Abel-Rémusat on the Mongol emperors and the Christian princes
A French scholar's 1822 to 1824 study of the letters between Mongol rulers, popes and the kings of France.
Full title Memoirs on the political relations of the Christian princes, and particularly of the kings of France, with the Mongol emperors (two memoirs, read 1822, printed 1822-1824 in Memoires de l’Academie des inscriptions vols 6-7)
Jean-Pierre Abel-Remusat
Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat read two memoirs to the Académie des inscriptions in 1822 and printed them in 1822 to 1824. They collect and translate thirteenth- and fourteenth-century letters, among them those of the Ilkhans Arghun and Oljeitu to Philip the Fair, with papal letters and travellers such as Carpini, Rubruck and Rabban Sauma. It is the first scholarly edition of this Mongol-French correspondence. The atlas does not hold the text: the corpus knows only a Gallica digitisation of the 1824 offprint, and no Internet Archive copy was found.
- How they knew
- Compiled from others
- Who “Tartar” means here
- Rémusat's own word is Mongols, and the card describes the letters as dealings with the Mongol Ilkhans. The medieval writers he draws on, such as Carpini and Rubruck, called them Tartars.
- Why read it
- Documentary evidence for direct contact between Western courts and the Mongol Ilkhans, gathered by an early French Sinologist.
- Watch out
- Later scholars corrected his readings of the Mongolian letters. The atlas quotes nothing from this work.
What it says
No quotes from this one yet. Its text is out of reach for now, or the scan could not be read.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
compilation of earlier sources: edits and translates thirteenth- and fourteenth-century diplomatic letters (Arghun, Oljeitu to Philip the Fair, papal letters, Carpini, Rubruck, Rabban Sauma material) held in Paris archives; retrospective analysis
Research notes
- Remusat's readings of the Mongolian letters were corrected by later scholars (Pauthier, Kotwicz, Mostaert and Cleaves). IA search returned no copy of this memoir under the queries used.
- Full text also in Memoires de l'Institut royal de France, Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, t. 6 (1822) and t. 7 (1824); those volumes are on IA/Google (not verified here).
Why it matters
First scholarly edition of the Mongol-French diplomatic correspondence, including the Mongolian-script letters of Arghun and Oljeitu in the French archives: primary documentary evidence for direct contact between Western courts and the Mongol Ilkhans.
Places named
Iran (Ilkhanate); Mongolia; France; Rome
Peoples named
Mongols; Ilkhans (Abaqa, Arghun, Oljeitu); Golden Horde; Nestorian Christians; Crusader states