Friar John of Plano Carpini and the Silk Road

The Mongol invasion of Europe was one of the first large scale meetings between the Mongolians and the Europeans. Europeans accused the Mongol adversary of “eating human breasts, carrying out multiple rapes, skewering babies, slaughtering enough in Poland to fill nine large bags of ears, before leaving Hungary ‘drowned in blood’.”[1] After the Mongols left, most Europeans believed that they would return.[2] In an effort to curtail any further attacks on Europe, “the new pope, Innocent IV, fearing further onslaught on western Europe, sent two Franciscans, Lawrence of Portugal and John of Plano Carpini.”[3]  These two envoys were both assigned with the task of seeing whether or not the Khan could be converted over to Christianity.[4] The latter of the two envoys, John, “was sixty-five years old, fat, and had no foreign language,”[5] but he became the “the first western envoy to travel all the way to Mongolia-the heartland and capital of the vast Eurasian Mongol Empire,”[6] assisted by a translator named Brother Benedict the Pole.[7] Friar John opened up diplomatic communications between the papacy and the Mongolian Empire. During his travels, the Friar also composed an account of the Mongols and the lands that he traveled through, which helped to dispel preconceived notions that were rampant within European society. Through his travels on the Silk Road, Friar John of Plano Carpini shaped interactions between the Mongolian Empire and the West as well as helped to shape Western notions of the Mongols.

Friar John of Plano Carpini was the first western envoy to reach the heart of the Mongol kingdom, and was able to open up diplomatic communications with the Mongolians. On his journey, the Friar carried with him a letter intended for the leader of the Mongols from Pope Innocent IV, which begged the Mongols to “desist entirely from assaults … and especially from the persecutions of Christians.”[8] Initially, the friar traveled to the court of Sartak, a great Mongol leader, but Sartak “sent them without delay to his father the great Batu.”[9] However, Batu ultimately sent John of Plano Carpini to the Great Khan Guyuk, and “thanks to relentless haste they arrived at the camp of Karakorum on July 22^nd.”[10] The Friar was greeted with a warm reception at the Great Khan’s court.[11] Eventually, Friar John of Plano Carpini transmitted the letter to Guyuk, and asked if the Khan would be willing to submit to Christianity. The Khan gave a less than favorable answer with a letter sent back to Pope Innocent IV, which commanded the Pope that “now you should say with a sincere heart: ‘I will submit and serve you’.”[12] Guyuk Khan agreed to submit to Christianity, but only if Pope Innocent IV would submit to him.[13] Even though this interaction between Pope Innocent IV and Guyuk Khan did not go smoothly, the interaction was one of the first between the Western Christendom and the Mongolian Empire.

In addition to establishing connections between the western and Mongolian worlds, Friar John of Plano Carpini helped to dispel earlier notions of what the Mongolians and the Eastern part of the world was like. This was achieved in part by the composition of the Friar’s travels, and on his return, “Carpini’s account eventually spread widely, turning the friar into a celebrity back home.”[14] Carpini’s account of his travels helped to dispel many old myths, as “the Christian West still accepted many old classical myths and legends about far off places and peoples and still tried to find a Biblical explanation and/or niche for everything and everyone.”[15] Some example of these myths were those that surrounded the Mongolian Empire. Historians of the time reported that “‘In the year 1240 a detestable nation of Satan, to wit, the countless army of the Tartars, broke loose … They are inhuman and beastly, rather monsters than men, thirsting for and drinking blood’.”[16]  Alongside the myths surrounding the Mongols, other prominent myths about the kingdoms and lands to the far east existed. During the medieval ages, “many prominent scholars … describe[d] paradise as a real place on earth.”[17] A widespread notion prevailed at the time that one could travel to paradise, or the Garden of Eden, and it existed in the east. Medieval rumors also existed of a far off Christian king in the east. “In the 12^th century, a legend spread across Europe of an empire ruled by a mighty Christian king and Priest named John and located somewhere in the East.”[18] The Friar was not above these legends either, as he wrote in his prologue to “History of the Mongols” that “‘we feared that we might be killed by that Tartars’.”[19] These legends and myths permeated medieval European society.

Through his account, Friar John of Plano Carpini dispelled these widespread notions of the peoples and the lands to the east. In his account “History of the Mongols”, the Friar gives the Mongolians human characteristics and demonstrates that they are not monsters. The Friar notes that the Mongols “are broader than other people between the eyes and across the cheekbones. Their cheeks are also rather prominent above their jaws; they have a flat and small nose, their eyes are little and their eyelids are raised up to their eyebrows.”[20] While the description is not flattering, it gives the Mongols humanistic characteristics. Carpini also praises some aspects of Mongolian daily life, noting that “fights, brawls, wounding, murder are never met among them.”[21] These descriptions immediately put to rest earlier conceptions of the Mongols. Friar John of Plano Carpini also casts doubt on earlier conceptions regarding other kingdoms and lands to the east. The Friar’s account makes no reference to an encounter with Paradise at all[22], and “Carpini only mentions Prestor John in his description of the rise to power of the Mongol Empire.”[23] Carpini’s account of his travels helped to dispel wide held notions of the east and the people living there in medieval times.

Furthermore, Friar John of Plano Carpini’s account helped Western powers in potential strategic maneuvering against the Mongols. Carpini’s “account provided strategic information to the pope and the West about the mysterious lands of the Mongols.”[24] “History of the Mongols” was full of information regarding the land between the West and the Mongolian kingdom. “Carpini surveyed the terrain for potential vulnerabilities in case of a pending crusade.”[25] This role of Friar John of Plano Carpini shows how cautious the West was with the threat of another possible Mongolian invasion.

In conclusion, Friar John of Plano Carpini played numerous important roles in his trip to the Mongolian heartland to meet the Great Khan Guyuk. Not only was the Friar the first western envoy to travel all the way to the Great Khan’s court, but he also composed an account of his travels to the court of the people and things that he saw along the way. Friar John of Plano Carpini’s account helped to dispel earlier notions of monstrous Mongols that were prominent in Medieval Europe, as his account gave them distinctly human features. His account also casts doubts on other notions that existed in medieval times, such as how Paradise laid to the east, and that there was a powerful Christian king named John living in the east. Furthermore, the account also helped the West in any potential strategic maneuvering against the Mongols, as the account provided a detailed description of the lands that Friar John of Plano Carpini rode through. The Friar was both an early diplomat to the Mongolian Court, and his account played multiple roles for western society.

 

The Importance and a Short History of the Friar:

Friar John of Plano Carpini, “who derives his name from Piano di Carpini near Perugia, was a man of ripe age who had taken a leading part in the establishment of the Franciscan Order in Western Europe”[26] by the time Pope Innocent IV was choosing who to send as envoys to the leader of the Mongols. John of Plano Carpini also followed heavily in his master’s footsteps, and “like his master, St. Francis, it was his wish to win converts for the Christian faith and this was his aim with respect to the Khan, although his prime task was to act as a Papal envoy.”[27] Carpini began his journey in Lyon with his interpreter Benedict of Poland in 1245, carrying a letter from the Pope that begged the Mongols not to attack the Christian world.[28] Eventually the Friar reached the Khan, attempted to convince him to convert to Christianity, but it didn’t work. Even though Carpini’s interactions with Guyuk did not go exactly as planned, the mission helped to establish relations between the West and the Mongols. Carpini’s account of his travels also helped to relay important information back to the West, such as the realities of the east that were in contrast to preconceived notions, and strategic information that could be used against the Mongols.

 

Works Cited:

Benedict the Pole. “The Narrative of Brother Benedict the Pole.” In Mission to Asia, edited by Christopher Dawson, 79-86. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1966.
Dawson, Christopher. “Introduction.” In Mission to Asia, edited by Christopher Dawson, VII-XXXV. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1966.

“First Europeans Traveled to Khan’s Court.”  The Silk-Road Foundation. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www.silk-road.com/artl/carrub.shtml.

Giffney, Noreen. “Monstrous Mongols.” Postmedieval 3, no. 2 (Summer, 2012): 227-245. doi:http://dx.doi.org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/10.1057/pmed.2012.10. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/1016795433?accountid=14503.

Gillman, Ian, and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Christians in Asia before 1500. Ann Arbor, MI:University of Michigan Press, 1999.

Guzman, Gregory G. “European Clerical Envoys to the Mongols: Reports of Western Merchants

in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 1231–1255.” Journal of Medieval History 22, no. 1(1996): 53-67. January 3, 2012. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www-tandfonline-com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/doi/abs/10.1016/0304-4181(96)00008-5.

Guzman, Gregory. “Christian Europe and Mongol Asia: First Medieval Intercultural Contact between East and West.” Essays in Medieval Studies. 2002. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www.illinoismedieval.org/ems/emsv2.html.

John of Plano Carpini. “History of the Mongols.” In Mission to Asia, edited by Christopher Dawson, 2-76. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1966.

 

Lattimore, Owen, and Eleanor Holgate Lattimore. Silks, Spices, and Empire: Asia Seen through the Eyes of Its Discoverers. New York, New York: Delacorte Press, 1968.

Montalbano, Kathryn A. “Misunderstanding the Mongols: Intercultural Communication in Three Thirteenth-Century Franciscan Travel Accounts.” Information & Culture 50, no. 4 (2015): 588-610. doi:http://dx.doi.org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/10.7560/IC50406. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/1726778486?accountid=14503.

Sherwood, Merriam, and Harold Elmer Mantz. The Road to Cathay. New York, NY: Macmillan Company, 1928.

The Friar at the Great Khan’s Court. Digital image. Eventieagre.it. August 28, 2012. Accessed December 3, 2016. http://www.eventiesagre.it/Eventi_Culturali/21049599_Anniversario dalla morte di Fra Giovanni da Pian del Carpine.html.

“The Mongols’ Mark on Global History.” The Mongols in World History. 2004. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/history/history3.htm.

Valtrova, Jana. “Beyond the Horizons of Legends: Traditional Imagery and Direct Experience in Medieval Accounts of Asia.” Numen 57, no. 2 (2010): 154-85. Accessed December 2, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27793840

ENDNOTES:

[1] Noreen Giffney. “Monstrous Mongols.” Postmedieval 3, no. 2 (Summer, 2012): 231. doi:http://dx.doi.org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/10.1057/pmed.2012.10. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/1016795433?accountid=14503.

[2] Gregory Guzman. “Christian Europe and Mongol Asia: First Medieval Intercultural Contact between East and West.” Essays in Medieval Studies. 2002. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www.illinoismedieval.org/ems/emsv2.html.

[3] Owen Lattimore and Eleanor Holgate Lattimore. Silks, Spices, and Empire: Asia Seen through the Eyes of Its Discoverers. (New York, New York: Delacorte Press, 1968.), 61.

[4] Merriam Sherwood and Harold Elmer Mantz. The Road to Cathay. (New York, NY: Macmillan Company, 1928.), 5.

[5] Owen Lattimore and Eleanor Lattimore. Silks, Spices, and Empire. 61.

[6] Gregory G. Guzman. “European Clerical Envoys to the Mongols: Reports of Western Merchants in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 1231–1255.” Journal of Medieval History 22, no. 1 (1996): 58. January 3, 2012. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www-tandfonline-com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/doi/abs/10.1016/0304-4181(96)00008-5.

[7] Benedict the Pole. “The Narrative of Brother Benedict the Pole.” In Mission to Asia, edited by Christopher Dawson. (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1966.) 79.

[8] John of Plano Carpini. “History of the Mongols.” In Mission to Asia, edited by Christopher Dawson. (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1966), 76.

[9] Christopher Dawson. “Introduction.” In Mission to Asia, edited by Christopher Dawson (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1966.) XVI.

[10] Dawson, “Introduction”, XVI-XVII.

[11] “The Mongols’ Mark on Global History.” The Mongols in World History. 2004. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/history/history3.htm.

[12] Benedict, “The Narrative of Brother Benedict”, 86.

[13] “First Europeans Traveled to Khan’s Court.” Silk-road.com. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www.silk-road.com/artl/carrub.shtml.

[14]Kathryn A. Montalbano “Misunderstanding the Mongols: Intercultural Communication in Three Thirteenth-Century Franciscan Travel Accounts.” Information & Culture 50, no. 4 (2015): 590. doi:http://dx.doi.org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/10.7560/IC50406. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/1726778486?accountid=14503.

[15] Guzman, “Christian Europe and Mongol Asia”

[16] Sherwood and Mentz, The Road to Cathay, 2-3.

[17] Jana Valtrova. “Beyond the Horizons of Legends: Traditional Imagery and Direct Experience in Medieval Accounts of Asia.” Numen 57, no. 2 (2010): 161. Accessed December 2, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27793840.

[18] Valtrova, “Beyond the Horizons”, 165.

[19] Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Christians in Asia before 1500. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1999), 244.

[20] Carpini. “History of the Mongols”, 6.

[21] Carpini. “History of the Mongols”, 14-15.

[22] Valtrova, “Beyond the Horizons”, 162.

[23] Valtrova, “Beyond the Horizons”, 167.

[24] Montalbano, “Misunderstanding the Mongols”, 591.

[25] Montalbano, “Misunderstanding the Mongols”, 593.

[26] Dawson, Mission to Asia, n.p..

[27] Gillman and Klimkeit, Christians in Asia before 1500, 244.

[28] “First Europeans”, Silk-road.com.

The Trade of Paper in the Silk Road

Paper was invented many centuries before Christ, but was not used in the modern way until much later. “Originally used as a wrapping material, paper began to be used as a writing material around the time of Christ.”[1] Eventually, paper began to take root in Chinese civilization, being commonly used by numerous bureaucratic and religious organizations in China. Initially, Chinese paper was made from mulberry trees, and “Chinese sources testify that the mulberry tree was and is still used for paper-making.”[2] The more modern version of paper, made from plant fibers, was introduced by “Cai Lun, who presented his product to an emperor of the Han Dynasty in 105 C.E.”[3] This plant-based version of paper eventually came to be traded on the Silk Road and spread across Asia and into Europe by the beginning of the 14^th century. “Paper moved out of China, first into Samarkand around the year 700, and then into Europe from the Islamic portals of Sicily and Spain.”[4] The route that paper took on the travel westward (and initially eastward) was usually only one way, as the techniques for papermaking tended to accompany the travel of paper. Various religious groups and governments took paper on this one-way route in order to fulfill specific purposes, and these purposes tended to be the same across Asia and Europe.

The movement of paper traveled along the Silk Road. Along the Silk Road, paper first moved eastward, and the means of production arrived shortly after. Paper was carried into Korea, and later was introduced to Japan. “Buddhist monks and missionaries … carried paper … from the land of its origin to Korea, Japan, and Central Asia.”[5] Chinese Buddhist monks initially carried paper into Central Asia before the means of producing paper came. “Chinese paper traveled the Silk Road into Central Asia before the technology of paper production.”[6] As a result, many cities and towns had to reuse paper to fulfill different purposes. The residents of Turfan, an oasis town along the Silk Road, “recycled government documents, contracts, and other texts.”[7] Likewise, in a small castle outside of Samarkand, “a local ruler used Chinese paper with Chinese calligraphy already on one side.”[8] There were other writing materials at the time, such as parchment and papyrus[9], but people had to recycle Chinese paper before the means of production arrived. Local rulers wanted Chinese paper “because of its durability and convenience.”[10]

Eventually, the means to produce paper traveled along the Silk Road in the seventh and eighth centuries. Papermaking was introduced in Korea and Japan along with paper, but “the technique eventually reached Tibet around 650 A.D. and then to India after 645 A.D.”[11] However, paper was not widely made in India “until the twelfth century, after Buddhism’s decline in India.”[12] The Islam caliphate was widely believed to have obtained the means of the production of paper after a Chinese Tang military expedition was pushed out of Samarkand in 751 C.E.. “The expedition was repulsed by a Turkish force, which captured several Chinese. It was these captives who introduced to the west the recently developed Tang art of printing and the earlier (Han period) invention of paper.”[13] Paper and papermaking had reached the Islamic world in the eighth century. Paper was “unknown in seventh-century Arabia, to judge from the evidence of the Koran and the biographies of the prophet Muhammad.”[14] This encounter that the Islamic world had with the acquisition of papermaking was likely their first encounter with the object. Regardless, paper quickly caught on in the Islamic world, as seen through how “Samarkand was the first place in the new Islamic world to develop papermaking technology and become famous for its paper exports”[15] soon after the acquisition of the means of production of paper. Islamic caliphate then utilized the means of paper production in their own empire, and developed paper in many cities across the Islamic Empire.

Eventually, Christians from Northern and Western Europe acquired paper and the  techniques of papermaking. Paper and papermaking came to Europe through two portals. One of these portals was Sicily, an island near the southern edge of Italy. “Other Europeans learned of papermaking from the Muslims of Spain, particularly as Christians began to occupy larger portions of the Iberian Peninsula and needed materials on which to record deeds and titles.”[16] Europe’s first paper mill was eventually established in Spain in 1150 A.D..[17]

This route that paper took through the Silk Road was usually only one way, and as the knowledge of papermaking spread, only made one trip. However, Chinese paper was still highly valued, as the paper was thought to be of a better quality than western paper. As a result, Chinese paper did make infrequent trips across the Silk Road with the rise of the Mongols, as the Mongols brought a unity across Asia, and “were instrumental in bringing printed things westward.”[18] The Mongols helped to bring Chinese paper to Persian cities, where Chinese paper was highly valued. “Many Persian calligraphers considered the finest paper to be Chinese (khitai). Already in the tenth century, Ibn al-Nadim had met a bibliophile who collected Chinese paper.”[19] Chinese paper that was imported from thousands of miles eastward proved to be very expensive, and was only used for important documents. One document “contains estimates of the expense of copying a manuscript of the Shahnama: 42,450 dinars of which 12,000 dinars (28 percent) went for ‘Chinese’ paper at 20 dinars a page”[20], while the scribes received a far smaller percentage of the overall costs. Although numerous kingdoms acquired the means of production of paper, Chinese paper continued to be sought after for many years.

Those who wanted paper, and those who brought paper along the Silk Road were religious groups and kingdoms. Religious groups were the first people to bring paper outside of China, bringing paper to lands such as Korea, Japan, and India. Religious groups recorded holy texts on paper, and brought these texts to foreign rulers. Rulers sought after paper to record various documents for governmental purposes. These uses of paper were the most common ones in the kingdoms to which paper spread.

Paper was made by the Chinese for a variety of purposes. Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian texts were all produced on paper by religious groups.[21] Some documents uncovered “are official or commercial records”[22] of the Chinese government. Paper in China was used not only for governmental and religious reasons, but also for scholarly purposes, as demonstrated by the Confucian texts that were produced. Scholars within China were expected to know Confucian texts[23], and the memorization of them tended to bestow great honor and prestige. On the western end of the Silk Road, the movement of paper was facilitated by the same groups of people and tended to have the same purposes. In the Islamic world, “bureaucratic necessity led Muslims to adopt paper. The second Umayyad caliph … had established the first government office … and he needed account books.”[24] Muslims were uneasy at copying scripture onto paper, but “by the year 1000, paper appears to have been acceptable for all types of manuscripts.”[25] Christian communities had similar trouble adopting paper. “In this regard, Christians may have been only emulating Muslims and Jews, who refused to copy their scriptures on parchment.”[26] Paper had common purposes across the Silk Road among various kingdoms.

The trip that paper made across the Silk Road was only one way, ceased after the techniques of papermaking reached other kingdoms, and was facilitated by rulers and religious groups. Paper was a very utilitarian commodity traded along the Silk Road, and with paper, recordings could be made on a much more durable substance than other writing materials, such as papyrus. Government records were written down, holy scripture was copied, and Confucian texts were inscribed onto paper. The use of paper allowed for the proliferation of religious groups and kingdoms along the Silk Road.

A Description of Paper:

 Paper was invented in China centuries before Christ. Paper was not used in its modern tradition until many centuries later. Some “of the original uses of paper seems to have been for padding and wrapping.”[27] Only during the Han Dynasty did the Chinese start to adopt paper to be used in its modern fashion. The paper that the Han Dynasty used wasn’t always the bleached-white paper used today. Paper was made from various fibers, such as “hemp (Cannabis saliva), known in Chinese as ta ma, jute (Corchorus sapsularis) or huang ma, flax (Linum perenne), ya ma, and ramie or China grass (Boehmeria nivea), chu ma.”[28] As a result of all of these different materials being used to produce paper, paper had a variety of different textures and looks. Only after the Muslim world started to adopt paper did paper start to take on its modern bleach-white form.[29]

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Bloom, Jonathan. Paper before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World.

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.

Bloom, Jonathan M. “Silk Road or Paper Road?” The Silk Road. Accessed November 2, 2016.http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol3num2/5_bloom.php.

“Early Chinese Paper.” Digital image. Quartr.us. May 2016. Accessed November 3, 2016. http://quatr.us/china/literature/pictures/earlypaper.jpg.

Gardner, Daniel K. Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

Grotenhuis, Elizabeth Ten. “Stories of Silk and Paper.” World Literature Today 80, no. 4 (2006):10-12.

Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Hansen, Valerie. “The Impact of the Silk Road Trade on a Local Community: The Turfan Oasis,500-800.” Les Sogdiens en Chine. Paris: EFEO 229 (2005):283-310.

Hansen, Valerie. “The Legacy of the Silk Road.” YaleGlobal Online. January 25, 2013. Accessed

November 2, 2016. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/legacy-silk-road.

Millward, James A. The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction. New York, NY: OxfordUniversity Press, 2013.

Murphey, Rhoads. “The Shape of the World: Eurasia.” In Asia in Western and World History,edited by Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck, 7-14. New York, NY: Trustees ofColumbia University, 1997.

Shaffer, Lynda Norene. “A Concrete Panoply of Intercultural Exchange: Asia in World History.”In Asia in Western and World History, edited by Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck,810-66. New York, NY: Trustees of Columbia University, 1997.”The History of Paper.” The Silk-Road. Accessed November 3, 2016. http://www.silk-road.com/artl/papermaking.shtml.

Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin. “Raw Materials for Old Papermaking in China.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 93, no. 4 (1973): 510-19.

ENDNOTES:

[1] Jonathan M. Bloom. “Silk Road or Paper Road?” The Silk Road. Accessed November 2, 2016.http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol3num2/5_bloom.php.

[2] Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien. “Raw Materials for Old Papermaking in China.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 93, no. 4 (1973): 514.

[3] Lynda Norene Shaffer. “A Concrete Panoply of Intercultural Exchange: Asia in World History.”In Asia in Western and World History, edited by Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck,(New York, NY: Trustees of Columbia University, 1997), 840-841.

[4] Valerie Hansen. “The Legacy of the Silk Road.” YaleGlobal Online. January 25, 2013. Accessed November 2, 2016. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/legacy-silk-road.

[5] Bloom, “Silk Road”

[6] Elizabeth Ten Grotenhuis. “Stories of Silk and Paper.” World Literature Today 80, no. 4 (2006):12.

[7] Valerie Hansen. “The Impact of the Silk Road Trade on a Local Community: The Turfan Oasis,500-800.” Les Sogdiens en Chine. Paris: EFEO 229 (2005):284.

[8] Grotenhuis, “Stories”, 12.

[9] Grotenhuis, “Stories”, 12.

[10] Valerie Hansen. The Silk Road: A New History. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 137.

[11] “The History of Paper.” The Silk-Road. Accessed November 3, 2016. http://www.silk-road.com/artl/papermaking.shtml.

[12] James A. Millward. The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2013), 73.

[13] Rhoads Murphey. “The Shape of the World: Eurasia.” In Asia in Western and World History, edited by Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck, (New York, NY: Trustees of Columbia University, 1997), 11.

[14] Jonathan Bloom. Paper before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World.(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001), 47.

[15] Millard, The Silk Road, 74.

[16] Bloom, “Silk Road”

[17] Shaffer, “A Panoply of Intercultural Exchange”, 842.

[18] Milward, The Silk Road, 76.

[19] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 70.

[20] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 70.

[21] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 8.

[22] Millward, The Silk Road, 73.

[23] Daniel K. Gardner. Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 90.

[24] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 48.

[25] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 52.

[26] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 52

[27] Grotenhuis, “Stories of Silk and Paper”, 12.

[28] Tsien, “Raw Materials”, 511.

[29] Bloom, Paper Before Print, 52.

Constantinople in the Silk Road

When the city was renamed Byzantium in the fourth century A.D.[1], the city of Constantinople, located in the heart of the eastern section of the then-Roman Empire, eventually came to be the urban capital of the Byzantine Empire. This capital of the Byzantine Empire played multiple roles in the kingdom, such as to house the emperor and produce agriculture, enough to partially sustain itself if the city ever came under siege.[2] Another integral role of the city was that Constantinople was an urban nexus of trade, connecting to cities both near and far. Constantinople played a crucial role in the sustainment of the Silk Road in the late Antique and Early Middle Ages, by both importing and exporting various coveted goods, as well as ideals, to and from other countries.

Various valuable goods and ideals  moved in and out of Constantinople. These goods traded as far as up to hundreds of miles outside of the city walls of Constantinople, and passed through multiple countries. One type of coveted good that Constantinople moved was Christian relics, due to the prominence of Christianity within the city. Another valuable good that made its way into the borders of Constantinople was silk, and later leaders of the city tried to procure the means of producing silk. Christianity was exported out of the empire eastward, and reached as far as China. These different goods and ideals demonstrate the prominent role that Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire as a whole, had in the trade of the Silk Road.

The first type of good that moved its way both in and out of Constantinople was Christian relics. Constantinople, and the Byzantine Empire surrounding the city, were Christian societies. Christianity started to take hold in Constantinople when Constantine the Great of the Roman Empire issued the Edict of Milan in 312 A.D., which placed Christianity as the official state religion of the Roman Empire.[3] After the Byzantine Empire broke off from the Roman Empire, Christianity took root in the society of many of the cities, including Constantinople. Emperors started to place themselves in the center of the newfound ideology that took prominence within the Empire. Emperors centered themselves as a type of a “new David”[4], as a type of holy figure that legitimized the emperor’s power. These types of declarations helped to solidify the power of the emperor and cemented Christianity into the Byzantine Empire. When the city of Constantinople was attacked, people believed that the presence of holy relics of Christian figures (especially of the Virgin Mary) helped to protect them. Although a good number of these relics from the Virgin in Constantinople were more than likely fictitious in that the relics did not actually did not belong to the Virgin[5], people still believed in the saving power of the relics.   During one siege on Constantinople, “the Virgin herself appeared to the people, brandishing her sword, encouraging the combatants and inspiring them to redden the waters of the imperial city with the blood.” [6] The inhabitants of Constantinople truly believed that keeping holy relics within their walls protected them.

This belief of divine protection from holy Christian figures consequently led to the desire to obtain more of these relics, most specifically from the holy land of Israel. Emperors took to retrieving relics of various places in the Middle East, such as Jerusalem. Items such as the “True Cross” were coveted after, and even after various wars with neighboring empires such as the Sassanid, who controlled these objects or the land that the holy objects remained in, a return with these relics resulted in a “triumph” and celebration.[7] Pilgrims made trips down to the holy land in search of relics, albeit for different reasons such as to relive moments that had been preached to them in a present sense. When the people of Constantinople were preached to in the present sense at Christian masses, these people gained stronger desires to relive the moments of the Christian liturgy by collecting relics and visiting holy lands.[8] Regardless, a desire for holy relics led the people of Constantinople to travel down to the Middle East to bring back holy relics with them.

The second good that moved in and out of Constantinople was silk. Like Christianity, the prominence of silk in the Byzantine Empire, specifically Constantinople, originated in the Roman Empire. The trade of silk from the Far East started with the Roman Empire, within which silk was quite fashionable. “Women from wealthy Roman families became … enamored with the silk crepe.”[9] People paid large sums of money to obtain silk, as silk was seen as a highly prestigious object. Silk remained a coveted object throughout the history of the Roman Empire.

As a result of this desire that originated within the Roman Empire, the people of Constantinople viewed silk as highly desirable. However, the purchase of silk was very costly for the Byzantines, as the “the only [land] supplier available to them was Persia whose prices were exorbitant.”[10] Silk purchases ultimately accounted for a large drain upon the Byzantine treasury. Eventually, the Byzantines tried to bring the means of production to within their own empire. The Romans were not able to find out how silk was produced and were forced to purchase silk from abroad. One scholar of the Roman world, Pliny the Elder, believed that the Chinese obtained silk from the trees in “their forests; after a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves.”[11]   Byzantine Emperors, such as Justinian I, brought monks from the Far East that carried “silkworm eggs, that they had managed to keep in good condition.”[12] With silkworms eggs, Constantinople, and the Byzantine Empire, as a whole were able to secure the means of producing silk, rather than purchasing silk for high prices. “Under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, Constantinople became a center of silk production.”[13] Constantinople was able to internally produce silk for other sections of the Byzantine Empire

Finally, alongside these goods, Christianity was also exported out from Constantinople to places as far as China. One prominent division of Christianity that was exported out far east was Nestorian Christianity. During the early 5^th century A.D. in the Byzantine Empire, a dispute arose over how Christ should be described. Two main competing viewpoints either described Christ as “two distinct persons, one human and one divine,”[14] or as one God that had always been singular. One prominent leader of the first viewpoint, Nestorius, was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople in 428 A.D.[15]. Nestorius taught the two-person viewpoint of Christ until he was driven out of Constantinople and banished to Egypt by leaders of the competing viewpoints, who ultimately won over the favor of the rulers of the Byzantine Empire.

Nestorian Christianity made its way to China in the 7^th century A.D. over the routes of the Silk Road. However, the Nestorians did not win very many converts over to Christianity, as a Chinese census only listed around 3,000 Christians and Zoroastrians living in China during the Tang dynasty.[16] However, in 845 the Tang dynasty outlawed all foreign religions, including Nestorian Christianity, and by 980 a “Nestorian monk told a Muslim writer in Baghdad that he … had found no Christians surviving anywhere in the country [China].” [17] Regardless, Nestorian Christianity was a religion that was exported on the Silk Road by Constantinople.

So in conclusion, Constantinople, as well as the Byzantine Empire were prominent players in the Silk Road trade. Constantinople imported and exported various goods from afar, such as Christian holy relics and silk. These items were highly coveted after in the Byzantine world. Constantinople also exported Nestorian Christianity via the Silk Road, where Nestorian Christianity reached as far as China. However, Nestorian Christianity didn’t last long in some places in the east, as a Nestorian monk had reported seeing no traces of Christianity surviving within China during the mid-9^th century. Other items such as alum and perfumes were also traded across the Silk Road from Constantinople.[18] All of these various goods and ideals demonstrate the integral role that Constantinople played in the Silk Road trade in the Late Antique and Early Middle Ages.

ENDNOTES:

[1] Peter Sarris, Byzantium: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 19

[2] Sarris, Byzantium, 25.

[3] Sarris, Byzantium, 14.

[4] Averil Cameron, “Images of Authority: Elites and Icons in Late Sixth-Century Byzantium.” Past & Present, no. 84 (1979): 21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/650535.

[5] John Wortley. “The Marian Relics at Constantinople.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 45,2 (Summer, 2005): 172. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/229155399?accountid=14503.

[6] Cameron, “Images of Authority”, 5.

[7] Christopher I Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,2009), 120.

[8] Derek Kreuger, “Liturgical Time and Holy Land Reliquaries in Early Byzantium.” In Saints and Sacred Matter, edited by Cynthia Hahn and Holger A. Klein, 111-31. (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2015) 124.

[9] Xinru Liu, The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents. (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s,2012), 9.

[10] Luce Boulnois and Bradley Mayhew, Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants on the Silk Road. (Hong Kong: Odyssey, 2004,) 229.

[11] Pliny. “Natural History.” In The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents, edited by Xinru Liu, 59-73. (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.) 60

[12] Boulnois and Mayhew, Silk Road: Monks, Warriors and Merchants, 232.

[13]Marian Vasile, “The Interplay Between Aesthetics, Silk, and Trade.”Geopolitics, History and International Relations 5, no. 1 (2013): 131. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/1434867136?accountid=14503.

[14] Richard Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization. 2nd ed. (NewYork, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 61.

[15] Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, 61.

[16] Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, 69.

[17] Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, 70.

[18] Boulnois and Mayhew, Silk Road: Monks, Warriors and Merchants. 301.

Bibliography:

Beckwith, Christopher I. Empires of the Silk Road. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,

Boulnois, Luce, and Bradley Mayhew. Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants on the Silk Road. Hong Kong: Odyssey, 2004.

Cameron, Averil. “Images of Authority: Elites and Icons in Late Sixth-Century Byzantium.” Past & Present, no. 84 (1979): 3-35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/650535.

“Constantinople in Byzantine Times.” Digital image. Wikipedia.com. August 11, 2012. Accessed December 8,2016.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire#/media/File:Bizansist_touchup.jpg.

 

Foltz, Richard. Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

“Istanbul.” Unesco.org. Accessed October 1, 2016. http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/istanbul.

Khodadad, Rezakhani. “The Road That Never Was: The Silk Road and Trans-Eurasian

Exchange.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 30, no. 3 (2010): 420-33. Accessed September 28, 2016. http://muse.jhu.edu.colorado.idm.oclc.org/article/430307.

Kreuger, Derek. “Liturgical Time and Holy Land Reliquaries in Early Byzantium.” In Saints and Sacred Matter, edited by Cynthia Hahn and Holger A. Klein, 111-31. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2015.

Liu, Xinru. The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s,

“Map of Constantinople.” Digital image. Pininterest.com. Accessed October 1, 2016.

Pliny. “Natural History.” In The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents, edited by Xinru Liu, 59-73. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.

Sarris, Peter. Byzantium: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Waugh, Daniel C. “Constantinople/Istanbul.” Silk Road Seattle. 2004. Accessed October 1,

2016. https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/turkey/istanbul/istanbul.html.

Wortley, John. “The Marian Relics at Constantinople.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 45, 2 (Summer, 2005): 171-187. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/229155399?accountid=14503.

Vasile, Marian. “The Interplay Between Aesthetics, Silk, and Trade.”

Geopolitics, History and International Relations 5, no. 1 (2013): 130-135. https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.colorado.idm.oclc.org/docview/1434867136?accountid=14503.