Michael Baizerman Author

Dear readers, Happy New Year! I'm hopeful that the next year will bring you many happy moments that will overshadow all the sad ones. My reading audience is growing; over 1500 people have visited this blog, which delves into my second project. I have launched another blog on the Tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/mikebisblog where I will tell a broader history of my writing, starting with my first book, Dawn and Sunset. You may visit my personal page on the Scriggler https://scriggler.com/Profile/michael_baizerman where I have uploaded 23 articles that cover my four projects. As far as my second book, The Enchanting Encounter with the East, I have started working on Unit IV, In the Shadow of the Iron Gate. I would like to explore the image of Alexander's Gate as it took shape in the Latin West. The draft copy of the unit comprises nine chapters; however, I will probably curtail one or two extracts for the sake of the consistency of reading. I will start by ...

Image:  The Ilkhan Hulegu and his chief wife Doquz Hatun modeled as modern Constantine and Helen  in a thirteenth-century Syriac Bible This is the beginning of the third and the last chapter of Unit III, Unveiling the Alien. With the three parts of my book finished, I have covered from one third to half of the entire project. Units IV and V will focus on medieval western legends relating to the East. In Unit IV, I will try to crack the code of Alexander's Gate and reveal both its historical development and historical background.  "Eljigidei, the new commander of the Mongol forces stationed in Persia, was harboring an ambitious scheme to invade Iraq. However, he realized that his master plan could be derailed by the joint forces of the Caliph of Baghdad and the Sultan of Egypt, the preeminent rulers in the Muslim East. To defuse this perilous scenario, the trusted general requested the support of King Louis who engaged in the preparation for a new crusad...

The last great campaign of the unified Mongol Empire was spearheaded against the Muslim East. This onslaught brought forth the Ilkhanate, one of the four Tartar split polities, whose sway spread between the Indus and the Euphrates. The nomadic rulers of this new realm aspired to conquer the lands of Syria and Egypt governed by the novel Islamic power: the Mamluk Sultanate. Since the balance of forces was close to a draw, the geopolitical confrontation between the rivals became locked in a stalemate. Following the classic paradigm, which they exerted from time to time in their turbulent history, the Mongols were seeking an ally to tempt him to open a second front against their foes. They thought they had found a partner among the crusader states of the Levant which struggled for their survival on the Holy Land. They also hoped to forge an alliance with the leading powers of the Latin West, promising to transfer Jerusalem under the Christian control. My new chapter will focus on thes...

Image: The Chinese envoys at the ger of Chinggis Khan Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Djengiz_Kh%C3%A2n_et_les_envoy%C3%A9s_chinois.jpeg  The fear of a new Mongol onslaught stirred the search for a novel route to make a contact with a dangerous enemy. Pope Innocent IV undertook a range of diplomatic overtures with the Great Khan. His clerical envoys managed to cross a bridge across the abyss separating the Latin Christendom and the steppe barbarians. The response that they had brought was very uncomforting. The Tartar emperor demanded unconditional submission, citing the divine mandate which raised him above all the other political authorities across the globe. This is the topic of my new chapter on the relations between the Latin West and the bizarre East. I offer you to read an extract: "The only European power which dared to take on the Mongol bully was the Apostolic See. Devoid of a mighty army to oppose the enemy, the newly-elected pontiff poss...