13^th Century Mongolian Shamanism And Other Medieval Religious Beliefs

During the 13^th century,religion played an undeniably large role in not only defining people's daily lives but also in determining politics,war and foreign relations.While religion's influence in these matters is still certainly great today, the various religions of the world held even greater sway and power during medieval times.During the 13^th century Mongol Empire,religion was an extremely important force for both the Mongols and the people they subjugated.The Mongols shamanistic beliefs had an enormous impact on not only their religious policies within the empire,but also on their foreign relations with religiously different peoples. Shamanism,as used by the Mongols,not only served as an excellent base for the conquest and subjugation of culturally different peoples,but also as an excellent propaganda tool.This thesis first analyzes the Mongols shamanistic beliefs,defining shamanism within a traditional framework as well as describing various scholars' new,scientific analyses of shamanism.Second,shamanic divinations and their effects on policy and foreign relations will be discussed and compared with European, Christian divinations.Thirdly,13^th century Mongolian religious beliefs will be analyzed from the perspective of European missionaries and explorers,John Plano Carpini,William of Rubruck and Marco Polo.