letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
written by
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
to the
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
on March 13, 1245. In it, Pope Innocent appeals to the Mongols to desist from attacking Christians and other nations, and inquires as to the Mongols' future intentions.Jackson, p. 88 Innocent also expresses a desire for peace (possibly unaware that in the Mongol vocabulary, "peace" is a synonym for "subjection").
This message was carried by the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini, who successfully reached the Mongol capital of
Karakorum
Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the ...
, where he attended the election of the new Khan Güyük on August 24, 1246.
Güyük, who had little understanding of faraway Europe or the Pope's significance in it, other than that the Pope was sending a message from an area that the Mongols had not yet conquered, replied to the Pope's letter with a fairly typical Mongol demand for the Pope's submission, and a visit from the rulers of the West in homage to Mongol power:Rachewiltz, p. 103.
Naming
Papal letters are generally named by modern scholars, according to their
incipit
The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...
, or beginning. This letter, ''Cum non solum'' starts with similar language to the two other letters, '' Viam agnoscere veritatis'' and ''
Dei patris immensa
__NOTOC__
''Dei patris immensa'' was a letter written by Pope Innocent IV to the Mongols (the Pope also wrote other letters to the Mongols, which are known as ''Cum non solum'' and '' Viam agnoscere veritatis''). It was written on March 5, 1245, wa ...
''. The letter starts, "''...regi et populo Tartarorum viam agnoscere veritatis. Cum non solum homines verum etiam animalia irrationalia nec non ipsa mundialis elementa machine quadam nativi federis...''"
See also
*
Franco-Mongol alliance
Several attempts at a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Islamic caliphates, their common enemy, were made by various leaders among the Frankish Crusaders and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Such an alliance might have seemed an obvious c ...
Fayard
Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre.
In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayard ...
,
* Setton, Kenneth Meyer, ''A History of the Crusades''
* MGH Epp. Saec. XIII, Volume 2, pp. 72–75 (original source document https://web.archive.org/web/20190131201242/http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00000516/images/index.html?id=00000516&fip=24.217.151.203&no=8&seite=94]
* René Grousset, Grousset, René, ''Histoire des Croisades, III'',
Tempus
Tempus is a Latin word meaning time and a Finnish, Swedish and German word meaning grammatical tense. It may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Television
*"Tempus, Anyone?", 1996 episode of ''Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Super ...
, 2006 edition,
* Rachewiltz, I, ''Papal Envoys to the Great Khans'',
Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...
, 1971.
*
Runciman, Steven
Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume ''A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54).
He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negative ...