European Encounters with the Mongols

Course Description

This Colloquium examines Europeans? encounters with the Mongols from the initial shock and
outrageous rumours after the Mongols? destructive attacks on central European cities in the 1240s
to the studied attempts--through ?fact-finding? and other diplomatic embassies--both to acquire
accurate knowledge of the Mongols? way of life and to forge alliances with some of them against
the Muslim powers of the middle east. Emphasis will be on the considered discussion of
contemporary reports, most notably those by the papal envoy John of 'Planus Carpinus' and by
William of Rubruck, sent by the French king Louis IX, in attempts to see how knowledge of the
Mongols and central Asia affected Europeans? views of themselves and their wider world.

By the end of this module, students will be able to:
- Find relevant material, both printed and online, relating to European encounters with the
Mongols
- Carry out a short independent research project about European encounters with the Mongols
- Avoid plagiarism through careful note-taking and citation
- Construct coherent and well-informed arguments, based on primary sources analysed as
evidence for past events, about European encounters with the Mongols
- Communicate historical information orally and in writing, in a well-organised and wellpresented
manner
- Critique widely held myths about thirteenth-century Europeans and Mongols with reference to
contemporary evidence and established facts

Core readings include:
?History of the Mongols? by John of 'Planus Carpinus' in C. Dawson, ed., The Mongol Mission:
Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth
and Fourteenth Centuries (1955)
Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Court of the Great Khan Möngke, 1253-
1255 , ed. & trs. P. Jackson (1990)
P. Jackson, The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410 (2005)