ABSTRACT
Though situated at the western extremity of the Mongol Empire, the Islamic core territories produced some of the most detailed information on their nomadic conquerors. The fact that Persian served as one of the chief literary and administrative languages of the Mongol Empire, as well as commerce, further ensured that Iranian writers were well-informed regarding the inner workings of the Chinggisid khanates. Rashid al-Din’s history was built upon close collaboration with the Mongol rulers, which reveals how important relationships of power and patronage were in shaping opinions of the Mongols. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Persianate world had little knowledge of the Mongols, let alone their homeland in Eastern Inner Asia. Islam was the primary filter used by the Persian sources to interpret the Mongol conquest.
