The Mongol Wrestler Princess: The Story of Qutulun - Medievalists.net Discover the extraordinary life of Qutulun, the Mongol princess who never lost a wrestling match. Explore how this undefeated warrior and daughter of Qaidu Khan shaped politics, warfare, and legend…

The Mongol Wrestler Princess: The Story of Qutulun www.medievalists.net/2025/10/mong... #Mongols

Seen on Twitter

Clothing and Hair of Medieval Mongolian Women - Medievalists.net How did medieval Mongolian women wear their hair and dress at court? This feature explores braids, shaving customs, and the iconic boqta headdress across Yuan and Ilkhanid art, travellers’ accounts,…

Clothing and Hair of Medieval Mongolian Women, by @jackmeistermongols.bsky.social www.medievalists.net/2026/01/clot... #history #mongols #medievalwomen

Clothing and Hair of Medieval Mongolian Women - Medievalists.net How did medieval Mongolian women wear their hair and dress at court? This feature explores braids, shaving customs, and the iconic boqta headdress across Yuan and Ilkhanid art, travellers’ accounts, a...

www.medievalists.net/2026/01/clot...

A new article by me on @medievalists.bsky.social on the clothing and hair of (mostly upper class) medieval Mongolian women of the empire-era has now been posted. A link to it will be in the comments below.

The Day Europe Almost Fell (1241-1242) - Kings and Generals DOCUMENTARY YouTube video by Kings and Generals

...while summarising as much recent scholarship on the subject as we could. It's most detailed video on the great invasion ever assembled. youtu.be/pnB4K_xDJTA?...

Very pleased to announce the release of our full-scale documentary on the Mongol Invasion of Europe in 1241 with Kings & Generals. Our largest project yet, it was filmed on location in Hungary with the assistance of a number of archaeologists and historians...

Archaeologists have unearthed a Bronze Age metropolis in the heart of the Eurasian steppe: an early form of city as complex as those of contemporary, more traditionally 'urban' civilisations, showing how steppe polities were just as sophisticated.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

Seljuq Bowl, Washington Freer Gallery of art https://asia-archive.si.edu/object/F1938.12/

5/ ...and have given her a ‘lotus flower diadem,’ which commonly adorns the heads of upper-class women in the art of the Seljūqs and their successor states before the Mongol conquest.

4/ The scene here depicts f.23/22a. The lady Gulšāh is disguised as a man, and in this scene with her lance kills her lover’s rival, Rabī‘ ibn ‘Adnān. Yet the artists still wished to mark it clear she was a woman...

f.20a " The contemplation of Gulshāh, the fight between Warqah and Rabī’, a rabbit between the feet of Rabī’'s horse; behind him, a bird; behind Gulshāh three birds at various positions; background without colour" https://warfare.6te.net/Turk/20-Varka_wa_Gulshah.htm

3/ ...Baḥrī Mamlūks), designs that don’t show yet the influence of the advent of Mongols. Thus, even though the characters are in origin Arabic, and the poem written by a Persian, the visual culture we see here is one associated with the Seljūq Turks.

2/ ...in Konya in the Seljūq Sultanate of Rūm. With 71 illustrations, the MS (Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Hazine 841) was an expensive production, and an excellent resource for equipment and clothing of the late-Seljūqs (importance influence on the Ayyūbids, Khẉārezmšāhs and...

1/ A depiction of this scene from the famous Warqa wa Gulšāh manuscript. A romance written by the 11th century Persian poet ʿAyyūqī, it tells the story of a pair of doomed lovers, Warqa and the lady Gulšāh. The manuscript above is dated to the 13th century, and likely produced...

Had a very nice chat with Maggie Freeman of the New Books Network's "Nomads Past and Present" series about my book, music, and the environment in Mongolia:
newbooksnetwork.com/a-song-for-t...

Our summer 2025 volume has been published open access at doi.org/10.1553/medi...

An Alternative Explanation for the ‘Second Mongol Invasion of Hungary, 1285’: Moving Away from the Domination of Noqai The first Mongol invasion of Europe and the destructive campaigns across Hungary and Poland in 1241–1242 are thoroughly documented events. While searching for the causes of the withdrawal of Mongol ar...

www.academia.edu/144543534/An...

New paper by me with some opinions on the origins of the Second Mongol Invasion of Hungary, 1285. Link in the comments below!

- I can’t believe I was hacked.

- What was your password?

- The year the Mongol Empire, with the help of the Southern Song dynasty, completed its conquest of the Jin dynasty after the final Jin stronghold of Caizhou fell.

- And when was that?

- 1234

New article of mine with @medievalists.bsky.social
on the most famous Mongolian wrestler princess

Listening this morning (and this afternoon) to @fallofcivilizations.com podcast on the Mongols with our Jack Wilson as historical consultant!

@jackmeistermongols.bsky.social

Nonetheless, if you didn't know any better it would all sound convincing enough. It also made up podcast appearances I did and reviews of my work by Peter Jackson and others. All nonsense.

Was curious to see if Grok, the Twitter AI monster, could tell me what articles I have published. It gave me this; none of these are real, and two of them at best sound similar to things I have published (but are still wrong in name or details).

Just seeing this now, haven't been on Blue Sky for a few days. Not sure what to make of it but doubt it's a crossbow; see how the string runs in between the frame, which would not work well for any projectile. Unlikely to be a weapon, but not sure what it is

Article of mine on the Secret History of the Mongols, its content and history
#mongolempire #mongolsky #tengri

In this dynamic large-format painting, Bahram Gur plunges his sword into the breast of a dragon. Iranian painting during the Mongol period borrowed stylistic and spatial elements from Chinese models, such as the rock formations, tree trunk, and dragon. The surging landscape and writhing dragon create a painting of extraordinary vitality and unity. Bahram Gur (ruled ad 420-438) was a popular king from pre-Islamic Sasanian Iran and a great hunter. He took the name "Gur," meaning onager (a wild ass), because it was his preferred game-although he also excelled at killing dragons.

Bahram Gur Slays a Dragon (verso), from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), known as the Great Mongol Shahnama https://clevelandart.org/art/1943.658.b

I put the guy on foot mostly because I didn't feel like drawing the horse.

It's expressed in a few accounts that Jurchen men preferred to wear white (see Jin Shi, juan 43), though I do not believe we have any clear artistic depictions of this in extant artwork from the Jin or Song Dynasties

Jurchen swordsman, based on some Da Jin Dynasty 大金 (1115-1234) armour and weapons. These pieces in the photograph may not have originally gone together as one set, but it was fun to do so anyways, especially this zhanamdao (?) styled sword, and the Hannibal Lector-esque facemask...

Never stop believing

Got reminded of this fun depiction of the battle of 'Ayn Jalut, which depicts the Mamluks as Ancient Egyptians and the Pyramids in the background (the battle was fought north of Jerusalem, not in Egypt!). However, it is no longer on the Wikipedia article for the battle, which is a plus.