All those for whom records are available travelled with Christian missionaries. Most of these merchants did not enjoy high social status, and so needed the assistance of Christian dignitaries to enter the court. The presence of these Italian merchants facilitated the stay of Dominican and Franciscan monks in the country: they could rely on a Catholic community and at the same time justify their presence in Iran after the conversion of the Mongols, who after their conversion to Islam did not tolerate any missionary activities targeting Muslim Iranians. Convents and monasteries appeared in all the major cities of the Empire where the Italian merchants had trading posts.
These merchants also served as intermediaries between the European princes and the Mongols of the Il-Khanate, as their business often caused them to travel between Europe and Asia. It is noteworthy that they usually settled in a town where there was a local Christian community, such as Merv (though this had the additional attraction of being an important silk supplier at the time). Little has been found on the interaction between the local Christians and the Italian merchants. There is evidence that some merchants settled for good in Tabriz where they finished their days. We know from various sources, such as the one written by Odoric of Pordenone, that European travellers and missionaries stayed in the residences of their co-religionists during their journeys. These interactions would have prompted the local Christians to learn European languages, hence making them ideal diplomats. This is a quality that was appreciated in the Christian Armenians from the Safavid period onwards.
Indeed, one of the most famous ambassadors sent to Rome was the Nestorian monk Bar Sauma, who had been chosen for his linguistic skills, and probably also because he was an Uighur and a close companion of the Catholicos Yahballaha III. He was sent two years after Isa Kelemchi’s mission, which had already promised the jointsovereignty of the Pope and Qubilai Khan over the Levant upon their victory. Thus, Bar Sauma went to Europe in 1287 with four other Nestorian ambassadors. In Rome he repeated the words of his predecessors, offering a military alliance with the Christian princes to defeat the Egyptian Mamluks and emphasizing again the favour of the Mongol sovereign for the Christians. He also promised that the day Jerusalem would be liberated from the Mamluks, Arghun (1284-1291) would convert to Christianity. He concluded his speech by saying ‘Since I am a Christian, my word should be credible to you.’ Unfortunately for Arghun, the only European sovereign who showed enthusiasm for the Mongols’ cause was Philippe IV le Bel of France. Charles II of Naples and James II of Aragon had exhausted their armies in a recent war in which James II had destroyed Charles II’s fleet. Edward I of England simply made no promises to Bar Sauma.
A year before his death, Arghun sent another series of Christian ambassadors to Rome. In order to demonstrate the goodwill of the IlKhan, all of his representatives accepted baptism in the Roman rite. The Pope Nicolas IV then had them sent to King Edward of England. Letters were sent back to Arghun and his sons by the Pope, advising all of them to be baptised. Even Arghun’s general, Tagachar received a similar letter. The Pope did not omit to send letters to influential Christians at the court such as Arghun’s Christian wife, his Christian son, Nicolas, the Nestorian bishop Bar Sauma, and the Jacobite bishop of Tabriz, Denys. He probably solicited them to defend the cause of the Roman Church in Iran. Fra Ricoldo de Monte Croce, who was visiting Iran in that year, had offended the Nestorians of Baghdad by preaching Catholic theology in their Church. However, the relations with the Latin states were intense at all levels. The Franks had sent 900 skilled Genoese to help the Mongols construct a fleet to fight the Mamluks.
Mongol Reception of Persian Christians in Post-Arab Conquest Iran
