How does the following account enlarge upon the character of the Pax Mongolica created by the Mongols by the middle of the thirteenth century? The Franciscan monk, William of Rubruck, was sent by Louis IX of France on an embassy to the great Khan Mongke’s court. He reached Karakorum, the capital of Mongke, in 1254 and came upon a woman from Lorraine (in France) called Paquette, who had been brought from Hungary and was in the service of one of the prince’s wives who was a Nestorian Christian. At the court he came across a Parisian goldsmith named Guillaume Boucher, ‘whose brother dwelt on the Grand Pont in Paris’. This man was first employed by the Queen Sorghaqtani and then by Mongke’s younger brother. Rubruck found that at the great court festivals the Nestorian priests were admitted first, with their regalia, to bless the Grand Khan’s cup, and were followed by the Muslim clergy and Buddhist and Taoist monks.
The above account depicts the character of the Pax Mongolica by the middle of the 13th century:
● It became clear from the above incident that the French Monarch Louis IX had sent his ambassador William of Rubruck to Karakorum, the capital of Mongke in 1254. This depicts that Mongol rulers had established a well-knit relation
with their neighbours.
● Guillaume Boucher proved that Mongol rulers lived with great pomp and show and they had brought servants to serve them from different parts of the world. They were paid good salaries. That is why they reached to serve Mongol court from far away.
● Mongol rulers were not fanatics and anxious to get the blessings of all the people. They recruited administrators and armed forces from people of
all ethnic groups and religions. There was a multilingual, multi-religious regime that did not feel threatened by its pluralistic constitution. The above descriptions display the best aspect of Pax- Mongolica. It is said that in a vast empire, the Mongols had established such a rule that one could walk freely without the fear of robbery.
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