Mongol Ilkhan Arghun is one of a …

Years: 1287 - 1287

Mongol Ilkhan Arghun is one of a long line of Genghis-Khanite rulers who endeavors to established a Franco-Mongol alliance with the Europeans, against their common enemies, the Egyptian Mamluks.

Arghun even promises that if Jerusalem were conquered, he would have himself baptized, but by the late thirteenth century, Western Europe is no longer as interested in the waning crusades, and Arghun's missions will ultimately prove fruitless.

In 1285, Arghun had sent an embassy and a letter to Pope Honorius IV, a Latin translation of which is preserved in the Vatican.

Arghun's letter mentioned the links that Arghun's family has to Christianity, and proposed a combined military conquest of Muslim lands.

Apparently left without an answer, Arghun sends another embassy to European rulers in 1287, headed by the Ongut Turk Nestorian monk from China Rabban Bar Sauma, with the objective of contracting a military alliance to fight the Muslims in the Middle East, and take the city of Jerusalem.

Related Events

Filter results