China and Inner Asia

Organized Panel Session

Eurasia and the Mid-14th-Century Crisis: The Collapse of the Mongol Empire

In the 14^th century Eurasia faced many challenges and changes; the Mongol empire was no different. In the mid-14th century all four Mongol polities were embroiled in crisis, which resulted in the collapse of the Mongol states in Iran and China and the substantial weakening of the steppe khanate, leading to the end of "the Mongol Moment (1206-1368) in world history. This panel examines several aspects of the mid-14^th century crisis and its aftermath, across the various Mongol polities.
Vered Shurany analyses aspects of the Yuan dynasty's military decline, by following the function (or disfunction) of late Yuan generals and their divided loyalties; Patrick Wing explores the role of plague in West Asia, and its impact on the final collapse of Chinggisid rule in Iran and Iraq in the mid-14^th century; Ishayah Landa compares political reactions to the crisis in different regions of the Jochid ulus (the Golden Horde, stretching from Siberia to Moscow), assessing how this polity managed to survive the crisis; and Marton Ver  examines the mid-14^th century communication system of East Turkestan on the basis of Uighur and Mongol documents, stressing the crisis' impact on the surviving Eastern Chaghadaids.
Taken together, the panel’s papers shed new light on the mid-14^th century crisis throughout Eurasia, and on different patterns of Mongol collapse, putting the Yuan-Ming transition in its full Eurasian context.

Organizer(s)

• VS

  Vered Shurany

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Chair(s)

• MB

  Michal Biran

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Paper Presenter(s)

• VS

  Vered Shurany

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
• PW

  Patrick Wing

  University of Redlands
• IL

  Ishayahu Landa

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Germany
• MV

  Màrton Vèr

  Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany

Discussant(s)

• MB

  Michal Biran

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Papers:

• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  The Collapse of the Yuan Dynasty: Military Commanders between the Qa’an’s Army and the Local Militias
• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  Plague and Politics in 14th-Century Iran and Iraq
• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  Between Loyalty, Chinggisid Principle and Self-Aggrandisement: Regional Jochid Elites in “The Times of Troubles” (1359-1390)
• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  International Overland Communication and the Mongol Empire’s Mid-14th-Century Crisis