The Mongol Empire Between Myth and Reality: Studies in Anthropological History

408 Pages·2014·4 MB·English

by  Denise Aigle

The Mongol Empire between Myth and Reality
Iran Studies
Editorial Board
Ali Gheissari (University of San Diego, CA)
Yann Richard (Sorbonne Nouvelle)
Christoph Werner (University of Marburg)
VOLUME 11
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/is
The Mongol Empire between
Myth and Reality
Studies in Anthropological History
By
Denise Aigle
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Genghis Khan’s quriltai of 1206, illustration from Rashīd al-Dīn, Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, BNF
Suppl. persan 1113, fol. 139v.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aigle, Denise.
 The Mongol Empire between myth and reality : studies in anthropological history / by Denise Aigle.
  pages cm. — (Iran studies ; v. 11)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-27749-6 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-28064-9 (e-book : alk. paper)
1. Mongols—History—To 1500. 2. Ethnohistory—Asia. I. Title.
 DS19.A36 2014
 950’.2—dc23
2014030153
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isbn 978-90-04-27749-6 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28064-9 (e-book)
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Contents
Acknowledgements  vii
List of Maps, Genealogical Tables and Illustrations  viii
List of Abbreviations  ix
Notes on Transliteration  xiii
Introduction  1
part 1
The Memoria of the Mongols in Historical and Literary Sources
1 Mythico-Legendary Figures and History between East and West  17
2 The Mongols and the Legend of Prester John  41
3 The Historiographical Works of Barhebraeus on the Mongol
Period  66
4 The Historical taqwīm in Muslim East  89
part 2
Shamanism and Islam
5 Shamanism and Islam in Central Asia. Two Antinomic Religious
Universes?  107
6 The Transformation of a Myth of Origins, Genghis Khan and
Timur  121
7 Mongol Law versus Islamic Law. Myth and Reality  134
vi contents
part 3
Conquering the World Protected by the Tenggeri
8 From ‘Non-Negotiation’ to an Abortive Alliance. Thoughts on the
Diplomatic Exchanges between the Mongols and the Latin West  159
9 Hülegü’s Letters to the Last Ayyubid Ruler of Syria. The Construction of
a Model  199
part 4
Mamluks and Ilkhans. The Quest of Legitimacy
10 Legitimizing a Low-Born, Regicide Monarch. Baybars and the
Ilkhans  221
11 The Written and the Spoken Word. Baybars and the Caliphal Investiture
Ceremonies in Cairo  244
12 Ghazan Khan’s Invasion of Syria. Polemics on his Conversion to Islam
and the Christian Troops in His Army  255
13 A Religious Response to Ghazan Khan’s Invasions of Syria. The Three
“Anti-Mongol” fatwās of Ibn Taymiyya  283
Epilogue. The Mongol Empire after Genghis Khan  306
Maps  323
Genealogical Tables  327
Bibliography  331
Illustrations  373
Index  383
Acknowledgements
The studies in this volume are the result of a decade of research relating to the
Mongols. My interest initially spurred with Ilkhanid Iran, and I later broadened
the scope of my analysis in an attempt to understand the Mongol Empire as a
point of cross-cultural contact. Iran remained the fulcrum, since at this time
the Persian Ilkhanate was the centre of a great geopolitical space, linking
China, Central Asia, Syria-Palestine and the Latin West.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those who
inspired this research. What I owe to Jean Aubin cannot readily be put into
words. He infected me with his curiosity and his constant desire to broaden
the field of investigation. Françoise Aubin did me the great favour of draw-
ing my attention to the Mongols of China. Thanks to Roberte Hamayon, I
became interested in shamanism. An understanding of this universe, so dif-
ferent from Islam, is essential to make sense of the system of representations
of the medieval Mongols. To Michel Tardieu I owe my interest in studying con-
tacts between East and West, in particular through the myth of Prester John.
Jean-Claude Garcin’s very constructive comments enabled me to sharpen my
approach to the Mamluk sources.
I had the opportunity to present elements of this research in a number of
academic institutions, in particular during my period at the Institut Français
du Proche-Orient in Damascus (2001–2005) and my seminars at the EPHE.
I would like to thank my colleagues and students for their comments and
encouragement. I am grateful to Michele Bernardini, Jean-Claude Garcin,
Roberte Hamayon and Charles Melville who agreed to read some of the chap-
ters that make up this volume. The studies presented here are that much bet-
ter thanks to their comments. I wish to express my particular thanks to Yann
Richard, to whom is owed the appearance of this volume, for proposing the
publication of these studies in Brill’s “Iranian Studies” series.
The chapters of the present volume consist of a number of previously pub-
lished papers which have been completely revised and reconsidered, as well
as some new studies. The original essays were published in various North
American and European journals and volumes. It gives me great pleasure
to thank the editors (and former editors) for permission to use this material
here: Ali Amir-Moezzi, Michele Bernardini, Isabelle Charleux, Sylvie Denoix,
Roberte Hamayon, Pierre Lory and Marlis J. Saleh.
The English translation of this volume was prepared by Pól Ó Grádaigh.
I thank him warmly for his patience and attention to detail. I would like also to
thank Damien Simon for the revision of the translation.
List of Maps, Genealogical Tables and Illustrations
map Caption
1 Eastern Asia  323
2 Central Asia in Mongolian period  324
3 Great Iran  325
4 The Fertile Crescent  326
5 Damascus  326
Table Caption
1 The Great Khans  327
2 The Ilkhanids  328
3 The Khans of the Golden Horde  329
4 The Mamluks Sultans  330
FIGURE Caption
1 Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn, Makhsan al-inshāʾ, BNF Persan 73,
fol. 6v.  373
2 Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn, Makhsan al-inshāʾ, BNF Persan 73,
fol. 7v.  374
3 Muʿizz al-ansāb, BNF Persan 67, fol. 13r.  375
4 Muʿīn al-Dīn Naṭanzī, Muntakhab al-tawārīkh, BNF Suppl. persan
1651, fol. 12r.  376
5 Rashīd al-Dīn, Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, BNF Suppl. persan 1113,
fol. 139v.  377
6 Kātib Chelebi, Taqwīm al-tawārīkh, BNF Supp. persan 1739,
fol. 16r.  378
7 Taqwīm, BNF Suppl. turc 1149, fol. 6v.  379
8 Gospel, Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Ms 251,
fol. 15v.  380
9 The white standards, insignia of the power. Inaugural ceremony of
the memorial dedicated to Genghis Khan (Photo by Isabelle
Bianquis in 2006).  381
List of Abbreviations
Sources
Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Chronicon Ecclesiasticum. Ed. and trans. J.B.
Ecclesiasticum Abbeloos and Th. Lamy. Paris-Leuven, 1872–1877,
3 vols.
Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Chronicon Syriacum. Ed. P. Bedjan. Paris-Leipzig,
Syriacum 1890.
Bar Hebraeus/Budge The Chronography of Gregory Abû’l-Faraj (1225–
1286). Ed. and trans. E. Wallis Budge. London, 1932,
2 vols.
Beiträge Taʾrīkh salāṭīn al-mamālik or Beiträge zur
Geschischite der Mamlukensultanat in den Jahren
690–721 der higra nach arabischen Handschriften.
Ed. K.V. Zetterstéen. Leiden: Brill, 1919.
al-Dhahabī, Taʾrīkh Taʾrīkh al-islām. Ed. ʿUmar Tadmurī. Beirut: Dār
al-islām al-kutub al-ʿarabī, 1421/2000, 11 vols.
Durar Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad. al-Durar al-kāmina fī
aʿyān al-miʾa al-thāmania. Heyderabad, 1929–1930,
4 vols.
Guillemus de Rubruc, Itinerarium. In Sinica Franciscana. Ed. P. Anastasius
Itinerarium Van den Wyngaert. Quarrachi-Firenze, 1929,
164–332.
Ḥusn Shāfiʿ b. ʿAlī al-Kātib. Ḥusn al-manāqib al-sirriyya
al-muntazaʿa min sīrat al-ẓāhiriyya. Ed. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz
al-Khuwayṭir. Riyāḍ, 1976.
Ibn Abī l-Faḍāʾil al-Nahj al-sadīd wa-l-durr al-farīd fī mā baʿd taʾrīkh
Ibn al-ʿAmīd. Ed. and trans. E. Blochet. Paris: Firmin
Didot (Patrologia Orientalis, vols. XII, XIV, XX),
1919–1928.
[Barhebraeus =] Ibn Taʾrīkh mukhtaṣar al-duwal. Ed. Anton Ṣalaḥānī.
al-ʿIbrī, Mukhtaṣar Beirut: Dār al-Mashriq, 19923.
Ibn al-Nafīs Theologus autodidactus of Ibn Nafīs (al-Risāla
al-kāmiliyya fī sīrat al-nabawiyya). Eds. Max
Meyerhof and Joseph Schacht. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1968.
Jean de Joinville Vie de saint Louis. Ed. Jacques Monfrin. Paris:
Garnier, 1995.