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==Early contacts (1209-1244)== [[Image:Genghis Khan.jpg|thumb|[[Genghis Khan]] (1162-1227)]] Among Europeans, there had long been rumors and expectations that a great Christian ally would come from "the East." These rumors circulated as early as the [[First Crusade]], and usually surged in popularity after the loss of a battle by the Crusaders, which resulted in a natural human desire that a Christian hero would arrive from a distant land, to help save the day. This resulted in the development of a legend about a figure known as [[Prester John]]. The legend fed upon itself, and some individuals who came from the East were greeted with the expectations that they might be the long-awaited Christian heroes. For example, around 1210, news reached the West of the battles of the Mongol [[Kuchlug]], leader of the largely Christian tribe of the [[Naiman]], against the powerful [[Khwarezmian Empire]], whose leader was [[Muhammad II of Khwarezm]]. Rumors circulated in Europe that Kuchlug was the mythical Prester John, and was again battling the Muslims in the East.<ref>Foltz, p.111</ref> During the [[Fifth Crusade]], as the Christians were unsuccessfully laying siege to the Egyptian city of [[Damietta]] in 1221, the legends of Prester John again conflated with the reality of the Mongols under [[Genghis Khan]].<ref>Foltz, p.112</ref> Mongol raiding parties were beginning to invade the eastern Islamic world, in [[Transoxania]] and [[Persia]] in 1219-1221.<ref name=raids-236>''Mongol Raids'', p. 236</ref> Rumors circulated among the Crusaders that a "Christian king of the Indies", a King David who was either Prester John or one of his descendants, had been attacking Muslims in the East, and was on his way to help the Christians in their Crusades.<ref name=knobler>{{cite journal|journal=''[[Journal of World History]]''|author=Adam Knobler|date=Fall 1996|pages=181-197|volume=7|issue=2|title=Pseudo-Conversions and Patchwork Pedigrees: The Christianization of Muslim Princes and the Diplomacy of Holy War|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_world_history/v007/7.2knobler.html}}</ref> In a letter dated June 20, 1221, Pope [[Honorius III]] even commented about "forces coming from the Far East to rescue the Holy Land".<ref>''Regesta Honorii Papae III'', no 1478, I, p.565. Quoted in Runciman, p.246</ref> In 1220, the Mongols invaded Persian territory, successfully destroying the Turkish Khwarezmian Empire (some of the remains of which moved West in 1244 to ally with the Egyptian Mamluks, taking Jerusalem from the Christians along the way). But Genghis Khan then returned to Mongolia, and Persia was reconquered by Muslim forces.<ref>Runciman, p.249</ref> In 1231, a much larger Mongol army arrived, under the general [[Chormaqan]]. He ruled over Persia and [[Azerbaijan]] from 1231 to 1241.<ref>Runciman, p.250</ref> In 1242, [[Baichu]] further invaded the [[Seldjuk]] kingdom, ruled by [[Kaikhosrau]], in modern Turkey. The Mongol conquest was seen by the Europeans as a positive one, since the Mongols were eliminating an enemy of Christendom.<ref>Runciman, p.253</ref> Genghis Khan died in 1227, and his Empire was split up into four sections, for each of his sons. The northern section, known as the [[Golden Horde]] began to encroach upon Europe, primarily via [[Hungary]] and [[Poland]]. The southwestern section, known as the [[Ilkhanid]], under the leadership of Genghis Khan's son [[Hulagu Khan|Hulagu]], continued to advance towards Persia and the Holy Land. City after city fell to the Mongols, including some Christian realms in their path. Christian [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] was repeatedly attacked starting in 1220,<ref>Runciman, p.246-247</ref> and in 1243 Queen [[Rusudan of Georgia|Rusudan]] formally submitted to the Mongols, turning Georgia into a vassal state which then became a regular ally in the Mongol military conquests.<ref>Runciman, p.250</ref><ref name=weatherford-181>Weatherford, p. 181. "To supplement his own army, Hulegu summoned the armies of the vassal states of Armenia and Georgia"</ref> This was a common practice in use by the growing Mongol empire -- as they conquered new territories, they would absorb the populace and warriors into their own Mongol army, which they would then use to further expand the empire. {{seealso|Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia}} {{seealso|Mongol invasion of Europe}}
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