The Mongol Archive in Late Medieval France: Texts, Objects, Encounters, 1221–1422
By Mark Cruse
Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9781501779350
As news reached 13th-century Europe of a new power emerging in the East, the kings of France were among those most eager to learn more about these mysterious newcomers. This book traces their efforts to understand the Mongols, establish connections with them, and explores how these encounters left their mark on medieval France.
Excerpt:
This book is a study of the cultural ramifications of contact between the French and the Mongols in the late Middle Ages. While the history of Franco-Mongol interaction has received much attention from scholars since the nineteenth century, the long-term influence of that interaction on the intellectual, political, and literary culture of France has not. The history of representations of the Mongols in late medieval France, and of the transmission and interpretation of these representations, is yet to be told in a comprehensive manner. French encounters with, interest in, and fear of the Mongols appeared in chronicles, crusade treatises, embassy reports, encyclopedias, letters, manuscript illuminations, maps, poems, prophecies, romances, sermons, and travel accounts. Some of these works, such as poems by Rutebeuf and Eustache Deschamps, contain only brief mentions of the “Tartars” or “Tartary.” Others, such as the report of John of Plano Carpini or Marco Polo’s Description of the World, revolutionized European understandings of the Mongols—and indeed of the world. Although the works in the Mongol archive were never housed together in a single place, they were in dialogue with one another either directly, through citation and paraphrase, or through reference to common sources and subjects, and they represent a robust discourse not wholly captured in the surviving material record. The Mongol archive in late medieval France is thus not a physical repository but a network of thematically related works.
Who is this book for?
Those looking at the interactions between Europe and the Mongols are particularly well served recently, with this book appearing alongside Venice and the Mongols: The Eurasian Exchange That Transformed the Medieval World. This volume examines how the French court built up its knowledge of the Mongol Empire through travellers’ reports, letters, and the exchange of embassies. The kings of France saw the possibility of an alliance with the Mongols as a means of conquering the Eastern Mediterranean, making them eager to gather as much information as possible about them, although much of it was inaccurate. The works of Marco Polo and John Mandeville would play significant roles here.
For readers focused on the Mongols, this book offers a useful examination of European perceptions of them, while medieval French historians will find insights into how these ideas played out back home. More broadly, the book serves as an excellent example of the Global Middle Ages.
“Mark Cruse’s book explores the history of the making of the record of the Mongols in medieval western sources, rather than a ‘connected/global history’ of the Franco-Mongol encounter; nevertheless, it represents a truly valuable contribution to the current scholarship.” ~ review by Jane Valtrova in Journal of Medieval History
The Author
Mark Cruseis a professor of French in the School of International Letters and Cultures at Arizona State University, where his research is wide-ranging but often connected to medieval manuscripts. In this article he wrote for The Diplomat, Mark offers a preview of what can be found in his latest book.
The Mongol Archive in Late Medieval France: Texts, Objects, Encounters, 1221–1422
By Mark Cruse
Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9781501779350
As news reached 13th-century Europe of a new power emerging in the East, the kings of France were among those most eager to learn more about these mysterious newcomers. This book traces their efforts to understand the Mongols, establish connections with them, and explores how these encounters left their mark on medieval France.
Excerpt:
This book is a study of the cultural ramifications of contact between the French and the Mongols in the late Middle Ages. While the history of Franco-Mongol interaction has received much attention from scholars since the nineteenth century, the long-term influence of that interaction on the intellectual, political, and literary culture of France has not. The history of representations of the Mongols in late medieval France, and of the transmission and interpretation of these representations, is yet to be told in a comprehensive manner. French encounters with, interest in, and fear of the Mongols appeared in chronicles, crusade treatises, embassy reports, encyclopedias, letters, manuscript illuminations, maps, poems, prophecies, romances, sermons, and travel accounts. Some of these works, such as poems by Rutebeuf and Eustache Deschamps, contain only brief mentions of the “Tartars” or “Tartary.” Others, such as the report of John of Plano Carpini or Marco Polo’s Description of the World, revolutionized European understandings of the Mongols—and indeed of the world. Although the works in the Mongol archive were never housed together in a single place, they were in dialogue with one another either directly, through citation and paraphrase, or through reference to common sources and subjects, and they represent a robust discourse not wholly captured in the surviving material record. The Mongol archive in late medieval France is thus not a physical repository but a network of thematically related works.
Who is this book for?
Those looking at the interactions between Europe and the Mongols are particularly well served recently, with this book appearing alongside Venice and the Mongols: The Eurasian Exchange That Transformed the Medieval World. This volume examines how the French court built up its knowledge of the Mongol Empire through travellers’ reports, letters, and the exchange of embassies. The kings of France saw the possibility of an alliance with the Mongols as a means of conquering the Eastern Mediterranean, making them eager to gather as much information as possible about them, although much of it was inaccurate. The works of Marco Polo and John Mandeville would play significant roles here.
For readers focused on the Mongols, this book offers a useful examination of European perceptions of them, while medieval French historians will find insights into how these ideas played out back home. More broadly, the book serves as an excellent example of the Global Middle Ages.
“Mark Cruse’s book explores the history of the making of the record of the Mongols in medieval western sources, rather than a ‘connected/global history’ of the Franco-Mongol encounter; nevertheless, it represents a truly valuable contribution to the current scholarship.” ~ review by Jane Valtrova in Journal of Medieval History
The Author
Mark Cruse is a professor of French in the School of International Letters and Cultures at Arizona State University, where his research is wide-ranging but often connected to medieval manuscripts. In this article he wrote for The Diplomat, Mark offers a preview of what can be found in his latest book.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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