U368 Mongol Conquest
Week 11, Monday:  Old & New Trends in Religion under the Toluids

 

  1. Hüle’ü’s policy in zero-sum game of Middle-Eastern religious pluralism
    1. The rivalries: to support one side is to insult the other
      1. Kurds: anti-crusader emirates with Egyptian ties, also Caliph’s soldiers
      2. Georgia expanding (with Armenian lords); Lesser Armenia aids Crusaders
      3. unarmed: Syriac Christians–doctors, lawyers, astrologers; Jews
      4. 12-er Shi‘ites in S. Iraq; communal riots, Caliph’s vizier, Ibn Alqami
    2. Mongols get Christian, 12-er Shi‘ite allies
      1. Lesser Armenia early ally; Georgia (with Gr. Armenia) less willing but allies
      2. Ibn Alqami spared, Sh ‘ites at Ali’s tomb (an-Najaf) autonomous
    3. Policy toward orthodox Muslims
      1. Khorasan (Persian) Muslims dominate governors, financial officials
      2. 1258-62: Muslim emirs in Kurdistan, one by one rebel >> destroyed
        1. One Turkish emir, and Christians govern Kurdistan, Assyria
        2. Egypt becomes refuge for anti-Mongols, defenders of Islam
    4. Hüle’ü’s own leanings
      1. Wife Toghus (Doquz) Qatun has church, Syriac, Armenian priests
        1. Inherited from Tolui, respected, BUT no children by her
      2. Introduced Tibetan Buddhism (Phagmodrupa sub-order) to Iran
      3. Patronized Isma‘ili astrologer, scientist, theologian, Nasr-ud-Din Tusi
      4. Buried as a Mongol in qoruq with maidens, horses sacrificed
  2. The Toluids and (Tibetan) Buddhism
    1. Buddhists ideas of church-state relations
      1. General form:  Offering-site/Alms-master relation
        1. Ruler gives alms to clerics, clerics build merit for ruler
      2. Tangut/Hsi-Hsia form of this relation
        1. Emperor is incarnation of a bodhisattva
        2. Fierce form of Mahakala assista armies
        3. Special connection to Kagyudpa order
    2. Kashmiri Buddhists eclipse Chinese Buddhists
      1. Haiyun made darqan (1219), head of all Buddhist monks (1247)
      2. Kashmiri brothers Otochi ("physician") and Namo to Ögedei's court
      3. 1252/3:  Namo heads Buddhist monks; Otochi to help conquer Kashmir
    3. First contact of Mongols and Tibetans
      1. Köten initiates offereing-site/alms-master relation with Tietan clerics
        1. 1240:  Tangut Dorda Darqan to Tibet to invite Kagyudpa; they decline
        2. 1244-7:  Summons Sakyapa chief, Sakya Pandita, with nephews
      2. Toluids join patronage
        1. 1253:  Möngke sends expedition to Tibet; initiates tie to Kagyudpa
        2. Möngke, Hüle'ü, Qubilai, Ariq-Böke, Köten get Tibetan appanages
        3. Hüle'ü patronizes Kagyudpa sub-order (Phagmodrupa) in Iran
  3. Toluids and Confucianism
    1. Confucianism:  religion yes or no?
      1. Lacked "body/immortality" focus of medieval religion
      2. Ignored by Chinggis Qan, patronized by Ögedei, ignored by Güyüg, Möngke
    2. Qubilai revives Mongol interaction with Confucianism 
      1. 1240s:  discussions; contact via Buddhists (Haiyun, Liu Binzhong)
      2. 1250s:  head of N. China, experiments with Chinese staff and methods
      3. Built a town in Inner Mongolia, Kaipingfu/K'ai-p'ing-fu, 1256
    3. Relations with Sakyapa clerics
      1. Qubilai's wife Chabi inclines to Buddhism, 'Phags-pa
      2. 1253:  Qubilai summons 'Phags-pa Lama Lodroi (Sakya Pandita's nephew)
    4. Tensions with Möngke:  Qubilai's experiments had imperial connotations