The Invasion of the Christian West by the Tatars (Mongols). A Clash of Civilizations between Frederick II, Gregory IX and the Tatars

• Main Author: Huub Kurstjens
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: State Institution «Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences» 2017-06-01
• Series: Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie
• Online Access: http://goldhorde.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/%D0%97%D0%9E-2-2017-258-275.pdf

Research objectives: The author of this article wants to show how the clash of two di­f­ferent civilizations, until then practically unaware of the other’s existence, the Tatars and the Christian West, undermined the superior and self-confident position of the latter. In the author’s view, Western Christian Society in the first part of the thirteenth century regarded itself as superior to other civilizations. This article is not focused on either civilization, but tries to unveil motives, background and perspectives from both sides’ attempts to try to be the strongest power and the most important civilization at that time. In the Christian West there was a constant struggle for power between the Pope and the Emperor, going back to the Investiture Controversy of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and culminating in the conflict between Emperor Frederick II and the papacy in the thirteenth century. At the height of that struggle, in 1241, the Tatars (Mongols) invaded Hungary and Poland. Western Civilization was threatened, although at first almost nobody realized the danger and underestimated the consequences. It was due to the superior tactics of the Tatars that they surprised the Christian West. The Tatars were far better in their communication, strategy and information than the divided society in the West. The Tatar invasion, through their use of a kind of Tsunami Stra­tegy, had all the necessary ingredients to destroy Western, Christian society. Research materials: By using contemporary sources and books that illuminate the Tatars as well as the Christian West, the character of the conflict that took place becomes clear. Results and novelty of the research: The end result was a clash of civilizations, an exp­losive mixture of a political-cultural conflict, a time-bomb which ultimately, narrowly, failed to explode, thanks to a sudden and somewhat mysterious retreat of the Tatars, but leaving Western Civilization faced with an existential crisis that undermined Western superiority. Although in the West the fact of the coming and going of the Tatars is well-known, the background of both sides in this conflict and the narrow escape of the Christian West is often underestimated and barely appreciated in the modern West.