GEORGIANS IN MOGULS’ DIPLOMATIC SERVICE

Abstract

It is known that the Second Ecclesiastical Council of Lyon, which discussed the issue of the struggle against the Sultanate of Egypt, was attended by the ambassadors of the Mongol Abagha-khan. Abagha wanted to establish an anti-Egyptian alliance with the Latins. The ecclesiastical assembly ended without any results.

A particular  important event was the Mongol embassy in France and England in 1276-1277. The visit of the ambassadors to Philip III (1270-1285) is mentioned in the Chronicle of Saint-Denis. The chronicler mentions the ambassadors as Georgians, but does not tell us their names or how he knew they were Georgians.

The ambassadors then moved to England with Edward I Plantagenet (1272-1307). Sources known to date do not allow us to say exactly about the ethnicity of the ambassadors. In my opinion, they could have been Georgians as well as Greeks or Armenians.

Ilkhan Arghun-Khan (1284-1291) also tried to establish a military alliance with the Latins for a joint struggle against  Mameluke state under the leadership of the Pope. Pontific  sent the ambassadors of Arghun in 1289 with his letter   to King Philip IV of France (1284-1315), stating that in case of victory over the Mamelukes, Arghun would have  handed  over the king of France to Jerusalem. In his army would have been two kings of Georgia with 20 thousand or more cavalry. It is established that two of the members of the embassy  sent to the Pope by Arghun Khan were Georgians.

 Keywords: Council, Abagha-khan, Egypt, Arghun-Khan, France, England.