Hūlāgū was Arik buka, who was in command at Karakorum.
To him Kublai sent, asking for reinforcements and supplies. Arikbuka
complied and sent Kublai an invitation to attend the Kuriltai which
had been convoked at Karakorum to elect a new Khan. Kublai, fearing
a trap, declined and summoned a Kuriltai of his own at Shangtu. To this
assembly neither Hūlāgū nor the descendants of Jagatai were invited,
owing to the time which must elapse before they could attend. The
conduct of the war rendered it imperative that a new head should be
chosen for the state without delay. Kublai was elected for this office
with the usual pomp and festivities. The election was scarcely valid, as
the entire electorate was not present. Of the absentees, Hūlāgū acquiesced,
but Arikbuka and the supporters of the houses of Jagatai and Ogdai
were disaffected.
Nevertheless Kublai was on the throne, and his reign lasted thirty-
five years. His achievements were considerable, and he ruled over a
wider extent than any Mongol or indeed any other sovereign. He was
the first to govern by peaceful means. By this time the head of the
Mongols had become invested with the state of an Emperor. The
splendour of his court and the magnificence of his entourage easily sur-
passed that of any Western ruler. The change though gradual was now
accomplished. It was strikingly significant of Mongol development. The
CH. XX.


## p.