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Michael Hope

Yonsei University · Social Sciences

About the Lab

Professor Michael Hope's research lab specializes in the political, social, and legal history of the Mongol Empire and its successor states, particularly the Ilkhanate (1258–1335). The lab explores the evolution of political authority, the interplay between Mongol and Islamic traditions, and the transformation of power structures from patrimonial rule to quasi-feudal aristocracy. Central themes include legitimacy, law (especially Jasaq), revenge as a political tool, and the role of military elites and religious authorities in shaping governance.

Ilkhanatepolitical legitimacyMongol lawmilitary aristocracyChinggisid tradition

Research Overview

Papers
24
Total Citations
111
Papers (5y)
11
Primary Field
Social Sciences

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
11total
2021
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
7total
20212023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
book|70 citations·2016
Power, Politics, and Tradition in the Mongol Empire and the Ilkhanate of Iran
Michael Hope
Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract This study provides a new interpretation of how political authority was conceived and transmitted in the Early Mongol Empire (1227–59) and its successor state in Iran, the Īlkhānate (1258–1335). Authority within the Mongol Empire was intimately tied to the character of its founder, Chinggis Khan, whose reign served as an idealized model for the exercise of legitimate authority amongst his political successors. After Chinggis Khan's death in 1227 two distinct political traditions emerged

AnthropologySocial Sciences
2
Article|16 citations·2017
‘The Pillars of State:’ Some Notes on the Qarachu Begs and the Kešikten in the Īl-Khānate (1256-1335)
Michael Hope
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland

Abstract By the beginning of the fourteenth century the court histories of the Īl-Khānate had begun to lament that ‘ qarachu ’ (non-royal) commanders dominated the realm. The same histories report that these qarachu were drawn from the families of the khans’ royal guardsmen ( kešik ). The fact that these kešik families had come to eclipse, and in some cases threaten, the power of their Chinggisid patrons suggests a much broader transformation of the Īl-Khān polity from the patrimonial government

AnthropologySocial Sciences
3
Article|9 citations·1908
PERSISTENT HEREDITARY OEDEMA OF THE LEGS WITH ACUTE EXACERBATIONS. MILROY'S DISEASE
Michael Hope, HERBERT FRENCH
SJR Q3QJM

W. B. HOPE, M.R.C.S. (ENG.), L.R.C.P (LOND.), HERBERT FRENCH, M.D. (OXON.), F.R.C.P. (LOND.); PERSISTENT HEREDITARY OEDEMA OF THE LEGS WITH ACUTE EXACERBAT

NeurologyNeuroscience
4
Article|6 citations·2015
The “Nawrūz King”: the rebellion of Amir Nawrūz in Khurasan (688–694/1289–94) and its implications for the Ilkhan polity at the end of the thirteenth century
Michael Hope
SJR Q1Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

Abstract In 688/1289 Nawrūz Aqa, a leading Mongol magnate, began a rebellion in Khurasan to resist the Ilkhan Arghun's attempts to centralize power and loosen the Mongol aristocracy's grip on provincial government. The rebellion of Nawrūz was significantly different from any Mongol uprising that had occurred in the Ilkhanate to that date: it was distinguished by the successful fusion of Chinggisid and Islamic traditions of political and spiritual authority to support Nawrūz's challenge against t

AnthropologySocial Sciences
5
Article|3 citations·2021
The Political Configuration of Late Ilkhanid Iran: A Case Study of the Chubanid Amirate (738–758/1337–1357)
Michael Hope
SJR Q2Iran

The disintegration of the Ilkhanate following the death of its last effective ruler, Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (d. 736/1335), precipitated the emergence of a number of regional dynasties, not least of all the Chubanids who claimed the former Mongolian core territories of Azerbaijan and Mughan in north-western Iran. Between 738/1337 and 758/1357, the Chubanids worked strenuously to reconstitute the Ilkhanid dispensation under their control. This period, which has so far been largely ignored by histo

AnthropologySocial Sciences
6
Article|2 citations·2016
Some Notes on Revenge and Justice in the Mongol Empire and the Īl-Khānate of Iran
Michael Hope
SJR Q2Journal of the American Oriental Society

This reflection on the social and political role of revenge in the Mongol empire, with a focus on the Īl-Khānate (1258–1335), uses revenge as a means of analyzing the relationship between the khān, his commanders, local officials, the ulema, and the subject population of the Īl-Khānate. It documents the limitations on royal authority and begins a new conversation about the way that juridical power was conceived and practiced in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This study will contri

AnthropologySocial Sciences
7
Article|2 citations·2024
The Tamma of Azerbaijan in Regional and Imperial Contexts (1228–1261)
Michael Hope
SJR Q2Iran and the Caucasus

Abstract Research on the Mongol conquest of Iran and the Transcaucasus has focused most heavily on the campaigns of Chinggis Khan and his nephew Hülegü, in 1219–1224 and 1256–1260 respectively. Significantly less attention has been given to the nearly four decades that separate these two invasions, during which Mongol control was consolidated by a tamma (garrison) army numbering roughly 30,000 soldiers. This garrison occupied a liminal position on the frontier of the Mongol empire, linking the g

AnthropologySocial Sciences
8
reference-entry|1 citations·2019
Bukhara under the Mongols
Michael Hope
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History

Abstract In Muharram ah 617/March 1220 ce Chinggis Khan led his armies to Bukhara as part of a larger campaign against the Khwārazmshāh Empire (616–621/1220–1225). The city quickly surrendered and was rapidly integrated into the growing Mongol Empire. In the subsequent decades, Bukhara enjoyed a speedy recovery under the stewardship of a series of Mongol officials, who patronized religious institutions, repaired the damage caused by the invasion, and mitigated some of the excesses of the Mongol

AnthropologySocial Sciences
9
Article|1 citations·2023
Rumors, Sedition and Personal Relationships: The Parwānah’s Conspiracy and Mongol Rule in Seljuk Anatolia (ad 1255–1277)
Michael Hope
SJR Q2Journal of Near Eastern Studies
AnthropologySocial Sciences
10
Article|1 citations·2021
Making Mongol History: Rashid al-Din and the Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh
Michael Hope
SJR Q1Journal of Islamic Studies

The Mongol Empire presents historians with a number of fascinating candidates for biographical research. There are numerous monographs on the life and career of Chinggis Khān, followed closely by his illustrious grandson Qubilai, yet there is no parallel biographical tradition for the Mongol successor state in the West, the Ilkhanate (1258–1335). Indeed, when we search for the figure who exerted the most influence over the history of the Ilkhanate, it is clear that none of the khans or their com

AnthropologySocial Sciences
11
Article|0 citations·2021
Women in the Social, Political and Economic History of the Mongol Empire
Michael Hope
SJR Q2The English Historical Review

The prominent role played by individual women in the political history of the Mongol Empire (1206–1388) has long garnered attention. Mongol queens (khatuns) in particular controlled vast herds and flocks, servants and slaves, as well as armies and the revenues necessary to support them. Medieval visitors to the Mongol Empire, such as Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo, remarked with astonishment on the ostentatious way that these women displayed their wealth and power at the khan’s itinerant court (ordu

AnthropologySocial Sciences
12
Article|0 citations·2026
Denise Aigle, Saints hommes de Chiraz et du Fārs : Pouvoir, société et lieux de sacralité (xe-xve s.)
Michael Hope
Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques
HistoryArts and Humanities
13
Article|0 citations·2019
A Short History of the Mongols. By George Lane. London: I. B. Tauris, 2018. xx, 236 pp. ISBN: 9781780766065 (paper).
Michael Hope
SJR Q1The Journal of Asian Studies

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

AnthropologySocial Sciences
14
Article|0 citations·2021
Andrew C. S. Peacock. Islam, Literature and Society in Mongol Anatolia.
Michael Hope
SJR Q1The American Historical Review

It hardly bears saying that the history of Islamization is a topic as complex as the civilizations it touched, stretching historians to employ a wide array of innovative approaches to tease information out of an equally diverse body of source material. Andrew Peacock’s most recent book, Islam, Literature and Society in Mongol Anatolia, contributes greatly to the tools and methodology available to historians working in this field and will no doubt serve as a template for future research. His expo

History and Philosophy of ScienceArts and Humanities
15
Book Chapter|0 citations·2016
Amīrate or Sultanate?
Michael Hope
Oxford University Press eBooks
ArcheologyArts and Humanities

Research Areas

AnthropologyPolitical Science and International RelationsNeurologyHistory and Philosophy of ScienceHistoryClassics

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