On January 4, 1254, a French monk named William of Rubruck had his first audience with the Great Khan Mongke at the khan’s encampment in Mongolia. Rubruck later wrote to King Louis IX of France (also known as Saint Louis) that as he left the tent, the khan’s secretaries and interpreter asked him “numerous questions about the kingdom of France: whether it contained many sheep, cattle and horses – as if they were due to move in and take it all over forthwith.”
This year marks the 60th anniversary of modern diplomatic relations between France and Mongolia, but Rubruck’s account reminds us that their ties are in fact much older.
Today, the relationship between France and Mongolia encompasses many areas, from commerce to counterterrorism. Their cooperation is based on common principles and interests. But the situation was rather different 800 years ago. The French and the Mongols first encountered each other because both had expansionist ambitions: the French, with their Christian allies, sought to conquer Jerusalem and the surrounding lands through crusade, while Mongol conquests reached into the Middle East and central Europe.
French crusaders in Egypt were among the first Europeans to hear of the Mongols in 1221. They received garbled reports that claimed Chinggis Khan was a Christian lord named “King David” who was coming to assist the crusaders. From the outset, the Mongols awakened European hopes of Asian alliances.
When the Mongols invaded Europe in the late 1230s, few in Europe knew who they were or what they wanted. To answer these questions, the kings of France, popes, and other European leaders collected as much information about the Mongols as possible. The result was the “Mongol archive”: the collection of documents produced or housed in Europe that described or referred to the Mongols.
Forgetting past hopes of an alliance, Europeans feared that the Mongols were allies of the devil or Antichrist who heralded the apocalypse. It fell to the Catholic church, whose clergy included educated, multilingual, and experienced diplomats, to discover the truth about the Mongols.
The early reports by the monks John of Plano Carpini (an Italian), Simon of Saint-Quentin (a Frenchman), and Rubruck describe everything from Mongol law and religion to dress and battle tactics. These documents are among the most important sources we have on medieval Mongol society. After Europeans realized that the Mongols were not monsters but people with a very different culture, they tried to convert them to Christianity and make them allies against Islam.
One of the best documented attempts at conversion was that of King Louis IX. In 1249, he sent a tent in the form of a chapel, relics, and other devotional objects to the Great Khan Guyuk. However, Guyuk died before the embassy arrived. His widow, Oghul Qaimish, sent an imperious reply to Louis demanding more tribute. A chronicler tells us that the king greatly regretted sending the embassy.
Despite such misfires, French interest in the Mongols endured. In 1291, the last crusader stronghold in the Middle East was captured by Muslim forces. For the next 40 years, numerous treatises were written advocating an alliance with the Mongols against Islamic realms for the recovery of the Holy Land. Many of these treatises were written for or owned by the kings and nobility of France.
Moreover, in 1298, Marco Polo completed his book, “The Description of the World,” which was the first European text to provide an extensive description of the Far East. He wrote in a dialect of French because he wanted a large international audience. The French monarchy and nobility commissioned some of the most beautiful copies of Polo’s book.
In 1307, Hayton of Corycus, a member of the Armenian royal family who fought on the side of the Mongols in Persia and the Middle East, wrote a history of them in French while staying in Poitiers. His text became another major reference on the Mongols.
An illustration, based on a 15th century author’s imagining, of the Polos kneeling before Kublai Khan and presenting him a cross and a Bible. Image via the National Library of France.
French fascination with the Mongols continued in the 14th century despite significant crises. In 1335, the Mongol khanate in Persia collapsed; in the 1330s and 1340s the plague swept across Eurasia; and in 1368 the Mongol realm in China, known as the Yuan Empire, fell. Even though contact between France and the Mongols was interrupted for decades, the French continued to read John of Plano Carpini, Marco Polo, Hayton, and the account of Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian monk who had traveled across Asia in the 1320s.
In the 1350s, an enterprising writer who called himself Sir John Mandeville, and who claimed to be a globetrotting pilgrim and mercenary, wrote a fictional account of his travels in French. He drew heavily on Plano Carpini, Hayton, Odoric, and other sources on the Mongols for his description of a fabulously wealthy and incredibly powerful Mongol realm in the Far East. “The Book of Sir John Mandeville” became the most popular source on the Mongols in late medieval Europe and ensured that they were not forgotten.
The last official contact between France and the Mongol world in the Middle Ages occurred in 1403, when Archbishop John of Sultaniyeh visited Paris. John claimed to have come on behalf of Tamerlane, who had defeated the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid the year before. While it seems unlikely that Tamerlane endorsed the embassy, John’s visit is nonetheless significant because he composed a biography of Tamerlane in French.
John insisted that Tamerlane was a Mongol, not a Turk, and could therefore be an ally of France and Christendom. John thereby drew on the long tradition of hope for alliance with the Mongols. However, Tamerlane died in 1405, and for the next century the French – distracted by war and internal conflicts – were principally concerned with domestic and European affairs.
Although most of Europe lost contact with the Mongols in the 15th century, the European dream of renewing relations lived on for generations. Christopher Columbus was one of many explorers who sought the wealthy Mongol realms described by Marco Polo and who hoped to convert the Mongols to Christianity. In France, cartographers and navigators continued to read Polo and other Mongol texts well into the 16th century. The medieval Mongol archive had a profound influence on French maps and exploration, not least because it led the French to believe that settlement in Canada would provide a direct route to the mythical riches of the Far East.
The Mongols introduced medieval Europeans to an Asia unknown to their intellectual traditions. William of Rubruck wrote that when he first encountered the Mongols, he felt as if he were entering another world. As France and Mongolia celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations, it is important to recall their deeper history, which was marked by fear, suspicion, curiosity, admiration, and wonder.
The Franco-Mongolian relationship is a testament to the benefits of dialogue, learning, and openness among nations. It has enriched both societies for centuries. May it continue to do so.