Letter from Güyük Khan to Pope Innocent IV

The letter from Güyük Khan to Pope Innocent IV is a 1246 letter from the third great khan of the Mongol Empire to the pope of the Catholic Church.

Güyük Khan demanding Pope Innocent IV's submission.

The letter was a response to a 1245 letter, Cum non solum, from the pope to the Mongols.

Güyük, who had little understanding of faraway Europe or the pope's significance in it, demanded the pope's submission and a visit from the rulers of the West to pay homage to Mongol power:[1]

"You must say with a sincere heart: "We will be your subjects; we will give you our strength". You must in person come with your kings, all together, without exception, to render us service and pay us homage. Only then will we acknowledge your submission. And if you do not follow the order of God, and go against our orders, we will know you as our enemy."
— Letter from Güyük to Pope Innocent IV, 1246.[2][3]

Bibliography

Rachewiltz, I, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans, Stanford University Press, 1971.

References

Rachewiltz, p. 103.
Quoted in Michaud, Yahia (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) (2002). Ibn Taymiyya, Textes Spirituels I-XVI". Chap XI
Also quoted in Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.315

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[1] Rachewiltz, p. 103.

[2] Quoted in Michaud, Yahia (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) (2002). Ibn Taymiyya, Textes Spirituels I-XVI". Chap XI

[3] Also quoted in Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.315