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" Beyond Preaching: Papal Legate and Sino-Western Contact in Mongol-Yuan Eurasia, 1206–1368 "
Zhang, Zhan
Duan, Xiaolin
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1053470
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| Doc. No
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TL52587
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| Main Entry
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Zhang, Zhan
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| Title & Author
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Beyond Preaching: Papal Legate and Sino-Western Contact in Mongol-Yuan Eurasia, 1206–1368\ Zhang, ZhanDuan, Xiaolin
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| College
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North Carolina State University
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| Date
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2020
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| Degree
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M.A.
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| student score
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2020
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| Note
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125 p.
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| Abstract
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After the foundation of Genghis Khan in 1206, the Mongol Empire quickly took up a prominent role on the world stage from the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries. Through numerous conquests across Eurasia, the Mongols established a vast territorial domain connecting Asia and Europe. As a result, transnational political and cultural contacts of European society to Mongol Asia begun in the mid-thirteenth century, benefitted from the increasing mobility of people including soldiers, missionaries, and merchants. This thesis examines the visits of Catholic missionaries to the Mongol-Yuan dynasty (1206–1368) in the context of the conversation and negotiation between Western Europe and the Mongols. It explores various purposes that motived these envoys sent by the Pope or European King to the Mongol court in different periods, how they reached out to and observed the Mongols, and their role in Sino-Western communications. By analyzing correspondences between the Pope and Mongol Khan, as well as missionaries’ reports and travel notes, this thesis looks into how the intentions and strategies of these visitors changed before and after the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire in the 1260s. This thesis argues that the division of the Mongol Empire and the consequent establishment of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) was a significant turning point in the history of Mongol-European contact. Before the empire disintegrating into four khanates, Mongol army was considered as a potential military threat to Western Europe. The Pope therefore sent legates to request the Mongols’ conversion for the sake of peace and also to check out Mongol’s military plan. Through their travels, Franciscan friar John of Plano Carpini (1245) and other Catholic missions primarily aimed to gather information about the Mongol forces and convert Mongolians to Catholic Christianity. However, the Mongol Khan firmly claimed political and religious authority over Western Europe. Due to power struggles and religious misunderstandings, the European contact with the Mongols during this period received little achievements. After the Mongol Empire fractured into four khanates, the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in East Asia proved little threat to the Europe since the two sides had no direct boundaries and Yuan emperors’ ambition of conquering the European world faded. Under this background, European missionaries came to China in the first half of the fourteenth century were dedicated to preaching, and especially evangelizing Catholicism to several local cities in China. Often received with hospitality by the Yuan court, these missionaries also helped the papal court and the Yuan dynasty build diplomatic relationships.
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| Descriptor
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Asian history
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European history
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Religious history
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Duan, Xiaolin
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North Carolina State University
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