IMC 2024: Sessions

This session has been grouped by the IMC Programming Committee from individually submitted paper proposals.

Paper a: In 1287, in the midst of unfolding environmental, political and religious crises afflicting the Mongol Golden Horde, the reigning khan Töde-Möngke (r.1282-1287) was overthrown by his nephew Tele-Buqa (r.1287-1291) and his allies. Two contrasting, contemporary reasons for his removal survive. In sources of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, Töde-Möngke converted to Islam and willingly abdicated for his nephew; in sources of the Mongol Ilkhanate in Iran, Töde-Möngke went insane and was forcibly deposed.

I argue these were the ways in which Tele-Buqa’s allies justified Töde-Möngke’s disposal; one sufficient for Mongol audiences (insanity) and another to appeal to the Horde’s Islamic allies in Mamluk Egypt. The removal of Töde-Möngke reveals how khans legitimized themselves at the onset of the Golden Horde’s islamization, in the process making Töde-Möngke the scapegoat for the khanate’s woes.

Paper b: When Mongol troops passed through Moravia to reunite with the main body of Mongol army in Hungary, they certainly could not know, that their short stay here would later inspire story of a hero of the defence against these diabolic warriors, which would later become for centuries an integral part of not only family history of Sternbergs, but also a general history of Moravia. This paper will focus on rather obscure origins of this story in Bohemian medieval chronicles and examines its possible connection to the 13th century texts by members of the embassy to the Mongol court which present interesting testimony about Mongols and their proceedings in Europe. These texts may present one of the missing pieces in the construction of the early history of Sternberg family.

Paper c: The Mongol Empire acquired its largest territory during the reign of the fourth emperor Möngke Khan. William of Rubruck records that while Möngke followed shamanism, he respected both Christians and Muslims equally. In addition, prior to the third Mughal emperor Akbar, Möngke invited scholars of various religions to debate each other. Möngke’s parable that ‘religions are connected at the root like five fingers’, is similar to that of the 16th-century Islamic scholar Sha’rani. This presentation will discuss the formation of a theory of religious tolerance to avoid the social crisis in which rulers and ruled adhere to different religions.