Here's a site to start with: http://www.worldhistoryplus.com/m/mongolEmpire.html
Now for a little excerpt: "After Guyuk's death, Batu sent Berke, who maneuvered with Tolui's widow, and in the next kuriltai (1253), the Ogodite line was passed over for Mongka, Tolui's son, who was said to be favourable to Nestorian Christianity. The Ogodites did not immediately go into opposition but they retained their Mongolian domains.
Chaghatai died shortly after Ogodai. The Chaghataites, who had previously accepted Guyuk, consented to the succession to Mongka with some reluctance, but on the whole the fraternal Mongol Empire did not disgregate. Mongka had two brothers who were brilliant warlords: Kublai and Hulagu. In the west, Baghdad and Iraq were subjected to Mongol rule in 1256-1258 by Hulagu (Ilkhanid Persia). A secessionist attempt by Baghdad was crushed and the last Abbasid caliph, al Mustasim, was rolled into rugs and trampled to death by horses. The Egyptian Mameluke Sultanate under Baybars contained the Mongol onslaught at Ain Jalut, Syria, in 1260."
I know that doesn't cover it all, but among the Mongolian leadership elite it was commonly the practice for any children to be raised in the religion of the mother!
Today's Mongols in Mongolia may well be predominantly Buddhist, but most of the Mongols back in the 1000-1400 period MOVED OUT OF THAT GODFORSAKEN MISERABLE PLACE and their descendants live all over the Eurasia in many nations.
Remember, these were the first truly modern people and didn't let the little stuff like religion get in the way of tax collection, good communications, a fulfilling sex life, and cheap wine.
But where, FRiend, does any of that say that the Mongols were ever predominately anything but Buddhist? I am no proffessor, but I do know chinese, Tibetan and Mongol history at least at a well-studied amateur level. They got their Buddhism from Tibet and always liked the Tibetan people. Their Buddhism was, like that of the Tibetans, always tainted with a liberal dose of their old animism and shamanism, but they were and are Buddhist, of a sort. They always identified themselves that way after their first alliance with Tibet.
But this brings up an interesting point. If you consider the clasic texts of Buddhism, the Mongols were wrong in bahaving as they most often did. But, if you consider the classic texts of Islam, the Muslims are clearly right in their present day drive to crush all of human civilization nder the bloodthirsty, misogynistic heel of Islam.
It's all in the book, just as it was in Mein Kampf, but some things are so frightening that certain people would rather close their eyes and pretend until the simitar hisses down to close them permanently.
BUMP for Nestorian Christians !