No More Learning

A second deputation, consisting of the Dominican John of Ragusa, a
canon of Constance, and a canon of Orleans, left Basle in 1435. It was
empowered to offer the Emperor financial help, with a first instalment of
9000 Alorins in a bill on the banks of the Medici, on the condition that
the council was held in the West. After a three months' journey the


## p. 621 (#663) ############################################

The Council at Ferrara, 1438
621
mission reached Constantinople 24 September 1435. The Pope's legate
Christopher Garatoni appeared in his turn (1436). Each party then
tried to outbid the other, and to attract the Greeks to its side by offer-
ing the greatest advantages. The Emperor, vacillating as ever, sent
two ambassadors, one, Manuel Bulotes, to the Pope, the other, John
Dishypatus, to Basle.
At the same time the choice of the city where the union was to be
concluded roused violent storms in the Council of Basle. The majority
had fixed on Avignon, the minority, supported by John Dishypatus,
pronounced in favour of Florence or Udine. On the voting-day each
party had prepared its decree and the uproar was so great that it almost
came to blows. A bishop of the minority forcibly seized the seal of the
Council, and, after sealing the decree started off to convey it to the Pope
(7 May 1437).
Eugenius IV, considering the decree of the minority as alone valid,
appointed an embassy to announce the fact at Constantinople. On the
way it took up at Crete 300 archers intended for the defence of the city.
The ambassador of Basle, John of Ragusa, was still there. He was speedily
ignored, and John VIII concluded a treaty with the Pope, who undertook
to put at his disposal the necessary ships and escort.
After six years of wearisome negotiations the Council of Union was
finally convened. In order to invest it with a truly ecumenical character
the Emperor asked the three Eastern Patriarchs to send representatives
to it. The Abbot Isidore, nominated Archbishop of Kiev, was intended to
bring over the Great Prince of Russia, and delegations were secured from
the Prince of Moldo-Wallachia and the Iberian clergy. Conferences of
theologians, in which the partisans and the opponents of the union con-
fronted each other, were assembled in order to discuss the concessions
that could be made to Rome.
John Palaeologus, accompanied by his brother the Despot Demetrius,
by the Patriarch Joseph, seventeen metropolitans, and a large number of
bishops and igumens, left Constantinople on 24 November 1437 and
arrived at Venice on 8 February 1438. Pope Eugenius IV awaited him
at Ferrara, where the Council was to sit. The most important question,
if we leave aside the preliminary difficulties which emerged at the inter-
view of the Pope with the Patriarch, was to determine the procedure to be
followed. The Emperor, whose thoughts were mainly fixed on the defence
of Constantinople, wished to await the delegates of the princes, in order
to settle first of all the political and military question. But the numerous
theologians of the rival camps did not agree to this. After the opening
of the Council (9 April 1438) commissions were nominated for the pur-
pose of solving the fundamental divergences between the two Churches:
the Procession of the Holy Ghost, the use of unleavened bread, the
nature of the pains of purgatory, the primacy of the Pope.
The opponents of the union, at whose head was Mark of Ephesus,
08. XX.


## p. 622 (#664) ############################################

622
The Council at Florence, 1439
suppress the
demanded that it should first be discussed “whether it is permitted to
add to the Creed,” thinking thus to block the union by this preliminary
question. It was in vain that Bessarion asked that the question should
be put in this form: “is the Filioque lawful? ” The point of view of Mark
of Ephesus prevailed, and on 14 October began a long series of oratorical
sessions, in which Greeks and Latins confuted each other in turn and
quite fruitlessly. The form of a debate by picked opponents was then
tried, but, after a brilliant oratorical tournament which lasted several
days between Mark of Ephesus and Julian Cesarini, the discussion had
inade little advance. Then the plague, which was raging at Ferrara and
had already made several victims in the Council, decided the Pope to
remove the Council to Florence (10 January 1439).
Taught by the experience of Ferrara, the Pope and the Emperor
resolved to quicken the discussions. It was arranged that there should
be a public session three times a week, and that on the other days mixed
commissions should transact preliminaries for the union. But fresh and
endless debates on the Procession of the Holy Ghost began again for a
month between Mark of Ephesus and John of Ragusa. Another change
of method was tried. On 30 March it was decided to
open
discussions, and to substitute conferences between unionists of both sides.
But the negotiations touching the union did not start before 13 April.
After a series of preliminaries, the Greeks ended by agreeing on the
identity of the formula qui ex Patre Filioque procedit, and qui ex Patre
per Filium procedit (3 June). The union was now in sight.
Concurrently with these theological discussions, political harmony
was being promoted. The Pope undertook to preach the crusade for the
defence of Constantinople, to maintain permanently a force of 300 soldiers
to guard the city, and to supply galleys in event of a siege. Then, in order
to accelerate matters, the Pope put into the hands of the Emperor's
delegates schedules, on which were noted the doctrines to be accepted on
the points in dispute. It was their duty to get the Greeks to subscribe to
them.
On 12 June an agreement was reached about the nature of the pains
of purgatory, on 15 June about the eucharistic bread, unleavened or
leavened, on 20 June about the words of consecration. But when the
doctrine of the primacy of the Pope was touched upon, the whole dis-
cussion nearly began de novo. Heated debates were held, and the Em-
peror talked of leaving. Finally, on 26 June Bessarion proposed a formula
of conciliation, which recognised the universal authority of the Pope as
“the representative and vicar of Christ,” the rights and privileges of the
Eastern Churches being reserved. Nothing now was left but to draw up
the decree of union which, translated into Greek, was approved by the
Pope and the Emperor on 5 July. The next day, 6 July, in the
cathedral of Florence, under the dome completed by Brunelleschi in
1436, the decree was read in Latin by Cardinal Julian Cesarini and in


## p. 623 (#665) ############################################

The Union of Florence
623
Greek by Bessarion; the two prelates then kissed each other, and all the
members of the Council, the Emperor at their head, bent the knee before
the Pope.
Finally, after the close of the Council the union was completed by
the declarations of assent which the Eastern Churches sent to the Pope,
each like the Greek Church retaining its liturgical and disciplinary uses.
On 22 November 1439 the union was accepted by the delegates of Con-
stantine, Patriarch of the Armenians, on 5 February 1441 by the Jacobites
of Syria. On 2 September 1441 the Pope received an embassy of Con-
stantine, King of the Ethiopians, and on 25 February 1443 he announced
in an encyclical that the Ethiopians had adhered to the union. Finally,
on 26 April 1442 Eugenius IV promulgated at St John Lateran the
constitutions for the Syrians, the Chaldeans, and the Maronites.
For the first time since 1054 the unity of the Church seemed restored,
and even the last scattered remnants of the heretical sects, most of which
had been separated from the Church since the fifth century, had ended
by returning to the fold. Whereas at the Council of Lyons the union
had been imposed upon the Greek clergy by the will of the Emperor, at
Florence its representatives had come voluntarily to debate with the
Latins. The most obstinate opponents of the union, such as Mark of
Ephesus, had been able to bring forward their objections without fear.
The question seemed settled for all time to come, and Christendom, united
in one and the same communion, would be able to devote itself to the
crusade against the Turks. In order to cement this union more closely,
on 18 December 1439 the Pope admitted Bessarion, Archbishop of Nicaea,
and Isidore, Archbishop of Kiev, to the College of Cardinals.
Unhappily by signing the union at Florence John Palaeologus had only
accomplished a part of his task. It was now necessary to make the clergy
and the people of Constantinople accept it. On his return to his capital
(1 February 1440) the Emperor encountered an obstinate opposition. If
Ducas may be believed', when the Venetian ships with John VIII and his
suite on board entered the Golden Horn, the travellers were greeted with
ribaldry and insults. Many bishops who had subscribed to the decree of
union protested that their signatures had been extracted from them by
force. The Patriarch Joseph had died at Florence, and the Emperor
had to exercise great pressure on the clergy of St Sophia to induce them
to nominate a unionist successor, Metrophanes, Bishop of Cyzicus.
The opposition was led by the Emperor's own brother, the Despot
Demetrius, and notably by Mark of Ephesus, whose submission John VIII,
notwithstanding the solicitations of the Pope, had not succeeded in ob-
taining. Mark soon became very popular and was venerated as a saint.
He began a very active campaign against the union in the monasteries
of Constantinople and on Mount Athos, where the monks refused to
1 Ducas, 31 (MPG, clvii. col. 1013).
CH. XIX.


## p. 624 (#666) ############################################

624
Byzantine opposition to the Union
communicate with the unionists. In the end Mark was ordered to return
to his diocese of Ephesus. Imprisoned in the island of Lemnos, he con-
tinued his propaganda and won over to his views the Emperor's private
secretary, George Scholarius, who had faithfully served the Council.
In order that the union might triumph at Constantinople, the
Western Crusade, on which it had been conditional, ought to have been
rapidly organised, and ought to have won sufficiently decisive victories to
release Constantinople from the grip of the Turks. In spite of the dis-
turbed condition of the East the Pope tried to keep his promise so far
as possible. In 1443 an army commanded by Cardinal Julian Cesarini
joined forces with John Hunyadi and Vladislav I, King of Hungary. The
Sultan Murād II suffered a sanguinary defeat before Niš. On 24 Decem-
ber 1443 the crusaders entered Sofia: the road to Constantinople was
open. Unfortunately the leaders of the Crusade were unable to follow up
their victory. On 15 July John Hunyadi signed a truce with Murād.
Julian Cesarini refused to recognise it. The crusaders continued their
march in Bulgaria, but the disaster that befel them at Varna on 10 Novem-
ber 1444 wrecked all the hopes of Christendom. Constantinople was
nearing its death-throes.
This serious defeat and the death of John VIII (31 October 1448) in-
creased the boldness of the opponents of the union. The new Emperor,
Constantine XI, brother of John VIII, had been one of its most deter-
mined partisans. George Scholarius dared to propose that his corona-
tion should be deferred until he had given pledges for his orthodoxy.
Threatened with prosecution, George took refuge in a monastery, and
under the name of Gennadius succeeded Mark of Ephesus, who died in
1447, as head of the opponents of the union.
Under his influence an anti-unionist council, at which the three
Eastern Patriarchs were present, assembled in St Sophia in 14501. The
Patriarch Gregory, elected since 1443, was cited to appear there to justify
himself, and on his refusal he was deposed and replaced by the monk
Athanasius. Gemistos Plethon violently attacked the Latin doctrine of
the Holy Ghost, denounced the pressure which the Emperor had brought
to bear on the bishops to force them to admit it, and resisted the
ambitious schemes of Bessarion. A list of Latin errors was drawn up
in twenty-nine articles and published. The Patriarch Gregory was
obliged to fly to Italy.
At the moment when the blockade of Constantinople was tightening
again, and on the eve of the accession of Mahomet II, no demonstration
could be more inopportune. On 11 October 1451 Pope Nicholas V called
upon Constantine XII to proclaim solemnly the union at Constantinople,
to bring back the Patriarch Gregory, and to compel the clergy to mention
1 The exact date is uncertain. Mansi, Concilia, xiii, 1365 seq. Vast, Le Cardinal
Bessarion, p. 133.


## p. 625 (#667) ############################################

Fall of Constantinople
625
the name of the Pope in the liturgy. The decree was brought to Con-
stantinople by Cardinal Isidore of Kiev in 1452. He negotiated with
the opposing party, lavished promises and threats, and ended by bringing
over part of the superior clergy.
Finally, on 12 December 1452 the union was solemnly proclaimed in
St Sophia in the presence of Constantine, the legate, and the Patriarch
Gregory, who officiated together with the assistance of 300 priests. But
the infuriated populace rushed to the monastery of Pantokrator, where
they found written by Gennadius on the door of his cell a prophecy
which threatened the Empire with its coming slavery to the Turks. In
that fanatical crowd, already attacked by what has been called “siege-
fever," the conviction spread that the Panagia (the Virgin) would herself
defend her city, as in the times of Heraclius and of Photius. While
the crowd was shouting in the streets “Death to the Azymites ! ” the
Grand Duke Lucas Notaras declared that he would rather see the turban
at Constantinople than the hat of a Roman cardinal. Henceforward
the church of St Sophia, where the union had been proclaimed, was
deserted by the people, and remained empty until that gloomy vigil of
28 May 1453 which preceded the capture of Constantinople.
Obliged to choose between the safety of the Empire and the autonomy
of their Church, the Greeks resolutely sacrificed their political inde-
pendence to their hatred of the West and to their antipathy to Rome.
There is no doubt that their attitude diminished the good-will of the
Western nations, as is proved by a curious question put to the Pope on
the point, whether a Christian had the right to go to the assistance of
schismatic Greeks'. Besides this, the new régime which the Greek
Church was about to experience had already been working for many
years in the provinces occupied by the Turks. The bishops, nominated
by the Patriarchs, were everywhere recognised by the conquerors as the
civil and religious heads of the Christian community? Mahomet II
therefore had no difficulty in extending this régime to the whole Empire
by requiring, immediately after his entry into Byzantium, the election
of a new Patriarch; this was Gennadius, the leader of the opponents of
the union.
Thus for four centuries the Byzantine Emperors and the Popes
indefatigably laboured to stay the schism which divided Christendom
since 1054. Whether their object was to conclude an alliance against
a common enemy, or to make Constantinople a rampart against Asiatic
invasion, the necessity of first attaining religious union always thwarted
their wish for agreement.
1 Jorga, Notices et extraits pour servir à l'histoire des croisades au xve siècle,
4th series, p. 46.
Jorga, op. cit. pp. 32-34 (extraits d'un rapport daté de 1436 sur les rapports
entre les Turcs et l'Eglise grecque).
2
C. MED. H. VOL. IV. CH. XIX.
40


## p. 626 (#668) ############################################

626
Conclusion
This much-desired union was, in truth, the ambition of the Christian
policy of the last four centuries of the Middle Ages, but to the reasons
for its failure, which the analysis of the facts has shewn, we must add a
more profound cause. The Christian policy, the European policy we
might say, which surpassed in breadth the narrow standpoint of the
territorial policy of the various states, was clearly grasped only by the
great Popes of the Middle Ages, such as Gregory VII, Innocent III,
Gregory X, and by Byzantine Emperors such as Alexius I, Manuel Com-
nenus, and Michael Palaeologus; but their views were different and their
interests irreconcilable. The Caesars of Byzantium, at least until Manuel
Comnenus, cherished the illusive hope of regaining the heritage of the
Caesars of Rome; for them the union was but a means of rebuilding
their sovereignty in the West, or of saving it in the East. The Popes,
on their side, saw in the union under them the unity of the restored
Church, a Christendom united in one communion and forgetting its
private quarrels, which were veritable civil wars, in order to repel the
infidel and make the whole world the kingdom of Christ.
Between these two conceptions agreement was impossible, and this
explains why the union could only be realised in periods of crisis, whether
by violent conquest as in 1204, or in the face of an imminent peril as
in 1274 or in 1439. On the contrary, every time the situation improved
the pontifical doctrine and the imperial doctrine came into conflict,
without any real hope of conciliation. .
It is thus easy to see why the union, realised at three separate
times, had on each occasion so ephemeral an existence. The abnormal
conditions in which it was concluded doomed it to early failure. In 1204
the union imposed by force lighted in the heart of the Greeks an un-
quenchable hatred. The union of 1274 was tainted in its core by the
violent pressure which Michael Palaeologus brought to bear on his clergy.
The union of 1439, although debated by an Ecumenical Council, came
too late. When the house is blazing it is too late to settle disputes
about ways of preventing fire.


## p. 627 (#669) ############################################

627
CHAPTER XX.
THE MONGOLS.
In attempting to give an account of the Mongols, the historian is
confronted with many serious obstacles. At the outset, it would seem as
though the stories of these wandering tribes could never be co-ordinated ;
the incidents of their history are so heterogeneous in character, that it
seems an impossible task to pick out a connecting thread running through
them all. The internal events, which should assist the historian in tracing
the development and confederation of the various tribes, baffle and retard
him. The early history is shrouded in myth and mystery. At so late an
epoch in the progress of humanity, the student might not unreasonably
expect trustworthy evidence and records. But, in reviewing the early period
of the Mongolian State, it is a matter of exceptional importance to
separate the historical elements from the fictitious, and this is a task
involving much discrimination and patience. Every piece of information
seems, on its own merits and taken by itself, to be petty and negligible ;
nor is it easy to discover any positive relation of any consequence between
disconnected and sporadic occurrences. There are no central figures, no
outstanding personalities, before the time of Jenghiz. The darkness is
broken by no brilliant flashes but only by tiny gleams that serve but to
intensify the obscurity. We cannot mark cause and effect; we cannot ex-
plain, by the recognised canons of historical judgment, the phenomena
displayed by the Mongol history. On the other hand, if the events of
their internal progress are sporadic and disconnected, if they seem to
violate the normal course of national growth, when we come to examine
the external events and the expansion of these savage tribes, we find
ourselves confronted by facts that are equally inexplicable. Insignificant
at home and enormous abroad may be said to sum their salient
characteristics, in any case during the earlier periods. It is precisely on
account of their foreign relations that a knowledge of the Mongols is
essential to the student. Without their effect on the human race outside
their borders, the Mongols could be suffered to remain in obscurity.
The difficulties that await the investigator are not exhausted. He has
to work with a telescope instead of a microscope. Not only has a vast
extent of territory to be kept under constant observation, but movements
and actions among neighbouring peoples must be watched closely. The
history of the Mongols knows no geographical boundaries. The settled
CH. XX.
4042


## p. 628 (#670) ############################################

628
Extent of the Mongol invasions
limits of nations were swiftly and ruthlessly overthrown. Unchecked by
human valour, they were able to overcome the terrors of vast deserts, the
barriers of mountains and seas, the severities of climate, and the ravages
of famine and pestilence. No dangers could appal them, no stronghold
could resist them, no prayer for mercy could move them. Wherever their
fancy roamed, their hordes followed. Flourishing cities perished in a night,
leaving no memorial but ruins and mounds of piled-up corpses. The
quiet that followed the Mongol invasions was not the calm that settled on
a world wearied of strife, eager to foster once again the fruits of civilisation:
it was the gasp of expiring nations in their death-agony, before the eternal
silence of the tomb. They made their deserts and they called it peace.
To follow the destinies of the Mongols, it is necessary to think in con-
tinents not in countries, for like an irresistible torrent the armies of the
Khans swept over the map of Asia and Europe. A knowledge of no
single language will suffice to equip a student for the task of investigating
the Mongol races with any profundity. Besides the Tartar languages,
some acquaintance is essential with the languages of the peoples with whom
the Mongols came into contact. Their armies ranged over all Central
Asia, pushing on eastwards to China and westwards to Russia and even
to Germany. As a result, the student must be prepared to deal with
sources in many tongues, and with more freedom and greater facility than
is the case when dealing with other nations.
But if this combination of circumstances invests a study of the Mongols
with difficulty, it constitutes an equally potent reason for undertaking the
task. We are confronted with a new power in history, with a force that
was to bring to an abrupt end, as a deus ex machina, many dramas that
would otherwise have ended in a deadlock, or would have dragged on an
interminable course. The very magnitude of the Mongol influence and
the colossal area of their operations should prove an additional incentive
to the student, and render an attempt to estimate the nature and scope
of the changes which ensued alike attractive and fruitful.
In Europe the Mongols overran Russia, Hungary, and Silesia; to the
upheaval which they brought about, the establishment of the Turkish
Empire, and consequently the growth of the Renaissance, must be directly
attributed. This same upheaval reacted on the contests between Saracen
and Crusader and, nearer home, on the antagonism of the Papacy and the
Empire. The extermination of the Assassins (1256), a task beyond the
power of Europe or Syria, was a matter of comparative ease to the Mongols.
Before the terror which their name inspired, Europe seemed utterly
demoralised and incapable of resistance, and, had not the Mamlūks in-
tervened (1260) and beaten back the invaders at a critical moment, there
is little doubt but that a great portion of Europe would have succumbed to
Tartar rule.
The convulsion caused by the Mongols in Europe, great though it was,
cannot be compared to that produced in Asia. The destruction of Baghdad


## p. 629 (#671) ############################################

Unification of Asia
629
and the overthrow of the Caliphate (1258), the annihilation of the Kin
or Golden Dynasty which ruled the northern half of China (1234), the
conquest of Southern China, of Khwārazm, Persia, and the surrounding
countries, the establishment of the rule of the Moguls in India, are some
of the events any of which alone would suffice to make a knowledge of
the Mongol power indispensable to the general historian. It is not accurate
to regard the Mongols merely as a ravaging horde. After sacking Baghdad,
Hūlāgū founded an observatory; after conquering China, Kublai es-
tablished a university at Cambalu (Pekin). The “scourge of God” does
not smite blindly. It is a noteworthy phenomenon that a successful
barbarian attack on civilisation, however destructive be its ravages at the
moment, is ultimately followed by a great revival, and this revival may
often be traced to the very catastrophe which seemed destined to
overwhelm culture in irretrievable ruin. In the sphere of religion, this
may be observed by the Assyrian (B. C. 587) and Roman (A. D.
70) conquests
of Judaea, which, in the end, created and strengthened the diaspora and
made the outer world acquainted with the moral teachings of the
Pentateuch and Prophets. In the spheres of the arts and humanities,
the Roman conquest of Greece, the Turkish conquest of the Byzantine
Empire, are instances which go to prove how the accumulated stores of
learning may be released and rendered accessible to a wider circle. The
Arab conquest of Spain gave the light of science, medicine, philosophy,
and poetry to Europe in the Dark Ages. The capture of Jerusalem led
directly to the establishment of the schools in Jamnia, the ruthless perse-
cution of Hadrian produced the academies of Babylon, and“ on the day
when the Temple was destroyed, the Messiah was born. ”
The same statement may be made of the Mongols. The fall of Baghdad
transferred the seat of the humanities to Egypt. At the same time it
dispersed many scholars and humanists who survived the debacle. Their
dispersion throughout the Muslim lands brought academic strength to
the places where they settled, while the removal of the literary centre of
gravity from Baghdad to Cairo facilitated the access of the Western world
to the culture of the Orient. But, apart from mere negative results, the
growth of the Mongol power was responsible for other developments in
the East. The first and foremost of these was the unification of Asia.
This must not be interpreted in the modern sense of political unity or
homogeneity. The Mongol government secured tranquillity within its
vast borders. The roads were open and a traveller could, as things went,
count upon a safe journey, unless he had the misfortune to pass within
range of the Emperor's funeral cortège, in which case his fate was death.
There was complete religious toleration, and it is only a superficial judg-
ment that will ascribe this to spiritual indifference on the part of the
Mongols. Economic changes were also introduced; thus the service of posts,
· The later Mogul Emperors hated, and tried to disown, their Mongol origin.
CH. XX.


## p. 630 (#672) ############################################

630
Mongol and Tartar
though utilised by the Arabs previously, was largely increased, and the use
of paper money was sanctioned by Gaikhātū Khan in 1294 and previously
by Kublai. No nation can claim to excel in every branch of human activity,
and the deficiency of the Mongols in the domain of literature was made
good in other directions.
It is necessary to begin a sketch of the Mongols with a brief account
of their origin, and an explanation or rather an enumeration of the names
by which they are known. The name Mongol itself was first applied to
certain tribes inhabiting Central Asia. It has come to be a generic name,
far more catholic and comprehensive, but it is doubtful whether the various
tribes surrendered their own individual names in favour of a uniform im-
perial designation. “Mongol” as a national name would seem to be
more frequent in the mouths of foreigners. It is also known to Europe
in the form of Mogul, a title which is more properly restricted to the
Mongol rulers of India and which has probably arisen through the
Arabic Mughūll. As to the etymology of the name, opinions are
divided, the most generally accepted being that of Sanang Setzen (b. 1604)
who derives the name from the word Mong which, in the Chinese language,
has the signification of brave.
The second name, Tartar, should more correctly be spelt Tātār, as in
Persian. The first “r” has been inserted in consequence of a fanciful
connexion with Tartarus ; the paronomasia was attributed variously to
Innocent IV and to others (Ad sua Tartara Tartari detrudentur)? . Various
theories were held in the Middle Ages with regard to the origin of the
Tartars? . According to Roger Bacon, they were the soldiers of Antichrist;
Friar John of Pian di Carpine believed them to be remnants of the ten
tribes whom Alexander the Great endeavoured to shut up in the mountains
by the Caspian. Most, however, of these fanciful speculations were based
on the contemporary estimate of the character of the invading hordes,
not on geographical or ethnological considerations. Fear, not history,
was their source. As a matter of fact the Turkish elements in the
Mongol confederacy repudiated the name Tartar which, according to
Howorth, was sometimes applied generically by the Chinese to all their
Northern neighbours and it was thus that it came to be applied to the
Mongols. But there was a specific race, Tartar, from which the generic
term was derived. This we might guess from the fact that the name
Tartar was known in the West long before the days of Mongol supremacy
and when the Mongols were only an obscure tribe. ”
Mongol, then, and Tartar were names of two tribes living in the Eastern
portion of Central Asia, to the north-west of China, by the river Uldza and
1 Rubruquis always spells the name Moal; see Rubruquis, p. 112 note (Hakluyt
Society's ed. ). For the etymology see Howorth, 1. p. 27.
2 For a discussion on the name Tartar see Yule, 1. p. 12; Rubruquis, xvii and
XVIII (Notes); and Howorth, 1. p. 700 note.
3 See Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, Rolls ed. , pp. 76 ff. , 386 ff.


## p. 631 (#673) ############################################

Other tribes in the Mongol Confederation
631
by the Kerulen, Orkhon, Onon, and other tributaries to the great river
Amur. The origin of these tribes is shrouded in an obscurity which for the
present purpose requires no investigation. It is sufficient to pick up the
thread of the story at the place where, having formed a powerful con-
federacy, they proceeded to launch forth their hordes in all directions and
play a prominent part on the stage of general history. A brief enumeration
of the component elements would resolve itself into a mere list of names,
but a few of the more important tribes deserve mention. Of these the
chief was that known as the Kipchaks, who ultimately spread over the
districts to the north of the Black Sea and the Caspian, practically from
the Danube to the Ural. They were one of the five sections of the
Turks under Oghuz Khan, whence their later Arabic name of Ghuzz
(Uzes, Guzes) is derived'. To Europe they were known as Cumans? , from
Comania (Kumistān) in Persia, a name derived from the river Kuma. In
the ninth century their expansion brought them to the Volga, and
having conquered territory round the banks of that river they made them-
selves a thorn in the side of Russia, until their incorporation by the
Mongols in the Golden Horde during the thirteenth century.
The Eastern neighbours of the Kipchaks were the Kankali, whose
territory lay to the north of Lake Aral, between the Ural river and Lake
Balkash. They were also part of Oghuz Khan's Turkish subjects; Rubru-
quis and other travellers, in the course of their wanderings, visited and men-
tioned them. Many of the Kankali were in the service of the Khwārazm
Shāh until the overthrow of the latter by Jenghiz Khan. Farther east-
ward, to the south of the Ob and Yenisey rivers, were the Naimans, also
Turks, in whose district was the famous town Karakorum, which Ogdai
Khan made his capital. In 1211 Kushluk, Khan of the Naimans,
usurped the sovereignty of the Kara Khitai. In the time of Rubruquis,
the Naimans were, according to that traveller", subjects of Prester
John, but Mangu Khan claimed their allegiance'. To the south of the
Naimans, in the western part of Mongolia, stretching towards China were
the Uighurs. By the close of the eighth century their power increased and
they had diplomatic relations with China. This tribe was one of the
centres of Nestorian Christianity. To the north of the Uighurs, beyond
the lands of the Keraits, were the Merkits, who have been described by
Marco Polo and Rashid. They were conquered by Jenghiz Khan in 1197.
These were the chief tribes in the Mongol Confederacys.
As regards the origins of the Mongols, it is not necessary to say much.
Many fables are told about the various tribes and their heroes; among the
1 See John of Pian di Carpine, p. 36, note 2. See also Benjamin of Tudela, ed.
Adler, p. 61 and note.
2 This was first mentioned by Rubruquis, see p. xxxviii. But see supra, Chapter
VII (A), pp. 197-8.
3 Rubruquis, p. 162.
4 Ibid. pp. 2 and 9.
5 For details see Howorth, 1. pp. 1-26.
CA. XX.


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632
Jenghiz Khan
most interesting of these is the story of the ancestral hero, nourished when
a child by a wolf, thus furnishing an Eastern parallel to Romulus and
Remus. But until the twelfth century the influence exercised on the out-
side world was insignificant. Mention is first made of the Mongols in
Chinese records, in the history of the Tang Dynasty (618-690), and
scattered references occur later, for instance in 984 and in 1180.
Rashid traces the descent of the Mongols back to Japhet, but of
course the greater part of the early period is merely mythical. It is only
near the period of Jenghiz Khan that safe ground is reached. During the
Kin Dynasty in China, it is known that many Mongols, probably with
their Khan, Kabul, became subject to the Chinese Emperor Tai-Tsung
from 1123-1137, but rebelled in 1138 after his death. This rebellion
marks the beginning of the rise of the Mongols. It was at this period
that they suffered from internal dissension; the feud between the Mongol
and Tartar tribes was ended by the triumph of the former through the in-
strumentality of Jenghiz Khan. This hero was the son of Yesukai, who was
the grandson of Kabul Khan. While Yesukai in 1151-1155 was ravaging
the Tartar lands, his wife Ogelen Eke (or Yulun) gave birth to a first-born
son who was called Temujin, after the name of the Tartar chieftain
recently slain by Yesukai. The name Temujin is most probably Chinese
by etymology and means “excellent steel. ” The similarity of the Turkish
Temurji (smith) is perhaps the origin of the fable that Jenghiz was
himself a smith. Temujin, later known by his style of Jenghiz Khan,
was born at a place called Deligun Buldagha, near the Onon. The name
of the spot has remained until the present time; by Rubruquis it
is called Onan Kerule. When he was thirteen
of
age,
his father
Yesukai died, leaving to his son a small nucleus of subjects. At the
outset Jenghiz was confronted with many difficulties. The spirit of dis-
affection which prevailed among his followers soon developed into revolt.
A general rising jeopardised the prospects of the youthful chieftain, but
the energy and capability of his mother Yulun recovered some of the
lost ground for him. A long period of unending strife ensued. With the
Naimans, whose centre is said to have been Karakorum, and the Keraits,
Jenghiz had to wage war continuously, and with varying success. Once
he was captured and tortured, but managed to escape with his life. At
length after many years he succeeded in consolidating his position.
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.