Bela IV had been aware of the Mongol menace - though it is not known whether he ever received the above-mentioned ultimatum and, if he did, whether he took it seriously - and had made great efforts to strengthen his country's defenses. At the news of the fall of Kiev he ordered the Hungarian borders to be fortified and inspected the wooden barricades erected. He also did his utmost to convince the lords of the realm to raise armies and coordinate defense. On March 15, while at a meeting to discuss the measures to be taken he received the news, brought to him by the very man to whom the defense of Verecke had been entrusted, that on May 12 the Hungarian forces defending that pass had been routed and annihilated by a Mongol attack. The terrible news notwithstanding, the realities of the situation were not understood by the lords, who distrusted Bela and hated Koten, whose people they accused of treachery and whom they blamed for the Mongol attack. By this time Mongol reconnaissance units had reached Pest, attacked and looted the city of Vac some twenty miles north, and engaged in a number of skirmishes, always avoiding a major battle. The physical appearance of the Mongols, often undistinguishable from that of the Cumans, reinforced the belief in the latters' treachery. Koten and his immediate entourage fell victim to mob violence, causing a mass exodus of his people. Justifiably angered, the Cumans moved south, towards Bulgaria, burning and looting on their way, fighting Hungarian units moving north in response to Bela's appeal. Anarchy and confusion were spreading over Hungary, where no one, not even the king, had a realistic assessment of Mongol military power. Used to earlier incursion by steppe peoples, such as the Pechenegs or the Cumans, and for centuries undefeated on their own soil, the Hungarian lords remained cocksure, confident in their military capabilities.

Batu's army was moving south at a snail's pace, allowing time for the right and left wings - who had to cover a much longer distance - to reach Pest simultaneously with the main force. Batu could have made it to Pest within a week and thus could have taken advantage of the Hungarians' unpreparedness of which, no doubt, he was well aware. However, because the original operational plan had foreseen a decisive battle to be fought after the junction of the three army corps, Batu was reluctant to engage Bela's forces on his own. Yet this is what he had to do, because early in April the armed forces gathered by the king set out from Pest to meet and halt the advancing Mongols. Contact was established a little less than halfway between Pest and Verecke near the river Sajo which initially separated them but across which, on April 11, Batu's forces ????uted a night attack on the Hungarian camp, inflicting terrible losses on its trapped defenders. The king himself escaped with great difficulty from the debacle. While the outcome of the encounter is beyond dispute - some call it a massacre rather than a battle - historians disagree in their assessments of Bela's apparent ineptitude. Of course, the Hungarians could have done better; but it is beyond doubt that no ad hoc, feudal type force could have matched the well disciplined, highly trained, professional soldiers of the Mongol army. A seldom considered measure of the efficacy of the Hungarian resistance is the size of the losses sustained by the attackers. These were very heavy and in 1245, when the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini visited the Mongols, they were still vividly recalled. The friar noted the existence of special cemeteries established for those fallen in Hungary.27 He also discovered in Batu's camp the beautiful tents which once belonged to Bela IV

Though master of the battlefield, Batu made no haste in his advance. Mongol detachments fanned out to frighten and to loot, but the main army pursued its slow advance towards the Danube. By autumn of that same year the territories lying north and east of the Danube were occupied and the resistance put up by isolated groups was broken.

Hungary's collapse came as a shock to the pope, to the Emperor Frederick II and to all other potentates of the west, all ready to blame Bela (to use Frederick's words "the idle and careless" king),28 none willing to provide effective help in preventing the further advance of the Mongols. Bela, now in the western (Transdanubian) parts of Hungary, foresaw that the Mongols would attempt to cross the Danube and did everything in his power to limit the further devastation of his country. Experience had shown that fortifications, though not effective in barring the Mongol advance (they were more often than not by-passed), at least provided a shelter for the population. The king did his utmost to increase their number and provide them with adequate means of defense.

The country East and North of the Danube was thrown into chaos and at the mercy of the Mongols, but Bela IV escaped, helped by luck and the devotion of some of his men. In his flight to the west he reached the Austrian border and stopped at Pozsony (Pressburg, Bratislava) where an invitation reached him from Frederick, Duke of Austria to be his guest. "But alas!", tells us the Carmen miserabile super destructionis regni Hungariae per Tartaros 29 written by Roger, canon of Varad, "the poor king was like a fish who in trying to escape from being frozen in an icebox, jumps into the fire to be roasted."30 Once he got hold of the king's person, the duke made very heavy demands. He exacted and obtained three Hungarian counties and demanded a very large sum. Beta, fugitive, unable to produce it, had to leave with him as a pledge, all the silver and gold vessels he had managed to save in his flight. In these circumstances it is understandable that the Hungarian king did not wish to remain in Austria. In the middle of May 1241 we find him in Zagreb, Croatia, whence he endeavored to reorganize what remained of his country and to forestall possible Mongol attacks across the Danube.

The Mongols seem to have halted East and North of the Danube, though there were some forays into Austrian territory. The reports are contradictory but there is a curious tale, lacking any historical foundations, that Batu himself lost his life by drowning in the Danube.31 There was a lull in Mongol troop movements and the German forces raised by King Konrad IV, son of the Emperor Frederick II, lured into a false feeling of security, disbanded. Bela was more perspicacious. He took for granted that the Mongols would attempt to cross the Danube, and he acted accordingly, trying to build up an effective resistance. As there could be no hope of resisting a possible Mongol onslaught in the open field, Beta paid particular attention to the building of fortifications which, provided they had efficient ballistarii, stood a good chance against Mongol attacks. Most revealing in this respect is a letter dated 19th January 1242 and sent to whosoever may become the successor of Pope Gregory IX:

Lo! now for the third time, we are sending to your Paternity our beloved Friars Preachers, the bearers of these presents in conformity with their own will and with the good pleasure of their prelates; entreating your Paternity inasmuch that the groans of the fettered, the sobbing of mourning widows, of children and orphans may rise to the heart of your Holiness, and above all the great zeal of the Church should prevail upon you, lest her new plantation in Hungary should be wholly and thus wretchedly uprooted, to assign quickly to Hungarian soldiers who are experienced and willing and who are able to set themselves as a wall for the Lord's house together with us and with our men, of whom now, by Divine Providence, quite a number remains, more particularly lest the river Danube, by which up till now the most powerful Lord has prevented their [i.e. the Mongols'] passage, be crossed and the memory of Christ's name and the glory of our crown, which we and our fathers have held and hold by the blessing of the Roman Church, now be obliterated ... Therefore we ask your Holiness to the effect that you will a crusade to be preached among the Venetians, who axe the most necessary to us because of their ballistarii which are greatly needed for the defense of the said river and through the other kingdoms of Catholic princes.32

What Bela foresaw happened. Sometime in February 1242 33 the Mongol forces crossed the Danube. This is how Canon Roger describes the event in his Carmen miserabile

Lo! in the winter, the snow and ice came in such abundance that the Danube was frozen over, which had not occurred in times reaching very far back. But the Hungarians from the inside broke the ice every day and guarded the Danube thus, so that there was a continual fight by the foot-soldiers against the ice. However, when the hard frost came, the whole Danube was frozen over, yet the Mongols by no means tried to cross with their horses. Listen to what they did. They led many horses and beasts up to the banks of the Danube, but for three days they sent no one to look after them, so that the beasts seemed to be left without keepers; and none of those people made an appearance in those regions. Then the Hungarians, thinking that the Tartars had retreated, suddenly crossed over and led the animals over the ice. When the Tartars observed this, they thought they could cross freely over the ice on horseback. Which was done, and so many crossed in one charge that from that part of the Danube they filled the surface of the earth.34

West of the Danube, which was also the western limit of the Eurasian steppe, the Mongols' aim was not so much territorial conquest but, first and foremost, the capture of the fugitive king, who was pursued by Qadan with the same vigor as, earlier, Jebe and Subetei had shown in tracking down Muhammad of Khwarazm. Even the reasons for the Mongols' vendetta appears to have been the same: the possible murder and certain disappearance of Mongol envoys, reproached to Bela in the aforementioned ultimatum.

The Mongols' pursuit of the king was less successful than had been their attempt to seize Muhammad. Bela, like the Sultan of Khwarazm, thought that the safest refuge from Mongol horsemen would be an island, so he fled in a south-westerly direction towards Croatia and the Adriatic Sea, where - after many adventures - he found shelter on an island facing the city of Trogir. His pursuers, unable to get hold of his person and hampered in their movements by the lack of adequate pastures, engaged in minor predatory operations in Dalmatia and Croatia until, within the framework of the total evacuation of Hungary, they crossed Serbia and joined Batu's main force in Bulgaria. Mongol corps operating in the eastern parts of the country left the way they had come, through the passes of Transylvania. The evacuation of Hungary, another example of splendid military planning, was completed by May 1242.

According to John of Plano Carpini the death of Ogedei prompted the Mongols' withdrawal from Hungary. Valuable though the Friar's account may be, it does contain many mistakes, of which this explanation is a prime example. Unfortunately, the mistake has been perpetuated by generations of historians (including the present writer), who, for a long time, never pondered on the inherent weakness of this theory. Ogedei died on December 11, 1241, and it had been argued that when the news reached him, Batu, who might have had personal, imperial ambitions, decided either to return to Mongolia or, at least, to move closer to it. The fact is that Batu showed no signs of any desire to travel to Mongolia, but after the evacuation of Hungary remained on the South Russian steppe, still very far from the center of power. Whether Batu ever harbored ambitions to become the Great Khan is a moot question, but his behavior certainly did not reveal anything of the sort. Available evidence suggests that he was content to be the de facto ruler of the western part of the Mongol empire, and that he showed great loyalty to Ogedei's successor, Guyuk. The reason for the Mongol withdrawal from Hungary must be sought elsewhere; it was caused by logistical imperatives.

It is impossible to give an accurate assessment of the size of the Mongol army, let alone of the strength of the troops invading Hungary. The contemporary Roger speaks of half a million, but this is surely an exaggeration. According to Simon of St. Quentin 35 Batu's army (in 1245) was seven times the size of that of Ogedei, commander in the Near East, whose men numbered 600,000, comprising 160,000 Mongols. The Mongol army was divided into divisions (tumen), ten thousand men strong, and it is hard to imagine that each of the four army corps constituting Batu's right and left wing respectively would have had less than one tumen. Even on the minimal level together they would have had 40,000 men. Bela's army is estimated to have been 65,000 strong, and it is reasonable to reckon that the Mongol center, opposing and defeating it, numbered at least as many. At a very conservative estimate one can set the strength of the Mongol invading forces between 105,000 and 150,000 men, a figure much lower than any of those appearing in our sources.

The military strength of the great nomad empires, and that of the Mongols in particular, rested on their cavalry and on a virtually inexhaustible supply of horses. According to Plano Carpini, the Mongols "have so many horses and mares that I do not believe there are so many in all the rest of the world."36 There is evidence that each warrior had at least three or four horses, but Marco Polo spoke of about eighteen mounts for each man! Taking into consideration the losses suffered by the Mongols we may count with, say 100,000 men occupying Hungary who would then need, on a conservative estimate at least some 400,000 horses. It has been suggested that about 42,000 square kilometers (10,378,425 acres) can or could be used as grazing land. Estimates of grazing or carrying capacity of ranges vary widely but on the assumption that at that time about 25 acres were needed to support one horse for one year, the carrying capacity of the Hungarian range must be set at 415,136 animal units. On the completely unrealistic condition that no other animals were using these pastures, and counting five horses per Mongol horseman, the Hungarian range could provide for the mounts of 83,027 warriors, clearly far below the strength of the Mongol army. The Mongol high command found itself in a position similar to that of a commander of a modern armored division running short of fuel. Further advance to the west, into Transdanubia, would have made matters worse. It was the habit of the Mongols to stop fighting in the spring and let their horses go free to water and graze, and to multiply, so that they would be ready for war in the autumn. This is the reason why in the spring of 1242 the Mongols withdrew from devastated, overgrazed Hungary to the abundant pastures of the steppe, where they could replenish and strengthen their herds, on which their military power rested.37

During his lifetime Ogedei chose his third son Kochu to succeed him. But Kochu predeceased his father, who then decreed that Kochu's son, the young Siremun, be his heir. Ogedei's widow the katun Tdregene disapproved of this choice and favored Guyuk, the eldest son born to her by the late khan. The organization of the quriltay was no easy task since the electors, the various princes and barons, were dispersed in diverse parts of the huge empire. While they slowly converged on Karakorum, where the election was to be held, the government, as it were, of the late Guyuk continued to handle day-to-day affairs, and Toregene, making sure of all the arts of diplomacy, to quote Rashid al-Din 38 "wooed the hearts of kinsfolk and emirs with all manners of gifts and presents until they all inclined toward her and came under her control." Toregene achieved her aim and Guyuk was enthroned on August 24, 1246, in an impressive ceremony witnessed and described by John of Plano Carpini (ix, 32-35).

The Franciscan was one of three envoys - and by far the most successful - dispatched by Pope Innocent IV in the spring of 1245 to learn more about the people who had brought such a devastation upon Hungary and, also, to exhort its unknown ruler to refrain from further misdeeds and embrace Christianity. They were to carry two letters addressed to "the king and the people of the Tartars," one (Dei patris immensa) is dated March 5, the other (Cum non solum) is of March 13.39 One of the missions, led by the Dominican Ascelinus, approached the Mongols through Anatolia. Somewhere beyond Tiflis, Ascelinus was received by the Mongol general Baiju, commander in Caucasia, whom he strongly antagonized, and whose reply to the pope's letter he brought back to Lyons. Another mission, under the French Dominican Andrew of Longjumeau, traveling through Syria, met near Tabriz a Mongol army commanded by a man whose uncle had taken part in the Hungarian campaign. Andrew also met there a familiar of the Great Khan Ogedei, the Nestorian churchman Simeon, better known as Rabban Ata, who had been sent to Armenia sometime between 1235 and 1240. A man of high reputation, he exerted his influence in favor of the Christians living under Mongol domination.

Interesting and important though they may be, the missions entrusted to Ascelinus and Andrew of Longjumeau are overshadowed by that undertaken by the already oft-mentioned John of Plano Carpini.40 One striking feature of his enterprise is the itinerary he had decided to follow. The former two made Syria their starting point, while Carpini chose to travel through Poland and Russia, i.e. on the road of the Mongol invasion of Hungary, the route Julianus had taken on his return journey. There is also evidence that Plano Carpini, on his way back to Lyon called on the king of Hungary.41 As mentioned earlier, communication between the Mongols and Europe flowed through two channels: Outremer via the Mediterranean, and Eastern Europe via Hungary. The latter was the more convenient way to reach the seats of Mongol power, Batu in the west and the great khan in Mongolia. Carpini was to meet both, first Batu, nomadizing near the lower reaches of the Volga a man - so the friar reported - kind to his own people but very shrewd in warfare "for he has been fighting for many years";42 then, after his enthronement, Guyuk himself. Carpini thought him to be between forty and forty-five years old, though he was at least some ten years younger, a man of medium height, "very intelligent and extremely shrewd, and most serious and grave in his manner."43

The Mongol letters brought to the pope by Ascelinus and Plano Carpini made depressing reading: the Mongols demanded total submission, and even a friendly message sent by the aforementioned Rabban Ata urged the pope to make peace with the Mongols, "against whose power the whole Christian world cannot resist."44 The prodigious mass of information brought back by Carpini confirmed the bleak impression to be gained from the letters. In fact the friar brought the alarming news that the new great khan Guyuk, supposedly favorable to Christians, was preparing an all-out attack against all Christian nations and kingdoms of the West. Fate willed it otherwise. Guyuk's reign was extremely short, he died in the spring of 1248, less than two years after his accession. His widow Oghul Qaimish - who for a short time kept secret the death of her husband - continued to administer affairs, though much of her time was spent in the company of shamans, on whose advice she apparently relied. She endeavored to ensure the succession of Siremun, who had been ousted by his uncle Guyuk. Theoretically, rule over the Mongols should have devolved on one of Guyuk's sons, an idea which did not appeal to Batu, whose relationship with Guyuk had remained strained since the memorable banquet already referred to, nor had he any sympathy for Oghul Qaimish. Sometime in 1250 she received Andrew of Longjumeau, then on his second mission to the Mongols. On this occasion Andrew represented Louis IX, king of France, who had taken upon himself to continue the endeavors initiated by Innocent IV The attempt ended in utter failure: Oghul Qaimish presented the French embassy to her subjects as one suing for mercy, and her reply to Louis IX was couched in terms as intransigent and peremptory as had been those of her late husband. Oghul Qaimish had to contend not only with Batu's hostility, but also with the lady Sorquqtani Beki - the widow of Tolui, Guyuk's uncle - a Christian, and in Rashid al-Din's words "the most intelligent woman in the world."45 She had set her mind on having her son Mongke elected ruler of the Mongols, and sent him to Batu so that he might secure for himself the goodwill of this most influential man. Batu's endorsement obtained, Sorquqtani Beki intensified her efforts on her son's behalf. Opposition came from those loyalists who felt that one of Guyuk's sons should become the ruler, and should not accept Batu's main argument that they were too young to govern the huge empire. Those opposed to Mongke's election thought of preventing it by the simple device of abstention. But les absents ont toujours tort. At the insistence of Berke - Batu's younger brother and his trusted adviser in Mongolia - the old king-maker sent the message: "Set him (Mongke) on the throne". So those present at the quriltay elected Mongke, and Oghul Qaimish, whom (in a letter to Louis IX) he described as "more vile than a dog," was ????uted.46

The letter containing this remark was carried by the Franciscan William of Rubruck, often, and incorrectly, referred to as an ambassador of Louis IX. In fact the friar, fired by missionary zeal, had journeyed to the Mongols on his own account. He left Palestine early in 1253, crossed the Black Sea, traveled to Mongolia on the "northern route" used also by Plano Carpini. On December 27, 1253, he reached the court of Mongke, where he remained until early July of the following year. On his return he brought with him the Great Khan's letter addressed to the king of France, a document in which the Mongol claim to world-domination was reiterated.

In his truly remarkable conversations with the friar,47 Mongke emphasized the importance of Batu and compared their relationship to each other to that of two eyes in one head. Obviously, he fully trusted the man to whom he owed his throne, and was satisfied with the status quo in the Golden Horde, as Batu's dominion later - for reasons not quite clear - came to be called.48 His plans concerned mainly two regions, called technically "in rebellion," where the situation was less favorable for the Mongols. M6ngke concentrated his own efforts on intensifying the war against Sung China, aided in his efforts by his brother Khubilai. His second principal endeavor was directed against Persia and he entrusted his other brother Hulegu with the task of re-asserting Mongol power in a region once conquered by Chinggis but where Mongol hold had since much weakened. The commanders in Transcaucasia, Chormaghan, and later Baiju, were concerned mainly with the Caucasus, Upper Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, where - since the battle of Kose Dagh fought in 1243, the Saljuk sultanate of Anatolia was a vassal of the Mongols. The re-affirmation of Mongol rule in Iran caused no great trouble to Hulegu. Just as that of Hungary had been, the invasion led by Hifegil was a masterpiece of strategic planning and led to the annihilation of the Isma'ilis and, on February 10, 1258, to the capture of Baghdad and the murder of the last Abbasid caliph. Hulegu then established his permanent rule over the Middle East. Though closely linked with his brothers - two successive great khans - he was the first of a series of rulers called the il-khans to rule over Iran (1256-1265). All this is well known but I thought it might be useful to recall here the principal events.

Batu died in 1256. His son Sartak, probably a Nestorian, was in Mongolia when the news of his father's death was received, and he was then and there invested by Mongke with Batu's dominion. However, he died on his way back to the Kipchak steppe, and his son (or brother) Ulagchi followed him to the grave almost at once. Into his place stepped Batu's brother Berke (1257-1267).