Colleen Ho

Office Hours for Writing 2, S'12
Mon 12-1, Tues 12-1

Medieval History

Ph.D. candidate
B.A., UC Berkeley, M.A. UC Santa Barbara

Office: HSSB 3228
Hours:

Advisor: Carol Lansing

As the Mongols left their native steppes in Central and East Asia in the early decades of the 13th century, they conquered with incredible speed and ferocity. Beginning with Pope Innocent IV in the late 1230s, the papacy began sending diplomatic missions, composed primarily of mendicant monks, to the Il-Khanate of Persia, the Great Khanate at Karakorum, and the Yuan capital at Beijing. The papacy and several secular kings also received missions from the Il-Khanate in the late 13th century. (more...)

I study how medieval Europeans viewed and understood the Mongols, who played a greater role in European understandings of the 'other' than previously thought. Mendicant sermons reference the Mongols, Mongol-produced textiles were prized markers of wealth, and Mongol figures appear in several notable paintings. I am also interested in papal motivations for commissioning such envoys and European-Mongol interactions at the Mongol capital.