I. Средневековые западные миссии против татар

General nature of missionary work in the West in the Middle Ages At the time when the Tatars came into contact with Western Europe and became the subject of Western missionary work, the latter had already developed into a certain type and had a certain image, which fully reflected the main tendencies of the Western Church. The desire for dominance and global domination became a characteristic feature of the activities of Roman bishops already from the 7th and 8th centuries. Therefore, from that same time, Roman missionary work became an instrument for the spread of almost papal power. Already from the 7th century. non-Roman missionaries did not enjoy any respect in Rome; their labors were not given any importance here. From the Roman point of view, all these missionaries, who largely spread the Gospel in northern and central Europe, were sorely mistaken in preaching a universal Christianity, and not an exclusively Roman one. Rome considered this mistake so important that it called those converted by these Irish and Scottish missionaries nothing other than pagans and sent its missionaries, monks of the Benedictine order, to them with the authority to convert these pagans to the teachings of the Roman Church. Therefore, although the Roman missions of the 7th, 8th and subsequent centuries were called missions for the conversion of pagans to Christianity, it was not the pagans that were the subject of their concerns, but the struggle with the local clergy and the displacement of local customs; the pagans were in their last place; They were almost not involved in converting them at all 2 . Boniface, the famous apostle of the Germans, was a missionary of just this kind. He “tried in every possible way to bypass the countries inhabited by pagans and intensified his activities in those places where Christianity had already been planted and where it had become significantly stronger”... Regarding the conversion of the pagans, he said, “that he could do nothing in this regard without the help of the king of the Franks, that he himself could not prohibit idolatry” 3. Thus, Western medieval missionary work, striving almost exclusively only to spread the power of the pope and Roman customs, also considered brute force to be the best way to achieve its goals and thought of achieving them in no other way than with the help of military royal power. As a result, the medieval Western mission against both the pagans and the Mohammedans was expressed mainly in the form of military violence and almost completely lost its Christian character. The Latin missionaries did not at all disdain violent measures and the sword replaced the loving gospel word, and the gospel sermon gave way to the sermon about the pope. Religious war, undertaken with the aim of spreading Christianity and papal power, was a common occurrence in the West. To convert to Christianity at that time meant to conquer, latinize and even completely destroy the nationality of a pagan and therefore hostile people. The pagan and the heretic had no right to live: they had to either accept Latinism with all its rituals and submit to the pope, or die. The wars of Charles the Great with the Saxons had precisely this character: they were waged not only with the goal of pacifying and enslaving the restless pagans, but also of converting them to Christianity. Charles concluded peace treaties with his enemies only under the condition of accepting Christianity. When the Saxons were finally forced to submit to Charles, along with citizenship they had to accept Christianity and, under pain of death, perform all Christian duties and rituals 4 . True, contemporaries themselves could see the unreliability of this method of spreading and establishing Christianity, but this did not lead them to deny it, but only to the awareness of the need to strengthen violent propaganda with the propaganda of preaching and instruction. The famous Alcuin in one of his letters says about the Saxons that “their conversion, apparently, has not yet been worthy of grace, and therefore many of them remain mired together with the devil in the abominations of disgusting customs” 5 . Such ineffectiveness of the violent method of converting to Christianity should, apparently, have led Alcuin to the consciousness of its worthlessness, but in reality we see something different. This smartest man of his time not only does not blame Charles for his violent measures in converting the Saxons, but, on the contrary, does not know how to praise him. The poor results of these measures prompt him only to advise Charles to call for help, pastoral instruction, to which, apparently, he had not yet paid proper attention. “Now,” says Alcuin, “your wise and godly piety must take care of finding pious preachers for the new people, versed in the science of St. faith and imbued with the gospel rules: let them imitate St. in preaching the word of God. apostles" 6. Thus, according to the medieval method of Latin missionary work, pagans were first forced by force to agree to accept Christianity, and then instructed in the truths of the faith. The conviction of the falsity of paganism and the truth and superiority of Christianity had no place here. A pagan became a Christian without having any concept of Christianity and, having adopted a new name, remained the same pagan. The Latin Church thus forcibly captured and forcibly retained complete pagans in its bowels. The subsequent instruction certainly corrected the evil to some extent, but did not completely destroy it. – This violent method of religious propaganda, so brilliantly applied to the cause by Charles the Great, was even more brilliantly, although not nearly as successfully, put into action in the 12th and subsequent centuries to convert the Muhammadans. The Western anti-Muhammadan mission was expressed mainly in the form of military violence, in the form of religious crusading wars. These wars were of the same nature as the wars of Charles the Great against the Saxons and Avars. It is not without reason that before the start of the Crusades, many Western Christians saw the shadow of Charlemagne, urging them to fight the infidels 7 . That the crusaders had the goal not only of weakening the political power of the Mohammedans and conquering St. land, but also to convert them to the Christian faith - this is evident both from the history of the Crusades themselves, and from many contemporary circumstances that prove that for Western Christians of that time, to convert any people to Christianity meant to conquer them and latinize them and generally force them to accept Western customs. The very leaders of the crusaders pointed to this goal. So Louis IX, during the sixth crusade, having landed on the shores of Egypt, before the start of hostilities, sent a letter to the Egyptian Sultan Nedjen-eddin, which among other things said: “you have one way to avert the storm that threatens you: accept priests who will instruct you in the Christian religion, turn to it and honor the cross: otherwise I will pursue you everywhere, and God will decide which of us, you or I, will remain the ruler Egypt" 8 This letter, naturally, had no other result than an arrogant answer, and the war that followed ended for Louis and the crusaders in the most unfortunate way. But nevertheless, the French king continued even after that, until his death, to be zealous about the conversion of the infidels, undertaking new campaigns against them, and regarding Tunisia he thought that “if such a numerous and famous army (which he equipped) suddenly appears before Tunisia, then it is unlikely that its owner can another time present to his Saracens such a convenient pretext for baptism, which will save from death both himself and everyone who wishes to convert to Christianity" 9. This was the view of the purpose of the crusades of one of the most valiant leaders of the crusader army. Louis IX looked at them as a religious mission, as missionary campaigns in the form of converting the Muhammadans to Christianity. This look did not belong to him alone, however; it was shared at that time in the west by everyone, from the pope to the last villan, and this was the reason that whenever it was necessary to direct heretics to the true path, or convert pagans to Christianity, they immediately undertook a crusade. Medieval history provides many facts in support of this, and very large ones at that. So, when the Albigensian heresy appeared and when the admonitions of the papal legates remained fruitless, Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against them, the consequence of which was a long war, a terrible devastation of the most beautiful country, and most importantly - the extermination of heresy and the return of heretics to the bowels of the Catholic Church (1209 - 1228). A little after the extermination of the Albigensians, Pope Gregory IX in 1232, at the request of the Archbishop of Bremen, invited the bishops of Lübeck, Minden and Ratzeburg to preach a crusade against the Stedings, a small Frisian tribe living on the shores of the German sea and accused of heresy. This campaign took place and the heretics were almost all exterminated in 1234 10. Around the same time, the crusade of Western knights against the northern pagans began. At this time, they established themselves in northern Europe with the aim of constantly fighting the pagans and planting Christianity between them, the Order of the Swordsmen and the Teutonic. The Prussians, Lithuania, Zhmud and other pagans who lived in these countries were subjected to all the horrors of war for more than one century. Unable to defend his fatherly beliefs against the pressure of the well-organized force of the knights; whose ranks were constantly replenished with new newcomers, flocking from all sides to shed their blood in the sacred struggle, against the knights, on whose side were the strictest discipline, and military art, and religious animation, the pagans partly died in the uneven struggle, partly accepted Christianity and were subjected to the most cruel slavery. – With this method of conversion to Christianity, one could not expect much conversion other than a hypocritical one. The chronicler says about Mindaugas of Lithuania: “his baptism was flattering, because in secret he did not stop making sacrifices to his former gods, burning the dead,” and so on. There were many such flattering appeals, and they were, of course, not durable. The converts, even long after their conversion, remained the same pagans as they had been before. The lack of spiritual guidance, cruelty and greed of the knights supported this ugly order of things 11. All these facts show that the method of forced conversion in the Middle Ages, despite its incongruity with the spirit of the Gospel, was dominant and that the Crusades were its outward expression. We will see further that violence was the main characteristic feature of Latin missionary work not only in the 13th century, but in almost all subsequent centuries until recent times. But the method of brutal military violence could not always be applied to the conversion of pagans and Mohammedans, even in the Middle Ages, when popes could freely dispose for their own purposes the power of Western sovereigns and the weapons of Western Christians. From the history of the Crusades it is known that Christians, excited by the popes, often, despite all their efforts, could not successfully fight the Muhammadans and suffered terrible defeats. All the acquisitions they made in the east during the first hot onslaught were little by little lost, and all attempts to retain what was left and return what was lost were completely in vain and ended in the complete destruction of the domination of Western Christians in the east. Seeing the military superiority of the Muhammadans over the Christians, their power, courage and art, the popes often completely despaired of the success of their militant missionary work and were forced to resort to another method to convert the infidels, which they used in all those cases when the use of the first was obviously impossible or extremely inconvenient. This method, however, was essentially the same as the first, but differed from it in external appearance. In form it was exhorting and consisted in the fact that the popes sent their legates with letters of exhortation to the sovereigns of those peoples whom they wanted to convert to Christianity, but in the content of these messages and in the mode of action of the legates, the same power-hungry tendencies of the papal throne and the same efforts to forcefully force the adoption of Latinism, which appeared in the wars of the crusades, were visible, and thus, in essence, it was a method, so to speak, violent-diplomatic. The act of accepting Christianity here was considered not from the point of view of its internal necessity for obtaining eternal salvation, but from the point of view of purely external benefit and forced inevitability. This method was exclusively used by the popes in relation to the Tatars, who lived too far from Rome and were too strong to become victims of the religious-militant fervor of the papal throne and Western Christians. But this method was already sometimes used in relation to the Turks, at the beginning of the 13th century and even earlier, although, as one would expect, due to its inconsistency with the Spirit of the Gospel, it was always unsuccessful. Contrary to the Gospel, the popes in their messages, at every opportunity, tried to show off their power and high dignity. Unable or not considering it necessary to refute the errors of the Muhammadans and prove the truth of the Christian faith in relation to their beliefs, they talked about their primacy, about their rights to rule over all peoples, threatened with their anger for perseverance and promised their protection for obedience. These threats and this arrogance, of course, were met by the Muhammadans with contempt and ridicule, and the cause of the spread of Christianity suffered significant harm from this. So in 1248, Pope Innocent IV, who hoped for an alliance with the Tatars, sent several Franciscans to the Egyptian Sultan Melik-Salih with a letter and instructions to persuade him to accept the Christian faith. In the letter, the pope convinced the Sultan to become a Christian and asked him to let the monks through to the Tatars. Going to the Tatars through Egypt was not entirely on the way and was also unnecessary, because at the same time two other embassies were already sent to them, one under the command of Plano-Carpini, the other under the command of Ascelin. Obviously, with this last request, the pope wanted to hint to the Sultan about his relationship with the Tatars, who were at that time a threat to the states of Asia and Egypt, and thus give more weight to the admonitions of his letter and the voice of his ambassadors. But the Sultan’s response showed that this threat had no effect. In this answer regarding the passage of papal ambassadors to the Tatars, it was said on behalf of the Sultan that this was inconvenient and that he did not advise them to undertake such a journey, because the savagery and cruelty of the Tatars were so great that the Antichrist himself would have shed tears if he had seen at least part of the evils that they caused; that, however, the Sultan himself is not at all afraid of them and has already let them feel the heat of the fire they ignited; that in the same year the Tatars themselves sent envoys to him to ask for peace, but he did not even allow them to approach his doors and kiss the dust of his feet 12. It is obvious that the papal method of exhortation was far from sufficient: these exhortations should have been based on a multilateral study of the Muhammadan religion, and not on threats and political intrigues. They were supposed to act on the reason, on the moral and religious hearts of the Muhammadans, and not on their everyday and political prudence. It was difficult to intimidate the warlike Turks, but it was undoubtedly possible to influence their religious beliefs through gentle and intelligent exhortation. But the popes did not seem to suspect this possibility at all. True, they did not always convince with threats; sometimes they tried to act on ambition 13, sometimes they flattered with promises, but nevertheless the threat was the most important argument, it was hidden both behind promises and behind friendly and flattering well-wishes. Everywhere they had a desire to force recognition of their supremacy, and nowhere was there any reasonable attempt to convince them of the truth and superiority of Christianity. This was also violence, only in a milder form, which the Jesuits subsequently gave an even more impeccable appearance. If the method of brutal military-forcible conversion of infidels was put into action by the popes through crusading knights and ordinary armed soldiers, then they applied the method of diplomatic coercion through the mediation of monks, whose number at the beginning of the 13th century. increased by the founding of two new orders, Franciscan and Dominican. The monks of these orders, founded almost mainly for missionary purposes, became the main drivers of Latin missionary work, until in the 16th century. The Jesuits did not acquire the palm in this matter. True, even before the appearance of these orders, Western monks of the Benedictine Order did not neglect missionary work: the practical direction of Western humanity in general, Christianity and monasticism in particular was the reason that missionary work was always one of the most important and honorable monastic activities. But before and during the crusades, during the greatest darkness and barbarism, Western missionary work took on a character that could not be conducive to the development of the truly evangelical missionary method used by the apostles and ancient Christian preachers. The Franciscans and Dominicans were to some extent the restorers of the ancient method of missionary work, the method of preaching and oral discourse. Their appearance was a kind of protest against the crude violent method of conversion. But this was only the case at first, while the memory of their teachers was alive among them and until they fully entered into the papal plans and assimilated papal tendencies. Soon this method found the most zealous advocates in them: the Inquisition appeared with them and became in their hands a terrible weapon against everything contrary to Latin orthodoxy. Be that as it may, they, with the word of the Gospel and papal messages, penetrated wherever they were sent, and the duty of preaching to the pagans and Mohammedans was considered by them the most honorable duty. The founder of the Minorite Order, Francis of Assisi, was one of the most zealous missionaries and tried in every possible way to make his followers the same. From a very young age, leaving his parents' home, he devoted himself to an ascetic life in poverty and walked through cities, calling people to repentance. Word of the crusade and the hope of making significant conversions among the infidels attracted him to Egypt. Dissatisfied with the crusaders and motivated by the flame of faith, he set out to bring her triumph with his eloquence and the sole power of the gospel: he approached the enemy’s camp and surrendered himself into captivity to the Saracens. Brought to the Sultan, he began to boldly convince him to accept baptism and, as proof of the truth of the Christian faith, even offered to throw himself into a burning fire. The astonished Sultan treated him kindly and, instead of putting him to death, as the scientists advised, sent him back to the Christian camp 14. Returning to Europe, he founded the order of the Franciscans or Nitrites, who, imitating their teacher, put the work of missionary in the foreground. Soon martyrs and confessors appeared among them. So in 1220, 5 Franciscans suffered martyrdom in Morocco and Francis’ joy was immeasurable. The Dominicans, who initially had the main goal of establishing Christianity among Christian peoples through preaching, also extended their activities to the Mohammedan. Soon after the founding of his order, Dominic also sent his followers to missionaries to Africa, where they worked alongside the Franciscans 15 . The popes willingly supported the missionary zeal of these orders, gave them many privileges and, at every opportunity, used their services for their missionary and power-hungry purposes. They sent their messages to the Muhammadan and pagan sovereigns with monks, who, with their exhortations, were supposed to reinforce and strengthen the papal threats and convictions. In 1252, Innocent 1V formed something like a missionary corporation from the monks of these two orders, giving it the name “society of brothers of travelers for the sake of Jesus Christ.” This was the first missionary society, the first attempt to give missionary work a form of systematic and organized propaganda. The members of this corporation were elected from two orders, the Dominican and the Franciscan, and were always quite numerous so that the pope could always have at hand people ready to go with the papal message and preach the Gospel to all countries of the world. The main duty of these pilgrim missionaries, among whom were not only simple monks, but also bishops and archbishops who had enormous powers from the pope, was to travel through pagan and Mohammedan lands and preach the Latin faith. From the diplomas given to this society by different popes it is clear that its members were very zealously engaged in the fulfillment of papal orders 16. Thus there was no shortage of people willing to carry out Latin propaganda anywhere. From this side, the missionary means of the Western Church were powerful. But on the other hand, these people were capable and ready to conduct only Latin propaganda, and this was the weak side of Latin medieval missionary work. The belief in the special suitability of the violent method of converting pagans and Muhammadans to Christianity was so widespread and so indisputable at that time that almost no one cared about inventing and strengthening truly missionary and reliable means for successfully carrying out the work of converting infidels. Going to preach Christianity to the Muhammadans, Latin missionaries often did not have even the most necessary knowledge that could ensure the success of their preaching, nor knowledge of Muhammadanism itself, which they needed to refute, nor even the language that was supposed to make their preaching understandable to the Muhammadans. This lack of preparation of the missionaries of that time was evident even to the Muhammadans themselves. In 1247, the Sultan of Cairo wrote to Pope Innocent IV in response to the latter’s already known letter: “we wanted to confer with the brother preachers whom you sent, but they did not care at all about disputing your and our religion in the presence of our scientists. Obviously, the obstacle was their ignorance of the Arabic language and modesty of life according to the rules of the monastic order. They do not know how to debate except in Latin or French” 17. Thus lacking the means to make their preaching understandable and convenient for acceptance, the papal ambassadors were forced to completely abandon their main missionary duty. In fact, at that time in the West, despite the close relations of the Latins to the East, there were neither schools in which one could study the Eastern and especially Muhammadan languages, nor books from which one could glean information about the essence and current state of Muhammadanism. Apparently, the time of the Crusades should have been very favorable for the knowledge of oriental languages ​​to flourish in Europe. Frequent travel to holy places, the long stay of some even learned people in the East, the general interest in Eastern affairs, in Eastern education, in Eastern science - all this should have encouraged Western Christians to study Eastern languages. And indeed, we know that at that time there were experts in the Arabic language and others, and that these experts often applied their knowledge to business. But there were few such people and they rarely used their knowledge for missionary work. Of the people who knew oriental languages ​​and applied this knowledge to missionary work, the most famous are Raymond Martin, Raymond Lull, Ricold de Monte Croix and only that. However, these people also owed their knowledge not to school teaching, but to random favorable conditions. The majority of missionaries, not finding the means in Europe to study Eastern languages, had to go to the East without any knowledge and there, depending on their zeal and talents, either study languages ​​instead of preaching, or engage in only spiritual exercises. The best people of the century could not help but recognize the abnormality of this state of affairs and the resulting harm to missionary work. The need to introduce the study of Eastern languages ​​into school teaching for the preparation of missionaries became felt more and more every year, especially when with the founding of the Franciscan and Dominican orders and the Pilgrim Society, missionary work received some organization. Soon people appeared and began to try to make up for this deficiency. The first of these people was Raymond de Penafort, the third general of the Dominican Order. Having refused in 1239 from his position, he devoted his leisure time to the work of the Christian mission in various provinces of Spain, where there were still a lot of Saracens, and to the invention of various projects for its successful implementation. According to the story of the Latin historians, he - being convinced that in order to obtain all the expected benefits, it was necessary that those who proclaim the Gospel to the Jews and Moors should themselves be able to understand and speak their languages, read and experience the writings of their teachers - took advantage of the confidence that he enjoyed with the kings of Arragonia and Castile and persuaded these rulers to found two colleges for the monks of St. Dominica: one in Tunisia, the other in Mursi. Then Raymond found people skilled in the knowledge of oriental languages ​​and capable of teaching them, and also recruited students for them from among the monks. These monks, appointed by him to study oriental languages, took up them with great zeal and success and subsequently, with the help of their knowledge, acted very successfully, so that in 1256. Raymond wrote to Cardinal Humbert that he already had up to 10,000 Saracens who asked for the grace of baptism and many of whom were very remarkable in their knowledge 18 . Jean Teutonicus, the fourth general of the Dominicans, did not limit himself to all kinds of patronage to the institutions of Raymond Peñafort in Tunisia and Mursi: he established a special Arabic language course in Spain for the monks of his order. In 1250, the General Congress of the Dominicans in Toledo decided by a special decree to establish an Arabic language course on the island of Majorca, so that the Dominicans who lived there and were assigned to the mission could become familiar with the languages ​​of those peoples who were to be enlightened with the gospel. “From then on,” says Henrion, the preaching brothers, having regularly and consistently studied these languages, managed to expound the dogmas of Christianity to the Muhammadans without an interpreter and forced the infidels to quickly accept them 19 . This remark of the pious historian puts the matter in too favorable a light. In reality this was hardly the case. At the very least, the efforts of Raymond Lull and many popes to introduce the teaching of oriental languages ​​into the circle of university teaching, efforts that almost remained completely fruitless, show that even after Raymond Peñafort and Jean Teutonicus, the need to strengthen the study of oriental languages ​​was very strong, although many were not recognized. Raymond Lull made the most persistent efforts for this and could hardly achieve his goal, and then only partially. Born in Mallorca, in the days of his youth he was, in all likelihood, in the service of the court of the king of that island. After a wildly spent youth, a change suddenly occurred in him and a desire was born to preach the gospel to unbelievers and especially to the Muhammadans. For more than 30 years, he began to learn grammar and Arabic from an Arab slave he bought, and in 1275 he retired to the desert, where his missionary plans matured. Knowing with what insufficient preparation the missionaries of that time went to preach the gospel to the Muhammadans, Raymond decided to help this and try to provide the missionaries with convenient means of learning the Arabic language. Constantly animated by his plan, he soon with his insistence brought King James of Arragon, to whom Mallorca was then subordinate, to the point that the king established a monastery there for 30 Franciscans so that they would study Arabic here and thus prepare themselves for the task of converting Muhammadan. But this was too little for Raymond. He wanted such teaching of oriental languages ​​to be introduced in all monasteries. In order to carry out this plan, he went to Rome in 1287 and tried to convince Pope Honorius IV to accept his plan under his protection and, by the force of his power, to help its implementation. The pope, no doubt, would have reacted favorably to the projects of Raymond Lull, because he himself had previously worked, albeit unsuccessfully, to introduce the teaching of oriental languages ​​at the University of Paris, but at that time he was already dying and therefore Raymond went to Paris, Montpellier, Genoa with the goal of partly inducing influential people there to accept his projects. Subsequently, he visited Rome several more times, but his efforts remained fruitless until 1311. This year, Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne decreed that the teaching of oriental languages ​​should be introduced in France, England and Spain in the best universities of these countries: Paris, Oxford and Salamansa. The matter of studying Eastern languages ​​thus received a favorable outcome, but the views of the time on the methods of conducting missionary work, on the methods of converting infidels, which suppressed any attempt at true missionary work, hindered the development of this auxiliary missionary tool. And after this time, we constantly meet among the Latin missionaries people unfamiliar not only with the languages ​​of the peoples among whom they acted, but also with their religious views and moral state. Book resources for knowledge of the religious and moral state of the peoples who were the subject of Western missionary work of that time were as meager as school ones, and concern for their development was as insignificant as concern for the development and maintenance of the former. For polemics with pagans, missionaries could also use the writings of ancient Christian apologists and St. Fathers, since the mission against the pagans is the most ancient Christian mission, but for polemics with Muhammadanism, which appeared in the 7th century, Western missionaries until the half of the 12th century and even further had nothing at all. About half of the 12th century. (1141) The abbot of Cluny, the venerable Peter, was the first to take care of making up for this deficiency. Wanting to get acquainted with the religion of Muhammad in its very source and, if possible, prove its falsity, he sent people to Spain who knew Arabic and instructed them to translate the Koran. They carried out his instructions and made a translation, although incomplete and far from perfect. This translation, however, gave some idea of ​​​​the Mohammedan religion and enabled the Abbot of Cluny to write a refutation of Mohammedanism entitled: Adversus nefadam sectam saracenorum - an essay, the first of its kind in the West. This refutation, of course, could not achieve its goal among the Muhammadans, simply because it was written in Latin, completely alien to the Muhammadan nations, but it could be useful for missionaries, because it still provided some information about the content of the religion of Muhammad and made objections to it 20 (*). But this work of Peter of Ilyun was, in all likelihood, spread very little; at least subsequently, the urgent need for polemical writings against the Muhammadans was vividly felt and expressed, so that the work of Peter of Ilyun, even in the 13th century, apparently was not known. Turon says that Raymond Peñafort around 1239 “asked St. Thomas Aquinas, whose reputation in the church was already great, to compose a work that would contain a clear and methodical presentation of the truths of the Christian religion with their proofs and answers to the arguments of the infidels. The holy teacher immediately took up his pen and wrote his four books about the Catholic faith or against the pagans. Raymond de Peñafort accepted this first work as a gift from heaven 21. But this work could only teach the truths of the Christian faith; knowledge of Muhammadanism and arguments for refuting it could not be gleaned from this work, and therefore the missionary could use it with equal success as much as any other exposition of the Christian faith. Equally insignificant for the missionary work was the work of the Dominican Raymond Martini under the title: Pugio fidei adversus Mavros et Judeos, written in 1278 on behalf of the pope. In this work the author showed a close acquaintance with Arabic philosophy and language, but the image of his polemic against the Muhammadans was too weak to be of any use to the missionaries. In his work he argues more against philosophers, and not against the Mohammedan doctrine, and at the same time often uses the arguments of Arab philosophers and especially Alghazal. Much more remarkable in missionary terms are the works of another Dominican, Ricold de Monte-Croix, who in the second half of the 13th century was engaged in missionary work in Baghdad. Rikold arrived there completely unprepared. Having studied the language, he began to enter into competition with Muhammadan scholars and undertook a translation of the Boran “in order to acquaint those of the missionaries who did not understand Arabic with its absurdities.” But during the translation, he was so carried away by his zeal for faith that he did not finish this translation and, instead of simply translating the last part of the Koran, he wrote a refutation of the entire book and addressed it in the form of letters to the Christian churches, under the title: “Defense of the Catholic Faith against the wickedness of the Saracens and the lies of the Koran.” After 25 years of missionary work in the east, he was summoned by Pope Benedict XI (1308) to Europe to obtain information from him regarding the religious state of the peoples to whom he preached the Gospel. On behalf of the pope, he wrote his “Itinerary” in Latin, one of the most necessary works at that time. When writing his book, Ricold had in mind not only the order of the pope, but mainly the benefit of the missionaries. He hoped that “having previously been taught everything they needed to know, they would be more able to combat errors and fruitfully preach the truths of Christianity,” and therefore described in his book all the countries of the East, the laws, customs, opinions, dogmas, heresies and sects of the various peoples who lived there in the 13th century 22. All of these writings by Ricold, without a doubt, could have been much more useful for missionaries than the writings and works of his predecessors, but they appeared too late and, unfortunately, apparently did not have much distribution. This can be concluded from the fact that the Latin original of his refutation of the Koran was soon completely lost and it was necessary to make a new translation from the Greek translation 23 . The history of the activities of Ricold himself could not be more confirmed by the statement we made earlier about the insufficiency of funds for the proper preparation of missionaries in their activities: he goes to the east completely unfamiliar with either the language or the religion of those nations among whom he wanted to act. Arriving in the east, he had to initially engage not in preaching, but exclusively in studying language and religion and inventing arguments to refute it. – Nevertheless, it can be unmistakably said that since the second half of the 13th century, the means for studying Muhammadanism have improved significantly. The consequence of this was to improve the missionary activity between the pagans and the Muhammadans; it had to become more consistent with the spirit of Christianity and more successful. But the Latin view of the matter of spreading the Christian faith, as an external increase in Christian territory, as a matter of exterminating the Saracens, forcibly seizing their possessions and subjugating them to the pope - such a view paralyzed all the successes of the missionary work and the development of truly Christian methods of converting infidels. With such a perverted view of missionary work, which was dominant at that time in Western Europe, the missionary’s acquaintance with Muhammadanism, knowledge of Muhammadan languages, experience and skill in refuting Muhammadan errors could not help much. As a result of this view, Western missionaries appeared to the east not in the form of messengers of peace and salvation, but in the form of knights clad in iron, for whom killing a Muhammadan meant performing a deed pleasing to God; or in the form of diplomats-monks, ambassadors from an unknown Western power-hungry sovereign - the pope, with proud speeches with arrogant contempt for the people for whom, by their title of missionaries, they should have burned with the highest Christian love. – This was an attempt on the state and national independence of the eastern peoples, an attempt to either destroy them, or latinize them and merge them with Western nationalities. The sense of self-preservation, strong in every individual, as well as in the nation, the sense of national dignity, developing in the people with the success of their education, had to declare itself against Christianity, and not for it. Success could not be expected from this method of missionary work even under favorable circumstances, even among a people who were far from being as hostile to Christianity as the Turks and other Mohammedan peoples, even among such a people as the Tatars. Religious state of the Tatars in the 13th century According to the descriptions of contemporary eyewitnesses, the Tatars were mostly pagans and therefore could be converted to Christianity much more easily than the Muhammadans. Christianity and Muhammadanism were among them in such a position that they could fight on completely neutral ground and success could be on the side of the former. Plano Carpini describes the religious state of the Tatars as follows: “they believe in one God, whom they consider the creator of everything visible and invisible; They also believe that He is both the Creator of bliss in this world and the punisher, but they do not pay respect to Him, neither with prayers, nor praises, nor any ritual. Despite this, they have some idols made of felt in the likeness of a person, which they place on both sides of the doors of the headquarters, and under them they put something made of felt in the likeness of a tit, and they consider them the guardians of the herds, providing them with an abundance of milk and breeding the cattle. They make other idols from silk fabrics and give them great honor; others place them in front of the headquarters doors in a beautiful covered cart, and if anyone steals anything from this cart, he is killed without mercy. Voivodes, captains of thousands and centurions always have one idol in the middle of the headquarters. They sacrifice the first milk of cattle and pack animals to these idols, and before they begin to drink and eat, they sacrifice food and drink to them. When they kill some cattle, they bring its heart on a platter to the idol standing in the cart and leave it until the morning, and then take it, boil it and eat it. First of all, they make an idol for the emperor and reverently place it in a cart in front of his headquarters. Horses are also dedicated to him, which no one dares ride until their death. They also sacrifice other animals to him... They venerate the sun, the luminaries, and fire, and water, and the earth, they worship them and sacrifice the first fruits of food and drink, and especially in the morning, before they taste anything, since in their worship of God they do not observe any law. They do not force anyone to deviate from their faith or law." “They are extremely fond of divination, fortune-telling by flight and birdsong, witchcraft, sorcery. Receiving answers from the devils, they think that God is speaking to them and this god is called Itoga, and the comans are called Ham, that is, the emperor; It’s amazing how they fear and honor him and bring him many sacrifices and the first fruits of drink and food, but the answers received from him are carried out exactly” 24. Subsequent travelers fully confirm and significantly complement this rather vague news. Marco Polo, who was among the Mongols in the half of the 13th century, describes their idolatry in almost the same, but more specific terms. “The faith and law of the Tatars,” he says, “are as follows: they say that there is a great heavenly and supreme God, to whom they bring fragrant incense in vessels every day and prayers for the preservation of mental and physical health. They also honor another god, named Natigaya, whose image, covered with felt or cloth, is preserved in all houses. They also give this idol a wife and children: they place the first to his left, and the latter in front of him in a respectful position. They consider him the deity in charge of earthly affairs, the patron of their children and the guardian of their cattle and grain; They show him every respect, and at dinner they never forget to smear a fat piece of meat on the idol’s mouth, as well as on his wife and children. Then they pour a little of the broth in which dinner was prepared outside the door as a sacrifice to other spirits” 25 . Abul-Faraj, a Syrian writer of the 13th century, says: “At first the Mongols had neither their own religion nor their own alphabet, but they knew one God, the Creator of all things, and others called heaven their God. When Genghis Khan noticed that the Chinese had their own priests and idols, he sent plenipotentiaries to China to invite some of the priests. These latter, in his presence, had an open dispute about religion with the kaps (priests) of the Mongols and defeated them, since they were less learned. From then on, Chinese idolatry took root among the Mongols and, by order of the khan, many idols were built 26. From the above evidence it is clear that the paganism of the Mongols was also crude shamanism, which still constitutes the dominant religion among the Mongol tribes. – It was crude polytheism, surrounded by the ceremonies of Buddhism, which penetrated to the Mongols from China, however, no later than since the time of Genghis Khan. According to the research of scientists, before Genghis Khan, “the Mongols did not have any actual worship; completely devoted to superstition, they cooked for their sorcerers, shamans, which is why ancient Siberian and Tatar paganism is called shamanism” 27. Genghis Khan furnished this crude, formless religious cult with idolatrous rites and ceremonies borrowed from China and thus made idolatry, as it were, the dominant religion. But having thus legitimized idolatry and made it the official religion of his court, he did not forbid his subjects to profess other religions, but, on the contrary, declared complete religious tolerance, and even respect for all religions, as his “isa”. This religious tolerance of the Mongols, which clearly emerged from the contents of Genghis Khan's yasa, and their worldwide conquests paved the way and gave full scope to the strong influence on their crude and uncomplicated cult and religious state from other religions. The Muhammadans did not fail to take advantage of the tolerance of the Mongol sovereigns, their overlords, and engaged in the most active propaganda, which, due to various favorable circumstances, had the most brilliant success, especially among the Turkic tribes, whose Asia Minor tribesmen had long been Muhammadans. Plano Carpini, having said about the tolerance of the Tatars that they “do not look at human customs, as long as they obey them in everything,” adds: “therefore, the Saracens in their army daily perform five-time prayers in front of everyone according to the Mohammedan law, as well as in all the cities in which these Saracens live, and which were conquered by the Tatars. These Saracens, in their army and in all their cities, bow and attract people to their wicked faith, and seduce them into following their error” 28. During his travels, Marco Polo met Muhammadans in large numbers in almost all cities subject to the Mongols 29 . In the very capital of the great khans and at their court, Muhammadanism already had a fairly significant party and soon became so strong that in most of the Mongol states it gained a decisive advantage over all other religions and even over Christianity, which penetrated the pagan Mongols almost before all other foreign religions and undoubtedly prevented Muhammadanism. The first preachers of Christianity among the Mongols were the Nestorians, whose missionary activity in the east until the 14th century. was extremely extensive. Around 1000, the Keraits, a large Mongol-Tatar tribe living on the borders of China, converted to Nestorianism 30 . The kings of this tribe, assistants to the Chinese emperors and called Wang Khans in China, from the 12th century. were known in Europe under the name of Presbyters John and were famous as powerful sovereigns of a distant Christian people, combining in their person priestly dignity with royal dignity. The legend about these presbyters John has been repeatedly subjected to the most serious doubts; some called it a monstrous fable 31. The main improbability of this legend lies in the name of the Keraite kings as priests John (Prest Joan), a name indicating an incredible combination of priestly and royal dignity in the person of these kings and contradicting other historical news, according to which some of these priests John are called by other names. To explain this name, many hypotheses have been invented, most of which contradict one another, and the most probable of which is that the name priest John is an incorrect translation of the Syriac name: khian - yuhanan, which means both “king John” and “priest John” 32. But if one can with sufficient reason suspect the authenticity of the names and priestly dignity of the Van Khans, then their very existence is difficult to reject, because the news about them is completely reliable, although confusing and uncertain. The first news about these presbyters John was brought to Europe by two Armenian monks who arrived in Rome to Pope Eugene III in 1145. These monks, one of whom was the bishop of Kabul, told the pope that “a few years ago, John the king and priest, who accepted Christianity with all his people, defeated the king of Persia and India and took his main city Ecbatana; that after this victory, John decided to give help to Christians in Syria and Palestine, who were cruelly oppressed by the Saracens, and for this purpose settled down on the Tigris River, but, having encountered obstacles here that did not allow him to go further, he returned back to his fatherland 33. As if to confirm this news, 25 years later letters from one of the presbyters John to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Komnenos, to Emperor Frederick, to King Louis VII of France and Pope Alexander III were distributed in Europe. In a letter to Manuel, this presbyter John describes his power and greatness in pompous Eastern expressions and also expresses his intention to liberate the Holy Sepulcher and to help Western Christians in this matter 34. Currently, the authenticity of this letter, as well as others, is strongly doubted, 35 but in the Middle Ages everyone believed that in the distant east there really was such a powerful king-priest, whom the Nestorian church converted to Christianity and who was just as hostile to the Muhammadans and just as ardently desired the release of St. tomb, just like Western Christians. This news inspired the popes with the first idea to seek help and alliance against the Muhammadans in the distant east, in order to attack them from all sides at once and ultimately destroy this wicked tribe. The popes tried to implement this idea at the first opportunity. Around 1177, the physician Philip, who had personally met Prester John and his kingdom in the east, arrived from the east and introduced himself to Pope Alexander III. Returning to the west, the traveler fully confirmed the legends circulating there about Prester John and told the pope wonderful things about this Christian state, as well as about the readiness of its powerful ruler to enter into an alliance with the Roman Church. The Pope, who was in Venice at the time in rather difficult circumstances, took the matter very seriously. He ordained Philip as a bishop, gave the hedgehog extensive powers and sent him back to the east to the presbyter John with a letter of recommendation and exhortation, as an apostolic missionary, in 1177. In his letter, the pope exhorted the king presbyter to abandon Nestorian errors and submit to the apostolic see 36. The results of this embassy are, however, unknown. But whatever they may be, the reality of the existence of that presbyter - John, to whom the pope sent the letter is not in doubt. Chinese, Mongolian and Syrian (Abu-l-Faraj) historians call him Togrul and describe in some detail his wars with Genghis Khan, who finally crushed his rule and created his huge Mongol empire on the ruins of his kingdom. True, in these eastern descriptions one cannot find a solid basis for considering this khan such a powerful sovereign as he was considered in the west, and a good Christian, and even less a priest; in his dignity, Wang Khan Togrul was nothing more than the border governor of the military forces of China; by nature he was very warlike and cunning, for he killed his cousins ​​and brothers and turned out to be an ungrateful oathbreaker against the son of his benefactor, Genghis Khan. But at the same time, it is known that he tolerated Christians, allowed them to have bishops, and even ruled over many Christian tribes 37 . With the extermination of the Wang Khan family and the enslavement of the Keraits by Genghis Khan, Nestorian Christianity did not disappear among the Mongols (as Blumgard thinks) 38 . The Keraits, having submitted to the Great Khan, remained Nestorians and, in all likelihood, were until the beginning of the 14th century. under the direct authority of their Christian kings from the descendants of Van Khan Toghrul. At least, it is known from history 39 that back in 1299 there was a weak branch of this fabulous family - George, the king of the Kerites, a Nestorian, converted to Catholicism by the Latin missionary John of Monte Corvino. Although Genghis Khan, who at the beginning of his reign loved Christians, but soon lost interest in them, leaned towards Lamaism, and for political reasons supported other religions hostile to Christianity, nevertheless, Nestorianism at the court of the great khans occupied an honorable place for a long time, until it was destroyed by the hostile machinations of the Latins, who were in turn destroyed by the Muhammadans. After the victory over the king of the Keraits, Genghis Khan, according to the custom of the local Tatar princes, married his daughter Yasun-soen-begi, who, like her ancestors, was a Nestorian and patronized her co-religionists. Of particular importance to her and at court was the monk Rabbanta, her godfather, remarkable for his intelligence and cunning and who was considered even among the Tatars to be a soothsayer and a saint. After the death of his empress, he lived in Tauris, engaged in trade, and there he met papal missionaries 40. About the eldest son of Genghis Khan, Jaghatai Marco Polo says that in the capital of the Western Mongolian kingdom, Samarkand, he “converted to the Christian faith to the great joy of the Christian inhabitants of the city, who, by the grace and patronage of the sovereign, built a church and dedicated it to John the Baptist” 41. Although this news is not confirmed by other writers, it does not contain anything incredible. Jaghatai's brother, Great Khan Oktay, although not a Christian himself, nevertheless had a rather favorable attitude towards Christianity. Christians could enjoy peace and security during his reign. It is reliably known that he had a patronizing attitude towards Armenian Christians. When the Christian-Armenian mountain prince Avag and his sister Tanita arrived at his court in 1240, he received them graciously, returned their possessions to them and softened the fate of the Caucasian Christians, who had suffered a lot from the ferocity of the Mongols 42 . At the court of Oktay lived the Syrian doctor Simeon, an extremely intelligent and learned man who preached the gospel in eastern Asia; for his merits he was so respected at court that Oktay called him Ata (father). Others called him Rabban (Syrian: teacher). He pleaded for the oppressed Christians of Georgia, was listened to graciously and in 1241 was sent to the west by the Mongol emperor. Since then, the oppression of Christians in the Caucasian countries has ceased. Christians were allowed to worship freely, and many Mongols converted and were baptized 43 . In general, Nestorianism during the reign of Oktai was in a flourishing state and had numerous confessors among the Mongols. This can be seen from the testimony of a contemporary, the Dominican Philip, who, during his stay in the east, in St. earth entered into short relations with the Nestorians and their patriarch. In 1237, he wrote to Pope Gregory IX that the spiritual power of the Nestorian patriarch extended to “the Chaldeans, Persians, Medes and Armenians, whose lands were mostly devastated by the Tatars; that 70 provinces obey him, in which countless Christians live, however, servants and tributaries of the Saracens, with the exception of monks who are free from tribute” 44. In general, thanks to the religious tolerance of the Mongols, Nestorianism between them was not destroyed and did not even lose its significance even after the fall of the Kerait kingdom. After this event, the number of his confessors not only did not decrease in Tatarstan, but perhaps, thanks to the extensive conquests of Genghis Khan, even increased. Thus, in the middle of the 13th century, the most lively exchange of religious ideas took place in the vast Mongol kingdom. Under the protection of religious indeference and tolerance of the Mongol sovereigns, a wide variety of religious influences fought here; Lamaism, Muhammadanism and Christianity existed here next to primitive shamanism, enjoyed equal honor and patronage and carried out active propaganda. The Mongols' dissatisfaction with their old religion and their readiness to accept a new and better one were so great that they promised the most complete success to any skillful propaganda of other faiths. Christianity, as the best religion and most consistent with all the high aspirations of the human soul, could successfully take advantage of this state of affairs to completely establish itself among the people who thirsted for salvation. It was not completely unknown to the Mongols; on the contrary, in the form of Nestorianism, it enjoyed here, if not exclusive, then at least equal patronage from their rulers, and this could serve as a reliable point of inculcation for the new Christian mission. Only art was needed, purely Christian means were needed without any admixture of power-hungry plans, love and tolerance were needed - and then Christianity could have triumphed. But the Roman missionaries brought to the Mongols the same lust for power, the same intrigues and pretentiousness of the papal throne, with which this throne gradually shook the foundations of European Christianity and which were the main reason for the failure of its missionary attempts among the Muhammadans. Activities of Western missionaries in the Genghis Khan monarchy before its division The toleration of the Mongols and their goodwill towards Christianity were well known to the popes. We saw that they not only knew about the Mongol king-presbyter John, but also entered into relations with him. It is very likely that news often reached the popes about the favor of subsequent Mongol rulers towards Christians, about Oktai’s attitude towards Caucasian Christians and the position of the Nestorians at his court. The Armenians, Nestorians and Georgians, who at that time came into close relations with the Franks and sympathized with their crusading enterprises, no doubt conveyed many such news to the West. Therefore, despite the fact that the Mongols stood on the borders of the West and had already shown it the experience of their cruelty, despite the fact that they, apparently, were even more dangerous and ferocious enemies than the Muhammadans, the popes looked at them as faithful, albeit barbaric allies and considered it possible, if not completely subjugate them to the apostolic throne, then at least make them faithful instruments in their struggle with Muhammadans. At the Council of Lyon in 1245, convened against Emperor Frederick II, at the very time when the Mongols most threatened the independence and tranquility of Europe, Pope Gregory IX declared a crusade against the Muhammadans; nothing, at least offensive, was undertaken against the Mongols at this council. The council ordered only to dig ditches on the borders, fortify the cities, and determined to send missionaries to the Mongol Khan with instructions to enter into peaceful relations with him and try to convert him to the Christian faith 45 . As a result of this decree, in 1246 two embassies were sent to Tartary, one under the command of the Franciscan Plano-Carpini, the other under the command of the Dominican Ascelin. Sending Plano-Carpini to the Tatars, Pope Innocent IV provided him, as usual, with a letter to the khan, in which he treated the great Mongol ruler as an equal sovereign demanding satisfaction. Expressing surprise that the Mongols, attacking many lands, both Christian and other, would plunder them with terrible devastation, contrary to the natural law, according to which “not only people, but also irrational animals, and even the elements, as if by some natural instrument, are united in the unity of the union,” the pope writes: “following the example of the peace-loving sovereign, wanting to unite everyone with the unity of the world in the fear of God, we convince you all, we ask and we exhort you to completely cease these attacks, and especially the persecution of Christians, and endeavor to appease the wrath worthy of repentance, which you have undoubtedly grievously incurred by so many and great insults to the majesty of God. “We are sending to you our beloved son, brother John with his colleague - men glorious in piety, honesty and knowledgeable in the Holy Scriptures, whom, for the fear of God, receive as if we ourselves favorably and with honor, believing them in everything that will be told to you from our side, and entering into useful negotiations with them about all of the above, and especially about what concerns the world, which prompted you to extermination of peoples and what else you are planning to do, reveal all this to us through these brothers in detail, providing them on the way there and back with a reliable guide and everything they need, so that they return safely to us. Thanks to these negotiations and letters, the question of changing religion for the Mongols became identified with the question of their subordination to some unknown, alien sovereign. Such submission was unthinkable for the proud conquerors, intoxicated by their successes, especially since the papal envoys, imbued with the desire to maintain the dignity of their sovereign, but having neither the proper skill nor the proper means for this, often unwittingly put themselves in a humiliating and even ridiculous position before the Mongols and in the same position they put their sovereign, the pope, and the religion of which they wanted to be the heralds. John de Plano Carpini and his companion Benedict (who went to Tatars in January 1246), at the first meeting with the Tatars, when asked by the latter: what kind of people they are, why they came to them and on what business, they gave an arrogant answer: “we are ambassadors of our sovereign - the pope, who is the father and sovereign of Christians, and who sent us to their (Tatar) king and princes and to all the Tatars, desiring that all Christians would be friends of the Tatars and live peacefully with them, so that they themselves would be exalted before God in heaven, and therefore convinces them (the Tatars), both through the Father and with their diploma, to become Christians and accept the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, for otherwise they cannot be saved,” and so on. 47. But when, having learned about the purpose of the foreigners’ arrival, the Tatars escorted them to Korrenza, the commander of the army guarding the western borders, and when at the door of the Korrenza tent they were ordered to kneel three times, without however touching the threshold, they fulfilled this requirement. Entering the tent, they, kneeling, stated the purpose of their embassy and presented the papal letter; but the interpreter they hired in Kyiv could not translate it, and there was no one else more capable. Here they were given horses and three Tatars, who took them to Batu. At Batu, the ambassadors of the proud high priest were to be subjected to even greater humiliation. They were forced, for the sake of Tatar superstitions, to walk between two fires and then were allowed to see the khan with the same humiliating rituals as Korenza. “After presenting and accepting gifts, and after listening to the reasons for our arrival,” says Plano-Carpini, “they led us into the prince’s headquarters, forcing us to bow in advance and listen, as before, to the warning not to step on the threshold. Having entered the headquarters, we spoke our speech, standing on our knees, and then presented a letter” 48, which was translated by interpreters into Russian, Saracen (Arabic) and Tatar languages. After this, the ambassadors were again taken to their headquarters; but they were not given any food, except for a small amount of millet on a platter, and even then on the first night of their arrival. Plano-Carpini does not convey the details of his negotiations with Batu, but in all likelihood they were completely unsuccessful. According to other news, Batu responded to the ambassador’s admonitions to accept the Christian faith: “It is useless for a brave people who love bloody battles to accept the Christian faith; it prohibits them (wars), and therefore those who profess it are weak in battles” 49. A few days later, the ambassadors received orders from Batu to go to the Great Khan Gayuk and present their case to him. Gayuk at that time was not yet a real great khan and was under the tutelage of his mother, the famous Turkeina, who, in anticipation of the election and installation of her son as great khan, ruled the kingdom and was surrounded by a brilliant court. The papal ambassadors arrived just in time for the celebration of this election and installation, on July 22, 1246, and stayed at the Great Khan's headquarters for about three months (from July 22 to November 18). The inaccessibility of the Great Khan, the servility of his subjects, the large number of Tatars and the princes they conquered - all this made a noticeable impression on the ambassadors. PlanoCarpini recalls with visible pleasure that, together with the Russian prince, the Tatars provided them with some advantages and always gave the post office first place. From the tone of Plano-Carpini’s memoirs, it is clear that he was not burdened by humiliating rituals when presented to the Great Khan and his commanders: fear and involuntary respect for the external power of the Mongols gripped him so much that he forgot that he had come to demand in the name of the pope, the ruler of the universe, an account from the Tatars for their actions regarding the papal subjects. As for negotiations and missionary work, it is self-evident that, given the then state of the Mongol Empire and the then disposition of the great khans, they could not be successful, although the prominent position of Christians at court should have apparently favored their good outcome. The emperor's mother was a Christian, she repeatedly called Catholic monks to her and, without a doubt, entered into conversations with them. Kodak, the first minister of the khan, “ruler of the entire empire,” was also a Christian and all negotiations with the Mongol ruler were conducted through him 50 . The khan himself, according to court Christians, was inclined towards Christianity. “The Christians who belonged to his house,” says Plano-Carpini, “strongly assured us that he intended to become a Christian. They were convinced of this by the fact that he had Christian clergy with him and gave them maintenance; also, in front of his large tent there was always a Christian chapel, in which they openly sing and ring the clock, like other Christians of the Greek Church, no matter how many Tatars or other people there were.”51 But despite such influence of Christians at court, the papal ambassadors achieved nothing and brought with them to the West the advice to prepare for arms. The Christians who prospered at the Khan's court, due to their religious characteristics, could not sympathize with the papal claims and therefore the ambassadors of the Roman high priest could expect from these Christians, who did not need foreign help for their safety and freedom, not help, but opposition. It is very likely that the Nestorians, who dominated the court, themselves sympathized with the aggressive plans of their overlords in the hope of spreading their influence. Having found no sympathy for the political and religious plans and desires of the pope among the court Christians, the ambassadors of the Roman pontiff could still less hope to attract the khan himself. The ambassadors undoubtedly made every effort to convert the Nestorians to Latinism and win them over to their side, but Plano-Carpini’s silence about his conversations with them shows that these efforts did not recommend his missionary abilities and were completely useless. Regarding the emperor, the missionaries could not make any effort, because he was completely inaccessible to them. “This emperor has such a habit,” says Plano-Carpini, “that he himself never speaks to any foreigner, no matter how noble he may be, but listens and answers through an intermediary person” 52 . And indeed, although the ambassadors saw Gayuk several times, it is not clear from Plano-Carpini’s work that they spoke to him about anything. When, after a long stay at the khan’s headquarters, where they “suffered such hunger and thirst for a whole month that they could barely live,” 53 it finally came to negotiations with the khan himself, these negotiations, at the behest of the khan, were conducted almost exclusively through his secretaries and ministers: Kodak, Chingai and Balu. The Khan ordered the ambassadors to put their case and their speeches on paper and hand them over to Chingay. After some time, the khan’s secretaries handed them a response letter, having previously explained its contents to them, saying: “Look, do you understand everything well; for it is indecent if you do not understand well” 54 . That was the end of all the negotiations. On November 13, the papal ambassadors received leave and a letter with the imperial seal, and from the emperor’s mother they received a fox fur coat with the hair up and a piece of purple, and after that they set off on their way back 55. Plano-Carpini, not without reason, explains such coldness and indifference of the Great Khan towards the papal ambassadors who proposed an alliance and asked for peace with his hostile intentions towards the West, 56 intentions that he allegedly wanted to hide from the ambassadors. The latter, however, is hardly fair, because the Tatar khans never hid their hostile intentions, but directly demanded land and water and unconditional obedience under the threat of extermination. During the stay of the ambassadors at the Khan's headquarters, at the triumph of the election of the Great Khan, everyone already knew that the Great Khan wanted to “raise a banner against the Church of God, the Roman Empire and all the Christian kingdoms and Western peoples, if they do not do what he wrote about to St. father and sovereigns and all Christian peoples, that is, so that they submit to him” 57. Taking into account the hostile intentions of the emperor, the papal ambassadors cleverly rejected his offer to send envoys to the pope. They were afraid that the Tatar ambassadors would not see discord and wars between the Western sovereigns, and that this would prompt the khan to quickly carry out his intentions, so that these ambassadors would not become spies and would not be in danger from irritated Europeans, and thus would not cause revenge on the part of the khan 58 . On the way back, the ambassadors again stopped by Batu and asked him: “What answer will he give to the Holy Father? but he said that he did not order anything with them, except that they more faithfully give back what the emperor wrote 59. What was contained in this letter is not known for certain, because this letter has not survived to us; but everything must be assumed that the Great Khan openly expressed his intentions in him and demanded obedience. There is news that when the papal ambassadors asked whether he was a Christian and why he exterminated peoples without any argument on their part, the khan answered: “that he has God’s command to send his people to exterminate the worst peoples. As for whether he is a Christian, God knows this, and if Mr. Pope wants to know, then let him come, see and find out 60. - In general, the intentions of the Tatars were so clear that their hostile nature could not be doubted: Western Christians, apparently, had to either fulfill all the demands of the Mongols and submit to them, or prepare for war and abandon all their hopes for an alliance with the Mongols and their conversion to Latinism. Plano-Carpini advised the latter. In his book, for the edification of his contemporaries, he described in some detail the way the Tatars waged war and presented his thoughts on the best methods of resistance, fortifying cities, on the best choice of places for battle and advised to hurry up with military preparations, informing that the time for the Tatars to leave their land was set in March 1247, that in three or four years they would reach Comania, and from there they would attack the western lands and would fight for 18 years in a row. “All this will certainly happen, unless the Lord, by His mercy, puts some obstacle for them, as he did at the time when they came to Hungary and Poland; for then they had to go further forward for 30 years: but when the emperor poisoned them, they did not fight until now. Now, after the election of a new emperor, they are again beginning to prepare for war.... And since they intend to ruin or enslave the entire earth, such enslavement is intolerable for our people: then we must resist them. But if one region does not want to give help to another, then they will devastate the land they attack, and with the people taken prisoner they will attack another... There is no region that itself could resist them. Therefore, if Christians want to preserve themselves and their lands and all of Christianity, then it is necessary that kings, princes and barons, and rulers of the lands, unite, send an army against them with common consent, before they begin to scatter across the lands” 61. Even more unsuccessful was the mission of the Dominicans, who, under the command of Nicholas Ascelin, through Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia, penetrated to the borders of Khovarezm, where at that time the Tatar army was stationed under the command of Bayotnoy (Bayu-Noyon). The ambassadors carried out their mission so ineptly that, instead of being friendly towards Christians and Christianity, they created extreme embitterment in the Tatars and themselves barely escaped their rage. When Bayotnoy learned about the arrival of the ambassadors, he sent his aegin (first adviser) with translators to find out whose ambassadors they were. Ascelin replied that he was “the ambassador of the Holy Father the Pope, who among Christians is considered a dignity above all people and is respected by them as father and lord.” It seemed to the Tatars that the appearance of the ambassadors did not at all correspond to such a high embassy. “Extremely irritated by this answer, they said: Why do you say in your arrogance that the Pope, your sovereign, is superior to all people? Rahab, he doesn’t know that the Khan is the son of God, and Bayotnoy and Batu are his princes and that their names thunder and are famous everywhere”? - The monk proudly answered that the pope did not know either the khan or his governors and had not even heard their names; he only knows that some barbarian people, called Tatars, without sparing anyone, exterminated countless people. “Bitterly lamenting in his heart,” Ascelin continued, “about the bloodshed that they carried out especially on Christians, he, on the advice of his brothers, the cardinals, sent us to the first Tatar army that we meet, to convince its chief and all his subordinates, may they stop shedding human blood, and especially Christian blood, and may they repent of the cruelties and atrocities they have committed, as is clearly depicted in his diploma (probably the same one that was awarded to Plano-Carpini). Therefore, we ask him,” continued Ascelin, “through you, that he accept the letter of the Holy Father, read it and answer him with his letter, either through the ambassador or only in words through me” 62. After some time, the representatives of Bayotnoy inquired about the gifts brought by the ambassador for the Great Khan. To this Ascelin gave a short answer that the pope does not have the habit of sending gifts to anyone, especially to infidels and unknown people, and that on the contrary, his faithful children, that is, Christians and even infidels, very often send and present him with gifts 63 . The patience of the commissioners, who looked with amazement at these foreigners who walked barefoot and spoke so indecently and proudly, was still not exhausted. They even promised the monks to obtain a reception from Bayotnoy if they would kneel before him three times, according to Tatar custom. Having discussed this thoroughly, the monks declared, however, unanimously that such humiliation before a pagan would be a disgrace for all Christianity and could only be allowed when he became a Christian. “But if, as the Holy Father and all Christians most desire,” said Ascelin, “your sovereign Bayotnoy wants to become a Christian; then, out of love for God, not only before him, but before all of you, we are ready to bend our knees and even kiss the soles of his feet and all of you, even the very last ones” 64. Hearing this, the Tatars became extremely furious: they cursed the pope and his ambassadors with dogs, threatened the head of the embassy to tear off his skin alive and, stuffing it with hay, send it to the pope with other monks. The proposal was approved and would have been carried out if the eldest of Bayotnoy's wives and one of the main officials had not advised against such cruelty because of the consequences it could have for the Tatar ambassadors. Thanks to this, the monks were freed from mortal fear, but they were not released, no matter how much they wished for it. The Tatars took pleasure in ridiculing them and confusing them with various crafty questions. So they often asked them about the troops, victories and conquests of the pope; about why they consider the pope superior to all people, even the khan; how do Christians show respect to their superiors, in accordance with their dignity; how do Christians worship God and why do they not want to worship Bayotnoi when they even worship wood and stone? The ambassadors answered all these questions in the language of the then scholastic theology, which was completely incomprehensible to the Tatars. So, to the last question, Ascelin answered: “Christians do not worship wood and stone, but the sign of the cross depicted on them, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified on it, who adorned it with his members, like precious beads, sanctified it with his blood and acquired our salvation on it. For these reasons, we cannot show your sovereign the required respect, no matter what kind of torment lies ahead of us” 65. When asked about the advantages of the pope over the khan, Astselin answered in an even more incomprehensible way for the Tatars: “We called the pope of our sovereign the superior dignity of all people, because St. Peter and his successors were given by the Lord authority over the entire Holy Universal Church, which authority will continue until the end of the century.” Finally, Brother Ascelin began to prove this with many arguments and examples: “but these rude people,” notes Ascelin himself, “could not understand him properly 66. Moreover, they openly laughed at the preachers, shouted, made noise and got extremely angry. Stubbornly refusing to comply with ordinary Tatar customs when presented by Bayotnoy, Ascelin, contrary to the custom observed by the ambassadors, without being called to Bayotnoy himself, was forced to hand over the papal letter to his secretaries, who, with the help of interpreters and monks, translated it into the Tatar language and presented it to Bayotnoy. Having read the letter, Bayotnoy ordered to send envoys to the Great Khan, but they stubbornly refused this too, under the pretext that the pope had never heard of the khan’s name and did not order them to go to him, but sent them to the first Tatar army they encountered. Then Bayotnoy sent a letter to the Great Khan with his ambassadors and, under the pretext that he needed to wait for an answer, kept the monks “in his army for nine weeks, humiliating them to the point that he considered them unworthy of any answer” 67 and giving them such meager and bad food that they almost died of hunger. Finally, the ambassadors decided, at all costs, to get rid of Tatar hospitality. Having become more prudent, Asdelin “went to one noble court adviser, asked him to intercede for them with Bayotnoy and promised to give this adviser something if he fulfilled his request. Therefore, the adviser went to Bayotnoy, began to talk and ask him about the monks, and as a result of his order, he ordered a letter to be prepared for the pope, and, having appointed ambassadors who were supposed to carry out both this and the khan’s letters, he asked the monks for permission to go” 68. Bayotnoevo’s letter to the pope, sent with Aibeg and Sargis, who went to Europe with Ascelin, had the following, most offensive and formidable content: “Bayotnoevo’s word is sent by the divine disposition of the khan. Know this, dad: your ambassadors have come and brought us your letter. Your ambassadors spoke bold words; We don’t know whether you told them to speak like this, or whether they spoke on their own. And in the letter you write that we kill, exterminate and destroy many people. The immutable commandment of God and the decree of the one who preserves the face of the whole earth is this: he who hears the decree, let him sit on his own land, water and fatherland, and give strength to the one who preserves the face of the whole earth. Whoever, not heeding the commandment and the institution, does the opposite, let him be destroyed and perish. Now we send you this decree and this commandment. If you want to sit on our land, water and fatherland; then you, dad, come to us in person and appear before the one who preserves the face of the whole earth. If you do not listen to the immutable commandment of God, the One who preserves the face of the whole earth, then we do not know what will happen, God knows. But before you come, ambassadors came to tell us: will you come or not, do you want to live in harmony with us, or be an enemy? and to this command they came to us quickly with an answer. We send this command through the hands of Aibeg and Sargis” 69. Nothing is known about the fate of these Tatar ambassadors, whether they reached the papal city and, if they did, how they were received there. Despite the arrogant and extremely insulting demands of the Mongols, the popes did not lose hope of establishing friendly relations with them and converting them to the Christian faith. News constantly coming from the east about Christianity among the Mongols supported this hope and encouraged new attempts. December 14, 1248 during the stay of Louis St. on the island of Cyprus, the ambassadors of the Tatar Khan arrived there and presented the French king with a letter from their master, by name of Erkaltay. In this letter, written in a pompous oriental style, the Tatar prince expressed his desire to conclude an alliance with the king. “I ask God,” he said, “to give victory to the armies of the Christian kings and help them to triumph over the enemies of the cross.... We want all Christians to be free from slavery and tribute, that the destroyed churches be restored and that they calmly pray for our kingdom... Kiokai, the king of the earth, ordered that in the law of God there should be no distinction between Latins and Greeks, Armenians, Nestorians and Jacobites and all who worship cross, for they are all the same for us. And we ask that the king does not make a distinction between them, but may his favor and mercy be upon all Christians 71. Among the ambassadors who brought this letter were two Christians: David and Mark. The first of them was recognized by the Dominican Andrei de Longjumel, who was with the king, who, during his stay in the east, on behalf of the pope, saw this ambassador in the Tatar army. This somewhat assured the king of the authenticity of the embassy. Knowing already probably about Bayotnoy's answer to the pope and about the results of Ascelin's embassy, ​​which had just returned from the Tatars, he did not want to believe the ambassadors and was ready to take them for deceivers. The letter he soon received from the constable of Armenia, who wrote it to the King of Cyprus and the Count of Ionia, during his trip to the Tatar Khan, had an even more favorable effect on him. This letter largely confirmed the testimony of the ambassadors and the letter they brought. It described Christianity in Tatarstan in such vivid terms, its needs and the khan’s favorable attitude towards it that it was difficult for the pious Louis not to get carried away. So about the country of Tangut the letter said: “this is the land from which three kings came to Bethlehem to worship the born Lord Jesus... The inhabitants of this country are Christians: I myself was in their churches and saw I. Christ, the midwife and three kings, of whom one brings gold, the other frankincense, and the third myrrh... (They) have their own churches, ring their bells and strike the boards, so that those who come to their master The khan had to first enter the church and greet the Lord Jesus Christ, and then come and greet their lord khan... I inform you that in the countries of the east we met many Christians and many beautiful churches, ancient and beautifully built, which were destroyed by the Turks. Therefore, the Christians of that country went to the khan with a complaint. The Khan received them with great honor, gave them freedom and forbade them to do any harm to them. This caused the Saracens great confusion... But these Christians feel a great need of preachers for their instruction, and know that those who should be preached to, in my opinion, are worthy of great punishment. Know also that in India, which was converted by St. ap. Thomas, there is a certain Christian king who suffered a lot from his neighbors, the Saracen kings, until the Tatars arrived and he became their vassal 72 . Having received this letter, Louis began to ask the ambassadors of Erkaltai how their master learned about the arrival of the French king in the east, where the Tatars came from and for what reason, in what countries they live now, how large is the army of the khan, on what occasion did the khan accept the Christian faith, how long ago and how many others were baptized with him? The king asked the same questions regarding Erkaltay. He also asked why Bahon (Bayotnoy) poorly received the papal envoys, whether the Sultan of Mosul was a Christian, what country the envoys themselves were from, and how long they had been Christians? – The ambassadors answered all these questions quite satisfactorily and plausibly. They said that the khan learned about the arrival of the French king in the east from the Sultan of Mosul and that therefore Erkaltai sent them to him with a notification that the Tatars were soon planning to attack the Caliph of Baghdad and with a request to attack Egypt and thus deprive Egypt of all help. Having further answered questions about the origin of the Tatars and their way of life, the ambassadors added that Khan Kiokai (Gayuk), currently reigning, the son of a Christian woman, the daughter of the priest John, as a result of the admonitions of his mother and Bishop Malassia, was baptized on the day of Epiphany with 18 princes and many officials, among whom there are, however, many who have not been baptized, that Erkaltay has been a Christian for a long time and although not of royal blood, he is powerful and is located in the east of Persia, and Bahon the pagan is in friendship with the Saracens, and therefore he received the papal ambassadors badly; that Sultan Musulyeki is the son of a Christian woman, loves Christians from the heart, observes their holidays and does nothing according to the law of Muhammad, and if there was a favorable opportunity, he would willingly become a Christian. As for ourselves, the ambassadors further said, we are from a city two days’ journey from Mosul and Christians by birth. The name of the pope is still famous among the Tatars, and Erkaltai intends to attack the Caliph of Baghdad and avenge the insult inflicted by the Khovarezmians on Jesus Christ 73 . All these stories from the ambassadors flattered the king’s most beloved thoughts. The opportunity of an alliance with the Tatars greatly delighted both him and all the crusaders and gave great hope for the success of the crusade. There were no other speeches in the camp other than about the benefits promised by the Great Khan or the Tatar Emperor; leaders and warriors from everywhere flocked to see the ambassadors of Ercaltai, whom they considered one of the “first barons of Tartary”; Tatar ambassadors gained access to Louis's court and were invited to his table; the king himself personally escorted them to the Nicosia Cathedral to listen to the service, where all the people were touched by their piety. The king decided to take this opportunity to establish relations with the Tatars, make them his allies and convert them to Latinism. January 25, 1249 The Tatar ambassadors went back to Tataria, accompanied by three Dominican monks: Andrei Longjumel, John and William, to whom Louis and the papal legate presented letters to the Great Khan Erkaltay and to all the Tatars with exhortations to recognize the primacy of the Roman Church and the authority of the pope and enter into an alliance with the Latins. These letters were accompanied by magnificent gifts. Particularly beautiful was the scarlet tent, on which, by order of the king, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, was depicted with all other objects of faith 74. The monks, according to Matthew of Paris, knew the Saracen language and had to instruct and convince the Tatars to believe in God 75. Two years later, the ambassadors returned and brought with them the news that everyone was eagerly awaiting. According to their stories, they set off from Cairo to Tataria through Antioch and, traveling 10 miles a day, spent a whole year on the road until they finally arrived at the seat of the Great Tatar Khan. The missionaries passed through deserts, where they saw huge piles of human bones, testifying to the wild warlikeness of the barbarian people; they told wonderful things about the court of the Mongol emperor, about the morals and customs of the countries they passed through, about the conquests and legislation of Genghis Khan. Khan Gayuk, to whom they were sent, was no longer alive, and the Mongols were preparing to elect a new khan. In 1251, Mengu, the youngest son of Genghis Khan, was elected, and missionaries were present at this election. It turned out to them that the new khan was very inclined towards Christianity, but among his princes they did not find any Erkaltai 76 . The missionaries claimed that in one Tatar horde they saw more than eight hundred chapels where they glorified the true God 77 . Based on their report, King Louis wrote to the pope that many Tatars had been baptized and would have been converted even more if the faith had been preached to them. The power of the Caliph of Baghdad is due to the fact that they have very few bishops; Therefore, some Minorite brothers and preachers should be appointed bishops and sent there so that they could consecrate them to St. positions, perform the sacraments characteristic of bishops, etc. 78 In general, from the testimonies of the missionaries, filled with fabulous tales, it was clear, however, that Christianity among the Mongols was quite strong and that the hope of an alliance with them for Christians was not without foundation. As a result, in 1253, French missionaries were again sent to Tatary: William, Rubrukvis or Ruisbrek and Bartholomew of Epiphany with letters from the French king and pope to the Tatar princes and with the same instructions with which the previous ambassadors were sent there. New rumors about the conversion of the Great Khan to Christianity promised the embassy undoubted success. They said that the great Khan Mengu and some of his noble princes, for example Sartak, the son of Batu, who commanded the troops on the western borders of the Mongol Empire, had already received baptism. If you believe the news of the Armenian monk Guyton, who belonged to the then reigning Armenian house and wrote the “History of the East,” then these rumors were fair and had a true basis. The Armenian king Guyton, the uncle of the aforementioned monk, pressed by the Muhammadans and Mongols and wanting to save his kingdom from final enslavement, had the same idea that Western Christians cherished, ideologically - the idea of ​​​​converting the Mongols to Christianity, concluding a friendly alliance with them and turning their forces to Muhammadan. Wanting to bring this idea to fruition, Guyton sent an ambassador named Sinibadda to the Great Khan. But since this ambassador returned without achieving any results favorable for Armenia and Christianity at the court of the Great Khan, the king himself decided to go to the court of the Great Khan, with the goal of personally convincing him to accept Christianity and win him over to the side of his plans. According to the news of Guyton, who was his uncle’s companion during his journey and an eyewitness of his deeds, the great khan received the Armenian king with great honor, heeded his convictions, received baptism with some of his noble princes from the hands of the Armenian bishop who was under King Guyton, and completely agreed with his plans regarding Muhammadan 79. But this news is highly doubtful. The main basis for this doubt is that the fact of the khan’s conversion to Christianity was not confirmed by Rubrukvis and that the Latin embassy met the khan with the coldest reception. This is in fact very important and almost completely irreconcilable with the news of the conversion of Khan Mentu, which therefore must be declared false. Nevertheless, this news served as a reason for the Rubrukvis embassy and strongly supported hopes for his success in the West at that time. These hopes were to turn into confidence when the pope in 1254 80 received an official embassy from Sattah (Sartak), confirming the rumor of his conversion. The ambassadors and the letter they brought notified the pope of Sattah's baptism and his willingness to recognize the primacy of the Roman high priest in being an ally of Christians. In September of the same year, Pope Innocent IV responded to this notice with a letter in which he expressed his joy in enthusiastic terms, urged Sartak to remain faithful to the accepted faith and expounded the doctrine of his primacy 81. It is unknown with whom this embassy was sent and whether it was sent. Rubrukvis at this time was already in the capital of the Great Khan. But all these hopes of Western Christianity were again about to be destroyed. The missionaries set off on May 7, 1253 through Costantinople, Pont Euxine and Crimea. Their journey confirmed previous news about the prosperity of Nestorianism and other eastern Christian sects among the Mongols, but at the same time clearly showed that the Mongol sovereigns looked unfavorably on the Latins and preferred to remain indifferentists in the matter of religion, Mongols, and not Christians. On their way, they met Nestorians and Armenians everywhere, saw that these Christians had many churches and confessors and enjoyed great influence in the courts of the Mongol princes, but nowhere did they encounter any particular readiness to accept Latinism and recognize the Pope as their master. Having met the first Mongol camp, they introduced themselves to its chief Jagatai, a relative of Nagai, who received them sitting on his bed and talking with one of his wives. Having let him know about the purpose of their journey and having received from him a promise to take them to Sartak’s camp, the missionaries began to preach to him about the Christian faith; he did not answer a word, but only shook his head doubtfully and dismissed them. Having received a guide, they went through the Crimean isthmus and the great desert (Nogai degree) to the camp of Sartak, the son of Batu, located three days' journey on this side of the Volga. During this journey, which seemed to them to be very difficult, they did not miss the opportunity to preach the teachings of Christ to the Mongols, but each time without success, which was greatly facilitated by their ignorance of the Mongolian language. The translators either completely refused to convey the Christian sermon to their compatriots, or instead of transmitting it, they said something completely different, which Rubrukvis himself, having become somewhat acquainted with the language, had the opportunity to verify more than once. Having become convinced of the translator's dishonesty, the missionaries began, if possible, to act in such cases without his help, but had no success. One day they met a Saracen. The missionaries immediately entered into a competition with him and began to expound to him the doctrine of Christ, His incarnation, resurrection from the dead, future judgment, and so on. The Muhammadan was apparently convinced by their arguments and when they asked him if he wanted to be baptized, he answered that he did. But when they began to prepare to perform the sacrament, he jumped on his horse and rode off, saying that he wanted to consult his wife about this. The next day he returned, saying that he did not dare to be baptized, because, having been baptized, he could no longer drink kumiss. “Local Christians,” notes Rubrukvis, “say that every true Christian should not drink this drink. I have never shared this opinion, which, being supported by the Russians, greatly impedes the success of the faith. He only understood that they demanded of him that he become a Christian. Understanding Christianity in a purely external way, he did not agree. Arriving at Sartak’s camp, the missionaries immediately reported themselves to the court official, who was supposed to receive foreigners and was called Yanna. Sartak had a brilliant court: he had six, and his eldest son two or three wives, and each had a large house and almost 200 tents. Two days after the arrival of the missionaries, Sartak ordered them to appear to him in full Christian liturgical vestments, with letters from the pope and liturgical supplies. The missionaries willingly fulfilled his wish and entered the khan’s tent in full priestly vestments and singing: “Salve Regina.” This apparently gave great pleasure to Sartak and his wife, who was sitting next to him. Khan looked at the bible and crosses with curiosity and listened to Rubrukvis's explanations. But later, when his curiosity was satisfied, he politely tried to send the envoys away and noticed to them that the matter for which they came was so important that he could not take on his decision and therefore let them turn to their father, Batu Khan. But as little as Sartak thought about accepting the Christian faith, they could already conclude from the fact that they were convincingly warned not to call Sartak a Christian, because he is not a Christian, but a Mongol. “This is because,” notes Rubrukvis, “that they take the name of a Christian for the name of a nation, and if there are some Christians among them, then they retain the name of the Mongols, considering it above all names and not wanting to be called Tatars.” “The Nestorians,” continues Rubrukvis, “make a big fuss about trifles. They say that Sartak is a Christian, that Mengu Khan and Ken-hav favor Christians more than other peoples, but in reality they are not Christians at all. Regarding Sartak, I don’t know whether he believes in Jesus Christ or not: all I know is that he does not want to be called a Christian, but on the contrary, it seems to me that he despises Christians 82. It seems, however, that this contempt extended more to the Latins, but not to other Christians. Rubrukvis himself reports that at the court of Sartak there were also Nestorian priests who rang their boards and performed their services 83. Batu's ambassadors received an even more indifferent reception. They came to the khan in their monastic clothes, barefoot, with their heads uncovered: the entire assembly examined them from head to toe for a long time. The Khan sat next to his wife on a platform, richly gilded and shaped like a bed. After quietly and importantly looking at them for a while, he told them to speak. Then they sat down at the order of the guide, but before expressing their request, they prayed for the spiritual salvation of the khan. Hearing that it was about his conversion, he smiled indifferently, and the courtiers who were there raised a loud mocking laugh. However, Rubrukvis was not embarrassed, submitted a letter to the King of France and answered several questions about this sovereign. After this, he and his comrades were treated to kumis and released with the not very comforting answer that only the Great Khan Mengu himself could solve this matter and that it would take 4 months to get to his residence. The poor monks, who were given such meager food that they could barely live, walked with Batu on foot along the Volga for the first five weeks; Finally they were provided with warm clothes and on October 16 they were sent with Dalype guides to the east. During this journey, the ambassadors often met with the Nestorians, of whom Rubrukvis says that they knew the language of the people well, but were morally at the lowest level. The bishop of the city of Segin (Hsin-chang-fu. in the Shenzi region) barely once in 50 years toured his diocese and at the same time ordained all male children as priests, even if they were still in the cradle (?). These priests were very ignorant and almost did not know the Syriac language, in which they perform divine services and read the Holy Scripture. Scripture. In general, they cared little about faith and liturgical rites, if they did not expect to have monetary benefits from this, they indulged in usury, their most favorite pastime, or wine, for which they were passionate hunters, and with their life, seductive in all respects, they contributed no little to the fact that the Mongols little by little became disgusted with Christianity 84. On December 27, the travelers finally reached the wide plain where the Great Khan’s residence was located. Their guide was immediately given a beautiful home, and the missionaries a hut so cramped that they could barely fit in it. The officials first tormented them with endless questions about the purpose of their journey, and then on the first day of 1254 they were called to the court. First of all, they were thoroughly searched and warned not to touch the threshold, and then they were taken to the khan. Singing a church hymn, the monks entered the tent. The Khan first treated them to rice wine and, while they were drinking, played with the falcon sitting in his arms; then, looking at them long and carefully, he ordered them to kneel before him and say their request. Then Rubrukvis began to explain the purpose of his embassy, saying that they were actually sent to Sartaka, who, according to rumors, had accepted the Christian faith, and therefore they appeared in him without gifts and could not offer him anything except their prayers for him, for his wife and children: to this he added another request that they be allowed to live in his land and, in accordance with his vows, teach people to live according to the law of God until the best time of the year allows them to return home. “Just as the sun,” Mengu proudly responded to this, “sends its rays in all directions, so our power with Batu extends throughout all countries of the world and we do not need your gold or silver.” The ambassadors could not understand what he was saying to the dalypa, because their interpreter, who did too much honor to the kumis that was served to him, was not able to speak, and the khan himself expressed himself so incoherently that it seemed to them that he was not sober either. Having finished his speech, he gave them a sign to leave and then ordered to inform them that, out of compassion, he allowed them to stay for two months at his court and ordered them to be supplied with everything they needed. Living at the court of the Great Khan, the ambassadors soon became convinced that he was not at all thinking about accepting the Christian faith. Like other Tatars, he was devoted to the grossest superstition and visited a church, in which he sat on a golden bed, and the priests suffumed him with singing. During prayer, the priests and pilgrims were treated to kumys so zealously that they left the church drunk. Despite the khan's obvious devotion to pagan superstitions, however, the Armenians and Nestorians tried to assure the papal ambassador of the khan's devotion to Christianity. One Armenian monk, Sergius, told Rubrukvis that on the feast of Epiphany the great khan intended to be baptized. Rubrukvis asked to be allowed to be present at this great event. The Armenian promised him. On the day of the holiday, they were indeed called to the palace along with the Nestorian priests; but there was nothing here except dinner, and they returned home ashamed and disappointed. The Nestorians even said that the khan had already been baptized, but Rubrukvis told them that he did not believe it and that they needed to see it first and then speak. Obviously, the khan played a hypocritical role and, being superstitious and completely indifferent to all religions, did not want to offend any of them, wanted to please everyone and apparently favored everyone, so that representatives of each religion hoped to see him soon as a confessor of their faith. Seeing around him the constant rivalry of missionaries of different religions and confessions, vying for the possession of his conscience, Mengu even appointed a public competition in which the Latins, Nestorians, Muhammadans and pagans were to take part. According to Rubrukvis, Khan Mengu wanted to find out in this way what evidence each of these religions was based on. For this competition, the khan appointed three of his secretaries as mediators (one from each religion - Christian, Muhammadan and pagan). First, the prohibition was loudly proclaimed to scold and offend each other and to cause any kind of confusion that could interfere with the competition. Then the competition itself began. Rubrukvis began to compete with the pagans and, according to him, brought them to the point that they could finally object to his arguments. The Nestorians competed with the Muhammadans, but with less skill. There was no result; no one expressed a desire to accept Christianity, neither from the pagans nor from the Mohammedans. In all likelihood, they remained unconvinced, despite all the efforts of the papal missionary, who argued the longest. A day after this competition, which took place on May 13, 1254, Mengu, calling the missionaries to him, told them among other things: “The Mongols believe in one God and honor Him sincerely. Just as God gave the hand many fingers, He also put different opinions into the human spirit: He gave Christians the Scripture, but they do not follow His teaching, because it is not written there that they should slander each other and deviate from the path of justice for money. God gave us predictors; we follow their instructions and live in peace.” Talking like this, the khan suddenly moved on to another subject and, having drunk four times, said sternly: “I allowed you to remain a sneak at my court; now my will is that you return to your land. I have two eyes in my head, but both have one point of view, and where one turns, the other follows it; you came here through Batu’s stay, and through him you must return back.” Then the khan ordered to give them money and clothes for the journey and wanted to send his own ambassadors to Europe with Louis, but Rubrukvis portrayed the difficulties of the journey in such an exaggerated and terrible way that among the warlike Mongols there was not a single hunter to overcome these difficulties. Therefore, Meng ordered his letter to Louis to be conveyed to the missionaries themselves. This letter was supposed to completely dispel false rumors about the conversion of the Great Khan and his princes to Christianity and finally destroy Louis’s favorite dreams. This letter reads like this: “the command of the eternal God! Just as there is one God in heaven, so there must be one ruler on earth: Genghis Khan, the son of God.... These two monks came from your side to Sattah, who sent them to Batu, and Batu here, because Mengu Khan is the great king and emperor of the Mongols..... We greatly desired to send our envoys to you with your priests; but they made us understand that between you and us lie many war-ravaged lands and very warlike nations, that the roads are difficult and dangerous, and they expressed fear that our envoys would not be able to reach you. They themselves undertook to deliver a letter containing our command to King Louis. Thus, we are sending you the command of the eternal God and when you hear it and decide to obey us or not to obey, then send us your messengers to let us know what you want, peace or war with us.... And if you despise the command of God and do not want to listen to Him or believe Him, saying that your country is very remote, the mountains are high and steep, and the seas are deep and great, and in the hope of this you decide to start a war with us in order to experience what we can do, then this (i.e., our) omnipotence, which can make the difficult easy and bring the distant closer, will show you what we can do” 85. With this letter, Rubrukvis immediately left the court of the Great Khan and, after a difficult two-month journey, reached Batu's camp on October 16, 1254. The closest route to France from here lay through Hungary and Germany; but he, not knowing that Louis had already returned from the crusade, turned south and arrived in Syria through Georgia and Armenia. On August 15, 1255, he safely reached Tripoli and from here sent his report to King Louis. It is not known what impression the letter brought by the missionaries made on the king and on all of Western Christianity: perhaps it was not given much importance and its threatening tone was considered empty boasting. But soon Western Christians were to be convinced that these threats were not empty phrases and that the letter of the Mongol conqueror should be understood in its own sense. The reign of Mengu was one of the most brilliant eras of conquest for the Mongols. At this time, their aggressive aspirations reached their apogee: one of the great khan's brothers Kublai conquered China, another brother Galagu extended his weapons almost to the Nile and the Mediterranean Sea. Batu's horde also did not remain inactive: Hungary and Poland were again subjected to the Mongol invasion. But Europe took this invasion much more seriously. Abandoning all dreams of an alliance with the Tatars and their conversion to Latinism, the popes zealously set about forming a strong armed resistance. The Hungarian king, Bela IV, wrote to the pope that if he did not receive benefits, he would enter into an alliance with the Tatars, who, as a guarantee of the strength of the alliance, offered him a marriage with a Mongol princess and an honorable place in their army. Pope Alexander IV armed himself against this alliance in the most energetic manner. In his letter to the king (dated October 14, 1259), he sharply reproached him for his lack of courage and hope in God; He said that it was unworthy of a courageous person to resort to such a shameful means for acquiring peace and that it was better to die and lose his kingdom than to be separated from the body of the faithful from a temporary species and unite with the infidels 86. At the same time, the pope addressed letters to all sovereigns, prelates and urban communities, urging them to unite against the Vargars and think about means to seriously rebuff them 87. Councils were convened in France, England, Italy, in Viterbo 1261 in Rome, in Lambeti, in Ravenva, etc.) to deliberate on the dangers of Christianity, and on the means for the most successful expulsion of the Tatars. The Pope ordered prayers and religious processions to be performed, blasphemy to be punished, and the luxury of table and clothing to be limited. Purely military measures were also not neglected; The Mongols, who devastated Poland and Hungary, met friendly resistance and were defeated and expelled. The danger for Europe was over; but for that, fear soon passed to the eastern Palestinian Christians, surrounded on all sides by enemies. Back in 1253, it was decided at the kurultai that Gulagu would set out to conquer Persia and its neighboring Muhammadan states. The Armenian king Guyton had no small influence on this decision. Considering Mongol rule more favorable for Christianity than the rule of the Mohammedans, he tried in every possible way to arm the former against the latter. For this purpose, as we have seen, he undertook a deliberate journey to the court of the Great Khan. When the Mongol army set out on a campaign, he accompanied it and then added his troops to it. The Gulagu, which set out in the fall of 1253, headed through Samarkand to the Caspian Sea, captured the coastal mountainous countries, forced the Iconian Sultan Key-Kobad to swear allegiance to itself, completely destroyed all the dens of the followers of the robber Mohammedan sect of the so-called Assassins or Ismaelites and exterminated this entire sect purely in Mongolian style, ordering the troops to slaughter everyone assassins without exception, not even sparing infants. From Persia, the Gulagu wanted to move to Costantinople, but, on the advice of his astronomer Nasir ed-dip, he abandoned this intention and went against the Baghdad caliph Abbasid, Mustaghasim 88. In February 1258, the Mongols took Baghdad by storm, set the city on fire, massacred almost the entire population, and killed the caliph himself. Having conquered Baghdad, the Gulagu moved to Syria. Mosul surrendered without resistance, and the magnificent and rich Alepo, which tried to resist, suffered almost the same fate as Baghdad. Frightened by his fate, Damascus, Gems and other cities submitted without resistance. Having appointed governors of Syria to Ketbogu (Kitu-Bug), Gulagu returned to eastern Persia (1260) to end the civil strife that had arisen there. The Muhammadans were horrified. Their dominance in Syria, Persia and other countries, it seemed, was finally about to be destroyed. Christians, on the contrary, rejoiced at the success of the Mongols. In the churches and right above the tomb of I. Christ they prayed to God to send victory to the Mongols and they stopped even thinking about aid from Europe 89 . Indeed, at first the Mongols patronized Christians and looked at them as their friends. But this good agreement did not last long. Soon, a quarrel that occurred between the German crusaders and the Mongols gave a different turn to matters and opened enemies in those who were considered allies. Several Mohammedan villages that paid tribute to the Tatars were plundered and Ketboga was sent to demand rewards from the Christians, which they refused. During the dispute that arose on this occasion, the nephew of the Mongol commander was killed. As a result of this, Ketbogah declared war on the Christians, ravaged the Zion region and threatened the Ptolemaidan region. At the sight of the devastated fields, all the pleasant dreams of the Christians disappeared 90. It was clear that the Mongols did not at all have a special inclination towards Christianity and a special hatred for the Muhammadans, and if they sometimes allowed themselves to give hope to Christians or Muhammadans, they were guided by political calculations alone. While they were fighting with the Mohammedans, they caressed the Christians, but as soon as they achieved their goals, they abandoned all partiality and no longer made any distinction between their former allies and enemies. But for Western Christians of that time this was not at all clear. About Gulag, as well as about his predecessors, there were rumors that he was a Christian and patronized Christianity primarily over all other religions. And these rumors were justified. Guyton claims that the Gulag treated Christians extremely mercifully throughout its reign and gave them places of honor in its service 91 . Such a favorable attitude of the Gulag towards Christians can be partly explained by the influence of his mother, who was called Sarkutanabegi and was a Christian from the family of Kerait kings, presbyters - John, and especially by the influence of his wife, also a Christian, who was called Dokun-Khatuna 92. “This person,” says DOson, “respected for virtue and piety, having captured the heart of her husband, filled his military camp with the ringing of bells and even asked him for permission to build churches and monasteries in all his regions 93. Around 1260 a certain Ioannes, probably a Nestorian deceiver, appeared to the pope, who called himself the ambassador of the Gulagu and informed the Roman high priest that this khan, jealous of his salvation, wanted to profess the Christian faith, according to the Catholic and evangelical teachings, which professes and preaches St. Roman Church; St. wants to be reborn. baptism, join the community of Christians and receive a Christian name. The imaginary ambassador, on behalf of the khan, asked the pope to send him skilled, knowledgeable men who could instruct him in the truths of the Christian religion and, through baptism, join him to the community of believers in Christ. The Pope wrote a letter to Gulag on this occasion, in which he expressed his great joy and gratitude to God for his conversion, exhorted him to immediately carry out his noble intention and promised him the help of the West in the fight against the Mohammedans; For detailed instructions regarding the Christian faith, he recommended that he turn to the Patriarch of Jerusalem 94. Blumgardt suspects the very existence of the aforementioned Ioannes, who evoked the pope’s letter with his stories, and considers this reason a complete invention. “It is impossible here,” he says, “to refrain from guessing that this was something other than a pious lie, which the Roman throne, for its own reasons, used in order to find open access to the newly formed Mongol kingdom” 95. But such suspicion is almost unnecessary. Access to this kingdom was never blocked for papal ambassadors and there was no need to resort to such means to obtain it. The deceptions of the Nestorian monks were not uncommon at that time, and in this case, if the Roman throne was to blame for anything, then perhaps it was only excessive gullibility, which, however, was very excusable, because the matter involved things that were so probable. It is impossible to present the matter as Blumgardt presents it, because soon the attitude of the Gulag and all Mongols towards the Muhammadans and Christians really changed, and what the persistent and strictly calculated harassment of the popes and papal missionaries could not do, was done by a random confluence of circumstances favorable to the Muhammadans. Soon the fear instilled in the Muhammadans by the Mongols passed and from the vanquished they suddenly turned out to be victors and dangerous enemies of the latter. Gulagu had barely left Syria when Kuduz, one of the Mameluke sultans of Egypt, entered and took it from the Mongols in one battle. A fierce battle took place on the Tiberias plain: Ketboga was killed, the Mongol army was completely defeated and Kuduz drove him all the way to the Euphrates. This failure showed the Mongols that they were not so strong that they did not need any outside help and alliance to carry out their plans of conquest. In addition to external defeats, internal strife was added, which began to weaken them in a way that was sensitive to themselves. A feud broke out between the Gulagu and Batu's son, Berke. Bibars, the successor of Kuduz, skillfully took advantage of this strife to exterminate the Mongols by the Mongols themselves. Having recruited several of Berke's Mongols and generously rewarding them, he not only attracted whole masses of their fellow tribesmen to himself, but also found out everything that was happening in Kipchak. Having learned that Berke had many Muhammadans at his court and was himself inclined to accept Muhammadanism, he sent an embassy to him and himself received the same embassy in response. The Berke ambassadors were generously endowed with gifts and went home accompanied by the new embassy 96 . These relations between the Muhammadans and the khan of the Kipchat horde supported the enmity between the latter and the Gulagu, divided the forces of the Gulagu and deprived it of the opportunity to firmly establish itself in the newly conquered countries. Under such circumstances, the Mongols naturally had to be less arrogant towards the Christians, who were the worst enemies of the Muhammadans and had long proposed an alliance. At the end of his life, Gulagu entered into relations with the Byzantine emperor, Michael Paleologus, who decided to marry off his natural daughter, Maria, to strengthen the alliance. After the death of Gulagu, this marriage, however, did not take place and the princess married his successor, Abaka. It is therefore not implausible that the Gulagu somehow expressed a readiness to enter into an alliance with Western Christians, and it is not surprising that the pope believed the news conveyed to him by Ioannes. Actions of Latin missionaries among the Tatars, after the division of the 97 Genghis Khan monarchy In general, since the time of the Gulag and Kublai, the Mongols' policy towards Christians has changed noticeably. Since that time, such arrogant answers to the master's ambassadors have never been found, such as the answers given by Gaik and Mentu. The Mongols not only stop threatening, but also begin to curry favor with Christians, send embassies to the pope, express a desire to convert to Christianity, and a strange phenomenon occurs: the Mongols are preachers of a crusade against the Mohammedans. Due to this circumstance, time from the 60s of the XIII century. until half of the 14th century was the most brilliant era of Latin propaganda among the Mongols. Crowds of Franciscan and Dominican monks filled the east and began to fight Nestorianism and Muhammadanism there. They managed to weaken the former, but they could not stand it before the latter. Political calculations forced the Mongol sovereigns to lean towards the Muhammadans, who were much more numerous and less demanding. If the papal missionaries could convince these sovereigns of the superiority of Christian teaching and form a significant party among their subjects; it is very likely that Christianity would have won and the Mongol rulers would have followed the suggestions of Christian conscience, and not political calculations; but that didn't happen. The Latin mission of this time was so saturated with political and national trends and papal claims that these sovereigns could not look at the adoption of Christianity other than as a political measure. Latin missionaries promised not eternal bliss for the adoption of Christianity, but an alliance of Western sovereigns and the help of a powerful Roman high priest in the fight against external enemies. Therefore, whenever the Mongols needed help from the West, they promised the pope to be baptized, asked for instruction, etc., but as soon as the need passed, they postponed the fulfillment of their promises under various pretexts. In general, in all the actions of the then Latin mission there was very little that was truly missionary and Christian, instead political and power-hungry goals came to the fore. Truly missionary means - preaching and exhortations - occupied a barely noticeable place: all attention was paid to the khans and their nobles; the common people remained deprived of almost all concerns on the part of the missionaries. If sometimes Latin missionaries allowed themselves to descend from the highest circle to lower strata, they mainly extended their actions to Nestorian Christians; the pagans and the Mohammedans could be at peace. The Latin monks believed that heretics needed their preaching more than pagans: it was always their custom to build on someone else’s foundation, and it seemed to them that it was much easier to convert heretics to Latinism than pagans or Muhammadans. The idea of ​​converting the Mongols by force was dominant; she guided the Latin missionaries in all their activities and determined the manner of their propaganda. Paying the main and almost exclusive attention to the khans, the Latins did nothing more than try to implement this idea. With the help of the khan's unlimited power, they hoped to convert all their subjects to Latinism, or at least exterminate those who did not want to submit. In the methods of persuading them, converted to the khans, the same idea is evident: the khans are not persuaded much, but they want to force their consent to accept Latinism with the promise of help in difficult circumstances. The place of missionary operations of the papal throne at this time was primarily the Mongol-Persian kingdom, where the successors of the Gulag reigned and where the constant struggle with the Muhammadans forced the Mongols to seek an alliance with the Christians. Being in the rear of the Muhammadans, the Persian Mongols seemed to the popes the most precious allies during the crusading enterprises, and therefore they used their most energetic efforts to convert. The Eastern, Chinese Mongols were also the subject of papal claims, but their remoteness from the theater of the Crusades and from the West in general was the reason that the popes tried less energetically to convert them and that with the decline of the power of the great khans, these efforts almost completely ceased. However, the Latin mission between the Eastern Tatars almost benefited from this. The absence of papal intrigues and claims, or at least their weaker development, was the reason that Latin propaganda was much more successful here, thanks to the zeal of some missionaries, than in Persia. We will first pay attention to the Latin missions of the Western Tatars, and then move on to the Eastern ones. A) Missions among the Western Tatars a) in the Persian-Tatar kingdom Gulagu died in 1265 and was succeeded by his son Abacus, who had even more reasons to seek an alliance with the Christians. Both political calculations and family ties with Christians disposed him to this. Having married the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael Palaeologus, Maria 98, he naturally had to submit in part to Christian influence and look at Christians as his natural allies, and even more so desire this union, since Bibars began to press him even more 99. In 1267, he sent envoys to the pope with letters in which he asked for help against the Mohammedans and made it clear that he was ready to accept Christianity 100. Pope Clement IV solemnly received the Mongol envoys and promised them the speedy extermination of the Mohammedans. In his response letter, the pope first reproaches the khan for writing his letter in Mongolian, and not in Latin, as others do, then expresses, too early, however, his great gratitude to God for opening the khan’s eyes and instilling in him a readiness to humbly honor the true God and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. “Now,” the pope added, “the kings of France and Navarre with crowds of their knights and barons and countless troops, having accepted the cross for the liberation of St. lands, courageously prepared to oppose the enemies of the cross and faith in order to completely destroy the power and even the name of the Saracen sect... So stand firm, great sovereign, in your saving intention, but trust in God. And if you serve Him faithfully, then your throne will be established and exalted in various ways, for the kingdom belongs to Him; in His hand are the hearts of all kings: He humiliates whomever He wants and exalts whomever He wants” 101. It is unknown with whom this letter was sent, but it is certain that the magnificent promises contained in it were not fulfilled and the Tatar Khan still had to withstand the onslaught of the Muhammadans on his own. Meanwhile, Bibars was making more and more progress and was constantly growing stronger. In 1274, a new embassy from Abaca, consisting of 16 Tatars 102, arrived to the west. At that time, the Second Council of Lyon was taking place and Pope Gregory X was in Lyon. Tatar ambassadors arrived here on July 14. Here they presented the pope with a letter from the khan and proposed an alliance against the Muhammadans. This proposal could not have been more opportune, because the council itself was convened mainly to attract all of Christian Europe and participate in the new crusade against the Muhammadans. Therefore, the Tatar ambassadors attracted the most lively attention of this entire magnificent meeting, which was attended by more than 1000 bishops and archbishops, envoys of the eastern and western emperors, the king of France, the king of Cyprus and all the sovereigns who reigned in Europe. Three of these Tatar ambassadors received baptism from the hands of Peter, Bishop of Ostia, and the Christians who witnessed the performance of this sacrament saw in this a sure guarantee of the future success of the crusading enterprise. “Astonished at the power of God,” says Michaud, “who chose the instrument of his intentions in unknown countries,” the crowd of the faithful looked at the leader of the Tatar hordes as at a new Cyrus, to whom Providence granted the destruction of Babylon and the liberation of Jerusalem. The Council of Lyon in its last meeting decided to undertake a new crusade" 103. This definition was also a response to the proposals of the Tatar ambassadors. The pope released them with a letter to Abacus, in which he promised to send envoys to him soon. But the spirit of the Crusades at this time began to decline. “The spectacle of the council, the decisions and admonitions of the pope and prelates could not awaken the delight of Christians, which, in the words of St. Scripture, was nothing more than a smoking remnant of the canvas" 105. Gregory X, with all his efforts, could not do anything to arm Europe and died before he could fulfill the promises he made to Eastern Christians and Tatars. Meanwhile, the Mongol Khan did not abandon his urgent demands for help against the Saracens, since their growing strength threatened to become very dangerous for his kingdom. Bibars continued his conquests and every day brought news of his new victories. In 1275, probably immediately after the return of the Mongol ambassadors from the Council of Lyons, he began a war with Abaca and waged it with constant success until his death (1277). Not long before this event, the frightened Abacus sent new ambassadors to Europe, who in 1276 appeared to Pope John XXI and to the French king Philip the Fair, who then accepted the cross. The ambassadors promised Philip the help of the Tatars and the alliance of the powerful Mongol Khan if the king wanted to go to Syria against the Saracens. But in France they doubted the authenticity of Abaca’s embassy and suspected his ambassadors of espionage, since there was not a single Tatar among them and the entire embassy consisted of Georgians. But the pope took this embassy quite seriously, although he did not have time to make the appropriate orders after his death. In a letter brought by the ambassadors, Abaki, probably in order to give more weight to his alliance, informed the pope that the great Khan Kublai, his powerful uncle, Abaki, had already received baptism and wanted Christian teachers to be sent to him from the west to teach all his people the Christian faith and prepare for baptism 106 . John XXI's successor, Pope Nicholas III, took up this matter in the most energetic manner. Five minorities: Gerard de Prato, Anthony de Parma, John de Sav-Agatha, Andrew of Florence and Andrew of Aretia were ordered to go to Tartary along with the Tatar ambassadors for evangelical preaching and were provided with great powers, privileges, instructions and letters in Abacus and Kublai. In a letter to Abacus 107, the pope expressed his joy about his readiness to accept the Christian faith, promised him quick help in his fight against the Saracens, recommended that he honor his envoys, listen to their instructions, accept baptism from their hands and give them free and. safe passage to Kublai's courtyard. At the same time, the pope did not fail to inform the khan about his primacy and the high dignity of his rank, etc. 108 In his instructions to the missionaries, the pope also strictly ordered that they, most of all, instill in the Tatars obedience to the apostolic throne and especially take care of the reunification of heretics with the Roman Church 109. The next year (1278) the missionaries went to their destination, but no news about their fate and missionary activities has been preserved. Some guess that this activity was successful 110, but without sufficient grounds. The letter of the pope to a certain Philip, which gave rise to this conjecture, speaks of conversions among the Mongols neighboring Hungary and of the establishment of a new bishopric for the converts, as well as for the old Catholics; not a word is said about the Persian and Chinese Mongols, to whom the above-mentioned missionaries were sent. But if it is true that Philip was appointed bishop for the Mongols, who owed their conversion to the activities of these missionaries, then nothing is known at all about the activities and successes of the newly installed bishop 111 . It is much more likely that these missionaries had little or no success. Otherwise, the Latins, who always loved to trumpet their successes, would not have allowed such a favorable fact for them to remain unknown. The inexperience and lack of training of the missionaries, the insincerity and little disposition towards Christianity of the Mongol Khan, who expressed his readiness to become a Christian mainly for political reasons, made the success of evangelical preaching almost incredible. Be that as it may, despite all your efforts. Abaqa did not receive help from the West and died defeated by the Muhammadans (1282), who, under Bibars' successor, Qalawun, defeated the Persian Mongols in 1281. a brilliant victory, a victory all the more glorious because the enemy army was commanded by one of the first princes of the house of Genghis Khan, Abaki's brother, Mengu-Timur 112. Abaca's successor, his other brother Tantdor (or Tegudar), also at first favorably viewed the spread of Christianity in his kingdom, but then became a cruel persecutor of Christians. In his youth, he himself accepted baptism and the Christian name of Nicholas, and therefore at the beginning of his reign he treated Christians, especially the Nestorians, very patronizingly. He built many churches and monasteries for them in Syria and Mesopotamia and freed their bishops and monks from all taxes. Christians of other confessions were also not offended. But the desire to stay on the throne against the pretenders, the sons of Abaca, forced him to change the policy of his predecessors and turn for help not to Christians, most of whom were on the side of his enemy Argon, but to the Muhammadans. He entered into negotiations with the Egyptian Sultan, concluded an alliance with him and accepted Muhammadanism with the tribe of Ahmed. Having become a Muhammadan, he began to persecute Christians in the most cruel way. Their churches were destroyed and their priests put to death. Latin chronicles indicate several names of Franciscan monks who at this time suffered martyrdom from Muhammad 113. These are: Anthony, who suffered at Salmasar in Persia, Aldobrandin of Florence, Conrad, Voisedie and others from among those who were sent to Tartary by the general of the Franciscan Order, Bonagras, around the 60s of the 13th century. and about whose activities nothing is known. But the consequences showed that this course of action is far from popular. The people, among whom there were a significant number of Christians and even more inclined to accept Christianity, became agitated and Argon, deciding to take advantage of this mood of the people, openly declared himself against his uncle and started a war with him. The first failures almost killed him. A new armed skirmish decided the matter in favor of Argon. Tangador was killed in battle and Argon ascended the khan's throne in 1284. Argon, according to the unanimous testimony of all his historians, was sincerely devoted to Christianity and hated Muhammadan. Having ascended the throne and received confirmation of his khan's dignity from the Great Khan Kublai, he immediately set about healing the wounds inflicted on the Christians by his predecessor; he again gathered the Christians scattered by persecution, restored their destroyed churches and began to energetically prepare for the war with the Muhammadans. To ensure his success, he entered into an alliance with the kings of Georgia and Armenia and began to seek an alliance with Western Christians. In 1285, 114 ambassadors from Argon arrived in Rome to Pope Honorius IV with a letter and instructions to conclude an alliance with Western Christians and incite them to war with the Muhammadans. Argon's letter to the pope, short and simple, alien to any artificiality, was no longer at all like those rudely arrogant letters that the pope and Louis IX received from Bayotnoy and Mengu Khan. From this letter it was clear how dramatically the nature of the Mongols' relations with the West had changed in such a short period of time. The letter began “in the name of I. Christ” and there were no longer any demands for obedience or threats. Khan declared his extreme favor towards Christianity, his enmity with the Mohammedans and convinced the pope, the French king and the German emperor to speed up the opening of hostile actions against common enemies 115. However, this letter and the efforts of Argon’s ambassadors were not crowned with any favorable results; at least nothing is known about this. The condition of most of the European states at that time was so vague that the pope and the Christian sovereigns could not pay all their attention to this matter. If the pope answered anything to the ambassadors, then, without a doubt, he answered in the same way as always, that is, he exhorted them to quickly receive baptism, inspired respect and obedience to his person and promised his powerful protection, etc. But Argon was not content with this and, like his father Abacus, began to urgently work to incite the West to a crusade against the Muhammadans. Three years later, in 1288, he sent a new embassy to Rome to Pope Nicholas IV, consisting of four persons, among whom was the Nestorian bishop of Barsoum. The ambassadors convinced the pope to initiate a new crusade in Europe, asked for missionaries on behalf of the khan, and depicted in the brightest colors the flourishing state of Christianity in Tartary. According to their stories, Christianity in the kingdom of Argon was in its most flourishing state. Argon himself was a strong follower of Christian teaching; both his spouses: Elegaga and Tuktana have already been baptized; many of the leading nobles are also partly Christians, partly inclined to accept it. To this, the ambassadors added that the Great Khan Kublai was very inclined towards Christianity and wanted missionaries to be sent to him. The Pope was extremely pleased with the state of affairs in Tartary, which was so favorable for Latinism, and decided to take advantage of it as fully as possible. Releasing the Khan's ambassadors to their fatherland, he provided them with letters to Argon, his spouses and some of his courtiers 116. In these letters he fatherly exhorted them to be firm and constant in their convictions and intentions and to do their utmost to patronize the Western missionaries in the discharge of their duties. The news brought by the Tatar ambassadors was soon confirmed by the Roman missionaries themselves, who, after their 10-year absence, returned to Rome at that time to give their superiors a report on their actions. According to their stories, Christianity in the kingdom of Argon was openly professed both in the huts of the poor people and in the khan’s chambers; Khan Argon, although not yet baptized, but only because he wants to be baptized in Jerusalem itself, at the end of the crusade; The Franciscans and Dominicans, scattered throughout his kingdom, freely fulfill their mission and are making greater and greater progress every year. The head of these missionaries in the kingdom of Argon at that time was the Franciscan John de Monte Corvino, who surpassed everyone with his intelligence, piety and vigilant zeal. Born in 1247 in one of the cities of Apulia, named Mons Corvinus, from his earliest youth he devoted his life to serving the church and before his departure to Tartary he held various positions in Italian monasteries. Sent by the Franciscan general, Bonagras, as a missionary to Tartary, he, with his talents and his art, managed to give Latinism in this country a significant advantage over all other confessions. Although no news has been preserved about his missionary activities at this time, taking into account his subsequent activities in eastern Mongolia, the state of Latinism in Persia before and after him, it is safe to believe that the flourishing state of the Latin mission in Persia under Argon depended almost on the personality of Monte Corvino. Pope Nicholas knew him as a most skillful missionary and therefore summoned him to Rome for advice and to find out the situation of Christianity among the Tatars in order to take new measures. Having received the necessary information from the missionaries, the pope sent them back with letters to Kublai, Argon, Argon's wives and some court princes, for example. Baydu, who was later one of Argon's successors. John de Monte Corvino, probably at his own request, received a new assignment: he had to go not to his previous place of activity, in Persia, but to China, to the court of the Great Khan Kublai. We will talk about his activities at Kublai's court later. In a letter to Argon, the pope exhorted him to accept baptism without delay or delay until the end of the war with the Saracens and the liberation of Jerusalem. “Our beloved son John,” the pope wrote, “appearing before our apostolic throne, told us in what love you support us and the Roman Church and how you honor other Christian societies with your favor. He also told us a lot about the various benefits that you have shown to him and his colleagues in the work of the Lord until now, how friendly and benevolent you have been towards those of your subjects who have accepted faith in Christ, and how you are trying more and more to assist them on the path of salvation. Such news greatly rejoiced our hearts, and now we wish even more with all our hearts for your own salvation. As the heir of the prince of the apostles and the unworthy vicar of Christ, we feel obliged to ask you to help ensure that those of your subjects who are still on the path of error return from it and approach the true faith. This faith destroys all guilt, with its rays frees the heart from the fog of delusion, it is the foundation of all virtues, it is a clear star that illuminates life and is followed by the day of dominion. We also diligently convince Your Royal Majesty, having carefully thought about how uncertain and random human life is and how suddenly and quickly the hour of death can come to everyone, for the sake of one’s own salvation, the advancement of one’s faith and the glory of God, to accept the sacrament of St. baptism, in order to thus gain the opportunity at the end of life to get rid of the gates of death and enter the kingdom of eternal bliss 117. Indeed, Argon's hope to see the liberation of Jerusalem was a pure chimera, because at that time Christian rule in Palestine was already living out its last days, and the mood of Christian Europe was such that no efforts of the pope could arouse here the former enthusiasm of the Crusades. Before the end of his life, around 1299, Argon again sent ambassadors to the pope, from whose stories it is clear that Latin propaganda in Persia still continued to make significant progress. Hanshi: Datawihatun and Anikhonamin were instructed in the Christian faith; one of the khan's siblings, Karbaganda, was baptized with the name Nicholas; of the nobles professed the Christian faith: John de Bonestra and Xant - the khan’s bodyguards and Sufriddin, his physician. In addition, there were many who were ready to be baptized. The ambassadors strongly urged the pope to undertake a crusade to liberate Jerusalem, destroy the Mohammedans, and generally maintain Christian rule in the east, which was ready to be completely destroyed. The Pope sent two Franciscans to Argon: William de Gerio and Matthew with a letter in which he informed the Khan that the King of England, Edward, had already assembled a powerful crusader army to expel the Saracens from St. land, invited the Mongol khan to participate in the holy war and again exhorted him before this campaign to accept baptism from the hands of Latin priests. At the same time, the pope pointed out to Argon his own son Nicholas and his wives, who did not hesitate like him and had already received baptism 118. At the same time, the pope also wrote to Cassian, the second son of Argon, exhorting him to follow the example of his brother and accept baptism; wrote both to Nicholas and to Argon's wife Anichonamini, exhorting them to take care of the conversion of their wavering relatives and in every possible way to help the missionaries in their work to spread Christianity 119. Having reassured Argon about the crusade, Pope Nicholas IV had the intention of seriously fulfilling his promises. The Palestinian possessions of Christians have never been in greater need of help than at this time. The Egyptian sultan was already besieging the last Christian city, Ptolemais, and soon took it and destroyed it. The Pope sent his bulls to all sovereigns, where he mourned in the most touching terms the last misfortunes of Christians and promised absolution for a hundred days even to those who would be present at the teachings of the preachers of the crusade. But all his efforts were dashed by the coldness of Western Christians. The English king Edward, about whom the pope wrote to Argona, was little inclined to fulfill his promises. Contemporary circumstances of that time chronicles tell that Nicholas IV could not bear such indifference of Christians and died out of despair - April 12, 1292. After his death, the conclave could not agree on the choice of his successor and the Roman throne remained idle for 27 months. During this long interval (from April 1292 to July 1294), the matter of the crusade was almost completely forgotten 120. However, even if the pope’s efforts had been crowned with success, Argon still would not have had the opportunity to benefit from the fruits of these efforts: he died in 1291. With the death of this sovereign, Latin propaganda in Persia began to decline noticeably, as was to be expected from the method followed by the Latin missionaries during their preaching. This method contained almost nothing that could guarantee the lasting inculcation of Christianity, but on the contrary, it contained much that promised the most ephemeral success to Latin preaching. Firstly, the main attention of the Latin missionaries was directed to the khans; the mass of the people remained neglected. Therefore, the existence of Latinism in Tatarstan depended almost exclusively on the goodwill of the rulers, and all the work of the missionaries necessarily had to be lost as soon as a person of a different way of thinking ascended the khan’s throne. Secondly, the Latin missionaries, persuading the khans to accept missionary work, appealed mainly not to their religious feelings, but to their political prudence, offering them an alliance of Christians and promising, with the help of powerful Western sovereigns and the most powerful of them, the pope, certain victories over their enemies. As a result, while political prudence inspired the Mongol khans to turn to the West for help, they patronized Latin missionaries and sometimes expressed a feigned desire to accept the Christian faith, but as soon as it seemed more profitable to them to be in an alliance with the Muhammadans, they began to persecute Christians and patronize the Muhammadans. During the Crusades, the name of the Franks was famous in the east, and the desire of the west to enslave the east inspired serious fears in the eastern peoples. The Mongols also looked to the west with respect and even some fear; They considered the Western sovereigns to be much stronger than the Muhammadan sovereigns and an alliance with them was much more profitable than with anyone else. Moreover, this union was completely natural and strictly followed from the political state of the world at that time. But when at the end of the 13th century. The rule of the Franks in Asia completely fell and the Christians, persecuted by constant failures, withdrew from Syria forever, the high opinion of the Mongols about the power of the Western sovereigns also decreased significantly and the Mongols began to believe less in the benefit of an alliance with Christians. Moreover, the hatred between the Mongols and the Muhammadans, which arose as a result of the aggressive aspirations of the former and the self-defense of the latter, subsided over time and the reasons for hostile actions against the Muhammadans, and therefore for an alliance with their enemies - Christians, became much less numerous among the Mongols. Thus, from the end of the 13th century. political prudence should have inspired the Mongol sovereigns that in the interests of their own safety and tranquility they needed to live in peace with their neighbors and that they should not hope for an alliance with distant sovereigns, that they should patronize the Muhammadans and persecute their enemies. – Further, the Latin missionaries preached not so much faith in I. Christ, how much they inspired obedience to the Roman high priest, thereby offending the national pride of the Mongols. The Mongols could only patronize the claims of this proud Roman ruler in extreme need, and as soon as this need passed, the Latin missionaries were to little by little lose this protection. Argon died amid the formidable preparations for war with the Muhammadans (1291). These preparations so alarmed his enemies that Muhammad's followers included the death of the Mongol ruler among the miracles performed by God in favor of Islamism 121 . Indeed, the death of Argon was as favorable for Muhammadanism as it was unfavorable for Christianity, and especially for Latinism. Argon's brother and successor Katseitu (Gaykhatu), devoted to sensuality, did not at all care about the religious and political affairs of his kingdom and allowed the Muhammadan party to freely strengthen. But finally, his unbridled voluptuousness and cruelty made him the subject of universal hatred of his subjects, and after his five-year reign he was killed in 1295. Gulagu’s grandson Baidu was chosen as his successor, whom all historians of that time praise for his philanthropy and justice 122 . If Mosheim’s guess is correct that the letter of Pope Nicholas IV, addressed to “Caidono principi tartarorum 123”, refers to Baydus 124, then back in 1288 this prince was decisively on the side of Christianity. Indeed, his reign promised strong protection to Christians. He again gave his Christian subjects the same freedom in matters of religion that they had enjoyed under Argon, and clearly preferred Christians in the appointment of officials to government positions, although out of fear of the Mohammedan party, which was constantly growing stronger, and not as decisively as Argon. However, this inclination of Baidu towards Christianity did not escape the Mohammedans, and they formed a conspiracy against him. Baydu was killed, and Argon's son Ghazan, who was the governor of Khorasan, was elevated to the khan's throne (in 1296) with the condition of accepting the Muhammadan faith and raising it to the level of the dominant religion. At first, Ghazan diligently fulfilled these conditions. He, along with his brother Khoda-benda and 8,000 Mongols, accepted circumcision and solemnly began to perform Muhammadan rites. Christians everywhere suffered the most severe persecution. In Arbela, Tabriz, Mosul, Baghdad and other cities, many Christians, especially priests, suffered martyrdom; their churches were turned into mosques and some were destroyed. The Muhammadan chroniclers, for this zeal for the spread of Muhammadanism, do not know how to praise Ghazan and call him a saint, claiming that Muhammad and Aliy appeared to him in a dream: the first once, and the second twice 125. But this jealousy of Ghazan for Muhammadanism lasted only two years. The same Mohammedan party that placed him on the throne and for whose sake he accepted Mohammedanism and persecuted Christians, conspired against him and began to support the usurper aspirations of the new Khorasan governor, Nowruz. Ghazan, having learned about this in time, sent an army to Khorasan, and the indignant governor was killed in battle. This tendency of the Muhammadans to rebel brought them down in the eyes of the khan, and he turned sharply back to the policy of Argon. He declared war on the Sultan of Egypt, entered into an alliance with the Armenian king Guyton (Hetum) II, married his daughter and began to patronize Christians. From then on, according to Michaud, destroying Muhammadan became his most cherished dream. The conquest of the banks of the Nile and Jordan began to occupy all his thoughts. When new cities arose in his possessions, he liked to give them names: Alepo, Damascus, Alexandria and the names of many other Syrian and Egyptian cities 126. The majority of his army consisted of Christians, Georgians and Armenians, and the Christian banner flew next to the banner of the Great Khan. Ghazan set out from Persia, leading an army; the Armenian, Georgian kings, the king of Cairo, the Templars and the knights of St. John, having learned of his intentions, joined his banners. A big battle was fought near Emessa; the victory betrayed the Egyptian sultan, who lost the best part of his army and was pursued to the steppe by Armenian horsemen. Alepo and Damascus opened the gates to the winner. If you believe the words of the historian Guyton, Christians then entered Jerusalem and the Tatar Khan visited with them the tomb of I. Christ. Michaud says that “from here Ghazan sent envoys to the pope and to the European sovereigns, asking for their alliance and offering them possession of the holy land. The high priest received Ghazan's envoys, but could only respond to their proposals and requests with promises, which remained unfulfilled. The arrogance with which Boniface VIII, the successor of Nicholas, addressed the Christian sovereigns, and his exhortations, similar to orders, armed the minds of the sovereigns, especially the French king, against him” 127. However, around this time, the Pope sent several Franciscan and Dominican monks 128 to Tartary, with instructions to “restore oppressed and perverted Christianity there and spread it further in all directions of the East.” But there was no news about this embassy, ​​except for the extensive instructions of 1299 and the diploma of 1206. The instruction gave the missionaries extensive powers, allowed them to do everything for the rise of Latinism in the east and the subjugation of Christians who do not recognize papal supremacy to Rome, and was addressed “dilectis filiis, fratribus sanctis de Bolea, Guillemo Birnardi, Fernardo Guille et cet. ordinis praedicatorum ad terras Saracenorum, Paganorum, Bulgarorum, Cumanorum, Aethiopum, Syrorum, Hiberorum, Alanorum, Gazarorum, Gotorum, Rutenorum, Jacobitorum, Nubianorum Georgianorum, Armenorum, aliarumque terrarum orientalium et Aquilonarium nationum pfoficiscentibus nunciis" 129. Such an extensive appointment testifies more to the exorbitant claims of the pope than to his zeal for the conversion of the pagans and the Mohammedans. No news has been preserved about the works of these missionaries, but the subsequent decline of Christianity in Tataria and the strengthening of Muhammadanism show that with the change in the khans’ favorable attitude towards Christianity, their works could not proceed successfully. The Tatars, despite their victories, could not, however, triumph over the structure and firmness of the Mamelukes, who, like them, emerged from the deserts of Scythia. Almost the same thing happened to the Mongols then as almost always happened to the Franks during the heat of the Crusades; At first they had great successes, but circumstances not related to the holy war recalled them to their fatherland and forced them to abandon their conquests. Ghazan was forced to leave Syria and return to Persia; he undertook a second campaign, which he also abandoned; During the third, he died, having damaged his victories, taking the last hopes of Christians to the grave. After the death of Ghazan, his brother Khoda-benda, the same one who accepted Christianity under Argon with the name Nicholas, ascended the throne. His mother was a Christian and, in all likelihood, even during his youth she took care of planting the seeds of Christianity in his heart. But his conversion to Christianity was not based on sincere and deep convictions. When Ghazan accepted Muhammadanism, Khoda-benda also followed his example and together with him began to persecute Christians. It is not known how he behaved in the last years of Ghazan’s reign, when Christians enjoyed the patronage of the khan, but throughout his reign, which lasted 14 years, he remained an opponent of Christians. It is difficult to decide how sincere this behavior of the khan was: whether it stemmed from his religious beliefs, or was the fruit of his political prudence. The latter seems more likely. Having left Christianity, he did not, however, forget about Christians and the possibility of an alliance with them in difficult circumstances. In 1308, probably on the occasion of some hostile clash with the Muhammadans, he sent a certain Thomas Ildin to Pope Clement V with the task of persuading Christians to undertake a crusade against the Muhammadans. In his letter to the pope, Hoda-benda expressed his desire to rejoin the Christian Church and promised active help to Christians. The pope, who was really busy at that time about a new crusade, joyfully accepted this proposal, promising in his letter to march against the Muhammadans at the head of 100,000 horsemen and exhorting the Mongol Khan to remain firm in his intention and take care of the speedy and perfect integration of himself into the society of believers 130. But these promises, as always, were too hasty and could not be fulfilled. The pope himself hardly believed in the possibility of fulfilling them, and if he gave them, then, in all likelihood, with the sole purpose of somehow attracting the khan to accept the Christian faith or, at least, not pushing him away from himself and thus not harming the actions of the missionaries. Hoda-Benda also hardly sincerely expressed his inclination towards Christianity and hardly believed in the success of his embassy, ​​and if he sent it, it was only to find out the state of affairs in Europe and, just in case, to stock up on a distant but faithful ally. And so on both sides these relations were not sincere, sealed with lies and cunning and therefore could not bring any benefit to Christianity, which in Persia was more and more suppressed by Muhammadanism. Khoda-benda was the last khan to turn to the west for an alliance. His successors were already so zealous Mohammedans that for them such an alliance was no longer conceivable, and patronage of Christians was a betrayal of their faith. Khoda-benda's successor, Abu Said, brought up in Mohammedanism, no longer turned to the pope for help. Having ascended the throne at the age of 12, he was for a long time under the tutelage of the Muhammadans, so that during his reign Muhammadanism gained a decisive advantage in government spheres; but Christians still enjoyed quite a lot of tolerance. Persecution, which sometimes occurred, was neither widespread nor long-lasting. The reason for this was probably the constant wars that the Persian Tatars had to wage at that time with their neighbors, especially with the Kipchak Khan Uzbek. These wars were supposed to largely distract the attention of the Muhammadan government from internal affairs and put Abu Said in a passive attitude towards the activities of the Latin missionaries, who therefore presented him before the popes as a sovereign favorable to Christianity. So in 1321, two monks of the Franciscan order arrived from the east with a notification of the Tatar emperors’ favor towards Christians: Zopan Begilar and Mussaid (i.e. Abusaid, according to Mosheim’s probable guess 131. The Pope was very happy about this news and sent the Franciscans back to Persia, instructing them to use this goodwill for the benefit of Latinity and providing them with letters appropriate for the occasion, but received no answer 132. This same news probably prompted the pope in the next 1322, when the Turks attacked Armenia, to turn to Abu Said with a request for help for the Armenian Christians and with an offer of his alliance. But the two letters 133 he wrote on this occasion also received no response; the request remained without result, and the union’s proposal was not accepted. Abu Said died in 1381, and after his death civil strife began, which finally interrupted the friendly relations of the Persian Tatars with the popes and continued until Tamerlane destroyed the Persian-Tatar kingdom. But despite this lack of friendly relations between the popes and the government of the Persian-Tatar kingdom under Abu Said and his successors, the papal mission here existed at that time and even apparently enjoyed significant freedom in its actions. Missionary news of this time, notifying about persecution, at the same time informed about the prosperity of Latinism in Persia, about the abundant fruits of the zeal and labors of the authors of these news and their predecessors. All this news, however, is apparently exaggerated and seems to be deliberately written in an extremely vague and dry manner, so that it is impossible to borrow solid facts from them either to characterize the mode of action of the missionaries, or to evaluate the results of their activities. Regarding the first subject, one can only say that the Latin missionaries, feeling their powerlessness and true to their old custom, preferred to preach the papacy to the Eastern Christians rather than Christianity to the infidels. Their main attention was drawn to the Nestorians and other Eastern Christians, then to the pagans and, after all, to the Mohammedan. Therefore, the greater number of their proselytes consisted of Christians converted to the papacy, rather than of pagans and Mohammedans converted to Christianity. Among such proselytes were then considered the Nestorian Patriarch Yaballaga himself, who in 1304 sent a letter to Pope Benedict XI expressing his submission and consent to accept Latin dogmas, and to whom the pope responded with a long message filled with discussions about the dogmatic differences between the Nestorians and the Latins and evidence of his supremacy 134 . As for the results of the missionary activity of the Latins in the Persian-Tatar kingdom, historians of Catholic missions of this time are extremely skeptical about the news of these results and advise believing them with extreme caution 135. But since there is no criterion for verifying these news, there are no sufficient grounds to reject them and all that remains is to remember when discussing them that they are, in all likelihood, greatly exaggerated. If you believe this news, then the end of the 13th and the first half of the 14th century was the most brilliant era of Latin missions among the Tatars. Missionaries coming from the east described the Tatars' inclination to accept Christianity and their supposedly enormous successes in converting infidels in the most vivid colors and forced the popes to send new missionaries to the east to help the old and establish bishoprics and archbishoprics for the converts. In Sultan, the capital of Persia (founded in 1303 by Ghazan), the Franco-Perusian missionary worked with such success and converted so many pagans and Mohammedans to Latinism that in 1315 there were 25 churches there in which services were held for the converts. Feeling unable to meet the varied needs of his flock, Franco sent around 1318. to Pope John XXII of the Dominican William of Adu, with instructions, having described the successes of the missionaries in Persia and the needs of the converts, to ask St. father of assistants. Franco believed that as the number of missionaries increased, conversions should increase. The Pope was of the same opinion and willingly fulfilled the missionary's wishes. He did even more: in order to better ensure the success of the missionaries in their preaching, he decided to establish a metropolitan see in Sultaniya and thus give the converts a hierarchy. Franco was appointed Metropolitan of Sultania and six suffragan bishops were appointed as his assistants: Gerard of Calvenia, Bartholomew de Podio, Bernardin de Placenzia, Bernard Moreti, Bartholomew Abaliati and the already mentioned William of Ada. All of these suffragans were Italians, with the exception of the last one, who was French. The pope gave the Sultan's archbishop extensive powers and, contrary to the Roman custom, according to which every bishop must receive consecration in Rome, elevated him to the episcopal rank in absentia without calling him to himself, and entrusted the ceremony to William Ada, who, together with his comrades, was consecrated by the pope himself and took the pallium, papal letters and instructions to the new archbishop. Subsequently, this William of Hell was the Sultan's archbishop and the immediate successor of Frank 136. Almost nothing is known about the subsequent state of Latinism in Sultaniya, but one can think that this metropolis could have been important for the spread of Latinism in the east. Sultaniya was at that time the center of eastern trade and the most convenient point from which it was possible to act on the surrounding unbelieving peoples. By establishing the metropolis here, the pope had in mind this very importance of the place and thought in this way to give the Latin missions in the east a strong support. In his bull on this occasion, the pope expressed the hope that from here the missions would spread throughout Western Tartary, even to India and Ethiopia 137. Indeed, this hope of the pope had a solid basis, but in the Middle Ages the numerous European trading colonies in the east were of great importance for the spread and even for the success of the Latin missions. In accordance with the spirit of that time, the religious-national element in these colonies was in the foreground. Merchant colonists usually built a church from the very beginning and then grouped their houses and offices around it, surrounded their possessions with walls and fortifications and founded a city within a city, a state within a state with its own laws and customs, independent in its administration from the laws of the country and alien to the native population in its national characteristics and religious beliefs. Pride, contempt for the barbarians who gave shelter to foreigners, and passion for promoting their nationality were the hallmarks of the colonists. Therefore, the colonies of the Genoese, Venetians and other Italian sailors could always serve as a reliable support for the mission and a means for spreading it to the most distant limits of the then known world. If the Western missions at the beginning of the 14th century. were spread throughout Tatarstan, the Western Italian colonies greatly contributed to this. The colonists themselves, among whom there were clergy, were far from devoid of the desire to convert the infidel to Christianity and tried in every possible way to attract non-believers to themselves, but their greed for money, pride and arrogance repelled every good native from them. The suffragan bishops, six in number, sent to assist the archbishop of Sultaniya, were, in all likelihood, stationed in various cities of Persia, especially those in which there were trading colonies, which was for example. Tabriz, second capital of Persia. It is reliably known about this last city that soon after the establishment of the metropolitanate in Sultaniya in 1328, Pope John XXII sent there the Dominican William of the League as bishop 138 . Around the same time, bishoprics were established in Tiflis, Maraga, Semiskant and a metropolitanate in Nakhichevan. In order to introduce and establish Latinism among the Tatars who lived in the north and east of the Black and Caspian Seas, the popes also tried to provide solid support for their missions in the colonies, namely: the Genoese and Venetian ones, which then spread along the shores of the Black and Azov Seas, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, rightly thinking that from here missionaries could conveniently act on the Tatars who lived in present-day European Russia and in Caucasus. In 1320, Pope John XXII established an episcopal see in Kafa (now Feodosia in the Crimea) and sent Franciscan Jerome there as bishop with instructions to try to convert his own colony of Tatars to Christianity 139. But the Genoese, who were not on good terms with the pope at that time, did not accept this bishop and he had to return to his homeland with nothing. Instead, in 1323, one of the suffragans of the Sultanian Archbishop William Ada, the successor of Franco of Perusia, the Dominican Thaddeus 140, was appointed for Kafa in 1323. Around the same time, an episcopal see was established in Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Franciscan Stephen was appointed bishop there in 1315 by Pope Clement V 141. In the following years, the pope established a bishopric in Kherson Tauride and a metropolis in Vosporus Cimmerian. The Dominican Francis Camerino was appointed metropolitan of this last city around 1333, and the Dominican Richard 142 was appointed bishop of Kherson. In addition, in 1333, John XXII established a missionary and educational monastery in Kafa, the monks of which were supposed to specifically study oriental languages ​​143. Thus, having in the colonies, where it was possible to live safely and have all the amenities for the study of Tatar languages ​​and religion, fairly solid points of support for their activities, the Latin missionaries could extend this activity to a larger area and with great success. It seems that thanks to their activity, some of the khans of western Tatary were disposed, if not to accept Christianity, then to enter into friendly relations with Christians, who, with their favor towards Christians, gave the popes a reason to send new missionaries to Tatary and to further spread Latin propaganda in the east. In 1321, Bishop Jerome, expelled from Kafa, returned to the west and reported to the pope about the goodwill towards Christians of the age-old Abuz Khan, son of Kazakin, king of the Tatars. The pope decided, in the interests of Latinism, to take advantage of this favor and sent Jerome with five assistants and with a letter in which he convinced Abuz Khan to accept Christianity and asked him to patronize Christians and especially missionaries 144. In 1329, two more Dominicans arrived from the east, one of whom was called Thomas Mancazolo, and reported to the pope that the emperor of the Tatars living in Turkestan and Khorasan, Eltagadai, was asking for an apostolic blessing and wished to be instructed in the Christian faith. The Pope installed Thomas as bishop of the city of Sempskant, the location of which is not reliably known 145, and sent him back to Turkestan with a letter to Elchigaday, in which he praised the khan for his disposition towards Christianity and briefly outlined the dogmas of the faith 146. As a result of the same activity of the missionaries, the pope established relations with Millenus, king of the Alans, and Besok, king of the Zikhs. These peoples lived at that time in the vicinity of the Black Sea, were in close relations with the Latin colonists and were already Christians even before the arrival of the Latins, who probably paid special attention to them and reached the point that some influential and powerful persons from among them agreed to recognize the supremacy of the pope, which gave the latter reason to send to them his admonishing messages and new missionaries, of which the remarkable ones are the already mentioned Francis de Camerino and Richard Englishman 147. But the relations of the popes with Uzbek, khan of the Golden Horde (1313 - 1342) were especially frequent. The Uzbek was a zealous admirer of Muhammad and tried by all means to spread Muhammadanism among his Tatar subjects; however, political prudence forced him to respect the Roman high priest, on whom his rivals, the enemies of Uzbek, the Persian khans, pinned so many hopes and who, through his numerous ambassadors, managed to instill in the East the opinion of himself as a powerful sovereign. At the beginning of the reign of Uzbek, Christians living in his capital, among whom there were, perhaps, Latins, freely performed their religious duties and, without any hesitation, rang the bells before the start of the service, calling believers to prayer. The Catholics had their own bishop, Stephen, and three miles from Sarai the monastery of St. John, where the missionaries lived. Such freedom of the Christian religion did not really please the zealous followers of Muhammad, who constituted a strong majority, and they managed to convince Uzbek that the ringing of bells, which could be a bad omen for the Tatars, could not be tolerated in the Muhammadan capital. As a result, Uzbek issued an edict prohibiting Christians from ringing bells. This order was accepted by Christians as the beginning of the persecution, and they turned to the pope with complaints and a request for intercession. Pope John XXII in 1318 sent a letter to Uzbek in which he exhorted him to cancel the edict he had issued three years earlier, and praised him for his disposition towards the Christian religion 148. But in all likelihood, this letter had no effect and the edict of Uzbek remained in full force, despite the complaints of Christians and the admonitions of the pope. In 1323, the pope sent a new letter to Uzbek, in which he exhorted him to accept Christianity and asked for the abolition of the above-mentioned edict in almost the same terms as before 149. But this letter also had no effect, because Uzbek at that time did not yet see for himself any need for the pope’s favor and was such a zealous Muhammadan that he had no incentive to make concessions to Christians and equalize their rights with the Muhammadans. The situation of Latin Christians not only has not improved since the time of the papal letters, but apparently has even become worse. In 1333, one of the missionaries, Stephen of Hungary, accepted Muhammadanism and became an evil opponent of Christians, but then again converted to the old religion and for this suffered martyrdom from the Muhammadans of Saransk in 1334 150. Whether this apostasy 151 was a consequence of coercion on the part of the Muhammadans or a consequence of the extremely insufficient preparation of the missionary is not known, but the very fact of martyrdom shows that the Muhammadans in the kingdom of Uzbek were so strong that they could torture traitors and denigrators of their faith with impunity. However, Uzbek himself, despite his famous Muhammadan piety, behaved very prudently towards Christians at this time and even gave them hopes of his conversion, because the pope, in his letter to Uzbek, sent around the same time, praises him for his disposition towards Christians 152. After some time, he even began to curry favor with the pope and around 1340 sent three Franciscans to him as ambassadors: Peter de Lorto, Albert and Elijah of Hungary. On this occasion, Pope Benedict XII entered into the most friendly relations with Uzbek and wrote several testamentary and laudatory letters to him, his eldest son Tinibek and his wife Taidula 153. These letters, sent to their destinations with the same ambassadors, contained partly praise to the above-mentioned persons for their patronage of Christians, partly exhortations to accept Christianity and recommendations for missionaries. These letters, of course, could not have any positive meaning in themselves. They served only as an expression of good relations between the Mongols and Christians, the reason for which was the missionary activity of the Latin monks. After the death of Uzbek, his son Janibek or Chanibek ascended the Kipchak throne, who reached the throne by killing his two brothers (1842 - 1357). Like his father, he was a zealous Mohammedan, but less inclined to friendly relations with the West and attempted to destroy the Latin colony, Tana. In 1348, Elijah of Hungary again came to the pope with news of hostile plans against Tana Khan of the Golden Horde and his adherence to Muhammadanism. The pope again sent Elijah to the Horde with a letter to Janibek, in which he exhorted the khan to establish a favorable relationship with the Latins, patronize their priests, etc. 154. Janibek was the last khan with whom the popes entered into written relations. – Almost nothing is known about the state of Latinism after him in the Golden Horde. Civil strife and violent revolutions in government became constant and were stopped by Tamerlane, whose conquests constituted an era in the history of Latin missions among the Tatars. B) Missions among the Eastern Tatars a) in the Chinese-Tatar kingdom Let us now turn to the missionary activities of the Latins among the Eastern Tatars, who, under the leadership of Kublai, conquered China and founded the Mongol state there. In the relations of Kublai (1259 - 1302) to Christianity, political calculations were less noticeable and therefore the missionary actions of the Latins in his kingdom could more clearly preserve the character of Christianity. But Latin missionary work contained so many anti-Christian elements that even favorable circumstances could not move it closer to the evangelical ideal. The first Latins who penetrated the Chinese Tatars were enterprising Venetian merchants: Nicolo and Matteo Polo 156. In 1250, these enterprising Italians decided, in order to increase their trading capital, to establish trade relations with the peoples who then lived beyond the Black Sea, without having, however, the direct intention of reaching distant China and the Great Khan Kublai. But, having set off, little by little, forced by the circumstances encountered, curiosity and the thirst for greater acquisition, they went deep into Tataria and reached the very capital of the Great Khan, Beijing, or, as it was called at that time, Kambala. This was around 1260. “When the travelers,” says Marco Polo, who described the adventures of himself and his father and uncle, “introduced themselves to the Great Khan, he received them favorably and affably: such treatment was in his character. They were the first of the Italians to come to this land, which is why holidays were given for them; they were distinguished in other ways. The Khan had a friendly conversation with them, asking about the Western countries of the world, about the Roman Emperor and other Christian kings and princes. He ordered to tell himself about their power, about the expanse of their lands, how they look at justice in their various states and principalities, about the art of war, and most of all and preferably asked about the pope, church affairs, worship and the holy teaching of Christians. Well-educated and modest people, they answered him as best as possible about all these subjects, and, having become fully acquainted with the Tatar language, explained themselves in such decent terms that the Great Khan, who held them in high esteem, often called them to him.” 157 Having settled in the capital of the Tatar kingdom, the Venetians pursued here not only their personal trade interests, but also the interests of Christianity, which were then so close to every European. They tried to find out about the degree of the Great Khan's inclination towards Christianity and even tried to persuade him to take a decisive step. According to the stories of Marco Polo, in the Kublai empire, Christians constituted a significant party, which even tried to gain dominance by force of arms. Kublai's nephew 158 Nayan, the governor of one of the regions, secretly received St. baptism, although he never openly recognized himself as a Christian 159. Having decided to become independent and free from subordination to the Great Khan, he formed a significant army and was only waiting for reinforcements from Naidu to attack the Great Khan. But Kublai warned him and, attacking him by accident, destroyed Nayan’s army, took him prisoner and executed him. According to Marco Polo, there were a large number of Christians in Nayan’s army and the sign of the cross was displayed on his military banners 160. As for the Great Khan Kublai, when he opposed Nayan, he was alien to any religious hatred, and, having defeated him, he did not receive any aversion to Christianity. When, after the defeat of Nayan, the Jews and Saracens, seeing that the sign of the cross had been thrown to the ground, mocked the Christians, he called them to him and gave them a severe reprimand. “If the cross of Christ,” he said, “did not help Nayan’s cause, then truth and justice will win: Nain was a rebel and a traitor to his sovereign; the cross could not patronize such an unfortunate person; and therefore let no one dare mock the Christian God, who is perfect goodness and truth itself” 161. However, it cannot be concluded from this that Kublai had a special commitment to Christianity. All his behavior in relation to the various religions of his kingdom shows that he was a complete indifferentist in the matter of religion, and for political reasons he equally patronized everyone and gave hope to everyone. In the same year (1287), on the Easter holiday, Kublai, according to the story of Marco Paul, “knowing that this was one of our main holidays, he ordered all Christians to come to him and bring with them St. The Scripture that contains the Four Gospels. Having solemnly smoked this book with incense, he reverently kissed it; According to his orders, the nobles who were here should have done the same.” This is his constant custom, Marco Polo notes, and then further says: “he also observed on the holidays of the Saracens, Jews and pagans. When they asked him why he was doing this, he answered: there are four prophets revered and adored by four different tribes of the world: Christians reverence I. Christ, the Saracens reverence Mohammed, the Jews reverence Moses; and among the pagans the highest God is Saganinbar - Kan (Shak-Yamuni). And I honor all four and pray for help to him who is, in fact, above all of them. because those who profess it, he said, desire nothing but what is holy and good. However, he did not want to allow them processions of the cross, because in this case the highly revered face of I. Christ, crucified and died on the cross would be carried away” 162. In general, as can be seen, political prudence was the main feature of Kublaev’s character. He tolerated and patronized all religions and for a long time did not give advantage to any of them, or, on the contrary, made the adherents of each religion think that he loved their faith the most. Therefore, confessors of different religions were equally disposed towards him and his rule, believing that they were under his special protection. Christian Kublai assured of his disposition towards them to such an extent that even Marco Polo, who was for a long time with his father and uncle among the king’s close associates, sent by him to various important embassies and thoroughly knew very many state affairs, fell into deception, like others, and was sure that the khan, considering Christianity the best religion, was secretly disposed towards it more than towards other religions. The Muhammadans, especially those who predominated in the western reaches of his kingdom, were also pleased with him and were pleased: persons of this faith occupied many of the highest military and civil positions. The pagans had the most reason to consider him one of their own, and, indeed, he was a pagan, because the pagans made up the majority of his subjects. If all his subjects, or the vast majority of them, were Christians, then without a doubt he would immediately become and be a Christian. But since Christians among his subjects were far from making up the majority, then, as a smart politician, he did not want to become a Christian out of fear of arming the majority of his subjects against himself and losing most of his conquests. All this was stated quite clearly by Kublai himself during one of his conversations with the Venetians: Nicolo and Matteo Polo. When the latter, having lived for several years in the capital of Kublai, began to prepare for the return journey, the Great Khan invited them to take on the title of his ambassadors and take with them one of the Mongol officials named Kogital. The travelers agreed and on this occasion dared to say a few words to him regarding Christianity; they asked him why he did not openly become a Christian, and exhorted him to decisively convert to Christianity. “Why should I be a Christian?” he said. “You yourself should know that the Christians of these countries do not know how, and cannot do any miracle: on the contrary, you see that the pagans do whatever they want: when I sit at the table, cups full of wine and other drinks come to me by themselves, without any touch of a human hand, and I drink from them. Pagan sorcerers have bad weather at their disposal and can drive it away in any direction of the sky; Yes, they have many other similar gifts. You yourselves are witnesses that the gods of the pagans have the ability to speak and predict when required of them. If I convert to Christianity and become a Christian, the princes of my court and other people disposed to this faith will perhaps ask what reasons forced me to be baptized and accept Christianity? What extraordinary powers did the priests conquer? What miracles did they do? And the pagans say that everything they do is done according to their own holiness and the influence of their gods. I will not be able to answer them; they will consider me a person who has fallen into error, and the pagans, thanks to their deep art of performing such miracles, can very easily take my life. However, return to your dad and ask him in my name to send a hundred people who know the rules of your faith well, so that they can be brought face to face with the pagans: let them show their power and, having brought them to their senses, prove that they themselves are gifted with the same miraculous power, but they just don’t want to use it, because it is the work of the devil, and force the pagans themselves to give up such tricks. If I am a witness of this, I will put a ban on the pagans and their faith and will be baptized. All the princes of my kingdom will follow my example and be baptized; All my subjects will do the same in imitation of them, and then there will be more Christians in these countries than in your own land 163. After this answer, it was clear, on the one hand, that Kublai was superstitious and had the most vague and crude ideas about religion in general and Christianity in particular, and on the other hand, the opportunity became obvious for the Christian mission not only to establish itself in the vast possessions of the Tatar Khan, but also to enjoy the patronage of the government and act successfully. Therefore, the Venetians with the greatest joy and readiness volunteered to help fulfill the wishes of the Great Khan and the benefits of Christianity. “Hearing such orders from the Great Khan,” Marco Polo continues to say, “they fell at his feet and expressed their immediate readiness and the most ardent zeal to carry out the orders of His Majesty, not sparing their strength. He then ordered letters to be prepared in his name to the pope in the Tatar language and would hand them over to travelers. He also ordered them to give them a large tablet with the royal sign carved on it,” something like a passport, which was very useful to them on the road. The official sent with them fell ill 20 days into the journey and was left by them on the road. In April 1269, after a three-year journey, travelers arrived in Acre and learned that Pope Clement IV had recently died. “At that time, there was a legate in Acre, appointed by the late pope, named Tebaldo de Visconti di Piacenza: they informed him what assignments were entrusted to them by the Great Khan of Tartary. The legate advised them, no matter what the circumstances, to wait for a new choice, and when it takes place, to achieve the goal of their embassy with the pope” 164. The Venetians, finding such advice good, at first agreed, but the choice of the pope was so slow (for 3 years) that “finally, concerned that the Great Khan would not like their long delay, or that he might think that they had no thought of returning to his land, they considered it useful to return to Acre... With a formal look from the legate, they visited Jerusalem and stocked up on a small vessel of oil from the lamp of St. coffin, by order of the Great Khan. Then they received a letter from the legate to this sovereign, the letter testified to their zeal with which they tried to carry out the orders of the khan and announced that the supreme head of the Christian Church had not yet been chosen... But as soon as they left, the legate received a messenger from Italy from the college of cardinals, with the news that he had been elevated to the papal throne, which is why he took the name Gregory X. Having considered that he himself was now able to fully satisfy the desire of the Tatar monarch, he hastened to turn them back” 165, prepared papal letters as quickly as possible and gave them two monks from the order of preachers who happened to be there. “These were people as learned and knowledgeable as they were profound theologians. One was called Fra Nicolo di Vicenza, the other Fra Guelmo di Tripoli. He gave them freedom and authority to ordain priests, ordain bishops, and absolve sins as much as he could. He also presented them with expensive gifts, including various beautiful crystal vessels, which they were to hand over to the khan on his behalf and with his blessing 166. Arriving in Armenia, the papal ambassadors learned that military unrest was in full force here on the occasion of the invasion of the Egyptian Sultan Bibars. “Both monks were frightened and, in fear for their lives, decided not to go further. They handed over to the Venetians letters and gifts entrusted to them by the pope, and they themselves surrendered under the protection of the chief of the templars and immediately returned... But Nicolo Matteo and Marco fearlessly went to meet the dangers and obstacles to which they had long been accustomed 167. Three and a half years later they again arrived at Kublai's court. “The Great Khan received them with honor and mercy in the full assembly of Tatar princes and mistresses; approaching him, they, as a sign of their respect, bowed at his feet at the entrance. He immediately ordered them to stand up and tell him the details of their journey and everything that happened during their conversations with His Holiness. They told the incidents in good order. The king listened to them with special attention. Letters and gifts from Pope Gregory were laid out before him: after reading the letters, he praised the loyalty, zeal and diligence of his ambassadors; and having accepted with due respect the oil from St. coffin, he ordered it to be kept with reverent diligence 168. Thus, despite favorable circumstances, the founding of the Latin mission did not take place this time. Having spent several more years at the court of Kublai, and “having accumulated a lot of wealth in precious stones and gold, the Venetians felt a great desire to return to their homeland. Khan loved them so much that for a long time he did not agree to let them go, but finally they managed to almost deceive him into giving him permission. By releasing them, Kublai authorized them as his ambassadors to negotiate with the pope and the kings of France and Spain 169. In 1295, they arrived at their homeland so as not to return to Kublai anymore, and therefore had no incentive to carry out his instructions, especially since at that time the popes, in addition to them, had already entered into relations with Kublai in a different way and the missionaries were already operating in eastern Tartary. Soon after the Venetians left for Kublai with a letter from Pope Gregory X, rumors began to reach Europe even about the real conversion of the Great Khan to Christianity and about his desire to enter into closer relations with the pope. The first news of this was brought to Pope John XXI in 1276 by ambassadors of the Persian Khan Abaca, who at that time was trying to arouse Western Christians to a new crusade against the Muhammadans. Abaca's ambassadors informed the pope that the great Khan Kublai had already been baptized 170 and wanted to send Christian teachers from the west who could teach the Christian faith and prepare all his people for Christianity. The answer to Abaka was already written, as we said, by Nicholas III. The five Minorites who received this answer received instructions from the pope to also penetrate into eastern Tartary to the court of Kublai, deliver the papal letter to the khan and, in accordance with his wishes, introduce Christianity in his possessions. In his letter to Kublai, Pope Nicholas exhorted the khan to most persistently assist the missionaries sent in the task of instructing his people. “The calling of our envoys,” the pope wrote, “is, first of all, to strive for the salvation of everyone. This is the salvation that Christ’s vicar also desires, following the example of the Savior hanging on the cross. Those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death must find this salvation, which is promised to them by divine prophecy. How can the soul of a shepherd not rejoice when those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death see the great light? The news of your nephew Abacus that you have long been moved by divine grace to leave the path of error, turn to the path of truth and, having been reborn through baptism, join the people of believers, deeply rejoiced the mother of churches, Rome, and was a subject of lively joy for the heart of my predecessor John. This divine grace also inspires you with the desire to see your children brought to the knowledge of Christ and baptized according to the customs of the Roman Church... Oh, if this is so, then how can you not praise the fatherly love that leads your children to salvation” 171. According to calculations, missionaries with a letter should have arrived at Kublai at a time when Polo's Venetians were at his court, and Marco Polo should have known about this. But in his journey there is no mention of these missionaries, although the attention with which he dwelled on the relationship of the Great Khan to Christianity and especially to Latinism imposed on him an indispensable obligation at least to mention their presentation to Kublai and missionary activity in his empire. It is clear that the missionaries for some reason did not achieve the goal of their embassy. In general, nothing is known about their fate and missionary activities. After 10 years, new news came to Europe about Kublai’s favor in Christianity and a new, more successful attempt was made to establish a mission among the Eastern Tatars. In 1288, an embassy from Argon arrived to the pope. Convincing the pope to enter into an alliance with the Tatars against the Muhammadans and send missionaries to Persia and informing him of Argon's readiness to accept Christianity, the ambassadors reported the same about the Great Khan Kublai. These joyful news for Pope Nicholas IV, also confirmed by the stories of missionaries who arrived at that time from Persia, prompted the pope to immediately take advantage of such favorable circumstances to establish Latinism in eastern Tartary. He decided to send there the best of the then Latin missionaries, John de Monte Corvino, and wrote a letter to Kublai in which he expressed his joy at his conversion and recommended his missionary. “We rejoice in the Lord,” the pope wrote, “and we thank you from the depths of our hearts that you have seriously decided to spread the limits of the Christian faith in your kingdom. We were heartily pleased to learn from the ambassadors of the Tatar Khan Argon that you yourself and your people are sincerely devoted to our St. throne and that you wish that preachers of the Roman Church be sent to you. We have therefore decided to assign to you our beloved son John Monte Corvinno with his comrades from the Minorite Order and we urgently ask you to receive them in a friendly manner and be merciful to their saving work concerning the conversion of immortal souls, so that they, relying on your patronage, can carry out their sacred work on a larger scale and with greater success 172. With this letter and some others to Argon, Caidon, the noble Pisan Iolus 173, John de Monte Corvino with his comrade, also a minorite, Nicholas of Pistoia, set off in 1289, and in 1291 he was already in Persia, in Tabriz. From Tabriz he went (1291) to India, where he stayed for 13 months and baptized about 100 people in different places. Here John's colleague, Nicholas of Pistoia, died, and John had to make the further journey to the court of the Great Khan alone with the enterprising Venetian merchant Peter Lucalongo, who joined the missionaries in Tabriz and took the missionaries' goal as close to his heart as his own trading goals. Arriving in the capital of the Tatar-Chinese kingdom, John introduced himself to the Great Khan Kublai, handed him a letter from the pope and was graciously treated kindly. But when the missionary invited the khan to accept Christianity, he was met with complete indifference on his part and found that the khan was “very attached to idolatry.” In all likelihood, the missionary’s conversations with the khan were of the same kind as described by Marco Polo. Khan could not accept Latinism before the majority of his subjects accepted it, and in order to become a Christian out of conviction in the highest dignity of the Christian religion, he was too little developed and too entrenched in his pagan habits. What could Monte Corvino do? Should he turn all his attention to the Great Khan, convince him at all costs of the truth and superiority of the Christian religion, or should he organize a strong Christian community among his subjects? If Monte Corvino had not been alone, he would no doubt have been able to do both at the same time. But since he was alone, he had to choose the better of the two. To turn all your attention to the Great Khan and then, with the help of his power, to forcibly introduce Latin among his subjects was a very wrong and inconvenient thing. Let us assume that the Khan would have converted, although, knowing his character, this was difficult to expect, he would hardly have declared himself a Christian openly and would hardly have placed his imperial power at the complete disposal of the missionaries. If the latter had happened, then even then success would have been doubtful: the khan was already old and could soon die, and with his death everything had to change and all his work would be lost forever; violent measures of conversion to Christianity could cause armed opposition from paganism, which here was stronger than any other religion, could create dangerous civil strife and completely destroy the entire missionary work. Monte Corvino, one of the greatest Latin missionaries, understood this well and, contrary to the usual Latin custom, did not insist on the inevitable conversion of the Great Khan, but, taking advantage of his religious tolerance, turned all his attention to the organization of the Christian community among his subjects. But here, too, the Latin leaven revealed itself, because John Monte Corvino directed all his activities not at idolaters and Mohammedans, but in accordance with the old custom of the Latins to build a building on someone else’s foundation, he began to convert the native Christians of the Nestorian sect to Latinism. Contemporary news, as well as Monte Corvino himself, unanimously assert that at this time the Nestorians in the Mongol Empire were very numerous and enjoyed great favor from the sovereigns. But as for their moral state, Latin writers paint it with the darkest colors. “Many parishes remained for a long time without priests; many children died without baptism, and many adults died without confession and burial; many of the priests and deacons were bigamists, the bishops barely traveled around their dioceses once every 50 years and did not care at all about the Christian life of their flock... Because of this, the wicked heretics were at that time as ignorant as they were dissolute” 174. Monte Corvino wrote that “although they bear the name of Christians, they are far from the true Christian faith 175. In general, the Latins did not want to see anything Christian in their rivals and this justified their avoidance of preaching among the Muhammadans and pagans and their primary attention to the Nestorians. One may suspect that these descriptions are not entirely impartial and that in them the moral shortcomings of the Nestorians are significantly exaggerated by religious hatred. There could easily have been shortcomings, because the remoteness of the Baghdad Catholicoses could not properly govern the subordinate dioceses, but one can hardly believe that they were as great as it seemed to the Latins. Having begun to propagate Latinism among the Nestorians, Monte Corvino, probably, judging by his reviews of the Nestorians, not being too ceremonious with their beliefs, met with the most energetic opposition from their clergy. A stubborn struggle arose between the Latin missionary and the Nestorians, which lasted for five whole years and ended with the expulsion of the Nestorians and the triumph of Latinism. The Nestorians, feeling the danger, resorted, according to Monte Corvino, to the most base means to destroy the nascent Latinism. They resorted to bribery, slander and even violence. John Monte Corvino was exposed in the eyes of the khan as a spy sent by the Roman court and European sovereigns to find out the military strengths and weaknesses of the Tatars; he was often dragged to court, where he had to refute the slander of false witnesses, and was repeatedly in danger of losing his life. This persecution did not, however, stop the success of Latin propaganda, and this should partly explain the bitterness of the Nestorians, who saw the decline of their followers. Monte Corvino himself wrote that a certain George, one of the princes subordinate to the Great Khan, a descendant of the famous Van Khan, a Nestorian by birth, had a special attachment to the Latin missionary, accepted his teaching and even became a Franciscan monk. The example of this prince was followed by many of his subjects. This circumstance, which happened at the very beginning of Monte Corvino’s activity, was probably the main reason for the Nestorian machinations. But soon things improved for the Latin mission. The emperor, in an unknown way, became convinced of the innocence of the papal missionary and expelled the Nestorian priests with their wives and children from his land. Left alone and without rivals, Monte Corvino could take up the mission in freedom and conduct it according to all the rules that missionary prudence prescribed for him. He immediately became concerned about building a church in the very capital of the great khan, Kambala, hung three bells on it and began to openly perform Latin worship. The newly converted Prince George Minor served at this service. Then he started a school for baptized Tatar children, of whom there were up to 150. In this school he taught children not only catechism, but also Latin and Greek. However, the missionary’s main concern was to accustom children to worship and correct liturgical duties. Since he did not have any books with him, except for a small service book, he himself compiled and wrote the Psalter, several hymbariums and breviaries for the children from memory. Trained boys sang during services and performed other church duties. Next, an intelligent and zealous missionary, who had already thoroughly studied the Mongolian language, began translating St. Scriptures. Some think that this translation was not made by Monte Corvino, but long before him by the Nestorians, but this is nothing more than a guess 176. In 1305, he already had a beautifully rewritten copy of the New Testament and Psalms in the Tatar language ready, and he read these books to the people in a language that was understandable to him. Such a clever image of missionary work was the reason that the missionary’s work soon began to be crowned with brilliant success. In his letters to the pope and the general of the Minorite order, written in 1305, John says that from the end of the persecution, for probably no more than 6 or 7 years, until the time of writing the letter (1305), he baptized about 6,000 natives and would have baptized up to 30,000 of them, if the persecution had not prevented him. The emperor himself, probably Kublai's successor, Timur 177, showed great favor to the missionary's work: he attended Latin worship and listened with pleasure to the singing of Tatar boys. But despite the brilliant successes, Monte Corvino feared for the future of his flock and keenly felt the lack of his strength and means to firmly plant Christianity among the Mongols. For 11 whole years he worked alone without any assistants, and to this very circumstance he himself attributed a significant decrease in his flock after the death of George in 1299. George's brothers, zealous Nestorians, again converted converts to their sect. “Since I was alone,” writes Monte Corvino, and could not leave the court of the Great Khan, it was not possible to quickly provide help to this community, which is 20 days’ journey from here... If I had two or three employees, then the emperor himself would have decided to be baptized 178. Only the zealous zeal of the aforementioned merchant Peter Lucalongo supported him to some extent. This merchant, if not a missionary himself, then at least provided material resources for the mission. In the same year, 1305, when the number of proselytes increased to the point that another church was needed, he bought land and donated it to John to build a church on it. This land was located just in front of the palace of the Great Khan, a stone's throw away from it, and two hours away from the old church, and was fenced with a wall. Inside this fence, John intended to build a beautiful church in the winter, but now there was a chapel here that could accommodate up to 200 people. Both in the church and in the chapel, the missionary performed daily worship, which attracted large crowds of people, who, according to Monte Corvino, “were extremely amazed to see this new place with a red cross erected on it and you during the service in the chapel. This remarkable circumstance aroused a general uproar throughout the whole country and, by the grace of God, became salutary.” 179 At this time, Monte Corvino was no longer alone. With him was the German monk Arnold from Cologne, who had already arrived two years ago; but history conveys nothing about the activities of this employee. He, of course, somewhat eased the work of Monte Corvino, but still he alone was not enough to satisfy all the needs of the growing flock. In 1305, Monte Corvino found an opportunity to write two letters to Europe, in which, depicting his labors and needs, he asked that they send him employees, however, those who would set an example and would not seek their own glory, and described which road would be more convenient to go to the capital of the Great Khan. Further, he asked for news of the state of the west and for books, and described what a bountiful harvest the missionaries could reap in the field in which he was laboring. “It has been 12 years,” he wrote, “that have passed since I received any news about the Roman court, about my brothers in the order and about the state of the West. A certain Lombard doctor, who came here two years ago, spread many slander in this country about the Roman court and our order, so I would very much like to know the truth. I ask the brethren to send me several copies of church books and holy books. legends, since I have nothing with me except a small missal. I am already becoming old, and it is not so much age as labor and suffering that has turned my hair gray” 180 ... “The empire of the Great Khan is undoubtedly the greatest in the world; I am allowed, as a papal legate, to come to court at any time and take a place near the emperor, who gives me priority over all other prelates of other churches and is very willing that new preachers come from the west. In these lands there are various types of pagan worship and many sects of pagan priests who lead an even stricter lifestyle than our monks in the West. There is still much to be done to spread Christianity in India; but men of strong character must be sent here who can resist the temptations of the flesh" 181 . The letters of Monte Corvino, written by him in 1305, were received in Europe in 1307. Pope Clement V (1305 - 1314), having learned from these letters about the successes of his missionary and his needs, immediately took the most energetic measures to satisfy his request and to ensure the further success of Latinism among the Tatars. He determined to give the Christian community, founded by Monte Corvino in the Mongol Empire, a hierarchical structure, so that it would be able to expand its boundaries and, with its own efforts, without outside help, satisfy all the spiritual needs of its members. Seven Franciscan monks, Gerardus, Peregrinus, Andrew of Perusia, Nicholas of Bantra, Peter Castello, Andrucius of Assia and William of Villanovo, were consecrated bishops and sent to help Monte Corvino. Upon their arrival in the capital of the Great Khan, they were supposed to consecrate the latter as Archbishop of Kambala and present him with the pallium and papal diploma, and then, as suffragans, perform their duties in accordance with his instructions. In his diploma, the pope gave the new archbishop the most extensive powers: all Roman communities in the east, both existing and those about to come into existence, were to submit to him; all income from all churches was to be at his disposal; he was to be the judge and father of all bishops in the Mongol Empire, as the viceroy and legate of the apostolic see; all this was given to him with one, however, ordinary papal condition, that he, like all his successors, submit to the apostolic throne, take full care of its benefits and receive the episcopal palium from the pope 182. At the same time, the pope sent a letter with the missionaries to the Great Khan, where he extolled him with praise, exhorted him to obey the voice of his envoys and to assist their efforts with all his might 183 . The missionaries' journey was not entirely happy. Three of them, Nicholas Bayatra, Peter de Castello and Andrutius of Assisi, died in India without reaching the goal of their journey; William de Villanovo returned from here to Europe to inform the pope about this sad incident and ask him to send new missionaries to eastern Tartary. As a result of this news, the pope again sent missionaries to the Mongol Empire in 1312, having previously ordained them as bishops. These were the Franciscans Thomas, Jerome and Peter of Florence. However, nothing is known about their activities; it is not even known whether they reached their destination. If Jerome, mentioned among the missionaries sent to Tartary in 1312, and Jerome, Bishop of Kaffa, about whom we spoke above 184, are one and the same person, as Lacroix thinks, 185 then, obviously, for some reason they soon received a different assignment. Meanwhile, the survivors - Gerard, Peregrin and Andrew of Perusia - continued on their way and in 1308 arrived in the capital of the Great Khan Kambala. Having presented their credentials, they consecrated John as archbishop and began to discharge their duties, which, thanks to the tolerance and benevolence of the Great Khan, they could do completely freely. The Khan, to whom they presented the papal message, treated them so favorably that he not only allowed them to freely carry out their missionary duties, but also gave them maintenance. As for successes, they were, but, judging by the reviews of Andrew of Perusia, they did not have the strength that could be expected from the leadership of such an experienced missionary as Monte Corvino. “In this vast empire there are people of all nations in the world and all sects. Here they allow everyone to live according to their own law, because they think that in everyone one can be saved, and we can preach completely freely and seriously. But none of the Jews and Saracens is converted; Of the idolaters, very many received baptism, but many then do not live like good Christians 186. But if in this way Latin propaganda could not boast of the quality of its proselytes, it could boast of the constant expansion of the circle of its activities in territorial terms. Soon after the arrival of Andrew of Perusia and his comrades in Kambala, a Christian-Latin community was founded in Ceyton (or Caidon, probably Canton). Here, one pious and wealthy Armenian widow built a church, mostly at her own expense, and asked the Kambala archbishop to supply her with clergy. John, in response to this request, appointed one of his suffragans Gerard as bishop of Cayton, then, after his death, Peregrinus, and finally, in 1322, Andrew of Perusia, who was one of the best employees of Monte Corvino and thanks to whose activities there were soon two Latin monasteries of the Franciscan order in Cayton. The Franciscan Oderic of Friuli or Paderbone 187 mentions these monasteries in his description of his travels. This monk, like many brethren of his order, was carried away by the zeal that prevailed at that time to convert pagans to the Christian faith, and in 1318, through Persia and India, he went to China to the court of the Great Khan. In the Indian city of Tinne, he took the bones of four Franciscans who had been martyred here shortly before and, arriving in Tseyton, transferred them to the monasteries there. He lived in Kambala for three years, preached zealously and converted 20,000 people to Latinism 188. In addition to the Devonian bishopric, during the reign of Monte Corvino, several other bishoprics, or at least Christian communities, were formed in the Mongol Empire. The bishops subordinate to the Archbishop of Kambala were: Korean, Alan, Kerait and bishops of other Latin churches, some converted to Latinism from Nestorianism, and some newly founded. In general, the period of activity of Monte Corvino was the most flourishing time for Latinism in eastern Mongolia. There were a lot of Christians here, Christian law was in great respect both in the palace of the khan and in the chambers of nobles and in the huts of farmers. The missionaries enjoyed great respect at court; on special days, they appeared with congratulations to the emperor among the first dignitaries of the court 189. They were protected by law from oppression by the pagans; They were allowed to travel preaching the Gospel throughout all the provinces, to build churches, to build schools, in which they were helped, by the will of the sovereign, by local leaders, and, in imitation of them, by private individuals 190. The consequences showed that this entire mission rested on the personality of its founder, John Monte Corvino. In 1330 this excellent missionary died, exhorting his colleagues on his deathbed to courageously continue the work of evangelistic preaching. However, this business began to decline after his death. Pope John XXII received the news of the death of Monte Corvino with unfeigned sadness and took care of the immediate appointment of a successor. Franciscan Nicholas was ordained to this important post and, with 26 assistants, was sent to his destination in 1333. The missionaries were provided with letters of recommendation to the Great Khan, to the Korean King Kokh and the Kipchak Uzbek and to the entire Tatar people 191 . From these letters it is clear that many Tatars and Tatar princes were very inclined towards Christianity, although they had not yet received baptism. Therefore, the pope, praising them for their goodwill, urges them to immediately accept baptism. “But, due to unknown circumstances, the missionaries were too slow on the way. The Kambala Christians remained for a long time after the death of Monte Corvino without spiritual leadership, because probably none of his employees was able to replace him. Having waited in vain for 8 whole years for the arrival of his successor, they finally decided to send an embassy to the pope with a request to hasten the sending of an archbishop to Kambala. In 1338 Franciscan Andrei Franko with 15 companions went to the pope with letters from some Mongol princes and even from the emperor himself, who probably took an active part in the affairs of the Christians of his subjects 192. The emperor wrote the following: “we are sending our ambassador Andrei Franko with 15 companions to the pope, the lord of Christians, to France across the 7 seas, where the sun sets, in order to open the way for the ambassadors often sent by us to the pope and by the pope to you, and we ask the pope to send us his blessing and constantly remember us in his holy prayers and to pay more attention to you Christians - Alan, our servants and his children. Let them also bring us horses and other wonders from the west. Written in Kambala,” etc. The Alan princes wrote in a more polite tone. "Greetings to St. Father, they wrote, we bow our heads to the ground and, kissing his feet, ask that he never forget us in his prayers. We inform your Holiness that we, having been instructed in the Christian faith by your nuncio John, a courageous, holy and gifted man, since his death, for 8 years now, have been left without a spiritual guide and without consolation. Although we have heard that you have sent us another leader, he has not yet arrived. Therefore, we ask Your Holiness to send us a wise and kind man who would take care of our souls and come quickly, for we are left without a head, without instruction and consolation. We also ask your wisdom to respond favorably to the Emperor, our lord, who strongly desires that free and safe communication be opened between you and him, and that in this way, for mutual consultations and strengthening of friendship, your ambassadors can easily come to him, and his to you.” 193 As a result of these letters, which were flattering for the pope, although they contained some sad news, the pope sent new missionaries to eastern Tartary, also Franciscans: professor of theology, Nicholas Bonnet, Nicholas Molano, George of Hungary and John of Florence. The new missionaries, as usual, were provided with extensive powers and flattering letters to various Tatar princes and especially to the Chinese Emperor Shunti 194 and arrived at their destination around 1342 195. It is not known whether they found Archbishop Nikolai of Kambala in Beijing, or whether Nikolai Bonnet assumed this position then. The only certainty is that Nicholas was the second archbishop of Kambala. If by this name one should mean the latter, i.e. Bonnet, then about the former it will be necessary to say that he went missing. Lacroix 196 believes that the Cambala diocese was ruled by the first, that he finally arrived at his destination, and if it was late, it was because he slowed down in Armalech, where circumstances required his presence. Be that as it may, Emperor Shunti received the missionaries in the most favorable manner. Touched by the obsequiousness of the Roman court and the letter of the pope, full of flattering praises, soon after their arrival he issued a special edict in favor of Christianity, by which he granted the missionaries complete freedom to preach the gospel without hindrance throughout the empire, and he allegedly became so favorable to the missionaries that he could not spend even a single day without talking with them. No details have been preserved about the activities of these missionaries, but the zeal of the Latin monks undoubtedly did not fail to take advantage of this freedom to multiply their churches, monasteries, as well as proselytes. They were so able to win over the emperor in favor of Latinism that around 1352 he sent John of Florence to Europe with a letter to the pope, in which he expressed his disposition towards Christianity and asked to send new missionaries. Pope Innocent VI joyfully accepted this request and in 1354 ordered the General of the Minorities to elect several monks and bishops for the missionary field in Tartary. But in all likelihood this election did not take place for some reason; at least no news about this has survived 198. Soon the missionary work of the Latins among the Chinese Tatars was to cease completely, and Latin Christianity, which, as a result of the fifty years of activity of papal missionaries, could have reached a fairly flourishing state, was to completely disappear. Mongol rule had long been hated by the proud Chinese, and they were only waiting for an opportunity to overthrow the foreign yoke. The discontent, growing every year, finally broke out in a terrible uprising, led by the son of a poor day laborer from the province of Kiang Nang, Ju-Iwen-Jang. In a short time, indignation spread throughout the empire, and the Mongols, having lost several battles, were forced to leave China. The leader of the insurgents ascended the imperial throne and became the founder of a new dynasty, the Ming. Together with the Mongols, everything that they patronized was to fall, and especially Christianity, which was maintained in China mainly among the Mongols and thanks to their favor. Along with the Tatars, Christian missionaries and even many Christians, most of whom belonged to foreign nations, were expelled from China. Therefore, new missionaries sent by Pope Urban V in 1370 under the command of William de Prato, who was ordained Archbishop of Kambala in place of the deceased Fr. Koma, the successor of Nicholas, could not appear at their destination, and nothing is known about their fate... The expelled Tatars headed towards Ili, but here they soon fell to the authorities of the new world conqueror Timur. b) In the kingdom of Jagatai The political upheavals that were agitating Asia at that time generally did a lot of harm to the work of Latin missionaries. These missionaries were mainly concerned with gaining the favor of the khans, and not with the firmly planting of Christian principles among the masses of the people. Therefore, almost every change in the ruler had an unfavorable effect on their missionary work. The Muhammadans were especially hostile to the missionaries, who, at every opportunity, tried to destroy the nascent Christianity with an armed hand and almost never converted to Christianity themselves. So it was in Persia, so it was in Kipchak and China, and so it was in the Jagatai kingdom, whose capital was Ili-Balik, or, as the missionaries called it, Armaleh 199, and where the descendants of Jagatai, the eldest son of Chingizov, reigned at that time, recognizing the power of the great khans, the descendants of Kublai, 200 over themselves. Around 1830 6 Franciscan monks penetrated here: Richard of Burgundy, who bore the rank of bishop, Francis of Alexandria, Raymond Ruffi - Italians from Piedmont, Lawrence of Alexandria - also an Italian, Peter Martel - a Frenchman from the province of Narbonne and John an Indian, converted to Christianity, joined the Franciscan order and was a translator for the Archbishop of Cambala. Taking advantage of favorable circumstances, these monks were able to establish a strong missionary station here with a bishop at its head. One of the monks, Francis of Alexandria, had some knowledge in medicine, and this information, as often happened with Latin missionaries, was useful for missionary work. Jagatai Khan was very dangerously ill at the time of the missionaries' arrival. Francis managed to heal him. This brought the missionary such respect and gratitude from the khan that he began to call him father, made him his adviser and submitted to his influence quite strongly. Khan allowed missionaries to build churches and monasteries, freely preach the gospel and baptize the Tatars. If he did not convert himself, he at least allowed Francis to raise his 8-year-old son in the Christian faith and baptize him under the name of John. Taking advantage of this disposition of the khan, the missionaries built a beautiful church in Armalek and carried out quite active and successful propaganda. But such favorable circumstances did not last long. In 1335, the Muhammadans gained an advantage and the Latins had to fight powerful and cruel enemies. This year, the Florentine Bulducci Isgoletti was in Armalech on his trade affairs and found that here at that time, under the rule of the Tatar khans, the Muhammadans were already ruling, while previously they were only tolerated by Nestorian Christians and Catholic missionaries 201. At the same time, the Franciscan missionary Pascal de Vittoria lived and worked in Armalech. From his letter 202 it is clear that he had to endure quite strong persecution here from the Muhammadans, which was only possible because the Muhammadans had already become masters. About 1338, this missionary, with his companion Gonzalve Transtorna, with the blessing of his general, set out from Venice by sea through Constantinople and Tana to the east to preach the gospel. They soon separated: Gonzalvo, probably frightened by the difficulties of the journey, went with some other monks to Urgent and then returned to Europe, and Pascal de Vittoria was left alone and arrived in Sarai in 1334. Here he stopped for a while to study the language of the country and witnessed the martyrdom of Stepan. Having studied the language and Uyghur writings so much that he was able to preach without a translator, he went further to Central Asia and entered the possessions of the Jaghatai khans. Here he found Muhammadanism in a flourishing state, repeatedly entered into competitions with the Muhammadans and suffered all kinds of insults and violence from them. Once, when he attended a large meeting of Muhammadans on the occasion of the holiday, he competed with the chief imam for 25 days and finally brought him to the point that he had to recognize the sacrament of St. Trinity. But the fanaticism of the Muhammadans was so strong that, as a result of the defeat of their imam, they not only were not convinced of the superiority and salvation of Christianity, but also began to force Pascal to accept Muhammadanism. When exhortations, threats and promises of rich gifts did not help, they subjected him to the most cruel tortures, threw stones at him, burned his face with fire and pulled out his entire beard. Pascal, however, managed to avoid death and he safely arrived in Armaleh, where he found the affairs of the Latin mission probably not in a very happy state, and from where he wrote to his brethren in Europe (1338) a letter full of sad forebodings, in which he told the adventures of his journey and said that he no longer hoped to see them on earth, but in paradise. Indeed, soon the Latin missionaries in Armaleh ended their activities with death, around 1341 or 1342. here a new change occurred in the government, favorable to Muhammadanism. A certain Ali Sultan, from the descendants of the son of Chingiz Khan, Ogedei, overthrew the legitimate khan from the throne (if we follow Abulgazi, then it was Yasun-Timur Khan 203) and began to terribly persecute Christians. He issued an edict against Christians, according to which they all had to either accept Muhammadanism or die. During the execution of the edict, the missionaries received special attention. The Sultan invited them to publicly renounce Christianity and pronounce the Muhammadan confession of faith. When they refused, he ordered to torture them in the most cruel way in order to force obedience, and finally, driven out of patience by their steadfastness, he ordered all seven to have their heads cut off, which was done in June 1342 204 . After this catastrophe, which the papal ambassadors, Nicholas Bonnet and others, who were traveling to Beijing at that time and had a letter to the Jagatai ruler, could not avert, Christianity was no longer restored in Armalek, although the Beijing missionaries, taking advantage of the emperor’s favor, apparently made attempts 205. With the expulsion of Christians from China, the Christian population of Jagatai should have increased significantly, since the Mongols, after being expelled from China, settled in the vicinity of Armaleh 206. But civil strife between the Jagatai rulers and the conquests of Tamerlane, so devastating, extensive and favorable to Muhammadanism, completely destroyed the works of Latin missionaries in Tartary. After Tamerlane, we no longer see almost any traces of Christianity among the Tatars and even almost no attempts on the part of Western Christians to restore it, at least until the end of the 16th century. Tamerlane's conquests and the decline of Western missions among the Tatars Timur, whose conquests erased all traces of Christianity, planted among the Tatars by Latin missionaries, was born in 1S85 and was the sap of one Jagatai emir. From an early age, he began to make power-hungry plans, dreaming of becoming the new Genghis Khan. Having become the owner of a small khanate near Samarkand, the ambitious young man soon managed to significantly expand his possessions. With the assistance of Muhammadan, he took possession of the Samarkand Khanate, which was very significant at that time, and thus acquired sufficient funds to begin his brilliant conquests. All the surrounding Central Asian khanates fell under his rule in a very short time. In 1376, Kipchak was conquered and the khan's throne was given to Tokhtamysh. In 1379, Khorasan recognized his power, and in 1384, Herat. Strengthening every year, he further and further pushed the boundaries of his empire. During the 80s of the 14th century, he conquered almost all of Persia and Georgia, and in 1392 he returned to Samarkand in order to, having rested and gathered his strength, begin new conquests. Of his further campaigns, his campaigns are remarkable: to Georgia and to the Black Sea, from where he penetrated Russia and almost subjugated it to Tatar rule, the campaign to India, where at Delhi he defeated the Indians and laid down 100,000 corpses at the battlefield, and the campaign against the Ottoman Sultan Bayazet, who was captured at Angora and lost his 200,000 army (1405). Returning to Samarkand after this last campaign, Timur was about to conquer China, but death prevented him from fulfilling his intentions. Timur's conquests were the most devastating. No one would have believed the stories of the cruelties that accompanied these conquests if historians had not been too consistent in the narrative of them. So, if you believe the chroniclers, in Persia he once ordered 3,000 people to be pounded in a mortar, another time, by his order, 15,000 people were put into the wall that he erected in memory of his conquests. This conqueror had a particular weakness for pyramids of human heads: when capturing a city, each soldier usually had to deliver an enemy head; in Baghdad he built a pyramid of 80,000 human skulls. Such cruelty and devastation, of course, could harm the prosperity, at least externally, of the Christian religion, but it would hardly have completely destroyed it if they had fallen equally on everyone who had clashes with Tamerlane’s troops, if Tamerlane had been equally tolerant or intolerant of all religions. Indeed, most of the great conquerors were indifferent to religion and aligned their religious beliefs with political plans, being neither special adherents nor special enemies of any religion. Being official confessors of any one religion, they did not, however, persecute others and even tried to ingratiate themselves with everyone. Genghis Khan belonged to precisely this kind of people. Tamerlane was the same in his soul, especially at first. At the first time of his conquests, he did not make any distinction between religions: he divided people into only two classes: obedient and rebellious. The first had to kill, and the last had to put their heads under swords. There were even authors among Christians who did not see anything hostile to Christianity in Timur’s subsequent actions and even praised his friendly relations with Christians. Thus, the Jesuit Catroux 207 claims that Timur “knew the Christian religion, loved it, always patronized it, although he never professed it” - the review is too unfounded, and can only be explained in the sense that Tamerlane was an enemy of the Ottoman Turks, the closest Mohammedans in Europe. But if he was an enemy of Muhammadan the Turks, then it does not follow that he was an enemy of Muhammadan in general and a friend of Christians. Timur's hostile attitude towards the Turks is easily explained by his aggressive aspirations and the fact that he belonged to another Mohammedan sect, the Shia, while the Turks are Sunnis. Christians in those dark times could draw a conclusion about Timur’s inclination towards Christianity only from two very, however, ambiguous facts, firstly, from the fact that he started a war with Bayazet, at the call of the Greek emperor, and thus appeared as a liberator of the Byzantine Empire; secondly, from the fact that he entered into friendly relations 208 with Western Christians and in 1403 sent with one Minor a letter to the French king, which was inscribed “to the great king of France and the most powerful sovereign of the Christians,” and in which Timur, thinking of pleasing the Christians, described his conquests in the east, especially the defeat and captivity of Bayazet, the persecutor of the name of Christians and, according to Timur, the most evil enemy of the king of France 209. But these facts are also easily explained by Timur’s cunning plans of conquest and do not in the least destroy the significance of the opposite facts. Timur had no intention of especially patronizing Christians, who constituted a peaceful and insignificant minority in the east, but on the contrary, it was very beneficial for him to patronize the Muhammadans, who conducted their propaganda in the east much more successfully than Christians and under Timur constituted a huge majority, capable of strongly supporting any aggressive plans. And indeed Tamerlane did a lot for the Mohammedans, and for the sake of their fanatical jealousy, he almost completely destroyed Christianity in the east. The Nestorians say that he became an enemy of Christians, especially since they dared to convert one of his wives to their religion 210. From then on, he began to systematically persecute Christians and exterminated them without any mercy. In Georgia, he allowed himself terrible cruelties and forcibly converted many Georgian princes, not to mention ordinary people, to Muhammadanism. He became an even greater enemy of Christians after the war with Bayazet. Gonzales Clavigo, who served as an envoy from the King of Castilia in Samarkand in the last years of Timur’s life, says that the reason for this was the behavior of the Greeks and Genoese during this war, who promised him help with people and galleys, but instead of keeping their word, after the defeat of Bayazet they gave the opportunity to escape to the remnants of his army and transported them to the other side of Europe. As a result of this, Timur, according to Clavigo, began to look at Christians as malicious people, inclined to consider his rule evil 211. In general, Timur’s merits in relation to Muhammadanism were so great that the Muhammadans proclaimed him a saint. However, the complete destruction of Christianity, planted among the Tatars by Latin missionaries, cannot be explained solely by persecution by Timur. Christianity has repeatedly experienced persecution no less severe than the persecution from Tamerlane, but it was not destroyed by this, but on the contrary, the blood of the martyrs was the seed of new Christians. If after Tamerlane all traces of the activity of the Latin missionaries disappeared, then this depended, in all likelihood, on another reason that depended on Tamerlane. What is this reason? Why couldn’t Christianity, preached in Tartary by the Latins, continue to exist here regardless of external support and despite all persecution? One should not look for this reason in the very essence of Christianity preached by Latin missionaries, as Protestant historians do (Blumhardt) 212. This Christianity is capable of existing no less than Protestant Christianity. Whatever it was, the foundations of Christian teaching were preserved in it, and these foundations could easily become a life-giving seed in the hearts of the Tatars. In order not to enter into theoretical considerations, it is enough to point to history, which shows that Latinism constantly existed next to Protestantism and at the same time, thanks to the greater purity of the foundations of the content of its teaching, it showed almost more vitality than the latter, and that there were many people who, having converted to Latinism, did not leave it under the most cramped circumstances. One cannot also look for this reason in the barrenness of the soil on which the missionaries sowed the seeds of the gospel teaching. The human heart is equally receptive to accepting Christianity, no matter what nation it belongs to. External circumstances and customs of the people can make it difficult for Christian teaching to gain access to the depths of the human soul, but once it has found this access, these circumstances can no longer destroy it. So, there remains only one reason - the fragility of planting, the inability of missionaries to firmly plant the seed of the Gospel teaching. The works of Latin missionaries in the Mongol Empire, especially the eastern one, represent an example of all the best that medieval Latin missionary work could do, but they were far from the ideal of true missionary work. If we exclude the works of individual, however too few, individuals, then under the influence of the policies of the popes they often had the most wrong direction and therefore had the worst results. Missionaries appeared in the field of their activities for the most part not as missionaries themselves, but as political agents of the papal government, as representatives for political negotiations, and deliverers of letters from their sovereign, the pope. Carrying out the political orders of their sovereign, they mostly courted the rulers, hoping, having converted them to Christianity, to take advantage of their despotic power and forcefully introduce Christianity into their domains, and paid little attention to the masses of the people. Further, when they turned to the lower classes, it turned out that their skill was only enough to convert a pagan, or better yet, to persuade him to be baptized, but not to make him a true Christian. They very rarely managed to convert a Muhammadan: their inexperience in this matter was so great that they sometimes suffered positive defeats in competitions with the Muhammadans and themselves accepted Muhammadanism. Even missionaries who came from the school of the best Latin missionary of that time, Monte Corvino, like Andrew of Perusia, complained that no one was converted from the Mohammedans, and although there were many pagans, converts did not live like Christians. Meanwhile, these missionaries had St. Scripture, and some moralizing books in the Tatar language, such as the catechism compiled for the Tatars by the learned Roman Egidius 213. This inability, which depended on unpreparedness and the wrong direction given to missionary work by the papal throne, which everywhere pursued power-hungry goals, was the main reason that Christianity was planted in the East by Latin missionaries too fragile and superficial and therefore did not have enough vitality and strength to exist without outside support and despite unfavorable circumstances. But maybe this Christianity would be revived again if the Latins, after Tamerlane’s pogrom, began their activities again and gave help to young Christians who were not yet strong in their beliefs and habits. This is very likely. But the Latins did not provide this help despite favorable circumstances, despite the fact that Tamerlane’s kingdom collapsed immediately after the death of its founder and his divided and weakened successors could always find benefits in friendly relations with Christians. This is a new reason for the disappearance of traces of Christianity among the Mongols. In the last quarter of the 14th century, during the very height of the Tamerlane wars, the missionary activity of the Latins between the Tatars already assumed the closest dimensions, and then completely transformed. Latin chroniclers actually point to several missionaries who allegedly operated very successfully among the Tatars at the end of the 14th century... during the era of Tamerlane’s conquests, but these indications are extremely dark and confused. So, according to the news of Wadding 214, in 1371 Francis de Podio, a minor, was sent to the Tatars and acted among them so successfully that in the Caspian mountains alone he allegedly converted up to 10,000 people to Latin 215. In 1391, he sent Roger the Englishman and Ambrose of Siena to Pope Urban V with a report on his labors and a request for help. As a result of this request, the Pope determined 216 that 24 monks should go to the Tatars to help Francis, but it is not known whether this determination of the Pope was carried out. In 1374, Pope Gregory XI sent the Dominican Bishop Elijah the Small to the east to Central Asia with many Dominicans, but nothing is known about his activities there either. It’s unlikely that even he was there, because in the first years of the 15th century. we see him in Constantinople 217. Probably the fear of dying from the cruelties of Tamerlane prevented the missionaries from going deep into Tatary, their destination. In addition, popes continued to install bishops in the sees established in the 14th century. in the Mongol Empire, but these bishops remained only titular and never ventured into Tartary. During the 15th century. the popes continued to sometimes send missionaries to the east to the Tatars, but these missionaries were very few 218; they never achieved their intended goals, and nothing is known about their actions. Such indifference of the Latins to the fate of their missions in the east among the Tatars finally destroyed these missions and over time, everything they sowed, left without care, perished without a trace. The papal throne and all Christianity that depended on it were then in such a position that it was difficult to expect on their part special attention to the planting of Christianity among tribes so remote and so often subject to sudden and cruel political storms. From the end of the XIV to the second half of the XV century. (1578 - 1447) the Western Church was overwhelmed by the so-called great schism, which occurred as a result of the desires of the Roman high priests to free themselves from the influence of the French kings and move from Avignon back to Rome. At this time, several popes often sat on the papal throne, who persecuted each other with anathemas and were almost exclusively occupied with the concern of establishing a firmer position on their throne and crushing their rivals. At this time, great reform councils took place, such as Pisa, Constance, and Basel, with which the popes had to wage the most fierce struggle, defending their imaginary rights against the attacks of the reformation spirit. Under such circumstances, the missions among the Tatars could not hope for active support from the popes, and on the other hand there was no way to expect this support, because in the Latin Church all church functions are so completely dependent on the pope and are so closely connected with the “center of unity” that any abnormality in this center responds to them in the most destructive way. Further, reform movements began in Germany, Luther appeared with his energetic protests against papal absolutism. These movements most seriously disturbed the papal throne and demanded all its attention. The eastern missions had to retreat into the background. – In addition to the great schism and reform movements that suppressed missionary aspirations in the West, there were other circumstances that, although they did not suppress or diminish these aspirations, diverted them in other directions. At the end of the 15th century. America was discovered. Stories about hitherto unknown peoples inhabiting the new world and riches attracted not only idle seekers of gold and adventure, but also missionaries. The popes gave newly discovered countries to Christian kings with the condition of spreading the Christian faith there. Missionaries willingly went there in the hope, under the patronage and with the assistance of secular authorities, to spread the Christian faith much more successfully than as they did in the Muhammadan states, where the power of Christian sovereigns did not extend. – All these circumstances were the reasons why the missions among the Tatars stopped receiving reinforcements from Europe and then were completely destroyed. They were revived later, but under different circumstances. Christ. read 1870 Jan. page 88. Stasyulevich. Histor. Wednesday. century Vol. II. neg. 73: Poderbonsky capitularies §§ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. Stasyulevich. Histor. Wednesday. century Vol. II. page 74. Michaud. History of crosses. hike. in Russian translation vol. L page 319 Makrasi. The path to knowledge of the reign of kings. Stasyulevich t. III. page 739. Stasyulevich. East. avg. century Vol. II. pp. 749, 750 Schlosser. World. history v. 7. neg. 368 – 370. The message of the Zhmudins, who sent it in 1399 to all the courts of Europe, very clearly describes the nature of the order's missionary work. “Listen to us, the oppressed, the tormented,” say the compilers of the message, “hear us, spiritual and secular princes! The (Teutonic) Order does not seek our souls for God; he seeks our lands for himself; He brought us to the point where we either have to walk around the world or commit robbery in order to have something to live on. How dare they call themselves brothers after that, how dare they baptize? whoever wants to wash others must be clean himself. It is true that the Prussians are baptized; but they also do not understand anything about faith, as before: when they enter a foreign land with the knights, they act worse than the Turks, and the more they become fierce, the more praise they receive from the order. The bee knights took all the fruits of our land and the hives from us; They do not allow us to kill animals, catch fish, or trade with neighbors; that they took our children hostage for a year; They brought our elders to Prussia, burned others with their entire family, carried away our sisters and daughters by force - and they also wear the holy cross on their dresses! Have pity on us. We ask for baptism, but remember that we are people created in the image of God, and not some kind of beast. From our hearts we want to be Christians, but we want to be baptized with water, not blood.” (Crusaders and Lithuania. Solovyova. Otech. Zap. 1852 July. pp. 60 – 61) Odor. Raynald an. 1247 No. 37, 58. Extremely remarkable in this regard is the letter of Pius II to Mohammed II, written by him during the preparations for the crusade against the Turks at the end of the medieval period, around 1460. Here are some excerpts from this letter: “If you want to extend your power over Christians and make your name even more glorious, then for this you need no gold, no weapons, no troops, no ships. The smallest thing that exists can make you the greatest, the most powerful and the most glorious. What is this, you ask? it is not difficult to find, you don't have to go far to look for it, it is everywhere - it is nothing more than a small drop of water by which you are baptized, converted to Christianity and believe in the Gospel. If you do this, then there will be no sovereign on earth who would surpass you in glory and could equal you in power. We will proclaim you Emperor of the Greeks and the East, and then what you have taken possession of by force and are not holding by right will be your rightful possession. All Christians will honor you and make you the judge of their disputes. Many will voluntarily submit to you, appear before your judgment seat and pay you tribute. And the Roman Church will not be your opponent if you turn to the true path. The first throne will support you in the same love as other sovereigns, even more so the more exalted your position is. Under this condition, you can easily inherit many kingdoms without struggle and bloodshed... We would not give help against you, but on the contrary, we would resort to your help against those who sometimes steal the rights of the Roman Church and raise their horns against their mother. Like their predecessors Stephen, Hadrian, Leo, who called Pepin and Charlemagne against Aistulf and Desiderius, kings of the Longabards and, freed from the hands of tyrants, transferred the empire from the Greeks to their liberators: so we, in difficult circumstances of the church, would resort to your patronage and in the same way would pay for your good deed. Oh, what would be the fullness of the world then, what would be the delight of the Christian people, what joy would there be throughout the whole earth, if the times of Augustus would return, those times that poets call the golden age would be resumed, the tiger would live with the lamb, the calf with the lion, etc.” Mahumet´s Saracenorum principis vita ac doctrina Pars III. pag 62 – 63. Epistola Pii papae ad. Morbisano Turсorum principem pag. 62 – 98). Michaud. Histor. crosses hike. Vol. III. pp. 471 – 474. Henrion. Ilistoir. gener, des Miss. Cath. I.p. 9. Schröckh. Kirchengeschichte. part 27. r. 243 – 246 Mahumet. Saraсenor. principis vita ac doctrina. Pars II p. 82. Let's go. to the Tatars, vol. I. Russian. lane Yazykova 1825 pp. 83, 88, 87, 93. Let's go. Marco Polo Russian. lane pp. 181, 182. Readings in the historical society. and ancient 1862 book. 1st. Bloomhardt. Versuch einef atg. Missionsgeschicht. B.III. Abth. I. p, 116. Degcription. du Tibet. Paris. 1808. p. 31. Let's go. to the Tatars – Yazykova p. 89. Let's go. Mark. Polo pages 109, 112, 119, 121, 128, 127, 128, 129, 133, 135, 142, 150, 158. The validity of this appeal is confirmed, among other things, by the testimony of the famous Muhammadan historian Rashid-ed-din. In his “History of the Mongols” he says about the Keraits, among other things, the following: “Confession of Jesus - peace be upon Him! reached them and they accepted His faith.” See Russian translation “History of the Mongols” by Rashid-ed-din in the Proceedings of the Eastern Branch of the Imp. Arch. General Part V. countries 94 St. Petersburg 1858. Schmidt at Ritter. I page 687. Histor. essay on Nestorianism. Hers. diocesan Ved. 1868 No. 7 p. 260, 261 notes Bloomhardt. Versuch einer alg Missionsgeschichte Band III. Abth. I. § 53. Mosheim. Histor. tartarorum ecclesiastica. App. No. IV. Baronii annales ecclesiast. an. 1177 No. 55. t. XI. p. 684. Ritter, Geographer. Asia. I. pp. 693. 694. BIumhardt. Versuch. einer alg. Missionsgesohichte Band III. Abth, I. § 56. Moshieim. Hist. Tartar. ecclesiast. App. No. 47. Ritter. Earth Asia. I. page 696 Let's go. Marco Polo pp. 125, 126. (”) Ritter, Land of Asia I. p. 697. Retter. Earth Asia I. p. 697. Mosbeim. Append. No. VI, p. 36. Michaud. Histor. Cross. hike. Vol. IV. pp. 54, 55. Let's go. to the Tatars lane Yazykova pp. 296 – 298. Let's go. to the Tatars pvrev. Yazykova, p. 21. Mosheim Hist. Tartar. Ecclesiastes. app. No. XII. p. 51. Let's go. to the Tatars translation Yazykova p. 57. Let's go. to the Tatars translation Yazykova p. 43. Let's go. to the Tatars translated by Yazykov, pp. 43, 55 Mosheim. Hist. tartar ecclesiast. App. No. 12. p. 51. Let's go. to the Tatars lane Yazykova pp. 201 – 203. Let's go. to the Tatars lane Yazykova p. 227. Let's go. to the Tatars lane Yazykova. page 241. Let's go. to the Tatars translation Languages page 253 Let's go. to the Tatars translation Yazykova pp. 259 – 261. Some (Lacroix Diction. des. missious T. 1. art. Laurent de Portugal p. 800 – 801. Mignc. Troisiеn et dem encycloped. theolog. t. LIX. Paris. 1863), believe that the pope’s response to this embassy was the mission of Laurentius of Portugal and a letter written in the ordinary tone of papal epistles. In this letter (Rayan. 1245 No. 16 Wadd. t. III. p. 116) the pope sets out Christian teaching for the Tatars in such a tone as if they already had some understanding of it. The Pope speaks about the fall of the first people, about the incarnation of God the Word and the restoration of people and then adds: The Son of God “having risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, left on earth his vicar, to whom he entrusted the care of souls ... and the keys of the kingdom of heaven, so that the vicar and his successors would have the power to open it and conclude it ... Being his heirs ... and ardently desiring your salvation ... we are sending to you ... our chosen son Lawrence Portuguese and his comrades, from the Order of Minorite Brothers, men famous for piety, honesty and knowledgeable in St. Scripture, so that you, having learned from their saving instructions about the Son of God I. Christ, honor your glorious name by accepting the Christian faith.” Thus, there is nothing in the letter itself on the basis of which it could be considered a response to Bayotnoy’s letter. The letter itself is dated March 9, 1245 and therefore was written much earlier than the receipt of Bayotnoev’s letter. In all likelihood, the mission of Lawrence of Portugal was determined along with the missions of Plano-Caroini and Asdelin, but for some reason did not take place; Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why no documents about her, apart from the above-mentioned letter, have been preserved. Mosheim. Append. No. XII. r. 47, 48. Mosheim. Append, No. XII r. 49 – 51 Mosheim. Append. No. XII. r. 51 – 54. Stasyulevich t. III. page 712. This circumstance gave some scholars, especially Degin (the author of Histoire des Huns), a reason to reject the authenticity of the embassy from Ercaltai and consider it a forgery on the part of the Armenian monks. Deguigne’s opinion was refuted by another even more authoritative scientist, Abel Remusat. He explained many of the dubious circumstances of this embassy and reconciled the contradictions in the essay: Memoires sur les relations politiques des princes obretiens... avec les Mongoles (Paris. 1822) Michaud also shares his opinion (Historical Crusades. Vol. IV p. 120). Geschichte der Kreuzzuge ѵ. Wilken t. VII. p. 403, 404. From the pope’s letter to Sattach it is clear that the Tatar ambassadors were “powers in Sicily by Conrad, the son of Frederick II, and not before they received the opportunity to continue their journey until after the death of this sovereign (Mosh. App, No. XV p. 60. Mosheim. r. 15, 56 arr. No. XV r. 57 – 60. Fleury. Histoire ecclesiastique. t. XVII p. 557. Ibid On this basis, some make the assumption that the above-mentioned embassy of Sartak to the pope was the work of some Nestorian deceiver, who wanted to receive a reward from the pope and Christian sovereigns in this way. Medieval. Let's go. pp. 179, 180. Thu. in general ist. in ancient times 1864 3 sq. Mosheim. arr. No. XIV r. 55 – 57. Odor. Raunai. an. 1259 No. 33. Schlosser. Everyone. ist. vol. 7 pp. 225 – 230. Michaud. Histor. cross. don't give a fuck Vol. IV p. 359. Abulpharag. Chr. syr Assem. Bib. or. t. III. P. 2 p. III; apud Mosheim. p. 61. Full Ottoman painting Empire vol. I p. 31. Odor. Rayn. 1260 No. 29. Mosheim. App. No. XVII p. 66 – 68 Versuch e. alg. Missionsgeschichte B. II Abth. 2 § 314. The time of fragmentation of the Genghis Khan Empire cannot be determined precisely, since this fragmentation took place slowly, little by little, without any formalities and occurred due to the fact that, after the conquest of China, the great khans, having settled in Beijing, lost the opportunity to properly maintain their power over their henchmen due to their remoteness. – The time of the conquest of China and the establishment of the Mongols there, coinciding with the last years of the life of the Gulagu (died in 1265), we think, can be taken as an approximate chronological boundary. The Tatars called her Bina-katova (Mosh. p. 64). IIIlosser. vol. 7. 231 – 232. Od. Rayn. an. 1267 Nos. 70, 71. Mosheim. arr. No. XIX. r. 70, 71. Odor. Rayn. an. 1274 No. 21. Mosh. arr. No. XX. r. 71, 72. Raynald. an. 1277. No. 15. Mosheim. p. 67. Mosheim. app. No. XXI. p. 71 – 76. Mosheim. arr. No. XXIII. r, 80, 82 – 83. Bloomhardt. Versuch e.a. Missionsgeschichte. V. II. Abth. 2 § 315. Mosheim. p. 34. arr. No. XXII. p. 77. Schlosser. History to everyone. v. 7 p. 232. Wadding. Annal. Minorum, t. V.p. 128 There were five of them: Ize, Bagagog, Mengili, Thomas Baikhri and Uget (see letter of Argon Mosh. app. No. XXV). Mosheim. arr. No. XXV r. 84 – 85. – Rayg. an. 1285 No. 79. Eg. Sabadino Archaon. Mosh. arr. No. XXVI – XXX r. 86 – 92. Mosheim. arr. No. XXXI. r. 92 – 94. Ibid. arr. No. XXXV. r. 98, 99. Ibid. arr. No. XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX. r. 101 – 108. Michaud. vol. IV pp. 591 – 595. D'Hosson. Full picture from empire, p. 32; Mosh. r. 83, 84. Michaud. Vol. IV. page 5ZO – 531. Among them was Shell de Monte Croix. Mosheim. arr. No. XLIl p. 106 – 110. Mosheim. arr. No. LI r. 128 – 130. Mosheim. Hise. tart. eccles. p. 108. Moshiem. Hist. tart. ecoles. app. No. LVI and gave p. 135 sq. ibid. app. No. LX and LXI. p. 144 – 146. Mosheim. Hist. tart. eccies. No. XLIII p. 110 – 114. Mosh. r. 105, 106 arr. No. LIII r. 132. Rayn. 1318 No. 4. Henrion. T. I p 107, 108. Wadd. an. 1318. Henr. p. 120. Dictionere des Missions. t. I p. 469; cn. Diction. des Miss. t. I.p. 1240 Distance. des. missions t. I.p. 1173 – 1174. Mosh. r. 107. arr. No. LIV, LV. Henry placed it in Lesser Armenia, and Richard in Turkestan. Dtction. des Miss. art. Mainasola. t. I.p. 878. Mosh. arr. No. LXIV p. 149 – I50. Mosh. r. 112, 113 arr. No. 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, and 78. It is worth noting that in the missionary letters placed by Mosheim the names of various small Tatar princes and tribes are, in all likelihood, very distorted. Nevertheless, in the present, as in most cases, we follow the pronunciation of Mosheim, since, due to a lack of manuals, we are not able to restore the true pronunciation and since in our work we pursue mainly missionary goals, and not archaeological-ethnographic ones. Among the missionaries there were many other renegades - such as Bonacruz, Philip, Ethier and others, see Dictien. des Miss. under indicated. names. Mosh. arr. No. 85, 86, 88, 89, 90. “Chanibek’s successor, Berdibek, being a victim of his debauchery, died in 1359. Kulpa, his relative, reigned, having two leaders of the Christian faith, John and Michael, converts, perhaps Roman missionaries” (Karamzin, I.G.R. vol. IV p. 275). Marco Polo was not with them at the time. He went with them, as we will see below, later on their second journey: therefore, he does not tell the first adventures of Nnkolo and Matteo as an eyewitness. The Journey of Marco Polo, Russian. lane page 33. book. Chapter 1 1 Readings in general. ist. and ancient 1861, book. 4. Marco Polo mistakenly calls him uncle. Ibid. 214 pp. Thurs. in General ist. and others. 1862 books. 2. Put. M. Polo book. 2nd, ch. 2nd, page 223 Put. M. Polo. pp. 35 – 37. Mosh. arr. No. XXII, p. 78. Mosh. arr. No. XXXII, p. 95. Ibid. Nos. XXXI, XXXIII, XXXIV. Lequiem Oriens Christian. t. II., p. XIII. Mosh. arr. No. XLIV p. 114. Proceedings Kyiv. ak. 1860 book. 3 pp. 160 – 8. Kublai died in 1294. He was succeeded by his grandson Timur, called Ging-Tsung in Chinese chronicles (1295 - 1307). Timur's successors were: Wu-Tsung (1308 - 1311), Din-Tsung (1312 - 1320), Ion-Tsung (1321 - 1323), Tang-Ting (1324 - 1328), Wen-Tsung (1329 - 1332) and finally Shun-ti (1333 - 1367), under which Tatar rule in China ended. Mosh. app. No. XLIIV p. 116. Letter 2. Mosh. app. No. XLV p. 119. Moch. No. XL1V. r. 116 – 117. Ibid. No. XLV. r. 119 – 120. Mosh. arr. No. XLVIII. r. 124 – 125 Ibid. arr. ХLIХ. r. 125 – 126. See page 93 (chapter In Tsar.kipch). Dict. des miss. art. Jerom. Mosh. arr. No. XLVI. p. 122. Thurs. V. total history and others 1864. 3. 203 Mosh. With. 199 – 205. see also Diction. des miss. Ibid. r. 11. § 33. Oder. friul. on Thursday total is. etc. Labor Kyiv ak. 1860. book. 3 page 15. Diction. des miss. ed. par Migne. t. 1. art. ISie. Bonnet. Dict. des miss. t. I. Jean de Flor. Mosh. p. 118. For the location of Ili-Balik or Arnaleh, see Rptter. Zemlev. Asia. p. p.t. 2 p. 98. Abulgazi. Genus. ist. about Tat. lane Tretyakov. Vol. II. part V, ch. 2. Part V Ch. II. Vol. II p. 13. Dict. des miss. t. I. art. Jean des Floren. Ritt. Zemlev. Asia II p. 139. Hist. general de L'Empire du mogol. – Henr. t. 1. p. 246. Timur sent two embassies to Western Christians, one before the start of the war with Bayazet, the other after. For the first time, he sent an Armenian Uniate monk named Soatru, who returned with letters from the French king and in every possible way extolled to Tamerlane the power of the Western sovereigns and their friendly feelings towards him. The missionaries, taking advantage of the general enmity against the Turks, European sovereigns and Mongols in order to better ensure their respect among the Tatars, “did not leave the conqueror in the dark about the courage of the French who fought with Bayazet at Nicopolis” (Henr. I. p. 244). Another time, in 1403, after the victory over Bayazet, Tamerlane sent a Dominican, Bishop of Sultania John, to King Charles VI of France (Ibid. p. 245). The Christian sovereigns, for their part, were very glad to have Timur as their ally and tried to flatter his vanity with embassies. So back in 1393, Enric, III King of Castilia, sent two ambassadors to his court, who were present at the battle of Timur with Bayazet and returned with the ambassadors of the first. In response to this, a new embassy was sent under the command of Rui Gonzales Clavigo, who described his adventures in detail (see the general history and ancient history of 1864, book 2 of the Middle Travel, pp. 212 et seq.). Kherson. diocesan Ved. 1868 No. 6. East. essay. Nestorian Henr. Hist. gen. des miss. t. I.p. 246. Versuch. ein. alg. M.-gesch. Bd. II Abth. 2 p 780. Wadd. t. VII. p. 238. Mosh. appr No. ХCIX. See Dict. des miss. t I p. 564. We have already encountered similar news about the incredibly brilliant results of the activities of Latin missionaries among the Tatars under the most apparently unfavorable circumstances. Usually these news are explained by simple exaggeration and boastful deceit of their compilers. However, another explanation is possible, which casts an even more unfavorable light on Latin missionary work. We present a fact from the activities of later Latin missionaries among foreigners of the Caucasus. This fact, reported by one Latin traveler to the east, Chardin (XVIII century), shows that Latin missionaries sometimes meant by conversion to Latinism something completely different from what is usually understood. Here is what Chardin says about the missionary activities of the Latin monks - theatines in Mingrelia: “theatines say that the spiritual benefit they bring in this country (in Mingrelia) is that they baptize children. I saw many times how they baptized children. They taught baptism to everyone they found in the houses... and over him this sacrament was completely not under their leadership. I lived for a long time with the prefect of Theatin (Marie-Joseph Zpmont of Mantua) in Mingrelia and saw him baptize children many times. When he was called (as a doctor) to some sick person to look at him, he ordered water to be brought, saying that he needed it to wash his hands. Having washed his hands, without wiping them, he touched the child’s forehead with the end of his finger, assuring that this was necessary in order to recognize his illness. He baptized the children they brought, shaking his wet hands over them as if playing. The first time I saw him do this, I noticed that he was saying something through his teeth, laughing and looking at me. I asked him: what is he doing? “I baptize these children,” he told me, “they are lucky that we came to this house.” I asked him what names he gave them. “I don’t give a name,” he answered, “for often I don’t know what gender of child I baptize, male or female; a name is not necessary... It is enough to throw a drop of water on the child and mentally pronounce the baptismal formula” (Journal du voyage du chevalier Chardin en Perse et aux Indes orientales par la mer noire et par la Colchide. P. 1. p. 109). Given this mode of conversion, it is not surprising that the Latin missionaries could count their proselytes in the tens of thousands. It is remarkable that the pious Henrion cites the above fact in order to present the art of the missionaries in a particularly favorable light (Henr. t. II p. 308, 309). Dict. des miss. art. Francois de Podio, Ambroise de Sienne. Roger. p, 564, 69, 1189. Dict. des miss. art. Elie petit. Pope John XXII in 1413 sent the Franciscans to the east: John Armandi, Petruchio of Perusia, Paul of Hungary and Francis of Alexandria with 6 other Christians of their choice and gave them the authority to establish monasteries and novats wherever they find it necessary (Wadd. 1413 No. 1). In 1437, Pope Eugene IV sent the observant James Primadis from Bologna to the east to convert to Latin the “Muslims and idolaters, Greeks, Bulgarians, Comans, Ethiopians, Iberians, Alans, Kozars, Goths, Syrians, Persians, Ruteians, Zikhs, Jacobians, Nubians, Nestorians, Georgians, Armenians, Indians, Turks, Tatars, Poles, Hungarians in upper Hungary and other nations that do not yet profess the Catholic faith” (Wadd. 1437). In 1439, he and Louis of Bologna acted in Armenia (Idid, 1439 No. 6). The same Eugene IV in 1440 appointed Franciscan Anton de Troye as apostolic commissar “to the Tatars, Assyrians, Persians, Ethiopians, Maronites, Druze, Nestorians and Syrians.” This commissar acted not without success between the Maronites, Druze and Syrians (Wadd" 1444 No. 10). You might be interested in: