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Arghun

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Arghun Khan (c. 1258 – March 7, 1291) was the fourth ruler of the Mongol empire's Ilkhanate division in Iran from 1284 to 1291. He was the son of Abaqa Khan, and like his father, was a devout Buddhist (although pro-Christian). He was known for sending several embassies to Europe in an attempt to form an alliance against the Muslims in the Holy Land. He is also reputed to have oppressed Muslims forcibly during his rule.

His wife, Bulughan (also Buluqhan Khatun, Bolgana, Bulughan, or "Zibeline"), gave birth to his two sons Ghazan and Öljeitü, both of whom later succeeded him and eventually converted to Islam.

Arghun had Öljeitü baptized as a Christian at birth, and gave him the name "Nicholas" after Pope Nicholas IV. According to the Dominican missionary Ricoldo of Montecroce, he was "a man given to the worst of villainy, but for all that a friend of the Christians".

One of the sisters of Arghun, Oljalh, was married to the Georgian prince Wakhtang III.

Rule

Arghun was a Buddhist, but showed great tolerance for all faiths. He even allowed Muslims to be judged under Koranic law. His minister of finance, Sa'ad ad dawla, was a Jew. Sa'ad was effective in restoring order to the Ilkhanate's government, in part by aggressively denouncing the abuses of the Mongol military leaders.

Internal conflicts

Arghun had to deal with few conflicts with his fellow Mongols, and his reign was comparetively peacefull. He had to fight a brief campaign against the Chagatai Khanate in Khorasan. In 1289-1290, he had to deal with an upheaval of the Oirat emir Nauruz, which had to flee to Transoxonia.

In 1290, he repelled an invasion force of the Golden Horde in the area of the Caucasus led by Tole Buqa.

Relations with Christian powers

Arghun was one of a long line of Mongol rulers who endeavoured to established a Franco-Mongol alliance with the Europeans, against their common enemies the Egyptian Mamluks. He promised that if Jerusalem were conquered, he would have himself baptised. But Western Europe was no longer as interested in the crusades, and the missions were ultimately fruitless, except for the dispatch of a corps of 800 Genoese to the Mongol realm to establish a naval raiding force in the Indian Ocean. During his reign, the Mamluks continuously increased their power in Syria, and the Sultan Qalawun managed to capture the northern fortress of Margat in 1285, Lattakia in 1287, and completing the Fall of Tripoli in 1289 and the Fall of Acre in 1291 managed to eliminate the last major Christian bases in the Levant.

First mission to the Pope

In 1285, Arghun sent an embassy and a letter to Pope Honorius IV, a Latin translation of which is preserved in the Vatican. Arghun's letter mentioned the links that Arghun's family had to Christianity, and proposed a combined military conquest of Muslim lands:

Second mission, to Kings Philip and Edward

Apparently left without an answer, Arghun sent another embassy to European rulers in 1287, headed by the Nestorian Rabban Bar Sauma, with the objective of contracting a military alliance to fight the Muslims in the Middle East, and take the city of Jerusalem. The responses were positive but vague. Sauma returned in 1288 with positive letters from Pope Nicholas IV, Edward I of England, and Philip IV the Fair of France. According to the medieval Syriac History of the two Nestorian Chinese monks, Bar Sawma of Khan Balik and Markos of Kawshang, as translated in Sir Wallis Budge's book The Monks of Kublai Khan Emperor of China, Philip seemingly responded positively to the request of the embassy, gave him numerous presents, and sent one of his noblemen, Gobert de Helleville, to accompany Bar Sauma back to Mongol lands:

Gobert de Helleville departed on February 2, 1288, with two clerics Robert de Senlis and Guillaume de Bruyères, as well as arbaletier Audin de Bourges. They joined Bar Sauma in Rome, and accompanied him to Persia.

According to a medieval historian, King Edward was also said to have welcomed the embassy enthusiastically:

In one of his letters, Nicholas IV also recognized the role of many Franks in the service of the Il-Khan, among them Ugi de Sienne, ilduci in the Guard of the Il-Khan, who would also bring a message to the West.

Christian missions to Yuan China from 1289

This period saw the start of major Christian missions to Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty of China, which would last until the fall of Mongol power and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty a century later. In 1289, Pope Nicholas IV sent the Franciscan John of Monte Corvino to China by way of India, thereby bypassing Karakorum. Although the great Khan Kubilai had already died by the time John arrived (1294), the court at Khanbaliq received him graciously and encouraged him to settle there. John was China’s first Roman Catholic missionary, and he was significantly successful. He laboured largely in the Mongol tongue, translated the New testament and Psalms, built a central church, and within a few years (by 1305) could report six thousand baptized converts. He also established a lay training school of 150 students. Other priests joined him and centers were established in the coastal provinces of Kiangsu (Yangchow), Chekiang (Hangchow) and Fukien (Zaitun).

Third mission

In 1289, Arghun sent a third mission to Europe, in the person of Buscarel of Gisolfe, a Genoese who had settled in Persia. The objective of the mission was to determine at what date concerted Christian and Mongol efforts could start. Arghun committed to march his troops as soon as the Crusaders had disembarked at Saint-Jean-d'Acre. Buscarel was in Rome between July 15 and September 30, 1289, and in Paris in November-December 1289. He remitted a letter from Arghun to Philippe le Bel, answering to Philippe's own letter and promises, offering the city of Jerusalem as a potential prize, and attempting to fix the date of the offensive from the winter of 1290 to spring of 1291:

Buscarello was also bearing a memorandum explaining that the Mongol ruler would prepare all necessary supplies for the Crusaders, as well as 30,000 horses. Buscarel then went to England to bring Arghun's message to King Edward I. He arrived in London January 5, 1290. Edward, whose answer has been preserved, answered enthusiastically to the project but remained evasive about its actual implementation, for which he deferred to the Pope.

Assembly of a raiding naval force

In a concrete example of military collaboration, a maritime raiding force consisting in two war galleys was prepared in Baghdad by a corps of Genoese, in order to curtail the maritime trade of the Mamluks. A contingent of 800 Genoese carpenters and sailors was sent in 1290 to Baghdad, as well as a force of arbaletiers, but the enterprise apparently foundered when the Genoese government ultimatey disowned the project, and an internal fight erupted at the Persian Gulf port of Basra among the Geneose (between the Guelfe and the Gibelin families).

Fourth mission

Arghun then sent a fourth mission to European courts in 1290, led by a certain Andrew Zagan (or Chagan), who was accompanied by Buscarel of Gisolfe and a Christian named Sahadin.

As a result, with Acre in great danger, Pope Nicolas IV proclaimed a Crusade and negotiated agreements with Arghun, Hetoum II of Armenia, the Jacobites, the Ethiopians and the Georgians. On January 5, 1291, he addressed a vibrant prayer to all the Christians to save the Holy Land, and predicators started to rally Christians to follow Edward I in a Crusade.

However, all these attempts to mount a combined offensive were too little and too late. On May 18th 1291, Saint-Jean-d'Acre was conquered by the Mamluks in the Siege of Acre. In August 1291, Nicholas IV wrote a letter to Arghun informing him of the plans of Edward I to go on a Crusade to recapture the Holy Land, and explaining that the Crusade could only be successful with the help of the "powerful arm" of the Mongols. He asked Arghun to reiceive baptism and to march against the Mamluks. However Arghun himself had died on March 10, 1291, and Pope Nicholas IV would die in March 1292, putting an end to their efforts towards combined action.

Edward I sent an ambassador to Arghun's successor Gaikhatu in 1292 in the person of Geoffrey de Langley, but extensive contacts would only resume under Arghun's son Ghazan.

According to the 20th century historian Runciman, "Had the Mongol alliance been achieved and honestly implemented by the West, the existence of Outremer would almost certainly have been prolonged. The Mameluks would have been crippled if not destroyed; and the Ilkhanate of Persia would have survived as a power friendly to the Christians and the West"

Death

Arghun died on March 7, 1291, and was succeeded by his brother Gaykhatu.

The 13th century saw such a vogue of Mongol things in the West that many new-born children in Italy were named after Mongol rulers, including Arghun: names such as Can Grande ("Great Khan"), Alaone (Hulagu), Argone (Arghun) or Cassano (Ghazan) are recorded with a high frequency.

Marco Polo

Arghun was the reason why Marco Polo was able to return to Venice after 23 years of absence. Having lost his favourite wife Bolgana (also Bulughan, or "Zibeline"), Arghun asked his grand-uncle and ally Kubilai Khan to send him a relative of his dead wife, named Kökötchin ("Blue, or Celestial, Dame"). Marco Polo was given the task of accompanying the princess through land and sea routes, navigating on a Mongolian ship through the Indian Ocean to Persia. Arghun died however in the meantime, and Kökötchin married Arghun's son Ghazan.

See also

Notes

References

Ancient sources

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

Modern sources

External links



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