U368 Mongol Conquest
Week 15, Wednesday:  Themes in Mongol (and all medieval) history

 

  1. What is the empire?
    1. Charismatic gift of Heaven?
      1. Is the whole clan charismatic, or only one man?
      2. One sacred founder (to which all successors are inferior)
    2. Band of warrior aristocrats seeking plunder?
    3. Herd to be carefully shepherded by its owners?
    4. Dilemma of generosity and rapacity demands both B and C
  2. The dilemmas of the dynastic cycle
    1. Collective rule of the clan vs. personal power of one monarch
      1. Insurance against conquered vs. unity and limits on exploitation
    2. Rule by paiza vs. rule by bureaucracy
      1. Anarchy of paizas vs. emperor imprisoned by his bureaucracy
    3. Mongols:  khan's all-purpose employees?  professional soldiers?  or pensioners?
  3. The world conqueror and the world renouncer
    1. The "loathly bride"-the world is a hag who will outlive all her lovers
      1. Given what it tok to be successful, is hermits' disgust surprising?
    2. Does good luck mean you are right?  Or that God has a mysterious purpose?
  4. The legacy of the Mongol rule:  what one successor learned from their example
    1. The Ming "Great Founder" Zhu Yuanzhang admired the Yuan
      1. Inherited unified China, Yunnan, even Vietnam and Korea
      2. Followed the Yuan military; military caste of Chinese, decimal system
      3. Like Yuan, decided for policy-oriented Confucianism
    2. But reacted against the Mongol system in many ways
      1. Yuan system too free for soldiers, messengers, and campaigning emperors
        1. After first two reigns, military paralyzed by civilian suspicion
        2. Officials forbidden to go to countryside (on pain of death!)
        3. Extremely rigid system of official access to emperors
        4. After first two reigns, emperor totally sequestered
      2. Yuan system gave too much power to imperial family, quda clans
        1. All Ming imperial families virtually exiled, under guard
        2. Imperial consorts must be from commoner families
      3. Mongol rulers didn't proclaim & regulate orthodox culture
        1. Ming used only classical Chinese language used in office
        2. Ming established official Confucian canon and orthodoxy
        3. "Great Founder" brutally purged unorthodox/suspicious figures
      4. Mongols allowed merchants, money-lenders too much influence
        1. Ming's ideal:  an agrarian, non-monetary communal state
        2. Taxes mostly in kind, merchants banned from court-no ortaq!
    3. By 1600, Chinese scholars stifled, longing for feudal decentralization