Outline
editA) I believe the relationship between Cilician Armenia and the Ilkhanate was not that of a vassal and subject but that of a superpower and an allied state with similar goals (kind of like US and Israel). B) I believe that there were more than just attempts made at an alliance between Western Catholics and Mongols and even though they were made at different periods of time and were by no means cohesive they should be covered under the Franco-Mongol alliance article and there are enough scholarly references to support such an article.
Cilician Armenia (NOT Armenians from Armenia proper) and Mongols
editIt is important to mention for clarity's sake that historical Armenia was conquered by the Mongols along with Georgia. For example when Armenian auxiliaries are mentioned in the Mongol offensives, these Armenians are from Armenia proper not Cilician Armenia.
Number | Historian | Book | Page # | Descriptor | Quote | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Anne Elizabeth Redgate | The Armenians (The Peoples of Europe) | 259 | alliance | "Yet for Cilicia, now threatened by the rising power of the Mamluks of Egypt, the Mongols proved providential. A Cilician-Mongol alliance was established. And Cilician prosperity increased." | |
2 | Richard Hovannisian | The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century (Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times) | 286 | alliance | "The papacy, the Crusaders, and the Armenians all made great efforts at an alliance with the Mongol leaders, even hoping for their conversion to Christianity. King Hetum ,wisely, lost no time in approaching the Mongols. In 1247 he sent his brother Smbat to the Mongol court in the distant city of Kara Korum, and several years later he travelled himself to seal an alliance… " “The Mongol alliance was initially of great benefit to Cilicia and the Mongols themselves…” “The alliance was beneficial to the Armenians, however, only as long as the Mongols remained strong…” | |
3 | Edmund Herzig | The Armenians: A Handbook (Caucasus World. Peoples of the Caucasus) | 45 | alliance | ”…Smbat…to negotiate an alliance.” "In 1254 Hetum himself undertook the journey to renew the alliance."”…the Mongol alliance turned out to be a mixed blessing.” | |
4 | Jacob Ghazarian | The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia During the Crusades: The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins, 1080-1393 | 58 | alliance | "Hetum’s Mongol alliance was indeed a great coup." “…secured an extension of his 1253 alliance with the Mongols.” “…Baybars, who had decided to punish Hetum for his alliance with the Mongols.” | |
5 | Michael Angold | Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 5, Eastern Christianity (Cambridge History of Christianity) | 422 | attempts at an alliance | "The new century witnessed a number of last ditch attempts to seal a grand Latin-Armenian-Mongol alliance against the Mamelukes. " | Speaking about the 14th century. A different period. |
6 | P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis | The Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1A: The Central Islamic Lands from Pre-Islamic Times to the First World War | 212 | alliance | "The Armenian-Mongol alliance, however was a reality of some importance in the great Mongol offensice." | |
7 | Daniel H. Weiss, Lisa Mahoney | France and the Holy Land: Frankish Culture at the End of the Crusades (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society) | 300-301 | alliance | "The Armenian-Mongol alliance may provide a historical justification for this…” | |
8 | Hans Eberhard Mayer, John Gillingham | The Crusades | 276 | alliance | "For his part, Hethoum always remained true to the alliance, first with the Mongols and then with the Il-Khan." “Thus Antioch too was incorporated into the Armenian-Mongol alliance, an alliance which was at first clearly advantageous to both sides.” | |
9 | Steven Runciman | A History of the Crusades, Vol. III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades | 295 | alliance | "” | An entire chapter is titled - 1254: Armenian Alliance with the Mongols |
10 | Carl F. Petry | The Cambridge History of Egypt (The Cambridge history of Egypt) | 280 | alliance | "…not only to punish the Armenians for their Mongol alliance…” | |
11 | Amin Maalouf | The Crusades through Arab eyes | 247 | alliance | "…the Mamelukes planned to organize as a series of raids against Bohemond of Antioch and Hethoum of Armenia, the principal allies of the Mongols." | |
12 | Martin Sicker | The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab conquest to the Siege of Vienna | 111 | alliance | "Accordingly, Antioch was drawn into the Mongolian-Armenian alliance". | |
13 | Norman Housley | The Later Crusades, 1274-1580: From Lyons to Alcazar | 22 | allies/collaboration | "Despite the urgings of the Mongols themselves and of their Armenian allies --for whom collaboration with the Ilkhans had long been a fact of life...". | |
14 | George Bournoutian | A Concise History of the Armenian People (2006) | 101 | alliance | Smbat met Kublai's brother, Mongke Khan and, in 1247, made an alliance against the Muslims. On his return, Smbat passed through historic Armenia, the first time that any Cilician leader had seen his historical homeland. In 1254, Hetum visited Karakorum himself and renewed the alliance. The alliance helped Cilicia initially but, in 1260, the Ilkhanids were defeated by the Mamluks and retreated to Persia. |