Explanation: To the Mongols, numerous taboos were associated with the body and death. Most societies develop some form of death taboo which are sustained in part because of hygiene concerns, but the Mongols regarded blood, and especially spilling blood on the earth, to be ritually unclean.
To spare noble enemies - Mongol or foreigner - the ‘indignity’ of being killed in such a ‘filthy’ way, like hunted animals or soldiers on the battlefield, the Mongols would offer an ‘honor’ to such persons: to be killed without shedding their blood on the ground.
“Oh, some glamorous, fancy way like the Ottoman Turks strangling people with silk?”
No, they rolled you up in a fucking carpet and had you trampled to death.
YOUR MERCY IS GREAT, O KHAN, AND YOUR CARPET IS OF AN ACCEPTABLE QUALITY FOR ITS PRICE!
I remember hearing Dan Carlin in hardcore history tell a particularly gruesome Mongol story about Noble killings. The Mongols captured a large number of enemies, so they tied the lot up, laid them down on the ground, and then set up a large tent/yurt over the Nobles. It supposedly even had a wooden floor too. Then they proceeded to have a massive party, filled with drinking and dancing, on top of the prisoners, who were slowly crushed to death.
Ah, yes, if memory serves that was after defeating the Slavic princes and city-states on what was basically a probing expedition.
What a noble death! What a way to go! What a-…
… actually, I’ve decided I’d rather be a peasant.
