This article is about the founder of the Ilkhanate. For the Chagatai khan, seeQara Hülegü. For the Xiongnu chanyu, seeHulugu. For other uses, seeHalaku (disambiguation).
Hulegu's brotherMöngke Khan had been installed as Great Khan in 1251.Möngke charged Hulegu with leading a massive Mongol army to conquer or destroy the remaining Muslim states in southwestern Asia. Hulegu's campaign sought the subjugation of theLurs of southern Iran,[3] thedestruction of the Nizari Ismaili state (the Assassins), the submission or destruction of theAbbasid Caliphate inBaghdad, the submission or destruction of theAyyubid states inSyria based inDamascus, and finally, the submission or destruction of theBahriMamluke Sultanate of Egypt.[4] Möngke ordered Hulegu to treat kindly those who submitted and utterly destroy those who did not. Hulegu vigorously carried out the latter part of these instructions.
Hulegu marched out with perhaps the largest Mongol army ever assembled – by order of Möngke, two-tenths of the empire's fighting men were gathered for Hulegu'sarmy[5] in 1253. He arrived atTransoxiana in 1255. He easily destroyed the Lurs, and the Assassins surrendered their impregnable fortress ofAlamut without a fight, accepting a deal that spared the lives of their people in early 1256. He choseAzerbaijan as his power base, while orderingBaiju to retreat to Anatolia. From at least 1257 onwards,Muslims andChristians of every major religious variety inEurope, theMiddle East, andmainlandAsia were a part of Hulegu's army.[6]
Hulegu's Mongol army set out for Baghdad in November 1257. Once near the city he divided his forces to threaten the city on both the east and west banks of the Tigris. Hulegu demanded surrender, but the caliph,Al-Musta'sim, refused. Due to the treason of Abu Alquma, an advisor to Al-Musta'sim, an uprising in the Baghdad army took place and Siege of Baghdad began. The attacking Mongols broke dikes and flooded the ground behind the caliph's army, trapping them. Much of the army was slaughtered or drowned.
The Mongols under Chinese generalGuo Kan laid siege to the city on 29 January 1258,[7] constructing a palisade and a ditch and wheeling up siege engines andcatapults. The battle was short by siege standards. By 5 February the Mongols controlled a stretch of the wall. The caliph tried to negotiate but was refused. On 10 February Baghdad surrendered. The Mongols swept into the city on 13 February and began a week of destruction. TheGrand Library of Baghdad (also called 'Bayt al-Hikmah), containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging frommedicine toastronomy, was destroyed. Citizens attempted to flee but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers.
Hulegu (left) imprisons the Caliph among his treasures to starve him to death. Medieval depiction from "Le livre des merveilles", 15th century.
Death counts vary widely and cannot be easily substantiated: A low estimate is about 90,000 dead;[8] higher estimates range from 200,000 to a million.[9] The Mongols looted and then destroyed buildings. Mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals—grand buildings that had been the work of generations—were burned to the ground. The caliph was captured and forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered.Il Milione, a book on the travels ofVenetian merchantMarco Polo, states that Hulegu starved the caliph to death, but there is no corroborating evidence for that. Most historians believe the Mongol and Muslim accounts that the caliph was rolled up in a rug and the Mongols rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth would be offended if touched by royal blood. All but one of his sons were killed. Baghdad underwent a severe decline in importance after the siege, although according to historian Michal Biran, Hulegu ordered the city rebuilt and the libraries were reopened within two years.[10][11] Smaller states in the region hastened to reassure Hulegu of their loyalty, and the Mongols turned toSyria in 1259, conquering the Ayyubid dynasty and sending advance patrols as far ahead asGaza.
A thousand squads of northern Chinesesappers accompanied Hulegu during his conquest of the Middle East.[12]
In 1260 Mongol forces combined with those of their Christian vassals in the region, including the army of theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia underHethum I, King of Armenia and the Franks ofBohemond VI of Antioch. This force conquered Muslim Syria, a domain of the Ayyubid dynasty. Theycaptured Aleppo by siege and, under the Christian generalKitbuqa, seizedDamascus on 1 March 1260.[a] A Christian Mass was celebrated in theUmayyad Mosque and numerous mosques were profaned. Many historical accounts describe the three Christian rulers Hethum, Bohemond, andKitbuqa entering the city of Damascus together in triumph,[15][16] though some modern historians such asDavid Morgan have questioned this story asapocryphal.[17]
The invasion effectively destroyed the Ayyubids, which was until then a powerful dynasty that had ruled large parts of theLevant,Egypt, and theArabian Peninsula. The last Ayyubid king,An-Nasir Yusuf, had been killed by Hulegu this same year.[18] With Baghdad ravaged and Damascus weakened, the center of Islamic power shifted to the Mamluk sultan's capital of Cairo.
Hulegu intended to send forces southward throughPalestine toward Cairo. So he had a threatening letter delivered by an envoy to the MamlukSultan Qutuz in Cairo demanding that Qutuz open his city or it would be destroyed like Baghdad. Then, because food and fodder in Syria had become insufficient to supply his full force, and because it was a regular Mongol practice to move troops to the cooler highlands for the summer,[19] Hulegu withdrew his main force to Iran near Azerbaijan, leaving behind one tumen (10,000 men or less) underKitbuqa, accompanied by Armenian, Georgian, and Frankish volunteers, which Hulegu considered sufficient. Hulegu then personally departed for Mongolia to play his role in the imperial succession conflict occasioned by the death some eight months earlier ofGreat Khan Möngke. But upon receiving news of how few Mongols now remained in the region,Qutuz quickly assembled his well-trained and equipped 20,000-strong army at Cairo and invaded Palestine.[20][unreliable source?] He then allied himself with a fellow Mamluk leader,Baybars in Syria, who not only needed to protect his own future from the Mongols but was eager to avenge for Islam the Mongol capture of Damascus, looting of Baghdad, and conquest of Syria.
The Mongols, for their part, attempted to form a Frankish-Mongol alliance with (or at least, demand the submission of) the remnant of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, now centered on Acre, butPope Alexander IV had forbidden such an alliance. Tensions between Franks and Mongols also increased whenJulian of Sidon caused an incident resulting in the death of one of Kitbuqa's grandsons. Angered,Kitbuqa had sacked Sidon. The Barons of Acre, contacted by the Mongols, had also been approached by the Mamluks, seeking military assistance against the Mongols. Although the Mamluks were traditional enemies of the Franks, the Barons of Acre recognized the Mongols as the more immediate menace. Instead of taking sides, the Crusaders opted for a position of cautious neutrality between the two forces. In an unusual move, however, they allowed the Egyptian Mamluks to march northward without hindrance through Crusader territory and even let them camp near Acre to resupply.
When news arrived that the Mongols had crossed theJordan River in 1260,Sultan Qutuz and his forces proceeded southeast toward the 'Spring of Goliath' (Known in Arabic as 'Ain Jalut') in theJezreel Valley. They met the Mongol army of about 12,000 in theBattle of Ain Jalut and fought relentlessly for many hours. The Mamluk leader Baybars mostly implementedhit-and-run tactics in an attempt to lure the Mongol forces into chasing him. Baybars andQutuz had hidden the bulk of their forces in the hills to wait in ambush for the Mongols to come into range. The Mongol leaderKitbuqa, already provoked by the constant fleeing of Baybars and his troops, decided to march forwards with all his troops on the trail of the fleeing Egyptians. When the Mongols reached the highlands, Egyptians appeared from hiding, and the Mongols found themselves surrounded by enemy forces as the hidden troops hit them from the sides andQutuz attacked the Mongol rear. Estimates of the size of the Egyptian army range from 24,000 to 120,000. The Mongols broke free of the trap and even mounted a temporarily successful counterattack, but their numbers had been depleted to the point that the outcome was inevitable. Refusing to surrender, the whole Mongol army that had remained in the region, includingKitbuqa, were cut down and killed that day. The battle of Ain Jalut established a high-water mark for the Mongol conquest.
After the succession was settled and his brotherKublai Khan was established as Great Khan,Hulegu returned to his lands by 1262. When he massed his armies to attack the Mamluks and avenge the defeat at Ain Jalut, however, he was instead drawn into civil war withBatu Khan's brotherBerke. Berke Khan, a Muslim convert and the grandson of Genghis Khan, had promised retribution in his rage after Hulegu's sack of Baghdad and allied himself with the Mamluks. He initiated a large series of raids on Hulegu's territories, led byNogai Khan. Hulegu suffered a severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of theCaucasus in 1263. This was the first open war between Mongols and signaled the end of the unified empire. In retaliation for his failure, Hulegu killed Berke'sortogh, and Berke did the same in return.[21]
Even while Berke was Muslim, out of Mongol brotherhood he at first resisted the idea of fighting Hulegu. He said, "Mongols are killed by Mongol swords. If we were united, then we would have conquered all of the world." But the economic situation of the Golden Horde due to the actions of the Ilkhanate led him to declare jihad because the Ilkhanids were hogging the wealth of North Iran and because of the Ilkhanate's demands for the Golden Horde not to sell slaves to the Mamluks.[22]
Hulegu's mother Sorghaghtani successfully navigated Mongol politics, arranging for all of her sons to become Mongol leaders. She was aChristian of theChurch of the East (often referred to as "Nestorianism") and Hulegu was friendly toChristianity. Hulegu's favorite wife,Doquz Khatun, was also a Christian, as was his closest friend and general,Kitbuqa. Hulegu sent multiple communications to Europe in an attempt to establish aFranco-Mongol alliance against the Muslims. In 1262, he sent his secretaryRychaldus and an embassy to "all kings and princes overseas". The embassy was apparently intercepted in Sicily byManfred, King of Sicily, who was allied with theMamluk Sultanate and in conflict withPope Urban IV, and Rychaldus was returned by ship.[23]
On 10 April 1262, Hulegu sent a letter, throughJohn the Hungarian, toLouis IX of France, offering an alliance.[24] It is unclear whether the letter ever reached Louis IX in Paris – the only manuscript known to have survived was inVienna, Austria.[25] The letter stated Hulegu's intention to capture Jerusalem for the benefit of the Pope and asked for Louis to send a fleet against Egypt:
From the head of the Mongol army, anxious to devastate the perfidious nation of the Saracens, with the good-will support of the Christian faith (...) so that you, who are the rulers of the coasts on the other side of the sea, endeavor to deny a refuge for the Infidels, your enemies and ours, by having your subjects diligently patrol the seas.
Despite many attempts, neither Hulegu nor his successors were able to form an alliance with Europe, although Mongol culture in the West was in vogue in the 13th century. Many new-born children in Italy were named after Mongol rulers, including Hulegu: names such as Can Grande ("Great Khan"), Alaone (Hulegu), Argone (Arghun), and Cassano (Ghazan) are recorded.[27]
Hulegu Khan fell seriously ill in January 1265 and died the following month on the banks ofZarrineh River (then called Jaghatu) and was buried onShahi Island inLake Urmia. His funeral was the only Ilkhanate funeral to featurehuman sacrifice.[30] His tomb has never been found.[31]
Hulegu Khan laid the foundations of theIlkhanate and thus paved the way for the laterSafavid dynastic state, and ultimately the modern country ofIran. Hulegu's conquests also opened Iran to both European influence from the west and Buddhist influence from the east. Thus, combined with patronage from his successors, would develop Iran's distinctive excellence in architecture. Under Hulegu's dynasty, Iranian historians began writing in Persian rather than Arabic.[32] It is recorded however that he converted toBuddhism as he neared death,[33] against the will ofDoquz Khatun.[34] The erection of a Buddhist temple atḴoy testifies his interest in that religion.[3] Recent translations of various Tibetan monks' letters and epistles to Hulegu confirms that he was a lifelong Buddhist, following theKagyu school.[35]
^"On 1 March Kitbuqa entered Damascus at the head of a Mongol army. With him were the King of Armenia and the Prince of Antioch. The citizens of the ancient capital of the Caliphate saw for the first time for six centuries three Christian potentates ride in triumph through their streets".[15]
^Vaziri, Mostafa (2012). "Buddhism during the Mongol Period in Iran".Buddhism in Iran: An Anthropological Approach to Traces and Influences. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 111–131.doi:10.1057/9781137022943_7.ISBN9781137022943.
^Josef W. Meri (2005). Josef W. Meri (ed.).Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Psychology Press. p. 510.ISBN0-415-96690-6. Retrieved28 November 2011.This called for the employment of engineers to engage in mining operations, to build siege engines and artillery, and to concoct and use incendiary and explosive devices. For instance, Hulegu, who led Mongol forces into the Middle East during the second wave of the invasions in 1250, had with him a thousand squads of engineers, evidently of north Chinese (or perhaps Khitan) provenance.
^"In May 1260, a Syrian painter gave a new twist to the iconography of the Exaltation of the Cross by showing Constantine and Helena with the features of Hulegu and his Christian wife Doquz Khatun" inCambridge History of Christianity Vol. 5 Michael Angold p. 387Cambridge University PressISBN0-521-81113-9
^Le Monde de la Bible N. 184 July–August 2008, p. 43
^Pow, Lindsey Stephen (2012).Deep Ditches and Well-Built Walls: a Reappraisal of the Mongol Withdrawal from Europe in 1242 (Master's thesis). University of Calgary. p. 32.OCLC879481083.
^Corbyn, James (2015).In What Sense Can Ayn Jalut be Viewed as a Decisive Engagement? (Master's thesis). Royal Holloway University of London. pp. 7–9.
^Enkhbold, Enerelt (2019). "The role of the ortoq in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships".Central Asian Survey.38 (4):531–547.doi:10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799.S2CID203044817.
Atwood, Christopher P. (2004).The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts on File, Inc.ISBN0-8160-4671-9.
Boyle, J.A., (Editor).The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Cambridge University Press; Reissue ed., (1968).ISBN0-521-06936-X.
Morgan, David.The Mongols. Blackwell Publishers; Reprint ed., 1990.ISBN0-631-17563-6. Best for an overview of the wider context of medieval Mongol history and culture.
Runciman, Steven (1987).A History of the Crusades: Volume 3, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521347723.
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