HAYTON, Prince of Corycus.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Liber historiarum partium orientis, sive passagium terrae sanctae, Haythono, Ordinis Praemonstratensis, authore, scriptuis anno Redemptoris nostri M. CCC. First edition in Latin of this account of Asia and the Middle East, which informed European understanding of the Mongols for several hundred years. Prince Hayton, an exiled member of the Armenian royal family, dictated his account in 1307 to convince Pope Clement V to launch a new crusade.Born around 1240, Hayton arrived at the papal court in Poitiers in 1306, having lost a power struggle in the Armenian court and hoping to enlist Clement's support. His account, written down in French by one Nicolas Faulcon of Toul and quickly translated into Latin, is divided into four books. "Book I is a geographical survey of fourteen countries of the Far East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and parts of the Near East. Book II is a brief account of Muslim military history, including the rise of the Saljuqs and Khwarazmians. Book III, the longest, describes the early history of the Mongols, information on the Great Khans, the Il-Khans of Iran, and Mongol warfare in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus to ca. 1304. Book IV contains Het'um's suggestions to Pope Clement V (1305-14) on initiating a crusade to retake Jerusalem and parts of Cilician Armenia, Lebanon and Syria from Muslim powers, using the combined forces of the Europeans, Cilician Armenians and Mongols" (Bedrosian). His knowledge likely derived from Armenia's

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