Ilkhanate

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Rabban Bar Sauma 4: Ilkhanid End Times

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The conclusion of the Rabban Bar Sauma series. It's Bar Sauma's return to the Ilkhanate and the results of his journey. It's the end of the line for him and his friend the catholicus, and it's the changes that were going on in the Ilkhanate and how they affected the Church of the East and our main characters.

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Rabban Bar Sauma 3: Barbazoma, Tartarus, Orientalis

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This is Rabban Bar Sauma part 3 of 4, the story of the Mongol envoy's diplomatic efforts in Paris, Bordeaux, and Rome, his experience as a pilgrim to the sites and saints of Italy and France, and his attempts to improve the Ilkhanid cause against the Mamluks.

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Rabban Bar Sauma 2: Ilkhanid Infighting, Ilkhanid Envoy

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In this episode, our monkish friends attempt to navigate the violent waters of Ilkhanid Mongol politics, and Bar Sauma himself embarks on another long journey, this time heading for Rome.

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Rabban Bar Sauma 1: The Monks of Kublai Khan

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First in a series on Rabban Bar Sauma, covering his life from miracle-baby through cave-bound monk and on to pilgrim, with ambassador to the cities of western Europe not far behind. This episode takes us from Yuan China to Jerusalem, or perhaps not quite that far.

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Marco and the Polos 7: Marco Polo Comes Home

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I’m going to start this story at the end. Marco Polo comes home in 1295, a man of 41 or 42 years. And maybe we shouldn’t call it home because he’d been away about 24 of those years, longer than he’d ever lived in Venice.

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The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 2: The Battle of Angora/Ankara

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Last episode, we left Schiltberger as he left Nicopolis and told of a long captivity to come with the Ottomans. Here that new Ottoman lord Bayezid was facing, in the figure of this Karaman, a brother-in-law, but more importantly the powerful leader of a Turcoman dynasty to rival the Ottomans, the Karamanids of southeast Anatolia. According to Schiltberger, Karaman had refused to be subject to him, being, as Karaman was, feeling slightly “Rains of Castmere-ish,” as great a lord as he. So Bayezid sets out with 150k men, and Karaman to meet him with 75k, or at least with large numbers of men.