the disintegration of the empire 77
which the conquerors would have had to rebuild at their own expense.75
this calculation is one more proof of the importance of economic stakes
in the dispute between the mamluk sultanate and the ilkhanate for con-
trol of cilician armenia and its revenues.
the egyptian secretary’s calculations undoubtedly had their parallels in
the ilkhanate, where aḥmad tegüder’s islamophile policies were judged
and found wanting. as well as the loss of cilician contributions to the
ilkhanid state treasury, his reckless attitude had a potentially much more
worrying effect: he had given the sultans the power to choke off the final
stretch of the silk road any time they chose.76 it was in the nature of
things that if war were to resume, his enemy would use this economic
weapon, whose importance need not be emphasized. aḥmad tegüder’s
adventures stirred up tempestuous reactions in the ilkhanate, which
finally crystallized into a new and diametrically opposed policy.
prince arghun emerged as the victor from his confrontation with the
discredited islamic party.77 in 1284 he began a reign which would remain
true to its founding principles until it ended in 1291: it began as a reaction
to the enormous losses of the last two years, and unwaveringly followed
the old course of traditional persian mongol policy.
the touchstone of his reign was alliance with the West. his envoy to
the kingdoms of Western christendom was the monk rabban Bar sauma,
who revealed a fully-formed programme of policy when he wrote down the
ilkhan’s thoughts: “this prince loved the christians with all his heart, and
planned to enter palestine and syria to conquer them and rule there; but
he said: ‘if the christian kings of the West do not come to my aid, i will
never fulfil my desire.’ ”78 although it was not new, the ilkhan’s strategic
consideration was very trenchantly expressed: to destroy the mamluk sul-
tan through simultaneous attacks from the mediterranean and from across
the euphrates.79
When arghun sent out his envoys to mobilize the Western powers in a
common cause,80 their attempts did not have the result that he hoped for:
75 canard, “royaume,” p. 249.
76 ibid., p. 259, on the commercial regulations of the armenian-mamluk treaty.
77 spuler, Mongolen, pp. 70–72.
78 Yahballaha/chabot, p. 53.
79 the idea is found in arghun’s letter to the princes of the West: Terra Scami [= syria]
videlicet Egipti inter nos et vos estrengebimus. [.. .] Saracenis de medio nostri levabimus
(ibid., p. 90).
80 the first embassy (after that of hülegü in 1262, cf. p. 243 note 400) left iran in 1285, and
included the genoese banker tommaso degli anfusi; the abundant bibliography on this