Abaqa Khan

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Abaqa on a horse. Besides him is standing his son Arghun, himself holding his son Ghazan in his arms, under a royal umbrella. Rashid al-Din, early 14th century.

Abaqa Khan (1234–1282), also Abaga or Abagha Khan, was the second Mongol ruler (Il-khan) of the Persian Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Doquz Khatun, he reigned from 1265–1282 and was succeeded by his brother Tekuder Khan. Much of Abaqa's reign was consumed with civil wars in the Mongol Empire, such as between the Ilkhanate and the northern khanate of the Golden Horde. Abaqa also engaged in unsuccessful attempts at military invasion of Syria, such as at the Second Battle of Homs.

[edit] Life

Abaqa was born in 1234, son of the founder of the Ilkhanate, Hulagu Khan, and his Kerait princess bride, Doquz Khatun. Doquz, a devout Nestorian Christian, was regarded as a spiritual leader of the Mongols, who were generally tolerant of many religions. Abaqa himself was marginally Buddhist, though he was also very sympathetic to Christianity due to his mother's influence. A favored son of Hulagu, he was made governor of Turkestan.^[1]

Hulagu died from illness in 1265. Before his death, he had been negotiating with the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos to add a daughter of the Byzantine Imperial Family to Hulagu's number of wives. Michael VIII had selected his illegitimate daughter Maria Despina Palaiologina, who was dispatched in 1265, accompanied by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Euthymius. Since Hulagu died before she arrived, when Abaqa was installed as Ilkhan, he received Maria's hand in marriage. When Abaqa's mother Doquz Khatun died in 1265 as well, the role of spiritual leader transferred to Maria, who was called "Despina Khatun" by the Mongols. Some of the coins from Abaqa's era display the Christian cross, and bear in Arabic the Christian inscription "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, only one God".^[2]

It was Abaqa who decided on the permanent location for the Ilkhanate capital, Tabriz, which was in the northwestern grasslands that the Mongols preferred.^[3]

Despite his sympathies for some religions such as Buddhism and Christianity, Abaqa was known for being very anti-Muslim. He attempted to convert the Muslims in his realm, and harassed them by mercilessly promoting Nestorian and Buddhist interests ahead of theirs.^{[citation needed]}

Abaqa took power four months after the death of his father, and then spent the next several months redistributing fiefs and governorships.^[1]

[edit] Military campaigns

[edit] Golden Horde

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The Mongols of the Ilkhanate had already been at war since Hulagu's reign, with the Mongols of the Golden Horde. This continued into Abaqa's reign, and the Golden Horde invaded the Ilkhanate in the Spring after his accession. Part of this was due to an alliance between the Golden Horde and the Egyptian Mamluks, in that the Golden Horde was attempting to distract Abaqa on one front, to keep him from invading Mamluk-held Syria on another.^[1] The hostilities continued until the death of the Golden Horde's khan Berke, in 1267.

[edit] Chagataids

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In 1270, Baraq Khan of the Chagataids tried to annex Iran, which started a new war against Abaqa in the city of Herat, though Abaqa was able to launch a successful defense.

[edit] Invasions of Syria

See also: Mongol invasions of Syria

[edit] Diplomatic relations with Christians

Abaqa was one in a long line of Mongol rulers who attempted to secure Western cooperation against the Muslim Mamluks. He corresponded with Pope Clement IV through 1267-1268, and reportedly sent a Mongol ambassador in 1268, trying to form a Franco-Mongol alliance between his forces, those of the West, and those of his father-in-law Michael VIII. He received responses from Rome and from Jaume I of Aragon, though it is unclear if this was what led to Jaume's unsuccessful expedition to Acre in 1269.^[4] Abaqa is recorded as having written to the Aragonese king, saying that he was going to send his brother Aghai to join it when it arrived in Cilicia. Abaqa also sent embassies to Edward I of England, and in 1274 sent a Mongol delegation to Pope Gregory X at the Second Council of Lyons, where Abaqa's secretary Rychaldus read a report to the assembly, reminding them of Hulagu's friendliness towards Christians, and assuring them that Abaqa planned to drive the Muslims from Syria.^[5]

[edit] Campaign during the Ninth Crusade (1271)

Mongol operations (red) under Abaqa's general Samagar during the Ninth Crusade in 1271

See also: Ninth Crusade

Bohemond VI of Antioch, under the influence of his father-in-law Hetoum I of Armenia, had voluntarily submitted to Mongol authority in 1260,^[6] while Abaqa's father Hulagu was in power, making Antioch and Tripoli vassal states of the Ilkhanate. In 1268, the Mamluk leader Baibars captured Antioch,^[7] and Bohemond obtained a truce with Baibars in order to keep from losing Tripoli as well.^[8][9]

In response to the fall of Antioch, Edward I of England arrived in Acre in 1271, trying to lead a new Crusade. It was ultimately considered a military failure, but Edward was able to eventually secure a truce with the Mamluks before he had to return to England.

When Edward arrived in Acre, he had sent an embassy to Abaqa, led by Reginald Rossel, Godefroi of Waus and John of Parker, requesting military assistance from the Mongols.^[10] Abaqa was occupied by other conflicts in Turkestan but answered positively to Edward's request, sending 10,000 Mongol horsemen under general Samagar from the occupation army in Seljuk Anatolia, to Syria:

"After talking over the matter, we have on our account resolved to send to your aid Cemakar (Samaghar) at the head of a mighty force; thus, when you discuss among yourselves the other plans involving the afore-mentionned Cemakar be sure to make explicit arrangements as to the exact month and day on which you will engage the enemy."

—Letter from Abaqa to Edward I, September 4, 1271.^[11]

The Mongols, including some auxiliary Seljukid troops, ravaged the land from Aleppo southward. Though the force was relatively small, they triggered an exodus of Muslim populations (who remembered the previous campaigns of the Mongol general Kitbuqa) as far south as Cairo.^[12] Edward, for his part, was never able to muster his own forces to coordinate actions with the Mongols or even achieve any military victories whatsoever, and Abaqa's forces eventually withdrew. When Baibars mounted a counter-offensive from Egypt on November 12, the Mongols had already retreated beyond the Euphrates.

[edit] Campaigns of 1280-1281

The Mamluk leader Baibars died in 1277. In 1280-1281, Abaqa promoted new attacks against Syria. In September 1280, the Mongols occupied Baghras and Darbsak, and took Aleppo on October 20. The Mongols sent envoys to Acre to request military support for their campaign, but the Crusaders were still in a 10-year truce with the Mamluks. The Vicar of the Patriarch declined Abaqa's request, saying that the city was suffering from hunger, and that the king of Jerusalem was embroiled in another war. The King of Cyprus Hugues III and Bohemond VI also mobilized their armies, but could not intervene because the Mamluks had already positioned themselves between them and the Mongols.^[13]

Abaqa and Leo III of Armenia urged the Franks to start a new Crusade, but only the Hospitallers and Edward I (who could not come for lack of funds) responded favourably.^[14] The Hospitallers of Marqab made combined raids into the Buqaia, and won several engagements against the Sultan,^[15] raiding as far as the Krak des Chevaliers in October 1280, and defeating the Mamluk army of the Krak in February 1281.^[13]

The Mongols finally retreated, pledging to come back for the winter of 1281. They informed the Franks that they would bring 50,000 Mongol horsemen and 50,000 Mongol infantry, but the request apparently remained without a response.^[16]

[edit] Campaign of Autumn 1281

Defeat of the Mongols (left) at the 1281 Battle of Homs.

The Egyptian Muslims had respected a 10-year truce with the Crusaders which began in 1271. On May 3, 1281, the new Muslim sultan Qalawun signed a new 10-year truce with the Barons of Acre (a truce he would later breach),^[17] and a second 10-year truce with Bohemond VII of Tripoli, on July 16, 1281.^[18]

The announced Mongol invasion started in September 1281. They were joined by the Armenians under Leo III, and by about 200 Hospitaliers knights of the fortress of Marqab,^[19][20] who considered they were not bound by the truce with the Mamluks.^[21]

On October 30, 1281, 50,000 Mongol troops, together with 30,000 Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and the Hospitalier Knights of Marqab fought against the Muslim leader Qalawun at the Second Battle of Homs, but the battle ended with no clear victor, only heavy losses on both sides.^[21]

[edit] Assassination

Abaqa was probably assassinated in 1282. His widow Maria fled back to Constantinople where her father, apparently wishing to spare his capital the fate that befell Baghdad, tried to marry her off again to another Mongol khan. Maria could not accept the offer, became a nun, and founded The Church of Panagia Mouchliotissa around 1285.

Abaqa was succeeded by his brother Tekuder, a Muslim. Tekuder reversed Abaqa's pro-Christian policies and proposed an alliance with the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun, who resumed attacks on Frankish territory, capturing the northern fortress of Margat in 1285, Lattakia in 1287, and Tripoli in 1289.^[22] In 1284, Abaqa's son Arghun led a successful revolt, backed by Kublai. Arghun had his uncle Tekuder executed and took power himself, returning to the pro-Christian policies of Abaqa.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Amitai-Preiss, Reuven (1995). Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Īlkhānid War, 1260-1281. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521462266. 
• Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-4671-9. 
• Roux, Jean-Paul, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, Fayard, ISBN 2213031649
• Richard, Jean (1996). Histoire des Croisades. Fayard. ISBN 2-213-59787-1. 
• Runciman, Steven, (1987 (first published in 1952-1954)). A History of the Crusades 3. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140137057.
• Tyerman, Christopher (2006). God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674023870. 

[edit] External links

• Khan genealogy
• The Islamic World to 1600: The Mongol Invasions (The Il-Khanate)