Franciscan Missionaries the Alanian Guard and the Black Steed that Subdued the Pope to Yuan China

Using the example of the ambassadorial mission of Giovanni Marignoli, a Franciscan priest and envoy of the Pope to the last Mongol emperor of China Shun-di, the article examines the special meaning of the ambassador’s gift, a black horse, perceived by the emperor in a symbolic way unbeknownst to European envoys. In the era when the West tried to understand the further intentions of the Mongols (“Tatars”) who frightened Europe with their offensive and sought to act through the conversion of the Mongol nobility to Christianity, the last Mongol rulers of China were mired in dynastic quarrels and confidently led the country to turmoil and shift of power. After Shun-di and the Red Turban Rebellion, political power in China again returned to the native Chinese Ming dynasty. The author shows how the fascination with the refined arts and the inevitable Sinification of the Mongol elite could not help them gain the popularity of the Han population and examines in detail both Chinese and European evidence of the Marignoli embassy, which surprisingly did not notice said dramatic events. Having analyzed historical precedents and explaining the symbolism of the “Heavenly Horse” for the entire system of representations associated with the Mandate of Heaven, and the special importance attached to battle horses (to obtain which in the Han era there were equipped special military expeditions to Fergana) by both the Mongols and the Chinese, the author comes to the conclusion that the emperor accepted the gift for a symbolic recognition of the Pope’s submission to the Mongols, which, of course, was not understood by the Europeans, amazed by the joyful reaction of the Bogdykhan. An important factor was the apparent dependence of the last emperor on the Christian Alanian personal guard — Asud, on which the personal safety of Shun-di and his retinue was largely based. Thus, one horse, depicted in a recently rediscovered painting by a Chinese artist Zhou Lang of the Yuan era, focuses not only a number of meanings and symbols, but also reveals the true situation in the country at the end of the Yuan dynasty

Ancient history · Archaeology · China · Elite · Emperor · Heaven · Nobility · Political science · Politics · Byzantine Studies and History · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Law