 Contact between Europeans and Mongols began around 1220 , with occasional messages from the papacy and European monarchs to Mongol leaders such as the Great Khan , and subsequently to the Ilkhans in Mongol @-@ conquered Iran . Communications tended to follow a recurring pattern : the Europeans asked the Mongols to convert to Western Christianity , while the Mongols responded with demands for submission and tribute . The Mongols had already conquered many Christian and Muslim nations in their advance across Asia , and after destroying the Muslim Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties , for the next few generations fought the remaining Islamic power in the region , the Egyptian Mamluks . Hethum I , king of the Christian nation of Cilician Armenia , had submitted to the Mongols in 1247 , and strongly encouraged other monarchs to engage in a Christian @-@ Mongol alliance , but was only able to persuade his son @-@ in @-@ law , Prince Bohemond VI of the Crusader State of Antioch , who submitted in 1260 . Other Christian leaders such as the Crusaders of Acre were more mistrustful of the Mongols , perceiving them as the most significant threat in the region . The Barons of Acre therefore engaged in an unusual passive alliance with the Muslim Mamluks , allowing Egyptian forces to advance unopposed through Crusader territory to engage and defeat the Mongols at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 . 
