Lane, George

English

SOAS Research Online

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studieshttp://journals.cambridge.org/BSOAdditional services for Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies:Email alerts: Click hereSubscriptions: Click hereCommercial reprints: Click hereTerms of use : Click hereFARHAD DAFTARY (ed): Mediaeval Isma‘ili history and thought. xviii, 331 pp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.GEORGE LANEBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies / Volume 65 / Issue 02 / June 2002, pp 379 ­ 487DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X02220157, Published online: 04 July 2002Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0041977X02220157How to cite this article:GEORGE LANE (2002). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 65, pp 379­487 doi:10.1017/S0041977X02220157Request Permissions : Click hereDownloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/BSO, IP address: 212.219.238.14 on 30 Oct 2012411 . :Culture and conquest in Mongol Eurasia.(Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) xiv, 245 pp. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2001. £40.Any new publication by Thomas T. Allsen is justly followed by ripples ofexcitement in the world of medieval Euro-Asian research. A new book excitesthose ripples to tidal proportions. Allsen's latest study, following his appetiser,Commodity and exchange in the Mongol Empire, fully deserves such anticipatoryenthusiasm and few if any could be disappointed at the result of his efforts,Culture and conquest in Mongol Eurasia.Once again the focus of Allsen's attention is the Chinggisid courts inmedieval Iran and China, discerned through the medium of Mongolian,Chinese, Persian, Arabic, European and Caucasian sources and presented inAllsen's always readable and lucid style. His conclusions are possibly radicalbut his argument is convincing and the picture he unveils of the medievalMongol polity is one that will fit securely behind those who, in recent years,have been urging a reassessment of the traditional, sometimes negative, viewof the Chinggisid empire. While acknowledging the existence of both a PaxMongolica and a Tartar Yoke, and recognizing the traditional role of nomadicsociety in facilitating communication while at the same time fosteringdestruction, Allsen demonstrates how the Mongols initiated and perpetuatedcultural exchange on a vast scale in the furtherance of their imperialisticambitions. Rather than being a by-product of imperial conquest, with urbanentrepreneurs and traders taking advantage of newly opening markets, culturalexchange was initiated and promoted by the Mongols themselves, who actedas the agents of their own multinational cultural clearing house. For theMongols, human talent was just another form of legitimate plunder and afurther source of booty which along with land, slaves, animals, preciousmaterial and other goods, was expected to be equitably divided among the‘royal family’. It was this human traffic which formed a central element inthe empire's cultural exchange.The extent of this human traffic is made plain from the outset of Allsen'sstudy. The Mongols were a minority in their own empire and they needed thehelp of ‘foreigners’ to run their vast administration. These ‘foreigners’ wouldideally be without local political or social ties and it was in Yuan China thatthe ruling Mongols developed a technique for accommodating these criteria.This entailed dividing the Yuan population into geographically defined groupsand determining office, promotion, and work location according to quotaswhich ensured equal treatment for western Asians and Mongols with thosefrom north and south China. The result was an administration composed, atall levels, of a complex ethnic, linguistic, and religious mix which meant‘thousands of agents of cultural transmission and change dispersed throughoutthe Yuan realm’ (p. 7). The table which accompanies this point graphicallyillustrates the social depth and extent of this systematic immigration andtransmigration, with Italians, Flemings, Scandinavians, Germans and otherEuropeans among immigrants from western Asia working as everything fromleopard keepers and goldsmiths to accountants and singers. To a lesser extent,the same pattern was evident in Iran, with eastern Asians employed inoccupations ranging from agriculturalists and stonemasons to cooks andwet nurses.The book initially outlines the economic and political framework in which412 this Mongol-inspired cultural exchange was able to develop. Iran and Chinahad long had commercial, cultural and even religious links dating back to theearliest times and substantial ‘Persian’ trading centres are recorded in Chinaas early as the mid-eighth century, with Chinese governments establishinginstitutions to administer these growing communities. With the advent of theMongols, the centuries-old relationship between Iran and China underwent adramatic intensification, initiated in particular by the accession of the GreatQa'an, Möngke, in 1251. Allsen deftly emphasizes the significance of theestablishment of the Ilkhanate and details the sometimes convoluted historyof the Mongols in Iran until the demise of Abu: Sa"ı:d in 1335. Allsen sees thiswhole period as being of great importance to both China and Iran, and findsthe development of their relationship reflected in an ‘enduring partnership’.The two countries maintained diplomatic, ideological and military support:‘They exchanged intelligence, commodities, tribute, personnel, and envoys’.And their national resources were ‘appropriated, apportioned, andexchanged’ (p. 56).Two men who recognized and took full personal advantage of theenormous cultural opportunities of this ‘enduring partnership’, and whoreceive Allsen's full attention and praise, are the Persian wazir Rashı:d al-Dı:nand the Mongol emissary to China and Iran, the chancellor Bolad Aqa (akaPu: la:d and Po-lo]. The detailing of Bolad's career from a number of diversesources, Chinese and Persian, is particularly welcome since the Yuan sourcesdo not contain his biography. Though commonly credited as ‘a literateMongolian and informant of Rashı:d al-Dı:n’ (p. 79) Allsen acknowledgesBolad as far more than this, characterizing him ‘as a Mongolian intellectual—literate, cosmopolitan, and a man of affairs’ (p. 79) whom Rashı:d al-Dı:nfrequently praised, consulted, quotes, and to whom he would also defer.However, though Bolad was a respected and powerful Mongol administratorwho encouraged reform in both China and Iran and one ‘who favouredaccommodation and innovation’ (p. 79), he remained true to his nomadicMongolian roots and traditions and is unlikely, Allsen concludes, to havebeen hauled before any court and tried for ‘un-Mongolian activities’ (p. 79).Rashı:d al-Dı:n's particular indebtedness to Bolad in the compilation of theJa:mi" al-Tawa:rı:kh and others of his literary works, is fully explored in achapter on historiography.The body of the work, often of a descriptive nature, concerns specificexchanges of cultural ware. Studies on, for example, astronomy have appearedbefore, but Allsen has uncovered some fascinating information in the field ofagronomy, the Chinese government office over which Bolad held considerablesway, and cuisine, the area which served as the launching pad for both Bolad'sand Rashı:d al-Dı:n's careers. Other areas examined include medicine, printing,geography and cartography.The final chapters of this welcome book deal with the centrality to thiscultural exchange of the Mongols themselves. Muslim astronomers went toChina and vice versa, not because their counterparts wanted to exchangescientific information but because their Mongol masters wanted secondopinions and further clarification of their astronomical findings.This is an important book not only for the refreshing light it throws onChinggisid history but also for the wealth of new material it has uncovered inthe process. The Mongols as cultural brokers is an exciting concept in itselfbut the evidence that Allsen has produced in support of this view will occupyand entertain specialists for some time to come. 

Review of Thomas T. Allsen, 'Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia'

https://soas-repository.worktribe.com/file/340483/1/Lane_review_2002_b.pdf

Review of Thomas T. Allsen, 'Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia'

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