Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich; Pow, Stephen Lindsley. To «Conquer Rome and beyond Rome»: The Mongol ideology of world domination in Medieval reality and imagination

Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich – Doctor in History, Professor, Head of the department of Museology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Orc ID 0000-0001-8212-7467; Scopus ID 55092108400, SPIN-code 4584-2571, Author ID 251050, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;

Pow, Stephen Lindsley – PhD in History, Research Associate, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. Orc ID 0000-0001-8804-0397; Scopus ID 55792249100, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The study is supported by the Russian Scientific foundation grant No 24-18-00407 «The world’s conquest and the collapse of the global empire: the Mongol invasion in the fate of the Russian lands of the 13th century»

The argument advanced here is that the global conquest strategy of the Mongols had taken shape already before the planning of the Great Western Campaign in 1235. Evidence from geographically, linguistically, and chronologically diverging sources all re-echo the claim that a goal of world conquest had been formulated, expressed, and – most importantly – pursued in practical terms already during the reign of Genghis Khan (r. 1206–1227). The Mongols’ claims to world domination had a solid basis in the religious worldview of the Mongol elite and were supported by their faith in the divine chosen-ness of their supreme leader, and his legitimate successors, who had been granted the Mandate of Heaven to rule the world. We suggest that a range of evidence points to the religious ideal of a universal empire being conceived in its full sense and put into practice by Genghis Khan during the brilliant First Western Campaign of 1219–1221 which resulted in the subjugation of the Khwārazmian Empire. Since, we find evidence of this from matching descriptions and implications laid out in Eastern and Western Eurasian sources (including contemporary diplomatic reports) that likely could have not mutually informed each other, it is difficult to explain it away as something based on a widespread, identical misunderstanding among the Mongols’ adversary states and peoples. Moreover, the claims often can be traced to Genghis Khan, his successors, and military and diplomatic representatives, implying that the goal of world conquest was one sanctioned at the highest decision-making levels of the Mongol imperial court.

Aigle, Denise. De la «non-négociation» à l’alliance inaboutie. Réflexions sur la diplomatie entre les Mongols et l’Occident latin, in Oriente Moderno, Nuova serie. 2008. Vol. 88. Pp. 395–434.

Allsen, Thomas T. Imperial Ideology in Biran, Michal, Kim, Hodong (eds.). The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge, 2023. Vol. 1. Pp. 444–459.

Allsen, Thomas T. Mongolian Princes and their Merchant Partners, 1200–I260, in Asia Major. Third Series. 1989. Vol. 3. Pp. 83–126.

Allsen, Thomas T. Mongols and North Caucasia, in Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. 1991. Vol. 7. Pp. 5–40.

Allsen, Thomas T. Prelude to the Western Campaigns: Mongol Military Operations in the Volga-Ural Region, 1217–1237, in Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. 1983. Vol. 3. Pp. 5–24.

Amitai, Reuven. Holy War and Rapprochement. Studies in the Relations between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Mongol Ilkhanate (1260–1335). Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. 149 p.

Barthold, Wilhelm. Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion. London: Gibbs Memorial Trust, 1968. 573 p.

Beffa, Marie-Lise. Le Concept de tänggäri «ciel» dans l’Histoire secrète des Mongols, in Études Mongoles et Sibériennes. 1993. Vol. 24. Pp. 215–236.

Berend, Nora. At the Gate of Christendom: Jews, Muslims and «Pagans» in Medieval Hungary, c. 1000 – c. 1300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 340 p.

Berend, Nora. Przemysław Urbańczyk and Przemysław Wiszewski. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, c. 900 – c. 1300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2013. 536 p.

Bezzola, Gian Andri. Die Mongolen in abendländischer Sicht (1220–1270): Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Völkerbegegnungen. Bern; Munich: Francke, 1974. 251 p.

Bira, Shagdaryn. Mongolian Tenggerism and Modern Globalism. A Retrospective Outlook on Globalisation, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series. 2004. Vol. 14. Pp. 3–12.

Biran, Michal. Chinggis Khan. Oxford: Oneworld, 2007. (Makers of the Muslim World). 192 p.

Broadbridge, Anne F. Kingship and Ideology in the Islamic and Mongol Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 250 p.

Cherepnin, Lev Vladimirovich. Mongolo-tatary na Rusi (XIII v.) [Mongol–Tatars in Rus’ (13^th century)], in Tikhvinskiy, Sergey Leonidovich (ed.) Tataro–Mongoly v Asii i Evrope [Tatar-Mongols in Asia and Europe]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1977. Pp. 186–190. (in Russian).

Dawson, Christopher. The Mongol Mission. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1955. 246 p.

Drobyshev, Yuliy Ivanovich. U istokov imperskoi ideologii srednevekovykh mongolov [Sources of Empire Ideology of Medieval Mongols], in Obshchestvo i Gosudarstvo v Kitae [Society and State in China]. 2012. Vol. 42. Pp. 274–314. (in Russian).

Dunnell, Ruth W. The Rise of Chinggis Khan and the Unites Empire, 1206–1260, in Biran, Michal, Kim, Hodong (eds.). The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Vol. 1. Pp. 19–106.

Favereau, Marie. The Horde. How the Mongols changed the World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021. 384 p.

Gießauf, Johannes. Der Traum von der Weltherrschaft: Eine Skizze der politischen Geschichte des mongolischen Großreichs vom Tode Ćinggis Khans bis zum Zerfall in Einzelkhanate, in Die Mongolei: Aspekte ihrer Geschichte und Kultur / Ed. Johannes Gießauf. Graz: Urania, 2001. (Grazer Morgenländische Studien. T. 5). Pp. 47–77.

Göckenjan, Hansgerd. Der Westfeldzug (1236–1242) aus mongolischer Sicht in Schmilewski, Ulrich (ed.). Wahlstatt 1241. Beiträge zur Mongolenschlacht bei Liegnitz und zu ihren Nachwirkungen. Würzburg: Bergstadtverlag Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn, 1991. Pp. 35–75. (in German).

Grant, Alasdair C. The Mongol Invasions between Epistolography and Prophecy. The Case of the Letter «Ad Flagellum», c. 1235/36–1338, in Traditio. 2018. Vol. 73. Pp. 117–177. DOI 10.1017/tdo.2018.6

Gueret-Laferte, Michèle. Sur les routes de l’Empire Mongol. Ordre et rhétorique des relations de voyage aux XIIIe et XIVe siècle. Paris: Shampion Publ., 1994. 434 p. (in France).

Halperin, Charles J. The Kipchak Connection: The Ilkhans, the Mamluks and Ayn Jalut, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 2000. Vol. 63. Pp. 229–245.

Hautala, Roman. Istoricheskiy kontekst osnovaniya katolicheskoy eparkhii Kumanii 1227 goda [Historical Context of the Cuman Catholic Bishopric Foundation in 1227], in Golden Horde Civilization. 2014. Vol. 7. Pp. 111–139. (in Russian). DOI 10.22378/2313-6197.2018-6-1.199-211

Hautala, Roman. Rannie vengerskiye svedeniya o zapadnom pokhode mongolov (1235–1242) [Early Hungarian Information about the Mongol Western Campaign (1235–1242)], in Rossica Antiqua. 2014. No. 2. Pp. 71–101. (in Russian).

Hautala, Roman. Svedeniya o zavolzhskikh madyarakh v latinskikh istochnikakh XIII–XV vv. [Latin sources of the 13^th–15^th centuries on the Trans–Volga Magyars], in Khakimov, Rafael’ Sibganitovich (ed.) Istoriya Tatar Zapadnogo Priuralya [History of the Tatars of the Western Cis-Ural region]. Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Press. 2016. Vol. 1. Pp. 156–177. (in Russian).

Izmaylov, Iskander Lerunovich. Pokhody v Vostochnuyu Evropu 1223–1240 gg. [The Eastern European Campaigns of 1223–1240], in Khakimov, Rafael’ Sibganitovich; Usmanov, Mirkasym Abdulakhatovich (eds.) Istoriya tatar s drevneyshikh vremen. T. 3: Ulus Dzhuchi (Zolotaya orda). XIII – ser. XV vv [The History of the Tatars since Ancient Times. Tom III: The Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde). 13^th century – Mid–15^th century]. Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Press, 2017. Pp. 139–169. [in Russian].

Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2017. 614 p.

Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410. London; New York: Routledge. 2005. 414 p.

Jackson, Peter. The Testimony of the Russian ‘Archbishop’ Peter Concerning the Mongols (1244/5): Precious Intelligence or Timely Disinformation?, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series. 2016. Vol. 26. P. 65–77. DOI:10.1017/S135618631500084X

Jackson, Peter. World–Conquest and Local Accommodation: Threat and Blandishment in Mongol Diplomacy, in Pfeiffer, Judith and Quinn, Sholeh Alysia (eds.) History and Historiography of Post–Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East: Studies in Honor of John E. Woods. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006. Pp. 3–22.

Khazanov, Anatoly M. Muhammad and Jenghiz Khan Compared: The Religious Factor in World Empire Building in Comparative Studies, in Society and History. 1993. Vol. 35. Pp. 461–479.

Klopprogge, Axel. Ursprung und Ausprägung des abendländischen Mongolenbildes im 13. Jahrhundert: ein Versuch zur Ideengeschichte des Mittelalters. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993. (Asiatische Forschungen. T. 122). 277 p.

Korobeynikov, Dimitri. A Brokien mirror: The Kipchak World in the thirteenth century, in Curta, Florin (ed.) The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2008. (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450. T. 2). Pp. 379–412.

Kovács, Szilvia. Bortz, a Cuman Chief in the 13^th century, in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungarica. 2005. Vol. 58. Pp. 255–266.

Lane, George. Daily Life in the Mongol Empire. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 2006. 312 p.

Laszlovszky, József, Stephen Pow, Beatrix F. Romhányi, László Ferenezi, and Zsolt Pinke. Contextualizing the Mongol Invasion of Hungary in 1241–42: Short– and Long–Term Perspectives, in Hungarian Historical Review. 2018. Vol. 7. P. 419–450.

Ligeti, Lajos. A magyar nép mongol kori nevei (Magyar, baskír, király), in Magyar Nyelv. 1964. Vol. 60. Pp. 384–404.

Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich. Church–union negotiations between Rome, Nicaea and Rus’, 1231–1237 in Orientalia Christiana Periodica. 2018. Vol. 84. P. 385–405.

Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich. The First Mongol Invasion of Europe: Goals and Results, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third Series. 2022. Vol. 32. Pp. 411–438. DOI 10.1017/S1356186321000353

Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich. The Mongolian Capture of Kiev: The Two Dates, in Slavonic and East European Review. 2016. Vol. 94. Pp. 702–714. DOI 10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.94.4.0702

Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich. The Rus Archbishop Peter at the First Council of Lyon, in Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 2020. Vol. 71. Pp. 20–39. DOI 10.1017/S0022046919001143

May, Timothy. A Mongol–Ismâ‘îlî Alliance? Thoughts on the Mongols and Assassins, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series. 2004. Vol. 1. Pp. 231–239.

May, Timothy. Chormaqan Noyan: The First Mongol Military Governor in the Middle East. MA Thesis. Indiana University Press., 1996. 98 p.

May, Timothy. Conquest of the Dasht–i Qipchaq, in The Mongol World / Eds. Timothy May and Michael Hope. London; New York: Routledge, 2022. Pp. 150–163.

May, Timothy. The Mongol Conquests in World History. London: Reaktion Books, 2012. 319 p.

May, Timothy. The Mongol Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018. 416 p.

Mirgaleev, Ilnur M. Kurultai of 1235: Question of Expansion of the Ulus of Jochi, in Golden Horde Review. 2014. No. 3 (5). Pp. 22–30.

Morgan, David O. Medieval Persia, 1040–1797. 2^nd ed. London; New York: Routledge, 2016. 216 p.

Morgan, David O. The Mongol empire: A review article, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 1981. Vol. 44. Pp. 120–125.

Morgan, David O. The Mongols. 2^nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. 246 p.

Munkh–Erdene, Lhamsuren. Where did the Mongol Empire come from? Medieval Mongol Ideas of People, State, in Inner Asia. 2001. Vol. 13. No 2. Pp. 213–222.

Pelliot, Paul. Notes sur l’histoire de la Horde d’Or. Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient, 1949. 292 p.

Pow, Stephen, Liao, Jingjing. Subutai: Sorting fact from fiction surrounding the Mongol Empire’s greatest general (with translations of Subutai’s two biographies in the Yuan Shi), in Journal of Chinese Military History. 2018. Vol. 7. Pp. 37–76. DOI 10.1163/22127453-12341323

Pow, Stephen. Climatic and Environmental Limiting Factors in the Mongol Empire’s Westward Expansion: Exploring Causes for the Mongol Withdrawal from Hungary in 1242, in Yang, Liang Emlyn et al. (eds.). Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road. Cham: Springer, 2019. Pp. 301–321.

Pow, Stephen. Conquest and Withdrawal: The Mongol invasions of Europe in the thirteenth century. PhD thesis. Central European University, 2020. 313 p.

Pow, Stephen. Deep Ditches and Well-built Walls: A Reappraisal of the Mongol Withdrawal from Europe in 1242. MA Thesis. University of Calgary, 2012.

Rachewiltz, Igor de. Heaven, Earth and the Mongols in the Time of Činggis Qan and his Immediate Successors (ca. 1160–1260) — A Preliminary Investigation, in Golvers, Noël, Lievens, Sara (eds.). A Lifelong Dedication to the China Mission: Essays Presented in Honor of Father Jeroom Heyndrickx, CICM, on the Occasion of his 75^th Birthday and the 25^th Anniversary of the F. Verbiest Institute K. U. Leuven. Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, 2007. (Louvain Chinese studies. T. 17). Pp. 107–144.

Rachewiltz, Igor de. Papal Envoys to the Great Khans. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971. 230 p.

Rachewiltz, Igor de. Some Remarks on the Ideological Foundations of Chingis Khan s Empire, in Papers on Far Eastern History. 1973. Vol. 7. Pp. 21–36.

Ratchnevsky, Paul. Genghis Khan, his life and legacy. Malden; Oxford; Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 1991. 313 p.

Richard, Jean. La Papauté et les missions d’Orient au Moyen Age (XIIIe – XVe siècles). Rome: Boccard, 1977. 325 p.

Richard, Jean. Ultimatums mongols et lettresapocryphes: l’Occident et les motifs de guerre des Tartares, in Central Asiatic Journal. 1973. Vol. 17. Pp. 212–222.

Ronay, Gabriel. The Tartar Khan’s Englishman. London: Phoenix, 1978. 249 p.

Roux, Jan-Paul. Histoire de l’empire Mongol. Paris: Fayard Publ., 1993. 597 p.

Sagaster, Klaus. Herrschaftsideologie und Friedensgedanke bei den Mongolen, in Central Asiatic Journal. 1973. Vol. 17. Pp. 223–242.

Saunders, John J. Matthew Paris and the Mongols in Sandquist, Thyrion, Powicke, Michael R. (eds.) Essays in Medieval History Presented to Bertie Wilkinson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969. Pp. 116–132.

Saunders, John J. The History of the Mongol Conquests. London: Routledge; Kegan Paul, 1971. 275 p.

Schiel, Juliane. Mongolensturm und Fall Konstantinopels: Dominikanische Erzählungen im diachronen Vergleich. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2011. (Europa im Mittelalter. T. 19). 428 p.

Segl, Peter. Ketzer in Österreich: Untersuchungen über Häresie und Inquisition im Herzogtum Österreich im 13. und beginnenden 14. Jahrhundert. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1984. 360 p.

Sinor, Denis. Le rapport du Dominicain Julien écrit en 1238 sur le péril mongol, in Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 2002. Vol. 146. Pp. 1153–1168.

Sinor, Denis. The Mongols in the West, in Journal of Asian History. 1999. Vol. 33. Pp. 1–44.

Smith, John Masson, Jr. The Mongols and world–conquest, in Mongolica. 1994. Vol. 5. Pp. 206–214.

Spinei, Victor. The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the tenth to the mid-thirteenth century. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009. (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450. T. 6). 545 p.

Spuler, Bertold. The Mongols in History. London: Praeger, 1971. 161 p.

Uzelac, Aleksandar. A century of the Tatars’ «hegemony»: The Golden Horde and Bulgarian lands (1241–1341) in Maiorov, Alexander Viacheslavovich, Hautala, Roman (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of the Mongols and Central–Eastern Europe. London; New York: Routledge, 2021. Pp. 212–232.

Uzelac, Aleksandar. Od Urala do Tsarigrada. Mongolski pokhod na Evropu (1236–1243) [From the Ural River to Constantinople. The Mongol Campaign in Europe (1236–1243)]. Belgrade, 2023. (Institute of History Belgrade. Monographs. Vol. 79). 413 p. (in Serbian).

Vásáry, István. Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 230 p.

Vásáry, István. The Hungarians or Možars and the Meščers / Mišers of the Middle Volga Region, in Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. 1975. Vol. 1. Pp. 237–275.

Vernadsky, George. The Mongols and Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1953. 461 p.

Zimonyi, István. The First Mongol Raids against the Volga–Bulgars in Jarring, Gunnar, Rosén, Staffan (eds.) Altaistic Studies. Papers at the 25^th Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic conference at Uppsala, June 7–11, 1982. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1985. Pp. 197–204.

Zimonyi, István. The Mongol Campaigns against Eastern Europe in Zimonyi, István. Medieval Nomads in Eastern Europe. Collected Studies. Bucharest: Brăila, 2014. (Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologiaeque Antiquitatiset Medii Aevi. T. 16). Pp. 325–352.

Zimonyi, István. The Volga Bulghars between Wind and Water (1220–1236), in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 1992/93. Vol. 46. Pp. 347–355.