8 chapter one
conclusions, but it is inevitable that we set out the nature of the bond as
a premise for further argument if we are to discern those instances where
trade considerations weighed in a political decision, especially in those
cases where the sources keep silent.
1.1.2 The Khan and the Merchants: A Symbiotic Relationship
the cohesion of a band of armed men is based on a contract: the members
of the group offer their captain their “services,” while he in turn is obliged
to ensure the success of their raids. the booty is divided up among the
participants according to no fixed set of rules, and serves to reward effort
and encourage loyalty—it is a guarantee that these joint actions will con-
tinue. the prestige and the power of the leader depend on the amount
of treasure that each of his men can heap up. this law of do ut des is an
objective, widespread law in history, and also runs through the history of
the chinggisids from start to finish.
In this respect as in many others, the assembly of princes and high
officials (qurultai) of 1206 was a memorable occasion: our most significant
internal source, referring to this gathering of the members of chinggis
Khan’s family and the Mongol nobility, mentions the lordly manner in
which chinggis Khan rewarded each companion who had stood beside
him in battle, whether famous engagements or obscure skirmishes, up
until that moment.20 this was an exemplary action by the founder of the
empire, who thereby elevated such behaviour to a principle of govern-
ment which all his successors would be obliged to respect.21 It was an
unnecessary precaution: his successors knew that their rule was endan-
gered as soon as their retinue’s thirst for profit went unsatisfied, and this
argument was far more persuasive than any demonstrative legacy.
Fulfilling this need was always a pressing problem. the ongoing answer
was of course “the war that feeds on war.” Indeed, from china all the way
to central europe and the shores of the Mediterranean, plundered booty
fed the Mongol armies’ taste for combat. Moreover, since the resources
available grew as the conquests went on, the business of conquest,
planned and carried out on a transcontinental scale, swept along with it
enormous quantities of material resources and immense numbers of men.
the chinggisids proved to be unrivalled in the art of mobilising such vast
resources for war.
20 Geheime Geschichte, pp. 136–161, Histoire secrète, pp. 179 ff.
21 Geheime Geschichte, p. 145.
