The History of China - #192 - Mongol 14.1: There & Back Again

Episode Date: May 20, 2020

In the aftermath of the Golden Horde's devastating strike into Eastern Europe, Christendom reels. As apocalyptic as the assaults were, the great enemy's sudden and inexplicable evaporation offers no comfort, and only more questions. In order to get some answers, the Holy See will dispatch an unlikely candidate to make his way across the whole of Eurasia in an attempt to first find, and then meet with, the King of the Tartars - whoever, and wherever he may be... Time Period Covered: 1245-1247 CE Major Historical Figures: European Christendom: Pope Innocent IV [r. 1243-1254] Friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (John of Plano Carpini) [ca. 1185-1252] Friar Benedict of Poland [ca. 1200-ca. 1280] Friar Stephen of Bohemia Konrad I, High Duke of Krakow [ca. 1187-1247] Prince Daniel Romanovich of Galacia [1201-1264] Grand Prince Vasilko (Basil) Romanovich of Kiev [1203-1269] Grand Prince Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir [1191-1246] Mongol Empire: Guyük Khaghan [r. 1246-1248] Toregene Khatun [r. 1241-1246] Batu Khan of the Golden Horde [ca. 1205-1255] Grand Secretary Chinqai of Khwarazm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. The French Revolution set Europe ablaze. It was an age of enlightenment and progress, but also of tyranny and oppression. It was an age of glory and an age of tragedy. One man stood above it all. This was the Age of Napoleon. I'm Everett Rummage, host of the Age of Napoleon podcast. Join me as I examine the life and times of one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters in modern history.

Look for the Age of Napoleon wherever you find your podcasts. Please note that this episode is marked as part one of an extended version. The full tale is available, along with all of THOC's bonus episodes, via becoming the show's patron for as little as $1 via patreon.com slash thehistoryofchina. Thank you all, happy 2020, and now, enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the History of China. Episode 192, Mongol 14.1. There and back again. There is towards the east a land which is called Mongol, or Tartaria,

lying in that part of the world which is thought to be most northeasterly. On the east part, it hath the country of Kathe, and of the people called Solangi. On the south part, the country of the Saracens. On the southeast, the lands of the Huimi, and on the west, the province of Naimani. But on the north side, it is environed with the ocean sea. In some parts thereof, it is full of mountains, and in other places plain and smooth ground, but everywhere sandy and barren. Neither is the hundredth part thereof fruitful, for it cannot bear fruit unless it be moistened

with river waters, which be very rare in that country. Whereupon they have neither villages nor cities amongst them, except one, which is called Karakorum, and is said to be a proper town. We ourselves saw not this town, but were almost within half a day's journey thereof, when we remained at Syra Orda, which is the great court of their emperor. And albeit the foresaid land is otherwise unfruitful, yet it is very commodious for the bringing up of cattle. In certain places thereof are some small store of trees growing, but otherwise it is altogether destitute of woods. Therefore the emperor and his noble men and all others warm themselves, and dress their meat with fires made of the dung of oxen and horses.

From The History of the Mongols, whom we call the Tartars, by Friar Giovanni d'Apian d'Alcarpine, 1245. The Mongol armies of Batu Khan had struck, seemingly, out of nowhere. In spite of the two decades of lead time between Subutai and Jeb's great cavalry raid of 1221 to 1223, Europe had largely assumed that such a happening had been as though a thunderbolt from the clear blue sky, never to be repeated. As such, when the Mongols under Batu and Subutai Ba'ator renewed their long-planned invasion of the West in 1241, first demolishing the Russian principalities

and then devastating both Poland and Hungary in 1241-42, it had taken the feuding European states almost completely by surprise. What had taken them even more by surprise, however, was their sudden and near-total disappearance as of April 1242, as though they had awakened once again from a particularly horrible nightmare. Only the very real devastation and hundreds of thousands of dead stood as testament to the stark reality of what had just happened in the easternmost corners of Christendom. As we discussed last time, for the Europeans,

there was virtually no easy explanation for this lifting of their civilizational execution order. The enemy's sudden evaporation into the morning mists was as inscrutable as the so-called Tartars' unfathomable appearance in the East in the first place. For the Mongols, on the other hand, this abrupt shift was a confluence of several factors. For centuries thereafter, the popular explanation has been that the sudden, although not wholly, unexpected death of the alcoholic Great Khan Ogedei on December 11th, 1241, triggered a mass recall of the generals and nobles to the imperial capital of Karakorum in order to elect their next emperor in that great conclave of notables known as the Karlt High. Yet, as we discussed last time, that explanation doesn't wholly bear itself out,

and in fact is rather simplistic. Indeed, both the time between Ogre's death and the formal election of his eventual successor, his son, Guyuk, four and a half years later in August of 1246, as well as the Western commander Batu Khan's own personal ambitions, fears, and motivations, as well as that pesky bugaboo of simple military logistics, belies such a simple explanation. Batu did not call his European campaign to a halt because he needed to return for the Great Kuril Thai to elect his cousin Vuyuk as Great Khan. In fact, as we'll see today, he would pointedly not do so. Instead, he had done so, and against his own field commander Subutai's advice,

much to the latter's annoyance, it should be noted, because he felt he had carved out a defensible territory for himself and his golden horde, and needed to dig in to defend it. Not against the smashed remnants of medieval Europe, but rather against his own great nemesis back home, his cousin, Guyuk, who was about to become Great Khan. Again, though, European chivalry had no means of knowing of this familial dispute at the time, and indeed it would largely remain invisible to Europe for centuries thereafter. Thus, whether they publicly attributed their stay of execution to their own knightly prowess or perhaps to divine intervention itself, there would remain a bolded, if parenthetical, question mark in the eyes of

Europeans ever after about just what exactly had happened. There would be those sent, ostensibly voluntarily, to attempt to find out. There were multiple missions sent eastward in the attempt to make formal diplomatic contact with the King of the Tartars by European Christendom, certainly one of the most important of which at this time, and certainly the best known, were that of William of Rubric, John of Montecorvino, and that of Giovanni d'Apian del Carpine, better known in English as John of Plano Carpini, the Italian Franciscan monk and archbishop charged by Pope Innocent IV to deliver unto the barbarian emperor his personal missive. This is certainly not to say that European Christian missionaries and delegates were entirely new or unheard of traveling throughout Asia, along the same silk routes that transmitted spices, ceramics, and, of course, silk, to the Middle East and Europe since the time of the Han Dynasty. Such efforts to expand the scope of Christendom eastward had been ongoing for centuries, at

least, by the 13th century, and had paid at least indirect dividends with the establishment and promulgation of the Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church, since around about the 5th century, and its evident adoption by a small, though significant, minority across Central Asia, such as Kublai Khan's own mother, Princess Sorkhaktani of the Karaites, by the early 13th century. Even so, this Nestorian Church of the East had been almost completely lost in the minds of Western Christendom by that time, so much so that by the time of the Mongol Explosion, rumors and vast exaggerations gripped the minds of the Europeans, such as that of the mythical Prester John and his supposed descendants coming to rescue Christendom from the Islamic

world, only to turn out not to be a benevolent Prester John, but instead a vengeful Cengiz Khan and his sons. Today, we're going to primarily be looking at the vast trek of Friar John of Plano Carpini, from the court of Pope Innocent IV to that of the newly enthroned Gliok Khan at his great curraltai just outside the holy Mongol city of Karakorum, or as John himself introduces himself, quote, Giovanni of Plenocarpini, of the order of friars minor, envoy of the apostolic sea to the Tartars and other nations of the east, to all the faithful of Christ, end quote.

His account, known as the Historia Mongolorum Quasnos Tartaros Appalamus, or The History of the Mongols, whom we call the Tartars, recounted not only his journey into the heart of the great Mongol Empire, but all else that he learned of this heretofore inscrutable land and people, who had often seemed to the Europeans more like a force of nature than of an actual human nation. Pope Innocent IV concluded the first of his papal bulls to this mysterious Lord of the Tartars with his own account of the men he'd sent into their midst, a telling summation of his own feelings about the undeniably brave monks he'd asked to step into the lion's jaws. He wrote, quote, As we'll see, certainly their stalwart faith and knowledge of Holy Scripture

was a key aspect of the Pope's choice of these two, but so too was their undeniable bravery. Prior missions, after all, had already been sent eastward, most notably that of Lawrence of Portugal just prior to John and Benedict's own departure. And poor Lawrence was never heard from again, and his fate remains unknown. Carpini writes of his own trepidation, quote, We feared that we might be killed by the Tartars or other peoples, or imprisoned for life, or afflicted with hunger, thirst, cold, heat, injuries, and exceeding great trials,

almost beyond our powers of endurance. All of which, with the exception of death and imprisonment for life, fell to our lot in various ways in a much greater degree than we had conceived beforehand. Say what you will about them, but these were guys who didn't know what exactly they were getting themselves into, but absolutely knew they were getting themselves into something really, really deep, and that they'd just have to deal with it as they went. Not entirely dissimilar to the Apollo astronauts, or potentially someday the first manned Martian missions. But just add on to either of those that on the other side, you know there's a proven hostile and militarily superior alien force waiting for you. You might not even make it to the other side. You might make it and then be killed due to some inscrutable alien decision on their end. Or all that might go off without a hitch somehow, and you still get killed on the journey back

by some unforeseeable meteor shower or something. I mean, it's easy enough to laugh at guys like John of Plano Carpini and some of his more outlandish notions and descriptions, but it's important to remember that he was acting as Cooper in the starship Endurance going through the gargantual wormhole, and regardless of anything else, he was brave as hell to even try. Still, it is curious that it was Carpini, of all the Pope's servants, who was chosen to brave such a harrowing mission. I mean, the guy was 60 years old when he set out, hardly the ideal candidate for such a mission and its many rigors. Still, Innocent likely had his own reasons. First, that John was considered among the clergy to be an exceptionally trustworthy and loyal man, one unlikely to say just give up or defect or something

like that, as well as the fact that he was acquainted with the languages of Eastern Europe as well as its political affairs, making him therefore eminently suited to handle the problem of the reunion of the Russian Church with that of Catholicism, which was one of the Pope's primary objectives of this mission. Perhaps just as important, though, was that, like Pope Innocent himself, John, I mean Giovanni, was an Italian. It's only natural, then, that Innocent should have chosen for such a delicate mission a man so like himself in manner, language, and custom. After receiving his papal commission, Friar John departed from Lyon, France, the Pope's then residence, alongside another friar named

Stephen of Bohemia on April 16th, 1245, Easter Day. He was about 60 to 63 years old at the time of his departure. His exact date of birth is unknown, and to be frank, he had more or less no idea exactly where he was going or what or who his end goal might actually be. To paraphrase Dan Carlin, his instructions were to more or less just go east until you get to Russia, and then you just keep going until you get to the King of the Tartars. Good luck. That first year, Carpini overwintered in Poland and Galicia, at which point Stephen of Bohemia apparently fell ill and was forced to be left behind. Stephen was substituted out with a friar Benedict of Poland, who was far better educated in the ways, customs, and languages of the Eastern peoples,

and thereafter acted as one of Carpini's primary interpreters. Once there, John and his party were advised to seek out the Duke of Krakow, named Conrad, and attempt to convince him in rejoining with the Holy See in order to form a unified anti-Mongol bloc against further eastern incursion. Having arrived in Krakow, they spent several months there, and the friars had an important conference with the Russian prince Basil Romanovich, whose brother Daniel was currently visiting the court of the great Batu Khan, as well as Duke Conrad and numerous other Polish and Hungarian nobles besides. The union with the Catholic Church and proposed anti-Mongol alliance was very intriguing for these Eastern European noblemen

who were fully aware of the threat posed by further Mongol incursions. Still, John and his papal delegation were unable to get a firm yes to the plan, in large part because so much of Russia and the East lay firmly under Mongolian subjugation, and so to outright declare against them would be tantamount to suicide. As such, quote, Basil and the notables approved in principle the Pope's plan, but decided to wait for Daniel's return from Batu's court before taking a final decision, end quote. Taking this definitely maybe as an outright win, the friars therefore departed towards Kiev, and from there into the wilds of Tartaria beyond. There in Kiev, or thereabouts, Carpini was advised

that their first stop would almost assuredly be the camp of Lord Batu, and they had better acquire some valuable gifts to present to the Khan. Carpini writes, quote, They told us that if we wished to go to them, we ought to have valuable gifts to present to them,. Carpini writes, quote, Not wishing to delay the Pope's holy mission by writing back and asking for such gifts to be delivered from the West. Instead, Carpini and Stephen used the relatively little money they had between them to buy, quote, beaver pelts and the skins of various other animals, end quote. They were helped in this endeavor, as it were, by the Duke of Krakow, Conrad, and several of his lords, who also donated various animal skins into their meager gift pile. After setting out again at the start of Lent the

following spring, Carpini's small caravan quickly was noticed and then taken up by the Mongol-held outposts of Eastern Europe and Russia, and quickly ushered them all the way to Kiev, still little more than a gutted ruin of its former glory, where they met a Mongol commander who advised them that if they wished to continue onward, they would need to swap out their European horses for Mongol ponies. Quote, On arrival there, we talked over our journey with the captain of a thousand, and other nobles of that place. They told us that if we were to take to the Tartars the horses which we had,

they would all die, for the snow was deep, and they would not know how to dig up grass from under the snow like the Tartar horses, nor would they be able to find anything else for them to eat, since the Tartars have neither straw nor hay for fodder. After this discussion, we decided to leave the horses there with two servants to look after them. After suitably paying off the Mongol captain, they were given step mounts, as well as an escort to take them onward towards Lord Batu. Karpini's description of the Mongols he encountered is rather iconic,

and absolutely worth bringing up here, for it marks one of the first times a European had been able to describe in detail just what they saw and thought about these strange, terrifying new people. Just as with the Mongols' own somewhat perplexed description of the narrow-nosed, fair-skinned, red-haired, light-eyed Europeans, so too does Carpini's account come off as though encountering some sort of alien lifeform. He writes, quote, The Mongols, or Tartars, in outward shape, are unlike to all other people, for they are broader between the eyes and of the ball of their cheeks than men of other nations be. They have flat and small noses, little eyes, and eyelids standing straight upright.

End quote. This part is especially funny, because as Carpini recounts the strangeness of the Mongols' traditional hairstyle, remember that he himself is a tonsured monk with the top of his head shaved bald, which certainly in itself is a rather unique haircut. So it's quite the trip that he comes across is just so in awe of the Mongol's own admittedly eccentric stylings. Quote, They are shaven on the crowns like priests. They wear their hair somewhat longer about their ears than upon their foreheads,

but behind they let it grow long like women's hair, whereof they braid two locks binding each of them behind either ear. They have short feet also. Their garments, as well as of their men, as of their women, are all of one fashion. They use neither cloaks, hats, nor caps, but they wear jackets framed after a strange manner of buckram, scarlet, or baldachin. Their shoes or gowns are hairy on the outside and open behind, That last bit there refers to the rather infamous fear, unto near supernatural terror that many Mongols held towards thunderstorms and other meteorological effects. A seemingly strange aversion, until one remembers that, you know, being a steppe culture, they'd been brought up where they were often the tallest and thus most easily strikeable object for miles around.

One tends to grow cautious. After several other rather embarrassing encounters, in which Carpini is time and again basically tricked out of his gifts and goods by various officers claiming that he has to pay them homage before being allowed to move on, and them of course demanding even more when their initial demand is met, Carpini's small party was finally approached by a legitimate Mongol force, who inquired just who did they think they were and why had they intruded into the territories of the Golden Horde. Carpini writes, quote, On the first Friday after Ash Wednesday, we were putting up for the night as the sun was setting, when some Tartars rushed up on us in a horrible manner, wanting to know what kind of men we were. When we replied that we were envoys of the Lord Pope, they accepted some of our food and went away immediately, end quote. Following this terrifying encounter, the following morning after setting out again,

they were approached by a smaller and this time much more cordial party of chief men, the leader of which asked them once again what their business was in the land of the great Batu Khan. Again from Carpini, quote, Carpini then goes on, even castigating the Mongol chieftains for the deeds of their people in the name of the Pope, that his holiness was, quote, amazed by the great slaughter of mankind carried out by the Tartars, especially of Christians, and above all Hungarians, Moravians, and Polonians, seeing that they had done the Tartars no harm or even attempted to do so. Since the Lord God was grievous offended by this, he urged them to avoid such things for the future and to do penance for their past deeds.

The Pope requesteth also that the Tartar king would write an answer to him, what he proposed to do hereafter, and what his intention is. End quote. It would seem that the Mongol captain or envoy, whichever he might have been, didn't have a ready answer to being, in effect, scolded like a naughty child for having slaughtered millions of Europeans in the name of Batu and Ogedei, and was instead struck almost dumb by the sheer gall of this strange, eroded, and tauntured Westerner. It's written that apparently all this was able to be translated in such a fashion that the Mongol emissary at least gave some sign of having understood it.

Nevertheless, that's gotta be taken with a pretty big grain of salt. Not because John was lying or anything, but because they were playing a transcontinental game of telephone. Carpini's papal missive was in Latin, which would have been translated probably into Italian or German, then into Polish, and then possibly Russian, and likely through Kipchak Turkic or something similar, before finally reaching Mongol. Now if you want a taste of just how that might mess with the translation, a fun little game to play is to take a block of text like that,

copy it into Google Translate, and then run it through a similar sequence like that, just to see what comes out the other side. It's almost always little more than pure gibberish, even when it's not stating some overly dense apostolic church hymnal of a letter. History isn't black and white, yet too often it's presented as such. Grey History, The French Revolution is a long-form history podcast dedicated to exploring the ambiguities and nuances of the past. By contrasting both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History dives

into the detail and unpacks one of the most important and disputed events in human history. From a revolution based on hope and liberty, to its descent into the infamous reign of terror, there's plenty to discuss and plenty of Grey to explore. One can't understand the modern world without understanding the French Revolution. So if you're looking for your next long-form, binge-worthy history podcast, one recommended by universities and loved by enthusiasts, then check out Grey History, The French Revolution today. Or simply search for The French Revolution. Then, there's also probably the most famous aspect of this translational misunderstanding,

which is that as of the 13th century, the Mongolian language had no standalone word for peace. Rather, the closest approximation was the same word for to submit. So yeah, in between all that talk of saving and Jesus, the Mongols heard that Friar Carpini was there on orders from the Pope and on behalf of all Christians and Europeans to offer their submission and present tribute to the great Khan. Well, hot dog, that is some great news, and just in time. With all due haste, Carpini and his party were resupplied with fresh Mongol ponies and foodstuffs, and then told to make their way, with guides, to a place called Khorenza, and there to meet with its Mongol lord, called by Carpini the Duke of the Western Marches,

and his 60,000 soldiers. Once having arrived, they were once again required to pay their obeisance and present the Duke with gifts. John this time wrote in depth about the predicament. Quote, Being come therefore unto his court, he sent his agents to demand of us John this time wrote in depth about the predicament. This they all did, We should rehearse before the Duke and all his nobles the same words which we had said before, kneeling upon our knees. End quote. This they all did, yet having repeated the Pope's message, apparently this time there was some critical link in the translational chain missing from among the Mongol lords' advisors,

and the message could not be translated. Nevertheless, the Duke, likely thinking that this was all probably kind of above his pay grade, and should be passed on up the ladder, once again restocked and remounted Carpini and his group, and provided them with three Mongol guides to render the European unto his own lord and master, Batu Khan, master of the Golden Horde. Carpini writes of Batu with all due reverence and awe of his power and majesty, quote, this Batu is the mightiest prince among them except the emperor, and they are bound to obey him before all other princes. End quote. They set out for his encampment, the legendary city of Sarai Batu, literally just meaning Batu's court, which sat on the Volga River,

about 120 kilometers or so north of the modern city of Astrakhan, Russia, where the Volga empties into the Caspian Sea. They set out in late February, on the first Tuesday of Lent. The horses, being freshly restocked, and them all able to swap out their mounts every 25 to 30 miles at the various caravans arise of the Mongol postal system, some three to four times per day, managed a fast trot throughout the journey, and as such they made good time. They passed through Cumania, where, quote, all is plain ground, and hath four mighty rivers running through it, the Dnieper, so-called by Carpini, though the liner notes let us know that it's the same as the Barestanese,

so-named in Gibbon's decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the Don, the Volga, and finally, the Ural. In spite of their good pace from dawn until dusk every single day, the trip to Sarai Batu still took the party more than a month, finally arriving on Maundy Thursday, three days before Easter, 1246 in mid-April. Once within sight of the great lord's capital, their guides advised them to wait outside the city while they rode ahead and announced the visitors. When they were admitted, they were required to enter via a ritual gate, namely,

to pass between two great fires. Carpini expresses his nervousness at the idea of being told to pass by these two large flames, as he had by this point come to better understand the Mongols' propensity for cruel trickery. Earlier in his description of them, for instance, he wrote, none too flatteringly, quote, They are angry, and of a disdainful nature unto other people, and beyond all measure deceitful and treacherous toward them. They speak fair in the beginning, but in conclusion they sting like scorpions. For crafty they are, and full of falsehood, circumventing all men whom they are able by their slights. Whatsoever mischief they intend to practice against a man, they keep it wonderfully secret, so that he may by no means provide for himself, nor find a remedy against

their conspiracies. End quote. So yeah, they're going to tell him to walk through fire? Hmm, maybe let's rethink this? But his guys assured Carpini that he was in no danger, and that this was just a cleansing ceremony that everyone was required to do. Quote, So it basically functions as a 13th century supernatural metal detector. Satisfied at the truthfulness of his guide's answer, Carpino and his party then agreed to pass through the fires, and then bow before an image of the late, great Lord Genghis, before being conducted into the palatial gir of Lord Batu himself.

Before being allowed to meet with the Khan of the Golden Horde directly, though, the party was again stopped, this time by the Khan's chamberlain, Elgaday. Elgaday demanded what gift they'd brought to present to the Khan, and, well, here's where it gets rather embarrassing. Yeah, remember all those times before that Carpini and company had been more or less fleeced out of their few gifts and goods that they'd brought along with them? Well, it turns out that now, at this by far the most important meeting of their trip so far, they were forced to once again sheepishly admit that they had nothing but the message they carried from the Pope. No doubt after some degree of eye-rolling at the poor planning of these idiot foreigners, the threadbare party was at last admitted into

the presence of Lord Batu. Friar John provides one of the only physical descriptions of Batu, which is, of course, fascinating. He writes, quote, This Batu carries himself very stately and magnificently, having porters and all officers which is, of course, fascinating. He writes, and others sit down upon the ground behind him, but the men on the right hand and the women on the left. He hath very fair and large tents of linen cloth also, which were once the kings of Hungaria. Neither dare any man come into his tent, besides them of his own family, unless he be called,

and he never be so mighty and great, except perhaps it be known that it is his pleasure. End quote. When Batu went riding, quote, Always there is a canopy or small tent carried over his head upon the point of a javelin, and so do all the great princes of the Tartars and their wives also. The said Batu is courteous enough unto his own men, and yet is held in great awe by them. He is most cruel in fight, and he is exceedingly prudent and politic in war,

because he hath now continued a long time in martial affairs. End quote. Once again, they were required to kneel before him and deliver the papal letters, requesting that the Khan use his interpreters to translate the message. Quote, Accordingly, on Good Friday they were sent unto us, and we together with them diligently translated our said letters into the Russian, Tartarian, and Saracen languages. This interpretation was presented unto Batu, which he read and attentively noted, end quote. The Pope's first letter to the Emperor of the Mongols has got to go down in history as probably the absolutely worst introduction slash explanation of Christianity ever put to paper. It is long, it is dull, and even to someone relatively well-versed in Christian scripture, it is nigh indecipherable.

It seems to be written in a manner that is at once attempting to be a low-level introductory class on Christian spirituality and dogma, and yet it's couched in just layer upon layer of impenetrable jargon that is really impossible to conclude how anyone could have possibly read it and thought that it would convince anyone, much less the Mongol emperor half a world away, to even understand Christianity, much less want to convert to it. I'm not going to read the whole thing of this first letter, but here's just a taste of the opening. Quote, God the father of his graciousness regarding with unutterable loving kindness the unhappy lot of the human race brought low by the guilt of the first man, and desiring of his exceeding great charity, mercifully to restore him, whom the devil's envy overthrew by crafty suggestion, sent from the lofty throne of heaven down to the lowly region of his world, his only begotten son, co-substantial with himself, who was conceived by the operation of the Holy Ghost in

the womb of a forechosen virgin, and there clothed in the garb of human flesh, and afterwards proceeding thence by the closed door of his mother's virginity. He showed himself in a form visible to all men, for human nature, being endowed with reason, was meet to be nourished on eternal truth as its choicest food, but held in mortal chains as a punishment for sin, its powers were thus far reduced that it had to strive to understand the invisible things of reason's food by means of inferences drawn from visible things. The creator of that creature became visible, clothed in our flesh, not without change in his nature, in order that, having become visible,

he might call back to himself, the invisible, those pursuing after visible things, molding men by his salutary instructions and pointing them out by means of his teaching the way of perfection, following the pattern of his holy way of life and his words of evangelical instruction. He deigned to suffer death by the torture of the cruel cross, that, by a penal end to his present life, he might make an end of the penalty of eternal death, which the succeeding generations had incurred by the transgression of their first parent, and that man might drink of the sweetness of the life of eternity from the bitter chalice of his death in time. For it behooved the mediator between us and God to possess both transient mortality and everlasting beatitude, in order that by means of the transient he might be like those doomed to die and might transfer us from

among the dead to that which lasts forever. End quote. I mean, just what? What is that supposed to mean? It is by every account and every metric a terrible letter. And again, that was just the introduction. It goes on and on and on, and it never gets any better. Innocent's second letter, delivered along with the first, is less of an attempt to school the great Khan in the dogma of the great church, but rather one heck of a rebuke against previous Mongol actions. This one is far more to the point, and so here it is in its entirety. The second message conveyed by John of Plano Carpini from Pope Innocent IV to the Lord of the Tartars. Quote, Since not only men but also irrational animals, and even the very elements of the world machine,

have been connected by a certain unity of natural affinity on the model of the heavenly spirits, whose hosts God the creator of the universe has established in the unending stability of a peaceful order, we are strongly compelled, not without cause, to be astonished that you, as we have heard, having invaded so many regions of the Christians as well as those of other people, laid waste to those with a terrible devastation, and that up to this time, you, not ceasing to send pillaging bands in your continuous anger into further regions, with the restraint of natural reason broken and making no exception for age or sex, you have raged against all indifferently, with the sword of your anger. We, therefore, desiring to live together by the example of

the Pacific King, in the unity of peace under the fear of God, warn, request, and advise your unity intently. Desist completely from further attacks of this kind, and especially from the persecution of Christians, and through the satisfaction of a fitting penance, placate the anger of divine majesty, which on account of so many and such great offenses, you most certainly have provoked through these incitements. You ought not accordingly to take up the audacity of ravaging further, because as the sword of your power rages against others, the all-powerful Lord has so far permitted diverse nations to be laid low before you. But he, in our age, frequently passes over chastening the proud until the right time,

so that if they neglect to become humble of their own accord, he may not hesitate to punish their wickedness in time, and may exact more serious retribution in the future. And behold, a chosen son, Brother John, and his colleagues, the bearers of the letters, men conspicuous in religion, distinguished by honesty and gifted with knowledge of the Holy Scripture, we have led to you concerning this matter. I ask you to receive these men generously and treat honorably, as you would us, by trusting them in these things they will say to you from us,

and holding fruitful conversation with them about the things mentioned above, and especially those matters pertaining to peace. Tell us fully, through these brothers, what has moved you to the extermination of other peoples, and what further you intend. And look after these in their coming and going through secure conduct and other necessary things, so that they may return safe to our presence. From Pope Innocent IV, the Cum Non Solum, 1245. Well, it sure makes for one heck of an introduction, doesn't it?

After this second meeting, they were led back to their own little encampment, where Carpini made sure to complain like he was writing a TripAdvisor review about how they were given no food by their hosts, except once a little millet in a dish. That's going to cost them at least half a star. Derashawiltz notes, however, that John's complaint over the food was apparently one of his own making, and not of Mongol inhospitality. There was actually plenty of food, wine and boiled meat in great quantities, as was typical for a Mongol lord feasting his guests. But since it was Lent, and the friars insisted on observing the holy fast, they could only partake in the stuff that wasn't meat or alcohol, which was little more than millet gruel. Their third official audience

with Batu Khan would take place on Easter Sunday itself. Therein, having thought it over, Batu had decided to send the party onward to the great Khan himself, Glyuk, rendered, strangely enough, in the 16th century Hakluyt translation as Koyuni? Which, how exactly did you arrive at that one, Richard? Well, anyway, most of the party would be going on. Batu informed Carpini that he would be hanging on to a few of their number for a little bit before he double-super-promised he'd go ahead and send them back to the Pope in good health. Although Carpini would later find out that Batu had just kept them all there

until his own return trip, seemingly as some kind of a hostage for good behavior or something like that. So that very Easter day, they were packed up and once again set out, ever eastward, now to seek the throne of the great emperor of the Tartars himself. Batu sent them on as official envoys of a foreign nation, which thereby granted them, a special status which conferred upon them personal immunity and the full use of the official post-relay system. With this official dispensation, the small party once again set out on the sturdy little Mongol ponies.

Quote, Having said our prayers and taken a slender breakfast in the company of the two tartars, which were assigned unto us by Karinza, we departed with many tears, not knowing whether we went to life or to death. And we were so feeble in body that we were scarce able to ride. For all the length through, our only meat was millet, and only with a little water and salt.

End quote. And a quick note here, meat in pre-modern English, and in this case simply means food in general, not specifically animal flesh. Now, however, their pace quickened even further. It seemed that there was some kind of a rush, though Carpini at the time knew not what it might be. All through their trek across Cumania, they now changed mounts up to five or even six times per day, without stopping to eat or drink until dusk or even later, oftentimes their drink consisting of nothing but melted snow. During this portion of his journey, Friar John notes in further detail the rugged, harsh beauty of the Central Asian steppe, which he called Cumania, and its native peoples, the Cumans.

He learned, near certainly from his guides, that, quote, the Tartars slew them, some notwithstanding fled from them, and the rest were subdued under their bondage. But most of them that fled are returned again, end quote. Now, given what we know from past episodes about the lengths to which the Mongols went in pursuit of the group of Cumans who fled into Hungary and Eastern Europe, that are returned unto them is doing a whole lot of heavy lifting in terms of obfuscating what actually happened. After leaving Cumania behind, they entered into the land of Katinga, which seems to be northern Khwarezmia in what's probably today Kazakhstan,

an empty, waterless desert wasteland in which several of Carpini's party, he says the servants of the Duke of Russia, died of thirst. Quote, The feast of the Ascension occurs 39 or 40 days after Easter. As such, it took them a month to get through the Katanga wasteland. Carpini notes that the region's few inhabitants were quote-unquote pagans, and that farming was an unknown practice there. Quote, Neither they nor the Kumanians used to till the ground, but only lived upon cattle.

Neither they built any houses, but dwelled in tents. End quote. This is on both accounts at least partially wrong, as Carpini himself notes just a few lines later on, that the inhabitants, quote, Then again, John would hardly be the first or the last Christian to make the blanket statement that any non-Christian sect was paganism. Proceeding further into the region, Carpini grimly notes that, quote, we found innumerable cities with castles ruined and many towns left desolate, end quote. The whole feel of this section of Carpini's account feels

rather like someone walking through Hiroshima in 1946. The danger itself seems to be long gone, but obviously something absolutely cataclysmic happened not all that long ago. After that harrowing journey through the literal post-apocalyptic hellscape that had once been Korismia, the party next entered into the territories of two of Chagatai's sons, Buri and Kadan, and then onward into the Land of the Black Kataians, aka Karakitai, or the former Western Liao Dynasty. There, they stopped at its capital, Balasagun, where, at the order of the Great Khan's governor of the region, they were received at the palace, called on to share drinks,

and then watched the chief men of the city and the governor's two sons dance before us. In spite of the grueling pace, Karpini and Benedict made careful note of all they could along the way, especially of the people they met, and even those they only heard of from their contacts. Keenly aware that they were, as such, the very first Westerners to transit and therefore document this terra incognita, they took such a position very seriously, noting down all they could. De Rachevald's notes that they were very accurate in their descriptions of those that they directly met, though markedly less so about those they only heard of through stories and tales.

John's description of people, quote, with faces like dogs and live in the wetness along the shores of the ocean, end quote, or Benedict's description of people with, quote, mouths so narrow that they cannot eat solid food and inhale instead the steam of cooking meat and fruit, end quote, are, of course, fantastical. The latter stemming directly from one of Pliny the Elder's mythological tales about a certain tribe of supposed Indians. Nevertheless, the two friars can hardly be blamed for taking such

liberties, as this tendency to mingle fact and fable is not peculiar to the authors, but is instead a common trait of all medieval travelers steeped in the cultural tradition of the Bible and the Alexander Romance. Through the region of Amal, they pressed on, through the lands of the Nymans, crossing the Chu, Ili, and then Emile rivers, before arriving at the gates of the Altai Mountains, the Dabistan-Daban Pass, that would conduct them into the heartland of Mongolia itself. There, on June 29th, noted by Carpini as the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul, he was shocked by a sudden shift in the weather. Quote, There fell a mighty snow in that place,

and we had extreme cold weather. This land is full of mountains and cold beyond measure, and there is little plain ground to be seen. End quote. He further noted the evident devastation caused by the Mongols, who had destroyed the greater portion of the Naimon's homes. After many days of travel, the party at last entered the land of the Mongols, whom we call the Tartars, and continued on riding for three more weeks, always hastily and with speed,

until arriving at last at the court of the mighty Guyuk Khan on July 22nd at a place called Sira Orda, or the Yellow Pavilion, not far outside the capital of Karakorum in the Orkhon Valley of central Mongolia. Since their departure from Lyon, France, it had taken Karpini and his party one year and three months and a week to arrive in the presence of the Lord Emperor of the Mongols, the last 3,000 miles of which had been covered at a truly astonishing pace of merely one hundred and three days, or about twenty-six miles per day. And it turned out to be just in the nick of time for what must have been the greatest event that Friar John, or any European for that matter, had ever witnessed in living memory. Quote,

But therefore did we make great haste all this way, because our Tartarian guides were straightly commanded to bring us unto the court imperial with all speed, which court hath been, if these many years, ordained for the election of the emperor." They were going to be present at the Grand Carltai to formally enthrone the next great Khan, Guyuk, quite possibly a once-in-a-lifetime event for anybody, much less a mere friar from Umbria, Italy. It would seem that, in spite of their quick pace, the group was nevertheless dangerously close to falling behind schedule, as their guides began to hurry them along even more, causing them to skip meals at times and ride well into the night. The Rashwilts notes, quote,

Our travelers had to bear intense physical discomforts. Friar John, in particular, being a heavy man, must have found riding on the small Mongolian horses for weeks on end a very trying experience. They had to contend, as we previously noted, with extreme climactic conditions, from the searing heat and dryness of the desert to the rigors of the Altai, often on only one meal a day, end quote. Even so, they were able to make it in time for the grand ceremony to come. Bye. probably like the History of Egypt podcast. Every week we explore tales of this ancient culture. The History of Egypt is available wherever you get your podcasting fix. Come, let me introduce you to the world of ancient Egypt.