Mamluks vs. Mongols
The Mongols presented the greatest threat to the early Mamluk sultanate.
View ArticleArchaeologists discover Genghis Khan’s winter home
The location of the command post from where the Mongol leader staged his invasions has been the subject of lengthy debate among historians and archaeologists.
View ArticleGenetic study reveals insights into the Mongol Empire and the ancient Steppe
Genome-wide analysis spanning 6,000 years in the Eurasian Steppe gives insights to the formation of Mongolia's empires.
View ArticleClimate change caused the demise of Central Asia’s medieval civilizations,...
A new study challenges the long-held view that the destruction of Central Asia's medieval river civilizations was a direct result of the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century.
View ArticleProject to record Mongolian history receives €2 million in funding
The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History will begin a project to document thousands of threatened sites and construct an open access database in English, Mongolian and Russian.
View ArticleWanderers, Miraculous Births, and Blacksmiths: Mongol Origin Stories in...
Today I want to be talking about origin stories about the Mongols as used in Mamluk sources. For one of the questions that historians in Mamluk times were dealing with was the matter of the Mongols.
View ArticleThe Franciscan Friar who went to the Mongol Empire
Miss travelling? Take a journey to thirteenth-century Asia with John of Plano Carpini.
View ArticleInscribing the Mongol Invasion into History: The Chronica Majora and Beyond
In 1242 the people of Eastern Europe acquired first-hand knowledge about the Mongols in their own lands, but within a short time the news made it to the westernmost edges of Christian Europe.
View ArticleThe Response of the West to the Mongol Invasion: 1241-1242
Examining the reports and events from the early years of the Mongol invasion into Europe.
View ArticleThe Horde with Marie Favereau
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Marie Favereau about the myths and truths surrounding the Golden Horde, how nomadic people tend to be misunderstood, and how the Mongol people...
View ArticleThe Mongols’ Imperial Space: From Universalism to Glocalization
This paper seeks to explain how the Mongol imperial space was created, organized, and conceived by the Mongols and their subjects in the various realms
View ArticleGenghis Khan died of the plague, researchers suggest
On 18 August 1227, Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, died. Several stories have been put forward on what caused the ruler's death, but a group of researchers now believe that he was a...
View ArticleA (Re)introduction to the Mongols
How was Mongol society organized during the Middle Ages? The answer lies in their numerical system of 10s, 100s, 1000s, and 10,000s.
View ArticleThe Mongol Conquest of Hungary in 1241-2
The story of the Mongol invasion in 1241, the Battle of Mohi, and why the Mongols withdrew from Hungary a year later.
View ArticleWhat’s in a Name? Genghis vs Chinggis
The very name “Genghis Khan” is one that immediately brings to mind images of a great conqueror. But just as with most aspects of his life, the story of his name is not so simply told. Here, we’re...
View ArticleMedieval hairstyles: From bianfa to top-knots in Northeast Asia
The importance of hair and hairstyles among Chinese, Mongols and other peoples of northeast Asia during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
View ArticleGenghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World: A Retrospective
Jack Weatherford’s 2004 book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World quickly became one of the top-selling works on Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire. The book sets out to a mighty task:...
View ArticleThe Cult of Chinggis Khan
What do you really know about Chinggis Khan? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie Laumonier interviews Dotno Pount about the Mongol leader Chinggis Khan and what historians know about...
View ArticleChinggis Khan’s Missing Ten Years, 1186-1196
There is a stretch of ten years in Chinggis Khan's early life where we have little information about his whereabouts. What was the future ruler of the Mongol Empire doing at this point?
View ArticleThe Mongols and Silk
You’ve likely heard the claim that the Mongols wore silk shirts as protection against arrows; the idea being that silk winds up around an arrowhead and thus prevents penetration. There is, however,...
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