Recurring false rumors of enemy conversion fueled repeated Christian crusade hopes
Evidence
Given the mixed fortunes of thirteenth-century military endeavors against Muslims, it is no surprise that the mood of these authors swings between euphoria and abjection. Rumors were rife that prominent infidel rulers would convert to Christianity—or that they already had converted. Similar things had been rumored about earlier Muslim military leaders such as Kurbuqa or Saladin. In the decades following the fifth Crusade, similar reports circulated regarding numerous Muslim and Mongol rulers. In 1245 the sultan of the Moroccan town of Sale announced his intention to convert to Christianity. Innocent IV sent him an enthusiastic missive, explaining how his realm would become a beacon of the true faith, a center for the propagation of mission and crusade in Africa. The promised conversion never took place. In 1245 Innocent addressed letters to the Mongol khan (taken by his envoy, Franciscan John of Piano Carpini), inviting the khan to embrace Christianity. The Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 fueled Christian hopes that these new allies would destroy Muslim hegemony and usher in a new era of Christian peace. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1037
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- DEEPTHINKING: The pattern — military defeat generating hope through unverified conversion rumors, projected onto every fresh powerful ‘other’ from Saladin to the Mongols — is a striking recurring psychology of imperial wishful thinking, deserving of extended reflection.
- SEED: An essay angle: how wishful ‘the enemy will join us’ narratives recur across centuries — Saladin, the Mongols, and modern equivalents — as a coping strategy of declining empires.