Week 11: Mongols — Yuan dynasty

Nov. 7 – Nov. 13

The Mongols come to town! (And not everybody is happy about it…)

Unless otherwise noted, all assignments and tasks are due by 11:59PM. I strongly suggest you keep a healthy life-work balance and make sure to get enough sleep. Check the “best-before dates” policy in the syllabus.

Monday
  • □ Look ahead at the readings and tasks for this week, and plan in when you will do them.
  • – This prevents last minute panic, and means you can make the most of our time together in class
Tuesday
  • □ Feedback on your fellow students’ posts:
  • – Read through and use Hypothes.is (Group HST269)  to comment on your fellow students’ posts: everybody likes some encouragement! Here is a random selection of three posts. If two or more posts are the same, or one is your own, just refresh the page for a different set. It’s all random, it’s all good! 
  • [links coming on Monday afternoon]
  • * Post 1:
  • * Post 2:
  • * Post 3:
Wednesday
  • □ Prepare before class: Readings: Pick one of the three Primary Source sets (one set may have multiple sources, check carefully!)
  • TIP: If you’re not sure what the Mongols were up to, please check out the Optional Extras –> two podcasts to choose from with a ton of background! Scroll down to find them.
  •  
  • – Primary Source Option 1: Wen Tianxiang. “Account of the Compass.” Translated by Stephen Owen, in An Anthology of Chinese Literature : Beginnings to 1911. 1st Ed. ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996.
    • PDF
    • Extract from Wen Tianxiang’s Account of the Compass pp. 713-719. It’s ok to skim the poetry; main passage of interest marked in red brackets; you may read the longer translated section. Introductory notes from the translator included for your reference.
    • Wen was a loyalist of the Song regime. He was captured by the Mongols, then escaped. In this passage he makes his way south to what remains of the Song court. Mongol soldiers and their allies (“northerners”) are hunting him down, and southerners (Song people) do not trust him, thinking he was a spy, only pretending to have escaped.
    • Reading questions: How reliable is this source, from a die-hard loyalist who’s unable to make contact with the authorities on whose behalf he is fighting? How does it make you feel to read this story?
  •  
  • – Primary source Option 2: (NOTE: contains TWO texts)
    • John of Plano Carpini. History of the Mongols. In The Mongol Mission: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Edited by Christoper Dawson. Makers of Christendom. New York: AMS Press, 1980; letter of Guyuk Khan to Pope Innocent IV, dated 1246.
      • PDF
      • Brief excerpt from the History of the Mongols by John of Plano Carpini. This Franciscan friar was sent in 1245 by Pope Innocent IV with Lawrence of Portugal to send a bull (papal public letter) to the Mongol Khan. The pope entertained hopes of creating an alliance with the Mongols against the Muslims. This is only a small excerpt of a longer work.
    • “Guyuk Khan’s to Pope Innocent IV”, dated 1246.InThe Mongol Mission: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Edited by Christoper Dawson. Makers of Christendom. New York: AMS Press, 1980.
      • PDF
      • This is the reply from the Mongol Khan to the pope to the mission seeking an alliance.
      • Note: “God” in the translation is not the Christian God, but the supreme deity of the Mongols, more akin to the Chinese concept of Tian or Heaven (as seen in the Mandate of Heaven)
    • Reading questions: How were the Mongols seen by others? How did they see themselves and the world around them? How does John of Plano Carpini’s view on the Mongols compare with for instance Wang Renyu’s view on the Khitan (another pastoral people), as we saw in week 10 (Dudbridge translation)
  •  
  • – Primary source Option 3: 
  • The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan. An Adaptation by Paul Kahn. Boston: Cheng and Tsui Company, 1998.
    • PDF (selections marked in red brackets, starting p. 3, of PDF, p. 7, p. 11, p. 17, p. 20 ff)
    • Two “plot lines”: one is the destruction of the Xixia/Western Xia state of the Tangut; the other is the succession of Genghis (Chingis) Khan.
    • This is not the most authoritative translation, but it is easier to read. I have the same excerpt in a more scholarly translation should you wish to work with this document intensely.
    • Reading questions: What can you learn about Mongol organization from this fragment, and do you find anything that points to the reasons for their success?
  •  
  • – Optional Extras/Useful background
  •  
  • □ Meeting in Ettinger 213, 9.30AM
Thursday
  • □ Gather all your stuff and get some sleep so you’re fresh and ready for tomorrow’s class 😀
Friday
  • □ Change of location: Meeting in Trexler Library, B01: Go down the stairs, turn right immediately. Go past the vending machines. At the end you’ll see a classroom, that’s us!
  • □ Show and Tell 3 due tonight, at 11:59PM: Post a blog post with your project in it, or a link to it so we can all find it easily! More info on the basic requirements for a Show and Tell on the general webpage
Saturday
  • □ Rest day
Sunday

Where to get help:

  • Tea Room on Discord:
    • open anytime for you
    • I will be hosting Tue 2PM-3PM; Wed. 11AM-12PM, or at other times by appointment via Google Calendar (usually a 15-20min appointment is enough). You can also find me in my office during Tea Room times.
    • Private room for confidential chat available on request.
  • Discord Channel #hst269 and the (anonymous) Padlet (both also useful for chatting, sharing fun stuff)
  • DLAs: Digital Learning Assistants: check the schedule!
  • Writing Center: Sunday-Wednesday: 3:30 – 5:30 pm and 7-11 pm; Thursday: 3:30 – 5:30 pm and 7-9 pm; drop in or make an appointment
  • Trexler Library Course Subject Guide: our own dedicated subject guide for the course 
  • Safety on/around campus: report an incident