Contacts Of Western Europe And Mongolia (1245——1368)

The most frequent period for contacts of Western Europe and Mongolia is the 13th and 14th century. During their communication in these more than one hundred years, these two sides gradually became stable diplomatic cooperators from their mutual unfamiliar of each other at first. It can be said the communication of Western Europe an Mongolia in Medieval caused the collision of the civilization of Eurasian and brought the most frequent and extended contact time of western and eastern world. By analyzing the history background of different periods and the changes of communication content, the historical characteristics and the effects of bilateral exchanges in different periods could be summarized.After the second Mongolian Western Expedition, the whole Europe became shocked and frightened. In order to know the next battle plan of Mongolia Empire and understand this nomadic people further, in 1245 the Pope of West Europe began to send missionaries as messengers into the Mongolia Empire, who shuttled in Eurasia and broke a barrier between West Europe and Mongolia Empire. The contacts continued till the end of the Yuan Dynasty. This paper mainly discussed Contacts between Western Europe and Mongolia Empire in three parts in chronological order.The first part discussed the Contacts between Western Europe and Mongolia Empire in early time. It began with the first Missionary, John of Plano Carpini, officially dispatched by Western Roman Pope in 1245, and ended with William of Rubruck dispatched by Louis IX. By analyzing the historical background and the communication content of this period, the characteristics of bilateral exchanges would be focused analyzed.The second part discussed the Contacts in Western Europe and Ilkanate. During this period the Ilkanate and Crusaders were both attacked by Egyptian Mamluks, therefore, they hoped to established alliances with each other to fight against Egyptian Mamluks. By analyzing the military situation of Ilkanate and Western Europe and their communication content during this time, the characteristics of bilateral exchanges and the profoundly influence in this period can be summed.The third part discussed the Contacts of Western Europe and Yuan Dynasty. Yuan Dynasty was established by Kublai Khan in 1271, and developed stable foreign relationship with Western Europe. Through the analysis of Western Europe and the Yuan Dynasty’s political, economic and cultural backgrounds, as well as the condition of the Western European missionaries and merchants to China, the characteristics of the Contacts between Western Europe and Yuan Dynasty could be analyzed, as well as the influence for Eastern and Western worlds.