DBQ-Create an argument that evaluates the extent to which the Mongols impacted AfroEurasian societies during the 1200 - 1450 CE time period. Document 1

Source: A quote from Genghis Khan’s shaman, recorded in a Mongol-written history, Secret History of the Mongols, 1228 C. E.

Before you [Genghis] were born . . . everyone was feuding. Rather than sleep they robbed each other of their possessions. . . The whole nation was in rebellion. Rather than rest they fought each other. In such a world one did not live as one wished, but rather in constant conflict. There was no respite, only battle. There was no affection, only mutual slaughter.

Document 2

Source: Excerpt from The Chronicles of Novgorod, a collection of accounts from the years 1016-1417, written by Orthodox monks in Novgorod near Russia in an account from 1238.

Foreigners called Tartars [nomadic peoples who were conquered and assimilated into the Mongols] came in countless numbers, like locusts, into the land of the Ryazan...And then the pagan foreigners surrounded Ryazan and fenced it in with a stockade. And the Tartars took the town on December 21, and they had advanced against it on the 16th of the same month. They likewise killed...men, women, and children, monks, nuns and priests, some by fire, some by sword, and violated nuns, priests’ wives, good women and girls in the presence of their mothers and sisters…. And who, brethren, would not lament [mourn] over this, among those of us alive when they suffered this bitter and violent death? And we, indeed, having seen it, were terrified and wept with sighing day and night over our sins…

Document 3

Source: John of Plano Carpini, Italian monk who spent several months in the Great Khan’s court during the 1240s C. E.

They pay their lords more respect than any other people, and would hardly dare to lie to them. Their women are chaste. Wars, quarrels, the infliction of bodily harm, and manslaughter do not occur among them, and there are no large-scale thieves or robbers among them . . . They treat one another with due respect; they regard each other almost as members of one family, and, although they do not have a lot of food, they like to share it with one another. They are extremely arrogant toward other people, [and] tend to anger . . . easily. They are the greatest liars in the world in dealing with other people. They are crafty and sly . . . [and] have an admirable ability to keep their intentions secret. They are messy in their eating and drinking and in their whole way of life, [and] cling fiercely to what they have. They have no conscience about killing other people . . . If anyone is found in the act of plundering or stealing in the territory under their power, he is put to death without any mercy.

Document 4

Source: Excerpt from History of the Mongols, Rashid al-Din, Persian scholar who became an advisor to the Ilkhan (Persian Mongol ruler) named Ghazan, written after 1241.

At every opportunity, he allowed his sublime thoughts to overflow lavishly into the most just and charitable good deeds, into the eradication [removal] of injustice and enmity [hostile feelings], into the development of cities and districts, as well as into the construction of various buildings. He never neglected any measure designed to strengthen the framework of peace, and to lay the foundation of prosperity.

Document 5

Source: Excerpt from a letter written by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan, 1245.

It is not without cause that we are driven to express in strong terms our amazement that you, according to what we have heard, have invaded many countries belonging both to Christians and to others and are laying waste in a horrible desolation, and with a fury still unabated you do not cease from breaking the bonds of natural ties, sparing neither sex nor age, you rage against all indiscriminately with the sword of your anger.

We therefore, desiring to live together by the example of the Pacific King in the unity of peace under the fear of God, warn, request, and advise your unity intently: desist completely from further attacks of this kind and especially from the persecution of Christians, and through the satisfaction of a fitting penance placate the anger of Divine Majesty which on account of so many and such great offenses you most certainly have provoked through these incitements. You ought not accordingly take up the audacity of ravaging further, because, as the sword of your power rages against others, the all-powerful Lord has so far permitted diverse nations to be laid low before you; but He in our age frequently passes over chastening the proud until the right time, so that if they neglect to become humble of their own accord, He may not hesitate to punish their wickedness in time and may exact more serious retribution in the future.