The Swinging Bridge across the Abyss
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...