The Mongol khan’s conversion to Islam ended Christian hopes of an Eastern crusade alliance

Evidence

Llull finally embraced crusade following the fall of Acre in 1291. There was indeed still some hope of an alliance with the Mongols. In 1300 Ilkhan Mahmud Ghazan took Damascus from the Mamluks; Jaume II of Aragon wrote to congratulate him; and Llull himself set out for the East in hopes of converting him to Christianity, though he was not able to reach the sultan. Ghazan in 1302 wrote to Pope Boniface VIII proposing an anti-Muslim alliance, but in 1303 he was defeated by the Mamluks. Llull learned that the khan had converted to Islam, not Christianity. Christendom would have to make practical plans for crusade without counting on Eastern allies. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1326 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It had its culmination in a series of Mongol embassies to the West between 1285 and 1290, which came for the express purpose of preparing for a joint attack on Islam. These embassies were led by Nestorian Christians, and in 1287 there was the unexampled spectacle of the leader of the Mongol embassy attending Mass in St. Peter’s, in the presence of the Pope. What a vista of endless and universal peace and unity was opened up by this picture: Islam, either destroyed or, better still, converted by philosophy; the Mongol empire stretching to the confines of China, a Christian state; and Christendom itself enriched by the philosophical tradition handed down from Greece through Moslem philosophers, to provide the one thing necessary for the fullness of Christian truth. It was a noble prospect, and one which, if only a fraction of it had come true, would radically have altered the history of the world. — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 381 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Louis IX, whose two Crusades affirmed his reputation for sanctity in spite of (or perhaps because of) their military failure, hoped to convert the Mongol khan. … The khan responded by demanding French submission and annual tribute: Louis, Joinville tells us, bitterly regretted that he had ever sent his envoys to the khan. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1038 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Failed crusades eroded European hopes of defeating Islam by 1300; Medieval Europeans pursued Mongol alliances against Islam until Mongol conversion dashed those hopes — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1326; Latin Christians sought Mongol alliances against Islam as anti-Muslim strategy — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1133 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Europeans pursued Mongol alliances against Islam until Mongol conversion dashed those hopes #corroborates (0.98) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1326
• A Mongol-Christian military alliance against Islam was genuinely planned and nearly happened #complicates (0.85) — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 381
• Mongol khans demanded submission rather than accepting Christian conversion missions #complicates (0.78) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1038