The Mongols as a Mirror in Matthew Paris’ Chronica Majora (c. 1256)

This paper seeks to resurrect the Chronica majora of the English Benedictine monk Matthew Paris (c. 1200-1259) as a historical source on the Mongols. Paris was one of the first Europeans to write about the Mongols more than just in passing references. Scholars often cite Matthew Paris’ numerous exaggerations as evidence that he was a poor historian or worse, an outright liar. Though at times Paris recorded outlandish myths and rumors about the Mongols, much of his information about Mongol customs and military tactics is accurate.

More importantly, I seek to explain why Paris was so interested in a people that threatened Christendom, but never approached England. In many ways Matthew’s accounts of the Mongols were rather ambivalent. Though he wrote about their cruelty, wanton destructiveness, and criminal behavior, I will show how it was always as a means to something else. Paris used the Mongol threat to Christendom to shame figures who balked at crusading against the terrible Tartars, or conversely, praise those who were eager to marshal defenses. I will also demonstrate how Paris’ account of the so-called Jewish-Mongol plot of 1241 aimed to denigrate Jews more than the Mongols. For Paris, the Mongols were a mirror that reflected the most positive and negative qualities of important Europeans. This was a fascinating response to a hitherto unknown foreign people that shocked and puzzled medieval England and Europe, both of whom continue to struggle today to define their identity in times of ever-changing ideas on nationalism, ethnicity, and unity.