In this episode, our monkish friends attempt to navigate the violent waters of Ilkhanid Mongol politics, and Bar Sauma himself embarks on another long journey, this time heading for Rome.

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Sources:The Monks of Kublai Khan, translated by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. The Religious Tract Society, 1928.Aigle, Denise. The Mongol Empire Between Myth and Reality: Studies in Anthropological History. Brill Academic Pub, 2014.Benjamin, Sandra. Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History. Steerforth Press, 2010.Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, translated by Naomi Walford. Rutgers, 2002. Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the Islamic World. Yale University Press, 2017.Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410. Pearson Longman, 2005.Kolbas, Judith. The Mongols in Iran: Chingiz Khan to Uljaytu 1220–1309. Routledge, 2006.Pfeiffer, Judith, "Reflections on a 'Double Rapprochement': Conversion to Islam among the Mongol Elite during the Early Ilkhanate," in Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, edited by Linda Komaroff. Brill Academic Pub, 2006.Rose, Susan. Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500. Routledge, 2002.Rossabi, Morris. Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West. Kodansha International, 1992.

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Rabban Bar Sauma 2: Ilkhanid Infighting, Ilkhanid Envoy