Death by Carpet October 19, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval , trackback
Beach has been worrying for a while about the death of the last Abbasid Caliph in February 1258. The man in question, al-Musta’sim-Billah Abu-Ahmad Abdullah bin al-Mustansir-Billah had had the misfortune, fifteen years into his reign, to be confronted with a massive Mongol invasion under Hulegu. Al-Musta’sim-Billah was not a particularly martial sort and surrendered relatively quickly: he may have been trying to escape when captured. His surrender, though, was not quick enough for the Mongols, and Hulegu ordered an unusual form of death for his royal rival.
Musta’sim-Billah and some male members of his family were rolled up in Persian rugs, or, according to another source, were placed in felt sacks and then trampled and kicked to death by Mongol horsemen. There are worse deaths certainly, but there are a couple of score better deaths and it is difficult not to sympathize with Al-Musta’sim-Billah as he waited in the dark wondering what these Steppe savages had in store for him. By then he had seen the beginning of the sack of Baghdad so he cannot have had that many illusions. No cool hands were going to reach into the rolled carpet and give the doomed man a foot massage.
Various modern sources claim that this unusual death was given with respect to Mongol rules of pollution: namely the idea that noble blood should not be spilt on the ground. Was this just a curious Mongol custom handed-down from time immemorial or was it part of the Yassa: the laws of the Steppes? Beach has come, again, to some references to death by carpet being frequently used: but he has had little luck in finding examples; the historians in question, like this blog, are largely unreferenced. Nayan, a Steppe rebel, was, in 1287 put in a carpet and forced to suffocate there: not quite the same thing, but apparently the logic was the same.
Can anyone help: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
