Arghun Khan's Attempt to Ally with Europe

Name: Arghun Khan's Attempt to Ally with Europe
Start: 1280
End: 1282

Type Event Region Persia Time 1280–1282

In 1280, Ilkhan Arghun wrote to Philip IV of France proposing a joint attack on Egypt's Mamluks and promising to return Jerusalem after recovering th…

Timeline

1280Tabriz · AzerbaijanArghun Khan inherited his father Abaqa's anti-Mamluk policy and, after consolidating power within the Ilkhanate, decided to continue the traditional diplomatic line of the Mongol khanates joining forces with Christian Europe to strike Egypt.
1280Ilkhanate to Paris · FranceArghun wrote a state letter in Persian, promising to attack the Mamluks from the east in spring 1281 and asking the French king to send forces by sea to Egypt, guaranteeing that Jerusalem would be returned to Christians after recovery of the Holy Land.
1281–1282Syrian frontier · LevantThe French king did not launch the promised naval expedition, Arghun's 1281 campaign into Syria was thwarted by internal rebellion and an overextended front, and Arghun's death in 1282 left the Franco-Mongol alliance plan completely shelved.

Sources

The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410 — Peter Jackson (2005)
Diplomatic Relations Between the Mongols and the West, 1260-1300 — Denise Aigle