year of the Ox, 6th day of the first summer month = 1289 (May), Köndelen
Ilkhan
Arγun
Addressee
Philip IV the Fair, King of France
Type
letter
Script and language
Uyghur script, Mongolian; a red square seal impressed three times (the same as on the decree of Abaqa and the letter of 1290)
Material
paper scroll (“papier de coton” / “papier dit de Corée”), 1.82–1.83 × 0.25 m (Ligeti: 183 × 25 cm); 34 lines; seal c. 15 cm
Kept
Paris, Archives nationales, J. 937
Discovery and first edition
found by Abel-Rémusat in the Royal Archive; report of 6 Sept. 1822; first edition (lithographic copy) — Abel-Rémusat 1824; translation — I. J. Schmidt 1824; photographic facsimile — R. Bonaparte 1895, pl. XIV
Reply to Philip's offer, conveyed by Rabban Bar Sauma, to march when the Ilkhan attacks Egypt. Arghun announces that he will set out in the last winter month of the tiger year and be before Damascus on the 15th of the first spring month; if Jerusalem is taken with the king's help he will give it to the Franks. He urges the king not to be late; the letter is sent with Muskaril (Buscarello de Ghisolfi).
Клюкин И.А. (1925). О чём писал иль-хан Аргун Филиппу Красивому в 1289 г. (К разбору древнейших памятников монгольской письменности). Труды Гос. Дальневосточного ун-та, Вост. фак., Владивосток
Source of the data: Mostaert & Cleaves 1962: 1–2 (history of the find), 9–10 (description, J. 937), 17–54, pl. I–VI; Ligeti 1972: 245–247; Kotwicz 1925; Haenisch 1949: 220–229