READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.

CHAPTER V.

MANGU AND KUBLAI.

MANGU KHAN.

IN the previous chapter I have described the circumstances which led to the choice of Mangu as the successor of Kuyuk. It seems strange, that with the well known loyalty of the Mongols, no rebellion should have broken out among the tribes in favour of the dispossessed princes. It was probably prevented partially by the renown Mangu had already gained in his various wars, by the high character of his mother, and by the further fact, that nearly all the Mongol army proper was the heritage of Tului, and that he could therefore rely on its feudal attachment to himself, as Tului’s eldest son. I have described how Mangu was chosen. His inauguration took place on a day marked as a propitious one by the astrologers. The day fixed was the 1st of July, 1251, and while the princes cast their sashes over their shoulders and bent the knee nine times, their example was followed by 10,000 warriors outside. Mangu ordered that this day all should forget their quarrels, should leave their work, and give themselves up entirely to pleasure. The general holiday was to extend to the rest of the world as well as to men; horses were not to be ridden, nor cattle worked; animals were not to be killed for food; there should be no hunting nor fishing; no disturbing of the earth, nor troubling the calm and purity of the water.

This was followed by a feast, which lasted for seven days, during which the guests each day wore a differently coloured costume. Each day 300 horses and cattle, 5,000 sheep, and 2,000 cartloads of wine and kumis were consumed.

Mangu now appointed his chief officers: Mangussar was made chief judge; Bolgai, a Nestorian Christian, was made chancellor, and given charge of the finances and of the department of home affairs. The chancellery was divided into many departments, with Persian, Uighur, Chinese, Tibetan, Tangutan, and other secretaries charged with the correspondence. Kunkur, son of Juji Kassar, was made governor of Karakoram. Mangu’s brother Khubilai was made lieutenant-general in the country south of the desert. Chagan commanded the troops on the frontiers of the Sung empire; Dandar in Suchuan and Khortai in Tibet. A Buddhist named Khai-yuan was given charge of the Buddhist affairs in China, and one Tao-li-cheng of those of the Tao-tsé sect. The Tibetan lama Namo was made chief of the Buddhist faith in the empire, and given the title of Hoshi, or Institutor of the monarch. Mahmud Yelvaje was made administrator of the Mongol possessions in China, and his son Massud, who had restored the prosperity of Transoxiana, was confirmed in his government. Argun was also confirmed in his vast authority. The latter made a fresh report on the miserable condition of his province, induced by exorbitant taxes. The state to which Persia was reduced may be gathered from the fact that while in China and Transoxiana the poorest could afford to pay a gold piece annually, and the richest fifteen; in Persia, the minimum had to be reduced to one dinar and the maximum to seven. Mangu confirmed the law of Genghis and Ogotai, which exempted the priests and monks of the Christians, Muhammedans, and idolators, as well as the old and the very poor. D’Ohsson says that the rabbis were not included in the exemption, to the great mortification of the Jews. He also restricted the powers of the minor governors to exact taxes, and withdrew the many illegal warrants for their collection that had been issued since the death of Genghis. The extravagance of Kuyuk had left the empire largely indebted to the merchants who flocked to the Mongol court. Mangu ordered this debt to be paid, and it amounted to 500,000 silver balishs.

In February, 1252, Mangu lost his mother, to whom he had given the title of Empress. She was a Christian, but very tolerant, and had given a thousand golden balishs to found a Muhammedan college at Bokharah, where 1,000 students were taught, and had endowed it handsomely. She had been very much respected by the Mongols, especially by Ogotai. She lived with her fourth son Arikbuka, near the Altai, and on her death was buried near her husband and Genghis Khan. Mangu had raised his father Tului to the rank of Emperor, and given him a title in the temple of his ancestors.

About this time the Idikut of the Uighurs, who was a Buddhist, was falsely charged by a slave with the intention of killing all the Mussulmans at Bish Balig and in Uighuria. He was summoned before Mangu, and under the influence of torture said he was guilty; he was sent back to Bish Balig, and there beheaded by his own brother in the presence of an immense crowd, and to the great satisfaction of the Mussulmans. Two of his principal officers were also put to death; a third escaped death by the clemency of Mangu, but his wives and children and all his goods were seized by the exchequer, and he himself sent on a mission to Egypt. It was the Mongol custom, when a criminal’s life was spared, either to send him to the army, where his life might be made useful, or on a mission dangerous in itself, or to some insalubrious country. Okenje, the brother of the executed prince, who had also been his executioner, was appointed to succeed him.

On his arrival in China, Kublai began to search out and try and cure the abuses that had everywhere sprung up. He had recourse to a learned Chinaman named Yao-chu, who composed for him a moral and political treatise in which the duties and obligations of princes, and the abuses that prevailed in the country, were set out. He became the constant adviser of Kublai.

Since the days of Ogotai, the Mongols encamped on the frontier of the Sung empire had made no fresh conquests, but had made many invasions into Suchuan, Hukuang, and Kiangnan for the sake of pillage, in which they had taken several towns, and having sacked them retired with their booty. In this way they had caused great ravage, and the provinces on the border of the two empires were marked by deserted towns and uncultivated fields. Kublai made his soldiers cultivate these provinces, supplying them with cattle and ploughs.

In 1252 Kublai received Honan and the province of Kung-chang-fu in Shensi as an appanage, with orders to march upon Yunnan; another general was assigned a campaign in Corea. The same year Mangu made a solemn sacrifice to the sky on the summit of a mountain, after receiving instruction from the Chinese in the ceremonies used on such occasions. Early the next year he published a general amnesty, and at a Kuriltai assembled at the sources of the Onon it was decided to send an army into Persia under the orders of Khulagu, the brother of Mangu. At the same time a body of troops was sent to the frontiers of India. The Mongols had two years before taken and sacked Lahore, and some time after made an incursion into Scinde.

At the end of 1253 the friar William of Ruysbrok (otherwise known as Rubruquis) and his companions arrived at the court of Mangu. I will transcribe his account where he adds to what I have previously taken from Carpino’s narrative. The tent where the Khakan sat was hung with golden tissues and warmed by a chafing dish, in which were burnt the thorns and roots of wormwood, the fire being made of dried dung. The Khakan was seated on a small couch, robed in a rich fur dress, which shone like the skin of a sea calf. He was of middle stature, with a some­what flat turned up nose, and was about forty-five years old. His wife, who was young and good-looking, was seated by him with one of her daughters called Cyrina. Several children were on another couch close by. The Khakan asked the friars what they would drink, wine or terasine (made of rice), or kumis, or ball (hydromel); they replied they would drink whatever the Khakan pleased. He gave them some terasine, of which they drank a little to please him; their interpreter, they naively complain, drank too much, got drunk, and forgot himself. The Khakan next had his falcons brought out, and placed them on his fist, admiring them for some time; he then ordered the friars to speak. Their address was full of well-worded flattery, inter alia, they said that according to the statutes of their order they were bound to tell men how they ought to live according to the laws of God; that they had come to ask permission to settle in his territory in furtherance of their duty, and to pray for himself, his wives, and children. If he did not wish them to settle, they begged that he would at least allow them to stay until they had recruited from the effects of their long journey. After a while the inter­preter got too drunk to be intelligible, and the friars suspected that Mangu himself was rather maudlin. He proved, however, very gracious, gave them liberty to stay two months, and to go to Karakorum if they chose.

Rubruquis noticed that Mangu and his family took part indiscrimi­nately in the services of the Christians, the Muhammedans, and Buddhists, to make sure of the blessings promised by each religion. The Chris­tianity was that of the Nestorians, and to what depths this form of religion had sunk may be collected from some very graphic anecdotes related by our traveller. On one feast day Mangu’s chief wife with her children entered the Nestorian chapel, kissed the right hand of the saints, and then gave her right hand to be kissed, according to the fashion of the Nestorians. Mangu was also present, and with his spouse sat down on a gilt throne before the altar, and made Rubruquis and his companion sing; they chanted the Veni sancti spiritus. The Emperor soon after retired, but his wife stayed behind and gave presents to the Christians. Terasine, wine, and kumis were then brought in; she took a cup, knelt down, demanded a blessing, and while she drank the priests chanted; they then drank until they were drunk. Thus they passed the day, and towards evening the Empress was drunk like the rest. She went home in a carriage escorted by the priests, who continued chanting and howling.

On another occasion Rubruquis with the Nestorian priests and an Armenian monk went in procession to Mangu’s palace; as they went in a servant was bringing out some of the smoked shoulder blades of sheep, used in divination by the Shamans; they carried in a censor, with which they censed the Emperor, and then blest his cup, after which all drank. The other members of the family were successively visited. The Nestorian notion of Christian worship was to place a cross on a piece of new silk on an elevated place, and then to prostrate before it.

The three sects before mentioned were always proselytising, and their great ambition was to win over the Khakan, but he was neutral and urged toleration on all. He one day told Rubruquis that everybody at his court worshipped the same God, the one and eternal, and they ought to be allowed to adore him in their own way, and that by distributing his favours among men of all sects he showed that all were acceptable to him. The historian Alai-ud-din would persuade us he chiefly favoured Mohammedans, while Haithon and Stephen Orphelian insist that he favoured the Christians the most.

But all three religions, Christian, Muhammedan, and Buddhist, were only luxuries indulged in by the court; the Mongol nation continued to practise Shamanism, which remained the State religion. Rubruquis mentions that the chief of the Shaman priests lived at a stone’s throw from the Emperor’s palace, and had charge of the carriages which carried die idols.

These Shamans practised astrology and foretold eclipses, they pointed out propitious and unpropitious days. They purified with fire everything destined for the use of the court as well as the presents offered to the Khakan, of which they had a certain portion. They were summoned to births to draw horoscopes, and to sick beds to cure diseases. If they wished to ruin anyone they had only to accuse him of causing any mis­fortune that should happen. They summoned demons, while they beat their drums and excited themselves until they got into a state of ecstasy. They pretended to receive from their familiars answers, which they pro­claimed as oracles.

At Easter, Rubruquis followed the Khakan to Karakorum, which seemed to him less than St. Denis in France, whose monastery he tells us was ten times as large as the palace of Mangu. In Karakorum were two prin­cipal streets: in one, styled of the Muhammedans, fairs and markets were held; the other, styled of the Chinese, was occupied by artisans. The city contained several public buildings, twelve pagan temples of different rites, two mosques, and a church. It had an earthen rampart pierced by four gates; near the gates were held markets; at the eastern one, millet and other kinds of grain were sold; at the western, sheep; at the northern, horses; and at the southern, oxen and carts. The palace, surrounded by a brick wall, stretched north and south. Its southern side had three doors. Its central hall was like a church, and consisted of a nave and two aisles, separated by columns. Here the court sat on great occasions. In front of the throne was placed a silver tree, having at its base four silver lions, from whose mouths there spouted into four silver basins wine, kumis, hydromel, and terasine. At the top of the tree a silver angel sounded a trumpet when the reservoirs that supplied the four fountains wanted replenishing. This curious piece of silversmith’s work of the thirteenth century, Rubruquis tells us, was made by a Parisian silversmith called William Boucher, who had been captured at Belgrade in Hungary; 3,000 marks of silver were spent in making it. Beside this silversmith, Rubruquis met many Christian Hungarians, Alans, Russians, Georgians, and Armenians at Karakorum. After a stay of five months he prepared to return, bearing with him the Khakan’s answer to the letter of Louis the Ninth, which was couched in moderate terms, but ended up as usual by bidding him put no trust in the remoteness or strength of his country, but to submit.

The friars were seventy days in reaching the court of Batu. Travelling along the public way and bearing the Khakan’s letters they were furnished both with conveyances and food gratis, but the road was a deserted one; Rubruquis tells us he did not see a single village on the way where bread might be bought, and for two or three days lived on kumis alone. He at length recrossed the Caucasus, and reached his monastery at Acre, whence he sent an account of his voyage to Louis.

About the same time Mangu received a visit from Haithon, the King of Little Armenia, which comprised Cilicia, Commagene, and several towns of Cappadocia and Isauria. He also travelled by way of the Caucasus, calling upon Batu and his son Sertak on the way. He was well received, and by his persuasion the Mongol exactions in the two Armenias were restrained.

We may now turn our attention once more to Persia.

On the death of Kuyuk fresh anarchy had ensued; warrants for exemption and collection of taxes were again indiscriminately granted. In 1250 Argun, with the chief functionaries of Persia, repaired to the Kuriltai, where Mangu was elected Khakan. He reported the confusion that was caused by the malpractices just named. The Khakan required that the governors of each province should report on its condition. They all agreed that extortionate taxation was the cause of their ruin, and that it would be well to introduce a capitation tax, graduated to the wealth of the inhabitants, like there was in Transoxiana. This was decided upon, the lowest limit being one dinar, and the highest ten. The proceeds of the taxes were to pay the soldiers and to organise the system of posting on the public roads, so carefully looked after by the Mongols.

Argun was again confirmed in the government of Persia, and received a new diploma, marked with a lion’s head. Persia was divided into four provinces, each under a Melik, who all had separate diplomas, as had also the lesser functionaries. Each one received from the Khakan robes of Chinese silk.

The Melik Chems-ud-din Mohammed, Prince of Gur, and connected with many of the old princely families of Persia, was assigned the govern­ment of Eastern Persia. He was present at the election of Mangu, and was received by him with great ceremony. He gave him the government of the country of Herat and its dependencies, which extended from the Oxus to the Indus, and comprised the provinces of Meru, Cabul, and Afghanistan. Beside a robe of state and three paize or diplomas, he gave him 10,000 dinars, an Indian sabre, a lance of Alkhatt (a district of Yemama or Bahrein, where the lance poles are made which come from India), a mace with the head of a bull on its summit, a battle-axe, and a dagger.

At the great Kuriltai held in 1252, at the accession of Mangu, it was determined to send an expedition into the West, under the command of Mangu’s brother Khulagu, to punish the Ismailites, &c. Each of the princes of the blood was ordered to furnish one man in ten out of his army to form an army for Khulagu, each contingent being commanded by the near relations of the prince who furnished it; a tugan or 100 mens of flour and an utre or fifty mens of wine were provided for each man. Besides these there were 1,000 engineers to work the war machines. Kitubuka was sent on with an advance guard of 12,000 men in the autumn of 1252 towards Kuhistan. Khulagu himself set out in February, 1254. Leaving Kara­korum he marched for seven days over the snowy range of Khanggai to the river Hoen Muren, on which he proceeded in boats to the Arungu, which falls into lake Kizilbash; then by larch-covered mountains to a town called Pfuhle in the Chinese narrative of the expedition, “near which is a mountain where the wind blows so hard that travellers are sometimes blown into the lake”; then through a narrow pass to Almalig, where he was feted by the princes of the house of Jagatai, and especially by Organa, the widow of Kara Hulagu. On his arrival in Turkestan he was similarly feted by its governor, Massud, the son of Yelvaje. Having summered his horses, he encamped in the beautiful district of Kianigul, i.e, the Mine of Roses, near Samarkand, where he spent forty days, and feasted in a magnificent tent built up of gold and silken tissue, where he gave himself up to drinking and dissipation. The feast was somewhat marred by the death of Suntai, his brother. Khulagu was com­missioned by the Khakan to exterminate the Ismaelites or Assassins, and then to pass on to subject the Khalif. Having arrived at Kesh, the patrimony of the ancestors of Timurlenk, he received the submission of Argun, the governor of Khorasan, and of the various grandees and nobles, and issued a summons to the sovereigns of Western Asia. “We have come,” he said, “to destroy the Molahids, (the heretics). If you come in person with your troops you will save your country and family, and you shall be rewarded. If you hesitate, I will, with the help of God, after I have destroyed this people, return and treat you in the same way.” After crossing the Oxus he organised a lion hunt, and as the horses were terrified with this new game, he mounted his hunters on camels. Ten lions were killed.

The Ismaelites or Assassins were a particular sect of that division of the Shia Muhammedans known as Ghilats. They were distinguished mainly by a secret cultus, a peculiar hierarchy, and an implicit obedience to the Imam. This most implicit obedience was aggravated by the system of assassination which they organised, and which became the terror of Western Asia; the chief officers and more prominent men of its various courts wearing coats of mail under their clothes as a precaution, and still suffering decimation. The long struggle and intercourse they had with the Khuarezm Shahs is detailed by D’Ohsson, but it forms no part of our present subject.

Leaving the Oxus, Khulagu advanced to Sheburghan, south-west of Balkh, a fruitful district famed for its water melons. There he spent the winter, and held another reception in another sumptuous tent, presented to him by Argun.

Kitubuka had been sent on, as I have said, with an army of 15,000, and had invaded Kuhistan, the chief seat of the Assassins. There he had laid siege to Girdkjuh (the Round Mountain), a fortress situated in the district of Kumus, three parasangs from Damghan. He in­vested it after a new fashion; having made a ditch and rampart round it, he placed his army behind it, and behind this again another ditch and rampart, so that he had a protection both in front and rear. He apparently made this camp his base, and sent out columns to attack the other fortresses of the country; among these were Shahdis, Turim, Rud-bar Shirkiuh, Shir, and Sirkiuh. Girdkjuh still held out. One of the garrison escaped, and sent to Alaeddin, the Grand Vizier, to ask for help. He sent two leaders, each with 110 troopers; one to escort three mens of salt, the other three mens of Henna. The latter was needed not to dye the nails and beard with, but as a preservative against a disease then prevailing there, it having been discovered that those who drank of water in which Henna had been infused would escape the disease. They succeeded in getting in.

Khulagu sent the Lord of Herat, Shems-ud-din Rest, to summon the fort of Sertacht. It was surrendered by its governor, who was invested with a seal with a lion’s head, and was then sent against Tun, one of the finest cities of Kuhistan, situated two days’ journey from Meshed, on the road to Kerman, with a moated castle in the centre, surrounded by houses and a market-place, and outside these cornfields and melon gardens. Kitubuka and Kuli Ilkai were ordered there with their bat­tering machines. In twelve days it was captured. The inhabitants were put to the sword, except the children and young women, and the besiegers then joined Khulagu at Thus. At Thus he was again magni­ficently entertained by Argun, and then went on to Radegan, where food and wine were poured upon him from the rich districts of Meru, Yesrud, and Dahistan. As he passed by Kabuskan, which had been laid waste in the previous Mongol invasion, he ordered canals to ne dug, the Mosque to be restored, and a bazaar to be built, and bade the Vizier Seif-ed-din superintend the work. He then moved on to Bostam, one of the three main towns of Kumuss.

Kuhistan was the chief seat of the power of the Ismaelites. Khulagu, on his arrival, ordered it to be overrun. At Thus he received Shahinshah, the brother of the Ismaelite chief, who came to offer his submission. Khulagu ordered him to dismantle several of his fortified places, to receive a Baskak or Mongol governor in his dominions, and to come in person and submit. The chief of the Assassins began to dismantle the walls and gates of some of his fortresses, as Meimundiz, Lemsir, and Alamut The latter demand was evaded. Khulagu sent a special embassy to renew it, which returned with many promises and some hostages, but with no definite offer of submission. At length his patience was worn out, and he ordered his troops to advance. They took the fort of Shahdiz. The chief of the Assassins still prevaricated. Instead of sending his son as a hostage, he tried to palm off a natural son he had had by a Kurdish slave upon the Mongol conqueror. His object was delay, in the hope that winter would intervene and stop the operations of the Mongols ; but Khulagu was not to be detained. He ordered all the different contingents to enter the province of Rudbar, and laid immediate siege to the strongly fortified town of Meimundiz. Catapults were placed on the various commanding heights, and the attack was prosecuted with vigour. Rokn-ud-din, the chief of the Assassins, now proposed terms to Khulagu. He himself wished to surrender; but a tumult in the town prevented him. Both the vigour of the attack, and the unusual mildness of the season, disappointed the besieged, and they at length agreed to give in. Rokn-ud-din, with his chief ministers, went to the Mongol camp and sur­rendered all his treasure, and the town was evacuated. He was well treated by the Mongols, but was obliged to give orders for the surrender of all the fortified places in Rudbar, Kumuss, and Kuhistan. More than forty castles were thus surrendered, and then destroyed. Alamut and Lemsser, two of the strongest, alone remained. Alamut (the Falcon’s Nest) was situated on a craggy height, north-east of Kazvin. A large circuit of ruined walls and towers still attest its former grandeur. It resisted for a while, but its garrison at length grew frightened, and offered terms. The Mongols entered the place, so strong from its situation among high and scarped mountains. Its library was celebrated, containing the gatherings of the various Ismaelite princes. The copies of the Koran, the astronomical works, and works of value were preserved; but the service and the theological works of the sect were mercilessly destroyed. The fortress, which dated from the year 860, was demolished with great trouble. Soon after the fortresses of Kuhistan, to the number of fifty, were surrendered and demolished; and this was followed by the submission of the Ismaelite fortresses in Syria. Rokn-ud-din was now powerless and useless to the Mongols, and they began to treat him badly. So long as his strongholds held out it was easier to cajole him into sur­rendering them than to spend blood and treasure in their capture. He had lately married a Mongol woman of low extraction, and Khulagu would not have scrupled to put him to death but for his solemn promises to him. He relieved him from anxiety by expressing a wish to visit the camp of Mangu Khan. He went, and was badly received, the Khakan refusing him an interview, and he was murdered on his way home again. His subjects were distributed among the Mongol soldiery, and were put to the sword as directed by the Grand Kuriltai. Even the children in the cradles were slaughtered. Only a few escaped in the recesses of Kuhistan, where their descendants still lived in the beginning of the sixteenth century, when they are mentioned by Mohammed of Esfézar, but practically they were exterminated. The princes of Asia Minor, Syria, and of the Franks were relieved from their levies of black mail, and Muhammedanism escaped a dangerous schism; but the terror they inspired survived long enough, and the word assassin in Western languages (a corruption of Hashishin, by which the Ismaelites of Syria were known) still bears witness to their ancient renown.t

Khulagu now went to Kazvin, far famed for its melons and its handi­craftsmen, where he held a grand feast in honour of his victory, and rewarded his faithful dependants. He then turned to the next object of his expedition, namely, the subjection of the Khalif. In this he was seconded by the learned astronomer Nassir-ud-din, of Thus, a follower of Ali (a Shia). From his camp in the environs of Kazvin, Khulagu marched to Hamadan, where he met the Mongol general Baiju, who came to do homage. He was received with the scornful taunt, “Since you took the command from the hands of Churmagun, what enemies have you conquered, what country have you subjected? What have you done, except to frighten the Mongol troops, with the grandeur and power of the Khalif?” He replied, on his knees, that he had done what he could, and had subjected the kingdom of Rum (the Seljuk sovereignty of Asia Minor), and that he had not ventured to attack Baghdad because of its strength and population, and the difficulties of the way.

Khulagu despatched an embassy to summon the Khalif to submit. The latter was a pious man, but wanting in energy. He claimed as his dele­gates all the sovereigns who professed the Moslem faith, and who re­ceived investiture at his hands. Mostassim was the then Khalif, and the princes who owned his supremacy were the Sultans of Egypt and Rum, the Atabegs of Fars and Kerman, the Princes of Erbil and Mosul, and several others of less account; but the rulers of Rum, Fars, and Kerman had already submitted to the Mongols. The Khalif had besides this a more serious domestic difficulty. He had recently persecuted, and treated with great indignity, certain Seyid captives, descendants of Ali. His vizier, who was a Shia, was much scandalised at this, and entered into correspondence with Khulagu. At the same time he dissembled his animosity, and tried to persuade his master, the Khalif, that as all the Mussulman princes were his feudatories, and were ready to sacrifice both their troops and their wealth in his service, there was not much use in a large standing army. The luxurious Khalif meddled little with affairs of State, and allowed the vizier to scatter the considerable army his father had left him, and it was in this condition when the news of Khulagu’s march arrived. At the same time the so-called Little Devatvar (vice-chancellor) made a cabal with many other chiefs to replace the Khalif by another prince of the house of Abbas, and to undermine the influence of the vizier. News of this conspiracy came to the Khalif’s ear, and although matters had proceeded to great lengths, he wrote the vice-chancellor an autograph letter, in which he told him he considered the charges to be calumnies, and that he retained the highest confidence in him. His letter brought a submissive answer, and on the Devatvar presenting himself he was well received. His justification was proclaimed in the city, and his name was inserted in the Khutbé imme­diately after the Khalif’s.

The letter of Khulagu complained that the Khalif had not furnished him with a contingent in his war against the Ismaelites. It went on to remind him of the great empires that had already succumbed to the Mon­gols, that each of their rulers was always welcome at Baghdad, as he also expected to be. He urged that the moon only shines in the absence of the sun. Do not strike a nail with your fist, he said, nor mistake the sun for the puff of a candle, or you will repent; but the past is past. He then bade him raze the walls and fill the ditches of Baghdad, and go to him in person, or else to send his vizier and chancellor to do homage. He told him that if he obeyed his behests, then he should preserve his states and troops; but if he preferred to fight, or refused to obey, they would see what was the will of God. According to Raschid, the Khalif replied that Khulagu had been seduced by the good fortune of ten days into supposing himself the arbiter of the world. He, too, reminded him of the vast power of the Mussulmans, of which he was the head. He did not wish for war, as he did not want his people to suffer from the march of armies, and he counselled him to listen to the voice of peace, and to return to Khorassan.t The envoys who bore this message were accompanied by the Mongol envoys. The latter were maltreated by the people, who awaited them outside the gates of Baghdad. When Khulagu heard of it, he is said to have remarked, the Khalif is as tortuous in his policy as this bow, but with the help of God I will chastise him until he becomes as straight as an arrow. He dismissed the envoys with the message that God had given the empire of the earth to Jingis Khan and his descendants, and as their master refused to obey, there was nothing for it but to prepare for war. The vizier now counselled the Khalif that he should appease the Mongols by magnificent presents; the Devatvar advised a different policy. With Suleiman-shah, the generalissimo of his forces, and some others, he reproached the Khalif with his weakness and debauchery, reminded him of the terrible fate of the cities already ravaged by the Mongols, and begged that troops might be at once raised. The Khalif consented, and the vizier gave orders for a levy, but he secretly added that there was no hurry, and the thing might be done leisurely. Meanwhile the Khalif addressed another note to Khulagu, in which he enumerated the many disastrous expeditions which had set out with the object of taking Baghdad, and warned him to avoid the same fate.

Khulagu’s march lay through the snowy mountains which separated the two Iraqs, the defiles of which were guarded by the fortress of Deriteng (narrow defile). The Mongols, according to their usual policy, seduced the governor by fair promises into their power, and then persuaded him to march out the garrison, when they completed their perfidy by a general massacre. Before marching, Khulagu consulted Hossam-ud-din, an astrologer, who had been sent with him as his adviser by the Khakan, his brother. Hossam was probably a Muhammedan. He foretold that grave disasters would follow upon the expedition; among other things, that the sun would not rise ; that there would be drought, earthquakes, pestilence, &c. He was rash enough to fix a date for the occurrence of these misfortunes, and to offer to risk his head on the result. Khulagu waited for the day. Hossam’s prophecies were falsified, and he was put to death on the 23rd November, 1262. The Bakshis or Buddhist doctors of the Mongols counselled a confident advance, and this advice was strengthened by that of Khulagu’s favourite astrologer, Nassir-ud-din, who was a follower of Ali, and who told him that he should replace the Khalif on the throne. Khulagu now de­termined to advance, and he ordered the different Mongol armies to converge upon Baghdad. Baiju, who with his Mongols had been engaged in Asia Minor in reducing to obedience certain towns of the Seljuk Sultan Rokn-ud-din, who was a protégé of the Mon­gols, crossed the Tigris at Mosul, and joined a second body of Mongols under the command of Boka Timur, of the Noyan Sugunjak, and the three princes of the house of Juji, who commanded the special contingent of that horde. They formed together the right wing of the attacking force. The army which had been on the frontiers of Luristan, under Kitubuka and Kudussun, formed the left wing; while Khulagu, with the chief dignitaries of Persia, took command of the centre. Having once more summoned the Khalif, who now offered to pay tribute, but would not go in person, and leaving his heavy baggage at Hamadan, Khulagu marched through the Kurdish mountains, taking and sacking the town of Kermanshahan on the way. He halted for thirteen days on the banks of the river Hol van, while Kitubuka overran the greater part of Luristan.

A conference was held between Khulagu and some of his generals at Thak kesra, and it was noticed that when they left him they consulted the fissures in burnt shoulder blades of sheep, the usual Mongol mode of divination, to see what would be the result! They commanded the right wing, and now crossed the Tigris at Tacut, and so great was the hurry and panic of the inhabitants to get across the river and take refuge in Baghdad, that the boatmen received golden bracelets, tissues of gold, and large sums of money for the passage. This Mongol army was attacked by one of the Khalif s divisions, under the vice-chancellor, whom I have previously named. The Mongols retired as usual, and then succeeded in flooding the country behind the Moslem army, which was attacked and utterly defeated. The vice-chancellor reached Baghdad with a handful of men. He was ordered to repair the walls and to barricade the streets. The vast city was now invested by the Mongols; they surrounded the town with a rampart and ditch, the ditch being on the inside. This work was constructed in twenty-four hours. Out of the bricks which strew the neighbourhood, probably the debris of the old Mesopotamian empires, they constructed mounds upon which to place the battering engines. The bombardment commenced on the 30th of January’, at all points, and a great breach was effected in the tower A’djemi, a tower flanking one of the gates. The Khalif sent one of his favourites, and the patriarch of the Nestorian Christians, to offer the terms formerly proposed by Khulagu, but these were now refused, and the attack was pressed. Palm trees were cut down to furnish projectiles, while stones for the catapults had to be brought from a distance of three or four days’ journey to the north, from Jebel hamrin and Jelula. Letters fastened to arrows were shot into the town, stating that clemency would only be extended to the Kadhis, the Muhammedan doctors, the Sheikhs, Alevis, and non-com­batants. On the 1st of February, the Mongols captured, by assault, all the wall on the eastern side of the city. The vice-chancellor and a body of 10,000 men tried to escape down the river, but the Mongols were expecting and repulsed them with a shower of stones and pots of naptha, and they were forced to return to Baghdad. The Khalif now saw that resistance was hopeless, and he sent several deputations offering terms; but Khulagu refused to see them. He demanded that Suleiman Shah, the generalissimo of the Khalif s troops, and the vice-chancellor, should be sent to him, and on their arrival he ordered them to return and bring out all their forces. Under pretence that they were sending them into Syria, they persuaded many of the soldiery and others to come out; but they were distributed among the Mongol companies, and as usual put to the sword. Eibeg, the vice-chancellor, and Suleiman Shah shared in the common fate. The latter was first jeered at by Khulagu. “You, an astrologer, who know the forecast of the stars, why did not you warn your master?” The Khalif, was the pathetic answer, followed his destiny, and listened not to the counsel of his servants. With the latter also perished 700 of his house. The heads of three of the chief victims were cruelly sent to the Prince of Mosul, an old friend of Suleiman Shah, with orders that they should be exposed on the walls of his palace; an order that he was forced to obey. The Khalif, with his three sons and 3,000 grandees, now repaired to the camp of Khulagu. He was followed by a vast crowd of his people, who were massacred as they left the gates. On the 13th of February the sack of Baghdad was inaugurated. The Mongols entered from every side, fired the houses and slaughtered the inhabitants, except the Christians and a few strangers. On the 15th, Khulagu entered the city, and gave a grand feast in the Khalif’s palace, where he ironically treated his captive as his host. The latter produced 2,000 rich robes, 10,000 dinars, and many precious stones; but Khulagu pressed for the hidden treasure, when a basin filled with large gold coins, each of the weight of 100 miscals, was produced. The Mongols, we are told, found in the kitchens, &c., many vessels of gold and silver, which they valued only as if they had been copper or tin. In the harem were found 700 women and 1,000 eunuchs. Mostassim begged to be allowed to keep those wives upon whom neither the sun nor moon had shone, and he was allowed to select 100. D’Ohsson tells us that Khulagu returned to his camp, where were collected the vast number of precious objects which had been amassed by the Abassids during their rule of five centuries. The sack of Baghdad lasted seven days, during which the greater part of the mosques were fired. At length Khulagu ordered the massacre and de­struction to cease. The number of the dead, we are told by Raschid, was 800,000, a frightful hecatomb when we consider that Baghdad was then the eye and centre of the Muhammedan world; that there its riches, its literature and culture had their focus; at a time when the Christian world was almost barbarous, and when the Mussulmans were without doubt the foremost of civilised communities. The Christians escaped the massacre under the instructions of the Nestorian patriarch, and had taken refuge in a church which was spared. This clemency was probably due to the influence of Khulagu’s chief wife Tokus, who was a Nestorian Christian. We are told that among the assailants the fiercest probably were the Georgians, who enlisted in the Mongol armies, and who had many old scores to pay off against the Muhammedans. On the 20th of February, Khulagu left Baghdad because of its tainted air. The Khalif’s fate is differently reported: Raschid and Novairi relate that he was put to death with his eldest son and five eunuchs near Vacaf, by being sewn in a sack and trodden under foot by horses until he died, because, as the latter says, the Mongols never shed the blood of sovereigns and princes. The Persian historians, Nikby and Mirkhond, agreeing in this with the Armenians, have a more romantic story. They tell us that Khulagu placed before Mostassim a seat covered with gold pieces, and ordered him to eat them. “But you cannot eat gold,” he said. “Why then have you kept it,” said the Utilitarian conqueror, “instead of dis­tributing it to your troops? Why have you not converted these iron gates into barbs for your arrows, and advanced to the banks of the Jihun to dispute my advance?” “It was the will of God,” said the Khalif. “What will happen to you is the will of God also,” said Khulagu; and he left him to starve before his dishes loaded with gold and precious stones. Thus perished Mostassim, at the age of forty-six, after a reign of fifteen years. He was the thirty-seventh of the Abassidan Khalifs and his death caused a terrible gap in the Muhammedan world. For three years the Moslems remained without a spiritual head. Founded in 762 by Al Mansur, the second Abassidan Khalif, Baghdad became not only a spiritual and literary metropolis, but also a commercial one. From Bussorah it received the productions of India and China, while those of the north came to it by way of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Khulagu appointed governors to take charge of the captured city, Ibn Alkamiyi, the vizier, retained his post. He is accused of treachery by the majority of the Moslem historians. Of the sect of the Rafizis, it was natural that he should delight in the overthrow of the Abassidan dynasty and the reinstatement of that of Ali; and the proverb which was inscribed on the books used in the Muhammedan schools, “Let him be cursed of God who curses not Ibn ul Alkamiyi,” had probably a good justification. He died three years after the capture of Baghdad, and was succeeded by his son Sheref-ud-din.

Besides Ali Bahadur and the vizier Ibn Alkamiyi, other Mussulmans seem to have won the confidence of Khulagu, and we are told that Fakhr ud din of Damghan was made Sahib Divan, Ahmed ben Amram prefect of the districts east of Baghdad, and Nizam ud din Abd ul Muemin was made chief judge. A curious story is told of Ben Amram by Mirkhond. A slave of the governor of Yakuba, he was one day employed (about twelve months before Khulagu’s arrival) in the menial office of tickling the soles of his master’s feet when asleep (a common form of luxury in the East), when he himself fell asleep. On awakening he told his master that he had dreamt that the Khalifate and Mostassim were no more, and that he himself was governor of Baghdad. This ridiculous pretension was rewarded by a kick from his master. During the siege of the town, the Mongols having begun to run short of provisions, Ben Amram sent a note fastened to an arrow into Khulagu’s camp stating that if he were to ask for him to come to his camp he would hear of something useful. The Khalif was applied to and made no difficulty. Ibn Amram when taken before Khulagu said that if he so ordered, provisions should be forthcoming. He took one of the Mongol officers to a place near Yakuba, where there were underground granaries containing enough to supply the besieging army for fifteen days. His reward, in accordance with the dream, was the government of Baghdad, says Mirkhond; in reality he was governor of the districts east of the city. When the main part of the Mongol army, evacuated Baghdad the Noyan Ilga and Kara Buga remained behind with 3,000 horsemen to re-establish order and to bury the dead. The Friday after the capture, the preacher who read the Khutbé in place of the usual prayer for the Khalif pronounced the fol­lowing words; a curious proof surely of the intensity of meaning the Mus­sulmans attach to the duty of submission to the will of God, “Praise be to God who has destroyed by death great beings, and has condemned to destruction the inhabitants of this place”; concluding thus, “ O, my God, help us in our calamity than which Islamism and its children have not felt their equal. But we came from God and we return to God.” When master of Baghdad Khulagu proposed this question to the Muhammedan doctors: “Which is preferable : A just sovereign who is an unbeliever, or a true believer who is unjust”; they agreed that the just infidel was pre­ferable to the unjust Mussulman. During the siege of Baghdad the inhabitants of the town of Hillé, who were Shias, sent envoys to him stating that, according to the tradition of their ancestors, the twelve Imams and the Khalif Ali, he was fated to conquer Irak Areb and its sovereign, and offered their submission. Khulagu detached Buga Timur, his brother-in-law, with a Mongol force to visit them. The people of Hillé threw a bridge across the Euphrates and went out to meet him with some pomp. This shows how bitter the hatred of the two great riyal sects must have been, for this occurred during the siege of the metropolis of Muhammedanism. Seven days after leaving Hillg, Buga Timur appeared before Vassith, which, having shut its gates, was taken by assault and sacked. This was followed by the submission of Shuster Bussorah and other towns of Khuzistan. At the desire of his first minister Seif-ud-din Betikji, Khulagu posted a guard of 100 Mongols at the tomb of Ali to protect it from sacrilege. During the siege of Baghdad Khulagu had dispatched Oroktu Noyan to capture Erbil, a flourishing city situated between the two rivers Zab, two days’ journey from Mosul. Its com­mander came to his camp to offer his submission, but the Kurdish garrison would not allow him to re-enter it. The unlucky governor was put to death by the Mongols who then laid siege to the town. They were assisted by a contingent sent by the Prince of Mosul. The garrison fought well, but the place was at length captured, and its walls razed. On the 17th of April Khulagu rejoined his Aghriks (the camps where the baggage, women, &c., were left) at Hamadan. He was master of a vast booty collected from Baghdad, the Ismaelite fortresses, and the towns of Rum, Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan, and Lur, and he built a strong fort as a treasure house on a scarped island in the midst of the lake Urmia in Azerbaijan. He sent his brother, the Khakan, a portion of the booty, and announced to him his intention of marching upon Syria and Egypt. At Méraga, he received the homage of Bedr-ud-din Lulu, Prince of Mosul, who came to him with rich presents. He was a diplomatic and wily old gentleman, and flattered Khulagu much by taking the ear-rings out of his own ears and fastening them on those of his suzerain. He died shortly after his return to Mosul. Luristan was then divided into two provinces, the greater of which was governed by the Atabeg Tekélé. Having expressed his grief at the fate of Baghdad, he became an object of suspicion to Khulagu and fled. His brother set out with some companions to appease the Mongols, but was imprisoned and his cortege destroyed. Tekélé, the Prince of Lur, was seduced by fair promises to capitulate. Khulagu actually sent him his own ring as a token of his sincerity, but, like many others who had trusted to Mongol promises, he was put to death. The Prince of the lesser Luristan was more lucky. He took part in the capture of Baghdad, and was rewarded by the investiture of his estates. At this time the Princes of Fars and the two rival Seljuk Sultans of Rum, Rokn-ud-din Kilidj Arslan, and Iz-ud-din Kei Kavus, came to do homage. The latter, who had reason to dread the reception he should meet with, was very diplomatic. He had his own portrait painted on the soles of a pair of socks, which he presented to the Mongol chief as a token of his humility, at the same time, prostrating himself and begging that Khulagu would honour him by placing his august feet on the head of his servant. The partition of the empire between the two brothers was confirmed, and they returned home with rich presents, part of the booty from Baghdad. Nassir ud din, a famous astronomer, was ordered by Khulagu to build an observatory in the most convenient position. He had impressed upon Khulagu the necessity of forming new astronomical tables, and that observations should be continued for at least thirty years, as Saturn’s term of revolution was of that length. He compared the different ancient tables; the earliest of these were those of Enerdjese, then fourteen centuries old. After these came those of Ptolemy. There were also the observations made at Baghdad in the reign of the Khalif Meimun; those of Tebani, in Syria; and, lastly, those of Hakemi and Ibn al Alem, in Egypt, made 250 years before. Nassir ud din chose a site near the town of Meraga, with him were associated four famous astronomers, namely, Mueyed ud din Ben Urzy from Damascus, Nedjm ud din Katib from Kazvin, Fakhr ud din, a native of Meraga, from Mosul, and a second Fakhr ud din, a native of Akhlatt, from Tiflis. The observatory was furnished with armillary spheres and astrolabes, and with a beautifully executed terrestrial globe showing the five climates. The tables that were calculated at this observatory were published in the next reign under the name of Zidj Ilkhani. They showed an error of forty minutes in the previous calculations of the sun’s place at the beginning of the year. It is a curious proof of the interchange of Eastern and Western thought under the influence of the Mongols, that Nassir-ud-din studied the era and astronomical rules of the Chinese for the composition of these tables, from the Chinese doctor Fao Mun Dji, otherwise known as Sing Sing or learned, one of the Chinese learned men Khulagu had brought with him. Khulagu was somewhat frightened at the expense of the observatory, the instruments of which alone cost 20,000 dinars. He was convinced of its utility by a curious experiment. Standing on a hill, beside his astronomer, the latter rolled a copper bowl to the bottom. The noise of this greatly frightened those who did not know its cause, while the astronomer and his master were perfectly at ease. “See the use of the stars,” said Nassir ud din, “they announce what will happen, and those who know can take precautions, and are not panic-stricken like those taken by surprise.”

Argun, the governor of Persia, had in the latter part of 1258 gone to the Khakan’s court to defend himself from the charges of his intriguing enemies. These he completely answered, and his answer was confirmed by the Armenian Prince Sempad, who happened to be then at the court. He returned to Persia when Mangu set out on his Chinese expedition, and when there regulated the taxes on a new principle, the maximum for the richest being 500 dinars, while the minimum for the poorest was one dinar. He repaired to Georgia, where David, the son of the Queen Ruzudan, whom We have previously named, had revolted against the Mongols, they had sent an army against them. The Georgians were beaten. Argun was present on this occasion, and reported to Khulagu how matters stood there. By him he was entrusted with an army With which he returned to Tiflis.

Meanwhile many of the Christians, especially those of Tacrit, who had been well treated after the siege of Baghdad, were accused by the Mussulmans of concealing treasure, and the charge proving correct, they were mercilessly killed, and we are told the Mussulmans reoccupied the cathedral of Tacrit. But notwithstanding this their condition was very much improved by the Mongol occupation. By the Moslems they were treated with great indignity, the many restrictions and insults they had to bear are enumerated in some detail by D’Ohsson. Like the Crusaders, the Eastern Christians saw in Khulagu and his Mongols the avengers of their many wrongs, and they welcomed them accordingly.

In the year when Baghdad fell a terrible famine and pestilence de­vastated the provinces of Irak Areb, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Rum, doubtless caused by the Mongol ravages.

Syria was at this time ruled over by Nassir Saladin Yussuf, a great grandson of the great Saladin. He had inherited the principality of Aleppo in 1236, at the age of six years, and in 1250 had taken possession of that of Damascus, which belonged to the Egyptian Sultan. In a subsequent struggle with the latter he was defeated. The Khalif interposed as mediator, and he agreed to surrender to the Sultan, Jerusalem, Gaza, and the coast as far as Nablus. He had sent a richly laden Embassy to the court of Mangu, but had not yet done homage to Khulagu. After the terrible campaign against Baghdad he dared no longer delay, and sent his son with the vizier and other officers, who took presents and a letter to the Prince of Mosul to intercede for him. He excused himself for not going in person by representing the danger his country was then in from the attacks of the crusaders. The young prince was detained during the winter, and returned to his father, bearing a long letter, which is interest­ing as an example of arrogant and offensive language.

The sting of the letter was increased by having some of its emphatic phrases taken directly from the Koran, and the astronomer Nassir ud din had the credit of its composition. I take the letter and its answer from D’Ohsson, marking as he does the extracts from the Koran by italics.

“In the name of God, Creator of heaven and earth. Be it known to you, Prince Nassir, that we arrived at Baghdad in the year 655, and that we have made its sovereign prisoner. He had behaved badly towards us. He repented, and confessed that he deserved to die. Greedy of wealth he has ended by losing everything. His avarice has made him lose his precious heritage. According to the adage, who has reached his fate begins to decline. Our prosperity, on the contrary, is increasing.

“O Prince Nassir, Seif-ud-din, son of Yagmur, Alai-ud-din El Kaimari, and you chiefs and warriors of Syria, be it known to you that we are God’s troops on earth. That he created us in his wrath, and that he has given us authority over those who have incurred his anger. That you might learn from the fate of other countries, and find a lesson in others’ misfortunes. Submit before the veil is rent asunder, for we are not touched by tears nor moved by entreaty. God has erased pity from our hearts. Woe to those who are not with us. You know how many nations and peoples we have conquered and destroyed. To you, flight; to us, pursuit; but whither will you fly? What land will protect you; nothing shall save you from our arms. Our steeds are like flashes of lightning, our swords thunderbolts, our breasts hard as rocks, our warriors numerous as the sand. Those who resist us repent it. Those who ask our favour find it. Our empire is respected and our vassals are safe. If you receive our laws then everything is in common between us. If you resist us you will at best have but your own. He who warns is justified; fortresses are no barriers to us, nor will armies stay us. Your curses against us will not be favourably listened to, for you use forbidden meats. You keep not your word. You break treaties, and you betray the faith. You are heretics. You love impiety and rebellion. Note that you are doomed to misfortune and to fall. The day is coming when you shall receive the ignominious punishment of your arrogance, your ill deeds, and your wickedness. You believe we are infidels; we know you are bad. The Almighty has subjected you to our dominion. Those whom you most honour are vile in our eyes. Misfortune and woe to those who set them­selves against us. Grace and safety to those who come near us. We have conquered the earth from the east to the west, and spoiled those who possessed its wealth. We have captured all the ships. Choose then the safe path, and submit before war lights its fires and throws their sparks over you, for you will meet with terrible calamity. In the wink of an eye your land will become a desert, and you will find no refuge. The angel of death will be able to proclaim, Is there one among them who still has the least sign of life, or whose voice can utter the least murmur, We are chivalrous in warning you. Be quick then and confess your fear that you be not taken unawares. Be on your guard, and when you have received our letter read the commencement of the Bees and the end of the Sad. We have scattered the diamonds of our words. It is for you to reply; and safety to him who follows the path of safety.”

To this letter, in which the arrogance of the Mongols is mixed up with the bitter hatred of a Shia for a Sunni Muhammedan, and which we are told by Vassaf is a model of Arabic style, Nassir responded with scornful and incisive phrases. His answer ran thus :—

“Oh, my God, master of empires, thou givest dominion to whom thou wiliest. Assist us. Praise be to God the ruler of the universe. Blessing and greeting to the Coryphaeus of his messengers, the last of the prophets, Muhammed, the untaught, and all his family.

“We have noted the letter of your Ilkhanian and Sultanian highness (whom may God teach the right faith and make him love the truth), announcing that you were created by the wrath of God, and sent against those who have incurred his anger. That you are not affected by entreaty, nor softened by tears, and that God has erased pity from all your hearts. Here indeed you confess your greatest infamy, for this is the character of devils, and not of sovereigns. This impromptu quota­tion shall confound you. Oh, infidels, I do not adore that which yaw adore, You are cursed in all the sacred books, you have been described in atrocious colours. You have been pointed out by all the heavenly apostles, and we have known you since you were made. You are infidels as you have suspected, and the curse of God is it not upon the infidels? You say we are heretics, that we have betrayed the faith, that we are given up to rebellion and wickedness. We are reminded of those who are careless of consequences. It is as if Pharaoh, he who denied the true faith, had exhorted men to obey God. We are the true faithful. Men cannot impute any transgressions to us; we are open to no suspi­cions. It was to us the Koran was sent from heaven. It is our God who is eternal. We believe in the revealed word, and know how it ought to be interpreted; but as to you, the fire was created for you, even to con­sume your skin. When the skies shall break in pieces, the stars be dispersed, the mighty deep be confounded, and the tombs overturned, then the soul shall see the whole panorama of its life. Is it not strange to threaten lions with blows; tigers, hyaenas, and heroes with the vengeance of ragamuffins? Our horses are from Barka; our swords from Yemen; our prowess is known from the east to the west; our horsemen spring like lions, and our horses overtake all whom they pursue; our swords cut in pieces, and our blows are like thunder peals; our skin is our coat of mail; our chests are our cuirasses. Insults do not vex our hearts, nor will menaces frighten us. Obedience to God implies resistance to you. If we kill you our duty will be done. If we are killed paradise awaits us. You say, Our breasts are like rocks, we are numerous as the sand. Is the butcher then afraid of the sheep, because they are so numerous? Will not a small spark fire a big house of logs? We shall not shrink from death in order that we may survive in ignominy. If we live we shall be happy; if we die we shall be martyrs. Is it not thus that the soldiers of God triumph? You demand from us the obedience we owe to the chief of the faithful, the vicar of the prophet. We shall not obey you. We prefer to go and join him. You ask that we submit to you before the veil is torn, and that you await our coming. The words of this phrase are ill assorted. If the veil is to be destroyed, if our fate is to be accomplished, it will surely be when we adopt the worship of idols in the place of the true God. You have indeed advanced such strange arguments that it would not be strange if the skies should break asunder, the earth should open, and the mountains should fall down. Tell your scribe, he who wrote your letter, you have exceeded all decency, notwith­standing your circumcision; but we make as little account of your prose as of the sound of the rabab (i.e., a kind of Persian violin), or of the buzzing of a fly. You have repaid your benefactors with ingratitude, and you deserve your punishment. Truly we note their speech, and we will repay them with interest. You sport with us with your menacing phrases. You were ambitious of exhibiting your rhetoric. It is to you it may be said, you have followed one thing so closely you have forgotten the rest. You have written, The wicked shall one day be overtaken by their destiny. Such is your apostrophe. Here is our answer: The commandment of God shall be fulfilled; do not hasten it. The Prince Nassir Seif ud din ibn Yagmur, Alai ud din el Kaimeri, and the other chiefs and warriors of Syria, they do not refuse the challenge; they await impatiently the neighing of the horses and the charge of the warriors, for they have sworn to meet you. It is not necessary to jump into hell, for it is a bad resting-place; nor to strike a helmet-plume with a sword, they all bid me tell you. If your arms arc eager for the fight there is no need of verses, of writing letters, or of composing histories. We await you. God grant the victory to whom he will. We shall not scatter diamond words, but we say what comes to our lips, and we excuse him who stammers. Greeting.”

There could only be one issue to such a correspondence, and that one came speedily.

Khulagu set out from Tabriz; with him went Salih, the son of the Prince of Mosul, who had married the daughter of the Khuarezm Shah Jelal-ud-din. Kitubuka commanded the advance guard, Sinkur and Baiju the right wing, Sundjar the left wing, and Khulagu himself the centre. He set out on the 12th of September, 1259, and went by way of Alatagh, which lies between Ararat and Erzurum. He then marched to Akhlath, north of Lake Van, a town famous for its apples. The Kurds of the tribe of Hukkiari who garrisoned it were slaughtered. Entering Diarbekr he took Jezirat, while his son Yashmut laid siege to Mayafarkin. The Mongols had a long score to wipe off in the case of its prince. Notwithstanding that he had been invested by the Khakan Mangu himself with his principality, he had proved very treacherous; he was charged with having crucified a Syrian priest who bore a yarlig (passport) from the Imperial Chancellery; of having driven away from his country the Mongol commissaries or prefects; of having sent some troops to assist the Khalif. He had more lately been to Damascus to ask Nassir to fight the Mongols. Roha (the ancient Edessa), Harran, and Nisibin were successively occupied, and the inhabitants of Sarudj, who had sent Khulugu no envoys, were put to the sword. He wintered his army near Roha and there held a reception, which was attended by the kings of Armenia, the Seljuk sovereigns of Rum, &c. Meanwhile Nassir enlisted in his service the various bands of fugitives who now took refuge in Syria. He posted his army at Berze, a little north of Damascus. It was a turbulent and disjointed body of Arabs and Turks, and so little attached to him that a portion of it tried to murder him. He sent his wives and treasures for safety into Egypt, and was imitated in this by many of his soldiers. Under pretence of escorting them, many of them fled and did not return again, such was the terror inspired by the Mongols. The army of Nassir was practically disbanded. He applied to the Sultan of Egypt for succour. That country after many revolutions was now governed by Kuttuz, who had once been a slave, had risen to the rank of general, and then usurped the supreme authority: he agreed to assist Nassir in any way he would suggest.

Khulagu, who was master of Mesopotamia, continued his advance and inarched in the spring towards Aleppo. He crossed the Euphrates at four famous fords—Malatia (the ancient Melitene), Kalaatol Rum (the Roman Castle), Bire (the ancient Birtha), and Kirkesia (anciently Kirkesion). He captured certain forts on the river, namely, Menbedsh, Nedshm, Rakka, and Jaaber, and slaughtered their inhabitants. Having left garrisons there, he advanced towards Aleppo. A division of his army made a diversion; received the submission of Maaretnaaman, Hama, and Homs; the sultans of the two latter towns finding refuge in Egypt. As the Mongols drew near to Aleppo a good many fugitives escaped to Damascus, where a pestilence was raging. The garrison made a sortie and the Mongols adopted their ordinary ruse of a feigned retreat, which led the Mussulmans into an ambuscade, where many of them perished. Khulagu now arrived in person and summoned the command­ant to surrender, in a conciliatory but probably treacherous letter; the only reply he received was : “Between us there is only the sword.” The besiegers threw up works of contravallation, and in a single night surrounded the town with a rampart and ditch. Twenty catapults were placed in position, and after an attack of seven days the city was taken by assault and given up to pillage for five days; when the carnage ceased, the streets were cumbered with corpses. Those who had taken refuge in the Jews’ synagogue, in one of the Muhammedan convents, and in the houses of four grandees, who were probably traitors, escaped. It is said that 100,000 women and children were sold as slaves. The walls of Aleppo were razed, its mosques destroyed, and its gardens ravaged. The citadel held out for a month: in it were captured many distinguished prisoners and a vast booty. Several of the Mongol chiefs were wounded in the face, and Khulagu complimented them, saying, “A red gown is a woman’s pride : so is blood the warrior’s brightest ornament.”

Bar Hebraeus, whose history is so well known, was at this time the Jacobite patriarch of Aleppo, but he was absent at the time of the siege, having gone to pay his respects to Khulagu. After the fall of Aleppo, Hamath surrendered its keys and received a commissary from Khulagu. Nassir, who was still at Berzé when Aleppo fell, by the advice of his generals now retired towards Gaza to await assistance from the Egyptian Sultan. He ordered the chief men of Damascus to fly and take refuge in Egypt. They generally obeyed, and sold their possessions at a great sacrifice. Such was the scarcity of transport however, that Macrizi tells us a camel sold for 700 silver drachmas. The inhabitants of Damascus now sent a deputation to Khulagu with rich presents and carrying the keys of the city. He caused the Kadhi Mohayi ud din, the chief of this deputation, to be dressed in a state robe of golden tissue and named him Chief Justice of Syria. He returned to Damascus and read out a decree of Khulagu, promising their fives to the inhabitants. Khulagu sent two commanders, one a Mongol the other a Persian, to take charge of Damascus, with orders to spare the inhabitants and to obey the counsels of Zein-ul-Hafizzi, its governor. Shortly afterwards Kitubuka and a body of Mongols garrisoned the town, and after a short siege cap­tured the citadel, which had refused to submit, and killed its commanders. Kitubuka was a Kerait and a Christian, and we are told that he very much favoured the Christians, who began to be very independent in their manners towards their recent masters the Mussulmans. They publicly drank wine even in the great fast of Ramazan; they sprinkled with holy water the dress of the Muhammedans and the doors of the mosques; they made the followers of the prophet stoop to the cross in their proces­sions; they sang psalms in the streets, and proclaimed that their faith was the only true faith, and even destroyed mosques and minarets in the neighbourhood of their churches; all this under the patronage of the Mongol general. Khulagu named the Eyoubit Prince Ashraf, who had been deprived of his patrimony of Homs by Nassir, Lieutenant-general of Syria.

After the fall of the citadel of Aleppo, Khulagu summoned Harem, situated two days’ journey on the way to Antioch, to surrender, promising their lives to the inhabitants. They replied that they did not know his religion and how far he was bound by a promise, but that if he would send them a Muhammedan with authority to swear on the Koran to spare them, they would surrender. Khulagu thereupon sent them Fakhr ud din Saki, the late commander of the citadel of Aleppo, when they surren­dered; but piqued by their want of faith in his word he had them all destroyed, notwithstanding the promise; even the children at the breast were killed. We are told that only an Armenian artificer of some fame escaped.

Khulagu received at Aleppo the news of the death of the Khakan Mangu, his brother, and he set out on his march eastward, leaving Kitubuka in command of the Mongol forces in Syria; he named Fakhr ud din governor of Aleppo, and Baidera governor of Damascus.

Haithon, the Armenian king and chronicler, tells us that Khulagu’s departure took place just as he was meditating a campaign against the Saracens, who occupied Jerusalem, which he intended to restore to the Christians. In measuring the success of the Mongol arms under his banner we must not forget what several facts already mentioned, and many others which I have not named, make quite clear, namely, that the Mongols were assisted at every turn by the treachery of the Mussulmans. The bitter strife between Shia and Sunni often made the Mongol a welcome visitor when he came to destroy the hated rival, and caused as much disaster to the common cause as the internecine fight between the Jesuits and Dominicans in China did at a later day. These melancholy exhibitions repeat themselves in the histories of nearly all religions, but the moral of their tale is seldom so bitterly pointed as in the case we have described.

Khulagu, as is well known, received the investiture of his conquests and of the country south of the Oxus. He founded an empire there, known as that of the Ilkhans. Like the Khans of the Golden Horde, the suc­cessors of Batu, they for a long time acknowledged the suzerainty of the Khakan of the Mongols in the East, but their special history is not a part of our present subject. I have traced out Khulagu’s campaign in some detail, inasmuch as he was fighting as the general of the Khakan Mangu his brother, and enlarging his empire by the conquests he made in the West The internal history of his dominions, after he became their sove­reign, I may perhaps treat in a succeeding volume. Now we must return to the East, and continue the story of Mangu Khan.

I have already said that Kublai had been commissioned in 1252 to march into Yunnan, a country divided into several petty kingdoms which had not been subdued by the Sung emperors. Its primitive tribes still preserve a peculiar culture and idiosyncrasy in art which has been recently illustrated at South Kensington, and of which very interesting specimens were presented to the Christie Museum. These tribes are divided by the Chinese into the Pe man, (white barbarians), and U man, (black barbarians), the latter were called Kara djang, (black people), by the Mongols.

Khubilai assembled his main army in Shensi in 1253. With him went Uriangkadai, the son of the great general Subutai, as director of the military operations. They traversed Suchuan and its almost inaccessible mountains, and reached the river Kincha which waters the northern portion of Yunnan. This they crossed on rafts, and received the submission of the chiefs of the Mussu man and Pe man barbarians. They then marched against Tali, the capital of Nanchao. Having heard that a general of the Sung dynasty had once taken a town without killing a man or even disturbing its trade, Kublai was piqued to try and imitate him. He unfurled his silken banners before the town and forbade his soldiers to kill any one. Presently the town surrendered. The two commanders who had caused the Mongol heralds which summoned it to be killed, alone lost their lives. Kublai now left the army to rejoin his brother, the Khakan.

Uriangkadai continued the campaign. He fought several successful battles against the Eastern Thibetans, who are described by De Mailla as a warlike and powerful race. Having defeated and incorporated their troops in his army, he found them very useful in his struggles with the neighbouring tribes. In the end of 1254 he rejoined Mangu apparently at Kokonoor, and gave an account of his campaign. In 1256 he returned and subdued the Kue man and U man tribes. The Lolos and the King of Ava now submitted, and he proceeded to defeat the tribes of the kingdom of Alu, by whose conquest he won five large towns, four arsenals, eight departments, four provinces, and thirty-seven hordes.

Towards the end of 1257 the Mongols attacked the kingdom of Annam or Tungking (Tonquin), they advanced to the river Tha, which flows through it, and where the Tonquinese army was encamped with a great number of elephants. Having crossed the river on rafts the Mongols attacked their enemy, who fled. They then took Kiaochi, the capital of Tonquin, they there found their envoys, who had been grossly ill-treated and almost strangled with bamboo cords; in punishment for this conduct the town was given up to pillage. Having rested his army for nine days he returned northwards to the court of Mangu to escape the summer heats. The previous year a Kuriltai had been held, at which largess had been freely distributed, the festivities lasting for two months. The same year, 1256, the King of Corea went in person to Mangu’s court to do homage.

In 1257 Mangu began to be jealous of his brother Kublai, whose wise and generous measures had won the respect of the Chinese. He removed him from the governorship of Honan, which he gave to Alemdar, a Mongol in high office at Karakorum. Khubilai was naturally irritated, but his Chinese counsellor Yaochu told him the first subject of the empire ought to set an example of obedience. He advised him to return with his family to his brother’s court. The latter was deeply touched by the submission, and revoked the commission of Alemdar. At a Kuriltai summoned in 1257 at Kabur Kabukcher, in the centre of Mongolia, Mangu declared his intention of marching in person against the empire of the Sung, which had given great cause of offence to the Mongols. Some of their envoys having been kept in prison for many years and only released as a favour after their unsuccessful siege of Hochau, the Sung authorities wishing thus to show their anxiety for peace. Before setting out, Mangu visited the ancient ordu of Jingis Khan and made a sacrifice to the colours and kettle-drums, his old gauges of victory there collected. He also appointed one Kitat governor of Russia, and dismissed him with a present of 300 horses and 500 sheep.

He set out for China in 1257, leaving his brother Arikbuka in com­mand of Karakorum with Alemdar as his coadjutor. Having sacrificed to the sky and received the renewed homage of his brother Khubilai and his other dependants, who then returned to their several posts, he crossed the Yellow River on the ice, entered Shensi, and encamped near the mountain Liupan where Jingis died. There he gave audience to the various officials of that great province, and received news from Khulagu of his successes in the West. He thereupon invested him with the government of the country south of the Oxus.t Having passed the three summer months there, and also left behind his heavy baggage, he advanced with 40,000 men (which number was purposely exaggerated to 100,000) in three divisions upon Suchuan; he himself went towards San kuan, by way of Lu chau; his brother Muke Ogul towards Mi tsang kuan, by way of Sian chau; and Burtchak, the commander of the third division, towards Mian chan, by way of Yui koan. Two other armies made diversions in Kiang nan and Hu kuang. Kublai was at the head of the former and Thugatshar, son of Utsukan, of the latter. Uriangkadai was ordered to march from Tunking and join Kublai at Vu chang fu. The campaign commenced with a doubtful struggle in the neighbourhood of Ching tu fu, in Suchuan, in which both sides gained successes. Niuli, who commanded the Mongol advanced guard there, at length compelled his adversary to retire. He received the submission of several towns in the district of Ching tu fu, and was raised to the rank of a general for his conduct. He now rejoined his master, who was laying siege to Khu chu yai. After an attack of ten days one of its gates was opened and the Mongols entered by stealth; Yangli, the commander, was killed and his army fled. The treacherous officer who had opened the gate was rewarded with a State robe and the command of a small town in the district of Pao-ning-fu. The troops were rewarded with presents of wine and meat, and the general Vang-te-cheng with a belt of jade.

Mangu now captured the defile of Chang-ning-shan, and was soon after joined by the other divisions of his army, which had overrun considerable districts of Suchuan. They then proceeded to take many important towns of that province. The first day of the Mongol year (February 18th) 1259 was celebrated in the Imperial camp, pitched at the foot of the Chung-kue mountains, with a great fète, at which it was discussed whether they should brave the summer heats in these southern latitudes or return northward. It was determined to remain, and they proceeded to lay siege to Hochau, a great town situated at the confluence of the rivers Kialing and Féu. During March and April the town repulsed several assaults. In May there happened a terrible storm, during which it rained for twenty days. Outside the town the Sung troops also fought bravely, they destroyed the bridge built across the river Féu by the Mongols, and having collected a thousand boats at Chung-king-fu they advanced along the river Kia-ling; this flotilla was however attacked and dispersed by the Mongols. The siege lasted for two months longer, but it was unavailing. It had already cost the besiegers very dear, their army was suffering from dysentery, with which Mangu himself was attacked. He determined at length to raise the siege, and to merely blockade the town. A few days after be died of dysentery, aggravated probably by the Imperial vice of the Mongols, that of drunkenness.

This account of his death, which is that given in the Tong kien kang mu, is perhaps the correct one. The official history of the Yuen dynasty says he died at the mountain Tiao yui, one league to the east of Ho-chau, while Raschid tells us he died of dysentery. De Guignes and Gaubil both assert that during the siege of Ho-chau the Khakan ordered a general assault, and himself drew near to scale the walls, when there came on a great storm, which caused the ladders to fall. The Mongols lost a large number of men, and the Emperor’s body was afterwards found pierced with many wounds. The Syrian chronicler Abulfaragius says he was killed by an arrow; while the Armenian Haithon says that while besieging an island in the Chinese seas, divers made holes in the bottom of his ship, which sank, and with it the Khakan. The Khakan’s brother, Moku Ogul, determined to raise the siege, and to retire into Shensi with the corpse of Mangu. The other Mongol generals who were in Suchuan did the same. The Kang mu says the Imperial corpse was carried on two asses; while Marco Polo tells us that the inhuman custom of slaughtering the people met with on the way was carried out in his case, and that 20,000 thus perished. For four days funeral honours were paid to the corpse in the tents of Mangu’s four wives, where it was placed on a throne, where the attendants broke out into tears and groans. He was buried at Burkan Kaldun, near his father and grandfather. By his first wife, Kutuktai, he left two sons, Baltu and Orengias; and by two concubines two other sons, Shireki and Assutai. He is described as of a severe character, speaking little, and eschewing extravagance and display. The chase was his favourite amusement, and he often avowed that he pre­ferred the simple life of his ancestors to the luxury of southern sovereigns. He was very superstitious, and much under the influence of the Shamans and others at his court. With the usual Mongol toleration, he also patronised the other religions. Several anecdotes are told which illustrate the vicious influence and power of the Shamans. Rubruquis was told at Karakorum by a lady of Metz, named Paquette, who had been captured in Hungary and was in the service of one of Mangu’s wives, that one of these princesses having received a rich present of furs, these were purified by fire. According to custom the Shamans had retained a portion. One of the waiting women thought they had kept too much, and told her mistress, who was very wroth with them. Some time after the latter fell ill, and the Shamans revenged themselves by declaring she had been bewitched by the maid who had denounced their theft. She was seized and subjected to torture for seven days. Meanwhile the princess died. The accused maid then begged they would kill her too, saying she wished to follow her mistress, to whom she had done no harm; but the Khakan would not consent, and she was set at liberty. The Shamans then chose another victim. They accused the nurse of her child of having killed her. She was the wife of one of the principal Nestorian preachers. Put to the torture she confessed that she had used a charm to gain the good-will of her mistress, but that she had never done her any harm. She was nevertheless condemned to death and executed. Some time after, one of Mangu’s wives having given birth to a son, the Shamans who drew his horoscope predicted a long life for him, and that he would become a great and prosperous monarch. The prince having died in a few days, his mother summoned and severely reproached the Shamans. They excused themselves by laying the blame on the magical arts of the nurse who had been put to death. The princess was furious, and wished to wreak her vengeance on her children. She had left a son and daughter, and orders were given that the former should be killed by a man and the latter by a woman. Mangu was much annoyed by these executions ; he ordered his wife to be imprisoned for seven days, and then banished from the court for a month. He also ordered that the man should be executed who had killed the boy, and that his head should be suspended about the neck of the woman who had killed the girl. She was then beaten with hot firebrands and put to death. The Nestorians, as I have said, were little better than the Shamans in their superstitious practices. They attended with the Shamans at the great annual feast of the 9th of May, when white cattle were consecrated. They recited the offices in Syriac, which they did not understand. They are accused by Rubruquis of being corrupt, liars, usurers, practising simony, and great drunkards. Some of the sect were polygamists. Their patriarch lived at Baghdad, but they had a special bishop in China. As he only made his visitation very seldom, hardly more than once in fifty years, they profited by his arrival to have their young sons ordained, even in the cradle, so generally too, that nearly all the men were priests; and Rubruquis confesses that the Mongol bonzes were more respectable than they.

Mangu was a severe disciplinarian. In the campaign in Suchuan he forbade his troops to pillage, and having learnt that his son Assutai had in hunting overrun a field of grain, he severely reprimanded him, and had several of his companions beaten. A soldier was put to death for having taken an onion from a peasant. He, on the other hand, distributed largess freely among the soldiers.

In this account I have adopted the form of the name Mangu, which is well known in the West, but according to Schmidt it is the Turkish form. The native form, which is found in Ssanang Setzen and on Cufic coins, is Möngkè; in Arabic orthography, Mungka. The name in Turkish means eternal; in Mongol, silver.