Books by Francesca Fiaschetti
Crossroads vol. 22, Issue 1-2, 2024
Edited volume of the proceedings of the 5th Meeting of the Mongol Empire Spring Series: "By Land ... more Edited volume of the proceedings of the 5th Meeting of the Mongol Empire Spring Series: "By Land and Sea: Cultural and other Networks of Exchange in Mongol Eurasia and beyond" (Thessaloniki, September 13th-14th 2021)
Crossroads, Vol. 5, Special Issue, 2012
Acta Mongolica vol. 20, 2022
This volume collects the papers prepared for the conference "800 Years Qaraqorum: Art, Power, Cul... more This volume collects the papers prepared for the conference "800 Years Qaraqorum: Art, Power, Cultural Exchange in Medieval Eurasia", planned to be held in Vienna in 2020 (and cancelled due to the pandemic)
The Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire examines the history of the Mongol Empire, t... more The Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire examines the history of the Mongol Empire, the pre-imperial era of Mongolian history that preceded it, and the various Mongol successor states that continued to dominate Eurasia long after the breakdown of Mongol unity. This second edition contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 900 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture of the Mongol Empire. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Mongol Empire
Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia Generals, Merchants, and Intellectuals, 2020
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298750/along-the-silk-roads-in-mongol-eurasia
During the thir... more https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298750/along-the-silk-roads-in-mongol-eurasia
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet, and Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups of people—military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations.
Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire’s impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West and illustrate the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads.
Eurasian Studies 17.2, 2020
In building his empire, Chinggis Khan (r. 1206-27) alternatingly combined military and diplomatic... more In building his empire, Chinggis Khan (r. 1206-27) alternatingly combined military and diplomatic efforts to integrate his subjects and neighbors into his project of conquest. He brought forth traditions of the Inner Asian cultural complex, and expanded them even further to set up a network of more or less formalized dependencies. On the one hand, tracing the Turko-Mongolian precedents of these patterns of interaction is fundamental to situate Chinggisid diplomacy in the context of Eurasian diplomacy. On the other hand, it is important to ask: what made the diplomatic practices of the medieval Mongols distinctively Chinggisid?
This edited volume complements previous studies on the matter of Mongol diplomacy by innovatively combining case-studies from the United Mongol Empire to the four khanates (13th-14th centuries).
Asiatische Forschungen vol. 157, 2014
Papers by Francesca Fiaschetti
in: Laurence Cox, Ugo Dessì, Lukas K. Pokorny (eds.) East Asian Religiosities in the European Union: Globalisation, Migration, and Hybridity, 2024
The chapter offers some preliminary data and a survey of methodological questions for the study o... more The chapter offers some preliminary data and a survey of methodological questions for the study of religion and religiosity among Mongolian diaspora communities in Europe. Mongolian migration to Europe is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the presence of diaspora communities in several European countries is linked to the history of Mongolia’s diplomatic relations. Similarly, the chapter looks at religious developments within Mongolia in the last decades to map religious tendencies among Mongolian migrant communities within Europe. By looking at Buddhism, shamanism, and popular religion, the chapter thus investigates the role of religiosities in relation to Mongolian identity and the connection of diaspora communities with the homeland.
in: Yannis Stouraitis (ed.), War and Collective Identities in the Middle Ages. East, West, and B... more in: Yannis Stouraitis (ed.), War and Collective Identities in the Middle Ages. East, West, and Beyond, p. 191-202
Acta Mongolica vol. 20, 2022
The capital of the Mongol Empire, due to its favourable location, was not
only the symbolic centr... more The capital of the Mongol Empire, due to its favourable location, was not
only the symbolic centre of power for the medieval Mongols, but also performed several key functions in the political, economic, and military administration of the empire. Throughout the thirteenth century, and even after the city's decline in the fourteenth century, its strategic and ideological value remained undisputed. Control of the region around Qaraqorum, therefore, became a prerogative for all those who wanted to dominate the Yuan territories and claim the legacy of the Mongol empire. By examining some Chinese sources of the period, the article shows how shaping a linkage with Mongolia, in terms of symbolic geography as well as words of power, remained a fundamental priority of the emperors ruling over East Asia well beyond the mid-fourteenth century and the end of the Yuan dynasty
Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques, 2018
Son of the famous general Sübe’edei, Uriyanqadai followed in his father’s footsteps into the high... more Son of the famous general Sübe’edei, Uriyanqadai followed in his father’s footsteps into the highest ranks of the Mongol military. Placed in charge of the keshig, or imperial bodyguard, under Möngke (r. 1251–1259), his fame was mostly due to his involvement—along with prince Qubilai (r. 1260–1294)— in the Mongol campaigns in Tibet, Yunnan and Đại Việt. Some of these campaigns are thoroughly described in his Yuanshi and other biographies. Other sources reflect the political relevance of this general as well. The same goes for Uriyangqadai’s son Aju, who accompanied him on campaigns in the South and built upon Uriyangqadai’s legacy after his death. An analysis of the various texts reporting the careers of the two generals provides important material regarding a decisive moment in the Mongol conquest of China, as well as information on numerous aspects of the military and political structures of the Mongol empire. Uriyangqadai’s and Aju’s lives provide an important case study of the ro...
Eurasian Studies, 2020
In their expansion is Southeast Asia, the medieval Mongols encountered many challenges, and among... more In their expansion is Southeast Asia, the medieval Mongols encountered many challenges, and among them there was the necessity to legitimize themself in the eyes of those polities which had long established relations with the Song dynasty. In building his authority the founder of the Yuan dynasty, Qubilai Qa’an, shaped his diplomacy capitalizing on the skills of his non-Mongol subjects. From Confucian scholars to state officials, envoys and generals, many individuals participated in the Yuan diplomatic machine, thus finding their own justification to belong to the Yuan imperial project. The present paper sketches the narratives and rhetoric used by some of these individuals in the case of the Mongols long and challenging interaction with the neighboring kingdom of Đại Việt, in North Vietnam.
in: Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2020
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, 2020
The Mongols, creators of the largest continuous land empire in history, who initiated an unpreced... more The Mongols, creators of the largest continuous land empire in history, who initiated an unprecedented era of international exchange, are mostly known for their land conquests and contacts, but, they also actively participated in maritime and land trade. The key event in this development was a Mongol commercialization ongoing with the Mongol conquest of key coastal areas in China and Iran that brought them face to face with the trading world of the South Seas and Indian Ocean. There was a military aspect of this, starting in Japan, Southeast Asia, and Java, and there was the diplomatic and informal initiatives of Qubilai-qan to expand Mongol influence over the seas as far as the Red Sea and Africa, in ways not achievable with military means alone. A thesis is that the Mongols in China ended by creating, with the help of the Mongols in Iran, a first maritime age, paralleling those established by the Portuguese and others that came later.
Eurasian Studies 17.2, 2020
In their expansion is Southeast Asia, the medieval Mongols encountered many challenges, and among... more In their expansion is Southeast Asia, the medieval Mongols encountered many challenges, and among them there was the necessity to legitimize themself in the eyes of those polities which had long established relations with the Song dynasty. In building his authority the founder of the Yuan dynasty, Qubilai Qa’an, shaped his diplomacy capitalizing on the skills of his non-Mongol subjects. From Confucian scholars to state officials, envoys and generals, many individuals participated in the Yuan diplomatic machine, thus finding their own justification to belong to the Yuan imperial project. The present paper sketches the narratives and rhetoric used by some of these individuals in the case of the Mongols long and challenging interaction with the neighboring kingdom of Đại Việt, in North Vietnam.
Eurasian Studies 17.2, 2020
Introduction to the edited volume "Diplomacy in the Age of Mongol Globalization"
Iran and the Caucasus, 2019
The Ilkhanid vizier and historian Rashīd al-Dīn’s section on China (the History of China) in his ... more The Ilkhanid vizier and historian Rashīd al-Dīn’s section on China (the History of China) in his world history, the Jāmiʿal-tawārīkh, is the first Persian history of the Chinese world. Among other information on China, this text includes accounts of the lives and deeds of the founders of its three major religious and philosophical schools: Buddha, Laozi and
Confucius. As a continuation to the first part of the paper, devoted to Rashīd al-Dīn’s account on the Buddha, here we focus on the excerpts on Laozi and Confucius, which probably constitute the first discussions of these two figures in the Islamicate world. Reading these excerpts against the background of Chinese sources, striking similarities can be
found between Rashīd al-Dīn’s accounts and the narratives of Buddhist ‘universal histories’ of the early Yuan period, belonging to the historiographical production of the Chan school.
Iran and the Caucasus, 2019
The Ilkhanid vizier and historian Rashīd al-Dīn’s section on China (the History of China) in his ... more The Ilkhanid vizier and historian Rashīd al-Dīn’s section on China (the History of China) in his world history, the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, is the first Persian history of the Chinese world. Among other information on China, this text includes accounts of the lives and deeds of the founders of the three major religious and philosophical schools of China: Buddha, Laozi and Confucius. These are probably the first discussions of Laozi and Confucius in the Islamicate world. Reading these excerpts against the background of Chinese sources, striking similarities can be found between the Persian biographies and the narratives of Buddhist ‘universal histories’ of the early Yuan period, belonging to the historiographical production of the Chan school. This furthers our understanding of Rashīd al-Dīn’s use of his sources, of the intellectual environment of the Ilkhanid court, and of Ilkhanid Buddhism.
Knowledge in Translation, 2018
In: Knowledge in Translation: Global Patterns of Scientific Exchange, 1000-1800 CE, edited by Man... more In: Knowledge in Translation: Global Patterns of Scientific Exchange, 1000-1800 CE, edited by Manning Patrick and Owen Abigail, p. 164-76. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018.
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Books by Francesca Fiaschetti
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet, and Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups of people—military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations.
Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire’s impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West and illustrate the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads.
This edited volume complements previous studies on the matter of Mongol diplomacy by innovatively combining case-studies from the United Mongol Empire to the four khanates (13th-14th centuries).
Papers by Francesca Fiaschetti
only the symbolic centre of power for the medieval Mongols, but also performed several key functions in the political, economic, and military administration of the empire. Throughout the thirteenth century, and even after the city's decline in the fourteenth century, its strategic and ideological value remained undisputed. Control of the region around Qaraqorum, therefore, became a prerogative for all those who wanted to dominate the Yuan territories and claim the legacy of the Mongol empire. By examining some Chinese sources of the period, the article shows how shaping a linkage with Mongolia, in terms of symbolic geography as well as words of power, remained a fundamental priority of the emperors ruling over East Asia well beyond the mid-fourteenth century and the end of the Yuan dynasty
Confucius. As a continuation to the first part of the paper, devoted to Rashīd al-Dīn’s account on the Buddha, here we focus on the excerpts on Laozi and Confucius, which probably constitute the first discussions of these two figures in the Islamicate world. Reading these excerpts against the background of Chinese sources, striking similarities can be
found between Rashīd al-Dīn’s accounts and the narratives of Buddhist ‘universal histories’ of the early Yuan period, belonging to the historiographical production of the Chan school.
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet, and Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups of people—military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations.
Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire’s impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West and illustrate the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads.
This edited volume complements previous studies on the matter of Mongol diplomacy by innovatively combining case-studies from the United Mongol Empire to the four khanates (13th-14th centuries).
only the symbolic centre of power for the medieval Mongols, but also performed several key functions in the political, economic, and military administration of the empire. Throughout the thirteenth century, and even after the city's decline in the fourteenth century, its strategic and ideological value remained undisputed. Control of the region around Qaraqorum, therefore, became a prerogative for all those who wanted to dominate the Yuan territories and claim the legacy of the Mongol empire. By examining some Chinese sources of the period, the article shows how shaping a linkage with Mongolia, in terms of symbolic geography as well as words of power, remained a fundamental priority of the emperors ruling over East Asia well beyond the mid-fourteenth century and the end of the Yuan dynasty
Confucius. As a continuation to the first part of the paper, devoted to Rashīd al-Dīn’s account on the Buddha, here we focus on the excerpts on Laozi and Confucius, which probably constitute the first discussions of these two figures in the Islamicate world. Reading these excerpts against the background of Chinese sources, striking similarities can be
found between Rashīd al-Dīn’s accounts and the narratives of Buddhist ‘universal histories’ of the early Yuan period, belonging to the historiographical production of the Chan school.
China's Encounters on the South and Southwest. Reforging the Fiery Frontier Over Two Millennia. Leiden and Boston: Brill, xiv + 428. Five maps, 10 figures, 2 tables, preface, glossary, index. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 3 Southeast Asia vol. 22.
ISBN: 9789004218901 (hardcover, 114 EURO).
This collection of fifteen articles investigates the formation of the southern Chinese frontier and interaction between China and the various regions of Southeast Asia throughout history. The idea started with a panel presented at the meeting of the Association of Asian Studies in 2010, to which other contributions from experts in the field have been added.
The theoretical premises inspiring the volume are presented
in the introduction 'The Fiery Frontier and the Dong World', by
James A Anderson and John K Whitmore, as well as in the
concluding section 'Asymmetric Structure and Culture in China's
Relations with Its Southern Neighbors' by Brantly Womack, which should be read as complementary. As Anderson and Whitmore point out in their contribution at the beginning of the book, the papers deal with the main question, as formulated by Eric Tagliacozzo (2013): "What is a frontier? How do we delineate it historically? Ontologically?" (3). ...
Spatial Politics of Empire: Archaeology, Mobility,
and Culture Contact. New York, Heidelberg,
Dordrecht, London: Springer. XI + 321. Fifty figures,
index. ISBN: 1493918141 (hardcover, 139.09EURO).
How does mobility affect processes of polity building? Are cultural contacts a secondary product of an established form of government, or are they a precondition for it? How can archaeology complement history in researching these issues? These are among the questions addressed by Honeychurch's book, in which evidence from different sources, but mostly the results of surveys and excavation projects at the Mongolian sites of the Egiin Gol river valley, and the Baga Gazaryn Chuluu region, are conveyed (12). The theoretical premises of his analysis derive from the need to ...
"Cultural Exchanges between Mongolia and the World: New Trends and Perspectives" - a study on the history and development of Mongolian Diplomacy and International Relations
7 DECEMBER 2021 4.30 PM CET
LINK TO LECTURE
https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/j/92837010542?pwd=WC9URnZwanpDNHNWOEhPYWVqOVc0QT09
Passcode: hNk8eX
Abstract:
Culture refers to the repository of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitude, meanings, roles, relations, concepts of time and space (etc.) shared by a group of people. It is communication, the way of life, a collective programming that distinguishes the members of one group from another. It also affects how the members of the group experience and express emotions, favouring some and suppressing other emotional states. Since cultures are adaptive and change in response to environmental and social challenges, their influence on emotional experience of its members changes and it is different across different periods of time. Therefore, the experience of emotions is not just different across cultures, but also within a single culture in different historical periods. Jealousy and envy are considered as complex emotions shaped by social interaction and cultural models. The presentation focuses on some aspects of the discussion on the similarities (in function, motivational framework…) and differences between the two emotions, mostly from the perspective of (cross-)cultural history, linguistics, and the history of emotions. The analyses will include historical and contemporary examples from Europe, China, and Iran. The presenter will be thankful for any thoughts and contributions from the distinguished audience, as such complex comparative research most often extends beyond the linguistic and cross-cultural competences of individual researchers.
"By Land & By Sea: Cultural and Οther Networks of Exchange in Mongol Eurasia and Beyond"
Thessaloniki, September 13th-14th 2021
The 5th meeting of the Mongol Empire Spring Series (M.E.S.S.) will be jointly organised by the University of Vienna and the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki. The M.E.S.S. is an international event gathering experts of the Mongol Empire and of Medieval Eurasia on a yearly basis. This year’s meeting will be devoted to the topic of material culture and cultural exchanges enabled by the Medieval Mongols, and their legacy in Eurasia.
The establishment of the Mongol empire changed the religious map of Eurasia. During their expansion across Eurasia, the Mongols came in contact with all major religions (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity) and philosophical schools (Confucianism, Daoism), affecting their development as they incorporated vast territories into their domains. Simultaneously the Mongols themselves were largely influenced by the different religions they found during the conquest. In addition, religious communities played a decisive role in pre-modern societies both as pillars (i.e. supporters) of the state and as monopolists of knowledge (literacy, wisdom, etc.). They had enormous capital and were key agents in economic, cultural and political life of the empire.
This conference aims to offer a platform for scholars in the field to discuss different aspects of religions and religious life in the Mongol empire. Papers will discuss different aspects to this relationship including the allegedly tolerant attitude of the Mongols towards the different religions vis-a-vis their Realpolitik approach to religious communities; how religious personalities were agents of the intercultural exchange and communications (e.g. Christian and Buddhist monks, Sufi shaykhs, etc) or aspects of religious proselytism among members of the Mongol elite.
By using a broad topic, this event offers a framework for comparative research in the Mongol empire. This workshop brings together specialists on different parts of the empire and on different religions in an attempt to create platform to advance in our understanding of religion in 13th and 14th century Eurasia.
Scholars from Europe and beyond are invited to submit their papers on the topic of “The Mongols and Religion”.
The conference will address the attitude of the Mongol ruling elite towards the various religious forms and bodies of religious specialists they encountered during the construction of the Empire and of the successor Khanates, between the 13th and 14th centuries.
We invite the submission of papers dealing with various aspects of these dynamics, among others: religious personnel and personalities, texts and text transmission, interreligious dialogue, dynamics of power, material culture.