The Politically incorrect Guide to Islam (and the CrusadesMongols.Arghun wanted to raise interest among the Christian kings of
Europe in making common cause to wrest the Holy Land from the
Muslims once and for all.Argh un was a Budd hist ; his best frie nd was
theleader, or Catholicos, of the Nestorian Church, a Christian sect that had
broken with the great Church of the Empire in 431 - His vizier, meanwhile,
was a Jew, Arghun seemed to bold every reli gion in high regar d excep t
Islam. He came to power in Persia by toppling the Muslim ruler Ahmed [a
convert from Nestorian Christianity] after Ahmed made attempts to join
forces with the Mamluks in Cairo,
Ahmed had writtento Pope Honorius N in 1285 to suggest an alliance
but when the pope did not answer, the Mongol ruler sent Rabban Sauma,
a Nestorian Christian from deep in the heart of Central Asia, to Europe to
dis cus s the matt er per son all y wit h the pope and the Chri sti an kin gs.
Sawm a's jou rney was one of the most rema rkab le inthe anci ent worl d.
He start ed out from Trebi zond and trave led all the way to Borde aux to
meet with King Edward I of England. Along the way, he met the
Byzantin e Emp ero r And ron icu s in Con sta nti nop le (to who m he
ref err ed as"King Basileus," or King King. demonstrating that thirteenth-
centurytrans lator s weren' t infal lible) ; trave led to Naples , Rome (wher e
Honor iushad just died and a new pope had not yet been chos en), and
Geno a; went on to Paris, where he dined with King PhilipIVof France;
met withEdwar d I in Borde aux; and retur ned to Rome for a triu mphant
meeti ngwith Pope Nicholas IV.
All the European leaders liked Rabban Saurna's proposal of a Mongol-,
Christian alliance to free the Holy Land,Philip 1V offered to march to
Jerusalem himself at the head of a Crusader army, Edward I waslikewise.
enthusiastic; Sauma was proposing an alliance that the king himself called
for in the past, Pope Nicholas showered Sauma. Arghun, and theNestor ian
Catholics with gifts. But whatnone of these men, or anyone- else in
Europe, could decide was a date for this grand new Crusade. Their
enthusiasm remained vague, their promises non-specific.