Mongol Camps and Household Space

When Temüjin was proclaimed Genghis Khan in 1206, the Mongol Empire began expanding across steppe and settled lands. Franciscan envoys John of Pian de Carpine and William of Rubruck left accounts of Mongol courts in 1246 and 1253–55. Carpine attended Güyük’s court assembly; Rubruck visited Batu’s and Möngke’s courts and described pastoral households, dwellings and carts.

Rubruck’s 1253–55 account describes a round felt dwelling that could be taken apart and moved. Its location still depended on pasture, water, weather, animals and the labour to transport it. Court camps added ranked family establishments and large stores of equipment to this mobile way of life.

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Choosing a camp and moving with pasture

Pastoral households moved with the herds that supplied food, milk, wool, hides, and transport. Rubruck wrote that each Mongol captain knew the boundaries of his pasture and where his group should graze in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In his account, herders moved south toward warmer areas in winter and north toward cooler grasslands in summer. Where winter pasture lacked streams, snow could supply drinking water for animals.

Those seasonal choices set the work of a camp. People needed a place where animals could feed and reach water, then had to take down shelter and household property when it was time to move. A dwelling’s portability mattered because herding depended on moving people, animals, bedding, tools, and containers together. The camp’s location shifted with the seasons, and its layout had to be made again as a household moved.

Wooden frames and felt coverings

Rubruck describes a circular wooden frame made from interlaced sticks that rise toward a small hoop at the roof opening. A raised collar around that opening functioned like a chimney. Herders covered the frame with white felt, a dense textile made from animal wool, and could decorate the felt around the roof and entrance with coloured designs. The frame gave the dwelling its shape; the covering enclosed it and could be carried separately when camp moved.

Some dwellings travelled on carts. Rubruck measured a cart’s wheel tracks at about twenty feet and said a house mounted on it projected at least five feet beyond each side. He counted twenty-two oxen pulling one such structure. The scale of this house-cart shows the resources a wealthy household or court could concentrate in transport. A smaller shelter could be taken down, loaded, and erected again without carrying a whole house on wheels.

A dated modern comparison comes from UNESCO’s 2013 inscription of Mongolian ger craft: it describes a ger, the Mongolian word for home, as a wooden frame with felt and canvas covers and animal-hair ropes, made and assembled through household or communal work.

Carts as storage and household equipment

Households also carried belongings in covered wagons. Rubruck describes light twig frames shaped like large chests, covered in black felt treated with tallow or ewe’s milk to keep out rain. Families packed bedding and valuables inside, secured the chests high on carts drawn by camels, and kept them on the carts between camps. The containers could cross rivers without soaking their contents, and a household could keep its sleeping gear ready without unloading everything at every stop.

When the carts travelled together, they formed a moving train. On open ground, Rubruck says, one driver could lead a line of twenty or thirty carts. At a rough stretch, the travellers untied them and took the carts across one by one. The system saved repeated loading on easy terrain, while the linked vehicles had to be separated wherever the ground made a train difficult to handle.

Rank and space in a ruler’s camp

The court camp Rubruck knew belonged to Batu, a powerful ruler in the western part of the empire. He describes separate large dwellings for Batu’s wives, placed from west to east according to rank, with smaller structures behind them where sewing workers lived. Each household had its own carts and attendants. Rubruck’s estimates of hundreds of carts reveal the scale of Batu’s resources, not the usual size of a pastoral family.

Space also organised access and authority. In the dwelling Rubruck describes, the entrance faced south and the household head’s couch stood to the north. From his north couch, the householder faced south: women occupied his left, the east side, and men his right, the west side. At Batu’s court, visitors were admitted by invitation and seated according to their standing. Carpine’s account of Batu’s court describes envoys camping apart from the ruler’s tent and entering by invitation. The tent was both a home and a place where a ruler received people and conducted business.

Furnishings, food and household work

Couches, bedding, containers and clothing filled the dwelling and travelled with the household. Vessels and bags also held provisions and drink; hides could be made into storage containers. Families stored or processed food and drink alongside bedding, clothing and tools in containers that moved with them.

Rubruck assigned different recurring tasks to men and women in the households he observed. He describes women driving carts, putting dwellings on and off them, milking cows, making butter and dried curds, preparing hides, sewing clothing and making felt coverings. He describes men making bows, arrows, saddles, stirrups and bridles, repairing wooden dwelling frames and carts, tending horses and camels, and loading the animals. He also notes that both women and men cared for sheep and goats. These tasks show how shelter and movement depended on skilled work across a household.

Fire, smoke and warmth

A central fire warmed the dwelling and cooked food. During a 1254 audience with Möngke, Rubruck saw a fire burning briars, wormwood roots and cattle dung in a grate at the centre of the ruler’s house. Fuel depended on what the camp could gather or bring. The roof collar served as a chimney opening, while felt coverings, clothing and bedding helped people manage cold.

Rubruck’s own stay also shows the practical effect of fire and shelter size. His small hut was so cramped that, once the fire was lit, he could neither stand nor open his books. A larger dwelling gave him enough space for both activities. The episode connects the dimensions of a shelter with daily use: room for people, belongings and an open fire mattered as much as the fact that the structure could move.

Mobile courts and settled communities

The imperial household travelled with tents and equipment suited to its needs. Rubruck reports that Möngke left large structures behind when he set out with lighter tents in 1254. The ruler could change the scale of his traveling establishment while attendants and animals moved the supplies.

Across conquered farming districts and towns, residents continued living in houses built from local materials and plans under Mongol administration.