Respect

8.25.19

Respect
Life
尊重生命 
Zūn chóng shēngmìng
生活を尊重する
Seikatsu o sonchō suru
ps103
Haec sane debita reverentia vitae

Bless the truth, O my soul.
Let all that is within me revere the goal.

Respect that which is benign for life.
Don't forget that love relieves strife.

Favor intelligence by design.
Don't forget what you find by faith in the divine.

There is forgiveness for error.
There is relief from that which causes terror.

There is healing from infirmities.
There is the unity in diversity.

There is redemption from fear of the grave.
The attitude of gratitude crowns our hearts for what saves.

Mercy illumines our hearts and minds.
Law binds that which would otherwise despise what investigation finds.

There is satisfaction for good things.
Your youth will rise high like the wind beneath eagle wings.

Judgement will be for education, the disabled and defense.
The poor will rise without crime for what makes sense.

Spending will be for national and social security.
Balance will be found with seasoned maturity.

Goodness is defined by meeting basic needs.
Each household heeds what it takes to feed.

Law is against cruelty or violence.
It is for justice that breaks the silence.

Accusation must be preceded by cause.
Investigation has to be done to find truth without flaws.

Conviction yields only to proof in the body of evidence.
Certainty finds substance beyond mere coincidence.

Punishment will confine for a time or charge with a fine
but life in prison is the limit for capital crime.

You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem
where angels gather like a festal array of lucidum.

The assembly of alliance for self-reliance
are enrolled for the Judge of all with the spirits of the righteous.

This is the city of the living God on Zion.
it is the home for the defiance of pious lions.

Jesus is the mediator for a new covenant
that modifies the old as a supplement. 

The daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound for 18 years
deserved to be set free from bondage to her chain of tears.  

We have been drawn from the water of tidal surge.
We are learning from the verge of the urge to emerge
from the purge.

There has been compassion for mercy in survival.
The arrival of strength from the rival was vital.

Anger was a prelude to kindness.
The timeless mind sought to find us in life's likeness.

Respect that which is benign for life.
Don't forget that love relieves strife.

Succulent Garden

You will be like a garden by a spring
whose waters never fail the ardent pardon
from the heat of the sun's arson.

Don't forget what you find by faith in the divine.
Respect intelligence by design.

Let all that is within me bless the goal.
Bless the truth, O my soul.

-----------------------

103
Benedic, anima mea
Bless, my soul

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
3 He forgives all your sins
and heals all your infirmities;
4 He redeems your life from the grave
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5 He satisfies you with good things,
and your youth is renewed like an eagle's.
6 The Lord executes righteousness
and judgment for all who are oppressed.
7 He made his ways known to Moses
and his works to the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 He will not always accuse us,
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our sins from us.
13 As a father cares for his children,
so does the Lord care for those who fear him.
14 For he himself knows whereof we are made;
he remembers that we are but dust.
15 Our days are like the grass;
we flourish like a flower of the field;
16 When the wind goes over it, it is gone,
and its place shall know it no more.
17 But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness on children's children;
18 On those who keep his covenant
and remember his commandments and do them.
19 The Lord has set his throne in heaven,
and his kingship has dominion over all.
20 Bless the Lord, you angels of his,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
and hearken to the voice of his word.
21 Bless the Lord, all you his hosts,
you ministers of his who do his will.
22 Bless the Lord, all you works of his,
in all places of his dominion;
bless the Lord, O my soul.

-----------------------

Isa. 58:11

The LORD will guide you continually
to satisfy your needs in parched places
and make your bones strong.
You will be like a watered garden
with a spring of water
whose waters never fail.

-----------------------

You will be like a watered garden by a spring
whose waters never fail the ardent pardon
from the larceny of the heat's arson.

=================

Hebrews 12:22-24

You have come to the city of the living God on Mount Zion. It is the heavenly Jerusalem with innumerable angels in festal gathering. The assembly of the firstborn are enrolled in heaven for God the judge of all and the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant with sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

-----------------------

You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem
where angels gather like a festal array of lucidum.

The assembly of alliance for self-reliance
are enrolled for the Judge of all with the spirits of the righteous.

This is the city of the living God on Zion.
it is the home for the defiance of pious lions.

Jesus is the mediator for a new covenant
that modifies the old as a supplement.

=================

Luke 13:14-16

The leader of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath. He kept saying to the crowd, 'There are six days on which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be cured. Not on the sabbath day.'

The Lord answered him and said, 'You hypocrites! Does not each of you untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to give it water on the sabbath? Ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for 18 years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?'

-----------------------

The daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound for 18 years
deserved to be set free from bondage to the chain of tears.

=================

Administration

Louis IX of France
b. 4.25.1214  Poissy, France
d. 8.25.1270 French Tunis, North Africa

Louis IX was King of France in the 13th century. He is a canonized Catholic and Anglican saint.
He was a reformer who developed French royal justice. The king was the supreme judge. Anyone could appeal to him to seek the amendment of a judgment.

He banned trials by ordeal, tried to prevent the private wars that were plaguing the country and introduced the presumption of innocence in criminal procedure. He created provosts and bailiffs to enforce the application of this new legal system.

Louis IX took an active part in the Seventh Crusade following a vow he made after a serious illness. He died from dysentery during the Eighth Crusade. He was succeeded by his son Philip III.

He is the only canonized king of France.

Poissy

Poissy is located in the western suburbs of Paris. It is 23.8 km (14.8 mi) from the center of the city. It is on the Seine River.

It contains the 12th-century collegiate church of Notre Dame and the Savoye House (1929–31).
It was the birthplace for Louis IX in the early part of the 13th century.

Louis IX

Louis IX was born in Poissy on 25 April 1214. He was the son of Louis the Lion and Blanche of Castile. He was baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His grandfather on his father's side was Philip II, king of France. His grandfather on his mother's side was Alfonso VIII, king of Castile.

Tutors of Blanche's choosing taught him most of what a king must know. He was given instruction in Latin, public speaking, writing, the military arts and government.

He was 9 years old when his grandfather Philip II died. His father ascended as Louis VIII. Louis was 12 years old when his father died on 8 November 1226. He was crowned king within the month at Reims Cathedral, the traditional location for the coronation of kings in France. His mother ruled as regent during his minority because of his youth.

French Unity

Louis was the 9th ruler in the Capetian dynasty. The Capetians ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious vassals and put an end to the Albigensian Crusade which had started 29 years earlier.

Inquisition

Pope Innocent III had started the Inquisition against the Cathars from the beginning of his time in office in 1198. It turned into a twenty year military campaign in southern France known as the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229).

Louis IX forbade all forms of usury in 1230. Usury was defined at the time as any taking of interest. Louis exacted from the lenders a contribution towards the crusade which Pope Gregory was then trying to launch. Pope Gregory IX instituted the papal inquisition in 1233.

While he did not approve of the use of torture in investigation, punishments included wearing a yellow cross, the confiscation of property, life imprisonment or death. Death for heresy as a crime had been started by Justinian. Burning at the stake was the capital punishment for heresy.

He also ordered the burning of some 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmud and other Jewish books in Paris at the urging of Pope Gregory IX in 1243. This was an example of sectarian policy as promoted by the papal office. The edict against the Talmud was overturned by Gregory IX's successor, Innocent IV, but other expressions of particular favor for Christian monotheism would follow.

The Crusades and the Inquisition may have had defense of the Roman Empire as a consideration, but the offensive nature of the sectarian statements skewed objectivity in impartial judgment.

Louis IX faced recurring conflicts with some of the most powerful nobles as an adult. Henry III of England tried to restore his continental possessions, but was defeated at the battle of Taillebourg.

Several provinces were annexed in this time. Normandy, Maine and Provence were notable examples.

Louis worked for the political unification of France amidst the competition between kingdoms in the Roman Empire. 

The empire was engaged in the effort to put Jerusalem and surrounding territory under Catholic jurisdiction. This is where the 'universal' implication of catholic Christianity threatened to be too costly with regards to expansion by military aggression.

The defense of the Holy Land made sense for Rome and Europe with respect for the threat of Muslim invasion, but it threatened the security of Muslim territory with the imposition of Christianity as the official religion for them.

The Sainte-Chapelle or ‘Holy Chapel’ was built to house Louis IX’s collection of relics of Christ. The relics included the Crown of Thorns, the image of Edessa and about thirty other items.

Louis purchased his Passion relics from Baldwin II, the Latin emperor at Constantinople, for the sum of 135,000 livres. The money was actually paid to the Venetians to whom the items had been pawned. The relics arrived in Paris in August 1238. They were carried from Venice by two Dominican friars.

La Sainte-Chapelle

Louis made a vow to lead a crusade when he was suffering from a serious illness. He took part in the Seventh Crusade in 1248 after a miraculous cure. The military action would end the Ayyubid Dynasty.

Ayyubid Empire

The Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin. It was founded by Saladin. It was centered in Egypt. The dynasty lasted through the 12th and 13th centuries CE. It ruled much of the Middle East.

Saladin had been the vizier of Fatimid Egypt. He was a Sunni. The Fatimids claimed descent from Fatima bint Muhammad. She was the daughter of Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Fatimid caliphate was a Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North

Saladin brought an end to Fatimid rule in 1171. He proclaimed himself sultan following the death of the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din in 1174. The Zengids were a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turk origin. They ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire.

The Ayyubids spent the next decade launching conquests throughout the region. The territories under their control included Egypt, Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen and the North African coast up to the borders of modern-day Tunisia by 1183.

Saladin took the Kingdom of Jerusalem with his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. The Crusaders managed to regain control of Palestine’s coastline in the 1190’s.

Saladin’s brother al-Adil eventually established himself as sultan in 1200 after a contest with his twelve sons. The later Ayyubid sultans of Egypt descended from him.

The Ayyubid emirs of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt in the 1230’s. They remained divided until Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored Ayyubid unity by taking over Syria by 1247. Only Aleppo remained independent.

Local Muslim dynasties had driven out the Ayyubids from Yemen, the Hejaz and parts of Mesopotamia by then.

Egypt

The base of Muslim power had shifted to Egypt. Louis did not attempt to take the Holy Land. He  left for Egypt in 1248. Any war against Islam fit the definition of a Crusade by this point. The crusaders landed in Egypt on June 5, 1249. Louis began his first crusade with the rapid capture of the port of Damietta.

Map of Crusades

The Crusader fleet of 1,800 boats and ships had arrived in Cyprus with the intent of launching a Seventh Crusade against the Muslims by conquering Egypt in 1248.

King Louis IX had attempted to enlist the Mongols to launch a coordinated attack on Egypt. When this failed to materialize, the Crusader force sailed to Damietta and the local population there fled as soon as they landed.

As-Salih Ayyub was in Syria at the time. When he heard about the fall of Damietta, he rushed back to Mansurah in Egypt. He organized an army and raised a commando force to harass the Crusaders.

As-Salih Ayyub was not well. His health deteriorated further due to the mounting pressure from the Crusader offensive. The march from Damietta toward Cairo through the Nile River Delta went slowly. The rising of the Nile and the summer heat made it impossible for them to advance quickly to follow up on their success.

Ayyub’s wife, Shajar al-Durr called a meeting for the generals. She became commander-in-chief of the Egyptian forces. She ordered the fortification of Mansurah. Then she stored large quantities of provisions and concentrated her forces there.

She organized a fleet of war galleys to be scattered at various strategic points along the Nile River. The Ayyubid sultan died during this time. Shajar al-Durr set a sudden power shift in motion that would make her Queen. She would eventually place the Egyptian army of the Mamluks in power.

Louis lost his army at the Battle of Al Mansurah. He was captured by the Egyptians on April 6, 1250. His release was negotiated in return for a ransom of 400,000 livres toumois and the city of Damietta. France’s annual revenue was only about 1,250,000 livres toumois at the time. 400,000 was a king’s ransom.

Louis spent four years in the Latin kingdoms of Acre, Caesarea and Jaffa following his release from captivity. He used his wealth to assist the Crusaders in rebuilding their defenses. He also engaged in diplomacy with the Islamic powers of Syria and Egypt. He and his army returned to France in the spring of 1254.

Ayyubid power in Egypt effectively ended after the seventh crusade. They had ushered in an era of economic prosperity in the lands they ruled. The facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world.

Sunni Muslim dominance had been strengthened in the region by the construction of numerous madrasas (schools of Islamic law) in their major cities.

A number of attempts by the emirs of Syria to wrest back control of Egypt failed. These attempts were led by an-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo. The Mongols sacked Aleppo and conquered the remaining territories of the Ayyubids soon after in 1260. The Mamluks forced out the Mongols after the destruction of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Ayyubid principality of Hama remained.

Louis IX must have seen at least one of the hospitals that had been built by the Muslims when he was in the Middle East. He visited the Holy Land after his release from captivity in 1250. It is likely that he saw the hospital in Divrigi in Anatolia. The mosque and hospital are located in present day Turkey. 

Hospitals
Divrigi Hospital (1228-29)

UNESCO Heritage Site
UNESCO

The Great Mosque and Hospital of Divrigi is a building that combines a monumental hypostyle mosque with a two story hospital and a tomb. It is located on the slopes below the castle of Divrigi, Sivas Province in central eastern Turkey.

If was founded by the Mengücekide emir Ahmed Shah following the victory of the Seljuk Turks over the Byzantine army at the battle of Malazgirt in 1071.

Mengujekids
wiki Mengujekids

A medical center, or Darüşşifa, was built in 1228 by Turan Melek Sultan, daughter of the Mengujek ruler of Erzincan, Fahreddin Behram Shah.

Quinze-Vingts
1260

Louis IX built a hospital for the poor, sick and blind when he returned from the Middle East. The Quinze-Vingts or the Fifteen Score, originally sheltered 300 inmates. His reign inspired the building of Gothic cathedrals.

Robert de Sorbon, the founder of the Sorbonne University of Paris was his confessor and personal friend. Thomas Aquinas was a frequent guest at his table.

Scientific Learning

Thomas Aquinas

The kingdom of France was at its height in Europe, both politically and economically, during the so-called "golden century of Saint Louis."  Louis was regarded as "primus inter pares", first among equals, among the kings and rulers of the continent. The title clarifies the meaning for the position as king of kings.

He commanded the largest army and ruled the largest and wealthiest kingdom. Paris was the European center for the arts and intellectual thought for the time. The foundations for the famous college of theology later known as the Sorbonne were laid in Paris about the year 1257.

Thomas Aquinas was appointed regent master in theology at Paris in the spring of 1256. His tenure ran from 1256 to 1259. He wrote numerous works. He was working on one of his most famous works, Summa contra Gentiles, by the end of his regency.

It was during the time that Thomas was first in Paris that Louis signed the Treaty of Corbeil and the Treaty of Paris. Louis renounced his feudal lordship over the county of Barcelona and Roussillon in the Treaty of Corbeil with James I of Aragon in 1258.

James renounced his lordship over several counties in southern France including Provence and Languedoc. The treaty ended 100 years of conflicts between the Capetian and Plantagenet dynasties.

Louis signed the Treaty of Paris in 1259 with Henry III of England. Henry was assured of his possession of territories in southwestern France. Louis received the provinces of Anjou, Normandy, Poitou, Maine and Touraine.

The Dominican order assigned Thomas to be regent master at the University of Paris for a second time in 1268. He held the position until the Spring of 1272. The rise of ‘Averroism’ or ‘radical Aristotelianism’ in the universities was part of the reason for this reassignment.

Averroes was a Muslim scholar who wrote about his appreciation for Aristotle’s philosophy. He was Andalusian. Al-Andalus was the name for Islamic Spain or Iberia. Spain was governed by Muslims to various degrees between 711 and 1492.

The Muslim Empire had expanded across North Africa into Iberia. Cordoba Spain was multi-cultural. Averroes was commissioned to translate Aristotle. He was against the Timocracy and neo-Platonism of a number of Muslim clerics, but he disagreed with the negative opinion of women expressed by Aristotle.

He asserted that women could hold position of leadership in society. While they were not as strong in certain regards, they were better in others. He was not  as influential in the Muslim world as he was in Europe. Aristotle did not find a successor to Ibn Rushd after his death.

Aquinas wrote two works against Averroism. He argued that it was incompatible with Christian doctrine. He was particularly concerned with the “beginninglessness of the world” or the eternal existence of matter.

Aquinas was an advocate for Aristotle also. He called him “the philosopher.” He might have learned about Aristotle from the work of the Muslim.  Given the Crusades and the Inquisition, the position might have gotten him accused of heresy.

There were those in the ecclesiastical community, including the Augustinians, who were fearful that this philosophy might somehow contaminate the purity of the Christian faith.

Aquinas expressed deep concern at the spread of Averroism. He was angered when he discover Siger of Brabant had been teaching Averroistic interpretations of Aristotle to Parisian students. Did he talk with Louis IX and the Bishop of Paris about his reservations?

The Bishop of Paris, Etienne Tempier, issued an edict condemning thirteen Aristotelian and Averroistic proposition as heretical. Anyone who continued to support them after the edict was issued on December 10, 1270 was to be excommunicated.

Thomas conducted a series of disputations between 1270 and 1272 in what appears to be an attempt to counteract the growing fear of Aristotelian thought. He wrote De virtutibus in communi (On Virtues in General), De virtutibus cardinalibus (On Cardinal Virtues), De spe (On Hope) during this time.

Map

Louis IX reduced private wars among French nobles and vassals that had ravaged France before his time. He protected vassals from oppression. He required their lords to fulfill their obligations.

He reformed taxation. He improved the courts. Every man in France had a better chance of receiving justice than had previously been the case. He promoted written law to make it clear what the laws were. Major strides were made toward replacing trial by combat with trial by jury.

Louis IX was a reformer. He developed French royal justice. The king was the supreme judge to whom anyone could appeal to seek amendment for a judgement. He banned trials by ordeal. He tried to prevent the private wars that were plaguing the country.

He introduced the presumption of innocence in criminal procedure. He created provosts and bailiffs to enforce the application of the new legal system.

His rule was also characterized by the leading alliance with the papal office. He punished blasphemy, gambling, interest bearing loans and prostitution. He bought the presumed relics of Christ. He build the Sainte-Chapelle for the relics. He expanded the scope of the Inquisition and ordered the burning of Talmuds.

Burning at the Stake

The Eighth Crusade
Defeated by Disease

Louis and his three sons took up the cross in a parliament held at Paris on March 24, 1267. He resolved to land at Tunis after hearing reports from missionaries. He ordered his younger brother, Charles of Anjou, to join him there. The crusaders landed at Carthage on July 17, 1270. Prince Edward of England was among them.

Disease broke out in the camp. Many died of dysentery. Louis himself died on 25 August.
Louis IX had been invested with the mission to act as "lieutenant of God on Earth" when he was crowned in Rheims.  He took his mission seriously as a christian.

He conducted two crusades to fulfill his duty. They contributed to the prestige of the French crown with the pope even though they were unsuccessful. The seat for the papal see would eventually move to Avignon for a substantial length of time.

He was never heard to speak ill of anyone. He excelled in penance and had a great love for the Church. He was merciful even to rebels. When he was urged to put a prince to death, he refused, saying: "A son cannot refuse to obey his father.” The prince had followed his father into the rebellion.

The scope of the Inquisition was expanded during his reign in France . Southern France was most affected by this expansion. That is where the Cathars were located. The rate of  the confiscations reached its highest levels in the years before his first crusade. It slowed upon his return to France in 1254.

Louis IX tried to fulfill the duty of France, which was seen as "the eldest daughter of the Church" (la fille aînée de l'Église). This title had been instituted in the time that Charlemagne had been crowned by the Pope Leo III in Rome in 800. The official Latin title of the kings of France was Rex Francorum, i.e. "king of the Franks."

This defined the role of France in the Roman empire as the protector of the Church.

Some of the judgments made by Louis IX were twisted by Catholic devotion. The punishments were a Christian modification of the classical tradition that retained cruelty with a sectarian monotheistic base.

The punishment for blasphemy was the mutilation of the tongue and lips. Some actions that had not been criminal were redefined as such. Gambling, interest-bearing loans and prostitution became punishable offenses.

He spent exorbitant sums on presumed relics of Christ. He built the Sainte-Chapelle to house the objects for worship. He expanded the scope of the Inquisition and ordered the burning of Talmuds and other Jewish books. Some of his reforms were prohibitive, sectarian and punitive.

The modern reader is left to wonder if the Frankenstein monster was an image of the French (Franco) and German (einstein) competition to act as protectors of the resurrection of the “new” Church in the empire.

Peace

The opening statement for this presentation argues that true peace is the presence of justice. An abundance of evidence supports the contention that the Inquisition and the Crusades were sectarian devices designed to take money from people by telling them a story about how political exploitation by the invasion of foreign territory is for their protection.

The use of propaganda to justify war indicates an even broader offense. It is not just sectarian. It is partisan. If sectarian diversions were to be removed from belief in a war based economy, the partisan element would remain. Conflict in opinion is amplified by media expression to induce concession to violent aggression as though it were necessary to put down those violent aggressors.

Remove war from the equation and you still have the potential for oppression. The work of Solzhenitsyn, a dissident from Russia, argues that communism was not only instituted by violence, it was an instrument of oppression by cruelty in punishment.

The Bolshevik revolution overthrew the Russian monarchy. It was bloody. Many aristocrats were put to death. Lenin was cruel as the head of state. Stalin was worse, but subsequent premiers decreased the amount of cruelty in their oppressive measures.

Communism was inherently and indefinitely oppressive. The US and the UK argue for a capitalist economic system, but the lower house in either government uses liberal media to condemn executive leadership.

The president or the prime minister is subject to Congressional judgment for conservative policy. When the elected leader doesn't satisfy the lower house with liberal expenditure, he or she is condemned in media expression to obtain a conviction of guilt in public opinion to influence an election result that favors munition sales for violent aggression in war.

It's the way that liberals in the House define their social role. The presumption of guilt for advocates of conservative policy is presented as though it were necessary for goodness in American polity.

The statement by Jane Addams seems utopian to those who believe that war is necessary for order in society. It is nevertheless, logically sound. Even if war is removed from the equation, justice has to be shown for peace to be true and commerce to be legal around the globe.

Lectionary Louis IX
wiki Louis IX of France
wiki Medieval Inquisition
wiki Innocent III
wiki Gregory IX
wiki Albigensian Crusade
wiki Thomas Aquinas
wiki Ayyubid Dynasty
wiki Poissy

Additional Notes

The Mongol empire much like the Huns appeared to be dedicated to limiting government to police and military action in a minimalist way. They were known to be archers and swordsmen on horseback. Their horse riding skills in battle limited incursions into their territory. They found it easy to outmaneuver the Roman phalanx or any other formation.

Their empire allowed for agrarian existence. Thomas Jefferson used their vision to project a future of coexistence with native Americans. People were allowed to move around nomadically or to cultivate the land. Construction projects were not as large.

Cathedrals and castles in the west were built larger and stronger to avoid being burned to the ground by vagrant forces. While the Asian lifestyle defended nomadic living, the west became more developed in fixed locations with private property. Hostility from fear towards native populations however was all too often directed into genocide.

The Mongol Empire
wiki Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was the largest contiguous land empire in history. The Mongol Empire eventually stretched from Central Europe to the Sea of Japan.

It originated in the steppes of Central Asia and extended northwards into Siberia, eastwards and southwards into the Indian subcontinent, Indochina and the Iranian plateau and westwards as far as the Levant and Arabia.

The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of nomadic tribes in the Mongols homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan. Khan was proclaimed ruler of all Mongols in 1206.

The empire grew rapidly under his rule and his descendants. Invasions were sent in every direction. The vast transcontinental empire connected the east with the west with an enforced Pax Mongolica.

The pact allowed trade, technologies, commodities and ideologies to be disseminated and exchanged across Eurasia.

The empire began to split due to wars over succession. The grandchildren of Genghis Khan disputed whether the royal line should follow from his son and initial heir Ögedei or one of his other sons such as Tolui, Chagatai or Jochi. The Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued even among the descendants of Tolui.

After Möngke Khan died, rival kurultai councils simultaneously elected different successors. The brothers Ariq Böke and Kublai Khan not only fought each other in the Toluid Civil War, but also dealt with challenges from descendants of other sons of Genghis. Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as Kublai sought unsuccessfully to regain control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families.