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THE .MAKERS OF CHRISTENDOM
General Editor.- CHRISTOPHER DAWSON
THE MONGOL MISSION
THE MAKERS OF CHRISTENDOM
General Editor: CHRISTOPHER DAWSON
The Mongol Mission
NARRATIVES AND LETTERS OF THE FRANCISCAN
MISSIONARIES IN MONGOLIA AND CHINA IN THE
THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES
TRANSLATED BY A NUN
OF STANBROOK ABBEY
EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
CHRISTOPHER DAWSON
SHEED AND WARD
NEW YORK 1955
COPYRIGHT, 1955, BY SHEED AND WARD, INC.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CARD NUMBER 55-109^5
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION vii
BIBLIOGRAPHY xxxvii
EDITOR'S NOTE xxxix
GENEALOGICAL TABLES xl-xli
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS by John of Piano Carpini .
3
Appendix
TWO BULLS OF POPE INNOCENT IV ADDRESSED TO THE
EMPEROR OF THE TARTARS 73
THE NARRATIVE OF BROTHER BENEDICT THE POLE . .
79
Appendix
GUYUK KHAN'S LETTER TO POPE INNOCENT iv (1246) 85
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK ... 89
THE LETTERS OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO, BROTHER
PEREGRINE AND ANDREW OF PERUGIA . . .
224
THE SECOND LETTER OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO .
224
THE THIRD LETTER OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO . 228
THE LETTER OF BROTHER PEREGRINE,, BISHOP OF ZAYTUN .
232
THE LETTER OF ANDREW OF PERUGIA .... 235
INDEX ... 239
MAP ...... inset
INTRODUCTION
THE narratives by John of Piano Carpini and William of Rubruck
of their journeys to Mongolia in the middle of the thirteenth
century differ from the majority of works in this series. The
authors were not canonized saints or beati and their travels were
not missionary journeys in the strict sense, but were more of the
nature of political embassies. Nevertheless they were servants of
Christendom as few men have been. They endured all the hardships
of which St. Paul speaks, in an entirely selfless devotion to
the service of Christendom. They were, moreover, disciples of
St. Francis of the first generation who possessed the genuine
Franciscan spirit of simplicity and poverty and self-abnegation.
But above all they give an absolutely first-hand authentic account
of the first contact between Western Christendom and the Far
East, and this at the moment when the whole oriental world
from Korea to Hungary was being turned upside down and
remade by one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of
the world.
I. THE RELATION OF EUROPE TO ASIA: THE Two EUROPES AND
THE Two ASIAS
To understand these events we must go back a long way in
history. The ancient civilizations were oases in a wilderness of
barbarism. It was only gradually that these oases were connected
with one another by a common culture and became an oecumene,
an orbis terrarum^ a civilized world. The world from which we
came is the orbis terrarum of the Mediterranean lands, which
attained political unification in the Roman Empire in the first
century B.C. At the other end of the old world a similar unity was
constituted by China the Middle Kingdom which attained
political unity much earlier than the West, though later than
viii THE MONGOL MISSION
the Hellenistic world (i.e. in 216 B.C.). Similarly in Southern
Asia a unity of the same kind was formed in India and extended its
influence to the South-East to Cambodia and Java; but this
cultural unity never achieved political unification. Finally between
India and the Roman Empire there was the civilization of Persia
which was in origin the oasis culture of the Iranian plateau but
which tended to expand at the expense of the Indian civilization
in the East and the Roman Hellenistic civilization to the West.
To the north of this chain of oasis civilizations from the Roman
frontiers to the Great Wall of China there stretched for thousands
of miles the outer wilderness
"
like the ocean sea
"
as William of
Rubruck says, which was the domain of the barbarians. Each of
the oasis civilizations had its own barbarian neighbours who
preyed upon it or were dominated by it, until eventually they
became almost domesticated. But at intervals some change would
take place in the depth of the wilderness and a new flood of
barbarism would come sweeping in from the steppes, driving the
half-civilized barbarians before it and piling up against the
defences of the settled civilizations until they broke. Perhaps the
most famous of these cataclysms was the barbarian invasion ofthe
fourth century, when the Huns coming from the outer steppes
drove the Goths before them out of the Russian steppes across
the Danube and thus brought about the downfall of the Roman
Empire. And a similar movement was in process at the same time
in the Far East when the Eastern Huns overran Northern China,
and somewhat later in India when the so-called White Huns
conquered Northern India. Such moments have occurred again
and again throughout the course of history and no civilization has
ever been strong enough to be immune from their effects. After the
Huns came the Avars, and after the Avars the Bulgars, and after
the Bulgars the Magyars, and after the Magyars the Turks. And
while the civilizations are by their nature highly differentiated and
naturally incapable of combining for their material defence, the
peoples of the steppe are relatively undifFerentiated and their
culture changes so little through the centuries that the description
which Ammianus Marcellinus 1
gives of the Huns is almost inter-
1
Ammianus Marcellinus, Book XXXI, ii.
THE MONGOL MISSION ix
changeable with that which Matthew Paris gives of the Mongols
nine hundred years later.
The regular character of these cycles of invasion has suggested
that there is some common factor behind them, and many years
ago the theory was put forward by Professor Ellsworth Huntingdon
and others that they were due to the climatic conditions which
have caused the desiccation of Central Asia, so that if we had the
necessary data it would be possible to establish an exact concordance
between the hygrometric and ethnological change. But
although there is no doubt that the desert has been advancing in
Central Asia and that this exerts a continual pressure on the
peoples of the steppe, it is impossible to make the climatic factor
the exclusive cause of historical change. The evidence seems
rather to suggest that the decisive factors are human ones; on
the one side the weakening of the resistance of the oasis cultures
from political causes, and, on the other, the periodical appearance
among the barbarians of some military leader who could unite the
barbarians in a movement of expansion and conquest. And whenever
such a leader appeared he found an inexhaustible reserve of
military material in the nomad horsemen of the steppes, who were
the finest light cavalry in e world. When such a movement had
started, it grew irresistibly like an avalanche, since, as each new
tribe was conquered, its forces were added to the original nucleus.
Now in almost every case we find that the original starting point of
the movement was in North-Western Mongolia, the land beyond
the steppes. This forms a kind of oasis of barbarian culture, shut
off by the great ranges of the Altai and Khingan Mountains from
the rest of Inner Asia. It was here that all the great nomad empires
of Asia had their centre, from the Huns in the third century B.C.
to the East Turks and the Uighurs in the early Middle Ages and
finally to the Mongols in the thirteenth century. And it is remarkable
that all these four empires had their capitals within a few miles
of one another in the valley of the Upper Orkhon where the
tombs and inscriptions of the early Turkish and Uighur Khans
have been discovered.
Thus the empires of the steppes were never quite as barbarous
as their victims in the civilized world believed. They had their
Xii THE MONGOL MISSION
In spite of the primitive means at his disposal, it is possible
that he succeeded in destroying a larger portion of the human race
than any modern expert in total warfare. Within a dozen years
from the opening of his first campaign against China, the Mongol
armies had reached the Pacific, the Indus and the Black Sea and
had destroyed many of the greatest cities in India. For Europe
especially the shock was overwhelming. For in the thirteenth
century the West had mastered its own barbarians and was now
pushing forward the frontiers of Christendom against Islam, which
was the only enemy that it still feared. Consequently the sudden
appearance of the Mongols was a bolt from the blue. Suddenly,
without the least warning, an army of unknown barbarians
appeared, in the spring of 1222, on the south-eastern borders of
Russia. In the words of a Russian chronicler: "For our sins,
unknown tribes came, none knows who they are or whence they
canxe nor what their language is, nor of what race they are nor
what their faith is God alone knows who they are and whence
they came out." 1
The Russian princes went to the aid of their
barbarian neighbours, the Cumans or Kypchak Turks, and there
was a great battle on the River Kalka in the southern steppe, close
to the Sea of Azov. The Russians and their allies were defeated
and the Prince of Kiev and the other princes who surrendered were
laid under boards and suffocated while the Mongols feasted on
top. "This evil happened on May 3ist, St. Jeremy's day. And the
Tartars turned back from the river Dnieper, and we know not
whence they came, nor where they hid themselves again. God
knows whence He fetched them against us for our sins."2
Nothing more was heard of them for fifteen years. From the
Russian point of view, it was an isolated raid of unknown savages.
They did not know that behind those events there was the organizing
mind of the great Chingis Khan, who had already unified
Central Asia and conquered Northern China and was at that
moment destroying the great Moslem civilization of Eastern Iran,
It was not until after the death of Chingis Khan that Europe
heard of the Mongols again. Then at last in 1236-7 the main
1
The Chronicle of Novgorod, Eng. trans. Camden Society, 1914, p. 64.*
Ibid.* p. 66.
THE MONGOL MISSION Xlil
Mongol armies moved against the West under the command of
Batu and Subutay. In December 1237 the Tartars sent envoys
to Riazan "a woman, a sorceress and two men with her",
demanding from them "one-tenth of everything, of men and
princes and horses of everything one-tenth". 1
And when the
Russian princes refused these terms, they proceeded methodically
to invest and destroy the Russian cities one by one Riazan and
Moscow, Suzdal and Vladimir, Yaroslav and Tver massacring
the inhabitants without distinction of age and sex. In the course of
little more than two months the whole of Central and Northern
Russia to within sixty miles of Novgorod was a shambles.
Again there was a pause for more than two years while the
Mongols secured their hold on the lands between the Volga and
the Dnieper by the systematic slaughter of the inhabitants. When
the Friars travelled through the country a few years later, they
passed in the track of this great killing and found "many skulls
and bones of dead men lying on the ground". From the Dnieper
to the Oxus they travelled through an empty land where the cities
were destroyed and they saw the "bones of dead men lying on the
ground like dung".
2
At last in the winter of 1240-1 the Mongols were ready for their
lart advance against the West. Kiev, the mother of Russian cities,
was taken and destroyed on December 6th, and thence the army
passed onwards to conquer the West. Their right wing passed
through Galicia into Poland and met and defeated the combined
forces of the Poles and the Germans at Legnica (Liegnitz) in Silesia
on April gth, 1241. At the same time the main army under Batu
and Subutay entered Moravia and Hungary and destroyed the
Magyar army at Mohi near Buda on April nth. Hungary was
occupied for more than a year -and devastated as thoroughly as
Southern Russia. A Mongol army even followed the flight of the
King ofHungary into Dalmatia and destroyed Cattaro in the spring
of 1242, while another detachment rode north into Austria as far as
Klosterneuburg. Fortunately for Europe the death of the great
Khan Ugedey in December 1241, and the dissensions between the
1
The Chronicle of Novgorod, Eng. trans. Camden Society, 1914, p. 81.
*
See p. 58 infra.
Xiv THE MONGOL MISSION
Mongol leaders in the West, Batu and Guyuk and Buri, caused the
withdrawal of the Mongol armies, at least as far as Russia, in 1242.
But the Western princes were by now alive to their imminent
peril and from 1242 onwards they began to make belated attempts
to organize measures of defence.
The first news of the peril reached Western Europe from widely
different sources. Perhaps the most unexpected were the envoys
from the Ismailians of Syria better known as the Assassins
who in 1238 brought proposals to the kings of France and England
for a grand alliance of Christians and Moslems against the common
enemies of civilization. But they met with little sympathy. The
attitude of the Westerners before they knew what was coming was
brutally expressed by the Bishop of Winchester to Henry III,
"Let these dogs destroy one another and be utterly exterminated
and then we shall see the universal Catholic Church founded on
their ruins and there will be one fold and one shepherd".
1
Nevertheless, in spite of this arrogance in high places, there was
a widespread feeling of disquiet, for in the same year 1238
Matthew Paris records that there was a glut ofherrings at Yarmouth
owing to the absence of the German fish merchants, who stayed
at home for fear of the Tartars. And during the following years
the news of disaster in the East and the desperate appeals from
Christian rulers such as the Queen of Georgia and the Prince of
Galicia aroused both the Pope and the Emperor to the gravity of
the situation.
2
Unfortunately at this moment Western Christendom
was split in two by the war between Frederick II and the
Papacy. Indeed, in the letter which the Emperor wrote to Henry
II and Louis IX, proposing common action against the Tartars, he
complains that the crusade^ which should have been preached
against the infidel had been turned by the Pope against the Empire
and that the Tartars had been encouraged to attack Christendom
by their knowledge of its divided and defenceless state.
3
As we
have seen, the death of Ugedey Khan in December 1241 and the
rivalry of the Mongol princes distracted their attention from the
1
Matthew Paris, Chron. Maj., iv, 112, 119.
3
MGH, Epist. saec. xiii e regestis P.R. i, 765, 796, 821-3, 826.
3
op. cit.> ii, 2, 102, 105.
THE MONGOL MISSION XV
West to the centre of the Empire. But Batu remained encamped
on the Volga. Christian Russia had become a province of the
Mongol Empire and there was nothing to prevent a further
onslaught on the West as soon as the question of succession had
been decided.
II. THE MISSION OF JOHN OF PLANO CARPINI (1245-7)
This was recognized by the new Pope, Innocent IV, and the
first of the missions described in this volume was despatched by
him in 1245 to avert the threatened danger.
For this purpose he chose two Franciscans, Lawrence of
Portugal and John of Piano Carpini. "Men proved by years of
regular observance and well versed in Holy Scripture, for we
believed that they would be of greater help to you, seeing that
they follow the humility of our Saviour. If we had thought that
ecclesiastical prelates or other powerful men would be more
profitable and more acceptable to you we would have sent them."
Thus Innocent IV concludes the first of the two bulls to the
Emperor of the Tartars, which will be found on pp. 73-6 of this
volume, and it is difficult to say whether his words are an expression
of naive simplicity or statesmanlike imagination. Perhaps
the Mongol princes were no less disconcerted by these barefooted
emissaries of the lord of the Christian world than were the Russian
princes by the sorceress who brought the Tartar ultimatum to
Riazan in 1237. At least we cannot fail to be impressed by the
courage of this disciple of St. Francis who, at the age of sixty-five,
without any knowledge of oriental languages or any resource
except his faith, embarked on this tremendous journey to the heart
of the barbarian world. It is true that John of Piano Carpiru was
familiar with Northern Europe; and his companion, Benedict the
Pole, who joined him at Breslau, had contacts with the Christian
princes of Eastern Europe, Wenceslas of Bohemia, Boleslas of
Silesia, Daniel of Galicia and Vasilko of Volhynia. But the information
that they gave him cannot have been reassuring. As he
writes in his prologue: "We feared that we might be killed by the
Tartars or other people, or imprisoned for life, or afflicted with
Xvi THE MONGOL MISSION
hunger, thirst, cold, heat, injuries and exceeding great trials
almost beyond our powers of endurance all of which with the
exception of death and imprisonment for life fell to our lot in
various ways in a much greater degree than we had conceived
beforehand."
After spending the greater part of the winter in Poland and
Galicia, they set out into the steppe "not knowing whether they
were going to death or life" at the beginning of Lent, 1240, and
immediately fell in with the Tartar outposts, who "came rushing
upon us in a horrible manner, wanting to know what kind of men
we were". But at least they met with no obstruction; the outpost
despatched them to his commander "Corenza", who sent them to
Sartak, who sent them on without delay to his father the great
Batu, the ruler of the Western Ulus who held his camp on the
lower Volga. Even here they remained only a few days, for Batu
decided that they should be sent to the Great Khan Guyuk himself,
in time to be present at the inauguration ceremony at the
Golden Horde. They were forced to ride at top speed with five
or six relays of horses every day, "We were so weak we could
hardly ride. During the whole of that Lent our food had been
nothing but millet with water and salt, and it was the same on other
fast days, and we had nothing to drink except snow melted in a
kettle."
1
And so they continued month after month for thousands
of miles through a desert land without rest or intermission. It
would have been an ordeal for the toughest of horsemen, but for
an elderly clergyman who was extremely fat and in poor health,
it is one of the most remarkable feats of physical endurance
on record.
Travelling through Central Asia north of the Caspian and the
Sea of Aral, they reached the camp of Orda, the elder brother of
Batu, in the region of Lake Ala Kul in Dzungaria, at midsummer,
and after a single day's rest they went on faster than ever, "rising
early and travelling until night without eating anything and often
we came so late to our lodgings that we had not time to eat that
night, but were given in the morning the food we should have
eaten the previous night".
2
Thanks to this relentless haste they
1
See pp. 57-8.
*
See pp. 60-1.
THE MONGOL MISSION
arrived at the camp of Guyuk near Karakorum on July 22nd in
time to be present at the great assembly at which Guyuk was proclaimed
and enthroned as Great Khan. And thus we have a firsthand
record by a Western observer of this historic occasion which
had brought together not only the leaders of the Mongols but the
representatives of all the subject peoples of the Empire from
Russia and Georgia to Manchuria and China.
Although their reception seemed churlish enough to the Friars,
it is clear that their coming was welcome, and that the Mongols
were anxious to establish relations with the great priest who ruled
the Christians ofthe Far West. Their motives, however, are not so
clear and it is possible that John of Piano Carpini was right in
believing that a great campaign was being planned against the
West and that their main object was to prepare the way for a formal
offer of submission. However this may be, the Friars remained
firm in their refusal to take back the Mongol envoys with them and
finally on November iyth they were dismissed with the Khan's
letter to the Pope, which we still possess and ofwhich a translation
is given below. They travelled back over the open steppes all
through the winter with incredible hardships, sleeping in the
snow
"
save when in the open plain when there were no trees we
could scrape a place with our feet".
They reached Batu's camp on the Volga on the feast of the
Ascension (May 9th, 1247), and after staying there a month, they
at last received safe conducts for their return to Kiev. "We
reached Kiev fifteen days before the feast of St. John the Baptist,
and the men of Kiev when they heard of our arrival came out to
meet us rejoicing and congratulating us as if we had risen from the
dead, and so they did throughout Russia, Poland and Bohemia."
And when Daniel of Galicia and his brother Vasilko had heard
their account of the embassy, after taking council with their
bishops, they sent their own letters to the Pope by the Friars,
accepting his supremacy and that of the Roman Church. This
was the first reunion between the Russians and the Western
Church, and since Daniel at this time was the most powerful of
the remaining Russian princes, it was perhaps the only positive
and concrete result of this heroic venture.
XViii THE MONGOL MISSION
Meanwhile Mongol policy was at a standstill owing to the
strained relations between the Great Khan and his cousin Batu.
There had been a bitter quarrel between the two princes during
the invasion of Hungary five years earlier and it was impossible
to undertake any large-scale expedition to the West so long as this
issue was undecided. Thus what actually happened was not a war
between the Mongols and the West but a breach between the two
leading branches of the family of Chingis Khan the house of
Ugedey represented by Guyuk, and the house ofJuchi represented
by Batu. Civil war was only averted by the death of the Great
Khan under very suspicious circumstances at the moment when
Batu was advancing to meet him in Central Asia, and during the
following three years (1248-51) Batu succeeded in bringing about
the fall of the house of Ugedey and the election of his own candidate,
Mongka the son of Tuluy, to be the supreme Khan,
III. THE MISSIONS OF THE DOMINICANS, ASCELIN AND ANDREW
OF LONGJUMEAU
It is possible that this change of government and the semiindependent
position which Batu had achieved in the West saved
Europe from further peril. For with the coming ofthe new dynasty,
the drive of Mongol aggression turned southwards so that the
existence of Islam rather than that of Christendom was en-
dangered.
But the Christian West could not know this. Nothing could be
more alarming than the report of John of Piano Carpini or more
menacing than the letter of the Great Khan to the great Pope.
And the result of the second mission which Innocent IV sent two
years later was at first even more discouraging. This time the envoys
were Dominicans,
1
Fr. Ascelin, Simon of Tournai and three
others, and they were ordered to visit the camp of the nearest
Mongol army on the frontier of Asia Minor and to demand the
1
There is some obscurity about the relation of this mission of 1247 to ^Q
earlier Franciscan one. Lawrence of Portugal, the Franciscan who was charged
with the original mission, does not seem to have visited the Mongols. But we
are told that in 1247 he was sent by the Pope as legate to Asia Minor, and it
was in this year that the mission of Ascelin and his companions to the Mongol
leader in Asia Minor took place.
THE MONGOL MISSION xix
cessation of hostilities against Christendom. Ascelin reached
the camp of Baiju, west ofthe Caspian Sea, on May 24th, 1247, but
as he refused the usual act of homage and behaved in a somewhat
uncompromising manner he met with a very harsh reception, so
that at one moment the exasperated Mongol threatened to have
them all executed. The situation seems to have changed with the
coming of a higher officer, Aljigiday, the envoy of the Great Khan,
who realized the importance of establishing relations with the
Christians of the West. Accordingly Ascelin was sent back with
an answer similar to that which had already been brought by John
of Piano Carpini, together with two Mongol envoys one of them,
Sargis or Sergius, a Christian who were received by Pope
Innocent IV in Italy in the following year 1248. At the same time
Aljigiday took steps to establish friendly relations with St. Louis,
who had set out on his crusade against Egypt. Aljigiday's envoys,
David and Mark, met King Louis in Cyprus and delivered a
letter which declared that the Great Khan intended to protect all
Christians, Latin and Greek, Armenian, Nestorian and Jacobite,
and offered his help against the Saracens for the recovery of
Jerusalem.
The fact that Guyuk Khan was no longer alive and that the
house of Ugedey was tottering to its fall deprived this embassy of
real authority, but the King of France could not realize this and
he was naturally overjoyed to hear such
"
good and gracious words
"
from the East, which seemed to justify all that the legends of
Prester John had promised. In reply he sent back with the Mongol
envoys the most important mission that Christendom had sent
hitherto. It was led by a Dominican, Andrew of Longjumeau,
who knew Persian and had already visited the camp of Baiju,
apparently as a member of Br. Ascelin's mission. With him went
two other Dominicans, two clerks and two sergeants-at-arms,
together with rich presents above all a wonderful tent-chapel of
scarlet cloth in which all the mysteries of the Christian faith were
depicted for the instruction of the Tartars. This is the embassy
which is described at some length by Joinville and other contemporary
historians, so that it seems to have made more impression
on public opinion than either of the Franciscan missions recorded
XX THE MONGOL MISSION
in this volume. The envoys set out from Antioch early in 1248,
"and from Antioch it took them a full year, riding ten leagues a
day, to reach the great Khan of the Tartars. And they found all
the land subject to the Tartars and many cities that they had
destroyed and great heaps of dead men's bones". Nevertheless
the journey ofAndrew and his companions was not so long as that
of the two Franciscan missions, since the Regent, Ogul Garnish,
the widow of Guyuk Khan, was not in Mongolia but held her
court on the River Imil south-east of Lake Balkash, at the point
which John of Piano Carpini speaks of as "the first orda of the
Emperor".
The Regent received the embassy in the normal Mongol and
Chinese fashion as an act of homage and their presents as tribute,
but she seems to have treated them honourably enough and sent
them back with gifts and the remarkable answer recorded by
Joinville as follows :
"Peace is goods for when a country is at peace those who go on
four feet eat the grass in peace, and those who go on two feet till
the ground, from which good things come, in peace.
"This we send you for a warning, for you cannot have peace if
you are not at peace with us. Prester John rose against us, and such
and such kings (giving the names of many) and all we have put to
the sword. We bid you, then, every year to send us of your gold
and of your silver so much as may win you our friendship. If you
do not do this we shall destroy you and your people, as we have
done to those we have named."1
St. Louis was naturally disappointed with the results of this
mission, and Joinville says that he greatly repented having sent it.
Nevertheless the accounts that he had received of the existence of
a large Christian population in "Tartary" were not altogether
discouraging, and these were confirmed by the reports of the
Armenian missions led by the Constable of Armenia, Sempad,
who was the brother of King Hethum I and the brother-in-law
of the King of Cyprus.
The little kingdom of Cilician Armenia formed a valuable link
between the crusading states of Syria and the interior of Asia,
1
Joinville, Life of St. Louis, trans. R. Hague (Sheed and Ward), pp. 149.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXI
owing to its strategic position on the highway from Antioch and
Syria to Asia Minor and the Caspian. The coming ofthe Mongols
had been a godsend to the Armenians, since it had delivered
them from the continual threat of the Seljuk sultans of Iconium,
and after the defeat of the latter by Baiju in 1243, King Hethum
of Armenia had become a loyal and favoured vassal of the Great
Khan. The embassy of Sempad the Constable took place in 1247
and 12483 so that it coincided with those of Ascelin and Andrew of
Longjumeau, and the letter which he wrote from Samarkand in
February 1248 to his brother-in-law in Cyprus stressed the importance
of the Christian element among the Mongols. From these
sources St. Louis learnt that Sartak, the son of Batu, was himself a
Christian, and this fact or report encouraged the French King to
send a further mission of a more definitely religious character
than that of Andrew of Longjumeau to establish relations with
the Christians in Central Asia.
IV. THE MISSION OF BROTHER WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK
This is the mission of the Franciscan William of Rubruck,
which forms the greater part of the present volume and provides
the fullest and most authentic information on the Mongol Empire
in its pre-Chinese phase that we possess. The mission consisted
of two Franciscans, William of Rubruck and Bartholomew of
Cremona, a derk named Gosset who was in charge of the King's
presents to the Khan, and an interpreter or dragoman "turgemannus
"
called Homo Dei (i.e. Abdullah) who proved inefficient
and unreliable.
In contrast to the earlier missions, this one was purely
religious in character, for though they carried letters from St.
Louis to Sartak, they were careful to insist that they were not
ambassadors but men of religion whose sole work was "to preach
the work of God and to instruct men to live by His will ".
In many respects William of Rubruck was better equipped for
his mission than John of Piano Carpini had been. Apart from
the knowledge already acquired from the earlier missions, he had
the great advantage of beginning his journey from the East, from
XXii THE MONGOL MISSION
the court of St. Louis at Acre, where he was in touch with
Armenians, Syrians and Greeks, so that he was able to have his
letters of credence translated into Persian (or "Arabic" as he calls
it) and Syrian. Instead of entering the Mongol world through
the Iron Curtain of Eastern Europe and Russia, he travelled by
the old highway to Central Asia through Constantinople and the
Crimea, and at Constantinople he was able to get further information
and letters of safe conduct from the Emperor Baldwin II
to the commander of the Mongol outposts. The party left
Constantinople on May yth for Sudak (Soldaia), the great merchant
port in the Crimea which was the terminus of the land route to
Russia and Asia. They left Sudak on June ist and reached the
Tartar outposts on the third day. "And when I came among
them," writes Friar William, "it seemed to me, indeed, as if I
were entering another world." From this point Brother William's
journey and his experiences correspond very closely with those
of Brother John of Piano Carpini eight years before. Both of
them went to the great camp of Batu on the Volga, the centre
of Mongol power in the West. Both were sent on by Batu to
the court of the Great Khan in Mongolia and both experienced
the same intense hardships in their travel through the steppes
and the same difficulties and misunderstandings in their dealings
with the arrogant Mongol chiefs and their greedy and unscrupulous
underlings. Nevertheless the contents and manner of the
two narratives are very different. Brother John was chiefly concerned
to make a full report to the Pope on the Mongols and
their empire considered as an immediate danger to Christendom,
and with special reference to their methods of making war and
how their attacks could best be met. Brother William's book
(with the exception of the nine short introductory chapters which
deal with Mongol manners and customs) is a straightforward
account of his journey and his personal experiences in full detail.
He was an exceptionally observant man with the temperament
and eye of an artist.
"
In fact," he says himself,
"
I would have
made you" (St. Louis) "pictures of everything if I only knew how
to paint."
The result is that he has written one of the most living and
THE MONGOL MISSION xxiii
moving narratives in the whole literature of travel, even more
direct and convincing than that of Maic o Polo in his own time
or Hue and Gabet in the nineteenth century. In spite of his
writing in a "learned" language, we still see sharp and clear
through his eyes the scene when the Friars at last came before the
terrible Batu, on his high seat "long and wide like a couch", with
his lady beside him.
"
We stood there in our habits, barefooted
and heads uncovered, and we were a great gazing-stock for their
eyes. ... So we stood there before him for the space of a Miserere
mei Deus and they all kept the deepest silence." We see the endless
drinking parties at Karakorum and the men of every race and
religion who met together there. We have a most vivid account
of the great disputation held between the representatives of the
three religions, Christians, Moslems and Buddhists. And finally
we have the account of his last meeting with the Great Khan
himself at Pentecost, which is surely one of the most remarkable
interviews in history.
V. THE MONGOLS AND CHRISTENDOM
Here, we feel, we are standing at one of the great crossroads of
history. For the new world-empire which stretched from the
Pacific to the Black Sea and the Baltic and which ruled over
Confucianists and Buddhists and Moslems and Christians was still
uncommitted to any particular religion and culture. The primitive
Shamanism of the Mongols was incapable of providing any
principle of spiritual unity, just as their original tribal organization
provided no basis for an imperial administration. 1
Nevertheless
the Great Khans, in spite of their lack of culture, were fully
aware of the importance of the religious factor and followed a
broad policy of general toleration. Chingis Khan himself laid
down as part of his law that all religions were to be respected
1
Nevertheless we must not underestimate the persistence and strength of
this primitive religious tradition. It seems clear from Marco Polo's discussion
with Kubilay Khan that the latter adhered to Buddhism in a Shamanist spirit,
and even in our own time (in 1913), Miss Czaplica has described how a Siberian
of thoroughly European ancestry and Nordic type preferred the spiritual
ministrations of the local Tungus Shaman to that of the Russian priesta on the
ground that the latter could not master the local spirits in the way the Shaman
did (Czaplica, My Siberian Year, pp. 190-193).
THE MONGOL MISSION
without favouritism and that the priests and holy men were to be
treated with deference, a principle to which all his descendants
adhered faithfully both in the East and the West for successive
generations.
1
This attitude is probably due to the fact that Mongolia and
Turkestan were the meeting place of the world religions, and the
Mongols themselves as newcomers found Buddhism and Christianity
and Manicheism and Mohammedanism already established
among the peoples from whom they acquired the rudiments of
civilization. The oldest and most civilized people of Mongolia,
the Uighur Turks, had adopted Manicheism when they were
the ruling people of Mongolia in the eighth and ninth centuries,
and now that they had withdrawn south of the Gobi to the oases
of Turfan and Kami they had become Buddhist and Christian.
Their successors in Western Mongolia, the Kerait and the Naiman,
who were most closely allied to the Mongols by culture and
political relations, were mainly Christian, as were also the Ongut
Turks on the northern frontier of China. The other ruling
peoples, the Kara Khitay or Khitan and the Jurjen or Chin, who
had been subjected to the influence of Chinese culture, were
Buddhist or Taoist, while the Western Turks, from TransOxiana
to Asia Minor, were Moslems who came into the orbit of
Persian culture. Thus the position of Christianity in Mongolia
was relatively a strong one and offered even greater opportunities
for missionary activity than Western Christendom realized. Owing
to their intermarriages with the Kerait royal house many of the
wives and mothers of the Great Khans were Christians, including
some of the most influential of them all, like
"
Seroctan"2
or
Soyorgatani, Baigi, the mother of Mongka, Kubilay and Hulagu
and the chief wife of Hulagu, Dokuz Khatun, who is described
by the Armenian chroniclers as a second St. Helena.
In the same way many of the leading Mongol officials under
the early Khans were Christians, like Chinkay, the Kerait
1
"A singular confbrmity may be found," writes Gibbon, "between the
religious laws of Zmgis Khan and of Mr. Locke
"
!
8
Whom John of Piano Carpini describes as more renowned than any among
the Tartars except the mother of the Emperor and more powerful than any
except Batu.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXV
chancellor of Guyuk Khan, who received John of Piano Carpini;
Bolgay, the chancellor of Mongka, who received William of
Rubruck; and Kitbuka, the Naiman lieutenant of Hulagu. It is
true that this Nestorian Christianity of Central Asia had been cut
off for centuries from the centres of Christian culture and William
of Rubruck's account of the Nestorian monks and clergy, mainly
Syrians, whom he met at the Mongol court, is a very unfavourable
one. Nevertheless this outlying province of Christendom
experienced a brief period of revival and expansion during the
Mongol period, which was due not only to the general Mongol
policy of toleration but still more to the fact that they were
determined to destroy the temporal power of Islam which they saw
as the main obstacle to Chingis Khan's idea of world empire.
Already while William of Rubruck was at Karakorum plans were
being laid by Mongka and his brother Hulagu for the destruction
of the two leaders of the Moslem world the Khalif of
Bagdad, the head of orthodox Islam, and the Grand Master of the
Assassins, who was the chief ofthe Ismailian or Shi'ite sect.
Later in the same year (1254), when King Hethum of Armenia
visited the Khan, he was informed of the projected expedition,
and received assurances from Mongka that the Mongols would
protect the Christians and their churches and would restore
Palestine and the Holy Places to the Christians. In fact Hulagu,
though he was himself a Buddhist, was genuinely favourable to
the Christians owing to the influence of his wife, the Kerait
princess Dokuz Khatun, who was devoted to her ancestral faith.
This princess, like so many of the ladies of the family of the
Mongol Khans, enjoyed great political influence. Indeed Rashid
al-Din, the official historian of the Mongols, states that Mongka
expressly charged his brother to consult her in every circumstance
and to follow her advice.
Consequently when in the autumn of 1257 the Mongol armies
advanced into Mesopotamia, after destroying the strongholds of
the Assassins which had hitherto been impregnable, the Christians
benefited by the great disaster that fell upon the Moslem world.
They hailed the fall of Baghdad and the destruction of the
Abbasid Khalifate, which took place in February 1258, as a just
XXVI THE MONGOL MISSION
retribution for the oppression that they had suffered for so many
centuries. The Armenian chronicler Kirakos of Kantzag writes
of the catastrophe in the spirit in which the Hebrew prophet
described the fall of Nineveh. For five hundred and fifteen years
the city had ruled all the nations and sucked the blood and
treasure of the whole world. Now at length the measure of her
iniquity was fulfilled and she was punished for all the blood she
had shed and the evil she had done. 1
Never had the prospects of Islam seemed darker than at this
moment. All the Eastern Moslem sultanates west of the Indus
had already been destroyed, and the Turks of Asia Minor had
been forced to acknowledge the Mongol supremacy. Only Egypt
remained, and after the fall of Baghdad Hulagu was determined to
make an end of her. In the following year (1259) he advanced
into Syria, capturing Martyropolis and Edessa and Harran, the
home-lands of Syrian Christianity. In the following year Hulagu's
Christian general, the Naiman Kitbuka, assisted by the King of
Armenia and Bohemond of Antioch, captured Aleppo and
Damascus, the two capitals of Moslem Syria. At this mo;tnent
the whole future of the Middle East was at stake. The only
remaining bulwark of Islam, the Mameluk sultanate of Egypt,
was rich and possessed an efficient army, but it was an alien and
artificial power controlled by foreign mercenaries and possessed
no national roots, so that it could hardly have survived a combined
push from the Mongols and the Franks in Syria. A Christian
reconquest in the Near East, like that which was taking place at
the same period in Andalusia, was by no means impossible.
Rubruck remarks that not one-tenth of the inhabitants of Turkey
were Moslems, almost all were Armenians and Greeks; and in the
same way in Mesopotamia and Northern Syria the Syrian
Christian element was still numerous.
In fact it was at this period that the Nestorian Church enjoyed
its greatest prosperity and became for a time a real factor in world
affairs. It enjoyed the favour not only of Hulagu and his successors
Abaga and Argun, the Khans of Persia, but also of their suzerain
Kubilay and his successors in China and the Far East. Under the
1
Grousset, Histoire des Croisades, iii, p. 575.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXVii
patriarchate of Mar Denha (1265-81) its hierarchy was reorganized
and extended from the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean to the
Caspian and the Pacific. An archbishopric was established in 1275
at Kubilay's new capital of Khanbalik or Peking and churches were
founded by Christian officials and merchants in many of the
principal cities of China.
Nor were these friendly relations confined to the Nestorian
Christians of the East. In the second half of the thirteenth
century the Mongol Khans of Persia regarded the Christians
of the West as their natural allies against Egypt and Islam and
made a serious effort to establish diplomatic relations with them
and to organize a common front in Syria. Thus the policy of
St. Louis and the initiative of William of Rubruck at last bore
fruit, and though Antioch, the strategic key to the Middle East,
had fallen to Beybars in 1268, there was still a possibility of
saving the crusading states in Syria with the help of the Mongols.
Unfortunately St. Louis, who was now a dying man, allowed his
last crusade to be diverted from Palestine to Tunis3 perhaps
owing to the sinister influence of his brother Charles of Anjou,
who was intent on his selfish ambition to create a Mediterranean
empire,
1
and Edward I of England was left with insufficient
resources to carry on the tradition of the Palestinian crusade. He
alone ofthe Western princes seems to have realized the importance
of the Mongol alliance, and so long as he lived there was no
cessation in the negotiations between the Mongols and the West.
As soon as he arrived in Palestine in the early summer of 1271 he
sent his envoys, Reginald Russel and John Parker, to Abaga and
arrangements were made for a joint campaign against the
Egyptians. Unfortunately at this moment Abaga was forced to
turn his attention to Central Asia owing to the civil war that had
arisen with Jagatay Khan of Turkestan, so that he was only able
1
This is denied by Bre"hier and Grousset (Hist, des Croisades, iii, 65 1-2) on
the ground that the crusade interfered with Charles of Anjou's plans for an
attack on the Byzantine Empire. And granted that Charles would have preferred
an expedition against Constantinople, the conquest of Tunis was quite in
accordance with the traditional policy of the Sicilian monarchy which had
always aimed at the control of Tunisia. And Grousset fully recognizes the
disastrous character of the decision, which he compares with the diversion of
the Fourth Crusade from Egypt to the conquest of Constantinople.
XXViii THE MONGOL MISSION
to send a token force of Mongol horsemen to Syria. Nevertheless,
as Grousset says, in spite of the lack of man-power which caused
its failure, this crusade of Edward I was one of the most intelligently
planned of all the later crusades, both from the strategic
and the diplomatic point of view. 1
In spite of the failure of Edward Ps crusade, the Mongols
continued to pursue negotiations for a Western alliance. In 1274
Abaga sent his envoys to the Council of Lyons, where they were
present at the Act of Union between the Eastern and Western
Churches which took place on July 6th. In 1277 he sent six envoys
to England with apologies to Edward I for his failure to give adequate
support to him when he was in Palestine. Finally in 1286
his son Argun Khan sent the most important of all the Mongol
embassies to the West under the leadership of Rabban Sauma, a
monk, who was the intimate friend of the Nestorian patriarch and
in close relations with the Mongol court. We have a detailed
account of this embassy in the contemporary biography of the
patriarch Mar Yaballaha III, of which a Syriac version has been
preserved,
2
and it provides a Mongol counterpart to William of
Rubruck's narrative of his embassy from St. Louis to Mongka
Khan.
Rabban Sauma, in spite of his Syriac name, was a Mongolian
Turk, probably an Ongut, who had been born at Peking and who
had come on pilgrimage with his fellow-countryman Rabban
Markos to visit the Holy Places, about the year 1278. When
they were still in Syria, the head of the Nestorian Church,
Mar Denha, died, and Markos was elected to take his place
under the name of Mar Yaballaha III in 1281. After the accession
of Argun in 1284 the new patriarch, who was no mere Syrian,
but a representative of the ruling race and came from the capital
of the Mongol empire, acquired considerable influence at the
court of the II Khan. Consequently when Argun decided to
send a new embassy to the West, the friend of the patriarch,
1
Grousset, op. cit., p. 662.
2
History of the Life and Travels of Rabban Sawma> Envoy of the Mongol Khans
to the Kings of Europe, and Markos3 Patriarch of the Nestorian Church in Asia.
Trans, from the Syriac by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, 1928. See also A. C. Moule,
Christians in China before 1550 (1930).
THE MONGOL MISSION XXIX
Rabban Sauma, was chosen as its leader since he represented
not merely Argun himself but the larger international unity of the
whole Mongolian world. The mission reached Rome in 1287
soon after the death of Honorius IV and stayed in Western Europe
for about a year, visiting Philip IV, Edward I and the newly
elected Pope Nicholas IV. Thus the account of his experiences is a
document of incomparable importance for the religious history
ofthe Mongol empire and its relations with Western Christendom.
In the first place it shows that the ancient theological antagonisms
which had divided Eastern and Western Christendom had now
become half-forgotten. Rabban Sauma celebrated the East
Syrian liturgy in the presence of the Pope and the cardinals, and
received Communion from the Pope. And at Bordeaux he did the
same and Edward I received Communion from him. 1
Secondly it
shows, even more than the embassies that preceded and followed
it, how close were the relations between the Eastern Christians and
the Mongols and how genuine were the Khan's efforts to establish
a common front in Syria against the Saracens. Thus, when the
cardinals expressed surprise that a Christian priest, attached to
the patriarchate, should have come as an envoy from "the King
of the Tartars", Rabban Sauma replied: "Know ye that many
of our fathers in times past entered the lands of the Turks, the
Mongols and the Chinese and have instructed them in the faith.
To-day many Mongols are Christian. There are queens and children
of kings who have been baptised and confess Christ. The
Khans have churches in their camps. They honour Christians
highly and there are many and faithful among them. And as the
King is united in friendship with the Catholics and purposes
to take possession of Syria and Palestine, he asks your aid for the
conquest ofJerusalem." Fortunately the new Pope, Nicholas IV,
who was elected in February 1285 soon after Rabban Sauma had
1 "
It was on this occasion that Edward I made the following remarkable reply
to Rabban Sauma's request that he should be shown the shrines and holy
places so that *when we go back to the Children of the East we may give them
descriptions of them*. And the King replied, 'Thus shall you say to King
Arghdn and unto all the Orientals : We have seen a thing than which nothing is
more wonderful, that is to say that in the countries of the Franks there are not
two confessions of Faith, but only one confession of Faith, namely that which
confesses Jesus Christ ; and all the Christians confess it.'" E. A. W. Budge,
The Monks of Kubld Khan) pp. 186-7.
XXX THE MONGOL MISSION
returned to Rome, was a man who was well aware ofthe importance
of the East, since he was the head of the Franciscan Order, Jerome
of Ascoli, who had conducted the negotiations at Constantinople
which had prepared the way for the Council of Lyons. He treated
Rabban Sauma with the greatest cordiality and sent him back with
letters to Argun and to the Christian widow of Abaga and with a
letter to Yaballaha
"
confirming his patriarchal authority over all
the Orientals".
Argun seems to have been well satisfied with the results of this
mission. He made Rabban Sauma his chaplain and made a chapel
for hi communicating with the royal tent, and he had his son
Oljaitu baptized Nicholas in honour of the Pope. Moreover it
seems from the Pope's letter of April 2nd, 1288, that he had
himself promised to receive baptism at Jerusalem when it had
been won by the allied forces of the Mongols and the West. 1
Finally, in the following year he sent further letters to the West,
making concrete proposals for a joint campaign in Palestine in
1291. This letter, written in Mongol in the Uighur script, still
exists and offers convincing proof of the serious character of the
Mongol proposals.
"By the power of the Eternal God under the auspices of the
supreme Khan [Kubilay] this is our word: King of France! By
the envoy Mar Bar Sauma you have announced
c
when the troops
of the II Khan open the campaign against Egypt, then we will
set forth to join him'. Having accepted this message on your
part, I say that, trusting in God, we propose to set forth in the
last month of winter in the year of the Panther [January 1291]
and to camp before Damascus on about the fifteenth day of the
first month of spring. If you keep your word and send troops
at the appointed time and God favours us, when we have taken
Jerusalem from this people, we will give it to you. But if you
fail to meet us, our troops will have marched in vain. Would
that be becoming? And if afterwards we do not know what to
do, what use will it be?"2
1
Chabot, "Relations du roi Argoun avec I'octident", in Revue de FOrient
Latin (1894)3 P< 584. Grousset, Hist, des Croisades, iii, 722.
*
Chabot, op. tit., p. 604 j and A. C. Moule, Christians in China, p. 117.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXXI
At the same time the Khan offered to provide provisions for
the crusading army and remounts for upwards of 20,000 horsemen.
But on the Western side these offers met with little response.
The powers of the West were absorbed in the miserable quarrel
over Sicily which was the bitter fruit of the unfortunate alliance
between the Papacy and Charles of Anjou. The only Western
prince who was genuinely concerned with the crusade and who
realized the possibilities of the Mongol alliance was Edward I of
England, who again took the cross in 1289 and laboured for years
to bring about a settlement by arbitration of the Sicilian conflict
and to unite Western Christendom for the crusade. But his
efforts were frustrated by the intransigence of the Papacy. There
was no crusade, and Acre, the last Christian stronghold in
Palestine, fell before the Egyptians on May i8th, 1291 almost at
the moment when Argun had planned to recover Jerusalem. By
this time Argun himself was dead and the opportunity was lost.
Argun's son, Oljaitu, who had been baptized Nicholas in the
name of the Pope himself, became a Moslem and thenceforth the
Mongols in Persia, as well as in Russia and Turkestan, were
gradually absorbed by the environment of Moslem culture.
VI. THE MISSION OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO TO THE FAR EAST
Nevertheless, on the religious side the work of William of
Rubruck and Rabban Sauma was not altogether fruitless. The
year after the latter's return Pope Nicholas IV sent further letters
not only to Argun but also to Kubilay, the Great Khan, and to
Kaidu, the last great representative of the house of Ugedey in
Central Asia. 1
The bearer of these letters, the Franciscan John of
Monte Corvino, had already spent years working in the East, and
this last expedition, from which he never returned, was destined
to be the longest and the most successful of all the missionary
journeys of the Friars. Setting out from Rome in 1289 he first
visited Argun at his capital at Tauris or Tabriz. He set out
again in 1291 to visit the Great Khan, Kubilay, in China; and as he
1
Kaidu was the most long-lived of all the house of Chingis Khan, since he
had taken part in Batu's invasion of Hungary in 1241 and survived until 1301.
XXXii THE MONGOL MISSION
was unable to cross Central Asia owing to the great war between
Kubilay and Kaidu, which had also interfered with the return of
Marco Polo from China to Europe, he decided to go by way of
India and spent more than a year at Mylapur in Madras, whence
he sent back to Rome the first reliable account of the
"
Christians
of St. Thomas "
to reach the West. Owing to this immense detour
he did not reach China until after the death of Kubilay.
This was a tragedy, for of all the Mongol Khans, Kubilay alone
possessed the imagination and the breadth of mind which would
have enabled him to use this opportunity. Early in his reign in
1266 he had despatched the uncles of Marco Polo to Rome with a
request for a hundred men of learning, devoted to the Christian
faith, and acquainted with the liberal arts, who would be capable
of "proving to the learned of his dominions by just and fair argument
that the faith professed by Christians is superior to and
founded on more evident truth than any other". 1
It staggers the imagination to consider what might have been
the results if such a mission had actually been sent and if the
Great Khan had used Western scholars instead of the Tibetan
lamas whom he actually employed to lay the foundations of higher
culture in Mongolia. But the Western response was too little and
too late. John of Monte Corvino met with a favourable reception
from Kubilay's successor, Timur (1294-1307), but he had to carry
on his mission alone for twelve years with no helper save a friendly
Italian merchant, Pietro de Lucalongo. Even so, he met with
remarkable success. The year after his arrival, he converted one
of the most important men in the Mongol Empire, the Nestorian
prince, Kerguz or George, the son-in-law of the emperor and the
ruler of the Ongut Turks of north-west China, the people to
which the patriarch Mar Yaballaha belonged. George himself was
killed soon afterwards in the great war with Kaidu, so that this
promising beginning was uncompleted. But John of Monte
Corvino continued his work alone at the capital, and succeeded
in establishing an active centre of Tartar Catholicism at the heart
of the empire in spite of every kind of difficulty and opposition.
1
Of course we have only Marco Polo's word for this, but there can be no
doubt that the Polos were actually sent to the Pope from Kubilay and that this
is how they understood their mission.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXXiii
Finally in 1307 Rome at last became aware of the existence of
John of Monte Corvino and appointed him Archbishop of Khanbalik,
as well as sending him the helpers whom he had so long
desired.
Thenceforward the Chinese Mongol mission flourished for
twenty years under John of Monte Corvino and continued for
another forty years under his successors. We have a valuable
account of the situation at the end of his episcopate in the journal
of the Blessed Odoric of Pordenone in Friuli (1265-1331), who
went to China by way of India about 1321 and returned by the
overland route through Central Asia about 1328 to 1330. At that
time he found the Franciscans established with a cathedral and
two houses at Zaytun, the great medieval port of Southern
China near Amoy, as well as at Yang Chow, where there were also
chree Nestorian churches. But it is clear from his narrative that
the success of the Franciscan mission was mainly with the ruling
class of Turco-Mongols
1
and the foreign population, which
consisted of many different races, including large contingents of
troops from Russia and the West. One of the most important of
these groups, the Alans from the region ofthe Black Sea, were converted
by John of Monte Corvino and sent an embassy to Rome in
13383 asking for a bishop and complaining that they had been left
without spiritual help and without a superior since the death of
John of Monte Corvino, though they were well instructed in the
Catholic faith. This led to the last important medieval mission
to the Far East of which we have a record, that of John of Marignolli,
who left Avignon in 1338 and reached Peking by the land
route in 1342, bringing as a gift from the Pope to the Emperor a
great Western war horse which is recorded in the Chinese annals
as a great horse from the kingdom of Fulan (=Farang=Frank
land), ii feet long and 6 feet 8 inches high.
3
1
When the Western missionaries speak of Tartars it is impossible to say
whether they mean Mongols or Turks. Naturally enough they failed to distinguish
the two races. In the same way, when John of Monte Corvino speaks
of his translation of the breviary, etc., into the
"
Tartar" language he may
mean Uighur or Jagatay or Mongol.
2
The Chinese seem to have been more impressed by the horse than by the
mission, for M. Pelliot has discovered a curious poem on it entitled
"
An Ode
to the Supernatural Horse ".
XXXiv THE MONGOL MISSION
John of Marignolli left China in 1347 and returned by way of
India, reaching Avignon in 1353, after having been plundered
of all his gifts in Ceylon by "a certain tyrant, Coya Jaan, a eunuch
and an accursed Saracen". 1
By this time the Mongol empire
in China was in a state of advanced decline, and the Christians,
both Catholic and Nestorian, were involved in its fall. In 1362
the last Catholic Bishop of Zaytun, James of Florence, was
martyred when the Chinese nationalists recovered the city, and a
few years later, in 1369, the Christians were expelled from Peking,
not to return until the coming of the Jesuits at the end of the
sixteenth century.
At the same time the revival of Islam and the growth of Moslem
intolerance were making the work of the Friars increasingly
difficult in the rest of Asia. As early as 1321 Thomas of Tolentino
and his companion were martyred at Tana near Bombay on their
way to join John of Monte Corvino in China. In 1340 the
Franciscan, Richard of Burgundy, who had been sent by the Pope
to be bishop ofAlmalig near Kuldja in the sultanate ofJagatay was
massacred with a number ofFriars, one ofwhom was an "
Indian*',
and an Italian merchant.
Finally, in the second half of the century, the whole of Central
Asian Christianity and the eastern provinces of the Nestorian
Church were destroyed by the conquests of Tamerlane or Timur,
a conqueror who combined the ruthlessness of Chingis Khan
with the religious intolerance and exclusiveness of an Aurangzeb,
Timor was no illiterate barbarian, like the primitive Mongols,
but a civilized oriental sovereign, the splendour of whose court
aroused the admiration of the Spanish envoy, Clavijo. Nevertheless
he was one of the great destroyers in history, and his
career was like a tornado which passed across Asia from the
Ganges to the Aegean, leaving ruin behind it. The Mongols,
for all their atrocities, had a sense of their world responsibilities
and performed a definite service to civilization. They drove a
broad road from one end ofAsia to the other, and after their armies
had passed they opened the way to the merchant and the
missionary, and made it possible for the East arid the West to
1
Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither (1866), ii3 p. 394.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXXV
communicate both economically and spiritually. But everything
that they had done was undone by Tamerlane, and from the
fifteenth century the East and the West were more cut offfrom one
another than they had been at any period in the Middle Ages.
No doubt some of the responsibility must fall on Western
Christendom for its failure to take advantage of the opportunity
when it was offered. But the following narratives show that the
failure was not a complete one, and that an heroic effort was made
by a few men with small resources in the face of enormous material
difficulties to use the new road which had been so unexpectedly
opened for the service of Christ and the Church. The spirit in
which these earliest emissaries ofWestern Christendom approached
their mission was stated with admirable simplicity and directness
by William of Rubruck in his interview with the Gieat Khan.
"
My lord, we are not men ofwar. We wish that those should have
dominion over the world who rule it most justly, in accordance
with the will of God. Our office is to teach men to live after the
will of God. For that we have come here and willingly would we
remain here if it
pleased you." If there had been more men of
similar courage and faith to carry on this work in the same spirit,
the whole history of the world, and especially of the relations
between Europe and the Far East, might have been changed. But
at least a beginning was made, so that the story of the expansion
of medieval Christendom is not to be found only in the bloody
history ofthe Crusades or in that of the forcible conversion ofthe
pagan peoples of Eastern Germany and the Baltic provinces.
CHRISTOPHER DAWSON
XXXIV THE MONGOL MISSION
John of Marignolli left China in 1347 and returned by way of
India, reaching Avignon in 1353, after having been plundered
of all his gifts in Ceylon by "a certain tyrant, Coya Jaan, a eunuch
and an accursed Saracen **.
1
By this time the Mongol empire
in China was in a state of advanced decline, and the Christians,
both Catholic and Nestorian, were involved in its fall. In 1362
the last Catholic Bishop of Zaytun, James of Florence, was
martyred when the Chinese nationalists recovered the city, and a
few years later, in 1369, the Christians were expelled from Peking,
not to return until the coming of the Jesuits at the end of the
sixteenth century.
At the same time the revival of Islam and the growth of Moslem
intolerance were making the work of the Friars increasingly
difficult in the rest of Asia. As early as 1321 Thomas of Tolentino
and his companion were martyred at Tana near Bombay on their
way to join John of Monte Corvino in China. In 1340 the
Franciscan, Richard of Burgundy, who had been sent by the Pope
to be bishop ofAlmalig near Kuldja in the sultanate ofJagatay was
massacred with a number ofFriars, one ofwhom was an
"
Indian",
and an Italian merchant.
Finally, in the second half of the century, the whole of Central
Asian Christianity and the eastern provinces of the Nestorian
Church were destroyed by the conquests of Tamerlane or Timur,
a conqueror who combined the ruthlessness of Chingis Khan
with the religious intolerance and exclusiveness of an Aurangzeb.
Timur was no illiterate barbarian, like the primitive Mongols,
but a civilized oriental sovereign, the splendour of whose court
aroused the admiration of the Spanish envoy, Clavijo. Nevertheless
he was one of the great destroyers in history, and his
career was like a tornado which passed across Asia from the
Ganges to the Aegean, leaving ruin behind it. The Mongols,
for all their atrocities, had a sense of their world responsibilities
and performed a definite service to civilization. They drove a
broad road from one end ofAsia to the other, and after their armies
had passed they opened the way to the merchant and the
missionary, and made it possible for the East arid the West to
1
Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither (1866), ii, p. 394.
THE MONGOL MISSION XXXV
communicate both economically and spiritually. But everything
that they had done was undone by Tamerlane, and from the
fifteenth century the East and the West were more cut off from one
another than they had been at any period in the Middle Ages.
No doubt some of the responsibility must fall on Western
Christendom for its failure to take advantage of the opportunity
when it was offered. But the following narratives show that the
failure was not a complete one, and that an heroic effort was made
by a few men with small resources in the face of enormous material
difficulties to use the new road which had been so unexpectedly
opened for the service of Christ and the Church. The spirit in
which these earliest emissaries ofWestern Christendom approached
their mission was stated with admirable simplicity and directness
by William of Rubruck in his interview with the Great Khan.
"
My lord, we are not men ofwar. We wish that those should have
dominion over the world who rule it most justly, in accordance
with the will of God. Our office is to teach men to live after the
will of God. For that we have come here and willingly would we
remain here if it pleased you." If there had been more men of
similar courage and faith to carry on this work in the same spirit,
the whole history of the world, and especially of the relations
between Europe and the Far East, might have been changed. But
at least a beginning was made, so that the story of the expansion
of medieval Christendom is not to be found only in the bloody
history of the Crusades or in that of the forcible conversion of the
pagan peoples of Eastern Germany and the Baltic provinces.
CHRISTOPHER DAWSON
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANASTASIUS VAN DEN WYNGAERT, Sinica Franciscan^ Vol. I:
Itinera et Relationes Fratrum Minorum saec. XIII et XIV
(Quaracchi-Firenze, 1929)
ANASTASIUS VAN DER WYNGAERT, Jean de Monte Corvin, O.F.M.,
premier Eveque de Kharibalig (1247-1328)". Lille, 1924
E. A. W. BUDGE, The Monks of Kublai Khan: Life and Travels of
Rabban Sawma and Markos. Trans, from the Syriac by Budge,
1928
E. KOMROFF, Some Contemporaries of Marco Polo (Travellers
5
Library). (Translations of the principal narratives.)
The Chronicle of Novgorod. English translation by R. Mitchell and
N. Forbes, with Introduction by C. R. Beazley. Camden
Society, 1914
A. GAUBIL, S. J., Histoire de Gentchiscan et de toute la dynastie des
Mongous ses successeurs, conquerants de la Chine. Paris, 1739.
(This is the first European work to use the Chinese sources)
GRIGOR OF AKANC, History of the Nation of the Archers. Ed. and
trans. R. P. BLAKE and R. N. FRYE, Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies, 1949.
L. WADDING, Annales Minorum. Lyons, 8 vols., 1654; Rome, 19
vols., 1731-45
The Secret History of the Mongols. Mongol text ed. E. HAENISCH.
2 vols., Leipzig, 1935-9. German trans, by E. HAENISCH, Leipzig,
1948. French trans, of first part by P. Pelliot, Paris, 1948.
This is the primary Mongol source, dated about 1240
The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the
World, etc., ed. by WILLIAM W. ROCKHILL (Hakluyt Society,
London, 1900)
C. R. BEAZLEY, The Texts and Versions of John de Piano
Carpini and William de Rubruquis (Hakluyt Society, 1903)
XXXviii THE MONGOL MISSION
The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian Concerning the Kingdoms
and Marvels of the East. Translated and edited with notes, by
COL. SIR HENRY YULE, 3rd edition revised by H. CORDIER (2
vols., London, New York, 1927)
MARCO POLO, The Description of the World, ed. by A. C. MOULE and
P. PELLIOT (2 vols., London, 1938) containing: Vol. I, the
English translation: VoL II, a translation of Z, the Latin codex
in the Cathedral Library at Toledo
SIR HENRY YULE, Cathay and the Way Thither, etc. New edition
by H. CORDIER (4 vols., Hakluyt Society, London, 1913-16)
H. GROUSSET, UEmpire Mongol (Histoire du Monde, ed. M. E.
CAVAIGNAC, Tome VIII, 3, 1941)
H. GROUSSET, UEmpire des Steppes (1939)
H. GROUSSET, Histoire de FExfreme Orient (2 vols., 1929)
H. GROUSSET, Histoire des Croisades, Tome III (1948)
A. C. MOURADJA D'OnssoN, Histoire des Mongoles depuis Tchinguiz
Khanjusqu'd Timour Bey (4 vols., 1834-5 and 1852)
M. H. HOWORTH, History of the Mongols (3 vols., 1876-88)
L. OLSCHKI, Marco Polo's Precursors (1943)
L. OLSCHKI, Guillaume Boucher: French Artist at the Court of
the Khans (1946)
G. VERNADSKY, The Mongols and Russia (1953)
P. PELLIOT,
"
Les Mongoles et la Papaute ", in Revue de VOrient
Chretien (1922-3), 3-4; (1931-2), 66 and 79
P. PELLIOT,
"
Chretiens d'Asie Centrale et d'Extreme Orient", in
Toung Pao> (1914), 628
C. R. BEAZLEY, The Dawn of Modern Geography., Vol. II, 320-52,
449-52. Also Vol. Ill passim.
B. VLADIMTRTSOV, Le Regime Social des Mongoles (Paris, 1948:
trans, from Russian)
A. C. MOULE, Christians in China Before 1550 (London, 1930)
S. RUNCIMAN, History of the Crusades, vol. III. 1954
M. A. CZAPLICA, The Turks of Central Asia (Oxford 1918) (very
full bibliography)
EDITOR'S NOTE
THE text used is that of Father A. van den Wyngaert's Simca
Frandscana^ Vol. I: Itinera et Relationes Fratrum Minorum saec.
XIII et XIV> published by the Franciscan Press, Quaracchi. We
wish to express our indebtedness to both editor and publisher.
The History of the Mongols by John of Piano Carpini and the
Journey of William of Rubruck were translated by a Nun of Stanbrook
Abbey. The Narrative of Benedict the Pole and the Letters
of John of Monte Corvino, Brother Peregrine and Andrew of
Perugia were translated by the Editor. The version of Guyuk
Khan's letter to Pope Innocent IV is based on a translation of the
Persian text by Mr. D. A. Maitland Muller.
I am indebted to Professor T. Sulimirski for his assistance in
preparing the notes to William of Rubruck^ especially those
dealing with geographical questions.
CD.
TABLE I THE
i. CHINGIS (Temuchin), Great Khan 1206-27
Juchi
Batu, founder of the
Khanate of Kypchak
or the Golden Horde
(see Table II)
Jagatay (Chiaaday), ruled
1227-42, founder of the
Khanate of Jagatay in Central
Asia
Mutugen (ob. 1221)
LKara Hulagu 1242-52
=0rgana, regent 1252-61
Baidar
Alghu 1261-6
TABLE II THE KHANS OF KYPCHAK OR THE
GOLDEN HORDE (RUSSIA AND KAZAKHSTAN)
(CAPITAL: SARAI ON THE VOLGA)
Juchi (Tossuc), ob. 1227
I
Orda, ancestor
of the Khans
of the White
Horde
I. BATUj ruled
1242-55
4. BERKE
1258-66
I
2. SARTAK
1255-6
ULAGCHI
1256-8
Tugan
j
Boal
Tatar
5. MANGU TEMIR 6. TUDA MANGU
I
Tuka-Timur,
ancestor of the
Khans of the
Crimea
Tokhta
1300-12
Uzbeg
1312-40
Nogay, Khan of
the Nogay Horde
and rival of Tuda
Mangu and his
successors 1280-
1300
MONGOL EMPIRE
2. UGEDEY (Occoday), Great Khan 1229-41
=Turakina, regent 1241-6
3. GUYUK, Great Khan 1240-8
-Ogul Garnish, regent 1244-51
Kachi
Tuluy
regent 1227-9, ob. 1232
= Soyorgatani Baigi
(Seroctan or Sorocan),
ob. 1252
Chinkim
I
6. TlMUR
(Ch'eng-tsung)
1294-1307
TABLE III THE IL KHANS OF PERSIA
(CAPITAL: TABRIZ)
i. HULAGU 1258-65 =Dokuz Khatun
I
2. ABAGA 1265-82=Maria Palaeologina
I
3. TEKUDAR (Ahmed)
Note. These Tables do not pretend to be complete, but they include most
of the names mentioned in the text and show how they are related to Chingis
Khan and to one another.
HISTORY OF THE AiONGOLS
BY Jomsr OF PLANO
John of Piano Carpini, who derives his name from Piano di Carpini
near Perugia, was a man of ripe age who had taken a leading part in the
establishment of the Franciscan Order in Western Europe. He was
chosen Guardian of the new province of Saxony in 1222. In 1228 he
became Provincial of Germany. In 1230 he was sent to Spain as
Provincial, but in 1233 he returned to Saxony as Provincial. His
companion. Brother Giordino di Giano, the chronicler, describes him
as "Ordinis sui dilatator maximus", sending Friars all over Northern
and Eastern Europe, to Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Denmark and
Norway, watching over the brethren, as a hen over her chicks, and
standing "constanter et personaliter" before bishops and princes in
defence of his Order. Since he was a corpulent man he used to ride an
ass, "and the men ofthose days were moved by greater devotion towards
his ass on account of the humility of the rider and the newness of the
Order than they are nowadays by the assiduity of the Friars towards
the persons of the Ministers". After his return from the Mongol
mission we get a vivid picture of him in the pages of Fra Salimbene
who met him near Lyons, after he had made his report to Pope Innocent
IV. Salimbene says that he often heard him describe his experiences,
and when he was tired oftalking he would have his book read aloud and
would explain any points that his hearers did not understand. Salimbene
says that he was well received by the Great Khan and treated
honourably and courteously.
On his return the Pope sent Brother John on a mission to St. Louis
and in 1248 he was made Archbishop of Antivari in Dahnatia. But his
last years were unhappy. He became involved in a serious conflict with
the Archbishop of Ragusa on questions of jurisdiction, and he died on
August 1st, 1252, while his case was still being tried by the Roman
Curia.
John of Piano Carpini's book was by far the most widely known of all
the early accounts of Mongols. This is due to the fact that it was incorporated
by Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum Historiale, which was
one of the most popular encyclopaedic works of the Middle Ages.
Vincent was a Dominican who was closely connected with the family
of St. Louis and was lector at the royal foundation of Royaumont in the
middle of the thirteenth century. As John himself notes at the close of
his work, there are two versions of the History of the Mongols,, a longer
and a shorter one, and both survive in a number ofMSS. The best MS.
and the longer version, on which Fr. van den Wyngaert's printed text is
based, is the Corpus Christi, Cambridge, MS. 181, which also contains
one of the few surviving texts of William of Rubruck's Itinerary. This
MS. originally belonged to St. Mary's Abbey at York.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS
BY JOHN OF PIANO CARPINI
PROLOGUE
FRIAR JOHN OF PLANO CARPINI, of the Order of Friars Minor,
envoy of the Apostolic See to the Tartars and other nations of the
east, to all the faithful of Christ to whom this present writing may
come, the grace of God be to you in this present life and glory in
the world to come and a triumphant victory over the enemies of
God and of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
When by command of the Apostolic See we went to the Tartars
and the other oriental nations, knowing the desire of the Lord
Pope and the venerable Cardinals, we chose first to make our
way to the Tartars, for we were afraid that in the near future the
Church of God would be threatened by danger from that quarter.
And although we feared we might be killed by the Tartars or
other people, or imprisoned for life, or afflicted with hunger,
thirst, cold, heat, injuries and exceeding great trials almost beyond
our powers of endurance all of which, with the exception of
death and imprisonment for life, fell to our lot in various ways
in a much greater degree than we had conceived beforehand
nevertheless we did not spare ourselves in order to carry out the
will of God as laid down in the Lord Pope's mandate, and be of
some service to Christians, that, at all events, having learned the
truth about the desire and intention of the Tartars, we could make
this known to the Christians; then if by chance they made a
sudden attack they would not find the Christian people unprepared
(as happened on another occasion on account of the
sins of men) and inflict a great defeat on them.
Therefore whatever, with your welfare in mind, we shall write
to you to put you on your guard, you ought to believe all the more
4 THE MONGOL MISSION
confidently inasmuch as we have either seen everything with our
own eyes, for during a year and four months and more we
travelled about both through the midst of them and in company
with them and we were among them, or we have heard it from
Christians who are with them as captives and are, so we believe,
to be relied upon. For we had instructions from the Supreme
Pontiff to examine everything and to look at everything carefully,
and this we zealously carried out, both I and Friar Benedict the
Pole of the same Order, who was our companion in our tribulations
and our interpreter.
But if for the attention of our readers we write anything which
is not known in your parts, you ought not on that account to call
us liars, for we are reporting for you things we ourselves have seen
or have heard from others whom we believe to be worthy of
credence. Indeed it is a very cruel thing that a man should be
brought into ill-repute by others on account of the good that he
has done.
CHAPTER I
THE LAND OF THE TARTARS, ITS POSITION, PHYSICAL FEATURES
AND CLIMATE
SINCE therefore we wish to write an account of the Tartars in
such a way that the reader can easily find his way about it, we
will arrange it in chapters as follows. In the first we will speak
of the country, in the second of the people, in the third of their
religion, in the fourth of their customs, in the fifth of their empire,
in the sixth of their wars, in the seventh of the countries which
they have subjugated to their dominion, in the eighth of how
war should be waged against them, and in the last of the journey
we made, of the court ofthe Emperor and of the eye-witnesses we
came across in the land of the Tartars.
We propose treating of the country in this manner: in the first
place we will say something of its position, secondly we will speak
of its physical features, and thirdly of the nature of the climate
there.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 5
Now the aforesaid country lies in that part of the east where,
so we believe, the east joins the north. To the east of it lies the
country of the Kitayans and also that of the Solangi; to the south
the land of the Saracens; to the south-west there is the territory
of the Uigurs; to the west the province of the Naimans;
1
on the
north it is bounded by the ocean.
In some parts the country is extremely mountainous, in others
it is flat, but practically the whole of it is composed of very sandy
gravel. In some districts there are small woods, but otherwise it
is completely bare of trees. They cook their food and they all,
the Emperor as well as the nobles and other men, sit at a fire
made of the dung of oxen and horses. Not one hundredth part
of the land is fertile, nor can it bear fruit unless it be irrigated by
running water, and brooks and streams are few there, and rivers
very rare. And so there are no towns or cities there with the
exception of one which is said to be quite big and is called Cara-
carom2
. We however did not see it, but we were as near as halfa-day's
journey to it when we were at the Syra Orda8
, which is
the largest of the camps of their Emperor. Although the land is
otherwise barren, it is fit for grazing cattle; even if not very good,
at least sufficiently so.
The weather there is astonishingly irregular, for in the middle
of summer, when other places are normally enjoying very great
heat, there is fierce thunder and lightning which cause the death
of many men, and at the same time there are very heavy falls of
snow. There are also hurricanes of bitterly cold winds, so violent
that at times men can ride on horseback only with great effort.
When we were before the orda that is what the camps of the
Emperor and chief men are called we lay prostrate on account
1
The Kitayans are the Chinese and the Solangi are probably Koreans.
"The country of the Saracens" here no doubt refers to Persia and Southern
Turkestan. The Uighur Turks, whom John calls the Huii, at this time occupied
the pases
of Turfan north of the river Tarim. The Naiman were one of the
leading peoples of Mongolia occupying the western parts of Mongolia and the
upper Irtish valley. Thus the description is very accurate, except that it extends
Mongolia to include the adjacent part of Siberia, now occupied by the Yakut
and the Tungus,
2
Caracarom: cf. infra p. 183.
8
Syra Orda: lit.
"
the Yellow Camp ", so called because yellow was the
imperial colour.
6 THE MONGOL MISSION
of the force of the wind and we could scarcely see owing to the
great clouds of dust. There it never rains in the winter, but often
in the summer, though it is so little that sometimes the dust and
the roots of the grass are hardly moistened. Very heavy hail also
often falls there. At the time when the Emperor was elected and
was to be enthroned and we were in the orda, there was such a
heavy hailstorm that as a result of its sudden melting, so we
clearly understood, more than a hundred and sixty men in that
camp were drowned, and many dwellings and much property
were washed away. Then also in summer there is suddenly great
heat, and suddenly extreme cold. In winter in some parts there
are heavy falls of snow, in others however but slight.
To conclude briefly about this country: it is large, but otherwise
as we saw with our own eyes, for during five and a half
months we travelled about it it is more wretched than I can
possibly say.
CHAPTER II
OF THEIR PERSONS, THEIR CLOTHES, THEIR DWELLING-PLACES,
POSSESSIONS AND MARRIAGE
HAVING spoken of the country, it is now for us to speak of the
people. First we will describe their personal appearance, secondly
we will add something about their marriages, thirdly their clothes,
fourthly their dwellings, and fifthly their possessions.
In appearance the Tartars are quite different from all other
men, for they are broader than other people between the eyes and
across the cheek-bones. Their cheeks also are rather prominent
above their jaws; they have a flat and small nose, their eyes are
little and their eyelids raised up to the eyebrows. For the most
part, but with a few exceptions, they are slender about the waist;
almost all are of medium height Hardly any of them grow
beards, although some have a little hair on the upper lip and chin
and this they do not trim. On the top of the head they have a
tonsure like clerics, and as a general rule all shave from one ear
to the other to the breadth of three fingers, and this shaving joins
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 7
on to the aforesaid tonsure. Above the forehead also they all
likewise shave to two fingers' breadth, but the hair between this
shaving and the tonsure they allow to grow until it reaches their
eyebrows, and, cutting more from each side of the forehead than
in the middle, they make the hair in the middle long; the rest of
their hair they allow to grow like women, and they make it into
two braids which they bind, one behind each ear. They also have
small feet.
Each man has as many wives as he can keep, one a hundred,
another fifty, another ten one more, another less. It is the
general custom for them to marry any of their relations, with the
exception of their mother, daughter and sister by the same mother.
They can however take in marriage their sisters who have only the
same father, and even their father's wives after his death; also a
younger brother may marry his brother's wife after his death; or
another younger relation is expected to take her. All other women
they take as wives without any distinction and they buy them at a
very high price from their parents. After the death of their
husbands the women do not easily enter into a second union,
unless a man wishes to take his stepmother to wife.
The clothes of both the men and the women are made in the
same style. They do not use capes, cloaks or hoods, but wear
tunics of buckram, velvet or brocade1
made in the following
fashion: they are open from top to bottom and are folded over
the breast; they are fastened on the left with one tie, on the right
with three, on the left side also they are open as far as the waist.
Garments of all kinds of fur are made in the same style; the upper
one however has the hairy part outside and is open at the back; it
also has a tail at the back reaching to the knees.
The married women have a very full tunic, open to the ground
in front. On their head they have a round thing made of twigs or
bark, which is an ell in height and ends on top in a square; it
gradually increases in circumference from the bottom to the top,
and on the top there is a long and slender cane of gold or silver
or wood, or even a feather, and it is sewn on to a cap which
reaches to the shoulders. The cap as well as this object is covered
1
"Bucarano purpura vel baldakino,"
8 THE MONGOL MISSION
with buckram, velvet or brocade, and without this headgear they
never go into the presence of men and by it they are distinguished
from other women. It is hard to tell unmarried women and
young girls from men, for they are dressed in every respect like
them. The caps they have are different from those of other
nations, but I am unable to describe what they are like in such a
way as you would understand.
Their dwelling-places are round like tents and are made of
twigs and slender sticks. At the top in the middle there is a round
opening which lets in the light, and is also to enable the smoke to
escape, for they always make their fire in the middle. Both the
sides and the roof are covered with felt, and the doors also are
made of felt. Some of these dwellings are large, others small,
according to the importance or significance of the people; some
can be speedily taken down and put up again and are carried on
baggage animals; others cannot be taken down but are moved
on carts. To carry them on a cart, for the smaller ones one ox
is sufficient, for the larger ones three, four or even more according
to the size. Wherever they go, be it to war or anywhere else, they
always take their dwellings with them.
They are extremely rich in animals, camels, oxen, sheep, goats;
they have such a number of horses and mares that I do not believe
there are so many in all the rest of the world; they do not have
pigs or other farm animals.
The Emperor, the nobles and other important men own large
quantities ofgold and silver, silk, precious stones and jewels.
CHAPTER III
OF THEIR WORSHIP OF GOD, THOSE THINGS WHICH THEY
CONSIDER TO BE SINS, DIVINATIONS AND PURIFICATIONS, FUNERAL
RITES, ETC.
HAVING spoken of the men, we must now add something about
their religion, and we will deal with it in this way: first we will
speak of their worship of God, next of those things which they
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 9
believe to be sins, thirdly of divinations and purifications for
sins, and fourthly of their funeral rites.
They believe in one God, and they believe that He is the maker
of all things visible, and invisible; and that it is He who is the
giver of the good things of this world as well as the hardships;
they do not, however, worship Him with prayers or praises or
any kind of ceremony. Their belief in God does not prevent
them from having idols of felt made in the image of man, and
these they place on each side of the door of the dwelling; below
them they put a felt model of an udder, and they believe that these
are the guardians of the cattle and grant them the benefit of milk
and foals; yet others they make out of silken materials and to
these they pay great honour. Some put them, in a beautiful
covered cart before the door of their dwelling and if anyone
steals anything from that cart he is put to death without
any mercy. When they wish to make these idols, all the chief
ladies in the different dwellings meet together and reverently
make them; and when they have finished they kill a sheep and
eat it and burn its bones in the fire. Also when any child is
ill they make an idol as I have described and fasten it above his
bed. Chiefs, captains of a thousand men and captains of a
hundred, always have a shrine [hercium] in the middle of their
dwelling.
They always offer to their idols the first milk of every cow and
mare. When they are going to eat and drink they first make an
offering to them ofsome ofthe food and drink. When they kill any
animal they offer its heart in a cup to the idol in the cart; they
leave it there until the morning, when they remove it from its presence,
cook it and eat it. They have also made an idol to the first
Emperor, which they have placed in a cart in a place of honour
before a dwelling, as we saw before the present Emperor's court,
and they offer many gifts to it; they also present horses to it and no
one dare mount these till their death; they also give other animals
to it, and if they slaughter these for food they do not break any
of their bones but burn them in a fire. They bow to it towards the
south as to God, and they make other nobles who are visiting
them do the same.
10 THE MONGOL MISSION
Whence it recently came about that when Michael1
, one of the
chief dukes of Russia, came on a visit to Bati, they made him, first
pass between two fires. After that they told him to bow towards
the south to Chingis Chan; he replied that he would gladly bow to
Bati and his attendants but he would not make an inclination
to the image of a dead man, for it was not lawful for Christians to
do this. When they had told him many times that he was to bow
and he would not, the chief Bati sent him word through the son of
Jaroslaus
2
that if he did not bow he would be put to death. He
answered that he would rather die than do what was not lawful.
Bati sent one of his attendants who went on kicking him in the
stomach against his heart until he began to weaken. Thereupon
one of his soldiers who was standing by encouraged him,
saying "Be constant, for this suffering will last but a short time
and eternal joy will follow hard upon it." Then they cut off his
head with a knife, and the soldier also was beheaded.
In addition they venerate and adore the sun, the moon, fire,
water and the earth, making them the first offerings of food and
drink, especially in the morning before they eat or even drink.
Since they observe no law with regard to the worship of God they
have up to now, so we understood, compelled no one to deny his
faith or law with the exception of Michael of whom we have just
spoken. What they may ultimately do we do not know, but there
are some who are of the opinion that, if they became sole rulers,
which God forbid, they would make everyone bow down to that
idol.
During our stay in the country it happened that Andrew, Duke
of Cherneglone
3
which is in Russia, was accused before Bati of
taking Tartar horses out of the country and selling them elsewhere;
and although the charge was not proved he was put to
1
Michael Duke of Chernigov and his companion, the boyar Feodor, have
always been honoured as saints and martyrs by the Russian Church. Michael's
loyalty was suspect to Batu, as he had been a refugee in the West and his son
Rotislav had married a Hungarian princess, so it is probable that his refusal
of homage to the ongon of Chingis Khan was treated as a sign of political disloyalty.
Their martyrdom seems to have occurred while John of Piano Carpini
was at
Karakprum in September 1246.
2
Constantine, the son of the Grand Duke Yaroslav and the brother of
Alexander Nevski.
3
Andrew of Chernigov, the son of Mistislav.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS II
death. Hearing this, his younger brother came with the widow of
the slain man to the chief Bati to petition him not to take away
their territory from them. Bati told the boy to take the widow of
the slain man, the boy's own brother, as his wife; and bade the
woman take him as her husband according to Tartar custom.
She said that she would rather die than break the law. But none the
less he gave her to him [as wife], although both of them refused
as much as they could. And they put them both to bed together
and forced them to consummate the marriage in spite of her tears
and cries.
Although they have no law concerning the doing of what is
right or the avoidance of sin, nevertheless there are certain
traditional things, invented by them or their ancestors, which they
say are sins; for example, to stick a knife into a fire, or even in any
way to touch fire with a knife, or to extract meat from the cauldron
with a knife, or to chop with an axe near a fire ; for they believe that,
if these things were done, the fire would be beheaded; likewise
to lean on a whip with which a horse is lashed, for they do not use
spurs: also to touch arrows with a whip; again to catch or kill
young birds, to strike a horse with a bridle; also to break a bone
with another bone, to pour out upon the ground milk or any kind
of drink or food; to pass water inside a dwelling. If a man does
this on purpose he is put to death, otherwise he has to pay a large
sum of money to the soothsayer, who purifies him and has the
dwelling and its contents carried between two fires; but before
this purification has been carried out no one dare enter the dwelling
or take away anything from it: again, if anyone takes a morsel
and, unable to swallow it, spits it out of his mouth, a hole is made
under the dwelling and he is dragged out by that hole and without
any mercy put to death; also if a man treads on the threshold of a
dwelling belonging to any chief he is put to death in the same way.
They have many things like this which it would be tedious to tell of.
On the other hand, to kill men, to invade the countries of other
people, to take the property of others in any unlawful way, to
commit fornication, to revile other men, to act contrary to the
prohibitions and commandments of God, is considered no sin
by them.
12 THE MONGOL MISSION
They know nothing of everlasting life and eternal damnation,
but they believe that after death they will live in another world
and increase their flocks, and eat and drink and do the other
things which are done by men living in this world.
They pay great attention to divinations, auguries, soothsayings,
sorceries and incantations, and when they receive an answer from
the demons they believe that a god is speaking to them. This god
they call Itoga the Comans however call him Kam1
and they
have a wondrous fear and reverence for him and offer him many
oblations and the first portion of their food and drink, and they do
everything according to the answers he gives. When the moon is
new, or at full moon, they embark on anything fresh they wish to
do, and so they call the moon the great Emperor and bend the knee
and pray to it. They also say that the sun is the mother ofthe moon
because it receives its light from the sun. They believe, to put it
shortly, that everything is purified by fire. Consequently when
envoys or princes or any persons whatsoever come to them, they
are obliged to pass between two fires, together with the gifts they
are bringing, in order to be purified, lest perchance they have
practised sorcery or brought poison or anything else injurious.
Also if fire falls from heaven on cattle or men, a thing which often
happens there, or any similar thing befalls them by which they
are considered unclean or unlucky, they have to be purified in the
same way by the diviners. They place almost all their hope in
such things.
When anyone is sick past cure, they put a spear there and wind
black felt round it and from then onwards no outsider dares to
enter within the bounds of his dwellings. When the death agony
begins almost everybody leaves him, for none of those who are
present at his death can enter the orda of any chief or of the
Emperor until the new moon.
When he is dead, if he is one of the less important men, he is
buried in secret in the open country wherever it seems good to
them. He is buried with one ofhis dwellings, sitting in the middle
of it, and they place a table in front of him, and a dish filled with
meat and a goblet ofmare's milk. Andthey burywith him a mare and
1
Kam is the modern Mongol word for a Shaman.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 13
her foal and a horse with bridle and saddle, and another horse they
eat and fill its skin with straw, and this they stick up on tyro or four
poles, so that in the next world he may have a dwelling in which to
make his abode and a mare to provide him with milk, and that he
may be able to increase his horses and have horses on which to ride.
The bones of the horse which they eat they burn for his soul; and
also the women often assemble to burn bones for the men's souls,
as we saw with our own eyes and learned from others there. We
also saw that Occodai Chan, the father of the present Emperor,
left behind a grove to grow for his soul, and he ordered that no
one was to cut there, and anyone who cuts a twig there, as we ourselves
saw, is beaten, stripped and maltreated. And when we were
in great need of something with which to whip our horse, we did
not dare to cut a switch from there. They also bury gold and
silver in the same way with a dead man; the cart in which he rides
is broken up and his dwelling destroyed, nor does anyone dare to
pronounce his name until the third generation.
They have a different method of burying their chief men. They
go in secret into the open country and there they remove the grass,
roots and all, and they dig a large pit and in the side of this pit
they hollow out a grave under the earth; and they put his favourite
slave under him. He lies there under the body until he is almost
at the point of death, then they drag him out to let him breathe,
and this they do three times. If the slave escapes with his life,
he is afterwards a free man and can do whatever he pleases and is
an important man in his master's camp and among his relations.
The dead man they place in the grave made in the side along with
the things mentioned above. Then they fill the pit in front of his
grave, and they put the grass over it as it was before so that no one
may be able to discover the spot afterwards. The other things
already described they also do, but his tent they leave above
ground in the open.
In their country there are two cemeteries. One is where the
Emperors, chiefs and all the nobles are interred, and wherever
they die they are brought thither if this can fittingly be done. A
great deal of gold and silver is buried with them. The other
cemetery is the one where lie buried those who were killed in
14 THE MONGOL MISSION
Hungary, for many lost their lives there. No one dare go near
these cemeteries except the keepers who have been put there to
look after them. If anyone does approach them, he is seized,
stripped, beaten and severely maltreated. We ourselves unwittingly
entered the bounds of the cemetery of the men who were
killed in Hungary, and they bore down upon us and would have
shot at us with arrows, but, since we were envoys and did not
know the customs of the land, they let us go free.
The relatives of the dead man and all those living in his dwellings
have to be purified by fire. This purification is performed
in the following manner: they make two fires and they put two
spears near the fires, with a rope fastened on to the top of them,
on to which they tie strips of buckram; under this rope and its
ribbons and between the two fires pass men, animals and dwellings.
And there are two women, one this side, the other that, who
sprinkle water and recite incantations. If any carts break down
there, or if anything falls to the ground on that spot, the enchanters
get it. If anyone is killed by a thunderbolt, all the people living
in his dwellings have to pass through the fires in the manner described;
no one touches his tent, his bed, cart, felt, clothes or any
other such things as he had; but they are spurned by all as unclean.
CHAPTER IV
OF THEIR CHARACTER, GOOD AND BAD, THEIR CUSTOMS,
FOOD, ETC.
HAVING spoken of their religion, now we must speak of their
character, which we will deal with in this way: first we will tell
of their good points, then of their bad, thirdly of their customs,
and fourthly of their food.
These men, that is to say the Tartars, are more obedient to
their masters than any other men in the world, be they religious
or seculars; they show great respect to them nor do they lightly
lie to them. They rarely or never contend with each other in
word, and in action never. Fights, brawls, wounding, murder are
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 15
never met with among them. Nor are robbers and thieves who
steal on a large scale found there; consequently their dwellings
and the carts in which they keep their valuables are not secured by
bolts and bars. If any animals are lost, whoever comes across them
either leaves them alone or takes them to men appointed for this
purpose; the owners of the animals apply for them to these men
and they get them back without any difficulty. They show considerable
respect to each other and are very friendly together, and
they willingly share their food with each other, although there is
little enough of it.
They are also long-suffering. When they are
without food, eating nothing at all for one or two days, they do not
easily show impatience, but they sing and make merry as if they
had eaten well. On horseback they endure great cold and they
also put up with excessive heat. Nor are they men fond ofluxury;
they are not envious of each other; there is practically no litigation
among them. No one scorns another but helps him and promotes
his good as far as circumstances permit.
Their women are chaste, nor does one hear any mention among
them of any shameful behaviour on their part; some of them,
however, in jest make use ofvile and disgusting language. Discord
among them seems to arise rarely or never, and although they may
get very drunk, yet in their intoxication they never come to words
or blows.
Now that the good characteristics of the Tartars have been
described, it is time for something to be said about their bad.
They are most arrogant to other people and look down on all,
indeed they consider them as nought, be they of high rank or low
born.
For at the Emperor's court we saw Jerozlaus
1
, a man of noble
birth, a mighty duke of Russia, also the son ofthe King and Queen
of Georgia, and many important sultans; the chief also of the
Solangi received no fitting honour from them, but the Tartars
who were assigned to them, however base-born they were, went
ahead of them and always had the first and highest place; indeed
they were often obliged to sit behind their backs.
1
Yaroslav I, Grand Duke of Vladimir 1238-47. He died at Karakorum
during John of Piano Carpini's visits as related infra, p. 65.
16 THE MONGOL MISSION
They are quickly roused to anger with other people and are of
an impatient nature; they also tell lies to others and practically
no truth is to be found in them. At first indeed they are smoothtongued,
but in the end they sting like a scorpion. They are full
of slyness and deceit, and if they can, they get round everyone by
their ginning. They are men who are dirty in the way they take
food and drink and do other things. Any evil they intend to do to
others they conceal in a wonderful way so that the latter can take
no precautions nor devise anything to offset their cunning.
Drunkenness is considered an honourable thing by them and when
anyone drinks too much, he is sick there and then, nor does this
prevent him from drinking again. They are exceedingly grasping
and avaricious; they are extremely exacting in their demands,
most tenacious in holding on to what they have and most niggardly
in giving. They consider the slaughter of other people as nothing.
In short, it is impossible to put down in writing, all their evil
characteristics on account of the very great number of them.
Their food consists of everything that can be eaten, for they eat
dogs, wolves, foxes and horses and, when driven by necessity,
they feed on human flesh. For instance, when they were fighting
against a city of the Kitayans, where the Emperor was residing,
they besieged it for so long that they themselves completely ran
out of supplies and, since they had nothing at all to eat, they
thereupon took one out of every ten men for food. They eat the
filth which comes away from mares when they bring forth foals.
Nay, I have even seen them eating lice. They would say, "Why
should I not eat them since they eat the flesh of my son and drink
his blood?" I have also seen them eat mice.
They do not use table-doths or napkins. They have neither
bread nor herbs nor vegetables nor anything else, nothing but
meat, ofwhich, however, they eat so little that other people would
scarcely be able to exist on it.
They make their hands very dirty
with the grease of the meat, but when they eat they wipe them on
their leggings or the grass or some other such thing. It is the
custom for the more respectable among them to have small bits of
doth with which they wipe their hands at the end when they eat
meat. One ofthem cuts the morsels and another takes them on the
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 17
point of a knife and offers them to each, to some more, to some
less, according to whether they wish to show them greater or less
honour. They do not wash their dishes, and, if occasionally they
rinse them with the meat broth, they put it back with the meat
into the pot. Pots also or spoons or other articles intended for
this use, if they are cleaned at all, are washed in the same manner.
They consider it a great sin if any food or drink is allowed to be
wasted in any way; consequently they do not allow bones to be
given to dogs until the marrow has been extracted. They do not
wash their clothes nor allow them to be washed, especially from
the time when thunderstorms begin until the weather changes.
They drink mare's milk in very great quantities ifthey have it; they
also drink the milk of ewes, cows, goats and even camels. They do
not have wine, ale or mead unless it is sent or given to them by
other nations. In the winter, moreover, unless they are wealthy,
they do not have mare's milk. They boil millet in water and make
it so thin that they cannot eat it but have to drink it. Each one
of them drinks one or two cups in the morning and they eat
nothing more during the day; in the evening, however, they are
all given a little meat, and they drink the meat broth. But in the
summer, seeing they have plenty of mare's milk, they seldom eat
meat, unless it happens to be given to them or they catch some
animal or bird when "hunting.
They also have a law or custom ofputting to death any man and
woman they find openly committing adultery; similarly if a virgin
commit fornication with anyone, they kill both the man and the
woman. If anyone is found in the act of plundering or stealing in
the territory under their power, he is put to death without any
mercy. Again, if anyone reveals their plans, especially when they
intend going to war, he is given a hundred stripes on his back, as
heavy as a peasant can give with a big stick. When any ofthe lower
dass offend in any way, they are not spared by their superiors, but
are soundly beaten. There is no distinction between the son of a
concubine and the son of a wife, but the father gives to each what
he will; and if they are of a family of princes, then the son of a
concubine is a prince just the same as the son of a legitimate
wife. When a Tartar has many wives, each one has her own
18 THE MONGOL MISSION
dwelling and her household, and the husband eats and drinks
and sleeps one day with one, and the next with another. One,
however, is chief among the others and with her he stays more
often than with the others. In spite of their numbers, they never
easily quarrel among themselves.
The men do not make anything at all, with the exception of
arrows, and they also sometimes tend the flocks, but they hunt and
practise archery, for they are all, big and little, excellent archers,
and their children begin as soon as they are two or three years
old to ride and manage horses and to gallop on them, and they are
given bows to suit their stature and are taught to shoot; they are
extremely agile and also intrepid.
Young girls and women ride and gallop on horseback with
agility like the men. We even saw them carrying bows and arrows.
Both the men and the women are able to endure long stretches of
riding. They have very short stirrups; they look after their horses
very well, indeed they take the very greatest care of all their
possessions. Their women make everything, leather garments,
tunics, shoes, leggings and everything made of leather; they also
drive the carts and repair them, they load the camels, and in all
their tasks they are very swift and energetic. All the women wear
breeches and some of them shoot like the men.
CHAPTER v
THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE OF THE TARTARS AND THEIR
CHIEF MEN, AND THE DOMINION EXERCISED BY THE EMPEROR AND
THE PRINCES1
HAVING spoken of their customs we must now add something
about their empire. First we will tell of its beginning, secondly
of its chief men, thirdly of the dominion exercised by the Emperor
and the princes.
1
This is a most perplexing chapter, since it combines very accurate and
detailed information not found in any other Western writer with a number of
traveller's tales and purely legendary matter. The account of the Mongol
tribes and the derivation of their names is extremely accurate, except the
derivation of the name of the Tartars from the river Tartar, which is incorrect.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 19
In the east there is a land, of which we have spoken above,
which is called Mongolia. At one time there were in this land four
tribes, one the Yekamongol, that means the Great Mongols; the
second the Su-Mongol, that is to say the Mongols of the Water, but
these called themselves Tartars from a certain river named the
Tartar, which flows through their territory; another was called
the Merkit; the fourth was the Mecrit. All these tribes were alike
in appearance and had the same language, although they were
separate from each other, having their own provinces and rulers.
In the land of the Yekamongols there was a man called Chingis.
He became a mighty hunter before the Lord, and learned to steal
and take men for prey. He also went into other territories and any
men he could capture and get to join his band he did not let go
again. He drew to himselfmen ofhis own nation and they followed
him as their leader in all kinds of wrong-doing. When he had
collected a great many followers he started fighting with the
Sumongols or Tartars and he killed their leader and after much
fighting he conquered all the Tartars and reduced them to subjection.
After this he fought with all the others; he fought with
the Merkits who were settled next to the territory of the Tartars,
and these also he conquered in battle. Then he went on to attack
the Mecrit and likewise defeated them.
When the Naimans heard that Chingis was behaving in this
arrogant fashion they were angry, for they had had an extremely
active Emperor to whom all the aforesaid tribes used to pay tribute.
When he had paid the debt of all flesh, his sons succeeded in his
place, but they were young men and foolish and did not know how
to rule the people; instead they separated from and were at variance
with each other. In the meantime Chingis had risen to great
power; nevertheless the young men made assaults on the territories
mentioned above, killing men, women and children and seizing
plunder.
On hearing this, Chingis assembled all the men subject to him.
The Naimans also and the Karakitayans
1
, that is the Black Kitayans,
assembled against him for battle in a certain narrow valley
1
The Kara Khitay were a Mongolpeople who had been driven out of northern
China and had established a powerful empire in Turkestan in the twelfth
century. They were Buddhists in religion.
20 THE MONGOL MISSION
between two mountains, through which we passed on our way to
their Emperor, and a battle was fought in which the Naimans and
Karakitayans were defeated by the Mongols. The greater part of
them were killed and others who could not make their escape were
reduced to slavery.
Occodai Chan, the son of Chingis Chan, after he had been made
Emperor, built a city in the land of the Karakitayans, which he
called Omyl
1
. Near this city to the south is a vast desert, which,
they say for a certainty, is inhabited by wild men, who do not
speak at all and have no joints in their legs. If at any time they
fall, they cannot get up again without the help of others, but they
are intelligent enough to make felt out of camel's hair which they
use to clothe themselves and as a protection against the wind.
And if sometimes the Tartars pursue them and wound them with
their arrows, they put grass in the wound and bravely flee before
them.
The Mongols on their return to their own country prepared for
war against the Kitayans,
2
and moving camp they entered their
territory. When this came to the ears of the Emperor of the
Kitayans he went to meet them with his army, and a hard battle
was fought in which the Mongols were defeated and all the Mongol
nobles in that army were killed with the exception of seven. This
gives rise to the fact that, when anyone threatens them saying
"
If you invade that country you will be killed, for a vast number
of people live there and they are men skilled in the art of fighting",
they still give answer, "Once upon a time indeed we were
killed and but seven of us were left, and now we have increased
to a great multitude, so we are not afraid of such men."
Chingis however and the others who were left fled back to their
own country and after a short, rest Chingis again prepared for
battle and set out to make war against the land of the Uighurs.
These people, who are Christians of the Nestorian sect, he also
1
Omyl, i.e. Imil on the river of the same name, in Tarbagatai.
2
Northern China or Cathay was at this time ruled by an alien dynasty, the
Chin, who originated in eastern Manchuria and had driven out their predecessors,
the Khitan, a century earlier. Southern China or Manji still maintained its independence
under the Later Sung dynasty, while western China was part of
the Tangut kingdom, ruled by the Hsia. All three were later absorbed in the
Mongol empire.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 21
defeated in battle, and the Mongols took their alphabet, for
formerly they had no written characters;
1
now however they call
it the Mongol alphabet. Chingis then proceeded to make war on
the land of Sari-Uigurs, the land of the Karanites, the land of the
Voyrat and the land of Kanana, all of which countries he overcame
in battle.
After that he returned to his own country and, after a short
rest, he summoned all his men and they set out together to
make war on the Kitayans. When they had fought for a long time
against them, they conquered a large part of the territory of the
Kitayans; they also hemmed in their Emperor in their largest
town, which they besieged for such a long time that the army's
supplies completely ran out. When they had nothing at all left
to eat, Chingis Chan ordered that out ofevery ten men they should
give one to be eaten. The men in the city, however, fought manfully
against them with engines and arrows; and when they ran
out of stones they threw silver instead, and especially melted-down
silver, for this city contained much wealth. When they had fought
for a long time and were unable to conquer it, the Mongols made
a big subterranean passage from the army to the middle ofthe city
and, suddenly making an opening in the ground the inhabitants
being all unawares they leapt out into the middle of the city and
fought with the men of the place. Those who were outside likewise
attacked them and, breaking down the gates, they entered
the city and, having killed the Emperor and many ofthe men, they
took possession of it and carried off gold and silver and all its
wealth; and when they had put some oftheir own men in command
of the land of the Kitayans, they returned home. Then, once the
Emperor of the Kitayans was defeated, Chingis Chan became
Emperor. Part ofthe territory ofthe Kitayans, however, they have
up to the present in no wise been able to conquer, for it is situated
in the sea.
The Kitayans,
2
of whom we have just spoken, are pagans, and
1
What John says of the derivation of the Mongol alphabet from Uighur is
perfectly correct.
* This is the first Western account of the Chinese. At this period Buddhism
was the dominant religion in China, especially in the Northern kingdom, but it
had become so syncretistic and receptive to foreign influences that John of
22 THE MONGOL MISSION
they have their own special writing; it is said that they also have
an Old and New Testament; and they have lives of Fathers and
hermits and buildings made like churches, in which they pray at
stated times; and they say they have some saints. They worship
one God, they honour Our Lord Jesus Christ, and they believe
in eternal life, but they are not baptised. They show honour and
respect to our Scriptures, they love Christians and give much in
alms. They seem to be most affable and kindly men. They have
no beard and their physiognomy is much like that of the Mongols,
though they are not so broad in the face. They have their own
language. Better artificers are not to be found in the whole
world in all the trades in which men are wont to be engaged.
Their land is very rich in corn, wine, gold and silk and in all the
things which usually support human life.
When Chingis had rested for a short time, he divided his
armies. One of his sons, Tossuc1
by name, who was also called
Chan, that is, Emperor, he sent with an army against the Comans,
and after much fighting Tossuc defeated them. When he had
conquered them he returned home.
Chingis sent another son with an army to attack the Indians,
and he conquered Lesser India. These black people are Saracens,
and are called Ethiopians. This army advanced to make war on
the Christians in Greater India. Hearing this, the king of that
country, commonly called Prester John, assembled an army and
went to meet them; and he made figures ofmen out of copper and
set them in saddles on horses, putting fire inside them; and he
placed men with bellows on the horses behind the copper figures,
and with many such figures and horses fitted up like this they
advanced to fight the Tartars. When they reached the battleground,
they sent forward these horses, one next the other, while
the men behind put I know not what on to the fire in the figures
and blew hard with the bellows. As a result horses and men were
Piano Carpini's description is not unreasonable. Cf. Wieger3 Histoire des
Croyances religieuses en Chine, pp. 542-3 and 559.
The two Testaments are no doubt the Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures.
1
This is Juchi, the eldest son of Chingis and the fattfer of Batu. From
this point the account of the Mongol campaigns becomes almost legendary,
owing no doubt to John's reliance on the
"
Russian clerics ".
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 23
burned up by Greek fire, and the air was black with smoke. They
then shot arrows at the Tartars which wounded and killed many
ofthem, and thus they cast them out oftheir territory in confosion
and we have never heard that they went back again later.
On their return journey through the desert they came to a land
where so we were definitely told at the Emperor's court by
Russian clerics and others who had been living among them for
a long time they found monsters who had the likeness of women.
When they asked them by means of many interpreters where the
men-folk of that country were, they replied that every female
born there had a human form, but every male had the shape of a
dog. Whilst they were prolonging their stay in this land, the dogs
collected together in another part of the river and, in the severe
winter weather, they plunged into the water; immediately after
this they rolled in the dust, and the dust thus mixed with the
water froze on them. When they had done this many times, they
were covered with a thick coating ofice, and with a great rush they
joined battle with the Tartars. But when the latter shot at them
with their arrows, the arrows rebounded as if they had shot at
stones; nor were their other arms able to injure them in any way.
The dogs, however, springing upon the Tartars, bit them, wounding
and killing many of them, and in this way they cast them out
of their country. This gave rise to a saying which is still current
among the Tartars: "Your father or brother was killed by the
dogs". The women they captured they took to their country and
they were there until they died.
While this army, that is to say the army of the Mongols, was
returning, they came to the land of Burithabet1
, which they
conquered in battle. The inhabitants are pagans; they have an
incredible or rather discreditable custom, for when anyone's
father pays the debt of human nature they collect all the family
together and eat him; we were told this for a fact. They do not
grow beards, indeed they carry in their hands, as we saw, an iron
instrument, with which they always pluck their beards if any hair
happens to grow there, and they are exceedingly misshapen.
From there the army returned home.
1
Possibly Tibet.
24 THE MONGOL MISSION
At the same time that he was dividing the other armies, Chingis
Chan also went with an expedition towards the west through the
land ofthe Kergis, whom he did not conquer, and, so we were told
there, he reached as far as the Caspian Mountains. The mountains
in that part towards which they were directing their course are of
loadstone; consequently they attracted their arrows and iron
weapons. The inhabitants hemmed in by the Caspian Mountains
hearing, it is believed, the noise of the army, began to break
through a mountain, and when the Tartars came back that way
on another occasion ten years later, they found the mountain
broken in pieces. When the Tartars, however, tried to get at
them, they could not, for a cloud lay ahead of them, beyond
which they could in no way progress, for as soon as they reached
it they lost all power of sight. Those on the opposite side, however,
believing that the Tartars were afraid of attacking them,
rushed towards them, but as soon as they reached the cloud they
could go no further, for the reason already given. Before reaching
the aforesaid mountains the Tartars travelled for more than a
month through a vast wilderness.
Going on from there still westwards, they journeyed for more
than a month through a large desert, and they came to a land where
so we were told with absolute certainty they saw beaten
tracks, but were unable to find any people; however, they made a
thorough search throughout the land, with the result that they
came across one man with his wife and these were brought before
Chingis Chan. When he asked them where were the inhabitants
of that country, they replied that they dwelt in the earth under the
mountains. Chingis Chan, keeping the woman, sent the husband
to tell those men to come at his command. He went to them and
repeated all Chingis Chan's messages to them. They replied
saying that on such and such a day they would come to Him to do
his bidding. In the meantime, however, they assembled by secret,
underground routes and coming to fight against the Tartars, they
suddenly rushed upon them and killed many of them. They, that
is to say Chingis Chan and his followers, realised that they could
gain nothing but rather would lose men, and in addition to this,
they could not bear the sound ofthe sun indeed at the time when
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 25
the sun was rising they were obliged to place one ear on the
ground and stop up the other completely so as not to hear that
terrible noise, and yet even by taking these measures they were
unable to prevent many of them from meeting their death on
account ofit so they took to flight and left the country. However,
they carried off those people with them, that is to say the man and
his wife, and they remained in the land of the Tartars until their
death. When questioned as to why they dwelt underground they
said that at one season ofthe year when the sun rises the noise is so
great that men cannot on any account stand it, as we have already
told was the case with the Tartars. Indeed at that time they
even used to strike musical instruments and beat drums and other
things in order not to hear the noise.
While Chingis Chan was on the way back from that country,
they ran short of food and suffered great hunger. Then they
happened to come across the fresh entrails of an animal; they took
them and, putting aside only the dung, they cooked them and
brought them before Chingis Chan, who ate them with his men.
As a result of this Chingis decreed that neither the blood nor the
entrails nor any part of an animal that can be eaten, with the
exception ofthe dung, is to be thrown away.
He then returned to his own country and there made many
laws and statutes, which are observed inviolably by the Tartars. 1
We will give only two ofthese. One is that if anyone, puffed up by
pride, wishes to be Emperor on his own authority without an
election by the princes, he shall be put to death without any
mercy. Hence before Cuyuc Chan's election, in accordance with
this law one of the princes, a nephew of Chingis Chan, paid the
death penalty, for he wanted to rule without an election. Another
decree is that they are to bring the whole world into subjection to
them, nor are they to make peace with any nation unless they first
submit to them, until the time for their own slaughter shall come.
They have fought now for forty-two years and they are due to
1
From this point John's narrative once more becomes authentic and based
on reliable information. The "
laws and statutes
"
the Yasa are famous in
Mongol history, and the Persian historian Juwaini says that a copy was kept in
the treasury of all Chingis Khan's descendants. There is a full discussion of
the subject in G. Vernadskyj The Mongols and Russia, pp. 99-110.
26 THE MONGOL MISSION
rule for another eighteen years. After that, so they say, they are
to be conquered by another nation, though they do not know
which; this has been foretold them. Those who escape with their
lives, they say, are to keep the same law which is kept by those
who defeat them in battle. Chingis also decreed that their armies
should be organised into groups under captains of a thousand, a
hundred, and ten, and "darkness" that is, ten thousand1
. He
also decreed many other things which it would be tedious to tell
of, and in any case I do not know what they are. After this he was
killed by a thunderbolt, having completed his decrees and
statutes.
Chingis had four sons. One was called Occodai, the second
Tossuc Chan, another Chiaaday and the name of the fourth I do
not know. All the Mongol chiefs are descended from these four.
The first, namely Occodai Chan, had the following sons: the
eldest is Cuyuc, who is the present Emperor, and Cocten and
Chirenum, and I do not know if he had any more sons. The sons
of Tossuc Chan are: Bati, who is the richest and most powerful
after the Emperor, Ordu, who is the eldest of all the chiefs, Siban,
Bora, Berca, Thaube. I do not know the names of Tossuc Chan's
other sons. The sons of Chiaaday are Burim and Cadan. I do not
know the names of the rest of his children. The sons of Chingis
Chan's other son, whose name I do not know, are as follows:
one is called Mongu; his mother is Sorocan, and among the
Tartars this lady is the most renowned, with the exception of the
Emperor's mother, and more powerful than anyone else except
Bati; another son is called Bichac; he had a number of other sons,
but I do not know their names.2
1 **
Tuman ". John of Piano Carpini wrote
"
tenebras ",
"
darkness ">
owing to a confusion between
"
tuman "
the word for 10,000 and "
duman ",
darkness. William of Rubruck (infra, p. 171) gives the word its proper
significance.
2
This is the most complete and accurate account of the dynasty of Chingis
Khan to be found in any Western writer. See the genealogical table, pp. xl-xU.
Almost the only errors are that Chirenen (or Shiramun) was not the son of
Ugedey but of Mutugen son of Jagatay (Chiaaday) and that Cadan was not the
son of the last-named but of Ugedey, and is probably the same as the one
whom John of Piano Carpini names Cocten.
In the list of chiefs Hubilai is Kubttay, the brother and successor of Mongka.
Sibedei is Subuday or Subutay, the greatest of the Mongol generals, and his
title of Knight (Miles) represents the Mongol Bagatur (Turk. Bahadur^ which
signifies both a hero and a commander.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 2J
The names of the chiefs are as follows: Ordu he was in
Poland and Hungary; Bati, Birin, Syban, Dinget, all of whom
were in Hungary; Cirpodan who is still beyond the sea fighting
against certain Sultans of the land of the Saracens, and others who
are beyond the sea. The following have stayed in their own
country: Mengu, Sirenen, Hubilai, Sirenum, Sinocur, Chuacenur,
Caragai, Sibedei, an old man who is known among them as "the
knight", Bora, Berca, Mauci, Corenza; this last named, however,
is the least of them all. There are many other chiefs, but I do not
know their names.
The Emperor of the Tartars has a remarkable power over
everyone. No one dare stay anywhere except in the place he has
assigned to them. It is he who appoints where the chiefs are to be,
but the chiefs fix the positions of the captains of a thousand, the
captains of a thousand those of the captains of a hundred, and the
captains of a hundred those of the captains of ten. Moreover,
whatever command he gives them, whatever the time, whatever
the place, be it to battle, to life or to death, they obey without a
word of objection. Even if he asks for an unmarried daughter or
sister, they give her to him without a murmur. Indeed, each year
or every few years he collects young girls from all parts of the
land of the Tartars, and if he wants to keep any for himself he
keeps them; the others he gives to his men just as it seems good
to him to arrange.
Whatever envoys he despatches, to whatever place and wherever
it may be, they are bound to give them without delay packhorses
and provisions. Also from whatever quarter envoys come
to him bearing tribute, they have likewise to be provided with
horses, carts and supplies. Envoys who come for any other reason,
however, are in a most unhappy position as regards both food and
clothing, for poor and inadequate provision is made for them;
and particularly when they come to the princes and have to prolong
their stay there, for then such a small quantity is given to ten men
that two could scarcely live on it. Even in the princes' ordas and
on the journey they are given nothing to eat except once a day, and
that little enough. Moreover, if they suffer any injury they cannot
easily make any complaint and so are obliged to bear it
patiently.
28 THE MONGOL MISSION
In addition, they are asked for many presents both by the princes
and others ofhigh and lower rank and if these are not forthcoming
they despise them, indeed they consider them of no account; if
they have been sent by men of importance, the Tartars are unwilling
to receive a small gift from them, saying "You come from
an important man and you give so little". And they refuse to
accept it and, if the envoys wish for success in their undertaking,
they are bound to give larger gifts. On that account we had no
choice but to bestow in gifts a great part of the things given to us
by the faithful for our expenses.
This also ought to be known, that all things are in the hands of
the Emperor to such an extent that no one dare say this is mine
or his, but everything is the Emperor's; that is to say goods, men
and animals. On this point indeed a decree of the Emperor was
recently issued. The chiefs have like dominion over their men
in all matters, for all the Tartars are divided into groups under
chiefs. Both the Emperor's men and all others are bound, without
raising any objection, to provide envoys of the chiefs whatever
the destination to which they are being despatched with packhorses
and provisions and men to look after the horses and to
serve the envoys. The chiefs as well as the others are obliged to
give mares to the Emperor as rent, so that he can have the milk for
a year, or for two or three years as it pleases him; and the men
under the chiefs are bound to do the same for their lords, for not a
man among them is free. In short, whatever the Emperor and the
chiefs desire, and however much they desire, that they receive
from their subjects' property; and their persons they dispose of
in all respects according to their own good pleasure.
After the death of the Emperor, as has been said above, the
chiefs assembled and elected in his stead Occodai, a son ofthe said
Chingis Chan. Occodai held a council of his princes and then
divided up his armies. Bati, who ranked second to him, he sent
against the country of the Great Sultan and the land of the
Bisermins. 1
These latter were Saracens but spoke the Coman
1
John's account of the campaign of Ugedey is somewhat confused. The
conquest of the
"
great Sultan
"
of Korezm and
"
the land of the Bisermins
"
was the work of Chingis Khan and his sons in 1219-23, and it was followed up
by a minor campaign by Chormagan-Noyan (John's
"
Cirpodan ", p. 31) in
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 29
language. Entering their territory, Bati fought with them and
overcame them in battle. A certain city called Barchin held out a
long time against hima for they dug a great number of pits around
the town and covered them over, and when the Tartars were
nearing the city they fell into the pits, and so were unable to take
it until they had filled them in.
The inhabitants of another city called Sakint, hearing of this,
came out to meet the Tartars and of their own accord surrendered
to them. In consequence their city was not destroyed, but many
men were killed and others transported. The Tartars plundered
the city and filled it with fresh inhabitants; they then proceeded
to attack the city of Ornas. This city was densely populated, for
there were many Christians there, namely Gazarians, Ruthenians,
Alans and others, and there were also Saracens there. The government
of the city was in the hands of the Saracens. This city was
moreover filled with great wealth for it is situated on a river which
flows through lankint and the land of the Bisennins and runs
into the sea, which makes it as it were a port, and other Saracens
used to carry on extensive trading with that place. The Tartars,
unable to conquer the city by any other means, threw a dam across
the river, which ran through the town, and submerged it with its
inhabitants and property. Having accomplished this, the Tartars
then entered the land ofthe Turks, who are pagans.
Subduing this country, they attacked Russia, where they made
great havoc, destroying cities and fortresses and slaughtering men;
and they laid siege to Kiev, the capital of Russia; after they had
besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants
to death. When we were journeying through that land
we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about
on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated
1230 and the following years in North Persia, Armenia and Georgia. But the
great event of Ugedey*s reign was the conquest of Russia and the invasion of
Central Europe by Batu and Subutay. This was the campaign which was the
turning point in Russian history and which determined the fate of Eastern
Europe for the next two centuries. The Mongol attack came, not from the
Caucasus as John suggests, but from the northern steppes. It began in 1236-7
with the conquest of the Cumans and the Bulgars on the Middle Volga, which
John puts after the invasion of Europe. In fact the conquest of north-east
Russia took place in the following year (1238), while the destruction of Kiev,
and the invasion of Hungary and Poland, followed in 1240 to 1242.
30 THE MONGOL MISSION
town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there
are at the present time scarce two hundred houses there and
the inhabitants are kept in complete slavery. Going on from
there, fighting as they went, the Tartars destroyed the whole
of Russia.
Proceeding from Russia and Comania, the afore-mentioned
chiefs made war on the Hungarians and Poles. A great number of
the Tartars were killed in Poland and Hungary, and if the
Hungarians had not taken flight and had resisted manfully, the
Tartars would have left their country, for they were filled with such
fear that they all tried to run away. Bati, however, drawing his
sword, withstood them to the face saying: "Do not flee, for if you
do, not one will escape, and if we are to die, let us all die, for that
is about to happen which Chingis Chan foretold when he said
we should be put to death: if the time has now come let us endure
it." And so fresh heart was put into them and they stayed and
destroyed Hungary.
Then on their way back they came to the land of the Mord-
vinians,
1
who are pagans, and they conquered them in battle.
They next proceeded against the Billed, that is to say Great
Bulgaria,
2
and destroyed it completely. Going further north they
attacked Baschart,
3
that is Great Hungary, and also defeated them.
Leaving that country they went still further north and came
to the Parossites. These people have small stomachs and tiny
mouths, so we were told, and they cook meat but do not eat it;
when it is cooked they lean over the pot and inhale the steam and
this is their only refreshment. If indeed they do eat anything, it is
extremely little.
The Tartars continuing in their way came to the Samoyedes.
Now these men, so it is said, live entirely off their hunting; even
the tents and clothes they have are made of nothing but animal
skins. Pressing on, the Tartars reached a land bordering on the
1
The Finno-Ugrian people who still exist as an autonomous Republic of the
U.o.o.Ix*
2
Great Bulgaria was a Moslem State on the Middle Volga and was a very
important centre of trade between Europe and Asia during the early Middle
Ages.
8
The modern Bashkirs who have given their name to the Soviet Autonomous
Republic of Bashkiria in south-east Russia.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 3!
ocean, where they came across monsters, who, we were told for
a fact, had a human shape in every respect except that the
extremities of their feet were like the hooves of oxen and, although
they had human heads, they had the faces of dogs. They would
speak two words like human beings and the third they would
bark like a dog, and they broke into barking in this way at intervals;
however, they always came back to the matter in hand, so it was
possible to understand what they were talking about. From there
the Tartars returned to Comania and some of them have stayed
there even until now.
At the same time Occodai Chan sent Cirpodan with an army
to the south against the Kergis
1
and he defeated them in battle.
These men are pagans and have no beards; they have a custom
that when a man loses his father by death, out of grief he removes
from his face a strip of skin from one ear to the other as a sign of
mourning.
Having conquered the Kergis, Cirpodan proceeded south
against the Armenians. When the Tartars were crossing a desert,
they came upon certain monsters, so we were told as a certain
truth, who had a human shape, but only one arm with a hand,
in the middle of the breast, and one foot, and two of them shot
with one bow; and they ran at such a rate that horses could not
keep on their track, for they ran by hopping on their one foot and,
when they grew tired with this method of progress, then they got
along on the hand and foot turning cart-wheels. (Isidore called
them Cyclopedes.) When this had exhausted them, they ran
again in their former fashion. The Tartars managed to kill some
of them, and we were told by the Russian clerics who live in the
orda with the Emperor that in the legation at the Emperor's court
several of the envoys of whom we made mention above came from
them to make peace with him.
Moving on from there, the Tartars reached Armenia, which they
conquered in battle; they also defeated part of Georgia, and the
rest of the country came to do their bidding, and they gave them
forty thousand yperpera each year as tribute and still do the
same,
1
The Circassians or Cherkess.
32 THE MONGOL MISSION
Continuing their march, the Tartars came to the land of the
Sultan of Rum1
, a man of considerable might and power; and they
fought against him and defeated him. They pushed on further,
subduing and conquering, as far as the country of the Sultan of
Aleppo, of which they are at the present moment taking possession,
and it is their intention to attack other countries beyond this.
Never up to the present day have they returned to their own
country. The same army attacked the territory of the Caliph of
Baghdad, which it also subdued. Every day they pay them as
tribute four hundred besants, in addition to brocades and other
gifts. Every year the Tartars send envoys telling the Caliph to
come to them, and every year he sends magnificent presents with
the tribute, begging them to release him from this obligation. The
Emperor accepts the presents, nevertheless he sends for him to
come.
CHAPTER VI
OF WAR, THEIR BATTLE ARRAY, ARMS, THEIR CUNNING IN
ENGAGEMENTS, CRUELTY TO CAPTIVES, ASSAULT ON FORTIFICATIONS,
THEIR BAD FAITH WITH THOSE WHO SURRENDER TO
THEM, ETC.
HAVING spoken of their empire, we will now deal with war in
the following manner: first we will tell of their battle array,
second of their arms, thirdly of their cunning in engagements,
fourthly of the cruelty they show to captives, fifthly of how they
make assaults on forts and cities, and sixthly of the bad faith they
show to those who surrender to them.
Chingis Chan ordained that the army should be organised in
such a way that over ten men should be set one man and he is
what we call a captain often; over ten of these should be placed
one, named a captain of a hundred; at the head often captains of
a hundred is placed a soldier known as a captain of a thousand,
and over ten captains of a thousand is one man, and tiie word they
1 The Seljuk Sultanate of Iconium, conquered by the Mongols in 1243-4.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 33
use for this number means "darkness." 1
Two or three chiefs are
in command of the whole army, yet in such a way that one holds
the supreme command.
When they are in battle, if one or two or three or even more
out of a group of ten run away, all are put to death; and if a
whole group often flees, the rest of the group of a hundred are all
put to death, if they do not flee too. In a word, unless they
retreat in a body, all who take flight are put to death. Likewise
if one or two or more go forward boldly to the fight, then the rest
of the ten are put to death if they do not follow and, if one or
more of the ten are captured, their companions are put to death if
they do not rescue them.
They all have to possess the following arms at least : two or three
bows, or at least one good one, three large quivers full ofarrows, an
axe and ropes for hauling engines of war. As for the wealthy,
they have swords pointed at the end but sharp only on one side
and somewhat curved, and they have a horse with armour;
their legs also are covered and they have helmets and cuirasses.
Some have cuirasses, and protection for their horses, fashioned
out of leather in the following manner: they take strips of ox-hide,
or of the skin of another animal, a hand's breadth wide and cover
three or four together with pitch, and they fasten them with
leather thongs or cord; in the upper strip they put the lace at one
end, in the next they put it in the middle and so on to the end;
consequently, when they bend, the lower strips come up over the
upper ones and thus there is a double or triple thickness over the
body.
They make the covering for their horses in five sections, one
on one side of the horse and one on the other, and these stretch
from the tail to the head and are fastened to the saddle and behind
the saddle on its back and also on the neck; another section they
put over its hindquarters where the ties of the two parts are
fastened and in this last-named piece they make a hole for the tail
1 " Darkness
" : see note on p. 26 above. John has confused
" duman "
(darkness) with
" tuman '% which means 10,000. Apart from this mistake^ the
whole of this chapter with its minute details of Mongol armaments and tactics
is extremely accurate and well informed, as is also the following chapter with
its account of the
" Tartar Yoke *'
in Russia during its earliest and most
" totalitarian
"
phase.
34 THE MONGOL MISSION
to come through; covering the breast there is another section. All
these pieces reach down as far as the knees or joints of the leg.
On its forehead they put an iron plate which is tied to the aforementioned
sections on each side of the neck.
The cuirass is made in four parts. One piece stretches from the
thigh to the neck, but is shaped to fit the human figure, being
narrow across the chest and curved round the body from the arms
downwards; behind, over the loins, they have another piece which
reaches from the neck and meets the first piece encircling the body;
these two sections, namely the front one and the back, are fastened
with clasps to two iron plates, one on each shoulder; also on each
arm they have a piece stretching from the shoulder to the hand
and open at the bottom, and on each leg another piece. All these
sections are fastened together by clasps.
The upper part of the helmet is of iron or steel, but the part
affording protection to the neck and throat is of leather. All these
leather sections are made in the manner described above.
Some ofthe Tartars have all the things we have mentioned made
of iron in the following fashion: they make a number of thin plates
ofthe metal, a finger's breadth wide and a hand's breadth in length,
piercing eight little holes in each plate; as a foundation they put
three strong narrow straps; they then place the plates one on top
of the other so that they overlap, and they tie them to the straps
by narrow thongs which they thread through the afore-mentioned
holes; at the top they attach a thong, so that the metal plates hold
together firmly and well. They make a strap out of these plates
and then join them together to make sections of armour as has
been described above. They make these into armour for horses
as well as men and they make them shine so brightly that one can
see one's reflection in them.
Some of them have lances which have a hook in the iron neck,
and with this, if they can, they will drag a man from his saddle.
The length of their arrows is two feet, one palm and two digits.
Since feet are not all the same,
1
we will give the measurement of
a geometrical foot; the length of a digit is two grains of barley,
and sixteen digits make a geometrical foot. The heads of the
1
This is the old Greek foot, consisting of four palms and sixteen digits.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 35
arrows are very sharp and cut on both sides like a two-edged sword
the Tartars always carry files at the side of their quiver for
sharpening their arrows. The iron heads have a pointed tail, a
digit's breadth in length and this they stick into the shaft.
They have a shield made of wicker or twigs, but I do not think
they carry it except in camp and when guarding the Emperor and
the princes, and this only at night. They also have other arrows
for shooting birds and animals and unarmed men; these are three
digits wide; in addition they have various other kinds of arrows
for shooting birds and animals.
When they are going to make war, they send ahead an advance
guard and these carry nothing with them but their tents, horses
and arms. They seize no plunder, burn no houses and slaughter
no animals ; they only wound and kill men or, ifthey can do nothing
else, put them to flight. They much prefer, however, to kill than
to put to flight. The army follows after them, taking everything
they come across, and they take prisoner or kill any inhabitants
who are to be found. Not content with this, the chiefs of the army
next send plunderers in all directions to find men and animals,
and they are most ingenious at searching them out.
When they come to a river, they cross it in the following manner,
even if it is wide. The nobles have a circular piece of light leather,
round the edge of which they make numerous loops, through
which they thread a rope; they draw this up so that it makes a
pouch, which they fill with their clothes and other things, pressing
them down very tightly together; on top of these, in the
middle, they put their saddles and other hard things. The men
also sit in the middle and they tie the boat they have made in
this way to the tail of a horse. They make one man swim in front
with the horse to guide it, or sometimes they have a couple of oars
with which they row to the other side of the water and so cross the
river. The horses, however, they drive into the water, and a man
swims by the side of one horse, which he guides, and the others
all follow it; in this way they cross both narrow and wide rivers.
The poorer men have a leather bag securely sewn everybody is
expected to possess one of these and into this bag or satchel
they put their clothes and all their belongings; having tied the
36 THE MONGOL MISSION
sack tightly at the top, they hang it on to a horse's tail and cross in
the manner described above.
It should be known that when they come in sight of the enemy
they attack at once, each one shooting three or four arrows at
their adversaries; if they see that they are not going to be able to
defeat them, they retire, going back to their own line. They do
this as a blind to make the enemy follow them as far as the places
where they have prepared ambushes. If the enemy pursues them
to these ambushes, they surround and wound and kill them.
Similarly if they see that they are opposed by a large army, they
sometimes turn aside and, putting a day's or two days' journey
between them, they attack and pillage another part of the country
and they kill men and destroy and lay waste the land. If they
perceive that they cannot even do this, then they retreat for some
ten or twelve days and stay in a safe place until the army of the
enemy has disbanded, whereupon they come secretly and ravage
the whole land. They are indeed the most cunning in war, for
they have now been fighting against other nations for forty years
and more.
When however they are going to join battle, they draw up all
the battle lines just as they are to fight. The chiefs or princes of
the army do not take part in the fighting but take up their stand
some distance away facing the enemy, and they have beside them
their children on horseback and their womenfolk and horses; and
sometimes they make figures of men and set them on horses.
They do this to give the impression that a great crowd of fightingmen
is assembled there. They send a detachment of captives and
men of other nationalities who are fighting with them to meet the
enemy head-on, and some Tartars may perhaps accompany them.
Other columns of stronger men they dispatch far oflf to the right
and the left so that they are not seen by the enemy and in this way
they surround them and close in and so the fighting begins from
all sides. Sometimes when they are few in number they are
thought by the enemy, who are surrounded, to be many, especially
when the latter catch sight of the children, women, horses and
dummy figures described above, which are with the chief or
prince of the army and which they think are combatants; and
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 37
alarmed by this they are thrown into disorder. If it happens that
the enemy fight well, the Tartars make a way of escape for them;
then as soon as they begin to take flight and are separated from
each other they fall upon them and more are slaughtered in flight
than could be killed in battle. However, it should be known that,
if they can avoid it, the Tartars do not like to fight hand to hand
but they wound and kill men and horses with their arrows; they
only come to close quarters when men and horses have been
weakened by arrows.
They reduce fortresses in the following manner. If the position
of the fortress allows it, they surround it, sometimes even fencing
it round so that no one can enter or leave. They make a strong
attack with engines and arrows and they do not leave off fighting
by day or night, so that those inside the fortress get no sleep; the
Tartars however have some rest, for they divide up their forces
and they take it in turns to fight so that they do not get too tired.
If they cannot capture it in this way they throw Greek fire; sometimes
they even take the fat of the people they kill and, melting
it, throw it on to the houses, and wherever the fire falls on this
fat it is almost inextinguishable. It can however be put out, so
they say, if wine or ale is poured on it. If it falls on flesh, it can
be put out by being rubbed with the palm of the hand.
If they are still unsuccessful and the city or fort has a river,
they dam it or alter its course and submerge the fortress ifpossible.
Should they not be able to do this, they undermine the city and
armed men enter it from underground; once inside, some of them
start fires to burn the fortress while the rest fight the inhabitants.
If however they are not able to conquer it even in this way, they
establish a fort or fortification of their own facing the city, so as
not to suffer any injury from the missiles of the enemy; and
they stay for a long time over against the city, unless by chance
it has outside help from an army which fights against the Tartars
and removes them by force. While they are pitched before the
fortification they speak enticing words to the inhabitants making
them many promises to induce them to surrender into their hands.
Ifthey do surrender to them, they say:
"
Come out, so that we may
count you according to our custom," and when they come out to
38 THE MONGOL MISSION
them they seek out the artificers among them and keep these, but
the others, with the exception of those they wish to have as slaves,
they kill with the axe. If they do spare any others they never
spare the noble and illustrious men, so we are told, and if by
chance the unexpected happens and some nobles are kept, they can
never afterwards escape from captivity either by entreaty or by
bribe.
All those they take prisoner in battle they put to death unless
they happen to want to keep some as slaves. They divide those
who are to be killed among the captains of a hundred to be
executed by them with a battle-axe; they in their turn divide them
among the captives, giving each slave to kill ten or more or less
as the officers think fit.
CHAPTER VII
How THEY MAKE PEACE, THE NAMES OF THE COUNTRIES THEY
HAVE CONQUERED, THE TYRANNY THEY EXERCISE OVER THE
INHABITANTS, AND THE COUNTRIES WHICH HAVE MANFULLY
RESISTED THEM
HAVING described how the Tartars fight, I have now to tell of
the countries they have brought under their sway and I will write
ofthis in the following manner : first I will tell how they make peace,
secondly I will give the names of the countries they have subjected,
thirdly I will tell of the tyranny they exercise over them
and fourthly of the countries which have manfully resisted them.
It should be known that the Tartars never make peace except
with those who submit to them, for, as has been said above, they
have Chingis Chan's command to bring all nations into subjection
if possible. They make the following demands of them,
first that, when the Tartars so wish, they shall proceed with them
in their army against any nation, and secondly that they shall hand
over a tenth part of everything, men as well as possessions. They
count ten boys and take one of them, and they do the same with
girls, and, taking them away to their own country, they keep them
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 39
as slaves; the rest they number and dispose of according to their
custom.
When they have complete dominion over them, if they make
them any promises, they do not keep them; rather do they find
reasons for making all possible extraordinary demands on them
whenever they can. For example, when we were in Russia, a
Saracen was sent there, on behalf, so they said, of Cuyuc Chan
and Bati and we were told later that from every man who had
three boys this official took one; he also took away all the unmarried
men and he did the same with the women who had not
got legitimate husbands; and the poor, even those who procured
their daily bread by begging, he deported in like manner; the rest
he numbered according to their custom and issued the command
that everyone, great and small, even children but a day old, rich
or poor, should pay the following tribute: that is, they should give
the skin of a white bear, a black beaver, a black sable, a black fox
and the black pelt of a certain animal, which has its burrow in the
ground and the name ofwhich I do not know how to translate into
Latin, but the Poles and Ruthenians call it dorcori. Whoever does
not produce these things is to be led off to the Tartars and reduced
to slavery among them.
They also send for the rulers of countries, bidding them come
to them without delay. When they come they do not receive the
honour which is their due but are treated like other low-born
people and are obliged to give substantial presents both to the
chiefs and their wives and to the captains of a thousand and the
captains of a hundred; indeed it is the general rule for all, even the
very slaves, to pester them with requests for gifts, and this applies
not only to rulers but also to the envoys sent to the Tartars by
powerful princes.
Against some they trump up reasons for putting them to death,
as has been told of Michael and others; some however they allow
to return in order to entice others; some they murder by means of
potions and poison, for it is the Tartars' intention that they alone
shall rule the world. Of those whom they allow to return they
demand sons or brothers and they never afterwards give these
their liberty; this is how they have treated the son of Jerozlaus
40 THE MONGOL MISSION
and a chief of the Alans and many others. If the father or brother
dies without an heir they never set free the son or brother, nay
rather they themselves take over the rule completely, as we saw
done in the case ofa chiefofthe Solangi.
The Tartars place bastaki 1
or prefects of their own in the
countries of those whom they allow to return and the rulers as well
as the others are obliged to obey their commands. If the men of
any city or country do not do what these bastaki wish, the latter
accuse them of being unfaithful to the Tartars, and consequently
that city or country is destroyed and the inhabitants put to death
by a strong force of Tartars who, summoned by the governor to
whom the land is subject, arrive, unknown to the inhabitants, and
suddenly rush upon them; this happened recently when we were
in the land of the Tartars to a certain town of Ruthenians which
the Tartars themselves had established in the land of the Comans.
And not only the Tartar prince who had usurped the government
of the land, or the prefect, but any noble Tartar passing through
that city or country acts as if he were its ruler, especially if he is
one of the more important Tartars.
Moreover they demand and receive without any gainsaying gold
and silver and other things they want, when they please and as
much as they please. Also if the rulers who have surrendered to
them have any disputes among themselves, then they have to go
to the Emperor of the Tartars to plead their case, as happened
lately in the affair of the two sons of the King of Georgia. One of
them was legitimate and the other born out of wedlock; the latter
was called David, while the name of the legitimate son was Melic.
Now the father had left part of the land to the son of the concubine;
the other, who was younger, seeing that the said David
had set out on the journey to the Emperor of the Tartars, also
started to come to him accompanied by his mother. Melic's
mother, that is to say the Queen of Georgia, died on the way;
it was through her that her husband held the royal power, for that
1
These are the baskaks or tax-inspectors who were responsible for the Mongol
tax census and for the levying of taxes and recruits. There is an interesting
account in the Novgorod Chronicle of the disturbances that occurred there in
1259 when "the accursed ones began to ride through the streets, numbering
the Christian houses" (op. cit.3 pp. 96-7).
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 4!
throne could be held through wives. When the two sons reached
the Emperor, they gave him magnificent presents, especially the
legitimate son who was claiming back the land which his father
had left to his son David, on the grounds that the latter ought not
to hold it, being the son of a mistress. To this David gave reply:
"Granted I am the son of a concubine, nevertheless I ask that I
be shown justice in accordance with the custom of the Tartars,
who make no difference between the sons of a wife and those of a
concubine". Consequently judgment was given against the
legitimate son and he was to be subordinate to David, who was
older than he and who was to govern the land which his father
had given him in peace and harmony. Thus Melic lost both the
gifts he had given and the case he had against his brother.
The Tartars take tribute from and deal leniently with nations a
long distance away from them which border on countries not
subject to the Tartars and somewhat feared by them; they do
this so that these neighbouring countries will not bring an army
against them or be afraid to surrender to them; they have dealt in
this way with the Obesi or Georgians, from whom they receive as
tribute forty thousand yperperas or bezants. Otherwise at the
moment they allow them to live in peace but, according to my
information, the Georgians intend rebelling against them.
The names of the countries [and races] they have conquered
are as follows :
Kitay, the Naimans, the Solangi, the Karakitayans
or black Kitay, Comania, Cumae, Voyrat, Karanites, Uigurs,
Su-Mongols, Merkits, Mecrits, Sari-Uigurs, Bascart that is
Great Hungary, Kergis, Cosmir, the Saracens, the Bisermins,
the Turcomans, Byleri that is Great Bulgaria, Catora, Tomiti, Burithabet,
Parossites, Cassi, the Alans or Assi, Obesi or Georgians,
Nestorians, Armenians, Kangit, Comans, Brutachi who are Jews,
the Mordvinians, the Turks, the Gazars, the Samoyedes, the
Persians, the Tarci, Lesser India or Ethiopia, the Circassians,
Ruthenians, Baghdad, and the Sarti. There are many other
countries, but I do not know their names. We saw men and
women from almost all the countries just mentioned.
Now follow the names of those countries which have manfully
resisted the Tartars and are at the present time not subject to
42 THE MONGOL MISSION
them: Great India, part of the Alans, part of the Kitayans and
the Saxi1
. When we were there we were told that the Tartars
besieged a certain city of these Saxi and tried to subdue it. The
inhabitants however made engines to match those of the Tartars,
all of which they broke, and the Tartars were not able to get near
the city to fight owing to these engines and missiles. At last they
made an underground passage and bursting forth into the city
they tried to set fire to it, while others fought, but the inhabitants
posted a group to put out the fire, and the rest fought valiantly
with those who had penetrated into the city and, killing many of
them and wounding others, they forced them to retire to their
own army. The Tartars, realising that they could do nothing
against them and that many of their men were dying, withdrew
from the city.
In the land of the Saracens and other nations the Tartars, who
live among them as their lords and masters, take all the best
craftsmen and employ them in their own service, while the rest
of the artificers pay tribute out of their work. They store all their
crops in the barns of their masters, who however allow them seed
and as much as will furnish them with a reasonable living. In
the case of others they give to each a very small quantity of bread
every day and nothing else, except the small amount of meat with
which they provide them three times a week, and this they do only
for those artificers who live in the towns. Moreover, when it
pleases the masters they take all the young men with their wives
and children and compel them to follow them with all their household;
from henceforth they are counted as Tartars, or rather as
captives, for although they are numbered among the Tartars, they
are never shown the respect that these enjoy but are treated as
slaves and are sent into every kind of danger like other prisoners;
they are first in battle and if a swamp or dangerous river has to be
crossed, they have to try the passage first. They are also obliged
to do all the work that has to be done and if they offend in any
matter or do not obey a command they are flogged like donkeys.
1
According to Benedict the Pole (infra, p. 80), the Saxi were the Goths
who still survived in the Crimea at this period, but the list of peoples given in
The Secret History of the Mongols (section 262) suggests that they were the
Chechen of the Caucasus (Sas or Sasoun).
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 43
In short, it is little that they eat and little that they drink,
and they are wretchedly clad, unless it happen that they can earn
something as do the goldsmiths and other skilled craftsmen. Some
however have such wicked masters that they allow them nothing
and, on account of the great number of tasks which have to be
carried out for their masters, they have no time to work for themselves
unless they steal it from the hours when they ought to be
resting or sleeping they can do this if they have wives and their
own dwelling. But the others who are kept in their master's house
as slaves are in a most unhappy condition. I saw them very often
wearing leather trousers with the rest of the body naked in the
extreme heat of the sun, and in winter they suffer from the intense
cold. I saw some of the men who had lost toes and fingers
owing to the great cold and I heard that some had died or had lost
the use of all their members from the same cause.
CHAPTER VIII
How TO WAGE WAR AGAINST THE TARTARS; THE INTENTIONS
OF THE TARTARS; ARMS AND ARMY ORGANISATIONS, How TO
MEET THEIR CUNNING IN BATTLE, THE FORTIFICATION OF CAMPS
AND CITIES, AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH TARTAR PRISONERS
HAVING spoken of the countries subject to the Tartars, I must
now add a description of how to wage war against them, and it
seems to me it should be dealt with in the following manner: first
as to their plans, secondly, as to arms and army organisation,
thirdly how to meet their cunning in engagements, fourthly of the
fortification of camps and cities, fifthly of what ought to be done
with prisoners.
It is the intention of the Tartars to bring the whole world into
subjection if they can and, as has been mentioned above, on this
point they have received a command from Chingis Chan. It is
for this reason that their Emperor writes in his letters: "The
strength of God, the Emperor of all men" and this is the inscription
on his seal: "God in heaven and Cuyuc Chan on earth.
44 THE MONGOL MISSION
the strength of God, the seal of the Emperor of all men". This
also accounts for their refusing to make peace with any nation
unless, as has been told, they surrender into their hands. Since
there is no country on earth which they fear with the exception
of Christendom, they are preparing to make war on us. Wherefore
be it known unto everyone that, while we were in the land of
the Tartars, we attended a solemn court, which had been announced
several years back and at which, in our presence, they
chose Cuyuc as Emperor, or Chan as it is in their language. The
said Cuyuc Chan, together with all the princes, raised the standard
to proceed against the Church of God and the Roman Empire,
and against all Christian kingdoms and nations of the West,
unless they carry out the instructions he is sending to the Lord
Pope, the rulers and the Christian peoples of the West.
In my opinion, these instructions ought on no account to be
observed, first because of the extreme, nay intolerable, hitherto
unheard-ofservitude to which they reduce all nations they conquer
and which we have seen with our own eyes; then because they are
not trustworthy and no nation can rely on their word they
break any promises they make as soon as they see that the tide is
turned in their favour, and they are full of deceit in all their deeds
and assurances; it is their object to wipe off the face of the earth
all princes, nobles, knights and men of gentle birth, as has already
been told, and they do this to those in their power in a sly and
crafty manner: then because it is unfitting that Christians should
be subject to them in view of the abominations they practise and
seeing that the worship of God is brought to nought, souls are
perishing and bodies are afflicted beyond belief in many ways; it
is true at first they speak fair words, but afterwards they sting and
hurt like a scorpion; and lastly because they are fewer in number
and weaker in body than the Christian peoples.
At the aforementioned court the fighting-men and chiefs of the
army were given their appointments. Out of ten men they are
sending three with their servants from every country under their
sway. One army is to penetrate by way of Hungary, and a second
by way of Poland, so we were told. They will come prepared to
fight without a break for eighteen years, and they have been
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 45
assigned their time for setting out. Last March we came upon an
army which had been called up from among all the Tartars
through whose territory we travelled after leaving Russia. In
three or four years' time they will reach Comania. From there
they will make an attack on the countries mentioned above; I do
not know however whether they will come immediately after the
third winter is over, or wait some time longer so that they have a
better chance of coming unexpectedly.
All these things are sure and certain, unless God, in His mercy,
places some hindrance in their way as He did when they went into
Hungary and Poland. It was their plan to continue fighting
for thirty years, but their Emperor was killed by poison and
consequently they have rested from battle until the present time.
But now, since an Emperor has been newly appointed, they are
beginning to prepare for the fight once again. It should be known
that the Emperor said with his own lips that he wanted to send
an army into Livonia and Prussia. Since it is their object to overthrow
the whole world and reduce it to slavery a slavery, as has
already been said, unbearable for men of our race they must
therefore be met in battle.
If one province is not prepared to help another, then the
country the Tartars are attacking will be vanquished and they will
fight against another country with the prisoners they take and
these will be placed in the front line. If they fight badly the
Tartars kill them, but if they fight well, then they keep them
by means of promises and flattery, and to prevent them from
running away they go so far as to promise to make them mighty
lords. But after this, when they can feel sure that they will not
leave them, they turn them into most wretched slaves and they do
the same with the women they wish to keep as servants and concubines.
And so, with the inhabitants of the district they have
conquered, they destroy another country and, in my opinion,
there is no province able to resist them by itself unless God fight
on its side for, as has already been said, men are collected together
from every country to fight under their dominion. Therefore if
Christians wish to save themselves, their country and Christendom,
then ought kings, princes, barons and rulers of countries to
46 THE MONGOL MISSION
assemble together and by common consent send mento fight against
the Tartars before they begin to spread over the land, for once
they begin to be scattered throughout a country it is impossible
for anyone to give any effective help to another, for troops of
Tartars search out the inhabitants everywhere and slaughter
them. If the latter shut themselves up in fortresses, the Tartars
station three or four thousand or more men round the fort or city
to besiege it, at the same time continuing to spread all over the
country killing men.
Whoever wishes to fight against the Tartars ought to have the
following arms: good strong bows, crossbows, of which they are
much afraid, a good supply of arrows, a serviceable axe of strong
iron or a battle-axe with a long handle; the heads of the arrows for
both bows and cross-bows ought to be tempered after the Tartar
fashion, in salt water when they are hot, to make them hard enough
to pierce the Tartar armour. They should also have swords and
lances with a hook to drag the Tartars from their saddle, for they
fall off very easily; knives, and cuirasses of a double thickness,
for the Tartar arrows do not easily pierce such; a helmet and
armour and other things to protect the body and the horses from
their weapons and arrows. If there are any men not as well armed
as we have described, they ought to do as the Tartars and go behind
the others and shoot at the enemy with their bows and crossbows.
There ought to be no stinting ofmoney when purchasing weapons
for the defence of souls and bodies and liberty and other pos-
sessions.
The army should be organised in the same way as the Tartar
army, under captains of a thousand, captains of a hundred, captains
of ten and the chiefs of the army. The last named ought on
no account to take part in the battle, just as the Tartar chiefs take
no part, but they should watch the army and direct it. They
should make a law that all advance together either to battle or elsewhere
in the order appointed. Severe punishment ought to be
meted out to anyone who deserts another either going into battle or
fighting, or takes flight when they are not retreating as a body, for if
this happens a section ofthe Tartar force follows tho'se fleeing and
kills them with arrows while the rest fight with those who have
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 47
remained on the field, and so both those who stay and those who
run away are thrown into confusion and killed. Similarly anyone
who turns aside to take plunder before the army of the enemy has
been completely vanquished ought to be punished with a very
heavy sentence; among the Tartars such a one is put to death
without any mercy. The chiefs of the army should choose their
battle ground, if possible a flat plain, every part of which they can
watch, and if they can they should have a large forest behind them
or on their flank, so situated however that the Tartars cannot
come between them and the wood. The army ought not to assemble
into one body, but many lines should be formed, separated
from each other, only not too far apart. One line ought to be sent
to meet the first line of Tartars to approach; if the Tartars feign
flight they ought not to pursue them very far, certainly not
further than they can see, in case the Tartars lead them into
ambushes they have prepared, which is what they usually do.
And let another line be in readiness to help the first if occasion
require it.
Moreover they ought to have scouts in every direction, behind,
to the right and to the left, to see when the other lines of Tartars
are coming, and one line ought always to be sent to meet
each Tartar line, for the Tartars always strive to surround their
enemies; the greatest precautions ought to be taken to prevent
their doing this, for in this way an army is easily vanquished.
Each line should take care not to pursue them for long, on account
of the ambushes they are wont to prepare, for they fight with
deceit rather than courage.
The leaders of the army ought always to be ready to send help
to those who are fighting if they need it. Another reason for
avoiding too long a pursuit after the Tartars is so as not to tire
the horses, for we have not the great quantity which they have.
The horses the Tartars ride on one day they do not mount again
for the next three or four days, consequently they do not mind if
they tire them out seeing they have such a great number of
animals. Even if the Tartars retreat our men ought not to
separate from each other or be split up, for the Tartars pretend to
withdraw in order to divide the army, so that afterwards they can
48 THE MONGOL MISSION
come without any let or hindrance and destroy the whole land.
The Christians should also beware of their usual tendency of
over-expenditure, lest they be obliged to go home on account of
lack of money and the Tartars destroy the whole earth and the
name of God be blasphemed on account of their extravagance.
They should take care to see that if it come to pass that some
fighting men return home, others take their place.
Our leaders ought also to arrange that our army is guarded day
and night, so that the Tartars do not make a sudden and unexpected
attack upon them for, like the devils, they devise many
ways of doing harm. Indeed our men ought to be on the alert as
much during the night as in the daytime, they should never undress
to lie down, nor sit at table enjoying themselves, so that
they cannot be taken unawares, for the Tartars are always on the
watch to see how they can inflict some damage. The inhabitants
of a country who are apprehensive and fear that the Tartars are
coining to attack them should have secret pits in which they should
put their corn as well as other things, and this for two reasons:
namely so that the Tartars cannot get hold of them and also that,
if God shows them His favour, they themselves will be able to
find them afterwards. If they have to flee from their country,
they ought to burn the hay and straw or hide it away in a safe place
so that the horses of the Tartars will find less to eat.
If they wish to fortify cities or fortresses, let them first examine
them from the point of view of position, for fortified places ought
to be so situated that they cannot be reduced by engines and
arrows; they should have a good supply of water and wood and, if
possible, it should be impossible to deprive them ofan entrance and
exit, and they should have sufficient inhabitants for them to take
it in turns in fighting. They ought to keep a careful watch to
prevent the Tartars from taking the fortress by stealth, by means
of ginning. They should have sufficient supplies to last for many
years, and let them keep them carefully and eat them in moderation,
for they do not know how long they will have to be shut up inside
their fortress. When the Tartars once begin, they lay siege to a
fortress for many years, for example at the present time in the
land of the Alans they have been besieging a hill for the past
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 49
twelve years, the inhabitants of which have manfully resisted and
killed many Tartars and nobles.
Other fortresses and cities which have not the situation described
above ought to be strongly protected by means of deep,
walled ditches and well-built walls and they should have a good
supply of bows and arrows and slings and stones. They must take
great care not to allow the Tartars to place their engines in position,
but they should drive them off with their own engines. If it
happen that the Tartars by some device or cunning erect their
engines, then the inhabitants ought to destroy them with theirs
if they can; they should also use cross-bows, slings and engines
against them to prevent them from drawing near to the city. In
other respects they ought to be prepared as has already been
described. As for fortresses and cities situated on rivers, they
should be careful to see that they cannot be flooded out. Moreover,
in regard to this point it should be known that the Tartars
much prefer men to shut themselves into their cities and fortresses
rather than fight with them in the open, for then they say they
have got their little pigs shut in their sty, and so they place men to
look after them as I have told above.
If any Tartars are thrown from their horse during the battle,
they ought to be taken prisoner immediately, for when they are
on the ground they shoot vigorously with their arrows, wounding
and killing men and horses. If they are kept they can be the means
of obtaining uninterrupted peace or a large sum of money would
be given for them, for they have great love for each other. As to
how Tartars may be recognised, it has been told above in the place
where a description is given of their appearance. When they are
taken prisoner, a strict guard must be kept over them if they are to
be prevented from escaping. There are men ofmany other nations
with them and these can be distinguished from them by means of
the description set down above. It is important to know that there
are many men in the Tartar army who, if they saw their opportunity
and could rely on our men not to kill them, would fight
against the Tartars in every part of the army, as they themselves
told us, and they would do them worse harm than those who are
their declared enemies.
50 THE MONGOL MISSION
These things which have been written above we have reported
merely as men who have seen and heard, not in order to instruct
prudent men who, by their experience of the fight, are acquainted
with the cunning devices of war; for we believe that those who are
practised and well-versed in these matters will think of and carry
out better and more useful ideas. Nevertheless the things we have
told above will stimulate them and provide them with material for
thought, for it is written: "A wise man shall hear and be wiser;
and he that understandeth shall possess governments" [Prov. i.
5],
CHAPTER IX
THE COUNTRIES THROUGH WHICH WE PASSED, THEIR POSITION,
THE WITNESSES WE CAME ACROSS, AND THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR
OF THE TARTARS AND HIS PRINCES
HAVING described how to make war against the Tartars, to
finish we will speak of the journey we made, of the countries
through which we passed, the arrangement of the court of the
Emperor and his princes and the witnesses who came our way in
the land of the Tartars.
When we had planned, as has already been told in another
chapter, to set out for the Tartars, we first came to the King ofthe
Bohemians1
. As this lord was a friend of ours from of old we
sought his advice concerning the best route to follow, and he
replied that it seemed to him it would be best to go through
Poland and Russia, for he had relations in Poland by whose aid
we would be able to enter Russia. He gave us a letter and safeconduct
for the journey so that we could cross Poland and he also
arranged for victuals to be supplied to us throughout his country
and cities, until we should reach his nephew Boleslaus2
, Duke of
1
King Wenceslas, 1240-53. He was a great supporter of the Franciscans,
and his sister, the Blessed Agnes of Bohemia, whom St. Clare called her
"
other
self ", was the first to introduce the Poor Clares north of the Alps at Prague
in 1230.
2
Boleslaus. Boleslav V the Chaste, the Duke not of Silesia but of Cracow
and Little Poland, where he had been temporarily supplanted by his uncle
Conrad of Mazoyia,
"
Conrad Duke of Lenczy ", who invited the Teutonic
Knights to Prussia.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 5!
Silesia, who was also a friend and acquaintance of ours. The
latter likewise gave us a letter, safe-conduct and supplies in his
towns and cities until we should come to Conrad, Duke of Lenczy.
We were favoured by the grace of God, for at that time the Lord
Vasilko1
, Duke of Russia, was there and from him we did in fact
learn a good deal about the Tartars, for he had sent envoys to
them and they had returned to him and his brother Daniel,
bringing a safe-conduct for the Lord Daniel to go to Bati. He
told us that if we wished to go to them we ought to have valuable
gifts to present to them, for they asked for such things with the
most pressing importunity, and if they were not given them (as
is indeed true) an envoy could not properly fulfil his mission, nay
rather he would be held of no account.
We did not wish the business of the Lord Pope and the Church
to be hindered on that score, so out of the money which had been
given to us as alms to help us on our way so that we should not be
in want, we bought some beaver pelts and also the skins of various
other animals. Duke Conrad, the Duchess of Cracow, certain
knights and the Bishop of Cracow, learning of this, also presented
us with a number of skins of this kind. Duke Conrad and
his son and the Bishop of Cracow most earnestly begged the aforementioned
Duke Vasilko to do all in his power to help us make
the journey to the Tartars, and he replied that he would gladly do
this. And so he took us with him to his own country, and after
he had kept us for some days as his guests so that we could rest a
little, at our request he summoned his Bishops to meet us and we
read to them the Lord Pope's letter in which he admonished
them that they should return to the unity ofHoly Mother Church.
We gave them the same counsel and also led them round as well
as we could to this point of view, both the Duke and the Bishops
and all who had assembled. But since at the same time that the
Duke had come to Poland his brother Daniel had gone to Bati and
was consequently not present, they were unable to give a definite
reply; for a complete answer his return would have to be
awaited.
1
Vasilko, Prince of Volhynia, the brother of Daniel of Galich, the most
powerful of the Russian princes who survived the Mongol invasion.
*
52 THE MONGOL MISSION
After this the Duke sent a servant with us as far as Kiev; however,
in spite of this we went in continual danger of death on
account of the Ruthenians 1
, who made frequent and secret raids
as often as they could upon Russian territory, especially in those
parts through which we had to pass. And since the majority of
the men-folk of Russia had either been killed or taken into captivity
by the Tartars, they were unable to offer any effective
resistance. However, thanks to the said servant we were safe
from the Ruthenians. And so, the grace of God favouring us and
rescuing us from the enemies of the cross of Christ, we reached
Kiev, the capital of Russia.
On arrival there we talked over our journey with the captain
of a thousand, and other nobles in that place. They told us that if
we were to take to the Tartars the horses which we had they would
all die, for the snow was deep and they would not know how to
dig up the grass from under the snow like the Tartar horses, nor
would we be able to find anything else for them to eat since the
Tartars have neither straw nor hay nor fodder. After this discussion
we decided to leave the horses there with two servants
to look after them. We had to give the captain presents, so as to
make him disposed to give us pack-horses and an escort. Before
we got as far as Kiev, however, I was desperately ill in Danilone2
;
nevertheless I had myself carried in a vehicle through the snow
in the bitter cold. In order not to hinder the affairs of Christendom,
we settled our business in Kiev and set out from there for
the barbarian nations with the captain's horses and the escort the
day after the feast of the Purification of Our Lady [February 3rd,
1246].
We reached a town which was directly under the Tartars and
is called Kaniev. The prefect of the town gave us horses and an
escort as far as another town. Here the prefect was a certain Alan,
called Micheas, who was filled with all malice and iniquity, for he
had sent some of his retinue to us in Kiev who lyingly told us, as
1
Vincent of Beauvais' version in Book XXXI of the Speculum Historiale
reads "Lithuanians" here. This makes more sense than
"
Ruthenians
"
9 since it
was at this time that the heathen Lithuanians began raiding southwards into
Volhynia until they eventually conquered the whole of Western Russia,
sition doubtful: possibly Lvov.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 53
from Corenza, that since we were envoys we were to go to him.
He did this, although it was not true, in order to be able to extort
presents from us. When however we did reach him, he made
himself most difficult to please and was unwilling to be of service
to us in any way, unless we promised him presents. We, seeing
that otherwise we would not be able to proceed any further3
promised to make some offering. When we gave him what
seemed good to us he would not accept it unless we gave more;
and so we had to increase it in accordance with his desire,
and other things he took from us by cunning, stealth and
knavery.
We then left with him on the Monday of Quinquagesima and he
took us as far as the first Tartar camp. On the first Friday after Ash
Wednesday we were putting up for the night as the sun was setting
when some armed Tartars rushed upon us in a horrible manner,
wanting to know what kind of men we were. When we replied
that we were envoys of the Lord Pope, they accepted some of our
food and went away immediately.
When day came we set off and when we had proceeded for a
short distance the chief men from the camp came to meet us,
asking why we were journeying to them and what was our business.
We answered them saying that we were envoys of the Lord Pope,
the lord and father of Christians, who was sending us both to the
King and Princes and all the Tartars because it was his desire
that all Christians should be friends of the Tartars and be at peace
with them; moreover he desired that they should be great before
God in heaven. For this reason the Lord Pope urged them, both
through us and by his letter, to become Christians and to receive
the faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for otherwise they could not be
saved; moreover he told them that he was amazed at the great
slaughter ofmen carried out by the Tartars, especially of Christians
and above all of Hungarians, Moravians and Poles, who are his
subjects, seeing that they had done the Tartars no harm nor even
attempted to do so; and since the Lord God was grievously
offended by this, he urged them to avoid such things for the future
and to do penance for their past deeds. We added that the
Lord Pope asked them to write back to him what they wished to
54 THE MONGOL MISSION
do in the future and what was their intention and to give Him an
answer in their letter to all the above points.
Having heard our reasons and understood what we have noted
above., they replied that on the strength of what we had said they
were willing to provide us with pack-horses and an escort as far as
Corenza, and immediately they asked for gifts, which they
received from us, for we needs must comply with their wishes.
And so having given the presents and received the pack-horses,
from which they themselves dismounted, we set out with an
escort of them on the journey to Corenza. However, they sent
ahead a messenger riding swiftly, who took with him to the chief
the message we had given them. This chief is lord of all those
who are placed as a guard against all the peoples of the West, to
prevent them from making a sudden and unexpected attack on the
Tartars. He has under him, so we heard, six thousand armed men.
When we reached Corenza he had tents pitched for us a long
way from him and he sent to us his servants who were stewards to
enquire of us with what we wished to bow to him, in other words
what gifts did we wish to give him. We replied that the Lord
Pope had not sent any presents, not being sure that we would be
able to get to them. Moreover our journey had led us through
districts most dangerous on account of the Ruthenian terror1
,
for they frequently make raids on the roads from Poland to within
a short distance of the Tartars we had passed on the way. Nevertheless
from among those things which by the grace of God and
our Lord the Pope we had with us for our daily needs we would
honour him as well as we could. When we had given him a number
of things he was not satisfied with them but must ask for more,
promising that if we granted his request he would have us conducted
with honour; we were obliged to do this if we wanted to
live and carry through the Lord Pope's command to a successful
conclusion.
After they had received the gifts they led us to his orda or tent
and we were instructed to genuflect three times on the left knee
before the door of the dwelling and to pay great heed not to step
on the threshold of the door; we were most careful about this for
1 "
The Ruthenian terror
"
: see note to p. 52 above.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 55
the sentence of death is on those who knowingly tread on the
threshold of the dwelling of any chief. After we had entered we
had to repeat on bended knees, in the presence of the chief and all
the other nobles who had been specially summoned for this
purpose, the things we had previously said. We handed him the
Lord Pope's letter, but since our paid interpreter whom we had
brought from Kiev was not competent to translate the letter, and
there was no one else at hand capable of doing it, it could not be
translated. After this we were given horses and three Tartars;
two of these were captains often while the third belonged to Bati,
to whom they were to take us with great speed. This Bati is the
most powerful of all the princes of the Tartars, with the exception
of the Emperor whom he is bound to obey.
We set out on the journey to him on the Monday after the first
Sunday in Lent [February 26th]. We rode as fast as the horses
could trot, for we had fresh horses three or four times almost every
day and we rode from morn till night, even very often during the
night, yet we were not able to reach him before the Wednesday
of Holy Week [April 4th].
We travelled right across the land of the Comans, which is
flat and contains four large rivers. The first is called the Dnieper;
along the Russian side of this Corenza roams and on the other
side, over the plains, Mauci, who is mightier than Corenza;
the second is the Don, along which roams a prince, Carbon by
name, who has as wife a sister of Bati; the third is the Volga, a very
large river, along which Bati goes; the fourth is called the Yaik and
along this go two captains ofa thousand, the one on one side of the
river, the other on the other. All these men go south in the winter
towards the sea, and in the summer they go up north along the
banks of the same rivers to the mountains. The sea is the Great
Sea, from which juts out the arm of St. George
1
which goes to
Constantinople. For many days we went along the Dnieper on
the ice. These rivers are large, and very full of fish, especially
the Volga. They flow into the sea of Greece, which is called the
1
The "
arm of St. George
" is the Bosphorus. John's error as to the Volga
and the Yaik or Ural flowing into the Black Sea is found in other early writers.
William of Rubruck, on the other hand, distinguishes the Caspian and the
Black Seas very clearly.
56 THE MONGOL MISSION
Great Sea, on the shores of which we were in considerable danger
for many days on account of the ice in a number of places, for it
freezes round the shores for a good three leagues out.
Before we reached Bati two of our Tartars went on ahead to
inform him of everything we had said to Corenza. When we got
to Bati, on the borders ofthe land ofthe Comans, we were stationed
a league away from his tents. When the time came for us to be
taken to his court, we were told that we would have to pass between
two fires, a thing we were on no account willing to do. But they
said to us: "Go without any fear, for we are making you pass
between two fires for no other reason than this that, if you are
planning to do any evil to our lord or if you happen to be carrying
poison, the fire may remove all that is harmful." To this we
replied: "That being the reason, we will go through so as not to
be suspected of such things."
When we arrived at the orda, his steward, who is called Eldegai,
asked us with what we wished to bow, that is to say what gifts we
were ready to give. I gave the same answer as I had given to
Corenza, namely that the Lord Pope had not sent any presents,
but we wished to honour him as well as we could from among those
things which, by the grace of God and the Lord Pope, we had with
us for our needs. The gifts offered and accepted, the steward
Eldegai enquired ofus the purpose of our coming and we gave him
the same reasons we had given earlier to Corenza.
Having heard this they led us into the dwelling after we had first
made a bow and received the warning about not treading on the
threshold, as has been described. Entering we said what we had to
say on our knees ; that done we delivered the letter and asked to be
given interpreters capable of translating it. We were given them
on Good Friday, and carefully translated the letter with them into
Ruthenian, Saracenic1
and Tartar characters. This translation
was presented to Bati, who read it and noted it carefully. At last
we were led back to our tent, but they gave us no food, except once
when they gave us a little millet in a bowl the first night we
arrived.
*
1 "
Saracenic
"
probably denotes
"
Persian ", and "
Tartar
"
means "
Uighur ",
since these were the languages used in the Mongol chancery.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 57
Bati lives with considerable magnificence, having door-keepers
and all officials just like their Emperor. He even sits raised up
as if on a throne with one of his wives; the others, however,
both his brothers and sons and others less noble, sit lower down on
a bench in the middle; as for the rest they sit beyond them on the
ground, the men on the right and the women on the left. He has
large and very beautiful tents of linen which used to belong to the
King of Hungary. No outsider, except a member ofhis household,
however mighty and powerful he may be, dare approach his tent if
he has not been summoned, unless he happens to know that that
is Bati's desire. We, having declared our purpose, sat down on the
left, for this is what all envoys do on their way to the Emperor, but
on the way back we were always placed on the right. In the
middle near the door of the tent is set a table on which drinks are
placed in gold and silver vessels. Neither Bati nor any other
Tartar prince ever drinks, especially in public, without there being
singing and guitar-playing for them. When he goes out riding a
sunshade or little tent is carried over his head on a stick, and the
same is done in the case of all the chief princes of the Tartars and
also their wives. Bati is kindly towards his own men, nevertheless
he is greatly feared by them; in battle he is the most cruel of men,
very shrewd and also extremely cunning in war, for he has now
been fighting for many years.
On Holy Saturday we were summoned to the orda, and Bati's
steward, whom we have mentioned before, coming out to us told
us on his master's behalf that we were to go to the Emperor
Cuyuc in their own country, and that they were detaining certain
of our party under the pretence that they wished to send them
back to the Lord Pope. We gave them a letter to take to him
giving an account of all that we had done, but when they reached
Mauci on the return journey they were kept there until we arrived.
On Easter Sunday we said office and made some kind of a meal
and then, together with the two Tartars who had been assigned
to us by Corenza, we left with many tears, for we knew not
whether we were going to death or to life. We were so weak we
could hardly ride. During the whole of that Lent our food had
been nothing but millet with water and salt, and it was the same
58 THE MONGOL MISSION
on other fast days, and we had nothing to drink except snow
melted in a kettle.
North of Comania, immediately after Russia, are the Mordvinians,
the Bylers, that is Great Bulgaria, the Bastarcs, that is
Great Hungary; beyond the Bastarcs are the Parosites and the
Samoyedes; after the Samoyedes are those men who are said to
have faces like dogs and live in the wilderness along the shores
of the ocean. To the south of Comania are the Alans, the Circassians,
the Gazars, Greece, Constantinople and the land of the
Iberians, the Caths, the Bruthachi who are said to be Jews and
shave their heads, the land of the Sicci, of the Georgians and
Armenians and the country of the Turks. 1
To the west it has
Hungary and Russia. This land of the Comans is very large and
long.
It took us from the beginning of Lent until eight days after
Easter to cross Comania, riding hard, for we had fresh horses five
or seven times a day, not indeed when we were going through the
desert, as has already been told, but then we were given better and
stronger horses able to maintain a prolonged effort. The Tartars
killed these Comans; some did in fact flee from before them and
others were reduced to slavery. Most of those who fled however
have come back to them.
We next entered the country of the Kangits,
2
in many parts of
which there is great scarcity of water and but few people dwell
there. This was why many of the men of Jerozlaus, Duke of
Russia, who were going to the land of the Tartars to join him,
died of thirst in the desert. In this country as well as in Comania
we came across many skulls and bones of dead men lying on the
ground like dung. We were travelling through this country from
eight days after Easter until about the Ascension of Our Lord.
The inhabitants were pagans and neither the Comans nor the
Kangits cultivated the land, but lived off their animals, nor did
they build houses but dwelt in tents. The Tartars also wiped out
1
Most of these peoples have been already mentioned in the list on p. 41.
The Cathi may be either the Karthlians or the Khaketians of Georgia, the
Sicci are the Zichians of the Kuban Steppe.
8
The Kangli Turks, whose name still survives as that of one of the subdivisions
of the Kaizaks. See p. 125 n. 2.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 59
the Kangits and now inhabit their country; such Kangits as were
left have been reduced to slavery.
On leaving the land of the Kangits we entered the country of
the Bisermins. 1
These people used to speak the Coman language
and still speak it, but they hold the faith of the Saracens. In this
country we came across innumerable ruined cities and demolished
forts and many deserted towns. There is there a large river I do
not know its name on which lies a city called lankinc, and
another called Barchin and a third called Orpar and many others
the names of which I do not know. This country used to have a
ruler called the Great Sultan and he was destroyed, together with
all his children, by the Tartars, but I do not know his name.
There are very high mountains in this land. To the south of it
lies Jerusalem, Baghdad and the whole country of the Saracens;
near its borders are stationed the chiefs Burin and Cadan2
who are
blood-brothers. On the north it has part of the country of the
Black Kitayans and the ocean; here Siban, Bati's brother, is
stationed. We travelled through this country from about the feast
of the Ascension until eight days before the feast of St. John the
Baptist [May lyth-June i6th].
We next entered the land of the Black Kitayans,
3
where the
Tartars have only recently built a city called Divult4
and the
Emperor has put up a house there to which we were invited for a
drink. The Emperor's representative there made the nobles of
the city and even his two sons clap their hands before us.
On leaving there we came to a lake,
5
not very large, and I do
not know what it is called for we did not ask. On the shore of this
lake there is a little hill in which there is an opening, so they
say, and in winter such great storms of wind come out of it that
men can hardly pass by and only at great peril. In summer the
sound of the wind can always be heard there but it only blows
1
"The country of the Bisermins" the kingdom of Khorezm or Khiva.
It is difficult to identify the different cities, but Orpar is probably Otrar on the
river Syr Darya.
2 "
Burin and Cadan." This is incorrect, as Buri was the grandson of
Jagatayj and Cadan the son of Ugedey.
3
The former kingdom of the Kara Khitay extended from the Syr Darya to
the upper Irtish and the borders of Mongolia.
4
Divult the city of Omyl or Imil in Tarbagatai.
5
This lake is probably the Ala Kul.
60 THE MONGOL MISSION
gently out of the hole, or so we were told by the inhabitants. We
journeyed for several days along the shores of this lake, which has
in it a number of islands. We went away from it leaving it on our
left. This country has an abundance of rivers, though they are
not large; on both banks of the rivers there are woods, but they
do not stretch far in depth. Ordu lives in this country; he is older
than Bati, in fact he is the oldest of all the Tartar chiefs. The orda
or court of his father is there and it is ruled by one of his wives,
for it is a custom among the Tartars that the courts of princes or
nobles are not destroyed but women are always appointed to
control them and they are given their share of the offerings just as
their lord was in the habit of giving them.
We next came to the Emperor's chief orda, where one of his
wives was living. As we had not yet seen the Emperor they were
unwilling to invite us or to allow us to enter the orda, but they
did have us very well looked after in the Tartar fashion in our own
tent and they kept us there throughout the day so that we could
rest.
Leaving there on the Vigil of St. Peter [June 28th] we entered
the country of the Naimans,
1
who are pagans. On the feast of the
Apostles Peter and Paul there was a heavy fall ofsnow there and we
experienced intense cold. This land is extremely mountainous and
cold and there is very little flat country. The two nations last
mentioned do not cultivate the land, but like the Tartars dwell in
tents. They have both been overthrown by the Tartars. We
journeyed through this country for many days.
Next we entered the land ofthe Mongols, whom we call Tartars.
We were, I think, journeying through this country for three weeks
riding hard, and on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene [July 22nd]
we reached Cuyuc, who is now Emperor. We made the whole of
this journey at great speed, for our Tartars had been ordered to
take us quickly so that we could arrive in time for the solemn court
which had been convened several years back for the election. And
so we started at dawn and journeyed until night without a meal,
1
The Naiman of Western Mongolia, whom John describes as pagans, are
spoken of as Christians by William of Rubruck (cf. ivfra> p. 122). There is no
doubt that Nestorian Christian influences were very strong amongst them.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 6l
and many a time we arrived so late that we did not eat that night
but were given in the morning the food we should have eaten the
previous evening. We went as fast as the horses could trot, for the
horses were in no way spared since we had fresh ones several times
a day, and those which fell out returned, as has already been
described, and so we rode swiftly without a break.
On our arrival Cuyuc had us given a tent and provisions, such
as it is the custom for the Tartars to give, but they treated us
better than other envoys. Nevertheless we were not invited to
visit him for he had not yet been elected, nor did he yet concern
himself with the government. The translation of the Lord Pope's
letter, however, and the things I had said had been sent to Him by
Bati. After we had stayed there for five or six days he sent us to his
mother1
where the solemn court was assembling. By the time we
got there a large pavilion had already been put up made of white
velvet, and in my opinion it was so big that more than two
thousand men could have got into it. Around it had been erected
a wooden palisade, on which various designs were painted. On the
second or third day we went with the Tartars who had been
appointed to look after us and there all the chiefs were assembled
and each one was riding with his followers among the hills and
over the plains round about.
On the first day they were all clothed in white velvet, on the
second in red that day Cuyuc came to the tent on the third day
they were all in blue velvet and on the fourth in the finest brocade.
In the palisade round the pavilion were two large gates,
through one of which the Emperor alone had the right to enter
and there were no guards placed at it although it was open, for no
one dare enter or leave by it; through the other gate all those who
were granted admittance entered and there were guards there with
swords and bows and arrows. If anyone approached the tent
beyond the fixed limits, he was beaten if caught; if he ran away he
was shot at, but with arrows however which had no heads. The
horses were, I suppose, two arrow-flights away. The chiefs went
about everywhere armed and accompanied by a number of their
1
Turakina (or Toragana) Khatun, the Empress Dowager, who had exercised
the regency during the interregnum since the death of Ugedey Khan.
62 THE MONGOL MISSION
men, but none, unless their group of ten was complete, could go
as far as the horses; indeed those who attempted to do so were
severely beaten. There were many of them who had, as far as I
could judge, about twenty marks' worth of gold on their bits,
breastplates, saddles and cruppers. The chiefs held their conference
inside the tent and, so I believe, conducted the election.
All the other people however were a long way away outside the
afore-mentioned palisade. There they remained until almost
mid-day and then they began to drink mare's milk and they drank
until the evening, so much that it was amazing to see. We were
invited inside and they gave us mead as we would not take mare's
milk. They did this to show us great honour, but they kept on
plying us with drinks to such an extent that we could not possibly
stand it, not being used to it, so we gave them to understand that
it was disagreeable to us and they left off pressing us.
Outside were Duke Jerozlaus of Susdal in Russia and several
chiefs of the Kitayans and Solangi, also two sons of the King of
Georgia, the ambassador of the Caliph of Baghdad, who was a
Sultan, and more than ten other Sultans of the Saracens, so I
believe and so we were told by the stewards. There were more
than four thousand envoys there, counting those who were carrying
tribute, those who were bringing gifts, the Sultans and other
chiefs who were coming to submit to them, those summoned by
the Tartars and the governors of territories. All these were put
together outside the palisade and they were given drinks at the
same time, but when we were outside with them we and Duke
Jerozlaus were always given the best places. I think, if I remember
rightly, that we had been there a good four weeks when, as I
believe, the election took place; the result however was not made
public at that time; the chief ground for my supposition was that
whenever Cuyuc left the tent they sang before him and as long as
he remained outside they dipped to him beautiful rods on the
top ofwhich was scarlet wool, which they did not do for any ofthe
other chiefs. They call this court the Sira Orda.
Leaving there we rode all together for three or four leagues to
another place, where on a pleasant plain near a river among the
mountains another tent had been set up, which is called by them
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 63
the Golden Orda;
1
it was here that Cuyuc was to be enthroned on
the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady,
2
but owing to the hail
which fell, as I have already related, the ceremony was put off.
This tent was supported by columns covered with gold plates and
fastened to other wooden beams with nails of gold, and the roof
above and the sides on the interior were of brocade, but outside
they were of other materials. We were there until the feast of St.
Bartholomew,
3
on which day a vast crowd assembled. They stood
facing south, so arranged that some of them were a stone's throw
away from the others, and they kept moving forward, going
further and further away, saying prayers and genuflecting towards
the south. We however, not knowing whether they were uttering
incantations or bending the knee to God or another, were unwilling
to genuflect. After they had done this for a considerable
time, they returned to the tent and placed Cuyuc on the imperial
throne, and the chiefs knelt before him and after them all the
people, with the exception of us who were not subject to them.
Then they started drinking and, as is their custom, they drank
without stopping until the evening. After that cooked meat was
brought in carts without any salt and they gave one joint between
four or five men. Inside however they gave meat with salted
broth as sauce and they did this on all the days that they held a
feast.
At that place we were summoned into the presence of the
Emperor, and Chingay
4
the protonotary wrote down our names
and the names of those who had sent us, also the names of the
chief of the Solangi and of others, and then calling out in a loud
voice he recited them before the Emperor and all the chiefs.
When this was finished each one of us genuflected four times on
the left knee and they warned us not to touch the lower part of the
threshold. After we had been most thoroughly searched for knives
1
Altyn Orda. This name the Golden Horde was transferred to the
Mongols of the west after the break-up of the Empire, and is used by Russian
historians in the traditional title of the Khanate of Kypchak, which was originally
known as the Great Horde.
2
August isth.
3
August 24th.
4
Chingay was a Nestorian Christian and had already been chancellor under
Ugedey. He was executed a few years later with Guyuk's other ministers when
Mongka became Khan.
64 THE MONGOL MISSION
and they had found nothing at all, we entered by a door on the east
side, for no one dare enter from the west with the sole exception
of the Emperor or, if it is a chief's tent, the chief; those of lower
rank do not pay much attention to such things. This was the first
time since Cuyuc had been made Emperor that we had entered his
tent in his presence. He also received all the envoys in that place,
but very few entered his tent.
So many gifts were bestowed by the envoys there that it was
marvellous to behold gifts of silk, samite, velvet, brocade,
girdles of silk threaded with gold, choice furs and other presents.
The Emperor was also given a sunshade or little awning such as is
carried over his head, and it was all decorated with precious
stones. A certain governor of a province brought a number of
camels for him, decked with brocade and with saddles on them
having some kind of contrivance inside which men could sit,
and there were, I should think, forty or fifty of them; he also
brought many horses and mules covered with trappings or armour
made ofleather or ofiron. We in our turn were asked if we wished
to present any gifts, but we had by now used up practically everything,
so had nothing to give him. There up on a hill a good
distance away from the tents were stationed more than five
hundred carts, which were all filled with gold and silver and silken
garments, and these things were shared out among the Emperor
and the chiefs. Each chief divided his share among his men,
but according to his own good pleasure.
Leaving there we went to another place where a wonderful tent
had been set up all of red velvet, and this had been given by the
Kitayans; there also we were taken inside. Whenever we went
in we were given mead and wine to drink, and cooked meat was
offered us if we wished to have it. A lofty platform of boards
had been erected, on which the Emperor's throne was placed.
The throne, which was of ivory, was wonderfully carved and
there was also gold on it, and precious stones, if I remember
rightly, and pearls. Steps led up to it and it was rounded
behind. Benches were also placed round the throne, and here
the ladies sat in their seats on the left; nobody, hbwever, sat on
the right, but the chiefs were on benches in the middle and the
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 65
rest of the people sat beyond them. Every day a great crowd
of ladies came.
The three tents of which I have spoken were very large. The
Emperor's wives however had other tents of white felt, which
were quite big and beautiful. At that place they separated, the
Emperor's mother going in one direction and the Emperor in
another to administer justice. The mistress of the Emperor had
been arrested; she had murdered his father with poison at the time
when their army was in Hungary and as a result the army in these
parts retreated. Judgment was passed on her along with a number
of others and they were put to death.
At the same time the death occurred of Jerozlaus, Grand Duke
in a part of Russia called Susdal. He was invited by the Emperor's
mother, who gave him to eat and drink with her own hand as if to
show him honour. On his return to His lodging he was immediately
taken ill and died seven days later and his whole body turned
bluish-grey in a strange fashion. This made everybody think that
he had been poisoned there, so that the Tartars could obtain free
and full possession of his lands. An additional proofofthis is the
fact that straightway, without the knowledge of Jerozlaus's suite
there, the Emperor sent a messenger post haste to Russia to his
son Alexander1
telling him to come as he wished to give him his
father's lands. Alexander was willing to go but waited, in the
meantime sending a letter saying that he would come and receive
his father's lands. Everybody, however, believed that if he did
come he would be put to death or at least imprisoned for life.
After the death of Jerozlaus, if I remember the time correctly,
our Tartars took us to the Emperor. When he heard from them
that we had come to him he ordered us to go back to his mother,
the reason being that he wished on the following day to raise his
banner against the whole ofthe Western world we were told this
definitely by men who knew, as I have mentioned above and he
wanted us to be kept in ignorance ofthis. On our return we stayed
1
Alexander, afterwards known as St. Alexander Nevski. He actually came
to Karakorum more than a year later with his brother Andrew, when he was
invested with the principality of Kiev, and his brother with that of Vladimir.
In 1251 Andrew was dethroned, but Alexander, who succeeded him at Vladimir,
always remained on good terms with his Mongol suzerains.
66 THE MONGOL MISSION
for a few days, then we went back to him again and remained with
him for a good month, enduring such hunger and thirst that we
could scarcely keep alive, for the food provided for four was barely
sufficient for one, moreover we were unable to find anything to
buy, for the market was a very long way off. If the Lord had not
sent us a certain Russian, by name Cosmas, a goldsmith and a
great favourite of the Emperor, who supported us to some extent,
we would, I believe, have died, unless the Lord had helped us in
some other way.
Before the enthronement Cosmas showed us the Emperor's
throne which he himself had made and his seal which he had
fashioned, and he also told us what the inscription was on the seal.
We picked up many other bits of private information about the
Emperor from men who had come with other chiefs, a number of
Russians and Hungarians knowing Latin and French, and
Russian clerics and others,
1
who had been among the Tartars,
some for thirty years, through wars and other happenings, and
who knew all about them, for they knew the language and had
lived with them continually some twenty years, others ten, some
more, some less. With the help of these men we were able to gain
a thorough knowledge of everything. They told us about everything
willingly and sometimes without being asked, for they knew
what we wanted.
After this the Emperor sent for us, and through Chingay his
protonotary told us to write down what we had to say and our
business, and give it to him. We did this and wrote out for him
all that we said earlier to Bati, as has already been told. A few days
passed by; then he had us summoned again and told us through
Kadac, the procurator of the whole empire, in the presence of
Bala and Chingay his protonotaries and many other scribes, to say
all we had to say: we did this willingly and gladly. Our interpreter
on this as on the previous occasion was Temer, a knight of
Jerozlaus': and there were also present a cleric who was with him
1 The existence of the Europeans at the Mongol court is also vouched for by
William of Rubruck. Some of the Russians may have been brought back from
the first Mongol raid to the West in 1221-3, but most of them, and especially
the Hungarians, were probably newcomers who had been captured a few years
before during Batu's great European campaign of 1238-42.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 67
and another cleric who was with the Emperor. On this occasion
we were asked if there were any people with the Lord Pope who
understood the writing of the Russians or Saracens or even of
the Tartars. We gave answer that we used neither the Ruthenian
nor Saracen writing; there were however Saracens in the country
but they were a long way from the Lord Pope; but we said that it
seemed to us that the most expedient course would be for them to
write in Tartar and translate it for us, and we would write it down
carefully in our own script and we would take both the letter and
the translation to the Lord Pope. Thereupon they left us to go to
the Emperor.
On St. Martin's day we were again summoned, and Kadac,
Chingay and Bala, the aforementioned secretaries, came to us and
translated the letter for us word by word. When we had written it
in Latin, they had it translated so that they might hear a phrase at a
time, for they wanted to know if we had made a mistake in any
word. When both letters were written, they made us read it once
and a second time in case we had left out anything, and they said
to us :
"
See that you clearly understand everything, for it would be
inconvenient if you did not understand everything, seeing you
have to travel to such far-distant lands". When we replied "We
understand everything clearly" they wrote the letter once again in
Saracenic, in case anyone should be found in those parts who
could read it, if the Lord Pope so wished.
It is the custom for the Emperor of the Tartars never to speak
to a foreigner, however important he may be, except through an
intermediary, and he listens and gives his answer, also through the
intermediary. Whenever his subjects have any business to bring
before Kadac, or while they are listening to the Emperor's reply,
they stay on their knees until the end ofthe conversation, however
important they may be. It is not possible nor indeed is it the
custom for anyone to say anything about any matter after the
Emperor has declared his decision. This Emperor not only
has a procurator and protonotaries and secretaries, but all officials
for dealing with both public and private matters, except that he
has no advocates, for everything is settled according to the decision
of the Emperor without the turmoil of legal trials. The other
68 THE MONGOL MISSION
princes of the Tartars do the same in those matters concerning
them.
The present Emperor may be forty or forty-five years old1
or
more; he is of medium height, very intelligent and extremely
shrewd, and most serious and grave in his manner. He is never
seen to laugh for a slight cause nor to indulge in any frivolity,
so we were told by the Christians who are constantly with him.
The Christians of his household also told us that they firmly
believed he was about to become a Christian, and they have clear
evidence of this, for he maintains Christian clerics and provides
them with supplies of Christian things; in addition he always has a
chapel before his chief tent and they sing openly and in public
and beat the board for services after the Greek fashion like other
Christians, however big a crowd of Tartars or other men be
there. The other chiefs do not behave like this.
According to our Tartars the Emperor proposed sending
ambassadors with us, to accompany us. I think, however, that
they wanted us to request him to do this, for one of our Tartars,
the eldest, advised us to make this petition. But since it did not
seem good to us that they should come, we told him it was not for
us to do the asking, but if the Emperor by his own desire should
send them, we would by the help of God conduct them safely.
There were several reasons why it did not seem expedient to us that
they should come. In the first place we were afraid lest, seeing the
dissensions and wars which are rife among us, they might be all the
more encouraged to attack us. The second reason was that we
feared that their real purpose might be to spy out the land. The
third reason was that we were apprehensive that they might be killed,
for our people are for the most part arrogant and proud. When
at the request of the Cardinal, who is legate in Germany, the
servants with us went to him wearing Tartar costume, they were
very nearly stoned by the Germans on the way and obliged to take
off the costume. Now it is the custom of the Tartars never to
make peace with men who kill their envoys, until they have taken
vengeance on them.
1 "
Forty or forty-five years old ". In reality Guyuk must have been considerably
younger than this, hardly more than thirty years old.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 69
The fourth reason is that we were afraid they might be taken
from us by force, as happened on one occasion to a Saracen
prince, who is still in captivity if he has not died. The fifth reason
is that no good purpose would be served by their coming, since
they would have no other mandate or authority than that of taking
to the Lord Pope and to the other princes the letters which we
had; and we believed that this might have harmful consequences.
For these reasons we were not in favour of their coming.
Two days later, that is to say on the feast of St. Brice [November
I3th], they gave us a permit to depart and a letter sealed with the
Emperor's seal, and sent us to the Emperor's mother. She gave
each of us a fox-skin cloak, which had the fur outside and was
lined inside, and a length of velvet; our Tartars stole a good yard
from each of the pieces of velvet and from the piece given to our
servant they stole more than half. This did not escape our notice,
but we preferred not to make a fuss about it.
We then set out on the return journey.
1
Wetravelled throughout
the winter, often sleeping in the desert on the snow except when
we were able to dear a place with our feet. When there were no
trees but only open country we found ourselves many a time
completely covered with snow driven by the wind. So on the
Lord's Ascension2
we reached Bati and we told him to send an
answer to the Lord Pope. He replied that he did not wish to send
any message other than that which the Emperor had written, and he
added that we were to tell the Lord Pope and the other lords with
great care what the Emperor had written. Having been given a
letter of safe conduct we took our leave of him and we got as far
as Mauci by the Saturday within the octave of Pentecost;
3
there
were our companions and servants who had been detained, and
we had them brought back to us.
From there we went to Corenza, who again asked us for presents.
We did not give him any, for we had none. He provided us with
two Comans, who counted as Tartars, to take us as far as Kiev in
Russia. Our Tartar however did not leave us until we had left
the last Tartar post. The others, who had been given to us by
Corenza, took us in six days from the last post as far as Kiev, and
1
May 9th, 1247.
a
May 25th.
*
June 9th.
70 THE MONGOL MISSION
we arrived there fifteen days before the feast of St. John the
Baptist.
1
When the inhabitants of Kiev became aware of our
arrival, they all came to meet us rejoicing and they congratulated
us as if we were risen from the dead. We met with the same reception
throughout the whole of Poland, Bohemia and Russia.
Daniel and his brother Vasilko made a great feast for us and
kept us, against our will, for quite eight days. In the meantime
they discussed between themselves and with the bishops and
other worthy men the matter about which we had spoken to them
when we were setting out for the Tartars. They answered us
jointly declaring that they wished to have the Lord Pope as their
special lord and father, and the Holy Roman Church as their
lady and mistress, and they also confirmed everything which they
had previously despatched by their abbot concerning this matter.
In addition they sent with us a letter and envoys.
To avoid any doubt arising in the minds of anyone as to our
having been to the Tartars, we will write down the names of those
with whom we came into contact there. Near the orda of Carbon,
who is married to Bati's sister, we met with King Daniel of Russia
and all his knights and men who had accompanied him; when with
Corenza we met Nongrot, a captain of a hundred from Kiev, and
his companions, and they also escorted us part of the journey;
they reached Bati after us. At Bati's orda we came across the son
of Duke Jerozlaus; he was accompanied by a knight from Russia
called Sangor, who was a Coman by nationality but is now a
Christian, like the other Russian who was our interpreter with
Bati and came from the Susdal district. At the court of the
Emperor of the Tartars we met Duke Jerozlaus, who died there,
and one of his knights, by name Temer. This latter acted as our
interpreter with Cuyuc Chan, the Emperor namely of the Tartars,
both in translating the Emperor's letter to the Lord Pope and in
speaking and replying. There also were Dubuzlaus, a cleric of
the said Duke, and his servants James, Michael and another James.
On coming to the land of the Bisermins on our way back, in the
1
This six months' winter journey across Asia is the most extraordinary of
all the achievements of the missionaries. Unfortunately we have no information
as to their route or how they surmounted the difficulties and hardships of their
journey.
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 71
city of Lemfinc, we met Coligneus who, by command of Jerozlaus
and Bati, was on his way to join the said Jerozlaus; and also
Cocteleban and all his suite. All of these have returned to the
Susdal district in Russia and the truth could if necessary be
learned from them. At Maud's orda Duke Jerozlaus and his
suite, and also a certain duke from Russia called Sancopoltus and
his retinue met with our companions who had stayed behind there.
On leaving Comania we came across Duke Romanus, who was
going to the Tartars, together with his companions and Duke
Olaha, who was leaving, with his suite. An envoy also of the
Duke of Chernigov left Comania along with us and travelled
across Russia with us for a considerable time; all these Dukes are
Ruthenians.
The entire city of Kiev is a witness, for the inhabitants gave us
an escort and horses as far as the first Tartar camp, and on our
return they received us together with our Tartar escort and their
horses which were being returned to them; likewise all those
men of Russia who were on our route and received Bati's sealed
letter and order saying that they were to provide us with horses
and food, otherwise he would put them to death.
In addition there are as witnesses the merchants from Vratislavia,
who accompanied us as far as Kiev and know that we were in the
clutches of the Tartars, and also many other merchants, both from
Poland and from Austria, who arrived at Kiev after we had gone
to the Tartars. Further witnesses are the merchants from Constantinople
who came to Russia via the Tartars and were in Kiev
when we returned from the land of the Tartars. The names of
these merchants are as follows: Michael the Genoese and Bartholomew,
Manuel the Venetian, James Reverius of Acre, Nicolas
Pisani, are the chief; the less important are: Mark, Henry, John,
Vasius, another Henry Bonadies, Peter Paschami. There were
many others, but I do not know their names.
We beg all those who read the foregoing account not to cut
out or add anything, for, with truth as guide, we have written
everything that we have seen or heard from others who we believe
are to be trusted and, as God is witness, we have not knowingly
added anything. People however whom we came across on our
72 THE MONGOL MISSION
journey in Poland, Bohemia, Germany and in Liege and Champagne
wanted to have the above account and so they copied it
before it was complete and even in a very abbreviated form, for
we had not then had a quiet time when we could finish it completely.
Therefore let no one be surprised that in the present
account there are more facts and they are more correct than in the
former, for having some leisure we corrected this copy so that it
is complete and perfect, at least more perfect than the unfinished
one.
Here ends the account of the Mongols who by us are called the
Tartars.
APPENDIX
Two BULLS OF POPE INNOCENT IV ADDRESSED TO THE EMPEROR
OF THE TARTARS1
GOD the Father, of His graciousness regarding with unutterable
loving-kindness the unhappy lot of the human race, brought low
by the guilt of the first man, and desiring of His exceeding great
charity mercifully to restore him whom the devil's envy overthrew
by a crafty suggestion, sent from the lofty throne of heaven down
to the lowly region of the world His only-begotten Son, consubstantial
with Himself, who was conceived by the operation of
the Holy Ghost in the womb of a fore-chosen virgin and there
clothed in the garb of human flesh, and afterwards proceeding
thence by the closed door of His mother's virginity, He showed
Himself in a form visible to all men. For human nature, being
endowed with reason, was meet to be nourished on eternal truth
as its choicest food, but, held in mortal chains as a punishment
for sin, its powers were thus far reduced that it had to strive to
understand the invisible things of reason's food by means of
inferences drawn from visible things. The Creator ofthat creature
became visible, clothed in our flesh, not without change in His
nature2
, in order that, having become visible. He might call back
to Himself, the Invisible, those pursuing after visible things,
moulding men by His salutary instructions and pointing out to
them by means of His teaching the way of perfection: following
the pattern of His holy way of life and His words of evangelical
instruction, He deigned to suffer death by the torture of the cruel
1
In Epistolae Saeculi xiii e regestis Pontificarum Romananim selectae, t. ii, Nos.
1 02 and 105, Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
2
Non sine commutatione nature.
74 THE MONGOL MISSION
cross, that, by a penal end to His present life, He might make an
end of the penalty of eternal death, which the succeeding generations
had incurred by the transgression of their first parent, and
that man might drink of the sweetness of the life of eternity from
the bitter chalice ofHis death in time. For it behoved the Mediator
between us and God to possess both transient mortality and everlasting
beatitude, in order that by means of the transient He
might be like those doomed to die and might transfer us from
among the dead to that which lasts for ever.
He therefore offered Himself as a victim for the redemption
of mankind and, overthrowing the enemy of its salvation, He
snatched it from the shame of servitude to the glory of liberty,
and unbarred for it the gate of the heavenly fatherland. Then,
rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, He left His
vicar on earth, and to him, after he had borne witness to the
constancy of his love by the proof of a threefold profession, He
committed the care of souls, that he should with watchfulness
pay heed to and with heed watch over their salvation, for which
He had humbled His high dignity; and He handed to him the
keys of the kingdom of heaven by which he and, through him, his
successors, were to possess the power of opening and of closing
the gate of that kingdom to all. Wherefore we, though unworthy,
having become, by the Lord's disposition, the successor of this
vicar, do turn our keen attention, before all else incumbent on us
in virtue of our office, to your salvation and that of other men, and
on this matter especially do we fix our mind, sedulously keeping
watch over it with diligent zeal and zealous diligence, so that we
may be able, with the help of God's grace, to lead those in error
into the way of truth and gain all men for Him. But since we are
unable to be present in person in different places at one and the
same time for the nature of our human condition does not allow
this in order that we may not appear to neglect in any way those
absent from us we send to them in our stead prudent and discreet
men by whose ministry we carry out the obligation of our apostolic
mission to them. It is for this reason that we have thought fit to
send to you our beloved son Friar Laurence of Portugal and his
companions ofthe Order of Friars Minor, the bearers ofthis letter,
HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS 75
men remarkable for their religious spirit, comely in their virtue
and gifted with a knowledge of Holy Scripture, so that following
their salutary instructions you may acknowledge Jesus Christ the
very Son of God and worship His glorious name by practising the
Christian religion. We therefore admonish you all, beg and
earnestly entreat you to receive these Friars kindly and to treat
them in considerate fashion out of reverence for God and for us,
indeed as if receiving us in their persons, and to employ unfeigned
honesty towards them in respect of those matters of which they
will speak to you on our behalf; we also ask that, having treated
with them concerning the aforesaid matters to your profit, you
will furnish them with a safe-conduct and other necessities on
both their outward and return journey, so that they can safely
make their way back to our presence when they wish. We have
thought fit to send to you the above-mentioned Friars, whom we
specially chose out from among others as being men proved by
years of regular observance and well versed in Holy Scripture, for
we believed they would be of greater help to you, seeing that they
follow the humility of our Saviour: if we had thought that ecclesiastical
prelates or other powerful men would be more profitable
and more acceptable to you we would have sent them.
Lyons, j#z March 1245
II
Seeing that not only men but even irrational animals, nay, the
very elements which go to make up the world machine, are united
by a certain innate law after the manner of the celestial spirits, all
of which God the Creator has divided into choirs in the enduring
stability of peaceful order, it is not without cause that we are
driven to express in strong terms our amazement that you, as we
have heard, have invaded many countries belonging both to
Christians and to others and are laying them waste in a horrible
desolation, and with a fury still unabated you do not cease from
stretching out your destroying hand to more distant lands, but,
breaking the bond of natural ties, sparing neither sex nor age, you
rage against all indiscriminately with the sword of chastisement.
We, therefore, following the example of the King of Peace, and
76 THE MONGOL MISSION
desiring that all men should live united in concord in the fear of
God, do admonish, beg and earnestly beseech all of you that for
the future you desist entirely from assaults of this kind and
especially from the persecution of Christians, and that after so
many and such grievous offences you conciliate by a fitting penance
the wrath of Divine Majesty, which without doubt you have
seriously aroused by such provocation; nor should you be emboldened
to commit further savagery by the fact that when the
sword of your might has raged against other men Almighty God
has up to the present allowed various nations to fall before your
face; for sometimes He refrains from chastising the proud in this
world for the moment, for this reason, that if they neglect to
humble themselves oftheir own accord He may not only no longer
put off the punishment of their wickedness in this life but may
also take greater vengeance in the world to come. On this account
we have thought fit to send to you our beloved son [John of Piano
Carpini] and his companions the bearers of this letter, men remarkable
for their religious spirit, comely in their virtue and
gifted with a knowledge of Holy Scripture; receive them kindly
and treat them with honour out of reverence for God, indeed as if
receiving us in their persons, and deal honestly with them in those
matters of which they will speak to you on our behalf, and when
you have had profitable discussions with them concerning the
aforesaid affairs, especially those pertaining to peace, make fully
known to us through these same Friars what moved you to destroy
other nations and what your intentions are for the future, furnishing
them with a safe-conduct and other necessities on both
their outward and return journey, so that they can safely make
their way back to our presence when they wish.
Lyons, i3th March 1245
THE NARRATIVE OF BROTHER BENEDICT THE POLE
This brief relation by John of Piano Carpini's Polish companion was
dictated by him to a prelate or scholastic of Cologne on his return from
Asia. It was first published by d'Avezac in 1838 from a MS. in the
Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris.
THE NARRATIVE OF BROTHER BENEDICT THE POLE
IN THE Year of Our Lord 1245 Brother John of the Order of
Friars Minor, named of Piano Carpini, was sent to the Tartars by
the Lord Pope, with another brother of the same Order, and
leaving Lyons in Gaul where the Pope was, he went to Poland
and there at Vratislavia1
took a third brother of the same Order,
named Benedict, a Pole by race, to be his interpreter arid the
companion of his labour and cares.
With the help of Conrad, Duke of the Poles, they reached Kiev,
a city of Russia, which is now under the Tartar yoke, and the
rulers of the city gave them guides for six days' journey to the
Tartar frontier guard on the borders of the Coman country.
When the captains of this frontier guard heard that they were
envoys of the Pope, they asked and received presents, and the two
Friars John and Benedict left their companion, who was sick,
with the horses and servants that they had brought with them, and
were taken on horses provided by the Tartars with their baggage
to the second camp.
And so by many camps and changes of horses. They came on
the third day to the general of an army, who was in command of
8,000 troops, and when his servants had asked and received gifts
they took them to their commander Corenza. He enquired of
them the cause of their journey and the nature of their business,
and on learning this, he sent with them three Tartars from his
following so that they should have horses and provisions from
one army to another until they came to Bati, who is one of the
great princes of the Tartars and the one who laid waste Hungary.
On their way they crossed the rivers Nepere [Dnieper] and Don,
and they spent five weeks and more on this journey i.e. from
the first Sunday in Lent to Maundy Thursday, when they
Modern Wroclaw or Breslau.
79
80 THE MONGOL MISSION
reached Bati, finding him on the great river Ethil1
which the
Russians call the Volga, and which is supposed to be the Thanais.2
And when the servants of Bati received the presents that they
demanded, namely forty beaver skins and eighty badger skins,
they carried them between the two sacred fires, and the Friars
were obliged to do likewise, since it is the custom of the Tartars
to purify envoys and presents by fire. Beyond the fires there stood
a chariot bearing a golden statue of the Emperor, which also it is
their custom to worship. But as the Friars utterly refused to do so
they were only compelled to bow their heads.
When Bati had heard the Pope's letters and examined them
word by word, after five days, that is, on the Tuesday after Easter,
he sent the Friars with his own litters and the same Tartar guides
as before to the son of the great Emperor, whose name is
Cuy[u]cchan
3
, in the native land of the Tartars.
And so they were dismissed by Prince Bati and, binding their
limbs with bandages to bear the strain of continual riding, they left
the land ofthe Comans after two weeks. This is the land which was
once named Pontus and in it there is a great deal of wormwood, as
Ovid remarks in his Epistles: "The bitter wormwood shivers
in the endless plains."
Now as the Friars traversed Comania they had on their right
the land of the Saxi, whom we believe to be Goths and who are
Christians: next the Alans who are Christians and then the
Guzari [Khazars] who are likewise Christian. In their country
is situated Ornas,
4
a rich city which the Tartars captured by
flooding it with water. After, the Circassians, and they are
Christians. And finally the Georgians, also Christians.
Before this in Russia, they had the Mordvins,
5
who are pagans
and have the greater part of the back of their heads shorn. Then
the Bylers
6
who are pagan, then the Bascards [Bashkirs] who are
the ancient Hungarians, then the dog-headed Cynocephali, then
1
Itil or Ityl, the Turkish name for the Volga.
2
The Tanais is, of course, the Don, as William of Rubruck realized.
3
Guyuk at this time had not yet been chosen as Great Khan.
4
Ornas, see supra, p. 29 n.
6
The Mordvins are a Finno-Ugrian people who still exist on the Volga.
6
The Bylers are the Volga Bulgarians represented by the modern Chuvash.
As William of Rubruck notes they were not pagans, but strongly Mohammedan.
NARRATIVE OF BROTHER BENEDICT THE POLE 8l
the Parocitae, who have such small and narrow mouths that they
cannot chew anything solid but take liquids, and inhale the steam
of meat and fruit.
On the frontier of Comania, they crossed a river named Yaralk
[Yaik or Ural] where the land of the Kangites
1
begins. Through
this country they rode for twenty days, finding few men, but
many marshes and saltings and salt rivers, which we believe to
be the Meotide swamps;
2
moreover, for eight days they traversed
a vast desert sandy and parched with drought.
After the land of the Kangites they reached Turkey [Turkestan]
where they found for the first time a large city Yankint and
they travelled through Turkey for about ten days. Now Turkey
follows the law of Mahomet. After Turkey they entered a land
which is called Kara Kitai that is to say Black Cathay and the
inhabitants are pagans and they found no city there, but they
found a sea on their left hand which we believe to be the Caspian.
3
After this they entered the land of the Naimans who were once
lords of the Tartars and here also they found no villages or cities.
Finally they entered the land of the Tartars on the Feast of Mary
Magdalene [July 22nd], when they found the Emperor at a great
encampment which is called Syra Orda. Here they stayed four
months and were present at the election of Cuiu[c]kan their
Emperor.
And the same Brother Benedict the Pole related to us by word
of mouth how they had both seen about 5,000 princes and great
men who were all clad in cloth of gold on the first day when they
assembled for the election of the king. But neither on that day,
nor on the next when they appeared in white samite, did they come
to an agreement. But on the third day, when they wore red samite,
they reached agreement and made the election. Moreover, the
same Brother affirms that there were about 3,000 ambassador
envoys from different parts of the world present, bringing letters,
answers, and every kind of tribute and gifts to the court. And
1
The Kangites are the Kangli Turks, occupying what is now the Kaizak
country.
2
Probably the salt lakes of the Turgai and the Kyzyl Kum desert.
3
Probably Lake Balkash. The " we "
of this passage and the preceding one
are presumably the scribes who took down his verbal report.
82 THE MONGOL MISSION
among them were the aforesaid Friars who wore brocade over their
habit as needs must, for no envoy is allowed to see the face of the
elect and crowned king, unless he is correctly dressed.
Accordingly they were admitted to the Syra Orda which is the
Emperor's abode, and saw him wearing his crown and shining in
splendid robes. He was sitting in the midst of the tent on a dais
richly ornamented with gold and silver and with a canopy over it.
There were four separate sets of steps leading up to this dais.
Three of them were in front, one in the middle by which the
Emperor alone went up and down, and two at the sides for the
grandees and lesser men, while by the fourth flight, which was at
the back, his mother and his wife and family used to ascend. Likewise,
the Syra Orda had three entrances, like doors, and the one in
the middle, which is the largest and far exceeds the others, always
stands open without any guard, for the king alone goes in and out
by it, and if anyone else were to enter by it he would be slain without
mercy. But the two side doors were closed with bars, and have
most severe guards keeping watch with arms, and through these,
men enter with awe for fear of the appointed penalty.
On the third day the mission of the Lord Pope was heard after
discussion and deliberation through the official and interpreters,
and afterwards the Friars were sent to the Emperor's mother whom
they found in another place, also sitting in a great and very fair
tent. And she treated them with great courtesy and friendliness
and sent them back to her son.
While they were staying there they often met Georgians who
lived among the Tartars and were highly respected by them as
brave and warlike men. These people are called Georgians
because they invoke St. George in their wars and have him as
patron and honour him beyond all other saints. They use the
Greek version of Holy Scripture and have crosses on their camps
and their carts. They follow the Greek rites in divine worship
among the Tartars.
And so when the business on which they had come had been
completed the Friars were sent back by the Emperor to carry
letters to the Lord Pope signed under his own seal. They set out
westwards with the envoys of the Soldan of Babylon, and when
NARRATIVE OF BROTHER BENEDICT THE POLE 83
they had travelled together for fifteen days, the envoys turned
southwards and left them. But the Friars travelled on to the West,
and after crossing the Rhine at Cologne they returned to the Lord
Pope at Lyons and presented to him the letters of the Emperor
of the Tartars, the purport of which according to the Latin
translation that was made is as follows:
The Strength of God, the Emperor of all men, to the Great
Pope, Authentic and True Letters
Having taken counsel for making peace with us, You Pope
and all Christians have sent an envoy to us, as we have heard
from him and as your letters declare. Wherefore, if you wish to
have peace with us, You Pope and all kings and potentates, in no
way delay to come to me to make terms of peace and then you
shall hear alike our answer and our will. The contents of your
letters stated that we ought to be baptized and become Christians.
To this we answer briefly that we do not understand in what
way we ought to do this. To the rest of the contents of your
letters, viz: that you wonder at so great a slaughter of men,
especially of Christians and in particular Poles, Moravians and
Hungarians, we reply likewise that this also we do not understand.
However, lest we may seem to pass it over in silence
altogether, we give you this for our answer.
Because they did not obey the word of God and the command
of Chingis Chan and the Chan, but took council to slay our
envoys, therefore God ordered us to destroy them and gave
them up into our hands. For otherwise if God had not done
this, what could man do to man? But you men of the West
believe that you alone are Christians and despise others. But
how can you know to whom God deigns to confer His grace?
But we worshipping God have destroyed the whole earth from
the East to the West in the power of God. And if this were not
the power of God, what could men have done? Therefore if
you accept peace and are willing to surrender your fortresses
to us, You Pope and Christian princes, in no way delay coming
to me to conclude peace and then we shall know that you wish
4.
THE MONGOL MISSION
to have peace with us. But if you should not believe our letters
and the command of God nor hearken to our counsel then we
shall know for certain that you wish to have war* After that we
do not know what will happen, God alone knows.
Chingis Chan, first Emperor, second Ochoday Chan, third
Cuiuch Chan.
APPENDIX
GUYUK KHAN'S LETTER TO POPE INNOCENT IV (I246)
1
WE, by the power of the eternal heaven.
Khan of the great Ulus2
Our command :
This is a version sent to the great Pope, that he may know
and understand in the [Muslim] tongue, what has been
written. The petition of the assembly held in the lands of the
Emperor [for our support], has been heard from your
emissaries.
If he reaches [you] with his own report, Thou, who art the
great Pope, together with all the Princes, come in person to serve
us. At that time I shall make known all the commands ofthe Yasa.
You have also said that supplication and prayer have been
offered by you, that I might find a good entry into baptism. This
prayer of thine I have not understood. Other words which thou
hast sent me: "I am surprised that thou hast seized all the lands
of the Magyar and the Christians. Tell us what their fault is."
These words of thine I have also not understood. The eternal
God has slain and annihilated these lands and peoples, because
they have neither adhered to Chingis Khan, nor to the Khagan,
3
both of whom have been sent to make known God's command,
nor to the command of God. Like thy words, they also were
impudent, they were proud and they slew our messenger-emissaries.
How could anybody seize or kill by his own power contrary to the
command of God?
Though thou likewise sayest that I should become a trembling
Nestorian Christian, worship God and be an ascetic, how knowest
1
Translated from the Persian.
2
Ulus is a large or small social group, here consisting of all the peoples under
the supreme tuler as a community.
8
Khagan is the supreme ruler.
85
86 THE MONGOL MISSION
thou whom God absolves, in truth to whom He shows mercy?
How dost thou know that such words as thou speakest are with
God's sanction? From the rising of the sun to its setting, all the
lands have been made subject to me. Who could do this contrary
to the command of God?
Now you should say with a sincere heart: "I will submit and
serve you/
5
Thou thyself, at the head of all the Princes, come at
once to serve and wait upon us ! At that time I shall recognize
your submission.
If you do not observe God's command, and if you ignore my
command, I shall know you as my enemy. Likewise I shall make
you understand. If you do otherwise, God knows what I know.
At the end of Jumada the second in the year 644.
1
The Seal
We, by the power of the eternal Tengri, universal Khan of the
great Mongol Ulus our command. If this reaches peoples who
have made their submission, let them respect and stand in awe
of it.
l
The date at the end of the document corresponds to November A.D. 1246.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK
Hardly anything is known about this great man except what he tells us
in his book. The dates of his birth and his death are unknown, but he
seems to have been a much younger man than John of Piano Carpini.
It is almost certain that he was a native of Flanders, deriving his name
from Rubruc near Cassel, now in French Flanders, not from Ruisbroek
in Brabant as has sometimes been supposed.
After his return from Mongolia he was detained by the Order in
Palestine, as lector in Theology at Acre, and he was obliged to ask St.
Louis to obtain permission for his return to Europe, This request was
eventually granted, and he came to Paris. Here he met Roger Bacon
who was intensely interested in his experiences, and refers to him at
length in the Opus Majus. This is the last we hear of him. Indeed it is
the only contemporary record of him that we possess. But Roger
Bacon's account seems to have aroused the interest of his countrymen,
for except in England William and his travels were practically forgotten
until modern times. The three MSS. at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, and the one in the British Museum, are the sources of all
the existing MSS. and versions and it was in England that Hakluyt and
Purchas first published their versions. Thus it is almost by accident
that the work of one of the greatest of medieval travellers has survived,
and it is only in our own time that the accuracy and historical importance
of his work have been fully recognized.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK
FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK, least in the Order of Friars Minor,
to the most excellent Lord and most Christian Louis, by the
grace of God illustrious King of the French, health and continual
triumph in Christ.
It is written of the Wise Man in Ecdesiasticus : "He shall pass
into strange countries, he shall try good and evil in all things."
This have I fulfilled, my Lord King, but would that it were as a
wise man and not as a fool : for many perform the same actions as a
wise man, not however in a wise manner but rather foolishly, and
I fear I am to be numbered among these. Nevertheless, whatever
be the manner in which I have acted, since you told me when I
took my leave of you that I was to write to you of everything I
should see among the Tartars, and even admonished me not to be
afraid of writing you a long letter, I am doing what you bade me,
albeit with fear and diffidence, for words such as I ought to use
when writing to so eminent a majesty do not readily spring to my
mind.
CHAPTER I
THE PROVINCE OF GAZARIA
BE it known therefore to your holy Majesty that in the year of Our
Lord one thousand two hundred and fifty-three on the seventh of
May we entered the Sea of Pontus which is commonly called the
Greater Sea. It is one thousand four hundred miles in length, as I
learned from merchants, and is divided into two parts, for about
the middle of it there are two points ofland, one in the north and
the other in the south. The one in the south is called Sinopolis
[Sinope] and is a fortress and the port of the Sultan of Turkey:
89
90 THE MONGOL MISSION
as for the one in the north it is that province which is
nowadays
called Gazaria by the Latins, but by the Greeks who dwell on the
sea coast is named Cassaria, that is to say, Caesarea. 1
There are
also certain promontories stretching out into the sea towards the
south in the direction of Sinopolis. There are three hundred
miles between Sinopolis and Cassaria. It is, by and large, seven
hundred miles from these points to Constantinople and seven
hundred to the east, that is, to Hyberia which is the province of
Georgia.
We sailed in the direction ofthe province of Gazaria or Cassaria,
which is like a triangle, on the west side ofwhich lies the city called
Kersona [Sebastopol] where St. Clement met his martyrdom.
As we sailed by we saw the island on which is the temple said to
have been built by the hands ofangels. In the middle of the south
side, as it were at the apex, there is a city called Soldaia [Sudak],
which looks towards Sinopolis, and all the merchants coming from
Turkey and wishing to go to northern lands make their way
thither, and similarly those coming from Russia and northern
territories who wish to cross to Turkey. The latter bring squirrel
and ermine and other valuable furs, while the former carry
materials of cotton or bombax, silk stuffs and sweet-smelling
spices. To the east of this province is a city called Matrica
[Taman]; here the river Tanais [Don] empties itself into the Sea
of Pontus [Black Sea] through an opening twelve miles wide.
Before this river reaches the Sea of Pontus it forms a kind of
sea [Sea ofAzov] towards the north, which is seven hundred miles
in breadth and length and nowhere reaches a depth of more than
six paces ; consequently large vessels do not enter it, but merchants
from Constantinople going to the aforesaid city of Matrica send
their barks as far as the river Tanais in order to buy dried fish,
namely sturgeon and barbot and other fish in enormous quantities.
The said province of Cassaria is therefore girt on three sides by
the sea, namely on the west where lies Kersona the city ofClement;
on the south where is the city of Soldaia towards which we were
steering and which forms the apex of the province, and on the
1
The Crimea was named Cassaria after the kingdom of the Khazars, which
was the great power in south-east Russia in the early Middle Ages.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 91
east by the Sea of Tanais where the city of Matrica is and the outlet
of the Sea of Tanais.
Beyond the mouth is Ziquia which is not subject to the Tartars,
and to the east are the Suevi and Iberi [Georgians], who also do not
obey them. Then towards the south is Trebizond which has its
own ruler, by name Guido,
1
who is of the stock of the Emperor of
Constantinople and is subject to the Tartars. Next comes Sinopolis
which belongs to the Sultan of Turkey who is likewise
subject. Then there is the territory of Vastasius 2
whose son is
called Ascar after his maternal grandfather; he is not subject to
them. From the mouth of the Tanais westwards as far as the
Danube all is theirs, even beyond the Danube in the direction of
Constantinople Blakia which is the land of the Assans,
3
Lesser
Bulgaria even as far as Sclavonia, all pay them tribute: also in
addition to the agreed tribute they have, in recent years, taken from
each house one axe and all the unwrought iron which they found.
And so we reached Soldaia on May 2ist. Certain merchants
from Constantinople had arrived before us and had announced
that envoys were coming thither from the Holy Land who wished
to visit Sartach. Now I had preached publicly on Palm Sunday in
St. Sophia's that I was not an envoy either of you or anybody else,
but that I was going among these unbelievers in accordance with
our Rule. Then when we landed the said merchants warned me
to mind my words, for they had given out that I was an envoy, and
if I were to deny that I was such, then I would not be allowed to
proceed.
Thereupon I spoke in the following manner to the prefects of
the city or rather to their deputies, for the prefects had gone to
Baatu in the winter bearing their tribute and had not yet returned.
"We heard it told of your lord Sartach in the Holy Land that he
was a Christian and the Christians rejoiced exceedingly over
this fact, especially the most Christian lord, the King of the
French, who is on a pilgrimage there and is fighting against the
1
By Gmdo, William appears to mean Andronicus Ghidos, who no longer
ruled. His successor at this period was Emmanuel Comnenus.
2
John Vatatzes, the Byzantine emperor, 1222-55. His son "Ascar" is
Theodore Lascaris.
3
The second Bulgarian kingdom of John Asen and his successors.
92 THE MONGOL MISSION
Saracens in order to wrest the Holy Places from their hands : for
this reason I desire to go to Sartach and bring to him a letter ofmy
lord the King, in which he admonishes him concerning the good
estate of the whole of Christendom." They received us with joy
and lodged us in the episcopal church. The Bishop ofthat church
had been to Sartach and he told me many good things about him
which I, for my part, was not to discover later.
They then gave us the choice as to whether we would like carts
with oxen, or pack horses, to carry our belongings. The merchants
from Constantinople advised us to accept the carts and even to buy
covered carts for ourselves like the ones the Ruthenians use for
carrying their furs, and into these to put such of our things as I did
not wish to unpack every day; for if I took the horses, I should
have to unload them at every stopping place and pack them on to
other horses; moreover I would be able to ride at a more gentle
pace with the oxen. I followed their advice, but it was bad advice
for I was on the road for two months before I reached Sartach : a
journey I could have completed in one month if I had gone with
horses.
On the advice of the merchants I had brought with me from
Constantinople fruit, muscatel wine and choice biscuits to present
to the chief men of the city so that I might be granted permission
to travel about, since they look with no favourable eye upon anyone
coming to them empty-handed. On failing to find the prefects of
the city there, I placed all these things in a cart, as I was told that
Sartach would be delighted with them, if only I could get them as
far as him.
So we set off on our journey about June ist with our own
four covered carts and with two others I had received from them
in which was carried bedding for sleeping on at night. They gave
us five horses to ride on, for we were five in number, myself, my
companion Friar Bartholomew of Cremona, Cosset the bearer of
this letter, Abdullah the interpreter, and a boy, Nicholas, whom I
had bought at Constantinople out of the alms you gave me. They
also gave us two men who drove the carts and looked after the
oxen and horses.
There are lofty promontories along by the sea from Kersona
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 93
as far as the mouth of the Tanais, and between Kersona and
Soldaia there are forty small towns, practically each one of them
having its own dialect; among them were many Goths who speak
German.
Beyond these mountains towards the north is a most fair forest in
a plain watered by springs and streams; on the other side of the
forest is a vast plain which stretches northwards five days' journey
to the boundary of this province where, having the sea to the east
and west, it narrows so that there is a great dyke from one sea to
the other. Before the Tartars came the Comans used to dwell in
this plain and they obliged the aforementioned cities and fortresses
to render them tribute; when the Tartars came the Comans
entered this province, all fleeing as far as the sea-shore in such
vast numbers that they ate each other, the living those who died,
so I was told by a merchant who saw the living devouring and
tearing with their teeth the raw flesh of the dead as dogs do
corpses.
At the far end of this province are many large lakes, on the
shores of which are salt-water springs; as soon as the water from
these runs into the lake it turns into salt, hard like ice. Baatu
and Sartach draw large revenues from these salt springs, for men
come thither from the whole of Russia for salt, and for every
cart-load they give two lengths ofcotton valued at halfa&yperpera.
1
Many ships also come by sea for the salt, all giving payment
according to the amount each takes.
And so on the third day after leaving Soldaia we came across the
Tartars; when I came among them it seemed indeed to me as if I
were stepping into some other world, the life and customs of
which I will describe for you as well as I can.
CHAPTER II
THE TARTARS AND THEIR DWELLINGS
THE Tartars have no abiding city nor do they know ofthe one that
is to come. They have divided among themselves Scythia, which
1
Yperpera: a Byzantine gold coin; also called bezants in the Middle Ages.
94 THE MONGOL MISSION
stretches from the Danube as far as the rising of the sun. Each
captain, according to whether he has more or fewer men under
him, knows the limits of his pasturage and where to feed his
flocks in winter, summer, spring and autumn, for in winter they
come down to the warmer districts in the south, in summer they
go up to the cooler ones in the north. They drive their cattle to
graze on the pasture lands without water in winter when there is
snow there, for the snow provides them with water.
The dwelling in which they sleep has as its base a circle of
interlaced sticks, and it is made of the same material; these sticks
converge into a little circle at the top and from this a neck juts up
like a chimney; they cover it with white felt and quite often they
also coat the felt with lime or white clay and powdered bone to
make it a more gleaming white, and sometimes they make it black.
The felt round the neck at the top they decorate with lovely and
varied paintings. Before the doorway they also hang felt worked
in multicoloured designs; they sew coloured felt on to the other,
making vines and trees, birds and animals. They make these
houses so large that sometimes they are thirty feet across; for I
myselfonce measured the width between the wheel tracks ofa cart,
and it was twenty feet, and when the house was on the cart it
stuck out at least five feet beyond the wheels on each side. I have
counted to one cart twenty-two oxen drawing one house, eleven
in a row across the width of the cart, and the other eleven in front
ofthem. The axle ofthe cart was as big as the mast of a ship, and
a man stood at the door of the house on the cart, driving the oxen.
In addition they make squares to the size of a large coffer out of
slender split twigs; then over it, from one end to the other, they
build up a rounded roof out of similar twigs and they make a little
entrance at the front end; after that they cover this box or little
house with black felt soaked in tallow or ewes' milk so that it is
rain-proof, and this they decorate in the same way with multicoloured
handwork. Into these chests they put all their bedding
and valuables; they bind them onto high carts which are drawn
by camels so that they can cross rivers. These chests are never
removed from the carts. When they take down their dwelling
houses, they always put the door facing the south; then after-
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 95
wards they draw up the carts with the chests on each side, half a
stone's throw from the house, so that it stands between two" rows
of carts, as it were between two walls.
The married women make for themselves really beautiful
carts which I would not know how to describe for you except by a
picture; in fact I would have done you paintings of everything if I
only knew how to paint. A wealthy Mongol or Tartar may well
have a hundred or two hundred such carts with chests. Baatu has
twenty-six wives and each ofthese has a large house, not counting the
other small ones which are placed behind the large one and which
are, as it were, chambers in which their attendants live; belonging
to each of these houses are a good two hundred carts. When they
pitch their houses the chief wife places her dwelling at the extreme
west end and after her the others according to their rank, so that
the last wife will be at the far east end, and there will be the space
of a stone's throw between the establishment of one wife and that
of another. And so the orda of a rich Mongol will look like a large
town and yet there will be very few men in it.
One woman will drive twenty or thirty carts, for the country
is flat. They tie together the carts, which are drawn by oxen or
camels, one after the other, and the woman will sit on the front one
driving the ox while all the others follow in step. If they happen
to come on a bad bit of track they loose them and lead them across
it one by one. They go at a very slow pace, as a sheep or an ox
might walk.
When they have pitched their houses with the door facing south,
they arrange the master's couch at the northern end. The women's
place is always on the east side, that is, on the left of the master of
the house when he is sitting on his couch looking towards the
south; the men's place is on the west side, that is, to his right.
On entering a house the men would by no means hang up their
quiver in the women's section. Over the head of the master there
is always an idol like a doll or little image offelt which they call the
master's brother, and a similar one over the head of the mistress,
and this they call the mistress's brother; they are fastened on to the
wall. Higher up between these two is a thin little one which is, as
it were, the guardian of the whole house. The mistress of the
96 THE MONGOL MISSION
house places on her right side, at the foot ofthe couch, in a prominent
position, a goat-skin stuffed with wool or other material,
and next to it a tiny image turned towards her attendants and the
women. By the entrance on the women's side is still another idol
with a cow's udder for the women who milk the cows, for this is
the women's job. On the other side of the door towards the men is
another image with a mare's udder for the men who milk the mares.
When they have foregathered for a drink they first sprinkle with
the drink the idol over the master's head, then all the other idols
in turn; after this an attendant goes out of the house with a cup
and some drinks; he sprinkles thrice towards the south, genuflecting
each time; this is in honour of fire; next towards the east
in honour of the air, and after that to the west in honour of water;
they cast it to the north for the dead. When the master is holding
his cup in his hand and is about to drink, before he does so he first
pours some out on the earth as its share. If he drinks while seated
on a horse, before he drinks he pours some over the neck or mane
of the horse. And so when the attendant has sprinkled towards
the four quarters of the earth he returns into the house; two
servants with two cups and as many plates are ready to carry the
drink to the master and the wife sitting beside him upon his
couch. If he has several wives, she with whom he sleeps at night
sits next to him during the day, and on that day all the others have
to come to her dwelling to drink, and the court is held there, and
the gifts which are presented to the master are placed in the
treasury of that wife. Standing in the entrance is a bench with a
skin ofmilk or some other drink and some cups.
In the winter they make an excellent drink from rice, millet,
wheat and honey, which is clear like wine. Wine, too, is conveyed
to them from distant regions. In the summer they do not bother
about anything except cosmos. Cosmos [koumiss] is always to be
found inside the house before the entrance door, and near it stands
a musician with his instrument. Our lutes and viols I did not see
there but many other instruments such as are not known among us.
When the master begins to drink, then one of the attendants
cries out in a loud voice "Ha!" and the musician strikes his
instrument. And when it is a big feast they are holding, they all clap
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 97
their hands and also dance to the sound ofthe instrument, the men
before the master and the women before the mistress. After the
master has drunk, then the attendant cries out as before and the
instrument-player breaks off. Then they drink all round, the men
and the women, and sometimes vie with each other in drinking
in a really disgusting and gluttonous manner.
When they want to incite anyone to drink they seize him by the
ears and pull them vigorously to make his gullet open, and they
clap and dance in front of him. Likewise when they want to make
a great feast and entertainment for anyone, one man takes a full cup
and two others stand, one on his right and one on his left, and in this
manner the three, singing and dancing, advance right up to him to
whom they are to offer the cup, and they sing and dance before
him; when he stretches out his hand to take the cup they suddenly
leap back, and then they advance again as before; and in this way
they make fun of him, drawing back the cup three or four times
until he is in a really lively mood and wants it: then they give him
the cup and sing and clap their hands and stamp with their feet
while he drinks.
CHAPTER III
THE FOOD OF THE TARTARS
As for their food and victuals I must tell you they eat all dead
animals indiscriminately and with so many flocks and herds you
can be sure a great many animals do die. However, in the summer
as long as they have any cosmos, that is mare's milk, they do not
care about any other food. If during that time an ox or a horse
happens to die, they dry the flesh by cutting it into thin strips
and hanging it in the sun and the wind, and it dries immediately
without salt and without any unpleasant smell. Out of the intestines
of horses they make sausages which are better than pork
sausages and they eat these fresh; the rest of the meat they keep
for the winter. From the hide of oxen they make large jars which
they dry in a wonderful way in the smoke. From the hind part of
horses' hide they make very nice shoes.
98 THE MONGOL MISSION
They feed fifty or a hundred men with the flesh of a single
sheep, for they cut it up in little bits in a dish with salt and
water, making no other sauce ; then with the point of a knife or a
fork especially made for this purpose like those with which we
are accustomed to eat pears and apples cooked in wine they offer
to each of those standing round one or two mouthfuls, according
to the number of guests. Before the flesh of the sheep is served,
the master first takes what pleases him; and also ifhe gives anyone a
special portion then the one receiving it has to eat it himself and
may give it to no one else. But if he cannot eat it all he may take it
away with him or give it to his servant, if he is there, to keep for
him; otherwise he may put it away in his captargac, that is, a
square bag which they carry to put all such things in: in this
they also keep bones when they have not the time to give them a
good gnaw, so that later they may gnaw them and no food be
wasted.
CHAPTER IV
How THEY MAKE COSMOS
COSMOS, that is mare's milk, is made in this way: they stretch along
the ground a long rope attached to two stakes stuck into the earth,
and at about nine o'clock they tie to this rope the foals ofthe mares
they want to milk. Then the mothers stand near their foals and let
themselves be peacefully milked; if any one ofthem is too restless,
then a man takes the foal and, placing it under her, lets it suck a
little, and he takes it away again and the milker takes its place.
And so, when they have collected a great quantity of milk,
which is as sweet as cow's milk when it is fresh, they pour it into
a large skin or bag and they begin churning it with a specially
made stick which is as big as a man's head at its lower end, and
hollowed out; and when they beat it quickly it begins to bubble
like new wine and to turn sour and ferment, and they churn it
until they can extract the butter. Then they taste it and when it
is fairly pungent they drink it. As long as one is drinking, it bites
the tongue like vinegar; when one stops, it leaves on the tongue
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 99
the taste of milk of almonds and greatly delights the inner man;
it even intoxicates those who have not a very good head. It also
greatly provokes urine.
For use of the great lords they also make caracosmos, that is
black cosmos, in this wise. Mare's milk does not curdle. Now it
is a general rule that the milk of any animal, in the stomach of
whose young rennet is not found, does not curdle; it is not found
in the stomach of a young horse, hence the milk of a mare does not
curdle. And so they churn the milk until everything that is solid
in it sinks right to the bottom like the lees of wine, and what
is pure remains on top and is like whey or white must. The dregs
are very white and are given to the slaves and have a most soporific
effect. The clear liquid the masters drink and it is certainly
a very pleasant drink and really potent.
Baatu has thirty men within a day's journey of his camp, each
one of whom provides him every day with such milk from a
hundred mares that is to say, the milk of three thousand mares
every day, not counting the other white milk which other men
bring. For, just as in Syria the peasants give a third part of their
produce, so these men have to bring to the orda of their lords the
mare's milk of every third day.
From cow's milk they first extract the butter and this they boil
until it is completely boiled down; then they store it in sheep's
paunches which they keep for this purpose; they do not put salt
into the butter; however it does not go bad owing to the long
boiling. They keep it against the winter. The rest of the milk
which is left after the butter has been extracted they allow to turn
until it is as sour as it can be, and they boil it, and in boiling, it
curdles ; they dry the curd in the sun and it becomes as hard as iron
slag, and this they keep in bags against the winter. During the
winter months when there is a scarcity of milk, they put this sour
curd, which they call grut, into a skin and pour hot water on
top of it and beat it vigorously until it melts in the water, which,
as a result, becomes completely sour, and this water they drink
instead of milk. They take the greatest care never to drink plain
water.
100 THE MONGOL MISSION
CHAPTER V
THE ANIMALS THEY EAT, THEIR CLOTHES AND THEIR HUNTING
THE great lords have villages in the south from which millet and
flour are brought to them for the winter; the poor provide for
themselves by trading sheep and skins; and the slaves fill their
bellies with dirty water and are content with this. They also
catch mice, of which many kinds abound there; mice with long
tails they do not eat but give to their birds; they eat dormice and
all kinds of mice with short tails. There are also many marmots
there which they call sogur and these congregate in one burrow in
the winter, twenty or thirty of them together, and they sleep for
six months; these they catch in great quantities.
Also to be found there are conies with a long tail like a cat and
having at the tip ofthe tail black and white hairs. They have many
other little animals as well which are good to eat, and they are
very clever at knowing the difference. I saw no deer there, I saw
few hares, many gazelles; wild asses I saw in great quantities and
these are like mules. I also saw another kind ofanimal which is called
arcali
1
and which has a body just like a ram's and horns twisted
like a ram's but of such a size that I could scarce lift the two horns
with one hand; and they make large cups out of these horns.
They have hawks, gerfalcons and peregrine falcons in great
numbers and these they carry on their right hand, and they always
put a little thong round the hawk's neck. This thong hangs down
the middle of its breast and by it they pull down with the left
hand the head and breast of the hawk when they cast it at its prey,
so that it is not beaten back by the wind or carried upwards.
They procure a large part oftheir food by the chase.
When they want to hunt wild animals they gather together in a
great crowd and surround the district in which they know the
animals to be, and gradually they close in until between them they
1
This is the first mention in literature of the Argali, Ovis Ammon, the great
wild sheep of the Altai.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 101
shut in the animals in a circle and then they shoot at them with
their arrows.
I will tell you about their garments and their clothing. From
Cathay and other countries to the east, and also from Persia and
other districts of the south, come cloths of silk and gold and
cotton materials which they wear in the summer. From Russia,
Moxel,
1
Great Bulgaria and Pascatu, which is Greater Hungary,
and Kerkis,
2
which are all districts towards the north, and full of
forests, and from many other regions in the north which are subject
to them, valuable furs of many kinds are brought for them,
such as I have never seen in our part of the world; and these they
wear in winter. In the winter they always make at least two fur
garments, one with the fur against the body, the other with the
fur outside to the wind and snow, and these are usually ofthe skins
of wolves or foxes or monkeys,
3
and when they are sitting in their
dwelling they have another softer one. The poor make their
outer ones of dog and goat.
They also make trousers out of skins. Moreover, the rich line
their garments with silk stuffing which is extraordinarily soft and
light and warm. The poor line their clothes with cotton material
and with the softer wool which they are able to pick out from the
coarser. With the coarse they make felt to cover their dwellings
and coffers and also for making bedding. Also with wool mixed
with a third part horse-hair they make their ropes. From felt
they make saddle pads, saddle cloths and rain cloaks, which means
they use a great deal of wool. You have seen the men's costume.
CHAPTER VI
How THE MEN SHAVE AND THE WOMEN ADORN THEMSELVES
THE men shave a square on the top of their heads and from the
front corners of this they continue the shaving in strips along the
1
Moksha, a Finnish tribe, who lived on the Mpksha, a tributary of the Oka.
2
Probably the Kirgiz, who at that time lived in Siberia north of the Altai
Mountains.
3
The text reads "papionibus", baboons: possibly it refers to some Asiatic
monkey like the Rkinopitheri of China and Tibet.
102 THE MONGOL MISSION
sides of the head as far as the temples. They also shave their
temples and neck to the top of the cervical cavity and their forehead
in front to the top of the frontal bone, where they leave a tuft
ofhair which hangs down as far as the eyebrows. At the sides and
the back of the head they leave the hair, which they make into
plaits, and these they braid round the head to the ears.
The costume of the girls is no different from that of the men
except that it is somewhat longer. But on the day after she is
married a woman shaves from the middle of her head to her forehead,
and she has a tunic as wide as a nun's cowl, and in every
respect wider and longer, and open in front, and this they tie on
the right side. Now in this matter the Tartars differ from the
Turks, for the Turks tie their tunics on the left, but the Tartars
always on the right.
They also have a head-dress which they call bocca, which is
made out of the bark of a tree or of any other fairly light material
which they can find; it is large and circular and as big as two
hands can span around, a cubit and more high and square at
the top like the capital of a column. This bocca they cover with
costly silk material, and it is hollow inside, and on the capital in
the middle or on the side they put a rod of quills or slender canes,
likewise a cubit and more in length; and they decorate this rod at
the top with peacock feathers and throughout its length all round
with little feathers from the mallard's tail and also with precious
stones. The wealthy ladies wear such an ornament on the top
of their head and fasten it down firmly with a hood which has a
hole in the top for this purpose, and in it they stuff their hair,
gathering it up from the back on to the top ofthe head in a kind of
knot and putting over it the bocca which they then tie firmly under
the chin. So when several ladies ride together and are seen from a
distance, they give the appearance of soldiers with helmets on
their heads and raised lances; for the bocca looks like a helmet and
the rod on top like a lance.
All the women sit on their horses like men, astride, and they tie
their cowls with a piece of sky-blue silk round the waist, and with
another strip they bind their breasts, and they fasten a piece of
white stuff below their eyes which hangs down to the breast.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 103
The women are wondrous fat and the less nose they have the
more beautiful they are considered. They disfigure themselves
hideously by painting their faces. They never lie down on a bed
to give birth to their children.
CHAPTER VII
THE DUTIES OF THE WOMEN AND THEIR WORK
IT is the duty of the women to drive the carts, to load the houses
on to them and to unload them, to milk the cows, to make the
butter and grut? to dress the skins and to sew them, which they do
with thread made out oftendons. They split the tendons into very
thin threads and then twist these into one long thread. They also
sew shoes and socks and other garments. They never wash their
clothes, for they say that that makes God angry and that it would
thunder if they hung them out to dry; they even beat those who
do wash them and take them away from them. They are extraordinarily
afraid of thunder. At such a time they turn all strangers
out of their dwellings and wrap themselves in black felt in which
they hide until it has passed over. They never wash their dishes,
but when the meat is cooked, they wash out the bowl in which they
are going to put it with some boiling broth from the cauldron which
they afterwards pour back. The women also make the felt and
cover the houses.
The men make bows and arrows, manufacture stirrups and bits
and make saddles; they build the houses and carts, they look after
the horses and milk the mares, churn the cosmos, that is the mares'
milk, and make the skins in which it is kept, and they also look
after the camels and load them. Both sexes look after the sheep
and goats, and sometimes the men, sometimes the women, milk
them. They dress skins with the sour milk of ewes, thickened
and salted.
When they want to wash their hands or their head, they fill
their mouth with water and, pouring this little by little from their
1
Cf. supra, p. 99.
104 THE MONGOL MISSION
mouth into their hands, with it they wet their hair and wash their
head.
As for their marriages, you must know that no one there has a
wife unless he buys her, which means that sometimes girls are
quite grown up before they marry, for their parents always keep
them until they sell them. They observe the first and second
degrees of consanguinity, but observe no degrees of affinity; they
have two sisters at the same time or one after the other. No widow
among them marries, the reason being that they believe that all
those who serve them in this life will serve them in the next, and
so of a widow they believe that she will always return after death
to her first husband. This gives rise to a shameful custom among
them whereby a son sometimes takes to wife all his father's wives,
except his own mother; for the orda of a father and mother always
falls to the youngest son and so he himself has to provide for all
his father's wives who come to him with his father's effects; and
then, if he so wishes, he uses them as wives, for he does not consider
an injury has been done to him if they return to his father
after death.
And so when anyone has made an agreement with another to
take his daughter, the father of the girl arranges a feast and she
takes flight to relations where she lies hid. Then the father
declares: "Now my daughter is yours; take her wherever you
find her." Then he searches for her with his friends until he finds
her; then he has to take her by force and bring her, as though by
violence, to his house.
CHAPTER VIII
OF THEIR JUSTICE AND JUDGMENTS, DEATH AND BURIAL
CONCERNING their penal laws I can tell you that when two men
fight no one dares to interfere, even a father dare not help his son,
but he who comes off the worse may appeal to the court ofthe lord
and if the other touches him after the appeal, he is put to death.
But he must go immediately without any delay and the one who
has suffered the injury leads the other like a captive.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 105
They inflict capital punishment on no one unless he has been
caught in the act or confesses; but when a man is accused by a
number of people, they torture him well,, so that he confesses.
Murder they punish by the death sentence, and also cohabiting
with a woman not one's own. By one's own I mean wife or
servant, for it is lawful for a man to use his slave as he will.
Robbery on a grand scale they likewise punish by death. For a
petty theft, such as one sheep, so long as a man has not been
caught doing it often, they beat him cruelly, and if they deal him
a hundred strokes, then they have to have a hundred rods. I am
speaking ofthose who are beaten as a result ofthe court's sentence.
Similarly they put to death false ambassadors, that is to say men
who pretend they are ambassadors but are not; also sorceresses, of
whom however I will tell you more later, for they consider them
to be witches.
When anyone dies they mourn, wailing in a loud voice, and then
they are free from paying taxes until the year is up. And if anyone
is present at the death of an adult, he does not enter the dwelling
of Mangu Chan for a year; if it is a child who dies he does not
enter it for a month.
Near the grave of a dead man they always leave a dwelling, if he
is of the nobility, that is of the family of Chingis, who was their
first father and lord. The burial place of him who dies is not
known; and always around those places where they bury their
nobles there is a camp of men who guard the tombs. It has not
come to my knowledge that they bury treasure with the dead.
The Comans make a great mound over the dead man and set up a
statue to him, facing the east and holding a cup in its hand in front
of its navel. They also make pyramids for the rich, that is, little
pointed houses; and in some places I saw large towers of baked
tiles, and in others stone houses, although stones are not to be
found there. I saw a man recently dead for whom they had hung
up, between tall poles, the skins of sixteen horses, four facing
each quarter of the earth, and they had put cosmos there for him
to drink and meat for Him to eat, and in spite of this they said of
him that he had been baptised. Further east I saw other tombs,
namely large areas strewn with stones, some round, some square
106 THE MONGOL MISSION
and then four tall stones upright round the plot facing the four
quarters of the earth.
When anyone is ill he takes to his bed and places a sign above
his dwelling that there is a sick person there and that no one
may enter. And so nobody visits the invalid except the one who
looks after him. When anyone from one of the great ordas is sick,
they place guards at a distance round the orda and they do not
allow anyone to cross these bounds, for they are afraid an evil
spirit or wind may come in with those entering. They summon
their soothsayers as if they were their priests.
CHAPTER IX
OUR ARRIVAL AMONG THE BARBARIANS AND THEIR INGRATITUDE
WHEN we arrived among those barbarians, it seemed to me, as I
have already said, as if I were stepping into another world. For
after they had made us wait for a long time sitting in the shade of
our carts, they surrounded us on horseback. Their first question
was whether we had ever before been among them. On being told
no, they began impudently to ask for some of our provisions.
We gave them some of the biscuit and wine we had brought with
us from the town; and when they had drunk one flagon of wine
they asked for another, saying that a man does not enter a house
on one foot. We gave it to them, apologising that we had but
little. Then they enquired where we had come from and where
we wanted to go. I spoke to them in the words I have already
given, saying that we had heard of Sartach that he was a Christian
and that I wished to go to him as I had your letter to deliver to
him. They then diligently enquired whether I was going of my
own free will or whether I was being sent. I replied that nobody
forced me to go, nor would I have gone if I did not wish to, therefore
I was going of my own free will and also by the will of my
superior. I took great care never to say that I was your ambassador.
Then they asked what was in the carts, whether it
was gold or silver or precious garments that I was taking to
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK I0y
Sartach. I rejoined that Sartach would see well enough for himself
what we were bringing him when we reached him and that it
was none of their business to ask after such matters, but they
ought to have me taken to their captain and he, if he would,
should provide me with an escort to Sartach, otherwise I would
go back.
Now there was in that province a blood-relation of Baatu, a
captain by the name of Scatatai, to whom the Lord Emperor of
Constantinople was sending a letter earnestly begging him to
allow me to pass through his district. Then they acceded to my
request, providing us with horses and oxen and two men as
guides, and those who had brought us thus far went back. However,
before they gave us the aforesaid things they made us wait a long
time, begging for some ofour bread for their little ones, and everything
they saw on our attendants, knives, gloves, purses, belts,
they marvelled at and wanted to have them all. I pleaded as an
excuse that we still had a goodly stretch before us and ought not
thus speedily to divest ourselves of things necessary for the completion
of so considerable a journey. Whereupon they said I was
an impostor.
It is true they take nothing away by force but they ask in a
most ill-mannered and impudent fashion for whatever they see,
and if a man gives to them, then he is the loser for they are ungrateful.
In their own eyes they are the lords of the world and
consider that nobody ought to refuse them anything; if he does
not give and then afterwards stands in need of their aid, they serve
him badly. They gave us some of their cows* milk to drink;
the butter had been extracted from it and it was very sour, and is
what they call airan. And so we left them and it seemed to me
indeed as if I had escaped from the hands of devils. The
following day we reached their captain.
During the two months which elapsed from the time we left
Soldaia until we reached Sartach, we never slept in a house or
tent but always under the open sky or under our carts, nor did
we see any town or the remains of any building where there might
have been a town nothing but Comans' tombs and these in vast
numbers. That evening the fellow who was our guide gave us
108 THE MONGOL MISSION
cosmos to drink, and as I drank it I sweated all over from fright
and the novelty ofit, for I had never before drunk ofit. However it
struck me as being very tasty, as in truth it is.
CHAPTER x
SCATATAI'S ORDA. THE CHRISTIANS Do NOT DRINK COSMOS
THE next day we met Scatatai's carts laden with their dwellings
and it seemed to me as if a large city were approaching me. I was
amazed also at the great number of cattle, oxen and horses and of
flocks of sheep, yet I saw few men to control them. This caused
me to ask how many men Scatatai had under him and I was told not
more than five hundred, and half of these we had passed in another
camp.
Then the fellow who was our guide began telling me that something
ought to be given to Scatatai, and he made us stop while he
went ahead to announce our arrival. It was now past nine o'clock
and they unloaded their houses near some water. An interpreter
came to us from Scatatai, and as soon as he had learned that we
had never before been among them, he asked for some ofour food;
we gave it to him. He also asked for a garment, seeing that he
was going to act as our mouthpiece before his master. We excused
ourselves. He enquired what we were taking to his master. We
got a flagon of wine and filled a little basket with biscuits and a
plate with apples and other fruit. He was not at all pleased that
we were not taking a length of costly material.
However, we went like this with fear and embarrassment.
Scatatai was sitting on his couch holding a guitar in his hand, and
his wife was beside him; really I believe she had cut off her nose
between the eyes so that she might be more flat-nosed, for she had
no nose there at all and she had smeared the spot with black
ointment, and also her eyebrows, which to us looked hideous.
Then I addressed him in the words I have given above, for we
had to be careful to say the same thing everywhere. On this point
we had been well warned by those who had been among the
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 109
Tartars never to change what we said. And so I asked him to condescend
to accept a small gift at our hands, excusing myself oij the
grounds that I was a monk and it was not the custom of our Order
to possess gold or silver or precious garments, which accounted
for my not having any such things to offer him, but would he
accept ofour food for a blessing. Then he ordered it to be accepted
and immediately shared it among his men who had assembled for
a drink. I also handed to him the letter from the Lord Emperor
of Constantinople. This was on the octave of the Ascension.1
He
at once sent it to Soldaia to be translated there, for it was in Greek
and he had not anybody by him who knew Greek.
He also asked us if we were willing to drink cosmos, that is
mares' milk, for the Christians Ruthenians, Greeks and Alans2
who live among them, if they wish strictly to observe their law,
do not drink it; they even no longer consider themselves Christians
after they have drunk it and their priests reconcile them as if they
had denied the faith of Christ. Whereupon I replied that we still
had sufficient to drink and that when that gave out we would have
to drink what was given to us. He also asked us what were the
contents of the letter you were sending to Sartach. I said that
your documents were private and that there was nothing in them
save good and friendly words. He also enquired what we were
going to say to Sartach, I replied "Words of the Christian faith."
"What words?" he asked, for he would gladly hear them. Then I
expounded to him the creed ofthe Faith as well as I could through
my interpreter, who was a man of neither wit nor eloquence.
When he had heard this he was silent and wagged his head.
Then he assigned to us two men to look after us and the horses
and oxen, and made us drive with him until the return of the
messenger whom he had sent to get the Emperor's letter translated;
and we journeyed with him until the day after Pentecost.
1
June 5th, 1253.
2
Alans: a people of Sarmauan stock. Their modern descendants are the
Ossetes in the northern Caucasus.
HO THE MONGOL MISSION
CHAPTER XI
THE ALANS VISIT THEM ON THE VIGIL OF PENTECOST
ON the vigil of Pentecost there came to us certain Alans, who
there are called Aas. They are Christians according to the Greek
rite and use the Greek language and have Greek priests; nevertheless
they are not schismatics as are the Greeks, but without respect
of persons they honour all Christians. They brought us cooked
meat, begging us to eat of their food and to pray for one of them
who had died. Then I told them it was the vigil of a great feast
and that on that day we did not eat meat; and I explained to them
about the feast, which greatly delighted them, for they were
ignorant of everything regarding the Christian religion, with the
sole exception ofthe name of Christ.
They also asked, as did many other Christians Ruthenians
and Hungarians whether they could be saved, as they had to
drink cosmos and to eat carrion and animals slaughtered by
Saracens and other infidels, which indeed those Greek and
Ruthenian priests consider the same as carrion or as sacrificed to
idols; and also seeing that they did not know the times of fasting,
nor could they observe them even if they did know them. Then
I put them on the right path as well as I could, teaching them and
comforting them in the faith.
The meat they had brought we kept until the day of the feast;
for we could find nothing for sale for gold or silver, only for
cotton or other materials, and we had none of these; when our
servants showed them an yperpera, they rubbed it with their
fingers and held it to their noses so that they could tell by the smell
whether it was copper, and they gave us no food except cows
5
milk, extremely sour and evil-smelling. Our wine was now coming
to an end; the water had been so much stirred up by the horses
that it was not drinkable. But for the biscuit we had and the grace
of God we might well have died.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCR III
CHAPTER XII
THE SARACEN WHO SAID HE WISHED TO BE BAPTISED AND THE
MEN WHO LOOKED LIKE LEPERS
ON the day of Pentecost a certain Saracen came to us, and while he
was talking to us we began to explain the faith to him. Hearing
ofthe favours of God shown to the human race in the Incarnation,
of the resurrection of the dead and of the Last Judgment, and
hearing that sins are washed away in baptism, he said he wished
to be baptised. While we were getting ready to baptise him he
suddenly got on to his horse, saying he was going home to discuss
the matter with his wife.
When he spoke with us on the following day, he told us that by
no means dare he receive baptism, seeing that then he would not
be able to drink cosmos; for the Christians of that district said
that no one who was truly a Christian ought to drink it, and
without that drink it would be impossible to live in this desert.
By no manner of means could I shift him from this opinion. This
story will prove to you that they are far removed from the faith on
account of this opinion, which has flourished among them because
of the Ruthenians, of whom there are very great numbers in their
midst.
The same day the captain gave us one man to be our guide as
far as Sartach and two to take us to the next camp, which was
distant from there five days' journey at the speed the oxen could
travel. They also gave us a goat for food and several skins of
cows' milk and only a little cosmos, for it is precious to them. And
so we set out on our journey due north and it seemed to me we had
passed through one ofthe gates of hell. The fellows who were our
guides started boldly stealing from us as they saw that we paid little
heed. At last, after we had lost a lot ofthings, vexation madeus wise.
At length we arrived at the boundary of the province which is
terminated by a dyke
1
from one sea to the other, and outside it
1
The Lines of Perekop.
112 THE MONGOL MISSION
was the camp of men who, when we came among them, looked
to us as if they were all lepers. They were wretched creatures
stationed there to receive the tax from those taking salt from the
salt lakes previously mentioned. From this place, so they said, we
would have to travel for a fortnight without coming across any
inhabitants. We drank cosmos with them and gave them a basket
full of biscuits; they gave us one goat for eight people for that
long journey and I know not how many skins full of cows' milk.
So we changed our horses and oxen and set out on our journey
which we completed in ten days as far as the other camp. On
that route we came across no water save in holes dug in hollows,
with the exception of two little streams. We directed our course
due east from the time we left the aforesaid province of Gasaria,
having the sea to the south, and to the north a vast wilderness,
which in places is thirty days' journey wide and in it is no forest,
no mountain, no stone, but the finest grass.
Here the Comans used to graze their animals. They are called
Capchat [Kypchak] but by the Teutons they are called Valans and
the province Valania; by Isidore, on the other hand, from the river
Tanais to the Marsh ofMeotis [Sea of Azov] and the Danube, it is
termed Alania. This country stretches in length from the Danube
to the Tanais, which is the boundary ofAsia and Europe, a journey
of two months* swift riding, as the Tartars ride; it all used to be
inhabited by the Capchat Comans as did the country beyond the
Tanais [Don] as far as the Etilia [Ityl], between which two rivers
it is a good ten days' journey. To the north of this province lies
Russia which has forests everywhere and stretches from Poland
and Hungary as far as the Tanais; and all this was laid waste by
the Tartars and is still daily being ravaged.
CHAPTER XIII
THE TRIALS THEY ENDURED, AND THE TOMBS OF THE COMANS
Now the Tartars put Saracens in charge of the Ruthenians since
the latter are Christians; and when they are unable to give them
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 113
any more gold or silver they drive them and their children like
sheep to the wilderness to look after their animals.
Beyond Russia to the north is Prussia, the whole of which the
Teutonic Knights lately reduced to subjection, and certainly they
could easily take possession of Russia if they would put their hand
to it, for if the Tartars heard that the great priest, that is the
Pope, was preparing a crusade against them they would all take
flight into their wilderness.
And so we journeyed eastward, seeing nothing but the sky and
the earth and at times on our right the sea, which is called the Sea of
Tanais, and also the tombs of the Comans which were visible at
two leagues
3
distance owing to the Comans* custom of burying all
the members of a family together.
As long as we were in the wilderness all went well with us, but
the wretchedness I endured when we came to inhabited places I
cannot express in words. Now our guide wanted me to go to each
captain with a present, and our supplies were not sufficient for
that. Every day we were eight persons eating our bread not
counting chance comers who all wanted to eat with us for there
were five of us and the three who were conducting us, two driving
the carts, and the one who was to accompany us as far as Sartach;
the meat they gave us was not sufficient and we found nothing
which could be bought for money.
Furthermore, wheneverwe sat under our carts to get some shade,
for the heat was great at that time, these men intruded upon us in
such a churlish manner that they trampled on us in their wish to
see all our things. If they were seized with the desire of relieving
nature they did not go away from us so far as one can toss a
bean; indeed they performed their filthiness by the side of us,
chatting to each other; and many other things they did which
were above measure trying.
But the thing which annoyed me above all else was that when I
wished to speak to them some words of edification, my interpreter
would say: "Don't make me preach for I don't know how to
say such words." And he spoke the truth, for later when I began
to understand the language somewhat, I realised that when I said
one thing he would say something completely different, according
114 THE MONGOL MISSION
to whatever came into his mind. Then, seeing the danger of
speaking through him, I chose rather to keep silence.
And so we travelled with great hardship from place to place,
until, a few days before the feast of St. Mary Magdalene [July
22nd, 1253], we reached the great river Tanais which separates
Asia from Europe, as the river ofEgypt separates Asia from Africa.
In that spot where we reached it Baatu and Sartach had established
a village of Ruthenians on the east bank, and these men
carried envoys and merchants across in small boats. They took
us first across, and then the carts, putting one wheel in one boat
and the other in another and tying the boats together, and rowing
them like this they went across. At this point our guide did a very
foolish thing. Under the impression that the inhabitants of the
village were to supply us with horses and oxen, on the other bank
he sent away the animals which had brought us so that they could
return to their owners, and when we asked the villagers for animals
they replied that they had this privilege from Baatu that they were
under no other obligation than that of carrying across those
coming and going. Moreover from merchants they received good
payment.
And so we stayed on the bank of the river for three days. On
the first day they gave us a large fresh barbel, on the second
day some rye bread and a little meat collected by the village
official from door to door at the different houses, on the third
day some dried fish of which they have great quantities there.
The river there was as broad as the Seine at Paris. Before we
reached that spot we passed many lovely stretches of water full of
fish, but the Tartars do not know how to catch them nor do they
care for fish unless it is so big that they can eat the flesh like
mutton. This river is the eastern boundary of Russia and takes its
rise in the Meotid Marshes,
1
which stretch as far as the ocean
in the north. The river however flows southwards, forming a
large sea of seven hundred miles before it reaches the Sea of
Pontus [Black Sea]; and all the streams we passed flow in that
direction. This same river also has a large forest on its west bank.
1
The sources of the Don are in the neighbourhood of the town of Tula in
Central Russia.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 115
Beyond this point the Tartars go no further north, for at that
season,, about the beginning of August, they start going back
southward, and so there is another village lower down where
envoys cross in the winter.
While there, we were in great straits, for we could find neither
horses nor oxen for money. At last, after I had shown to them
that we were working for the common good of all Christians, they
lent us oxen and men, but we ourselves were obliged to go on foot.
At that time they were harvesting rye. Wheat does not thrive
there; millet they have in great abundance.
The Ruthenian women adorn their heads as do ours, but their
upper garment they trim on the outside with squirrel and ermine
from the feet to the knees. The men wear capes like the Germans
but on their heads they wear felt caps which have a long point on
top.
So we walked for three days without coming across a soul, and
just when we as well as the oxen were tired out and we did not
know where we could find the Tartars, suddenly two horses came
running up to us; we caught them with great joy and our guide
and the interpreter mounted them, so that they could look and see
in what direction we could find some people. When at last on the
fourth day we came across some men we rejoiced like shipwrecked
mariners on reaching port.
Then we got horses and oxen and went from station to station
until we arrived at Sartach's camp on July 3ist.
CHAPTER XIV
SARTACH'S DISTRICT AND ITS INHABITANTS
THE country beyond the Tanais is very beautiful, with rivers and
woods. In the north are vast forests which are inhabited by two
races of men; first the Moxel,
1
who have no laws and are pure
pagans. They have no towns, only huts in the forest. Their chief
and a great part of them were killed in Germany, for the Tartars
1
See above, p. 101.
Il6 THE MONGOL MISSION
brought them as far as the borders of Germany and as a result they
think highly of the Germans and hope that one day they will be
freed by them from their subjection to the Tartars. If a merchant
comes to them, then he at whose house he first alights has to
provide for him as long as he wishes to remain among them. If
anyone sleeps with the wife of another, the latter does not mind
as long as he does not see it with his own eyes, which shows
they are not jealous. They have great quantities ofpigs, honey and
wax, valuable furs, and falcons. Beyond them are the other tribe
who are called Merdas and by the Latins Merdinis;
1
they are
Saracens.
Beyond these is the Etilia which is the largest river I have ever
seen; it comes from the north from Greater Bulgaria, and flowing
in a southerly direction falls into a certain lake [Caspian] which
it takes four months to go round and of which I will tell you later.
In the northern districts where we crossed these two rivers, the
Tanais and Etilia, they are not more than ten days' journey apart,
but in the south they are far distant from each other, for the
Tanais flows into the Sea of Pontus; the Etilia forms the aforementioned
sea or lake along with many other rivers which flow
into it from Persia.
Now to the south we had very high mountains inhabited, on the
slopes facing this wilderness, by the Circassians and the Alans or
Aas, who are Christians and to this day are fighting against the
Tartars. Next to these, near the sea or lake of Etilia, are certain
Saracens called Lesgi,
2
and they likewise are not subject to them.
Beyond them is the Iron Gate8
which Alexander made to keep the
barbarians out of Persia; I will describe its position to you later,
for I passed through it on my return. Between these two rivers in
the districts through which we passed, the Capchat Comans used
to live before the Tartars fell upon them.
1
The Mordvins.
*Lcsgi: Lesghians, a people who still inhabit a part of Dagestan in the
N.E. Caucacus.
3
Modern Derbent.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK Iiy
CHAPTER XV
SARTACH'S ORDA AND His MAGNIFICENCE
So we found Sartach three days' journey from the Etilia, and his
orda seemed very large to us, for he has six wives, and his firstborn
son, who was with him, has two or three, and each wife has a
large house and perhaps two hundred carts. Our guide went to a
certain Nestorian, Coiac by name, who is one of the chief men of
his court. The latter made us go a very long way to the house of
the Yam. Yam is what they call the man whose duty it is to receive
envoys.
1
In the evening the said Coiac ordered us to come to Sartach.
Then our guide began to ask what we were taking him and was
much scandalised when he saw that we were not getting ready anything
to take. We stood before Sartach and he sat in all his glory,
having the lute played and people dance before him. Then I
spoke to him the words I have mentioned before, saying why we
had come to his master, and I begged him to help us so that his
lord might see our letter. I also offered my excuses explaining
that as I was a monk, neither possessing nor receiving nor handling
gold or silver or any precious thing, with the sole exception of the
books and sacred objects with which we served God, we were
therefore bringing no gift to him or his lord, for I who had
renounced my own possessions could not be the bearer of those
belonging to others.
Then he replied kindly enough that I did well seeing that I was
a monk to keep my vow, and that he had no need of our things,
but rather would give to us of his if we were in want, and he made
us sit down and drink of his milk. After a while he asked us to
pronounce a blessing for him, which we did. He also enquired
who was the greatest lord among the Franks. I said, "The
Emperor, if he held his land in peace."
"
No," said he.
"
It is the
1
Theyam or post-horse service was one of the most important institutions of
the Mongol empire. Marco Polo gives a long account of it as it existed under
Kubilay, but it was already fully organised in the reign of Ugedey.
Il8 THE MONGOL MISSION
King." For he had heard of you from Sir Baldwin of Hainault.
While I was there I also came across one of the companions of
David, who had been in Cyprus, and had told Sartach of all that
he had seen.
Then we returned to our lodging. The next day I sent Sartach
a flagon of muscatel wine, which had survived the long journey
perfectly, and a basket full of biscuits, which pleased him very
much; and that evening he kept our servants with him. The next
day Coiac summoned me to the court bidding me bring the
King's letter, Mass equipment and books with me, as his master
wished to see them. We did this, loading one cart with the books
and things for Mass and another with bread, wine and fruit.
Then he had all the books and vestments spread out and a crowd
of Tartars, Christians and Saracens on horseback surrounded us.
He examined these things, then asked if I would give them all to
his lord. On hearing this I was terrified. I did not like his words;
but, putting a good face on it, I replied:
"
Sir, we beg that your
master will be so good as to receive this bread, wine and fruit,
not indeed as a gift for it is little enough, but as a blessing, so that
we may not come into his presence empty-handed. He himself
will see my Lord the King's letter and from that will learn the
reason of our coming to him; then we shall be at his command,
both we and all our belongings. The vestments however are
blessed, and it is not lawful for any but priests to touch them." He
then bade us put them on to appear before his master, which we
did.
Wearing the most precious vestments, I held before my breast a
very lovely cushion, the Bible you gave me, and the most beautiful
psalter presented to me by Her Majesty the Queen, in which there
were some fine illuminations. My companion took the Missal
and the cross. The cleric, dressed in a surplice, took the thurible.
In this fashion we arrived in front of Sartach's dwelling, and they
lifted up the felt hanging before the entrance so that he could see
us. Then they made the cleric and the interpreter genuflect three
times, but they did not demand this of us. They warned us most
earnestly to be careful not to touch the threshold either on entering
or leaving, and we were told to sing some blessing for him.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 119
Then we went in singing the "Salve Regina". There was a
bench standing near the entrance with cosmos and some cups on
it, and all his wives had assembled, and the Mongols coming in
with us thronged about us. Coiac took Sartach the thurible with
some incense and this he examined carefully, holding it in his
hand. Next he handed him the psalter, which he had a good look
at, as did the wife who was sitting next to him; then he took the
Bible. Sartach enquired if the Gospel were included. I replied,
"Yes indeed, the whole of Holy Scripture:" He also took the
crucifix in his hand and asked if the figure were the figure of
Christ. I answered that it was. The Nestorians and Armenians
never put the figure of Christ on their crosses, which gives the
impression that they entertain wrong ideas about the Passion or
are ashamed of it. He then ordered those around us to stand back
so that he could get a better view of our ornaments. At that
point I handed him your letter with copies in Arabic and Syriac.
I had had it written out at Acre in both those languages and
scripts; and there were some Armenian priests there who knew
Turkish and Arabic, and that companion of David who knew
Syriac, Turkish and Arabic.
We then retired and removed our vestments, and some scribes
and Coiac came and they translated the letter. When Sartach
had heard it, he ordered the bread, wine and fruit to be accepted
and bade us take back the vestments and books to the inn. This
took place on the Feast of St. Peter's Chains [August ist, 1253].
CHAPTER XVI
THEY ARE ORDERED TO GO TO BAATU, SARTACH'S FATHER
THE next morning a certain priest, a brother of Coiac, came and
asked for the phial ofchrism, as Sartach wished to see it, so he said.
We gave it to him. In the evening Coiac called us and said,
"
The
Lord King has written fair words to my master, but they contain
certain difficult matters about which he dare not do anything
without the advice of his father; you must therefore journey to his
120 THE MONGOL MISSION
father. As for the two carts you brought yesterday with the
vestments and books, you will hand them over to me, for my
master would like to examine the things more carefully." I
immediately suspected the evil designs of his greed and said to
him,
"
Sir, not only those, but also the other two carts which we
have we will leave in your care."
"
No," said he,
"
leave these, with
the others do what you will." I rejoined that this could by no
manner of means be done but we would hand over the whole to
him. He thereupon asked if it was our wish to remain in that
country. I answered, "If you have properly understood the letter
of my Lord the King, you will know that that is the case." He
then declared it behoved us to be exceedingly patient and humble.
With that we parted from him that evening.
The following morning he sent a Nestorian priest for the carts
and we took all four. We were then met by Coiac's brother, who
separated all our belongings from those things which we had
taken to the court on the previous day, taking them as if they were
his own, namely our books and vestments. Now Coiac had ordered
us to take with us the vestments we had worn for Sartach so that,
if needs be, we could put them on for Baatu. These the priest
took from us by force saying: "You brought these to Sartach,
now you want to take them to Baatu." And when I wished
to explain to him he replied: "Don't talk so much and be off
with you."
Then I had need of patience for we did not enjoy free access to
Sartach, nor was there anyone who would show us justice. I was
also afraid that the interpreter might have said some things
differently from the way I had said them to him, for he would have
liked us to have made presents of everything. I had one consolation
and that was that when I became aware oftheir covetousness I
removed from among the books the Bible and Sentences and the
other books I was particularly fond of. Her Majesty the Queen's
psalter I did not dare to take as it had attracted too much notice
on account ofthe gold illuminations in it.
So we went back with the two remaining carts to our lodging.
Then the man, whose duty it was to conduct us^to Baatu, came
and wanted to set out with all speed. I told him that on no
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 121
account would I take the carts. He reported this to Coiac, whereupon
the latter ordered us to leave them with the yam together
with our boy. We did this.
And so travelling due east in the direction of Baatu, on the
third day we reached the Etilia and when I saw the river I wondered
from what part of the north so much water flowed. Before we
took our leave of Sartach, the aforesaid Coiac together with
many other scribes of the court said to us, "Do not say that our
master is a Christian, for he is not a Christian but a Mongol."
This is because the word Christianity appears to them to be the
name of a race, and they are proud to such a degree that although
perhaps they believe something of Christ, nevertheless they are
unwilling to be called Christians, wanting their own name, that
is, Mongol, to be exalted above every other name. Nor do they
wish to be called Tartars, for the Tartars were another race concerning
whom I learned the following.
CHAPTER XVII
SARTACH, MANGU CHAN & KEU [GUYUK] CHAN RESPECT THE
CHRISTIANS
AT the time when the French took Antioch, the sovereignty in the
districts of the north was in the hands of one called Coir Chan,1
Coir is a proper name, Chan the name of the office, which means
the same as soothsayer, for they call all soothsayers Chan.2
The
reason the chiefs are called Chan is that the government of the
people by divination is in their hands. We read in the account of
Antioch that the Turks sent to the king Coir Chan for help against
the French, for all the Turks came from these parts. This Coir
was a Caracathayan. Cara is the same as black, Cathayan the
name ofa race, and so Caracathayan is the same as Black Cathayan.
1
Coir Chan is the Gur Khan3 the title of the ruler of the Kara Khitayan
kingdom in Turkestan.
*
This is an error due to a confusion between Khan and Kam3 the Mongol
word for a shaman.
122 THE MONGOL MISSION
They use this name to distinguish them from the Cathayans in the
east on the shores of the ocean, concerning whom I will tell you
later. The Caracathayans were in certain upland pastures
through which I passed.
In a certain plain among these pasture lands was a Nestorian, a
mighty shepherd and lord of all the people called Naimans,
who were Nestorian Christians. On the death of Coir Chan, this
Nestorian set himself up as king and the Nestorians called him
King John,
1
and they used to tell of him ten times more than the
truth. For the Nestorians coming from these parts do this kind
ofthing- out ofnothing they make a great rumour. This accounts
for their spreading the story that Sartach was a Christian, also
Mangu Chan and Keu Chan, just because they pay greater respect
to Christians than to other people. And yet the truth is they are
not Christians. So in the same way the great tale of this King
John went abroad. Now I passed through his pasture lands and
nobody knew anything about him with the exception of a few
Nestorians, His pastures used to be inhabited by Keu Chan
whose orda Friar Andrew visited, and I also passed by it on my
return.
This John had a brother by name Unc, like him a mighty
shepherd, and he was beyond the pastures of these Caracathayans,
separated from his brother by a distance of three weeks' journey,
and he was lord of a little town called Caracorum, having under
him the people called Crit and Merkit,
2
who were Nestorian
Christians. But this lord of theirs rejected the Christian religion
and worshipped idols, having pagan priests by him; these all
invoke evil spirits and are sorcerers.
Beyond this man's pasture lands, nine or fifteen days' journey,
were the pastures of the Mongols, who were the poorest of men,
without leader and without laws, except for the soothsayings and
divinations to which all in these parts pay great attention. And
along with the Mongols were other poor people who were called
Tartars. King John died without an heir and his brother Unc grew
1
Or Prester John, usually identified with the ruler of the Kerait.
2
The Crit are the Kerait, who were the ruling people in Mongolia before the
rise of Chingis Khan. Unc Chan is evidently the Wang Khan, the last Kerait
ruler. See above, Introduction, p. xxiv.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 123
rich and had himself called Chan and used to send his herds and
flocks as far as the Mongol boundaries. At that time there was a
certain smith, Chingis, among the Mongol people and he used to
steal what he could of the animals of Unc Chan, to such an
extent that Unc's shepherds complained to their master. Then he
collected an army and rode into the Mongol territory to seek out
Chingis himself, and the latter fled to the Tartars and went into
hiding there. Whereupon Unc, having taken booty from both the
Mongols and the Tartars, returned home.
Then Chingis addressed the Mongols and the Tartars saying,
"Because we are without a leader our neighbours oppress us."
And the Tartars and Mongols made him their leader and captain.
Then secretly collecting an army he made a swift attack upon Unc
and overcame him and the latter fled into Cathay. His daughter
was on that occasion taken prisoner, and Chingis gave her as wife
to one of his sons by whom she had that Mangu who is now in
power.
Then Chingis despatched the Tartars in all directions, ?nd as a
result their name was spread abroad, for everywhere the cry was
raised, "The Tartars are coming." But now on account of their
frequent wars they have almost all been wiped out, and so the
Mongols wish to abolish their name and bring their own to the
fore. The district in which they first were and where the orda of
Chingis Chan is still, is called Onankerule. 1
But since Caracorum
is the part around which were their first gains, this city is considered
as royal and near there they elect their Chan.
CHAPTER XVIII
OF THE RUTHENIANS, HUNGARIANS, ALANS AND THE CASPIAN SEA
As for Sartach, whether he believes in Christ or not, I do not know.
But I do know that he does not wish to be called a Christian,
rather indeed does he seem to me to hold Christians in derision.
1
The country in Eastern Mongolia, south-east of Lake Baikal, on the rivers
Onon and Kerulen, tributaries of the Amur.
124 THE MONGOL MISSION
Now he is on the route of the Christians, that is to say of the
Russians, the Blaci,
1
the Bulgars of Lesser Bulgaria,
2
the people
of Soldaia, the Circassians and the Alans, all of whom pass his way
when going to his father's court, and as they bring him gifts they
are in great favour with him. However, if Saracens come and bring
larger gifts they are helped on their way more quickly. Also he
has around him Nestorian priests who strike a board and sing their
office.
There is another man called Berca, a brother of Baatu, who
pastures his flocks in the direction of the Iron Gate, which is on
the route of all the Saracens coming from Persia and Turkey. On
their way to Baatu they pass by him and bring him gifts; and he
pretends to be a Saracen and does not allow pork to be eaten in
his orda. However, on our return Baatu had ordered him to
remove himself from that place eastwards beyond the Etilia
[Volga], as he did not wish the Saracens' envoys to go by way of
him for it seemed to him to be to his loss. For the four days during
which we were at Sartach's orda they never provided us with any
food except once when they gave us a little cosmos.
On the road indeed between him and his father we experienced
great fear. For their Ruthenian, Hungarian and Alanian slaves, of
whom there is a very large number among them, band themselves
together in groups of twenty or thirty and run away by night
and they have bows and arrows, and whomsoever they come
across by night they kill. By day they stay in hiding, and when
their horses are tired they come during the night up to a large
group of horses on the pasture lands and change their horses; they
also take away one or two with them so that they can eat them
when the need arises. And so our guide was very much afraid of
meeting such men. On that journey we would have died ofhunger
if we had not taken a few biscuits with us.
We reached the Etilia, which is a very great river, for it is four
times wider than the Seine and very deep; it comes from Great
Bulgaria, which is in the north, flows in a southerly direction and
empties itself into a certain lake or kind of sea, which nowadays
1
The Vlachs or Rumanians.
8
Modern Bulgaria on the Danube as distinguished from Great Bulgaria on
the Volga.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 125
is called the Sea of Sircan, from a city on its banks in Persia, but
Isidore calls it the Caspian Sea. On its south side are the Caspian
mountains and Persia, on the east the Mulidet mountains,
1
that is
to say the mountains of the Assassins, which meet the Caspian
mountains, while in the north there is that wilderness where the
Tartars now are, but before certain Comans called Cangle
2
used to
be there; and from that side it receives the Etilia which swells in
the summer like the Egyptian Nile. To the west there are the
mountains of the Alans and the Lesgi, also the Iron Gate and the
mountains of the Georgians.
This sea consequently is shut in on three sides by mountains,
but its north side is open towards a plain. Friar Andrew3
went
round two sides of it, namely the south and the east. I, on the
other hand, went round the other two, the north on my way from
Baatu to Mangu Chan and also on my way back; the west on
returning from Baatu to Syria; it can be gone round in four
months, and it is not true what Isidore says, that it is a gulf from
the ocean, for at no point does it touch the ocean, but is surrounded
on all sides by land.
CHAPTER XIX
BAATU'S ORDA AND How THEY WERE RECEIVED BY HIM
THE whole of the district from the west side of this sea, where are
Alexander's Iron Gate and the mountains of the Alans, as far as
the northern ocean and the Meotide marshes, where the Tanais
takes its rise,
4
used to be called Albania.5
Speaking ofthis country
Isidore says there are dogs so big and so ferocious that they chase
bulls and kill lions. What is true, as I learned from men who told
me, is that there, in the direction ofthe northern ocean, they make
1
=Mulhid or Mulahida, heretics. The headquarters of the Assassins was at
Alamut in the Elburz Mountains.
2
Kangli or Kankali, a Turkish people who lived in the Kirgiz Steppe,
between the river Ural in the west up to Lake Balkash in the east, north of the
Aral Sea.
3
Andrew of Longjumeau, O.P. See Introduction, pp. xvii-xxi.
4
Sea of Azov. The Tanais (Don) falls into this sea : it does not rise there.
5
The ancient name of east Caucasia.
126 THE MONGOL MISSION
dogs draw carts as if they were oxen on account of their size and
strength.
Now at that spot on the Etilia to which we had made our way,
there is a new village which the Tartars have established, partly of
Ruthenians, partly of Saracens, and these convey across the
river the envoys going to and returning from Baatu's orda, for
Baatu is on the further bank, towards the east, nor does he pass
beyond that point when he goes north in the summer. He was
already beginning to go south, for from January to August he and
all the others go towards the cold regions, and in August they
start coming back*
And so we sailed down in a boat from that village as far as his
orda. From that place to the towns of Great Bulgaria in the north
it is five days' journey. I wonder what devil carried the law of
Mohammed there, for from the Iron Gate which leads out of
Persia it is more than thirty days' journey across a wilderness
following the course of the Etilia until one reaches Bulgaria, and
on the way there is no city, nothing but some villages near where
the Etilia flows into the sea. Yet the Bulgarians are the very worst
kind of Saracens, clinging more firmly to the law of Mohammed
than any others.
When I saw Baatu's orda I was overcome with fear, for his own
houses seemed like a great city stretching out a long way and
crowded round on every side by people to a distance of three or
four leagues. Just as the people of Israel knew, each one of them,
where they should pitch their tents in relation to the tabernacle,
so these know on what side ofthe orda they are to place themselves
when they unload their dwellings. In their tongue the court is
called
"
orda", which means the middle, because it is always in the
middle of his people, with the exception that no one places himself
due south, for the doors of the court open in that direction.
But to the right and the left they stretch out as far as they wish
according to the number of sites required, so long as they do not
set themselves down right in front of or opposite the court.
And so first we were taken to a Saracen who did not provide
us with any food. The following day we were taken to the court.
Baatu had had a large pavilion set up, as his house could not hold
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 127
as many men and women as had assembled. The man who was
conducting us told us that we were to say nothing until bidden
by Baatu, and then we were to speak briefly. He also asked whether
you had ever sent envoys to them. I told him how you had sent
to Keu Chan, and I said you would have sent neither envoys to
him nor a letter to Sartach, if.you had not believed that they were
Christians, for it was not from any fear but in order to congratulate
them because you had heard that they were Christians that
you sent. Then he led us in front of the pavilion and warned us
not to touch the ropes of the tent, which they consider take the
place of the threshold of a house. We stood there in our habits,
bare-footed and heads uncovered, and we were a great gazingstock
for their eyes. Friar John of Policarp
1
had been there but he
had changed out of his habit in order not to be despised, for he was
an envoy of our Lord the Pope.
Then we were led in as far as the middle of the tent, and they
did not require us to make any act of deference by genuflecting
as envoys usually do. So we stood there before him for the space
of a "Miserere mei Deus", and they all kept the deepest silence.
Now he was sitting on a throne, which was long and wide like a
couch, completely covered with gold, and three steps led up to it
and one of his wives was next to him. On his right the men were
sitting spread about, the ladies on his left, and the space which
was not taken up by the women on their side for Baatu's wives
alone were there was filled by men. At the entrance of the
pavilion was a bench and on it cosmos and large goblets of gold
and silver, decorated with precious stones. He eyed us attentively
and we did him, and he seemed to me similar in size to Sir John of
Beaumont2
(may his soul rest in peace). His face at that time was
very red.
At last he gave the command for me to speak. Whereupon the
man who had brought us told us to kneel down and speak. I
knelt on one knee as to a man. Then he signed me to kneel on
both, which I did, not wishing to dispute about it. Then he bade
me speak, and I, considering that I was praying to God since I
1
John of Piano Carpini.
2
The Chamberlain and companion of Louis IX in the Holy Land. See
Joinville, Life of St. Louis, tr. R. Hague (Sheed and Ward), p. 14.
128 THE MONGOL MISSION
was kneeling on both knees, took my opening words from a
prayer saying, "My Lord, we pray God from Whom all good
things do proceed and Who has given to you your earthly possessions,
that after these He will give to you the gifts of heaven, for
the former without these are vain." He listened attentively and
I added, "Know for certain that you will not obtain the gifts of
heaven unless you are a Christian. For God says: 'He that
believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not
shall be condemned.'" At this he smiled gently and the other
Mongols began to clap their hands in derision; my interpreter
was struck dumb and I had to encourage him not to be afraid.
Then when there was silence again I said,
"
I came to your son
because we heard that he was a Christian, and I brought him a
letter on behalf of my lord the King of the French. He sent me
here to you. For what reason you ought to know."
Then he made me get up and he asked your name and mine,
and that of my companion and the interpreter, and he had everything
written down. He also asked against whom you were waging
war, for he had learned that you had gone forth from your own
land with an army. I replied, "Against the Saracens who are
violating the house of God at Jerusalem." He also enquired
whether you had ever sent envoys to him. "To you," I said,
"never." Then he made us sit down and had some milk given
to us to drink; they consider it a great honour for anyone to drink
cosmos with him in his own house. And while I was sitting
looking at the ground he ordered me to lift my head up, for he
wished to have a further look at us, or perhaps it was because of
witchcraft, for they hold it as a bad omen or sign or evil portent
when anyone sits in their presence with head bent down as if
he were sad, especially if he props his cheek or his chin on his
hand.
Then we went out, and after a little the man who was conducting
us came and, taking us to the lodging, he said to me, "The
Lord King asks that you be retained in this country, and Baatu
cannot do this without the knowledge of Mangu, so you and
your interpreter are to go to Mangu. Your companion, however,
and the other man will return to Sartach's orda and wait there
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 129
until you return.
5 '
Then Abdullah, the interpreter, began to wail,
thinking he was lost, and my companion called to witness that they
could sooner cut off his head than he would be separated from me;
and I for my part said that I could not go without my companion
and also that we had great need of two servants, for if one of them
should happen to fall ill he could not be left alone. Then he went
back to the court and repeated these words to Baatu, who gave
the order: "Let the two priests and the interpreter go, and the
cleric return to Sartach." The guide returned and told us the
decision, and when I wanted to plead on behalf of the cleric that
he should come with us, he said: "Don't say any more, for Baatu
has decided and I dare not return to the court."
Out of your alms the cleric Gosset had twenty-six yperperas,
and no more; of these he kept ten for himself and the boy, and he
gave sixteen to Abdullah for us, and so we separated with tears
from each other, he returning to Sartach and we staying where
we were.
CHAPTER xx
THE JOURNEY TO THE COURT OF MANGU CHAN
ON the Vigil of the Assumption [August I4th, 1253] Gosset
reached Sartach's orda and on the following day Nestorian priests
wore our vestments in Sartach's presence.
Then we were taken to another host, who was to provide us with
lodging, food and horses. But as we had nothing to give him he
performed everything badly. We travelled south with Baatu,
following the course of the Etilia, for five weeks, and at times my
companion was so hungry that he would say to me almost in tears :
" It seems to me as if I have never had anything to eat." A market
always follows Baatu's orda, but it was so far away from us that we
could not go to it. We also had to travel on foot owing to the lack
of horses.
At last some Hungarians who had been derics came across us.
One of them still knew how to sing many things by heart and the
other Hungarians considered him as a kind of priest and he used
130 THE MONGOL MISSION
to be called upon for the funerals of their dead; another had been
taught grammar quite adequately, for he understood whatever we
put down for him in writing, but he could not reply. These men
were a great comfort to us, bringing us cosmos to drink and sometimes
meat to eat. I was much distressed when they asked us for
some books and I had none that I could give them, having nothing
but a Bible and breviary. Then I said to them: "Bring us
some paper and I will copy for you as long as we are here." They
did this and I wrote out for each of them the Hours of the Blessed
Virgin and the office of the dead.
One day a Coman joined us, greeting us in Latin, saying,
"Salvete Domini." Surprised, I returned his salutation and
asked who had taught him that greeting, and he said he had been
baptised in Hungary by our Friars who had taught it to him. He
also said that Baatu had asked him a great deal about us and he
had described to him the nature of our Order.
I frequently saw Baatu riding with his crowd, and all the heads
of families ride with him. According to my estimation they did
not number five hundred men.
At last, about the time of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross [September I4th], there came up to us a certain rich Mongol,
whose father was a captain of a thousand, which is a very high
rank with them, and said,
"
It is my duty to take you to Mangu
Chan and it is a four months' journey and the cold there is so
intense that the rocks and trees split from it; see whether you can
stand it." I answered him:
"
I trust in the power of God that we
shall stand what other men can stand*" Then he said, "If you
cannot stand it I shall leave you on the road." To this I replied,
"That would not be right, for we are going not of our accord but
only because we have been sent by your master, and so, since we
are committed to your charge, you ought not to abandon us." At
that he said, "It will be all right." He then made us show him
all our clothes and what seemed to him unnecessary he made us
leave in the custody of our host. The following day they brought
for each of us rough goat-skin garments, trousers of the same and
boots or footwear made in their style, with felt socks and fur hoods
also, such as they wear.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 13!
On the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross we started to
ride, we three having two pack horses, and we rode continuously
in an easterly direction until the feast of All Saints. The whole of
that territory and even more was inhabited by the Cangle who are
akin to the Comans. To the north we had Great Bulgaria and to
the south the aforementioned Caspian Sea.
CHAPTER XXI
THE RIVER IAGAT AND VARIOUS REGIONS AND RACES
AFTER we had travelled twelve days from the Etilia we came upon
a large river which is called the lagat [Ural]; flowing from the
north from the country of the Pascatur it empties itself into the
aforementioned sea. The language of the Pascatur is the same as
that of the Hungarians, and they are shepherds without any cities
and their territory adjoins Great Bulgaria on the west. From that
country eastwards on the north side there is not another city, so
Great Bulgaria is the last region where there are towns.
From the district of the Pascatur came the Huns, later known as
Hungarians, and this is the origin of Great Hungary. Isidore says
that with ferocious horses they crossed the barriers erected by
Alexander among the crags ofthe Caucasus to keep back the savage
tribes, so that as far as Egypt tribute used to be paid to them.
They also laid waste all the countries as far as France and so were
more powerful than the Tartars are at this present time. The
Blacs, Bulgars and Vandals came with them.
For it is from Great Bulgaria that those Bulgars came who are
now the other side of the Danube near Constantinople. Next to
the Pascatur are the Iliac,
1
which is the same as Blac, for the
Tartars cannot pronounce the letter B, and from them came the
people who are in the Assan territory, for they call both of them
Iliac, the former and the latter.
The language of the Ruthenians, Poles, Bohemians and Slavs is
1
The Black Bulgars, the inhabitants of Great Bulgaria on the Volga.
132 THE MONGOL MISSION
the same as the Vandals' tongue; a multitude of all of these was
with the Huns and nowadays, for the greater part, is with the
Tartars, whom God has raised up from far distant regions to be a
people which is no people and a foolish nation, according to the
words of the Lord: "I will provoke them" that is those who do
not keep His law"with that which is no people and will vex them
with a foolish nation." 1
This is being fulfilled to the letter in the
case of all the nations which do not keep the law of Christ.
What I have said about the land ofthe Pascatur I know from the
Friars Preachers who went there before the arrival of the Tartars. 2
From of old they had been conquered by their Saracen neighbours
the Bulgars and many of them had become Saracens. Other facts
can be learned from chronicles, for it is agreed that these provinces
beyond Constantinople, which are now called Bulgaria,
Blakia3
and Slavonia were provinces of Greece; Hungary was
Pannonia.
And so we rode through the land of the Cangle
4
from the feast
of Holy Cross until the feast of All Saints [November ist], covering
almost each day3 as far as I can judge, the distance it is from
Paris to Orleans/ and some days more, according to our supply of
horses; for sometimes we changed horses twice or three times in a
day. Sometimes we went for two or three days without coming
across a soul, and then we were obliged to go more slowly. Of the
twenty or thirty horses we always had the worst since we were
foreigners, for they took the better horses before us; me they
always provided with a strong horse, as I was very heavy. But as
to whether it went at a steady pace or not, this was a matter about
which I dared not enquire, nor did I even dare to complain if it
proved a bad mount, but each one had to put up with his luck.
This was the cause of one of our most difficult trials, for many a
time the horses grew tired before we came across inhabitants ; then
1
Deut. xxxiL 21.
2
This was the mission of Brother Julian which took place c. 1235-6. It is
described in a short treatise Relatio Fratris Ricardi which is printed in
Scriptores Rerttm Hungaricarum> vol. II, pp. 538-42. Budapest 1938.
'Blakia: Wallachia.
4
The land of the Kankali: the Kirgiz Steppe. The distance covered was
over 1,000 miles.
5
The distance from Paris to Orleans: over seventy-five miles.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 133
we had to strike and lash them, even to put our clothes on to other
pack animals, to change our horses for pack horses, and sometimes
the two of us had to ride on one.
CHAPTER XXII
OF THE HUNGER AND THIRST AND OTHER MISERIES THEY
ENDURED ON THEIR JOURNEY
OF hunger and thirst, cold and fatigue, there was no end, for they
gave us no food except in the evening. In the morning they gave
us something to drink or some millet to take. In the evening,
however, they used to give us meat, shoulder of mutton and ribs
and as much broth as we could drink. When we had our fill of
meat broth we were completely refreshed and it seemed to me a
most wholesome drink and extremely nourishing. On Fridays I
did not break my fast until the night time, drinking nothing; then
to my sorrow and grief I had to eat meat. Sometimes we had to
eat meat half-cooked or almost raw, on account of the lack of
fuel. This was when we were sleeping in the open and alighted at
nightfall, for we could not at that time very well collect the dung
of the oxen and horses. Other fuel we seldom came across, except
perhaps occasionally a few briars; also at some places on the banks
of some ofthe rivers there are woods, but this is rare.
In the beginning our guide had the greatest disdain for us, and
he felt disgusted at having to conduct such insignificant men.
Later, however, when he began to know us better, he took us to the
ordas of wealthy Mongols and we had to pray for them. If I had
had a good interpreter this would have given me an opportunity
of sowing much good seed, Chingis, the first Chan, had four sons
who had many descendants, all of whom now have large ordas,
and these increase in number daily and are spread throughout this
vast wilderness, which is like a sea. And so our guide took us to
many of them. They were exceedingly surprised that we had no
desire to receive gold or silver or costly garments. They also
made enquiries about the great Pope, whether he was as old a man
134 THE MONGOL MISSION
as they had heard, for they had heard that he was five hundred years
old. They asked about our country, whether there were many
sheep, oxen and horses there. As for the ocean they could not
grasp that it had neither limit nor shore.
On the vigil of All Saints we left the route leading east, for the
inhabitants had already gone a good way to the south, and we
directed our course due south across some upland pastures
for eight days on end. In that wilderness I saw many asses, which
are called cula and are more like mules; these our guide and his
companions chased a great deal but with no success on account
of their swiftness. On the seventh day some very high mountains
began to loom into sight
1
towards the south and we entered a plain
which was irrigated like a garden, and we came across cultivated
land.
On the octave of All Saints we entered a town of the Saracens
called Kinchat,
2
and the chiefman came with ale and cups to meet
the leader of our party outside the town. For it is their custom
that the envoys of Baatu and Mangu Chan are met with food and
drink from all the towns subject to them. At that time they were
walking upon ice there, and we had had frost for the first time in
the wilderness on the feast of St. Michael [September 29th]. I
enquired the name ofthe province,
3
since we were now in different
territory, but they could not tell me anything except the name of
that city, which was an extremely small one. A large river4
flowed
down from the mountains, which irrigated the whole region
wherever they liked to conduct the water, nor did it
empty itself
into any sea, but was absorbed by the earth and also formed a
number of marshes. There I saw vines and twice drank some
wine.
1
The Tien-Shan Mountains.
2
Probably Chuguchat in Tarbagatai, south of Lake Zaisan.
3
The country with no name was the territory to the N.W. of the modern
town of Frunze, the capital of the Soviet Kirgiz Republic, on the border of
Eastern Kazakhstan.
4
The Chu.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 135
CHAPTER XXIII
How BURI WAS PUT TO DEATH
ON the morrow we reached another village nearer the mountains,
and I enquired about the latter and learned that they were the
mountains of the Caucasus1
which touch the sea on both
sides from the west to the east, and I learned too that we
had already passed beyond the aforementioned sea into which
the Etilia flows.
I also made enquiries about the city of Talas,
2
in which the
German slaves of Buri used to be, of whom Friar Andrew had
made mention. I had indeed asked about them many a time at
the courts of Sartach and Baatu and had succeeded in learning
nothing except that Buri, their master, had been killed for the
following reason: his pasture lands were not good, and one day
when he was drunk he spoke these words to his men, "Am I not of
the stock of Chingis Chan, the same as Baatu?" Now he was a
nephew or brother of Baatu. "Why may I not go to the banks of
the Etilia like Baatu to feed my flocks there?" These words were
reported to Baatu, who thereupon wrote to Buri's men to bring
their master to him, bound, which they did. Then Baatu asked
him if he had said such a thing and he confessed that he had.
However, he excused himself on the grounds that he was drunk,
for it is their custom to pardon such; but Baatu gave answer,
"How dared you mention my name in your drunken state?" and
he ordered his head to be cut off.
As for the Germans I could find out nothing about them until I
came to the court of Mangu Chan, but in this village I did learn
that Talas was behind us six days' journey in the direction of the
mountains. When I came to Mangu Chan's orda, I discovered
1
The mountains were the Tien-Shan Mountains. The ancients often extended
the name of the Caucasus to the whole of the great mountain barrier of
Western and Central Asia.
2
The modern town of Talas is situated on the river Talas in a valley of the
Tien-Shan Mountains, some two hundred miles N.E. of Tashkent.
136 THE MONGOL MISSION
that Mangu had transferred them, with Baatu's permission, to
the east, a month's journey from Talas, to a village called Bolac
where they are digging for gold and manufacturing arms. This
meant that I was not able to visit them either going or returning.
And yet on my outward journey I passed near enough, perhaps
three days' distance from that town. But I did not know and even
if I had known I would not have been able to turn aside from my
route.
From the aforementioned village we travelled eastwards following
the mountains, and from that point we found ourselves among
Mangu Chan's men, who everywhere came before our guide
singing and clapping their hands, since he was an envoy of Baatu.
For they show this honour to each other: Mangu's men receive
Baatu's envoys in the manner described, and similarly Baatu's
men the envoys of Mangu. However, Baatu's men are rather
proud and do not carry it out with such diligence.
A few days after this we entered upon some upland pastures
which used to be inhabited by the Caracathayans, and there we
came to a large river1
which we had to cross by boat. After this
we entered a valley where I saw a kind of ruined fort, the walls
of which were made of nothing but mud, and the land there was
cultivated. Next we came across a goodly town called Equius,
where there were Saracens who spoke Persian, though they were a
very great distance away from Persia.
The following day, having crossed these pastures, which were
in the foothills of the high mountains to the south, we entered
upon a most lovely plain having lofty mountains to the right, and
to the left a kind of sea or lake2
fifteen days' journey in circumference.
And the whole of this plain is well watered by the
streams coming down from the mountains, which all flow into this
sea. In the summer we returned by way of the north side of the
sea, where there are likewise high mountains. In the plain I have
mentioned there used to be large towns but they had, for the most
part, all been destroyed, so that the Tartars could feed their
flocks there, for it is very fine pasturage.
1
The Chu, or perhaps the Ili> which falls into Lake Balkash.
2
Lake Balkash.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 137
We came across one large town there called Cailac,
1
in which
there was a market, and many merchants flocked thither. We
rested in this town for twelve days while awaiting one of Baatu's
scribes who was to assist the leader of our party in the business
to be settled at Mangu's court. That country used to be called
Organum and used to have its own language and script but now
it has all been seized by the Turcomans. Also the Nestorians
of those parts used to perform their services and write books in
that script and language; and it may be that they get their name
Organa from the fact that they used to be very fine musicians or
organists
2
; so I was told. It was there that I first saw pagan
temples, in which connection I must tell you there are many
sects in the east.
CHAPTER XXIV
How THE NESTORIANS AND SARACENS INTERMINGLE, AND OF
THEIR TEMPLES
FIRST of all there are the Uigurs
3
whose country adjoins the
Organum territory we have mentioned and is among the mountains
towards the east, and in all their cities there are both Nestorians
and Saracens, and the former have also spread in the direction
of Persia in the Saracen towns. In the aforesaid town of Cailac
they had three temples, two of which I went into in order to
behold their foolishnesses. In the first I found a man who had a
little cross of black pigment on his hand, which led me to believe
that he was a Christian, in addition to the fact that to all the
questions I put him he replied like a Christian. And so I asked
him, "Why do you not have a Cross and the figure of Jesus Christ
here?" He replied, "It is not our custom." From this I thought
that they must be Christians but did not have them owing to a
doctrinal error.
1
Cailac: the ancient Quayaligh or Kayalig near the modern town of Kopal
in Semiretchensk (Eastern Kazakhstan).
2
The country really acquired its name from its ruler, the Khatun Organa,
the widow of the successor of Jagatay.
8
See Introduction, p. xxiL
138 THE MONGOL MISSION
There behind a kind of chest which they had in place of an
altar and on which they put lights and their offerings, I saw a
statue with wings like St. Michael and others which looked like
statues of bishops holding their fingers as if in blessing. I could
not find the other temple that evening for the Saracens avoid the
pagans to such an extent that they are not even willing to speak
about them, and so when I enquired of them about the rites of
these people they were scandalised.
The next day was the first of the month and the pasch of the
Saracens, and I changed my lodging so that I put up near the
other temple. For they receive envoys, each one according to
the room he has or the number allotted to him. Then on entering
the aforesaid temple I found pagan priests, for on the first of the
month they open their temples, the priests dress themselves up,
offer incense, light lamps and offer up the oblations of bread and
fruit made by the people.
First I will describe for you the rites common to all idolaters and
afterwards those of the Uigurs who are, as it were, a sect separate
from the others.
They all adore towards the north, clapping their hands together
and prostrating by kneeling on the ground and placing their foreheads
on their hands. Consequently the Nestorians in these
parts on no account join their hands when praying but pray with
their hands extended before their breast. The pagans build their
temples from east to west, and on the north side they make
an alcove, projecting as a choir, or sometimes if the building
is square it is in the middle ofthe building. On the north side they
shut off an alcove in place of a choir. And there they put a chest,
long and wide like a table, and behind that chest they place their
chief idol facing south: the one I myself saw at Caracorum was as
big as St. Christopher is depicted. A certain Nestorian priest who
had come from Cathay told me that in that country there is an
idol so large that it can be seen two days' journey off. The other
idols they set all round; they are all most beautifully gilded.
On the top of the chest, which is at the same time a kind of table,
they place lights and their offerings. All the doors of the temple
open towards the south contrary to the custom of the Saracens.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 139
They also have large bells like us; this I think accounts for the
fact that the Christians ofthe east do not like to have them, though
the Ruthenians and the Greeks in Gazaria do use them.
CHAPTER XXV
OF THEIR TEMPLES AND IDOLS AND How THEY COMPORT
THEMSELVES IN THE WORSHIP OF THEIR GODS
ALL their priests shave their heads all over and their beards, and
they wear saffron garments and observe chastity from the time
they shave their heads; they live together, one or two hundred in
one community. The days on which they go into their temple,
they bring two benches and they sit on the floor facing each other,
choir to choir, holding their books in their hands and these from
time to time they put down on the benches. As long as they are in
the temple they keep their heads uncovered, and they read to themselves
and keep silence. When I went into one of their temples in
Caracorum and found them sitting like this, I tried in many ways
to provoke them to speech and was in no way able to do so.
They also have in their hands wherever they go a string of one
or two hundred beads, just as we carry our rosaries, and they
always say these words,
"
Onman baccam",
1
that is
"
O God, Thou
knowest" so one of them translated it for me and they expect
to be rewarded by God as many times as they make mention of
Him by saying this.
Around their temple they always make a fair courtyard which
is well shut in by a wall and to the south they make a large gate
where they sit and talk together. Above this gate they erect a long
pole which, if possible, rises above the whole town, and by means
of this pole one can tell that a building is a pagan temple. These
things are to be found among all idolaters.
When, therefore, I went into the aforementioned temple I
found priests sitting in the outer doorway. When I caught sight
of them they looked to me like Frenchmen, with their shaven
1
"OrnJ Manipadme hum": "Hail to the jewel in the lotus".
140 THE MONGOL MISSION
beards and wearing Tartar mitres on their heads. The Uigur
priests wear the following dress: wherever they go they are always
in saffron coats, quite close-fitting and with a belt on top, just like
Frenchmen, and they have a cloak on their left shoulder hanging
down in folds over the breast and back to their right side as the
deacon wears a chasuble in Lent.
The Tartars have adopted their script. They begin to write at
the top and continue the line downwards, and they read it in the
same way and they increase their lines from left to right. They
make great use of paper and characters for their sorcery, consequently
their temples are full of short sentences hanging up.
Mangu Chan is sending you a letter in the Mongol language and
their script.
They burn their dead after the fashion of bygone days and enclose
the ashes in the top of a pyramid.
And so when I had sat down by the side of the said priests this
was after I had been inside their temple and had seen their many
idols, small and large I asked what was their belief concerning
God. They replied, "We believe that there is but one God."
And I asked, "Do you believe that He is a spirit or something
corporeal?" They said, "We believe that He is a spirit." "Do
you believe," said I, "that He has ever assumed human nature?"
"No," they answered. Then I asked, "Seeing that you believe
Him to be but one and a spirit, why do you make statues to Him
having a body, and why do you make so many? Moreover seeing
that you do not believe that He has become man, why do you
make statues to Him in the form of a man rather than of another
animal?" To that they replied, "We do not fashion these statues
to God, but when any rich man among us dies, his son or his wife
or someone dear to him has a statue of the deceased made and
places it here and we venerate it in memory of him." To these
words I answered, "Then you do these things for no other reason
than to flatter men." "Not so," they said. "We do it in their
memory."
Then they asked me, as if jeering at me, "Where is God?"
In return I asked, "Where is your soul?" They said, "In our
body." Whereupon I said, "Is it not everywhere in your body?
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 141
Does it not rule the whole and yet it is not seen? Similarly God is
everywhere and governs all things; nevertheless He is invisible,
for He is intellect and wisdom." Then when I wanted to argue more
points with them, my interpreter, tired and unable to express the
words, forced me to silence.
The Mongols or Tartars belong to their sect as far as their
believing in only one God is concerned; they do, nevertheless,
make out of felt images of their dead and they clothe these in
most precious materials and place them in one or two carts; these
carts nobody dares touch and they are in charge of their diviners
who are their priests; I will tell you later about them.
These diviners always go before the orda of Mangu and other
rich men; the poor, however, do not have them, only those of
Chingis' stock. When it is time for them to move they go before
them as the pillar of cloud went before the children of Israel and
they inspect the place where the camp is to be measured out and
first unload their dwellings and after them the orda. Then when
it is a feast day or the first of the month they bring out the aforementioned
images and place them in order in a circle in their
dwelling. Then the Mongols come, enter the dwelling and bow
to the images and venerate them. And no stranger may enter
there, for I on one occasion wanted to go in and was roundly
rated.
CHAPTER XXVI
OF VARIOUS TRIBES AND OF MEN WHO USED TO EAT THEIR
PARENTS
THESE Uigurs who live side by side with Christians and Saracens
have, as a result, I imagine, of frequent discussions, reached the
point that they believe in only one God. They were the first
dwellers in towns to be subject to Chingis Chan, whence it came
about that he gave his daughter in marriage to their king. Caracorum
itself is, as it were, in their territory and around their lands
is the entire country belonging to King or Prester John and Unc
his brother. But the latter have their pasture lands towards the
142 THE MONGOL MISSION
north, while the Uigurs have theirs among the mountains towards
the south. This accounts for the fact that the Mongols adopted
their script, and they are their chief scribes and almost all the
Nestorians can read their script.
Beyond these to the east among the mountains are the Tangut,
1
very brave men. They took Chingis prisoner in battle, and when
peace was made they set him free; afterwards he conquered them.
They have very strong oxen with tails all hair, like horses, and
hairy bellies and backs ; they are shorter in the leg than other oxen
but very much stronger. They draw the large dwellings of the
Mongols and they have graceful long curved horns which are so
very sharp that their tips always have to be cut off. The cow will
not allow herselfto be milked unless she is sung to. They are ofthe
same nature as bulls for if they see a man wearing red they rush
upon him and would kill him.
Next come the Tebec,
2
men whose custom it was to eat their
deceased parents so as to provide them, out of filial piety, with no
other sepulchre than their own stomachs. They have stopped
doing this now, however, for it made them detestable in the eyes
of all men. Nevertheless they still make fine goblets out of
their parents' skulls so that when drinking from these they may
be mindful of them in the midst of their enjoyment. I was told
this by one who had seen them. They have a good deal of gold in
their country, so if anyone needs any he digs until he finds it, and
he takes as much as he needs, putting the rest back into the
ground, for he believes that if he were to place it among his
treasures or in a box, God would take away from him all that
which is in the earth.
I saw men of this tribe who were much deformed. The Tangut
men I saw were tall and swarthy. The Uigurs are of medium
height like us. Among the Uigurs is to be found the fount and
root of the Turkish and Coman languages.
Beyond the Tebec are Longa and Solanga.
3
I saw their ambassadors
at the court; they had brought more than ten large carts,
1
The people of northern Tibet who at this time had extended their power
over Kansu and north-west China.
2
Tibetans.
9
Manchuria.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 143
each of which was drawn by six oxen. They are little men and
dark like Spaniards; they wear tunics like a deacon's tunicle with
sleeves a little narrower, and on their head they have mitres like
bishops. The front half of these is somewhat lower than the back
and they do not go to a point but are square on top; they are made
out of cloth stiffened with black glue and are so highly polished
that when caught by the rays of the sun they shine like a mirror or
a well-burnished helmet; and at their temples there are long
strips of the same material stitched on to the mitre which fly out
in the wind like two horns springing from the temples; and when
the wind tosses them about too much they twist them together on
top of the mitre across the middle from one side to the other, and
they stay like a hoop across the head, forming a most attractive
head-dress.
When their chief envoy came to the court he always had an
ivory tablet, a cubit long and a hand-breadth wide, and very
smooth. Whenever he spoke to the Chan himself or to any other
important person, he kept his eyes all the time on that tablet as if
he were reading there what he was saying and he looked neither
to the right nor to the left nor at the face of him to whom he was
speaking. Even when coming into the presence of the Chan and
when retiring he looked nowhere save at his tablet.
Beyond these tribes are men, as I learned for a fact, who are
called Muc and who have towns but possess no animals of their
own. There are, nevertheless, many flocks and herds in their
country which no one tends, but when anyone wants anything he
climbs a hill and shouts, and all the animals hearing the noise
gather round him and let themselves be handled like domestic
animals. If an envoy or any stranger comes to that district, they
shut him up in a house, providing him with all necessities, until
his business is concluded, for if a stranger were to go about that
district the animals on smelling him would take flight and become
wild.
Next is Grand Cathay, the inhabitants of which in ancient
times, so I believe, used to be called Seres. From them came the
best silken materials, which are named Seric after the people, and
the latter get their name from one of their towns. I learned on
144 THE MONGOL MISSION
good authority that in that country there is a town with walls of
silver and ramparts of gold. In that land there are many provinces
a number of which are still not subject to the Mongols. Between
them and India lies the sea.
The inhabitants of Cathay are little men, and when they speak
they breathe heavily through their noses; it is a general characteristic
of all Orientals that they have a small opening for the eyes.
They are very fine craftsmen in every art, and their physicians know
a great deal about the power of herbs and diagnose very cleverly
from the pulse; on the other hand they do not use urinals nor know
anything about urine; I saw this myself, for there were many of
them in Caracorum. It has always been their custom that whatever
craft the father follows all the sons have to follow the same
craft and that is why they pay such a large tribute, for every day
they give the Mongols fifteen hundred iascot; a iascot is a piece
of silver weighing ten marks, so that is fifteen thousand marks
every day, not counting the silk materials and food-stuffs which
they receive from them, and the other services they render them.
All these peoples dwell between the mountains of the Caucasus
on the north side and the eastern ocean and the south ofthat part of
Scythia inhabited by the Mongol nomads. They are all subject to
the Tartars and are all given to idolatry; they invent numbers of
gods, men who have turned into gods, and the genealogy of the
gods, as do our poets.
There are Nestorians and Saracens living among them like
foreigners as far as Cathay. There are Nestorians in fifteen
cities of Cathay and they have a bishopric there in the city called
Segin,
1
but beyond that they are pure pagans. The pagan priests of
these said people all wear wide saflron cowls. There are also
among them certain hermits, so I learned, in the woods and
mountains, and they are of wondrous life and austerity.
The Nestorians there know nothing. They say their offices and
have their sacred books in Syriac, a language of which they are
ignorant, and so they sing like our monks who know no grammar,
and this accounts for the fact that they are completely corrupt.
In the first place they are usurers and drunkards, and some of
1
Perhaps Hsi-chin, the pre-Mongol name for Peking.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 145
them who are with the Tartars even have several wives like them.
When they enter a church they wash their lower members like
the Saracens; they eat meat on Fridays and have feasting on that
day after the Saracen custom.
The bishop puts off coming into these regions; he comes perhaps
scarcely once in fifty years. When he does come, they have
all the little male children, even those still in their cradles, ordained
priests, consequently almost all their men are priests, and after
this they marry, which is clearly contrary to the decrees of the
Fathers, and they are bigamists, for when their first wife dies
these priests take another. They are also all of them simoniaca],
administering no sacrament without payment.
They look after their wives and children well, consequently
they pay more attention to gaining money than spreading the
faith, whence it comes about that when any of them bring up sons
of Mongol noblemen, although they teach them the Gospel and
the faith, yet by their evil life and greed they rather alienate them
from the Christian religion, for the lives of the Mongols themselves
and even of the tuins, that is the pagans, are more innocent
than theirs.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE JOURNEY TO THE COURT OF MANGU CHAN
WE set out on the feast of St. Andrew [November 30th 1253] from
the city I have mentioned, and three leagues from there we came
across a completely Nestorian village. Entering their church
with joy we sang as loudly as we could
"
Salve Regina", for it was
many a day since we had seen a church.
Three days' journey from there we reached the end of that
province at the extremity of the lake I have spoken of [Lake
Balkash], which seemed to us as tempestuous as the ocean, and we
saw a large island in it. My companion went down to the shore
and wetted a piece of linen in it so that he could taste the water,
which was slightly salt but drinkable. A valley came down from
among high mountains from a south-easterly direction, and there
146 THE MONGOL MISSION
among the mountains was another large lake, and a river flowed
through the valley from the one lake to the other,
1
and such a
strong wind blows almost continuously through the valley that men
cross it in great danger of being carried into the water by the wind.
We passed through that valley directing our course northwards
towards some high mountains covered with deep snow which was
then on the ground. This caused us to quicken our pace considerably
on the feast of St. Nicholas [December 6th], for we no longer
came across people, except for the yams, who are men placed at
distances of a day's journey to receive envoys, since in many
places in the mountains the road is narrow and there is little
pasture. Between day and night we now took in two yams:, this
meant we made two days
5
journey in one and we covered more
ground by night than by day. It was extremely cold there so they
lent us goat-skins, the hairy side outwards.
On the second Saturday in Advent in the evening we were
making our way through a place among the most dreadful rocks,
when our guide sent to ask me to say some holy words which
could put demons to flight, for in that pass
2
demons used suddenly
to carry off men and nobody knew what became of them. Sometimes
they would snatch a horse leaving the man behind, at other
times they would tear out a man's entrails and leave the body on
the horse, and many other such things frequently happened there.
Then we sang in a loud voice "Credo in Unum Deum" and, by
the grace of God, we reached the other side with the whole party
intact. From then on they began to ask me to write out cards for
them which they could bear on their heads, and I said to them:
"
I will teach you a word which you will bear in your hearts, by
means of which both your souls and your bodies will be saved for
eternity/' But whenever I wanted to instruct them my interpreter
let me down. However, I wrote out for them the
"
Credo in
Deum" and the "Pater noster", saying, "Here is written down
what a man ought to believe about God and a prayer in which
petition is made to God for everything which is necessary for man;
1
Probably Lake Ala-KuL
*The mountains referred to are those which separate Kazakhstan from
Dzungaria on the Chinese side, south of the Altai and north of the Tien-Shan
Mountains.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 147
therefore firmly believe what is written here although you cannot
understand it and ask of God that He will do to you what is contained
in the prayer written here, which He Himself taught His
friends with His own lips; and I trust that He will save you." I
could do no other, for to speak words of doctrine through such an
interpreter was most dangerous; nay, it was impossible, for he
did not know the words.
After this we entered upon a plain
1
where the orda of Keu
Chan used to be; it used to be the country of the Naimans who
were Prester John's own people. I did not see the orda on that
occasion but on my return.
However, I will tell you now what happened to Keu Chan's
son and wives. On the death of Keu Chan, Baatu wanted Mangu
to be Chan. I was unable to learn anything definite about Keu's
death. Friar Andrew said that he had died as a result of some
medicine which had been given him and he suspected that Baatu
was responsible, but I heard another story. Keu had summoned
Baatu to come and pay homage to him and Baatu set out on his
journey with great pomp. However he and his men were very
much afraid, and he sent ahead one of his brothers, Stican2
by
name. When the latter reached Keu and was about to hand him
a goblet, a quarrel arose and they killed each other. Stican's
widow kept us throughout one day so that we could go into
her house and bless her, that is to say pray for her. And so
on the death of Keu, Mangu was elected by Baatu's desire,
and the election had already taken place when Friar Andrew
was there.
Keu had a brother called Siremon who, on the advice of Keu's
wife and his vassals, set out in great state as if going to pay homage
to Mangu. But in fact he intended to kill him, and to wipe out
his whole court. When he was one or two days* journey from
Mangu, one of his carts, which had broken down on the way,
stopped behind and while the driver was working to repair it one
of Mangu's men came up and helped him; and he asked so many
questions about their journey that the driver let out what Siremon
intended to do. Whereupon the man, turning aside as if he were
1
Dzungaria.
2
Shiban.
148 THE MONGOL MISSION
little concerned, went to the herd ofhorses and taking the strongest
horse he could pick out, he rode with speed night and day and on
reaching Mangu's orda he reported to him what he had heard.
Then Mangu, hastily summoning all his men, had four circles of
armed men drawn up round his orda so that no one could enter or
leave. The rest he sent to meet Siremon. They took him, all
unsuspecting that his plan had been revealed, and brought him
to the orda with all his followers. When Mangu accused him of
his crime he straightway confessed. He was then put to death, as
was the elder son of Keu Chan and with them three hundred ofthe
Tartar nobles. Their wives were also sent for; these were all
beaten with burning brands to make them confess. When they
had confessed they were put to death. Keu's little son, who was
neither of an age to take part in nor aware of the plot, was left
alive, and his father's orda with all that belonged to it, that is to
say animals and men, became his.
We passed by the orda on our return, but my guides both on
the outward and homeward journey dared not turn aside to visit
it, for the "mistress of the Gentiles sat in sadness and there was
none to comfort her". [Lam. i.
1-2.]
After that we again went up into mountainous country, all the
time going north. At last on St. Stephen's day [December 26th]
we entered upon a plain as vast as the sea and such that not even
the smallest hill was to be seen, and on the following day, the
feast of St. John the Evangelist, we reached the orda of the great
lord. When, however, we were five days' journey distant from it,
the yam at whose house we were sleeping wanted to direct us by a
roundabout route, so that we would have had to toil for more than
another fortnight. The reason for this, I gathered, was that we
should pass through Onankerule, that is, their own country where
Chingis Chan's orda is; others said they wanted us to do this
so that by making the journey longer they could provide a greater
display of their power; for they are in the habit of doing this to
men coming from countries not subject to them. It was with great
difficulty that our guide obtained leave for us to follow the direct
route. They detained us on account ofthis matter from dawn until
nine o'clock.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 149
It was also on this part of the journey that I was told by the
scribe for whom we had waited at Cailac that in the letter which
Baatu was sending to Mangu Chan it said that you were asking for
an army and help against the Saracens from Sartach. At that I
began to wonder greatly and also to be worried for I knew the gist
of your letter and knew that there was no mention ofthis in it, save
that you admonished him to be the friend of all Christians, to
exalt the Cross, and to be the enemy of all enemies of the Cross.
I was also afraid that, since the interpreters were Armenians from
Greater Armenia1
with a deep hatred of the Saracens, they had,
out of loathing for them and to do them harm, interpreted your
letter more strongly in accordance with their own desires. I
therefore kept quiet, not saying anything for or against, for I was
afraid to contradict Baatu's words lest I should be falsely accused
without reasonable cause.
CHAPTER XXVIII
MANGU'S COURT AND THE FIRST AUDIENCE
AND so we came on the aforementioned day to the orda. Our
guide was assigned a large dwelling; we three were given a tiny
hut in which we could only just put our baggage and make our
beds and a little fire. Many came to visit our guide and he was
brought rice wine in long-shaped flagons with narrow necks. I
could not tell the difference between it and the best Auxerre wine,
except that it had not the bouquet ofwine,
We were summoned and closely questioned as to the business
on which we had come. I replied: "We heard that Sartach was a
Christian; we went to him, the French King sent him a private
letter by us; Sartach sent us to his father, his father sent us here.
He must have written the reason why." They asked if you wished
to make peace with them. I answered: "He sent a letter to
Sartach as to a Christian, and if he had known that he was not a
1
Armenia in N.E. Turkey and adjacent territories of Persia and TransCaucasia,
as distinguished from Lesser Armenia in Cilicia.
150 THE MONGOL MISSION
Christian3 he would never have sent him a letter. As for making
peace, all I can say is he has never done you any injury ; if he had
done Anything to give you grounds for making war on him and his
people, he would gladly wish, as a just man, to make amends and
seek peace. If you, without cause, desire to make war on him and
his people, we trust that God, Who is just, will come to their aid."
They were amazed and kept on repeating, "Why have you come
if you do not wish to make peace?"
For they are now so much puffed up with pride that they
believe the whole world is anxious to make peace with them.
But indeed, if I were given leave, I would preach war against them
throughout the whole world with all my strength. As I did not
wish to explain openly to them the cause of my coming for fear of
saying something contrary to the message Baatu had sent, I said
that the whole reason of my going there was that he had sent me.
On the following day we were taken to the court and I, thinking
that I could go barefoot as in our part of the world, had removed
my shoes. Those coming to the court however have to alight
from their horses a long way from the dwelling in which the
Chan is, about a bow-shot, and there the horses are left with the
servants who look after them. When we had got off our horses and
our leader had gone to the Chan's dwelling a Hungarian servant
there recognised us, that is to say our Order. And when the men
surrounded us and gazed at us as if we were monsters, especially
because we were bare-foot, and were enquiring if we had no need
of our feet since they supposed we should lose them straightway,
the Hungarian explained to them the reason, telling them the rules
of our Order.
Then there came to see us the chief secretary, a Nestorian
Christian, whose advice is followed in almost all matters; he
examined us carefully, then sending for the Hungarian he asked
him many questions. Then we were told to return to our lodgings.
On the way back I saw facing the orda towards the east, distant
from it twice as far as one can shoot with a cross-bow, a building
with a little cross on top.
Thereupon greatly rejoicing, for I presumed that; it had something
to do with the Christian religion, I boldly went in and
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 151
found an altar most beautifully decorated. There were embroidered
on cloth-of-gold figures of our Saviour, the Blessed Virgin, John
the Baptist and two angels, the outlines of the bodies and the
garments being picked out in pearls, and there was a large
silver cross with precious stones in the angles and in the centre,
and many other ornaments and a lamp with eight oil lights burning
before the altar. An Armenian monk was sitting there; he was
dark and thin, and wearing a very rough hair shirt which reached
half-way down his legs. Over that he had a black cloak padded
with bristles, and tinder his hair shirt he was bound with various
iron chains.
Immediately we were inside, before greeting the monk, we
prostrated and sang "Ave Regina Coelorum" and the monk stood
up and prayed with us. Then having greeted him we sat down
near him; he had in front of him a little fire on a dish. We told
him the reason of our coming and he began to encourage us
greatly, saying that we were to speak out boldly for we were the
ambassadors of God, Who is greater than any man.
After that he related to us how he had come there, saying that
he had preceded us by a month. He told us that he had been a
hermit in the territory of Jerusalem, and that God had appeared
to him three times bidding him go to the chief of the Tartars;
and when he neglected to go the third time God threatened him,
casting him down onto the ground and saying that if he did not
go he would die; and he had told Mangu Chan that if he would
become a Christian the whole world would come under his sway
and the French and the mighty Pope would be subject to him;
and he advised me to say the same to him. Whereupon I replied:
"Brother, gladly will I urge him to become a Christian, for the
reason of my coming is to preach this to all men; I will also
promise him that the French and the Pope will rejoice exceedingly
and will consider him as a brother and a friend, but that they
should become his vassals and pay him tribute like the other
nations, never will I promise, for I should be speaking against my
conscience." At that he remained silent.
And so we went to our lodging which I found cold, and we had
eaten nothing all day. We cooked a litde of our meat and some
152 THE MONGOL MISSION
millet in the gravy as soup. Our guide and his companions were
getting drunk at the court and had little concern for us.
At that time we had as neighbours envoys from Vastacius, a fact
of which we were ignorant. At dawn men from the court made us
get up with all speed. I went with them bare-foot the short
distance to the dwelling of the said envoys and they enquired
of them if they knew us. Then a Greek soldier recognised our
Order and also my companion, for he had seen him at the court of
Vastacius1
with Friar Thomas our Minister, and he together with
all his companions spoke strongly in our favour. Next they asked
if you were at peace or war with Vastacius. "Neither at peace/
3
said I, "nor at war," and they enquired how that could possibly
be. "The reason is," I said, "that their countries are far removed
from each other and they have nothing to do with each other."
At that point Vastacius' envoy said you were at peace and this put
me on my guard. I then kept quiet.
That morning the tips of my toes froze so I could no longer go
bare-foot. For the cold in those parts is extremely severe and from
the time that it begins to freeze it does not leave off until May.
Even in May it froze every morning but thawed during the day
in the heat of the sun. In winter however it never thaws, but
whatever the wind, the ice remains. And if there were a wind
there in winter such as we have, nothing would be able to live, but
the air is always still until April and then the winds get up. When
we were there about Easter the cold which came with the wind
killed at that time countless animals. A little snow fell in the
winter but about Easter, which was at the end of April, there was
such a heavy fall that all the streets of Caracorum were blocked
and the snow had to be taken away in carts. It was then that they
first brought us from the court sheepskin cloaks and trousers ofthe
same and shoes. My companion and the interpreter accepted
them but I did not think I needed them, for it seemed to me that
the fur cloak I had brought from Baatu was enough for me.
Then on the octave of Holy Innocents [January 4th] we were
taken to the court and some Nestorian priests came I did not
know they were Christians and they asked in what direction we
1
See supra, p. 91 n. 2.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 153
worshipped. I said: "Towards the east." The reason they asked
this was that, on the advice of our guide, we had shaved our
beards so that we should appear before the Chan according to the
fashion of our native land, and this led them to think that we were
tuins\ that is pagans. They also made us expound on the Bible.
Then they asked what kind of obeisance we wished to make to the
Chan, whether according to our custom or theirs. To this I
replied: "We are priests dedicated to the service of God. In our
part of the world noble lords, out of honour to God, do not
countenance priests' bending the knee before them, nevertheless
we are willing to humble ourselves to all men for God. We have
come a long way; first, if it please you, we will sing praises to God
Who has brought us safely from such a long distance away as far
as here, and after that we will do whatever your master pleases,
provided that he order us to do nothing contrary to the worship
and honour of God."
Then they went into the dwelling and repeated what we had
said. The Chan agreed and they placed us before the door of the
dwelling, lifting up the felt which hung in front of it; and seeing
that it was Christmas-time we began to sing:
A solis ortus cardine
Et usque terre limitem
Christum canamus principem
Natum Maria Virgine.
When we had sung this hymn they examined our legs, breasts
and arms to see whether we had any knives on us. The interpreter
they took on one side and made him leave his belt and knife
outside in the care of one of the door-keepers.
Then we went in. Near the entrance was a bench with some
cosmos on it, and they made the interpreter stand near this while
we were made to sit on a stool in front of the ladies. The whole
dwelling was completely covered inside with doth of gold and in
the middle in a little hearth was a fire oftwigs and roots of worm-
1
Tuin seems to be derived from the Chinese word "Tao jenn" or "men of
the Way" or Tapists^
but it was also used generally for monks and ascetics of
every denomination.
154 THE MONGOL MISSION
wood, which grows to a great size there, and also the dung of
oxen. The Chan was sitting on a couch wearing a speckled and
shiny fur like seal-skin. He is a flat-nosed man of medium height,
about forty-five years old; a young wife was sitting next to him
and a grown-up daughter, who was very ugly, Cirina by name,
was sitting on a couch behind them with some little children. For
that dwelling had belonged to one of his wives, a Christian, whom
he had loved deeply and by whom he had had the said daughter.
Although he had introduced in addition the young wife, nevertheless
the daughter was mistress of all that court which had belonged
to her mother.
Then the Chan had them ask us whether we would like to drink
wine or terracina, that is rice wine, or caracosmos, that is clear mares*
milk, or bal, that is mead made from honey, for these are the four
drinks they use in winter. I replied:
"
Sir, we are not men seeking
our desire in drink; whatever pleases you satisfies us." Then he
had some of the rice drink brought for us, it is clear and tastes
like white wine; out of respect to him we sipped it for a short
time. To our misfortune our interpreter was standing near the
cup-bearers, who gave him a great deal to drink and he got
drunk immediately.
After that the Chan ordered falcons and other birds to be brought
to him and he took them on his hand and looked at them, and after
a long interval he bade us speak. For that we had to kneel down.
He had as interpreter a Nestorian, but I was ignorant of the fact
that he was a Christian, and we had our interpreter, such as he
was, for he was already drunk. Then I spoke:
"First of all we render thanks and praise to God Who has
brought us from such far distant regions to see Mangu Chan to
whom He has given great power on earth. And we pray Christ,
under Whose dominion we all live and die, that He will grant him
a good and long life/*
For they always wish a blessing to be asked on their life. Then
I told him:
"
Sir, we heard that Sartach was a Christian and the Christians
who heard this were delighted, especially my Lord the French
King. And so we went to him and my Lord the King sent him a
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 155
letter by us containing words of peace, and among other things
he testified as to what kind of men we are and requested him to
allow us to remain in his territory; for our office is to teach men
to live according to the law of God. Sartach, however, sent us
to his father, Baatu; Baatu sent us here to you. You are a man to
whom God has given great dominion on earth, we therefore beg
Your Puissance to grant us leave to stay in your country to carry
out the service of God on behalf of you, your wives and your
children. We have neither gold nor silver nor precious stones
which we could present to you; we have but ourselves and we
offer ourselves to serve God and pray to Him for you. At least give
us permission to stay here until the cold has passed, for my
companion is so weak that he can in no wise, without endangering
his life, bear to ride any further."
My companion had spoken to me of his weakness and had
entreated me to ask for permission to remain, for we strongly
suspected that we would have to return to Baatu unless by a special
grace we were given leave to stay.
Then the Chan began to reply: "Just as the sun spreads its rays
in all directions, so my power and the power of Baatu is spread
everywhere. Therefore we have no need of your gold or silver."
Up to this point I understood my interpreter but beyond this I
could not grasp a single complete sentence, which showed me
dearly that he was drunk. And Mangu Chan himself appeared
to me intoxicated. He ended however by saying, so it seemed
to me, that he was not pleased that we had gone to Sartach first
rather than to him. Then I, seeing my interpreter's incapacity,
kept quiet, except that I begged him not to be offended at what
I had said about gold and silver, for I had said it not because
he had need of or desired such things, but rather because
we would gladly have honoured him with both temporal and
spiritual gifts.
He then told us to get up from our knees and sit down again
and after a short time we took leave of him and went out, and his
secretaries and his interpreter, who is bringing up one of his
daughters, went with us. They began to ask a great many questions
about the kingdom of France, whether there were many sheep
156 THE MONGOL MISSION
and oxen and horses there, as if they were about to march in at
once and take everything, and many other times I had to do great
violence to myself to hide my indignation and anger, and I
replied: "There are many good things there, which you will see
if it falls to your lot to go there."
They assigned a man to us to look after us and we went to the
monk. When we were coming away from him in order to return
to our lodging, the aforementioned interpreter came to meet us
and said :
"
Mangu Chan has pity on you and grants you permission
to stay here for the space of two months, by which time the
intense cold will be over, and he informs you that ten days' journey
from here there is a fine city called Caracorum; if you wish
to go there he will have you provided with all that you need; if
however you wish to remain here you may and you will have
what is needful; it will however be wearisome for you to ride with
the orda." I replied: "May the Lord keep Mangu Chan and
grant him a long and good life! We have found here this monk
and we believe that he is a holy man and has come to these parts
by the will of God, and so we would like to stay with him seeing
that we too are monks and we could say our prayers together
for the Chan's good estate." He then left us in silence.
We went to our quarters which we found cold and without
any fuel and we were still fasting from food and it was already
night-time. Then the man to whose charge we had been committed
provided us with some fuel and a little food.
CHAPTER XXIX
THINGS DONE, SEEN AND HEARD BY FRIAR WILLIAM AT MANGU'S
COURT
OUR guide returned to Baatu, first asking us for a carpet or mat
which we had left at Baatu's orda at his bidding; we granted his
request. He took leave of us in a peaceable manner, begging us
to shake hands with him and acknowledging his fault if he had
allowed us to suffer hunger and thirst on the road; we forgave
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 157
him and in our turn begged his pardon and that of all his company
if we had shown them any bad example.
We met with a woman from Metz in Lorraine who had been
captured in Hungary and was called Paquette, and she made as
big a feast for us as she could. She belonged to the court of the
lady who had been a Christian whom I have mentioned before, and
she told us of the unheard-of privations she had endured before
she came to the court. But now things were going fairly well for
her, for she had a young Russian husband by whom she had
three lovely little boys, and he was skilled in making houses which
is a profitable craft among them.
Moreover she told us that there was at Caracorum a certain
master goldsmith called William, a Parisian by birth, whose surname
is Buchier and his father's name Laurent Buchier, and he
thinks he still has a brother on the Grand Pont called Roger
Buchier. She also told me that he had a young man whom he had
brought up, who was as a son to him and who was an excellent
interpreter. But Mangu Chan had handed over to the said master
three hundred iascot1
, that is three thousand marks, and fifty
workmen to carry out special work and so she was afraid he
would not be able to send his son to me. Now she had heard
said to her at the court: "The men who have come from your
country are good fellows and Mangu Chan would gladly speak
with them but their interpreter is no use." And so she was
anxious to find an interpreter.
Thereupon I wrote to the said master informing him ofmy arrival
and asking him, if he could, to send his son to me; he wrote in reply
that it would not be possible that month, but the following month
his work would be finished and he would send him to me.
And so we stayed with the other envoys. They treat envoys
differently in the ordas of Baatu and Mangu, for in the former
there is a yam on the west side where all coming from the west are
received, and similarly for the other quarters of the world; but in
Mangu's orda all are together in one yam and they can visit and
see one another. In Baatu's orda they remain in ignorance of
each other and one does not know whether or not another is an
x " A piece of silver weighing ten marks "
(p. 144).
158 THE MONGOL MISSION
envoy, for they are not aware of each other's lodgings, nor do they
meet except at the court. And when one is invited another may
not be, for they never go to the court unless they are summoned.
We came across a Christian from Damascus who said he had
come on behalf of the Sultan of Mont Real and Crac1
who wished
lo become a tributary and friend of the Tartars.
Also in the previous year, before my arrival, there had been a
cleric from Acre there who called himself Raymond but in truth
his name was Theodolus. He had started on his journey from
Cyprus with Friar Andrew and accompanied him as far as Persia,
and in Persia he purchased for himself some musical instruments
from Armenia and he remained behind after Friar Andrew left.
On the latter's return Theodolus set out with his instruments
and reached Mangu Chan.
When questioned as to his reason for coming he said that he had
been with a certain holy bishop, to whom God had sent a letter
from heaven written in characters ofgold and he had enjoined him
to send it to the chief of the Tartars, for he was to be the Lord of
all the earth, and also to persuade men to make peace with him.
Then Mangu said to him: "If you had brought with you the
letter which came from heaven and your master's letter, then you
would have been welcome." Thereupon he replied that he was
bringing the letters but they were with his other belongings on
an untamed pack-animal which had escaped and fled through
woods and over mountains so that he had lost everything. And
it is certainly true that such mishaps frequently occur, and a man
has to be most careful to keep hold of his horse when he is obliged
to alight.
Mangu then asked the name of the bishop. Theodolus said he
was called Odo; and he told the man from Damascus and Master
Williamthat he had been a clerk ofthe Lord Legate. The Channext
asked to whose kingdom he belonged and he replied that he was
a subject ofthe French King called King Moles, for he had already
heard about what had happened at Mansurah2
, and wanted to say
1
This was the Sheik of the western Ismailians in Syria* commonly known as
the Old Man of the Mountain.
2
Where St. Louis IX of France was taken prisoner^ and his forces of the
Crusade destroyed by the Mamelukes in 1250.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 159
that he was one of your men. Moreover he told the Chan that
the Saracens were between the French and him and blocked the
way; if only the way were clear they would send envoys and gladly
make peace with him. Then Mangu Chan asked if he would take
envoys to the King and the bishop. He replied that he would and
also to the Pope.
Then Mangu had a very strong bow made, which two men
could hardly draw, and two arrows with heads of silver, full of
holes, which whistle like pipes when they are loosed. And he gave
the following instructions to the Mongol he was sending with
Theodolus: "You will go to that French King to whom this man
will take you, and you will present him with these things on my
behalf. If he wishes to be at peace with us, we will seize the
territory from the Saracens as far as his kingdom and we concede
to him the rest of the world westwards; but if he does not wish
peace then bring back the bow and arrows to us, telling him that
with such bows we shoot far and strike hard."
The Chan then dismissed Theodolus. The latter had as
interpreter Master William's son and it was in his hearing that
the Chan said to the Mongol: "You will go with this man; investigate
the roads well and the country, the cities, fortified places,
the men and their arms." The young man, thereupon, reproved
Theodolus, telling him that he was making a mistake in taking
envoys of the Tartars with him, for they were going for no other
reason but to spy. He replied that he would put them on the
sea so that they would not know where they had come from, or
to what place they were returning. Mangu also gave the Mongol
his golden seal, that is to say a plate of gold a handbreadth wide
and half a cubit long, on which his order is engraved; whoever
bears this can command whatever he will and it is carried out
without delay.
1
Theodolus got as far as Vastacius2
and wanted to continue his
journey to the Pope and deceive him as he had deceived Mangu
Chan. Then Vastacius asked him if he had a letter from the Pope
1
These tablets (paitze) were used extensively by the Mongols as marks of
official status. Several of them are to be found in the Hermitage Museum at
Leningrad cf. Vernadsky, The Mongols in Russia, p. 128.
2
See note supra, p. 91.
l6o THE MONGOL MISSION
seeing that he was an envoy and had been given the duty of conducting
envoys of the Tartars. Since he could not produce a
letter, Vastacius seized him and despoiling him of all that he had
acquired put him in prison. As for the Mongol he fell sick and
died there.
Vastacius sent back the gold seal to Mangu Chan by the Mongol's
servants; I met them at Erzerum on the borders of Turkey
and they told me of Theodolus' fate. Such impostors roam about
the world and the Mongols put them to death when they can
catch them.
The day of the Epiphany [January 6th] was approaching and
the Armenian monk, Sergius by name, told me that he was going
to baptize Mangu Chan on the day of the feast. I begged him to
do all in his power to enable me to be present so that I could bear
witness of what I had actually seen, and he promised he would.
The day ofthe feast arrived and the monk did not send for me, but
at midday I was summoned to the court, and I saw the monk coming
away from there with some priests, and he had his cross and the
priests a thurible and a Gospel-book. On that day Mangu Chan
had made a great feast; and it is his custom to hold court on such
days as his soothsayers tell him are feast days or the Nestorian
priests say are for some reason sacred. On these days the Christian
priests come first with their paraphernalia, and they pray for him
and bless his cup; when they retire the Saracen priests come and
do likewise; they are followed by the pagan priests who do the
same. The monk told me that the Chan only believes in the
Christians; however, he wishes them all to come and pray for
him. But he was lying, for he does not believe in any of them as
you will hear later; yet they all follow his court like flies honey,
and he gives to them all and they all think they enjoy his special
favour and they all prophesy good fortune for him.
We then sat before his court for a long time and they brought
us meat to eat. I told them we would not eat there, but if they
wished to provide us with food, they should supply it to us in
our own dwelling. To this they replied: "Well then, you can go
home for you were summoned for no other reason than to partake
of food." We went back, therefore, by way of the monk, who was
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK l6l
covered with confusion at the lie he had told me, and so I did not
wish to oblige him to talk about the matter. Some of the Nestorians,
however, wanted to assure me that the Chan had been
baptised; I said to them that I would never believe it nor tell
anyone else, seeing I had not witnessed it.
We arrived at our cold and empty dwelling. They provided
us with some bedding and coverlets, and they also brought some
fuel and gave us the meat of one thin little ram for the three of us
to be our food for six days. Every day they gave us a dishful of
millet and a quart of millet ale and they lent us a cauldron and
a tripod for us to cook our meat; when it was cooked, we cooked
the millet in the broth. This was our food and it would have been
quite sufficient for us if they had allowed us to eat it in peace,
but there were so many starving people who were not provided
with food and who, as soon as they saw us preparing ours, bore
down upon us and we had to share our meal with them. There I
experienced how great a martyrdom it is to bestow bounty in
one's own poverty.
The cold then began to increase greatly in intensity, and Mangu
Chan sent us three cloaks of monkey skin which they wear the
hairy side out, and we accepted them gratefully. They also enquired
how we were faring for food and I told them we were
satisfied with little but we had no building in which we could
pray for Mangu Chan, for our hut is so small that we could not
stand upright in it nor open our books when we lighted a fire.
They took word back to him and he sent to the monk to find out
if he desired our company and he replied with joy that he did.
From that time onwards we were provided with a better dwelling
and we took up our abode with the monk in front of the court
where no one was lodged except us and their diviners; but they
were nearer and facing the court of the chief wife, while we were
at the far east end in front ofthe court of the last wife. We moved
on the day before the Octave of the Epiphany.
The following day, namely the Octave of the Epiphany, all the
Nestorian priests assembled before daybreak at the chapel and
beat the board; and they sang solemn Matins, and put on their
vestments and prepared a thurible and incense. While they were
162 THE MONGOL MISSION
waiting in the court before the church, the chief wife, by name
Cotota Caten Caten is the same as Lady, Cotota a proper name
entered the chapel with a number of other ladies and her eldest
son Baltu and her other little children; and they prostrated,
placing their foreheads on the ground after the Nestorian custom,
and then they touched all the statues with their right hand,
always kissing the hand afterwards; and then they proffered
their right hand to all present in the church, for this is the custom
of Nestorians on entering church. The priests then sang
many things and gave incense into the lady's hand, and she put
it onto the coals and then they censed her. After this, when it
was now broad daylight, she began to take off her head-dress,
which is called a bocca, and I saw her bare head. She thereupon
ordered us to leave, and as we were going out I saw a silver bowl
being brought. Whether they baptised her or not I do not know;
but I do know that they do not celebrate Mass in a tent but only
in a permanent church. At Easter I saw them baptise and bless
fonts with great solemnity, a thing they did not do on this occasion.
When we had gone back to our lodging Mangu Chan himself
came and went into the church or oratory, and a golden
couch was brought on which he sat with his wife, opposite the
altar. Then we were summoned, still ignorant of the fact that
Mangu had come, and the door-keepers searched us to see that we
were not carrying any knives. I went into the oratory holding the
Bible and breviary before my breast; first I bowed to the altar
and then to the Chan and crossing over we took our stand between
the monk and the altar. Then they made us recite a psalm in our
own manner and sing, so we sang the sequence
"
Veni Sancte
Spiritus". The Chan had our books, the Bible and the breviary,
taken to him and he made a diligent enquiry as to the meaning
of the pictures. The Nestorians answered him as well as they
could, for our interpreter had not come in with us. The first time
also that I had been in his presence I had carried the Bible before
me, and he had had it brought to him and had had a good look at it.
He then left and his wife stayed behind and distributed gifts
to all the Christians present. To the monk she gave a iascot and
another to the archdeacon of the priests. She had placed in front
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 163
of us a nasic, that is a piece of material as wide as a bed-cover and
very long; and also a buccaran. As I was unwilling to accept
them, they sent for the interpreter and he had them for himself.
The nasic he took to Cyprus and sold for eighty Cyprian bezants,
but it had got much spoiled on the journey.
Then the drinks were brought rice ale, red wine, like the
wine of La Rochelle, and cosmos. The lady, holding a full goblet
in her hand, knelt down and asked a blessing, and all the priests
sang in a loud voice and she drank it all. My companion and I
were also obliged to sing another time when she wanted to drink.
When they were all nearly intoxicated food was brought, the flesh
of a sheep, which was immediately devoured, and after that some
large fish called carp, without salt and without bread, and of this
I ate a little. In this way they passed the time until evening.
Then the lady, now drunk, got into a cart, while the priests sang
and howled, and she went her way.
The following Sunday, which is when they read the gospel
"There was a marriage in Cana", the Chan's daughter whose
mother had been a Christian came and behaved in like manner
though with not so much solemnity, for she did not give any
presents, but she provided the priests with drink until they were
drunk and gave them roasted millet to eat.
The Nestorians fast for three days before Septuagesima Sunday
1
and they call this the fast of Jonas, which he preached to the
Ninevites; and the Armenians keep a fast of five days at that time
which they call the fast of St. Sergius, who is their greatest saint
and who, the Greeks say, was the model of what a martyr should
be. The Nestorians begin their fast on Tuesday and end on
Thursday, so on the Friday they eat meat.
At that time I saw the chancellor, that is the chief scribe of the
court, Bulgai by name, make them allowances of meat on Friday,
and they blessed them with great solemnity, just as the paschal
lamb is blessed. He himself, however, did not eat of it; this is
because of the teaching of Master William of Paris who is a great
friend of his. The monk ordered Mangu to fast throughout the
week, which he did, so I heard.
1
In 1254 in the first week of February.
164 THE MONGOL MISSION
And so on Septuagesima Saturday which is, as it were, the
Armenians' Easter, we went in procession to Mangu's dwelling,
and the monk and the two of us, having first been searched to see
if we had any knives, went into his presence with the priests.
As we were entering a slave was going out, carrying away sheep's
shoulder-blades which had been charred until they were as black
as coal. I was greatly puzzled as to the purpose of this and when
I enquired about it later I learned that the Chan does nothing in
the world without first consulting these bones; consequently
he does not allow anyone to enter his dwelling until he has consulted
them.
This type of divination is carried out in the following manner:
when the Chan wishes to do anything he has three of these bones
brought to him before they have been burned, and holding them
he thinks ofthat matter about which he wishes to find out whether
he is to do it or not; then he hands the bones to a slave to be
burned. Near the dwelling in which he is staying there are always two
little buildings in which the bones are burned and every day these
bones are diligently sought for throughout the encampment.
When the bones, therefore, have been burned until they are black
they are brought back to the Chan and he thereupon examines
them to see if with the heat of the fire they have split lengthwise
in a straight line. If they have, the way is clear for him to act; if,
however, the bones have cracked horizontally or round bits have
shot out, then he does not do it. The bone itself or the membrane
stretched over it always cracks in the fire. If, out of the three, one
is split in a straight line then he acts.
When we had come into the Chan's presence, having first been
warned not to touch the threshold, the Nestorian priests took
incense to him and he put it on the thurible and they censed him.
Then they chanted a blessing on his drink and after them the
monk gave his blessing and lastly we had to pronounce ours.
When he saw us dasping the Bible he had it taken to him so that he
could look at it, and he examined it most carefully. After he had
drunk and the chief of the priests had handed him a goblet then
they gave the priests to drink.
We then went out but my companion remained behind. When
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 165
we were already outside and he was on the point of coming out
after us, he turned towards the Chan and bowed to him, then
hurrying after us he stumbled against the threshold ofthe dwelling.
While we were hastening towards the dwelling of Baatu, the
Chan's son, those watching the threshold laid hands upon my
companion and compelled him to stop so that he could not follow
us; then, calling a man, they ordered him to take him to Bulgai,
who is the chief scribe of the court and tries those guilty of capital
offences. I was in ignorance of all this. When I looked round and
did not see him coming I thought they had detained him so that
he could be given lighter garments, for he was weak and so much
weighed down by the cloaks that he could scarcely walk. They
then summoned our interpreter and made him sit by him.
We made our way to the dwelling of the Chan's eldest son, who
already has two wives and who lives on the right of his father's
court. When he saw us coming he jumped up from the couch on
which he was sitting and prostrated, striking his forehead on the
ground in adoration of the cross; then rising he had it placed on
a new cloth in an elevated position near him, showing it very great
respect. He has as master a Nestorian priest called David, a great
drunkard, who teaches him. He then made us sit down and had
drinks given to the priests and he also drank after he had received
their blessing.
Next we went to the court of the second wife who was called
Cota and was a pagan, and we found her lying in bed sick. The
monk made her get up from her couch and adore the cross, kneeling
down three times and placing her forehead on the ground, and
he stood with the cross on the west side of the dwelling and she
on the east. This done they changed places and the monk went
with the cross to the east side, she to the west; then, although
she was so weak she could hardly stand on her feet, he insolently
ordered her to prostrate again and adore the cross three times
towards the east according to the Christian custom, and she did so.
He also taught her to make the sign of the cross on herself.
She lay down on her bed again and when prayers had been said
for her we next went to a third house which was that in which the
Christian wife used to be. When she died she was succeeded
166 THE MONGOL MISSION
by the young girl, who, together with the Chan's daughter,
received us with joy, and all in that house reverently adored the
cross, and she placed it in a prominent position on a cloth of silk,
and she had food brought, that is to say, the flesh of a sheep;
it was placed in front of the lady and she had it served to the
priests. The monk and I, however, avoided eating and drinking.
When the meat had been eaten and a great deal of drink consumed,
we had to go to the apartment of the young mistress
Cirina, which was behind the large dwelling which had belonged
to her mother. When the cross entered she prostrated herself on
the ground and adored it with great devotion for she had been well
instructed in this respect, and she placed it in a prominent position
on a silken doth; all these cloths on which the cross was placed
were the monk's.
This cross had been brought by a certain Armenian who had
come with the monk, so he said, from Jerusalem, and it was of
silver weighing some four marks, and had four precious stones in
the angles and one in the middle; it had no figure of the Saviour,
for the Armenians and Nestorians are ashamed to see Christ
nailed to the cross. They had presented it at the hands of the
monk to Mangu Chan, who asked him what was his petition.
The Armenian replied that he was the son of an Armenian priest
whose church had been destroyed by the Saracens and he begged
the Chan's help in the restoration of this church. The Chan then
asked how much would be needed for it to be rebuilt, and he
replied two hundred iascot> that is to say two thousand marks.
The Chan ordered a letter to be given to him addressed to the
official who receives the tribute in Persia and in Greater Armenia,
telling him to pay him the said sum of money. The monk took
this cross with him everywhere and the priests, seeing him
collecting money, began to be envious of him. As I was saying,
we were in the house of the young lady and she gave the priests a
great deal to drink.
From here we went to the fourth dwelling, which was the last
as regards both number and honour, for the Chan did not visit that
wife and her house was old and she herself not at all attractive;
however, after Easter he had a new dwelling made for her and
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 167
new carts. She, like the second wife, knew little or nothing of the
Christian religion but was a follower of the diviners and idolaters.
Nevertheless when we went in she adored the cross in the way the
monk and priests taught her to do. There again the priests had
some drinks.
From that place we returned to our oratory which was nearby,
the priests singing and shouting loudly in their drunkenness,
which in that country is not considered reprehensible either in
man or woman. My companion was then brought and the monk
chid him very severely for having touched the threshold.
The following day Bulgai, the judge, came and made diligent
enquiry as to whether we had been warned to avoid touching the
threshold, and I replied: "Sir, we did not have our interpreter
with us ; how could we understand ?
"
He thereupon pardoned my
companion, but never afterwards was he allowed to enter any of
the Chan's dwellings.
It afterwards came to pass that the lady Cota, who had been
indisposed round about Sexagesima Sunday, became sick unto
death and the sorceries of the pagans did her not the slightest
good. Then Mangu sent to the monk to enquire of him what
could be done about her and he rashly replied that if she didn't
get better the Chan could cut off his head. Having given this
promise the monk summoned us and, laying the whole matter
before us, begged us with tears to watch with him in prayer that
night, which we did.
Now he had a certain root which goes by the name of rhubarb,
and he used to cut it up almost to a powder and put it into water
with a little cross he had from which the figure of our Saviour had
been removed. He declared that he was able to tell by means
of this whether a sick man was going to get well again or going
to die; for if he was going to get well it would stick to his chest as
if glued to it, otherwise it would not stick. At that time I still
believed that the rhubarb was some sacred thing he had brought
from the Holy Land of Jerusalem. He used to give some of that
water to all ailing people to drink with the inevitable result that
their bowels were all disturbed by so bitter a potion. This change
in their bodies they put down to a miracle. Then when he was
168 THE MONGOL MISSION
preparing to mix some of this water, I mentioned to him the holy
water which is made in the Roman Church, for it is most efficacious
in driving out demons and I had understood that she was
troubled with a devil. At his request we made some holy water
for him, and he mixed some rhubarb with it and plunged in the
cross to soak all night in the water. I also added, in case he himself
were a priest, that the Order of the priesthood possesses great
power for driving out devils. He replied that he was a priest;
however, he lied, for he had received no Orders, nor did he know
his letters, but was a weaver of cloth as I learned afterwards in
his native land through which I passed on my return journey.
And so the next day the monk and I and two Nestorian priests
visited the lady, who was in a little house behind her larger dwelling.
When we went in she sat up in bed, and adoring the cross
placed it with due honour by her side on a silken cloth, and she
drank of the holy water and rhubarb and moistened her breast
with it and the monk asked me to read the Gospel over her. I
read the Passion of Our Lord according to John. At last feeling
better she cheered up and ordered four iascots of silver to be
brought. These she first placed at the foot of the cross and then
gave one to the monk and offered one to me; I was unwilling to
take it; whereupon the monk, stretching out his hand, grabbed it.
She also presented one to each of the two priests, so on that
occasion she bestowed forty marks. Then she had wine brought
and gave the priests to drink, and even I had to drink thrice at
her hand in honour of the Trinity. She also began to teach me
the language, twitting me because I was silent, not having my
interpreter with me.
The following day we went back again to her, and Mangu Chan,
hearing that we were passing by that way, made us go in to him,
for he had learned that the lady was much better. We found him
with a few members of his household drinking liquid tarn, that is
a food made of paste, for comforting the head: and in front of him
were lying the charred shoulder-blades of a sheep. He took the
cross in his hand but I did not see him kiss it or adore it; instead
he looked at it wondering I know not what. The monk then
asked for leave to carry the cross on a lance raised on high,
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 169
for I had previously discussed this matter with him, and Mangu
replied:
"
Carry it in the best way you know."
We took our leave of him and then went to the lady, whom we
found well and cheerful, and she again drank of the holy water
and I read the Passion over her. Those miserable priests never
instructed her in the faith nor advised her to be baptized. I, for
my part, sat there speechless, unable to say a word, though she
did go on teaching me the language. Nor do the priests rebuke
them for any kind of sorcery, for there I saw four swords drawn
halfway out of their sheaths, one at the head of the lady's couch,
another at the foot, and the other two one each side of the doorway.
I also saw a silver chalice such as we use, which had perhaps
been taken or stolen from a church in Hungary, and it was hung
up on the wall full of ashes and on top of the ashes was a black
stone, and the priests never teach them that such things are evil.
On the contrary they themselves do and teach the like. And so we
visited her for three days until she was perfectly restored to health.
At that time the monk made a banner covered with crosses
and sought out a long cane like a lance and we carried the cross
raised on high. I honoured him as my superior since he knew the
language, but he did many things which did not meet with my
approval. He had a faldstool made for himself such as it is the
custom for bishops to have, and gloves and a cap made ofpeacocks*
feathers with a little gold cross on top this pleased me as far as the
cross was concerned. He had coarse finger nails which he went to
the trouble to ornament with unguents; and he also proved to be
presumptuous in his speech. The Nestorians used to recite I
know not what verses of a psalm, so they said, over two twigs
which were joined together while being held by two men,
1
and
the monk himself used to be present at such things; and many
other foolishnesses came to light in him which displeased me.
Nevertheless for the honour of the cross we dung to his company.
We carried the cross on high throughout the whole encampment
singing
"
Vexilla Regis prodeunt" and the Saracens were greatly
surprised at this.
1
This was a form of divination.
170 THE MONGOL MISSION
After our arrival at Mangu's orda, he only moved camp in a
southerly direction twice; after that he began to return northwards,
that is towards Caracorum. One thing I noticed throughout
the whole journey, which Sir Baldwin of Hainault who had
been there had also mentioned to me at Constantinople, and this was
that the ground here gave the strange impression that as one
proceeds it always slopes up-hill and never down-hill. All the
rivers flowed from the east to west either directly or indirectly,
that is to say turning somewhat to the south or north. I questioned
some priests who had come from Cathay and they bore
witness to this fact.
From the place where I found Mangu Chan as far as Cathay,
it was twenty days' journey in a south-easterly direction; as far
as Onankerule which is the Mongols' own territory where
Chingis' orda is, it was ten days' journey due east; and as far as
this eastern district there was not a town to be found. There was,
however, a tribe called Su-Mongol, that is Mongols of the water,
for "su" is the same as water. These men live on fish and by
hunting, for they have neither flocks of sheep nor herds of cattle.
Similarly towards the north there is no town, but a poor tribe who
keep cattle and are called Kerkis 1
. There are also the Orengai
there who bind polished bones under their feet and propel themselves
over the frozen snow and ice at such a speed that they can
catch birds and animals. 2
There are several other poor tribes stretching towards the north
as far as the cold permits, and in the west their boundaries touch
the land of the Pascaver, that is to say Greater Hungary, concerning
which I told you above. The extreme north point is unexplored
on account ofthe great cold, for there are almost continual
blizzards there. I made enquiries about the monsters or human
monstrosities of which Isidore and Solinus speak. They told me
they had never seen such things, which makes me wonder very
much if there is any truth in the story. Since the aforementioned
tribes are destitute of everything they are obliged to work for the
Mongols; it was a decree of Chingis that no man should be free
1
Probably the Kirgiz who at that time lived in the Minusinsk Steppe.2
Perhaps the Orochon or Reindeer Tungus of North-Eastern Siberia.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK iyi
from service until he was so old that he could in no wise work any
more.
On one occasion there sat by me a priest from Cathay, wearing
a red material of a very fine hue, and when I asked him where he
got such a colour from, he told me that in the eastern district of
Cathay there are lofty crags in which dwell creatures having
in every respect a human form except that they do not bend their
knees but walk hopping I know not how; they are but a cubit
high and the whole of their small bodies is covered with hairs
and they live in inaccessible caves. When men go hunting them
they carry with them mead which they can make very intoxicating,
and they set traps among the rocks in the shape of cups which they
fill with this mead (they have no wine as yet in Cathay, but are just
beginning to plant vines ; this drink, however, they make out ofrice).
And so the hunters hide themselves and these animals come out
of their caves and taste the drink and they cry out "Chinchin";
from this shout they got their name, for they are called Chinchins.
Then they assemble in vast numbers and drink the mead and,
becoming drunk, they fall asleep on the spot. At that point the
hunters approach and bind them hand and foot as they sleep.
Next they open a vein in their necks and from each one extract
three or four drops of blood; then they let them go free; and that
blood, so I was told, is most valuable for dyeing purple.
They also told me for a truth, though I do not believe it, that
beyond Cathay is a country and whatever age a man be when he
enters that country he remains at that age. Cathay borders on the
ocean, and Master William told me that he had seen envoys of
people called Caule and Manse1
who inhabit islands in the sea
around which freezes in winter, so the Tartars can cross to them;
they offered the Tartars thirty-two thousand tumen iascot yearly so
long as they would leave them in peace. A tumen is a number
consisting of ten thousand.
The ordinary money of Cathay is a piece of paper made out of
cotton, a handbreadth in width and length, and on this they stamp
lines like Mangu's seal. They write with a brush like those with
1
Caule is Kaorli or Korea. Manse is the Sung Empire of South China which
had not yet been conquered by the Mongols.
172 THE MONGOL MISSION
which painters paint and in a single character they make several
letters which form one word. The Tebec write as we do and have
letters very much like ours. The Tangut write in the same way as
the Arabs, from right to left, but they increase their lines from the
bottom up; the Uigurs, as has already been mentioned, start at
the top and go downwards. The ordinary currency of the Ruthenians
is squirrel and ermine skins.
When we went to the monk he charitably urged us to abstain
from flesh meat, saying that our servants could take meat with his
domestics, while he would provide us with flour and oil or butter;
we did this although my companion found it a great trial on account
of his weakness. And so our food was millet with butter, or paste
cooked in water with butter or sour milk, and unleavened bread
cooked over the dung of oxen or horses.
Then Quinquagesima came, which is the Lent ofall the Easterns,
and the chief wife Cotota fasted that week with all her suite;
and each day she came to our oratory and gave food to the priests
and other Christians, a great number of whom assembled there
during that first week in order to hear the office. She presented
me and my companion with a tunic and breeches of grey shot silk
padded with silk wadding, for my companion had complained a
great deal about the weight of the furs. I accepted them for the
comfort of my companion, excusing myself however and saying
that I could not wear such clothes. The things intended for me I
gave to my interpreter.
The gate-keepers of the court, seeing such a great crowd
streaming every day to the church, which was within the bounds
watched by the orda guards, sent one of their number to the monk
saying that they did not wish such a large crowd to assemble
there within the confines of the orda. Whereupon the monk
curtly replied that he would like to know whether they were
issuing this command by Mangu's desire, and he also added
threats implying that he was going to denounce them to Mangu.
Then they, getting in first, accused him to Mangu of speaking
too much and of assembling too large a crowd for his sermons.
As a result, on the first Sunday in Lent we were summoned to
the court and after the monk had been searched for knives in a
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 173
most objectionable manner, so much so that he even had to take
off his shoes, we went into the presence of the Chan, who was
looking at the charred shoulder-blade of a sheep which he was
holding in his hand; and, as if reading from it, he began to rebuke
the monk, demanding why, since he was a man whose duty it
was to pray to God, he spoke so much with men. I, in the meantime,
was standing in the background with head uncovered, and
the Chan said to him: "Why do you not uncover your head when
you come into my presence, as that Frank does?" and he had me
called nearer. Then the monk, covered with confusion, took off
his cap contrary to the custom of the Greeks and Armenians; and
after the Chan had said many harsh things to him, we went away.
The monk handed me the cross to carry to the oratory, for he
himself was unable to carry it for embarrassment.
A few days later he was reconciled to the Chan, promising
him that he would go to the Pope and bring all the nations of the
west under his dominion. When he returned to the oratory after
this conversation with the Chan, he began to ask me questions
about the Pope, whether I thought he would be willing to see
him if he went to him on behalf of Mangu, and if he would provide
him with horses as far as St. James. He also asked about you, if you
would be prepared to send your son to Mangu. I thereupon
warned him not to make lying promises to Mangu, for the last
error would be worst than the first, nor hath God any need of our
lies that we should speak deceitfully for Him.
At that time there arose a dispute between the monk and a
certain priest called Jonas, a well-educated man whose father
had been an archdeacon, and he himself was regarded by the other
priests as their master and archdeacon. Now the monk affirmed
that man was made before Paradise and that the Gospel said this.
Then I was called in to settle the argument. Not knowing that this
was the point about which they were disputing, I replied that
Paradise was made on the third day along with the other trees,
but man on the sixth day. Then the monk started to say: "Is it
not true that on the first day the devil brought earth from the four
corners ofthe world and making slime fashioned the human body,
and God breathed into it a soul?" Hearing this Manichean heresy
174 THE MONGOL MISSION
and hearing him thus publicly and shamelessly uttering it, I
sternly rebuked him, bidding him put his finger on his mouth
since he did not know the Scriptures, and take care not to say
things which would bring guilt upon him. Then he started
scoffing at me because I did not know the language, and so I left
him and went to our dwelling.
It happened afterwards that he and the priests went in procession
to the court, but I was not summoned because the monk
was not on speaking terms with me on account of the rebuke I
had given him and he did not wish to take me along with him as
had been his practice hitherto. When they came into Mangu's
presence, the latter, not seeing me among them, carefully enquired
where I was and why I had not come with them. The
priests, frightened, made their excuses, and when they returned
they told me what Mangu had said and grumbled about the monk.
After this the monk was reconciled to me and I to him, and I
asked him to help me with the language, saying I would help him
with Holy Scripture, for "a brother that is helped by his brother
is like a strong city". [Prov. xviii. 19.]
After the first week of the fast the Chan's wife stopped coming
to the oratory and giving us the food and mead which we had
been having. The monk would not allow it to be brought, saying
that in preparing it they put in mutton fat; he also gave us oil but
seldom, so we had nothing except hearth cakes and paste boiled
in water to drink as soup; the only water we had was melted snow
and ice, which was very bad.
Then my companion began to suffer greatly, so I told David,
the master of the Chan's eldest son, of the straits we were in and
he passed on the word to the Chan. The latter gave orders for
us to be given wine, flour and oil. Under no circumstances do
the Nestorians or Armenians eat fish during Lent. Then a bottle
of wine was given to us.
The monk said he did not eat except on Sundays, when the
Chan's wife sent him a dish of boiled dough with vinegar to drink.
However, he had by him, under the altar, a box containing
almonds, a bunch of raisins, prunes and many ottter kinds of
fruit, which he ate all the day long whenever he was alone.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 175
We ate once in the day and this in the greatest discomfort, for
as soon as they knew that Mangu Chan had provided us with
wine, the Nestorian priests, who were drinking their fill all day
long in the orda, the Mongols, and the monk's servants all rushed
upon us in the most impudent fashion like dogs. Also the monk
himself, when anyone came to him to whom he wished to offer a
drink, used to send to us for wine, so that that wine brought us
more trouble than consolation, for we could not refuse without
giving scandal; if we gave we had not enough for ourselves, and
when it was exhausted we dared not ask for more from the court.
About mid-Lent Master William's son came, bringing with
him a beautiful silver cross fashioned after the French style and
having fastened onto it a silver figure of Christ, He was to present
it on behalf of his master to Bulgai, the chief scribe of the court.
When the monk and priests saw the figure they removed it.
On hearing what they had done I was much scandalised. The
young man also brought the news to Mangu Chan that the work
which he had commissioned had reached completion; this work
I will now describe to you.
CHAPTER XXX
MANGU'S PALACE AT CARACORUM, AND THE FEAST OF EASTER
AT Caracorum Mangu has a large orda close by the city walls;
it is surrounded by a brick wall as are our priories of monks.
There is a large palace there in which he holds his drinking festival
twice in the year, once round about Easter when he passes by that
way and once in the summer on his return. The second is the
more important for on that occasion there assemble at his court
all the nobles anywhere within a two months' journey; and then he
bestows on them garments and presents and displays his great
glory. There are many other buildings there, long like barns,
and in these are stored his provisions and treasures.
At the entrance to this palace, seeing it would have been unseemly
to put skins ofmilk and other drinks there, Master William
176 THE MONGOL MISSION
of Paris has made for him a large silver tree, at the foot of which
are four silver lions each having a pipe and all belching forth
white mares' milk. Inside the trunk four pipes lead up to the top
of the tree and the ends of the pipes are bent downwards and
over each of them is a gilded serpent, the tail of which twines
round the trunk of the tree. One of these pipes pours out wine,
another caracosmos, that is the refined milk of mares, another
boal, which is a honey drink, and another rice mead, which
is called terracina. Each of these has its silver basin ready to
receive it at the foot of the tree between the other four pipes.
At the very top he fashioned an angel holding a trumpet; underneath
the tree he made a crypt in which a man can be secreted,
and a pipe goes up to the angel through the middle ofthe heart of
the tree. At first he had made bellows but they did not give enough
wind. Outside the palace there is a chamber in which the drinks
are stored, and servants stand there ready to pour them out when
they hear the angel sounding the trumpet. The tree has branches,
leaves and fruit of silver.
And so when the drinks are getting low the chief butler calls
out to the angel to sound his trumpet. Then, hearing this, the
man who is hidden in the crypt blows the pipe going up to the angel
with all his strength, and the angel, placing the trumpet to his
mouth, sounds it very loudly. When the servants in the chamber
hear this each one ofthem pours out his drink into its proper pipe,
and the pipes pour them out from above and below into the basins
prepared for this, and then the cup-bearers draw the drinks and
carry them round the palace to the men and women.
The palace is like a church with a middle nave and two side
aisles beyond two rows of pillars and there are three doors on the
south side; inside before the middle door stands the tree, and the
Chan himself sits at the northern end high up so that he can be
seen by everyone; and there are two stairways leading up to him,
and the man bringing him his cup goes up by the one and comes
down by the other. The space in the middle between the tree
and the steps up to him is empty, and there the cup-bearer stands
and also envoys who are bringing gifts. The Chan sits up there
like a god. On his right-hand side, that is to the west, are the
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 177
men, on the left the women, for the palace extends from the north
southwards. To the south, next to the pillars on the right, are
rows of seats raised up like a balcony, on which sit his son and
brothers. It is the same on the left where his wives and daughters
sit. Only one wife sits up there beside him; she however is not
as high up as he is.
When the Chan heard that the work was finished he gave orders
to the master to place it in position and get it in working order,
and he himself about Passion Sunday went ahead with the small
dwellings leaving the large ones behind. The monk and we
followed him and he sent us another bottle of wine. He journeyed
through mountainous districts, and there was a strong wind and
severe cold and a heavy fall of snow. Consequently about midnight
the Chan sent to the monk and us asking us to pray to God to
lessen the cold and the wind, for all the animals accompanying
them were in danger, especially because at that season they were
with young and bringing forth. Thereupon the monk sent him
some incense, bidding him put it on the coals as an oifering to
God. I do not know if he did this, but the storm, which had lasted
for two days and was already entering on its third, did abate.
On Palm Sunday we were near Caracorum. At dawn we
blessed branches bf willow, which as yet bore no sign of buds, and
about three o'clock we entered the city, the cross raised on high
with the banner, and passing the Saracen quarters, where the
bazaar and market are, we went to the church. The Nestorians
came to meet us in procession. On entering the church we found
them ready to celebrate Mass; when this had been celebrated
they all received Holy Communion and asked me if I wished to
communicate. I replied that I had had a drink and it is not lawful
to receive the Sacrament except fasting.
Mass having been said, it was now evening and Master William
took us with great joy to his lodging to have supper with him.
His wife, who was born in Hungary, was the daughter of a man
from Lorraine and she knew French and Coman well. We also
came across another man there, Basil by name, the son of an
Englishman, who had been born in Hungary and knew the same
languages. After supper they accompanied us with great rejoicing to
178 THE MONGOL MISSION
our hut, which the Tartars had set up for us in a square near the
church along with the monk's oratory.
The following day the Chan entered his palace and the monk
and I and the priests went to him. My companion was not
allowed to go because he had trodden on the threshold. I deliberated
a great deal about my own case, what I ought to do,
whether to go or not to go, and, fearing to give scandal by dissociating
myself from the other Christians, and seeing that it pleased the
Chan, and fearing lest the good I was hoping to be able to bring
about might be hindered, I decided to go even though it meant
that I should witness their acts of sorcery and idolatry. And there
I did nothing but pray aloud for the whole Church and also for
the Chan that God would direct him into the way of eternal
salvation.
And so we made our entrance into that orda, which is very
well laid out and in summer they convey streams of water in all
directions to irrigate it. We next entered the palace, which was
full of men and women, and we stood before the Chan having at
our backs the tree I have mentioned which together with its
basins occupied a large part of the palace; the priests brought
two little blessed cakes of bread and fruit on a dish which they
presented to the Chan after they had pronounced a blessing, and
a butler took them to him as he sat there in a place very high and
lifted up. He immediately began to eat one of the cakes and sent
the other to his son and his younger brother, who is being brought
up by a Nestorian and knows the Gospel, and he also sent for my
Bible so that he could look at it. After the priests the monk
said his prayer, and I after the monk. Then the Chan promised
that the following day he would come to the church, which is
quite large and beautiful, and the roof above is all covered with
silk interwoven with gold. The following day he went on his way,
sending a message of excuse to the priests saying he dared not
come to the church for he had learned that the dead were carried
there.
We however stayed behind at Caracorum with the monk and
the other priests of the court to celebrate Easter there. Maundy
Thursday and Easter Sunday were approaching and I had not
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 179
got our vestments; I was watching closely the way the Nestorians
celebrated and was much distressed as to what I should do,
whether I should receive the Sacrament from them or celebrate
in their vestments with their chalice and on their altar, or whether
I should abstain entirely from the Sacrament. At that time there
was a large crowd of Christians there Hungarians, Alans, Ruthenians,
Georgians, Armenians all of whom had not set eyes on
the Sacrament from the time they had been taken prisoner, for
the Nestorians were unwilling to admit them into their church
unless they were re-baptised by them, so they said. However,
to us they made no mention of this, on the contrary they acknowledged
to us that the Roman Church was the head of all the
Churches and that they would receive a Patriarch from the Pope
if only the way were open. They freely offered us their Sacrament
and made me stand at the door of the choir so that I could see
how they celebrated, and also on Easter Eve I stood near the
font so that I could see their way of baptising.
They say they have some of the ointment with which Mary
Magdalene anointed the feet of the Lord, and they always pour
as much oil into it as they take away and with this they bake their
bread, for all the Easterns put fat in their bread instead of yeast,
either butter or sheep's-tail fat or oil. They also say they have
some of the flour from which the bread was made which the Lord
consecrated, and they always replace as much as they remove,
and they have a room near their choir and an oven where, with
great reverence, they make the bread they are to consecrate. With
the above-mentioned oil they make a cake wide like the palm of a
hand and this they break first into twelve pieces signifying the
number of the Apostles, and these pieces they afterwards divide
according to the number of people; and the priest gives the Body
of Christ into each one's hand and then the man reverently
receives It from his palm, and wipes his hand on the top of his
head.
The Christians I have spoken of and the monk urgently begged
us for the love of God to celebrate. Thereupon I made them go
to confession, as well as I could by means ofan interpreter enumerating
the ten commandments and the seven deadly sins and other
180 THE MONGOL MISSION
things a man ought to be sorry for and confess, all in public. They
made excuses for thieving, saying that unless they stole it would be
impossible to live, for their masters provided them with neither
clothes nor food. Then I, deliberating as to whether they had
taken goods and cattle without just cause, told them that it was
lawful for them to take the necessities of life from their masters'
possessions, and I was ready to tell Mangu Chan this to his face.
Some of them were soldiers and excused themselves saying they
were obliged to go to war, otherwise they would be put to death.
I firmly forbade them to fight against Christians, or to do them
any harm, rather should they let themselves be killed for then
they would become martyrs. And I said if anyone wished to
denounce me to Mangu Chan for teaching this, I was ready to
preach the same in his hearing, for when I was teaching these things
there were present the Nestorians from the orda and I suspected
they might inform against us.
Then Master William had an iron made for us for making
hosts, and he possessed some vestments which he had made for
himself, for he had a little education and comported himself as a
cleric. He had made a statue of the Blessed Virgin sculptured
after the French fashion, and on the shutters enclosing it he carved
the story of the Gospel most beautifully; and he made a silver pyx
in which to keep the Body ofChrist and relics in little compartments
skilfully fashioned in the sides of the pyx. He had also made an
oratory on a cart, which was very beautiful and painted with
sacred stories.
I took the vestments and blessed them and we made most
beautiful hosts after our fashion, and the Nestorians assigned to
me their baptistery in which there was an altar. Their Patriarch
has sent them from Baghdad a square piece of leather as a portable
altar; it has been prepared with chrism and they use it in place of
a consecrated stone. And so I said Mass on Maundy Thursday
with their silver chalice and paten, which vessels were very large,
and again on Easter Sunday. And I gave Holy Communion to the
people with the blessing of God, so I hope. On Easter Eve the
Nestorians baptised in the most correct manner more than sixty
people, and there was great common joy among all the Christians,
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK l8l
CHAPTER XXXI
MASTER WILLIAM'S SICKNESS AND THE DEATH OF THE NESTORIAN
PRIEST
IT happened that Master William then became seriously ill. When
he was getting better the monk went to visit him and gave him
some rhubarb to drink., so that he nearly killed him. When I went
to see him and found him so very ill, I enquired what he had been
eating or drinking, and he told me how the monk had given him
the potion and he had drunk two bowlfuls, believing that it was
holy water. I thereupon accosted the monk and said to him:
"Either go about like the Apostle truly working miracles by the
power of prayer and the Holy Ghost, or act as a physician in
accordance with the science of medicine. You give men, who are
not prepared for it, a strong dose of medicine to drink as if it were
something holy; if this came to the knowledge of the public you
would incur the worst possible scandal." At that he began to be
afraid and beware of me.
It happened also at that time that the priest, who was like the
archdeacon of the others, fell ill, and his friends sent for a Saracen
soothsayer who told them: "A thin man who neither eats nor
drinks nor sleeps on a bed is angry with him. If he could obtain
his blessing he would get better." They understood this to refer
to the monk, and round about midnight the priest's wife, sister
and son came to the monk begging him to go and give him his
blessing. They also woke us up to plead with the monk. When we
asked him he said: "Leave him alone, for he with three others,
who like him will go the same evil way, formed a plot to go to the
court and obtain from Mangu Chan that you and I should be
expelled from these parts."
Now there had arisen a quarrel among them, for on Easter Eve
Mangu and his wives had sent four iascot and some pieces of silk
to the monk and the priests to be divided among them, and the
monk had kept one iascot for himself as his share, and of the
182 THE MONGOL MISSION
remaining three one was counterfeit, for it was of copper; consequently
it seemed to the priests that the monk had kept too
large a share for himself, and it may be that they had talked about
it among themselves and this had been reported to the monk.
When day came I went to the priest, who had a very severe
pain in his side and was spitting blood, which led me to believe
that he had an abscess. I then urged him to acknowledge the
Pope as the Father of all Christians, which he did immediately,
vowing that if God gave him his health he would go and fall at the
feet of the Pope and would in all good faith see to it that the Pope
should send his blessing to Mangu Chan. I also warned him to
restore anything he might have belonging to another; he said he
had nothing. I spoke to him about the Sacrament of Extreme
Unction. He replied: "It is not our custom, nor do our priests
know how to administer it; I beseech you do for me according to
what you know ought to be done." I admonished him too concerning
confession, which they do not frequent. He spoke briefly into
the ear of one of his fellow priests. After that he began to be better
and asked me to go for the monk. I went.
At first the monk did not wish to come, but when he heard that
he was better, he went with his cross; and I also went carrying in
Master William's pyx the Body of Christ which I had reserved
on Easter Sunday at Master William's request. Then the monk
began to tread on the priest and the latter most humbly embraced
his feet. Then I said to him: "It is the custom of the Roman
Church that the sick receive the Body of Christ as Viaticum and as
a defence against all the snares of the enemy; behold the Body of
Christ which I consecrated on Easter Day. You must declare your
belief in It and ask for It." Whereupon he said with great faith:
"
I ask for It with all my heart." When I had taken off the cover,
with deep feeling he said: "I believe that this is my Creator and
my Saviour, Who gave to me my life and will restore it to me after
my death at the general resurrection." And thus, at my hand, he
received the Body of Christ, consecrated according to the usage of
the Roman Church*
The monk then stayed with him and gave him, in my absence, I
know not what potions. The following day he began to be in
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 183
danger of death, whereupon I took their oil, which they said was
holy, and anointed him according to the form of the Roman
Church as he had requested me. I had not got our own oils because
Sartach's priests had kept them all. When I was saying the prayers
for the dying and wanted to be present at his death, the monk sent
to me telling me to leave, for if I were there when he died I would
not be able to enter Mangu Chan's dwelling for a year. When I
intimated this to his friends they said that it was true and begged
me to go away so as not to hinder the good I might be able to
promote.
After his death the monk spoke to me: "Don't worry," said he,
"I killed him by my prayers. He alone was educated and was
opposed to us; the others know nothing; for the rest, we shall have
all of them and Mangu Chan at our feet." He then narrated to
me the soothsayer's reply I have already told you; not believing it I
enquired ofthe priest-friends ofthe dead man if it were true. They
said that it was, but whether he had been primed beforehand or
not, they did not know.
Later I discovered that the monk summoned the said soothsayer
and his wife to his chapel and made them sift dust and
divine for him. He also had a Ruthenian deacon with him who
divined for him. When I learned this afterwards I was horrified
at his foolishness and said to him: "Brother, a man full of the
Holy Ghost Who teaches all things ought not to seek answers or
advice from soothsayers; and all such things are forbidden and
those who pursue them are excommunicated." He then began to
excuse himself saying it was not true he sought such things. I
was unable to part company with him for I had been put there by
the Chan's command, and I could not transfer myself without his
special order.
CHAPTER XXXII
CARACORUM AND THE FAMILY OF MANGU
As for the city of Caracorum I can tell you that, not counting the
Chan's palace, it is not as large as the village of Saint Denis, and
184 THE MONGOL MISSION
the monastery of Saint Denis is worth ten times more than that
palace. There are two districts there: the Saracens
5
quarter where
the markets are, and many merchants flock thither on account of
the court which is always near it and on account of the number of
envoys. The other district is that of the Cathayans who are all
craftsmen. Apart from these districts there are the large palaces of
the court scribes. There are twelve pagan temples belonging
to the different nations, two mosques in which the law of
Mahomet is proclaimed, and one church for the Christians
at the far end of the town. The town is surrounded by a mud
wall and has four gates. At the east gate are sold millet and
other grain, which is however seldom brought there; at the
west sheep and goats are sold; at the south oxen and carts; at
the north horses.
Before the Ascension we followed the orda; catching it up on
the Sunday before the Ascension. 1
The next day Bulgai, the chief
scribe and judiciary, sent for us, the monk and all his household,
and all the envoys and foreigners who frequented the monk's
dwelling. We were summoned one by one into Bulgai's presence,
the monk first and we after him; and they began to enquire closely
where we were from, for what reason we had come, what was our
business. This enquiry was made because it had been reported to
Mangu Chan that four hundred Assassins, disguised in various
costumes, had entered the country, in order to murder him.
About that time the wife we have spoken about above had a relapse
and sent for the monk; he, not wishing to go, replied:
"
She has
again called pagans to her, let them cure her if they can. I will not
go any more."
On the Vigil ofthe Lord's Ascension we went into all the dwellings
belonging to Mangu Chan, and I saw how, when they were
about to drink, they sprinkled their felt idols with cosmos. I
then said to the monk: "What communication hath Christ with
Belial? What part hath our cross with these idols?" 2
As mentioned above Mangu Chan has eight brothers, three by
the same mother and five of the same father. One of the former
1
The feast of the Ascension fell on May 2ist in 1254.
2
II Cor. vi. 15-16.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 185
he sent into the country of the Assassins, whom they call Mulibet,
1
and commanded him to kill them all; another went to attack Persia
and has already entered it and is about to invade the country of
Turkey, so it is believed, and from there he will send out armies
against Baghdad and Vastacius; one of the others he sent into
Cathay against some who are not yet subject to him; the youngest
uterine brother, by name Arabuccha [Arik Buka], he has kept with
him and he has the orda of their mother who was a Christian and
Master William is his slave.
One ofhis brothers on his father's side captured Master William
in Hungary in a city called Belgrade, in which there was a Norman
bishop from Belleville near Rouen. At the same time he captured
a nephew of the bishop and I saw him there at Caracorum. He
gave Master William to Mangu's mother for she begged hard to
have him; after her death Master William passed into the possession
of Arabuccha along with all the other appurtenances of his
mother's orda and through him he was brought to the notice of
Mangu Chan, who, after the completion of the work I have
described, gave this master a hundred iascot, that is a thousand
marks.
On the Vigil of the Ascension Mangu Chan said that he wanted
to go to his mother's orda and visit it, for it was not far away. The
monk also said that he would like to go with him and give his
blessing to his mother's soul. The Chan gave his consent. In the
evening of Ascension Day, the wife we have spoken about grew
very much worse and the chief of the soothsayers sent to the monk
telling him not to beat the board. The following day when the
whole orda moved away, the establishment of this lady stayed
behind. When we came to the spot where the orda.was to be set
down, the monk was ordered to go further away from the court
than was his custom and he did so.
Arabuccha then came to meet his brother the Chan. The monk
and we, seeing that he would pass by us, went to meet him with
the cross. He, recognising us, for he had on occasion been to our
oratory, stretched out his hand and made the sign of the cross
1
i.e. Mulahid, see note on p. 125. It was Hulagu who conquered both the
Assassin strongholds and Persia. See Introduction, p. xxv.
186 THE MONGOL MISSION
towards us just like a bishop. Then the monk, jumping onto a
horse, followed him, taking with him some fruit. Arabuccha
alighted in front of his brother's orda, to wait for him until he
should return from hunting. The monk thereupon alighted at the
same place and offered him his fruit, which he accepted.
Sitting near him were two nobles of the Chan's court, Saracens.
Arabuccha, aware of the strife which exists between Christians
and Saracens, asked the monk if he knew these Saracens. He
replied: "I know that they are dogs. Why do you have them in
your company?
"
"Why," said they to him, "do you insult us when
we have not insulted you?
"
The monk replied to them:
"
I speak
the truth; you and your Mahomet are vile dogs." In reply they
then began to utter blasphemies against Christ, and Arabuccha
put a stop to them saying: "Do not say these things for we know
that the Messias is God."
At that hour a mighty wind suddenly got up throughout the
whole countryside so that it seemed as if demons were rushing all
over it, and after a short time the report came that the wife had
died.
On the morrow the Chan returned to his orda by a different
route; for this is one of their superstitions that they never return
by the same way as the one by which they come. Moreover when
an orda has been pitched in a place, after it has been moved on no
one dares to pass the site where it had been, either on horse or on
foot, so long as there is any trace of a fire which had been made
there.
That day some Saracens, coming up to the monk on the road,
provoked him and argued with him; and when they jeered at him
because he was incapable of defending himself by reasoning, he
made as if to strike them with the whip he was carrying in his hand;
and he made such a to-do that his words and actions were reported
to the court, and the command was issued that we were to stay
down with the other envoys and not in front ofthe court as we had
done hitherto.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 187
CHAPTER XXXIII
FRIAR WILLIAM SEEKS PERMISSION TO RETURN: THEOLOGICAL
DISCUSSIONS
I, FOR my part, was all the time cherishing the hope that the King
of Armenia1
would come. Also a man had come about Easter from
Bolac, where those Germans are for whose sake I had largely
made my journey, and he had told me that a German priest was
about to visit the court. In consequence I did not raise the
question with Mangu of our staying or leaving; in the beginning
he had only given us permission to stay there two months, and
four months had already passed nay rather five, for these things
happened about the end ofMay and we had been there throughout
the whole of January, February, March, April and May.
However, hearing no reports of the King or the said priest, and
fearing that we would have to return in the winter, the severity
of which we had experienced, I had enquiry made of Mangu Chan
what he wished to do with us, saying that we would gladly stay
there for ever if it so pleased him; if, however, we were to go back
it would be easier for us to make the return journey in the summer
than in the winter. He immediately sent a message to me telling
me not to go far away for he wished to speak with me the next day.
I, for my part, said that if he wished to talk to me, he should send
for Master William's son, as my interpreter was inadequate.
The one who spoke with me was a Saracen and had been
ambassador to Vastacius. Blinded by gifts, he had advised Vastacius
to send envoys to Mangu Chan and thus play for time, for
Vastacius believed that they were on the point of invading his
territory. He sent the envoys and after he got to know the Mongols
he took little heed of them; neither has he made peace with them,
nor have they up to the present invaded his country, and they
will not be able to do so as long as he is bold enough to defend himself.
They have never taken any country by force, only by guile;
1
Hethum I (1226-70). See Introduction, p. xxi.
188 THE MONGOL MISSION
and when men make peace with them it is under cover of that
peace that they destroy them. The man then began to ask me many
questions about the Pope and the King of the French and of the
routes leading to them. The monk, hearing this, secretly warned me
not to answer him, saying he wished to bring it about that he should
be sent as envoy. I therefore kept silence and would not reply.
The man uttered I know not what insult against me which made
the Nestorian priests want to denounce him, and he would have
been killed or beaten to within an inch of his life, but I would not
allow it.
The next day, that is to say the Sunday before Pentecost, they
took me to the court and the chief scribes of the court came to
me one a Mongol, who is the Chan's cup-bearer, the others
Saracens, and they enquired on behalf of the Chan the reason
for my coming. Then I gave them an account in the words I
have already given, how I had come to Sartach and from Sartach
to Baatu and how Baatu had sent me here; after that I added:
"
I have nothing to say on behalf of any man. The Chan must
know what Baatu has written to him; I have but the words of God
to utter if he is prepared to hear them," They fastened on to this
and enquired what were the words of God I wanted to say, for they
imagined I would prophesy some good fortune as many others do.
I gave them answer :
"
Ifyou wish me to speak the words of God,
provide me with an interpreter." They said: "We have sent for
him; however, do your best to speak through this one, we shall
understand you well enough." And they put much pressure on me
to speak. Then I said: "This is the Word of God To whom
more is committed, from him more will be required'. Likewise in
another place: 'He to whom more is given ought to love more.'
Starting with these words of God I say to Mangu that God has
given him much. For the power and riches he possesses were not
given to him by the idols of the tuins but by God Almighty, Who
made heaven and earth and in Whose hand are all kingdoms, which
He transfers from nation to nation on account of the sins of men.
Wherefore if he love Him, all will go well with him; but if not, let
him know that God will require of him an account of everything
down to the last farthing."
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 189
Then one of the Saracens spoke: "Is there any man who does
not love God?" I replied:
"
God says,
*
If any one love Me, he will
keep My commandments; and he that loveth Me not keepeth
not My commandments.' Therefore he who does not keep the
commandments of God does not love God." Then said he:
"
Have you been in heaven that you know the commandments of
God?" "No," I replied, "but He gave them from heaven to holy
men and finally He Himself came down from heaven to teach us
and we have them written down and we see by a man's works
whether he keeps them or not." Then he said: "By this you mean
that Mangu Chan does not observe God's commandments." To
which I rejoined, "The interpreter will come, so you say, and I
will recite the commandments of God in the presence of Mangu
Chan, if he allow me, and then let him judge of his own case
whether he observe them or not." At that point they retired and
they told him I had said he was an idolater or tuin and that he did
not keep the commandments of God.
The next day he sent his scribes to me, who said: "Our master
sends us to you and he says:
c
Here you are, Christians, Saracens
and tuins, and each one of you declares that his law is the best
and his literature, that is his books, the truest.' He therefore
wishes you all to meet together and hold a conference and each one
is to write down what he says so that he can know the truth." I
answered: "Blessed be God Who has put this into the heart of
the Chan. But it says in our Scriptures: 'The servant of God
ought not to wrangle, but be mild towards all men',
1
and so I am
prepared to give an account, without strife and contention, of the
faith and hope of Christians to all who ask." They wrote down
what I said and took it to him. It was then enjoined on the
Nestorians that they should provide their own representatives
and write down what they wanted to say, likewise on the Saracens
and even the tuins in the same way.
On the morrow he again sent the scribes, who said: "Mangu
Chan wishes to know what is the reason of your coming to these
parts." I answered them, "He must know this from Baatu's
letter." Then they said: "Baatu's letter has been lost and he has
1
II Tim. ii. 24.
190 THE MONGOL MISSION
forgotten what Baatu wrote to him, so he wants to know from
you." Being thus reassured I said to them: "It is the duty of our
religion to preach the Gospel to all men. Therefore when the
fame of the Mongol race came to my ears, I was filled with the
desire of coming to them; and while I was cherishing this desire
I heard that Sartach was a Christian. I thereupon directed my
course to him; and my Lord the King of the French sent a letter
to him containing good words, and among other things he
vouched for us to him, saying what kind ofmen we are, and asking
him to allow us to pass some time among the Mongol people.
Then Sartach sent us to Baatu, and Baatu sent us to Mangu Chan;
we have therefore asked him and we still ask that he allow us to
stay." They wrote down all this and took it to him.
The next day he again sent them to me saying :
" The Chan well
understands that you have no mission to him, but have come to
pray for him like many another priest; but he wants to know ifever
any of your envoys have been to us or any of ours to you." I
then told them all about David and Friar Andrew1
and they put
everything down in writing and took it to him. Again he sent them
to me saying "The Lord Chan says you have been here a long
time; he wants you to return to your country and asks if you are
willing to take with you an envoy from him." I replied to them:
"
I would not dare to take his envoys with me outside his territory,
for between you and us there is a land of war, and sea and
mountains, and I am a poor monk, wherefore I would not dare to
take them under my leadership." Writing all this down they went
back.
The Vigil ofPentecost [May 30th 1254] arrived. The Nestorians
wrote out a chronicle from the creation of the world up to the
Passion of Christ; and passing over the Passion they touched on
the Ascension, resurrection of the dead and the coming in Judgment;
in the course of this there were some points on which they
were at fault and I informed them about them. We, on the other
hand, simply wrote out the creed of the Mass "Credo in Unum
Deum"
I then enquired of them how they wanted to proceed. They
1
See Introduction, p. xix.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 19!
said they would like first to have a debate with the Saracens. I
pointed out that this was not a good idea, for the Saracens agree
with us in that they say there is one God; they would therefore be
on our side against the tuins. They assented. I then asked them
if they knew how idolatry had come into being in the world, and
they did not know. I thereupon gave them an account, and they
said: "You will tell us these things and then let us do the talking,
for it is difficult to speak with an interpreter." I answered: "Let
us try how you will get on against them. I will take the part of
the tuins,, do you uphold the Christian side. Suppose I am a follower
of their religion; they say there is no God, prove that God exists."
(For there is one sect there which says that any soul and any power
in anything is the god of that thing, and that otherwise there is no
God.) The Nestorians did not know how to prove anything, they
could only repeat what the Scriptures tell. I said: "These people
do not believe in the Scriptures; if you tell them one story, they
will tell you another." I thereupon advised them to let me have the
first encounter with them, for if I were worsted, there would still
be the opportunity for them to speak; if they were worsted, I would
get no hearing afterwards. They agreed to this.
And so on the Vigil of Pentecost we assembled at our oratory,
and Mangu Chan sent three scribes to act as judges one a
Christian, one a Saracen and one a tuin\ and the proclamation
was made: "This is the decree of Mangu and let none dare to say
that the decree of God is otherwise. He decrees that no one shall
dare to speak words of contention or abuse to another, and no one
is to cause a disturbance such as would hinder these proceedings,
on pain of death." Then all were silent. There were many people
there, for each party had collected the wisest of its men, and many
others had assembled.
The Christians then placed me in the middle, telling the tuins
to discuss with me. The tuins, of whom there was a great
gathering there, began to murmur against Mangu Chan, saying
that never before had any Chan attempted to find out about their
secrets. They then chose as my opponent one who had come from
Cathay and he had an interpreter with him. I had Master William's
son. He opened by saying to me: "
Friend, if you are brought to a
192 THE MONGOL MISSION
standstill^ seek one wiser than yourself." I held my peace. Next
he asked what I wanted to discuss first, how the world had been
made or what happens to souls after death. I replied: "Friend,
that ought not to be the beginning of our disputation. All things
are from God and He is the source and head ofall things ; therefore
we ought first to speak of God, concerning Whom you have
different beliefs from us and Mangu wishes to know whose are the
best." The judges decided that this was right.
They wanted to begin with the points mentioned above, because
they consider them the most important, for they are all followers
of the Manichean heresy that half of creation is evil and the other
half good, and that there are at least two principles; and concerning
souls they believe that all migrate from one body to another.
Even the wisest priest among the Nestorians asked me if the
souls of dumb animals could escape anywhere after death where
they would not be compelled to work. As a proof of this false
doctrine, so Master William told me, a boy was brought from
Cathay, who, judging by his size, was not yet three years old,
nevertheless his reasoning powers were fully developed, and he
himselfsaid that he had had three reincarnations ; he knew also how
to read and write.
So I said to the tuin: "We firmly believe in our hearts and
profess with our lips that God exists and that there is but one God
and that He is one with a perfect unity. What do you believe?"
He answered: "Fools say that there is but one God, but wise men
say that there are many. In your country are there not mighty
lords, and here is not the chieflord Mangu Chan? So it is with the
gods; in the different regions there are different gods." To this I
gave answer:
"
That is a bad illustration or simile you put forward,
arguing from men to God; for, according to this, any powerful
man could be called a god in his own territory."
When I wanted to refute the comparison, he prevented me by
inquiring "What is your God like, of Whom you say there is but
one?" I replied: "Our God, besides Whom there is none other,
is omnipotent, and therefore He has no need of anyone's help,
rather do we all need His help. It is not so with men. No man can
do all things, consequently there have to be many lords on the
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 193
earth, for no single man can bear everything. Also He knows
everything, and therefore has no need of a councillor; but rather all
wisdom is from Him. Again, He is the supreme good and has no
need of our goods, but in Him we live and move and have our
being. Such is our God and therefore no other ought to be considered."
"It is not so," said he. "On the contrary there is one
supreme god in heaven, of whose origin we are still ignorant,
below him are ten, and under them is one lower. On earth there is
an infinite number."
When he wanted to weave other fairy tales, I questioned him
about this supreme god, whether he believed he was omnipotent or
dependent on another god. He, fearing to reply, asked: "If your
God is such as you say, why did He make half of creation evil?"
"
It is untrue," said I, "it is not God Who made evil; and all things
that are, are good." All the turns were astonished at this saying
and put it down in writing as something untrue and impossible.
Then he began to ask, "That being so, where does evil come
from?" "You ask the wrong thing," I replied. "First you ought
to ask what evil is, before asking where it comes from; but go
back to the first question, whether you believe that any god is
omnipotent, and afterwards I will answer all the questions you wish
to put."
He sat for a long time unwilling to reply, so that the scribes who
were listening on behalf of the Chan had to order him to give an
answer. At length he said that no god was omnipotent. At that
all the Saracens burst into loud laughter.
When there was silence again I said: "And so not one of your
gods can save you in every danger, for a mishap may occur over
which he has no power; moreover *no man can serve two masters',
how therefore can you serve so many gods in heaven and on earth?"
The audience told him to reply, but he remained silent. When I
wanted to put forward the arguments for the Unity of the divine
essence and the Trinity in the hearing of all, the Nestorians
belonging to the country told me I had said enough, for they
wished to speak.
I then gave place to them and when they wanted to dispute with
the Saracens the latter replied: "We grant that your faith is true
194 THE M NGOL MISSION
and that whatever is in the Gospel is true, therefore we do not
wish to argue on any point with you." They admitted that in all
their prayers they beseech God to grant that they may die a
Christian death.
There was an old man there, a priest of the sect of the Uigurs,
who say that there is one God and yet make idols, and the
Nestorians spoke a great deal with him, giving him an account of
everything from the coming of Christ to the Judgment, and also
by means of comparisons explaining the Trinity to him and the
Saracens. They all listened without a word of contradiction,
yet not one of them said, "I believe, I wish to become a
Christian."
When this was finished the Nestorians and Saracens alike sang
loudly while the tuins kept silence, and afterwards they all drank
their fill.
CHAPTER XXXIV
FRIAR WILLIAM'S LAST AUDIENCE WITH MANGU
ON the day of Pentecost Mangu Chan summoned me and the
tuin with whom I had debated to his presence; before I went in
the interpreter, Master William's son, told me we would have to
return to our own country and that I was not to offer any objection
for he had learned this was settled. When I came before the Chan
I had to kneel down with the tuin beside me together with his
interpreter. Then the Chan said to me: "Tell me if it is true that
the other day when I sent my scribes to you, you said I was a
tuin" I replied: "My lord, I did not say that, but, if you
allow me, I will tell you the words I used." I then repeated to
him what I had said and he answered :
"
I well thought you had not
said it, for that was not the sort of thing you ought to say, but your
interpreter translated badly." And he stretched out towards me
the staff on which he was leaning, saying "Fear not". I smiled
and said quietly: "If I were afraid I would not have come here."
He enquired ofthe interpreter what I had said and he repeated it to
him.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 195
He then began to make a profession of his faith to me. "We
Mongols," said he, "believe that there is but one God, by Whom
we live and by Whom we die and towards Him we have an upright
heart." I said,
"
God Himself will grant this for it cannot come
about but by His gift." He asked what I had said and the interpreter
told him. Afterwards the Chan continued: "But just as
God gave diiferent fingers to the hand so has He given different
ways to men. To you God has given the Scriptures and you
Christians do not observe them. You do not find in the Scriptures
that a man ought to disparage another, now do you?" he said.
"No," I replied, "but from the beginning I made it clear to you
that I had no wish to wrangle with anyone." "My words do not
apply to you," said he.
"
Similarly you do not find that a man ought
to turn aside from justice for the sake ofmoney."
"
No, my Lord,"
I said, "and for a truth I have not come to these parts in order to
gain money, rather have I refused that which was offered to me."
There was a scribe present, who bore witness to the fact that I had
refused a iascot and some pieces of silk. "My words do not apply
to you," he said. "As I was saying, God has given you the
Scriptures and you do not keep them; to us, on the other hand, He
has given soothsayers, and we do what they tell us, and live in
peace." He drank four times, I believe, before he finished saying
these things.
And while I was listening closely to hear if there was still more
he wished to declare concerning his faith, he began to speak of my
return saying: "You have stayed here a long time, it is my wish
that you go back. You have said that you dare not take my envoys
with you; are you willing to take a message and letter from me?"
From then onwards I had neither the opportunity nor the time
to put the Catholic Faith before him, for a man may not say more
in his presence than he desires, unless he be an envoy; an envoy
can say whatever he will, and they always enquire whether he
wishes to say still more. I, however, was not allowed to continue
speaking, but had to listen to him and reply to the questions he
put.
I then answered him that if he would have his message explained
to me and put down in writing, I would gladly take it to the best
196 THE MONGOL MISSION
of my ability. He next asked if I desired gold or silver or costly
garments. I said: "Such things we do not accept, but we have no
provisions and without your aid cannot leave your country." He
answered: "I will arrange for you to have all that you need as far
as my territory stretches, do you wish for more?
"
I replied,
"
That
is sufficient for me.*' He then enquired: "How far do you wish to
be conducted?" I said: "We can manage for ourselves when we
reach the land of the King of Armenia. If I were given a guide as
far as that I would be satisfied." He answered: "I will have you
accompanied thus far, after that you can fend for yourselves."
And he added, "There are two eyes in a head, yet although they
are two, nevertheless they have but one sight, and whither the
vision of one is directed so is that of the other; you came from
Baatu, it therefore behoves you to return by way of him."
When he had said this I asked his leave to say a few words.
"You may speak," he answered. Then I said: "My Lord, we are
not warlike men, we would like to see those holding dominion
over the world who would govern it most justly according to the
will of God. Our duty is to teach men to live according to the will
of God; for this reason did we come to these parts and we would
gladly have remained here if you had allowed it. Since it is your
good pleasure that we return, it must needs be; I will go back and
carry your letter to the best of my ability in accordance with your
commands. I would like to ask of your Eminence that, when I
have taken your letter, I may be granted your permission to return
to you, especially as you have some poor serfs at Bolac who speak
our language and need a priest to teach them and their children
their faith, and I would gladly abide with them." He replied:
"Provided your masters send you back to me." I then said:
"My Lord, I do not know what my masters have in mind, but I
have permission from them to go wherever I will, where there is
need to preach the word of God; and it seems to me that it is most
necessary in these parts, therefore whether he send back an envoy
to you or not, given your permission I would return."
He kept silent and sat for a long time as if turning things over
in his mind, and the interpreter told me not to speak any more.
However, I anxiously awaited his reply. At last he spoke: "You
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 197
have a long journey ahead of you, fortify yourself with food so
that you may be strong enough to reach your own country." And
he had me given something to drink. I then left his presence, and
never afterwards returned. If I had had the power of working
miracles like Moses, he might have humbled himself.
CHAPTER XXXV
THE SOOTHSAYERS
THEIR soothsayers,
1
as the Chan admitted, are their priests, and
whatever they order to be done is carried out without delay. Their
function I will describe to you as I was able to learn it from
Master William and others who gave me a plausible account of
them. There are many of them and they always have a chief like
a pontiff and he always sets his house in front of Mangu Chan's
chief dwelling, about a stone's throw away. All the carts carrying
their idols are in his care, as I said above. The others are behind
the court in the places assigned to them, and there come to them
men from different parts of the world who put their trust in their
art.
Some of them are skilled in astronomy, especially their chief,
and they foretell the eclipse of the sun and moon; when this is
going to take place all the people lay in stores of food so there will
be no need for them to go out ofthe door oftheir dwelling. During
the eclipse they beat their timbrels and sound their musical
instruments and make a great din and mighty noise. When the
eclipse is over, then they spend their time in eating and drinking
and they make a great feast. The soothsayers declare which days
are favourable or unfavourable for carrying on any kind ofbusiness;
consequently the Mongols never perform military exercises or go
to war unless they have given the word; and they would long since
have returned to Hungary, but the soothsayers do not allow it.
1
William's account of the influence of the diviners or Kams at the Mongol
court is very important and shows how the enlightened views of the Great
KhanSj which aroused Gibbon's admiration, were associated with a very
primitive type of Shamanism and magical practices.
198 THE MONGOL MISSION
Everything that is sent to the court they pass between fires, and
they get their due share out of this. They also purify all the
bedding of the dead by taking it between fires; for when anyone
dies everything belonging to him is set on one side and is not
mixed with the other things in the orda until they have all been
purified by fire; I saw this carried out in the case ofthe orda of the
wife who died while we were there. There was therefore a twofold
reason why Friar Andrew and his companions had to pass
through fires, both because they were bearing gifts and because
these were intended for one who had already died, I mean Keu
Chan. No such things were demanded of me for I was carrying
nothing. If any animal or anything else falls to the ground while
they are thus taking them through the fires, this belongs to the
soothsayers.
On the ninth day of the month of May the soothsayers collect
all the white mares ofthe herd and consecrate them. The Christian
priests are also obliged to assemble there with their thurible.
Then they cast new cosmos on the ground and they make a great
feast on that day, for that is when they count on drinking fresh
cosmos for the first time, just as with us in some places they do
with the wine on the feast of Bartholomew or Sixtus and with
fruit on the feast of James and Christopher.
The soothsayers are also called in when any male child is born,
in order to foretell his fate; likewise when anyone is ill they are
summoned and they recite their incantations and pronounce
whether the sickness is natural or the result of sorcery. In this
connection the woman from Metz, of whom I have already
spoken, told me a remarkable story.
On a certain occasion a presentation was made of some very
valuable furs, which were placed in the court of her mistress who,
as I have already said, was a Christian. The soothsayers carried
them between the fires and took of them more than was their due,
and the woman in charge of this lady's treasure accused them of
this to her mistress who, consequently, reprimanded them. After
this it happened that the mistress fell ill and began to suffer from
sudden pains in various parts of her body. The soothsayers were
called in and, sitting some distance away, they ordered one of the
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 199
maids to put her hand on the place ofthe pain and draw out whatever
she might find. The girl, getting up, did this and discovered
in her hand a piece of felt or some other kind of material. They
then ordered her to put it on the ground; placed there it began to
crawl like a live animal. It was then put into water and it turned,
as it were, into a leech, and they said: "My lady, some witch has
injured you with her sorcery." And they accused the woman who
had brought the accusation against them concerning the furs.
She was led outside the camp to the fields and for seven days was
beaten and tortured in other ways to make her confess. In the
meantime the mistress died. The woman hearing this said to
them: "I know that my mistress is dead; kill me so that I can
follow her, for I have never done her any harm." As she would
confess nothing Mangu gave orders that she was to be allowed
to live.
The soothsayers thereupon accused the nurse of the daughter
ofthe lady I have mentioned; she was a Christian and her husband
was the most esteemed of all the Nestorian priests. She was led
to the torture along with one ofher handmaids to make her confess ;
and the maid confessed that her mistress had sent her to speak
with a horse to ask for an oracle from it. The woman herself
confessed that she had done certain things to make herself loved
by her mistress and to do good to her, but she had done nothing
which could possibly harm her. She was then questioned as to
whether her husband was aware of this. She made excuses for
him saying that she had burned the characters and writing she had
done herself. Then she was put to death, and Mangu sent her
husband, the priest, to his bishop in Cathay for sentence, although
he had not been found guilty.
In the meantime it came to pass that Mangu Chan's chief wife
gave birth to a son. The soothsayers were called in to foretell the
child's fate, and they all prophesied good fortune, saying that he
would have a long life and would be a mighty lord. A few days
later it turned out that the child died. Then the mother, in a fury,
summoned the soothsayers and said to them: "You said that my
son would live, and see, he is dead." Then they replied: "My
lady, we now see the witch, Cirina's nurse, who was put to death
200 THE MONGOL MISSION
the other day. She has killed your son, and now we see she is
carrying him off." A full-grown son and daughter of that woman
had remained in the camp, and the Chan's wife, mad with rage,
immediately sent for them, and she had the young man put to death
by a man and the girl by a woman in revenge for her son, who, the
soothsayers had said, had been killed by their mother.
Afew days after this the Chan dreamed about these children and
in the morning asked what had become ofthem. His servants were
afraid to tell him and he, more anxious, asked where they were, for
they had appeared to him in a vision by night. Then they told him.
Straightway he sent to his wife, demanding where she had got the
idea from that a woman could pass sentence of death without her
husband's knowledge, and he had her shut up for seven days and
ordered that no food was to be given to her. The man who had
put the youth to death he had beheaded and his head hung round
the neck of the woman who had murdered the girl, and he ordered
her to be beaten with burning brands through the camp and afterwards
put to death. The wife also he would have put to death
but for the fact that he had children by her; and he left his orda
and did not return for a month.
The soothsayers also disturb the weather with their incantations
and when in the natural course of things the cold is so intense that
they are unable to apply any remedy, then they search out men
in the camp whom they accuse of being responsible for the cold
and, without any delay, these are put to death.
Shortly before I left, one of the concubines had been sick and
ailing for some time and the soothsayers chanted incantations
over one of her slaves, a German, who slept for three days. When
she returned to herself they asked her what she had seen; she had
seen many people all of whom, they declared, would soon die;
and since she had not seen her mistress there they pronounced
that she would not die of this illness. I saw the girl still suffering
from a severe headache as the result of her sleep.
Some of the soothsayers also invoke demons and they assemble
in their dwelling by night those who wish to consult the demon
and they place cooked meat in the middle. The Kam who is
performing the invocation begins to chant his incantations, and,
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 201
holding a tympanum, strikes it heavily on the ground. At length
he begins to rage and has himself bound. Then the devil comes in
the darkness and gives him meat to eat and he utters oracles.
On one occasion, so Master William told me, a Hungarian hid
among them and the demon stayed on top of the dwelling saying
that he could not come in because there was a Christian with them.
Upon hearing this the Hungarian made his escape with all speed,
for they were beginning to search for him. These and many other
things they do which it would be tedious to tell of.
CHAPTER XXXVI
OF THE CHAN'S FESTIVALS, THE LETTER TO BE SENT TO KING
Louis AND FRIAR WILLIAM'S RETURN
AFTER the feast of Pentecost they began to compose the letter
which the Chan was to send to you. In the meantime he returned
to Caracorum and held his great reception just on the octave
of Pentecost, and he wanted all the envoys to be present on the
last day. He also sent for us but I had gone to the church to baptise
the three children of a poor German I had come across there. For
that feast Master William was the chief cup-bearer because he
had made the tree which pours forth drink; and all, rich and poor,
sang and danced and clapped their hands in front of the Chan.
He then began to address them, saying: "I have parted with my
brothers and have sent them into danger against foreign nations.
Now we shall see what you will do when I wish to send you to
extend our empire." On each of the four days they changed their
cloes, which they gave to them on each day all of one colour,
from the shoes to the headdress.
At that time I saw the envoy of the Caliph of Baghdad there; he
had himself conveyed to the court in a litter between two mules,
which led some to say that the Chan had made peace with them,
the condition being that they should provide him with an army of
ten thousand horsemen. Others were saying that Mangu had
declared he would not make peace with them unless they destroyed
202 THE MONGOL MISSION
all their fortifications, and the envoy had replied: "When you take
all the hooves offyour horses, we will destroy all our fortifications."
I also saw there the envoys of a Sultan of India who had brought
eight leopards and ten greyhounds trained to sit on the back of a
horse like leopards. When I asked about India, in what direction
it was from that spot, they pointed towards the west, and the
envoys accompanied me on our return journey for about three
weeks, travelling all the time westwards. I saw, too, envoys of the
Sultan of Turkey
1
, who brought costly presents for the Chan;
he replied, so I heard, that he had need of neither gold nor silver
but of men; by this he meant he wanted them to provide him with
an army.
On the feast of St. John [June 24th] the Chan held a great drinking
festival and I counted a hundred and five carts laden with
mares' milk, and ninety horses; and the same on the feast of the
Apostles Peter and Paul [June 29th].
The letter he is sending to you being at length finished, I was
summoned and they translated it. I have written down the gist of
it as well as I could grasp it by means of an interpreter and it is as
follows:
"This is the decree of the eternal God. In heaven there is but
one eternal God, on earth there is but one lord Chingis Chan, the
son of God, Demugin Cingei, that is the sound of iron." (They
call Chingis the sound of iron because he was a smith; and
puffed up with pride they now call him the son of God.2
)
"This is the message which is spoken to you: whosoever there
be Mongol, or Naiman, or Merkit, or Mussulman, wherever ears
can hear and whithersoever a horse can go, there make it heard
and understood: from the time they hear my decree and understand,
and will not to believe, but wish to make war against us,
you will hear and will see that they will have eyes, but will not
see, and when they wish to hold anything they will be without
hands, and when they wish to walk they will be without feet.
This is the decree of the eternal God. By the power of the eternal
1
Kilij Arslan IV, the ruler of the Seljuk kingdom of Rum or Iconium.
2
Temuchin, the original name of Chingis, means
"
smith
M
. He was named
after a Tartar chief who had been slain by his father.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 20$
God throughout the great realm of the Mongols, let the decree of
Mangu Chan be known to the lord of the Franks, King Louis
and to all the other lords and priests and to all the world of the
Franks so that they may understand our message. The decree of
the eternal God was made by Chingis Chan, but this decree has
not reached you from Chingis Chan or from others after him.
"A certain man, David by name, came to you as if he were an
envoy of the Mongols but he was a liar, and you sent your envoys
with him to Keu Chan. It was after the death of Keu Chan that
your envoys arrived at his orda. Chamus his wife sent you cloths
of nasic and a letter. But how could that wicked woman, more
vile than a dog, know about matters ofwar and affairs ofpeace, and
how to pacify a great race and see how to act for good?
"
(Mangu told me with his own lips that Chamus1
was the worst
kind of witch and that by her sorcery she had destroyed her whole
family.)
"The two monks, who came from you to Sartach, Sartach sent
to Baatu; Baatu however, seeing that Mangu Chan is chief over the
Mongol people, sent them to us.
"Now, in order that the great world and the priests and the
monks might all live in peace and rejoice in the good things of life
and in order that the decree of God might be heard among them,
we wished to appoint Mongol envoys to accompany your aforementioned
priests. The priests however gave answer that between
us and you there was a land of war and many evil men and
difficult going, and therefore they were afraid they would be
unable to bring our envoys to you safe and sound, but they said
that if we gave them our letter containing our decree they would
take it to King Louis. This is the reason why we have not sent our
envoys with them, but by the hands of these your priests we have
sent to you the decree ofthe eternal God in writing.
"
It is the decree of the eternal God which we have made known
to you. When you have heard and believed it, if you wish to obey
us, send your envoys to us; in this way we shall know for sure
whether you wish to be at peace or war with us. When by the
1
"Chamus" is Ogul Garnish, widow of Guyuk and regent of the empire
i executed with most of G
L the election of Mongka.
from 1249-51. She was executed with most of Guyuk's ministers in the palace
revolution that followed i
204 THE MONGOL MISSION
power of the eternal God the whole world from the rising of the
sun to the going down thereof shall be at one in joy and peace,
then it will be made clear what we are going to do; if, when you
hear and understand the decree of the eternal God, you are unwilling
to pay attention and believe it, saying 'Our country is far
away, our mountains are mighty, our sea is vast', and in this
confidence you bring an army against us we know what we can
do : He who made what was difficult easy and what was far away
near, the eternal God, He knows."
At first they called us your envoys in this letter. Then I said
to them, "Do not call us by the name of envoys, for I have told
the Chan clearly that we are not envoys of King Louis." They
went to him and told him; on their return they said he had taken
it in good part and had ordered them to write what I should say
to them. So I told them to remove the title of envoy and to call us
monks or priests.
In the meantime, while this was being done, my companion
heard that we were to return through the wilderness to Baatu and
that a Mongol was to be our guide, so, unknown to me, he ran to
Bulgai the chief scribe and intimated to him by means of signs that
he would die if he were to go on that journey. When the day
arrived on which we were to be given our leave to depart, that is to
say a fortnight after the feast of St. John [July 9th or loth], when we
were summoned to the court, the scribes said to my companion:
"
See, Mangu wishes your companion to return by way of Baatu,
and you say you are a sick man and it is clear you are. Mangu
therefore says, if you wish to go with your companion you may go,
but on your own head be it, for perhaps you will stay at the house
of some yam, and he will not make provision for you and you will
be a hindrance to your companion; if, on the other hand, you wish
to remain here, the Chan will provide you with what you need until
some envoys arrive with whom you can make the return journey
more slowly and by a route along which there are towns." The
Friar replied :
"
God grant the Chan good fortune ! I will retrain,"
I however said to the Friar, "Brother, take heed to what you are
doing. It is not I who am forsaking you." "You," said he, "are
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 205
not forsaking me, but I am leaving you, for if I go with you, I shall
see both my body and soul in danger, for I cannot endure such
intolerable hardship."
The scribes were holding three garments or tunics and they said
to us: "You do not wish to receive gold or silver and you have
been here a long time praying for the Chan; he begs you at least to
accept, each one of you, a simple tunic, so that you may not leave
him empty-handed." We then had to accept them out of respect
to him, for they take it ill when their gifts are disdained. He had
frequently before sent to ask us what we wanted and we always
gave the same answer, so much so that the Christians there scoffed
at the pagans, who look for nothing but presents. The pagans used
to reply that we were fools, for if he wished to give them his whole
orda, they would gladly accept it and they would be acting
prudently. When we had received the garments they asked us to
say a prayer for the Chan, which we did. And so having obtained
our leave we went to Caracorum.
It happened one day while we were with the monk some distance
away from the court along with the other envoys that the monk
sounded the board so loudly, that Mangu Chan heard it and
enquired what it was. They told him and he asked why the monk
was so far removed from the orda. They explained that it was
troublesome to bring him horses and oxen every day to the orda,
and added that it would be better for him to stay at Caracorum
near the church and pray there. Then the Chan sent to him saying
that if he wished to go to Caracorum and stay there near the
church he would give him all he needed. The monk however
replied: "I came here from the Holy Land of Jerusalem by the
command of God, and I left a city in which there are a thousand
churches better than the one in Caracorum; if he wishes me to
stay here and pray for him, as God commanded me, I will stay;
otherwise I will go back to the place I came from." That evening
oxen harnessed to carts were brought for him, and the following
morning he was taken back to the site he used to occupy in front
of the court.
Shortly before our departure a Nestorian monk arrived, who
seemed a prudent man. Bulgai, the chief scribe, placed him before
206 THE MONGOL MISSION
his own orda and the Chan sent his children to receive his blessing.
And so we came to Caracorum, and while we were in Master
William's house, my guide arrived bearing ten iascot, five ofwhich
he put into Master William's hand, saying that he was to spend
them on behalfofthe Chan for the needs ofthe Friar; the other five
he placed in the hand of Abdullah, my interpreter, ordering him
to spend them on the journey for my needs. Unknown to us
Master William had put them up to this.
I immediately sold one of the iascot and distributed it
among
the poor Christians there who all looked to us for help; another we
spent in purchasing necessary clothes and other things ofwhich we
stood in need; with the third Abdullah made some purchases by
means of which he earned a little profit for himself. The rest we
also spent there, for nowhere from the time we entered Persia
were we given a sufficient supply of necessities, not even
among the Tartars, and there we seldom came across anything
for sale.
Master William, at one time your subject, sends you a leather
strap ornamented with a precious stone which they carry as a
protection against thunder and lightning, and he sends you
countless greetings and prays for you; for him I could never
render sufficient thanks to God or to you.
There we baptised in all six souls.
And so we parted from each other with tears, my companion
remaining with Master William while I returned alone with my
interpreter, with my guide and a servant who had an order that he
would receive a sheep in four days' time for the four of us.
CHAPTER XXXVII
FRIAR WILLIAM'S JOURNEY TO THE COURT OF BAATU IN HIRCANIA
IN two months and ten days we reached Baatu, during which time
I never saw a town or the trace of any building other than tombs,
with the exception of a village in which we did nofeat bread; nor
did we ever rest during these two months and ten days except for
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 20y
one single day when we could not obtain horses. We returned
through altogether different regions, though for the most part
coming across the same people, for we went in the winter and
returned in the summer by far more northerly districts, except
that for fifteen days both on the way there and on the way back we
had to follow a river among the mountains, where there is no grass
except near it. We went for two days and sometimes three taking
no food except cosmos. At times we were in great peril, unable to
find any inhabitants and with our food supplies getting low and our
horses tired out.
After I had ridden for twenty days I heard news of the King of
Armenia; he had passed by at the end ofAugust on his way to meet
Sartach, who was going to Mangu Chan with his flocks and herds,
his wives and children, although his large dwellings had been left
behind, between the Etilia and the Tanais. I paid my respects to
Sartach, saying that I would gladly have remained in his country,
out Mangu Chan wanted me to return and take his letter. He
replied that Mangu Chan's wishes must be carried out.
I then enquired of Coiac about our servants. He replied that
they were being carefully looked after in Baatu's orda. I also asked
to have our vestments and books back, whereupon he replied,
"
Did
you not bring them to Sartach?" I said, "I brought them to
Sartach, but I did not give them to him as you know," and I
repeated the reply I had given when he had asked whether I wished
to present them to Sartach. Then he answered: "You speak the
truth, and no one can withstand the truth. I deposited your
possessions with my father, who is staying near Sarai1
, the new
town Baatu has built on the Etilia; but our priests have some of
your vestments here with them." I said, "You may keep such of
the vestments as you wish, provided the books are returned to me."
Then he replied he would tell Sartach what I had said. I continued:
"I must have a letter to your father, telling him to
restore everything to me." They were all ready to continue their
1
Sarai : there were two towns of that name, successive capitals of the Golden
Horde. One of these, Sarai-Berka, was situated on the Akhtube, a tributary of
the Volga, near the town of Tsarev, some thirty-five miles east of Stalingrad.
The other Sarai, Sarai-Batu, founded in about 1241 by Batu, was situated on
the Volga further down the river, near the village of Selitrennoe. Ruins of
what in all probability was Batu's palace have been found there.
208 THE MONGOL MISSION
journey and he said to me, "The women's orda is
following close
behind us; you will put up there and I will send you Sartach's
reply by this man."
I was anxious not to be deceived by him; however, I was not in a
position to argue with him. In the evening the man he had pointed
out to me came, bringing with him two tunics, which, I had the
impression, were made entirely of one piece of uncut silk, and he
said to me: "Here are two tunics; Sartach sends one for you and
the other, if it seems good to you, you will present to the King on
his behalf." I replied, "I do not wear such garments; I will
present them both to the King in honour of your master." "No,"
said he, "do with them whatever you please." It has pleased me
to send them both to you and I am sending them by the bearer of
this letter. He also gave me a letter to Coiac's father, telling him
to restore to me all my belongings for he did not need anything
of mine.
We reached Baatu's orda on the very same day on which I had
quitted it a year back, the day after the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross [September I4th], and to my joy I found our servants safe
but, according to what Gosset told me, suffering from the most
dire poverty; and if it had not been for the King of Armenia, who
afforded them great relief and recommended them to Sartach,
they would have been lost, for they believed that I was dead, and
the Tartars had already started asking them if they knew how to
look after oxen and milk mares. If I had not returned, they would
have been reduced to being their slaves.
Then Baatu made me come before him and he had the letter
which Mangu Chan is sending to you translated for me. Mangu
had written to him saying that if he wanted to add or remove or
change anything he was to do so. Then he said to me, "You will
take this letter and translate it." He also asked what route I wanted
to take, whether by sea or land. I said that since the sea would be
closed, for it was winter, I would have to go by land. I also believed
that you were still in Syria and directed my journey towards Persia.
If I had thought you had proceeded to France, I would have gone
to Hungary and would have reached France more quickly and by
a route less toilsome than that to Syria.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 209
We journeyed for a month with Baatu before we were able to
obtain a guide. At last he assigned to me a Uigur who, realising
that I would give him nothing, had a letter made out telling him to
bring me to the Sultan of Turkey, although I had told him I
wanted to go straight to Armenia, for he hoped that he would
receive gifts from the Sultan and gain more by going that way.
Fifteen days before the feast of All Saints [October zyth] I
started on the journey to Sarai, travelling due south, following the
Etilia, which there in its lower reaches divides into three large
branches each of which is almost twice as large as the river of
Damietta;
1
it forms four other smaller branches, so that we crossed
that river by boat seven times. On the middle branch is the town
called Summerkent,
2
which has no walls, but when the river is in
flood it is surrounded by water; the Tartars besieged it for eight
years before they captured it. In it were Alans and Saracens.
There we found a German with his wife, a very good fellow, with
whom Gosset had stayed, for Sartach had sent him there to relieve
his orda of the burden.
In these regions about Christmas time Baatu is on one side of
the river and Sartach on the other, and they go no further south.
Then the whole river freezes and they make their way between the
streams where there is an excellent supply of grass and there they
lurk among the reeds until the ice begins to melt.
On the receipt of Sartach's letter Coiac's father restored to me
the vestments wi the exception of three albs, an amice embroidered
in silk, a stole, a girdle, an altar-cloth adorned with gold
embroidery, and a surplice; he also gave me back the silver vessels
except the thurible and the phial containing the chrism, which
were in the possession of the priests who were with Sartach. He
restored my books, except for my Lady the Queen's psalter, which
he kept with my permission since I could not refuse it to him, for
he said that it had greatly pleased Sartach.
He also begged me, should I happen to return to these parts
again, to bring for them a man skilled in the making of parchment.
He was building a large church on the west bank of the river by
Sartach's command, and a new village, and he wanted to make
1
The Lower Nile,
2
Probably Astrakhan,
210 THE MONGOL MISSION
books for Sartach's use, so he said. However I know that Sartach's
interests do not lie in that direction.
Sarai, with Baatu's palace, is on the east bank, and the valley
through which the branches of the river spread is more than seven
leagues across and there is a plentiful supply offish there.
I did not recover a Bible in verse and a book in Arabic, worth
thirty besants, and several other things.
So we left him on the feast of All Saints and travelling all the
time south, we reached the mountains of the Alans on the feast of
St. Martin [November nth, 1254],
During the fifteen days between Baatu and Sarai we did not
come across any human beings, except one of his sons who was
going ahead of him with his many falcons and falconers; and one
very small village. During the fortnight after the feast of All
Saints we did not meet a soul and we almost died of thirst for
throughout a whole day and night until about nine the next morning
we did not come across any water.
The Alans in these mountains are still offering resistance,
consequently out often of Sartach's men two had to come to guard
the entrance to the passes in case they should emerge from the
mountains to plunder their animals in the plain between them and
the Alans and the Iron Gate, which is two days' journey from there,
where the Aracci plain begins between the sea and the mountains.
Among the mountains there are some Saracens called Lesgi,
who are likewise holding out, so the Tartars at the foot of the
mountains of the Alans had to give us twenty men to escort us to
beyond the Iron Gate. I was delighted, for I was hoping I should
see their armed men, for I had never managed to have a look at
their weapons although I had been most anxious to do so. When
we reached this dangerous stretch, of the twenty there were two
who had habergeons. I asked how they had come by these; they
said they had procured them from the aforementioned Alans,
who are fine artificers of such things and excellent smiths. This
makes me think they have few arms apart from their bows and
arrows and leather garments. I saw them being presented with
iron plates and helmets from Persia, and I also saw two men who
appeared before Mangu armed with tunics made of curved pieces
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 211
of stiff leather, which were very clumsy and cumbersome. Before
we reached the Iron Gate we came to a town of Alans, which
belonged to Mangu Chan, for he had conquered that territory. It
was there we first came across vines and drank wine.
The following day we arrived at the Iron Gate, which Alexander,
King of Macedon, made; it is a city the east end of which is on the
shore of the sea, and between the sea and the mountains there is a
small plain across which the city extends as far as the top of the
mountain adjoining it on the west, so that there is no route above
it on account of the ruggedness of the mountains nor below by the
sea, only straight across through the middle of the city, where
there is the Iron Gate from which the city takes its name.1
The city
is more than a mile long and at the top of the mountain there is a
strong fortress ; in width however it is but as far as one could throw
a large stone. It has very strong walls, without moats and towers,
made of large polished stones, but the Tartars have destroyed the
tops of the towers and the ramparts of the walls, rasing the towers
to the level of the wall.
Inside that city the land used to be like paradise. Two days
from here we came across another city called Samaron, where there
were many Jews; and when we had passed by it we saw that it had
walls running from the mountains right down to the sea. Leaving
the road by the sea along the walls, since it turned off eastwards,
we climbed up the mountains towards the south.
The following day we passed through a valley where there were
to be seen foundations of walls from one mountain to another and
there was no route across the tops ofthe mountains. These used to
be Alexander's barriers for keeping back the barbarians, that is to
say the nomads of the wilderness, so that they could not encroach
upon cultivated territory and cities. There are other enclosures in
which there are Jews, but I was unable to learn, anything definite
about them; however there are many Jews throughout all the cities
of Persia.
The next day we reached a large city called Samag, and the day
after we entered a vast plain, known as Moan,
2
through which the
1
Derbentj the Persian name of the Iron Gate.
2
The Mugan steppe, south of the river Kura.
212 THE MONGOL MISSION
Cur flows, which gives their name to the Curgi whom we call
Georgians. It flows through the middle of Tiflis, which is the
capital of the Georgians, and coming straight from the west it
goes east to the sea of which we have spoken, and contains the
finest salmon. In that plain we again came across Tartars. It is
also through this plain that the Araxes flows, coming from
Greater Armenia from due south-west, and it is after this that
the land of Ararat is named, which is the same as Armenia.
That is why in the Book of Kings it says that when the sons
of Sennacherib had slain their father they fled into the land of
the Armenians, whereas in Isaias it says they fled into the land
of Ararat.
To the west therefore of this very fair plain is Georgia. At
one time the Crosminians [Khorezmians] were in this plain. At
the foot of the mountains there is a large city called Ganges,
1
which was their capital and prevented the Georgians from descending
into the plain. We came to a bridge of boats which were
held together by a large iron chain stretched across the river at
the point where the Cur and Araxes join each other. The Araxes
however loses its name at that spot.
From then on we climbed ever upwards, following the Araxes of
which it is said pontem dedignatur Araxes [Aen. VII, 728], and
leaving on the left, towards the south, Persia and the Caspian
mountains, and on the right towards the west the sea and Georgia,
we made our way south-west in the direction of Africa. Our
journey led us through the encampment of Baachu, the chief of
the army stationed near the Araxes, who conquered the Georgians,
the Turks and the Persians. At Tabriz in Persia there is another
man, Argon by name, who is in charge of the tribute; both these
men have been recalled by Mangu Chan to give place to his brother
who is coming to that region. The country I have described to
you is not Persia proper, but it used to be called Hircania. I was
in Baachu's house and he gave us wine to drink ; he himself however
drank cosmos, which I would have preferred to have, if he
had given it to me. The wine was new and special, but cosmos is
a more satisfying drink for a hungry man.
1
Gandja.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 213
We followed the course of the Araxes from the feast of St.
Clement [November 23rd] to the second Sunday ofLent [February
2ist], until we reached the source of the river. Beyond the mountain
on which it rises there is a large city called Erzerum, which
belongs to the Sultan of Turkey, and near there towards the north
at the foot of the mountains of Georgia the Euphrates takes its
rise. I would have gone to its source, but there was so much snow
that no one could leave the beaten track. On the other side of the
mountains of the Caucasus towards the south the Tigris takes its
rise.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE JOURNEY FROM HIRCANIA TO TRIPOLI
WHEN we left Baachu my guide went to Tabriz to speak with
Argon, taking with him my interpreter. Baachu had me taken to a
city called Naxua1
which was at one time the capital of a great
kingdom and a very large and beautiful city, but the Tartars have
reduced it almost to a wilderness. The Armenians used to have
eight hundred churches there; now there are but two little ones,
for the Saracens destroyed them. In one of these I celebrated the
feast of the Nativity as well as I could, with our cleric.
The following day a priest of that church died, and a bishop,
along with twelve monks, came down from the mountains for his
funeral. All the Armenian bishops are monks, as are for the most
part the Greek bishops. The bishop told me that near there was the
church in which St. Bartholomew and also St. Jude Thaddeus
were martyred, but the way was closed because of the snow.
He told me also that they have two prophets : the first is the
martyr Methodius, who belonged to their race and clearly prophesied
about the Ismaelites, which prophecy has been fulfilled
in the Saracens. The other prophet is called Acacron, who on his
deathbed prophesied about a race of archers who are to come from
the north; he said they would get possession of all the lands of the
east, and they would spare the eastern kingdom so that it might
1
Nakhichevan.
214 THE MONGOL MISSION
deliver the kingdom ofthe west to them but our brethren, he says,
the Catholic Franks, will not trust them and they will seize the
countries from the north to the south, and they will reach as far as
Constantinople and seize the harbour of Constantinople, and one
of them, who will be called the Wise Man, will enter the city and
seeing the churches and services of the Franks will have himself
baptised, and he will advise the Franks how they may kill the
chief of the Tartars and there the Tartars will be thrown into
confusion. On hearing this the Franks from the centre of the
world, that is Jerusalem, will attack the Tartars in their territory
and with the aid of our people, that is, the Armenians, will pursue
them so that the King of the Franks will set up his royal throne at
Tabriz in Persia. Then all the orientals and all the races of unbelievers
will be converted to the faith of Christ, and there will be
such peace in the world that the living will say to the dead, "Woe
to you who have not lived to see these days." I had read this
prophecy, brought to Constantinople by Armenians who live
there, but I had not taken much notice of it; when however I
spoke with the said Bishop, I remembered and paid more attention;
and throughout the whole of Armenia they consider this prophecy
as true as the Gospel. The Bishop also said to us: "Just as the
souls in Limbo were awaiting the coming of Christ to be set free,
so we are awaiting your coming to be liberated from this servitude
in which we have been so long."
Near this city are mountains on which, they say, Noah's ark
rested; there are two, one bigger than the other, and the river
Araxes flows at the foot of them. There is a town there called
Cemanium, which means "
eight ", and they say it is so called from
the eight people who came out of the ark and built it on the higher
mountain. Many have tried to climb the mountain and have
failed. The Bishop told me that a certain monk was most anxious
to do so, and an angel appeared to him bringing hi a piece of the
wood of the ark, telling him not to exert himself any more. That
wood they have in their church, so they told me. To look at, the
mountain is not so high that it would not be quite possible for
men to climb it. An old man gave me a good enough reason why
no one ought to climb it. They call the mountain Massis and it is
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 215
of the feminine gender in their language. "No man," he said,
"ought to climb the Massis, for she is the mother of the world."
In that city Friar Bernard the Catalan of the Order of Friars
Preachers met me; he had stayed in Georgia with a prior of the
Sepulchre, who has great possessions in land there; and he had
learned a little Tartar and had been with a Friar from Hungary to
Argon at Tabriz to ask for transit to Sartach. When they arrived
there they were unable to obtain an audience, and the Hungarian
Friar returned by my arrangement to Tiflis with a servant, but
Friar Bernard remained at Tabriz with a German lay-brother,
whose language he did not understand.
We left the afore-mentioned city on the octave of the Epiphany
[January I3th]; we had stayed there a long time on account of the
snow. In four days we came to the territory of Sahensa, a Georgian,
at one time most powerful but now a tributary of the Tartars,
who have destroyed all his fortifications. His father, by name
Zacharias, acquired that land of the Armenians, rescuing them
from the hands of the Saracens. And there are some very fine
villages there composed entirely of Christians who have churches
just like the Franks; and every Armenian has in his house in an
honourable position a wooden hand holding a cross, and he places
a lighted lamp in front of it; and as we sprinkle with holy water in
order to put the demon to flight, so they do with incense, for every
evening they burn incense and take it to every corner of the house
to rout out any kind of evil thing.
I had a meal with Sahensa and was shown great respect by him,
his wife and his son who is called Zacharias, a very good-looking
and sensible young man, who enquired of me whether you would
be willing to keep him if he came to you, for he finds the domination
of the Tartars so irksome that, although he is well
supplied with this world's goods, nevertheless he would prefer
to be a pilgrim in a strange land rather than bear their yoke.
Moreover they said they were sons of the Roman Church and, if
the Lord Pope would send them help, they would bring all the
neighbouring nations into subjection to the Church.
On the first Sunday in Lent, fifteen days after leaving that
country, we entered upon the territory of the Sultan of Turkey,
2l6 THE MONGOL MISSION
and the first place we came across is called Marsengen.
1
All in the
town were Christians Armenians, Georgians and Greeks but
the Saracens have the mastery. The governor there said that he
had received an order that they were not to give provisions to
any Frank or envoy of the King of Armenia or of Vastacius;
consequently from that place where we were on the first Sunday
in Lent, as far as Cyprus, where I landed eight days before the
feast of St. John the Baptist, we had to buy our food. The man
who was acting as my guide forced me to have horses, he was
given the money for the food and put it into his purse; when he
came to a field anywhere and saw a flock of sheep, he used to steal
a sheep by force and give it to his company to eat, and he was
surprised that I was unwilling to eat of the plunder.
On the feast of the Purification I was in a city called Aim,
2
which belongs to Sahensa and is in a very strong position. In this
city there are a thousand Armenian churches and two Saracen
synagogues. The Tartars have put a bailiff there.
There five Friars Preachers came to see me, four of whom
came from the French province and the fifth had joined them in
Syria. They had but one sickly servant, who knew Turkish and a
little French. They had letters from the Lord Pope to Sartach,
Mangu Chan and Buri, like the one you gave to me, begging that
they be allowed to stay in their country and preach the word of
God, etc. However, when I had related to them what I had seen
and how the Tartars were sending me back, they directed their
course towards Tiflis where there are some oftheir Friars, in order
to have advice as to what they were to do. I made it dear to them
that by means of those letters they would be able to make the
journey if they wished, but they should be well prepared both to
endure hardship and to give a reason for their coming, for if their
mission had no other object than the duty of preaching, the
Tartars would make little account of them and particularly since
they had no interpreter. What they did afterwards I do not know.
On the second Sunday in Lent we reached the source of the
Araxes, and crossing the summit of the mountains we came to the
1
Manzikert. The modern Turkish village on that site is Malazkirt, about
fifteen miles N.W. of Lake Van.
8
Ani, the ancient Armenian capital between Erivan and Kars.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 217
Euphrates, which we followed down for eight days, always going
towards the west, until we arrived at a fortress called Camath. 1
There the Euphrates changes its course towards the south in the
direction of Aleppo. We, however, crossing the river, kept on
journeying westwards across very high mountains and very deep
snow. There had been such a big earthquake there that year that
in one city, called Arsengen, there had perished ten thousand
persons known by name, not counting the poor of whom there was
no knowledge. For three days as we rode along we saw a chasm,
just as it had been cleft by the earthquake, and mounds of earth
which had slipped down from the mountains and filled the valleys,
so that if the earth had been shaken but a little more that saying
of Isaias would have been fulfilled to the letter: "Every valley
shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low."
We passed through the valley in which the Sultan of Turkey
was defeated by the Tartars. It would take too long to write down
how he was defeated, but one of my guided servants, who had
been with the Tartars, said that the Tartars were not more than
ten thousand in all, and a Georgian slave of the Sultan said that
the Sultan had two hundred thousand men with him, all on horseback.
On the stretch of level ground where this battle,
2
or rather
rout, took place, a large lake had gushed out in the earthquake;
and I reflected within myself that all that earth had opened her
mouth to receive the blood of the Saracens.
During Holy Week we were in Sebaste3
in Lesser Armenia. There
we visited the burial-place of the Forty Martyrs. The church of
St. Blaise is there, but I could not go to it as it was up in the fort.
On the octave of Easter we arrived at Caesarea in Cappadocia,
where there is the church of St. Basil the Great.
Fifteen days later we reached Iconium,
4
travelling short stages
each day and resting in many places, for we were not able to
1
Camath :
probably the modern Keban> or Kamakh.
2
The battle mentioned was fought in 1243 at KBzadagh (Kuza-Dagh),
between Erzingan and Sivas. The defeated Sultan of Rum was Ghiyas ed-din
Kaikhosrau II.
3
The modern Sivas. Lesser Armenia is not the medieval kingdom of Lesser
Armenia in Cilicia, but the old Roman province of the same name, or Armenia
Prima.
*
Konya, at that time the capital of the Seljuk Kingdom of Rum.
2l8 THE MONGOL MISSION
obtain horses so quickly. My guide did this on purpose, taking
lodging for three days in each place. I was much distressed at
this, but dared not say anything for he could have sold or murdered
me and our servants. There would have been none to say him nay.
At Iconium I came across several Frenchmen and a Genoese
merchant from Acre, by name Nicholas of Santo Siro, who, together
with his partner, a Venetian called Boniface of Molendino,
has the monopoly ofthe alum from Turkey, so that the Sultan cannot
sell any to anyone except these two, and they have rendered it so
dear that what used to be sold for fifteen besants is nowsold for fifty.
My guide presented me to the Sultan, who said he would gladly
have me conducted as far as the sea of Armenia or Cilicia. Then
the merchant I have mentioned, knowing that the Saracens were
not much interested in me and that I was vexed beyond measure
by the presence of my guide, who pestered me every day to give
him presents, had me taken to Curca,
1
a port belonging to the King
of Armenia. I arrived there the day before the Ascension and
stayed until the day after Pentecost.
Then I heard that messengers had come from the King to his
father. I put our belongings in a ship to be taken to Acre. Having
got rid of these I went to the King's father2
to find out if he had
heard any news of his son; I found him at Sis together with all his
sons, except one called Barunusin, who was building a fort. He
had received messengers from his son saying that he was returning
and that Mangu Chan had greatly reduced the tribute for him and
had granted him the privilege that no envoy should set foot on his
territory. On account of this the old man was holding a great
festival along with all his sons and the whole people.
He had me taken as far as the sea to the port called Ayas,
3
and from there I crossed to Cyprus. At Nicosia I found our
Minister, who took me with him that very day to Antioch; he is in
a very poor state of health. We were there on the feast of the
Apostles Peter and Paul. From there we came to Tripoli, where
our Chapter was held on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
[August I5th, 1255],
1
Corycas, west of Mersin.
2
Constantine of Lambron, the father of King Hethum.
8
Lajazzo : the chief port of Cilicia at this time.
THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK 219
EPILOGUE
THE Minister decided that I was to lecture at Acre and would
not allow me to come to you but bade me write to you what I
wished by the bearer of this letter. I, not daring to refuse the
obedience, have done as well as I could and knew how, and I beg
you of your persistent kindness to pardon anything which is unnecessary
or inadequate, or said in an unwise or even foolish
fashion, seeing that it is done by a man of little wisdom and
unaccustomed to dictating such long accounts. The peace of God,
which surpasseth all understanding, keep your heart and mind!
I would like to see you and those spiritual friends I have in your
kingdom; therefore, if it would not be displeasing to your Majesty,
I would beg you to write to the Minister and ask him to release
me to come to you, and I would go back to the Holy Land after a
short time.
As for Turkey, I can inform you that not one man in ten there
is a Saracen; rather are they all Armenians and Greeks and the
power is in the hands of boys. For the Sultan, who was conquered
by the Tartars, had an Iberian1
as a legitimate wife and by her he
had a son who was a cripple and he gave the command that he was
to be Sultan; he had another son by a Greek concubine, her he gave
to a powerful emir; a third he had by a Turk, and many Turks and
Turcomans collected round this son and wanted to kill the sons of
the Christians.
They also arranged, so I understood, that, once victory was
theirs, they would destroy all the churches and put to death as
many as were unwilling to become Saracens; but he was defeated
and many of his men were killed. He patched up his army again
but next he was taken prisoner and is still kept in chains. Pacaster,
the son of the Greek, obtained ofhis half-brother that he should be
Sultan, for the other was a cripple, and they sent the latter to the
Tartars; his relations on his mother's side, that is to say the
Iberians and Georgians, were indignant about this. As a result of
all this a boy rules in Turkey, having no money, few soldiers and
1
The daughter of Queen Rusudan of Georgia.
220 THE MONGOL MISSION
many enemies. The son ofVastacius
1
is weakly and is at war with
the son of Assan,
2
who likewise is a boy and worn out by servitude
to the Tartars.
Consequently if an army of the Church were to come to the
Holy Land it would be a very easy thing to subjugate all these
countries, or pass through them. The King of Hungary has at the
most not more than thirty thousand fighting men. From Cologne
to Constantinople it is but forty days' journey by cart. From
Constantinople it does not take so many days to reach the land of
the King of Armenia. Of old, brave men made their way through
these regions and all went well with them, although they had very
brave men resisting them, whom God has now wiped off the face
of the earth. They did not have to be in peril of the sea or at the
mercy of a crew ofmariners, and the price they would have had to
give as passage money, was sufficient for the expenses of going by
land. I say to you with confidence, if your peasants, I will not say
Kings and knights, were willing to go as do the Kings of the
Tartars and to be content with the same kind of food, they could
take possession of the whole world.
It does not seem to me expedient that any other Friar should
again go to the Tartars as I went and as the Friars Preachers are
going; but if the Lord Pope, who is head ofall Christendom, would
send a bishop with marks ofhonour, and would reply to the foolishnesses
which they have three times written to the Franks once
to Pope Innocent IV of happy memory and twice to you once
by David who deceived you, and now by me he would be able
to say to them whatever he wished and also to make them put it
down in writing. For they always listen to what an envoy has to
say and always enquire whether he wishes to say more, but he
would have to have a good interpreter, nay, several interpreters,
and abundant supplies.
1
Theodore Lascaris II.
2
Michael Assan of Bulgaria.
THE LETTERS OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO,
BROTHER PEREGRINE AND ANDREW OF PERUGIA
The following letters are very inferior in literary and historical value to
the two great narratives of John of Piano Carpini and William of
Rubruck. But they are of very great importance for the history of
Christendom since they record the beginnings of Catholic missionary
activity in China, and thus form a link between the Mongol mission of
William of Rubruck and the greater achievements of Matteo Ricci and
the Jesuit missionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who
were the founders of the Christian Church in China in modern times.
However, they form an essential part of the present volume, since these
later missionaries were the direct successors of the earlier travellers and
reaped in China the harvest that had been sown years before in
Mongolia.
John of Monte Corvino, at least, is well worthy to stand beside John
of Piano Carpini and William of Rubruck. He was a true disciple of
St. Francis, a man of great simplicity of character but also of heroic
constancy and apostolic spirit, and the story of his solitary mission for
twelve years at the court ofthe Mongol Emperors of China is one of the
most outstanding episodes in missionary history.
John of Monte Corvino was born in southern Italy in 1247. He took
part in the Franciscan mission to Armenia and Persia about 1279-83
and returned to Italy in 1289 bringing a letter from King Hethum II of
Armenia to the Pope. He was sent back to the East with letters from
Pope Nicholas IV to all the patriarchs and princes of the East. He
finally left Tabriz, the capital of the II Khans, in 1291, on the great
journey from which he never returned. His first letter, which is not
included here, since it does not deal with the Mongols, was written in
India and has survived only in an Italian translation. The two letters
from China exist in three MSS., one at Paris and two at Rome. They
were first printed by Luke Wadding in his Annals and consequently
have been well known to ecclesiastical historians for the last three
hundred years.
Wadding also edited the letter of Andrew of Perugia from a MS. at
Assisi.
But the letter ofBrother Peregrine is less well known and doubts have
been expressed about its authenticity, since it survived only in a MS.
which belonged to the notorious forger Alfonso Ceccarelli who was
executed at Rome in 1583. But whatever Ceccardli's misdeeds, I do
not think that he can have forged this particular document, and most
scholars now regard it as genuine,
We know from the letter of Andrew of Perugia that Peregrine succeeded
Brother Gerard as second Bishop of Zaytun and died a few
years later on July yth, 1323. He was succeeded by Brother Andrew,
who wrote the following letter during his episcopate. But these letters
are not the only evidence of Brother Andrew's presence in China.
During the last war, the medieval walls of Ch'uan-chou-fu, or Zaytun,
were demolished and a Chinese schoolmaster discovered a number of
carved stones and inscriptions among the debris, a large number of
which were Muslim and Christian grave stones. Among the latter
which have been fully described with illustrations by the Rev. Professor
John Foster, D.D., of Glasgow University, in the Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society, and also in a talk for the Third Programme of the
B.B.C. on May loth, 1954, there is one with a Latin inscription.
Though it is in an extremely bad state Professor Foster has been able to
decipher:
Hie sepultus
Andreas Peruginus
Ordinis
apostolus
M XII
Here lies buried Andrew of Perugia of the Order (of Friars Minor)
And the date must presumably be 1332, MCCCXXXII, since we know
that he was alive in 1322.
THE LETTERS OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO,
BROTHER PEREGRINE AND ANDREW OF PERUGIA
THE SECOND LETTER OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO
I, BROTHER JOHN of the Order of Friars Minor, departed from
Tauris [Tabriz] a city of Persia, in the year of Our Lord 1291 and
entered India and I was in the country of India and in the Church
of St. Thomas the Apostle for 13 months. And there I baptized
about one hundred persons in different places. And my fellow
traveller was Brother Nicholas of Pistoia of the Order of the Friars
Preachers, who died there and was buried in the same church.
And going on further, I reached Cathay, the kingdom of the
Emperor of the Tartars, who is called the Great Chan. Indeed I
summoned the Emperor himself to receive the Catholic faith of
Our Lord Jesus Christ with the letters of the Lord Pope, but he
was too far gone in idolatry. Nevertheless he behaves very
generously to the Christians and it is now the twelfth year that
I have been with him. However the Nestorians, who call themselves
Christians, but behave in a very unchristian manner, have
grown so strong in these parts that they did not allow any
Christian of another rite to have any place of worship, however
small, nor to preach any doctrine but their own. For these lands
have never been reached by any apostle or disciple of the apostles
and so the aforesaid Nestorians both directly and by the bribery
of others have brought most grievous persecutions upon me,
declaring that I was not sent by the Lord Pope, but that I was a
spy, a magician and a deceiver of men. And after some time they
produced more false witnesses, saying that another messenger had
been sent with a great treasure to the Emperor and that I had
murdered him in India and made away with his gifts. And this
intrigue lasted above five years, so that I was often brought to
224
JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO 225
judgment, and in danger of a shameful death. But at last, by
God's ordering, the Emperor came to know my innocence and
the nature of my accusers, by the confession of some of them, and
he sent them into exile with their wives and children.
Now I have been alone in this journeying without a confessor
for eleven years, until there came to me Brother Arnold, a German
of the Cologne province, more than a year ago. I have built a
church in the city of Cambaliech [Khanbalik or Peking] where the
chief residence of the king is, and this I completed six years ago
and I also made a tower and put three bells in it. Moreover I have
baptized about 6,000 persons there up to the present, according
to my reckoning. And if it had not been for the aforesaid slanders
I might have baptized 30,000 more, for I am constantly baptizing.
Also I have purchased by degrees forty boys of the sons of the
pagans, between seven and eleven years old, who as yet knew no
religion. Here I baptized them and taught them Latin and our
rite, and I wrote for them about thirty psalters and hymnaries
and two breviaries by which eleven boys now know the office.
And they keep choir and say office as in a convent whether I am
there or not. And several of them write psalters and other suitable
things. And the Lord Emperor takes much delight in their singing.
And I ring the bells for all the Hours and sing the divine office
with a choir of "sucklings and infants". But we sing by rote
because we have no books with the notes.
Of Good King George
1
A certain king of these parts, of the sect of the Nestorian
Christians, who was of the family of that great king who was
called Prester John of India, attached himself to me in the first
year that I came here. And was converted by me to the truth ofthe
true Catholic faith. And he took minor orders and served my
Mass wearing the sacred vestments, so that the other Nestorians
accused him of apostasy. Nevertheless he brought a great part
1
John of Monte Corvino in no way exaggerates the importance of this conversion.
The princes of the Ongut, who were Nestorian Christians and lived
on the frontiers of China by the northern loop of the Yellow River, held an
exceptionally influential position in the Mongol Empire owing to their intermarriages
with the descendants of Chingis Khan.
226 THE MONGOL MISSION
of his people to the true Catholic faith, and he built a fine church
with royal generosity in honour of God, the Holy Trinity and the
Lord Pope, and called it according to my name "the Roman
church". This King George departed to the Lord a true Christian,
leaving a son and heir in the cradle, who is now nine years old.
But his brothers who were perverse in the errors of Nestorius
perverted all those whom King George had converted and brought
them back to their former state of schism. And because I was
alone and unable to leave the Emperor the Chaan, I could not
visit that church, which is distant twenty days' journey. Nevertheless
if a few helpers and fellow workers were to come, I hope in
God that all could be restored for I still hold the grant of the late
King George.
Again I say that had it not been for the aforesaid slanders great
results might have followed. If I had even two or three fellow
coadjutors, perhaps the Emperor the Chan might have been
baptized. I beg for some brethren to come, if any are willing to
do so, so being as they are such as are anxious to offer themselves
as an example and not to gain notoriety
1
.
As to the road: I report that the way by the land of Cothay
2
, the
emperor of the Northern Tartars, is safer and more secure, so that,
travelling with envoys, they might be able to arrive within five or
six months. But the other route is the most long and perilous since
it involves two sea voyages, the first of which is about the distance
of Acre from the province of Provence, but the second is like the
distance between Acre and England, and it may happen that the
journey is scarcely completed in two years. But the first was not
safe for a long time on account of the wars, and for twelve years I
have not received news of the Roman Curia, and of our Order and
of the state of the West. Two years ago there came a certain
physician, a surgeon from Lombardy, who infected these parts with
incredible blasphemies about the Roman Curia and our Order and
the state of the West, whereupon I greatly desire to know the truth3
.
1
Literally,
"
to enlarge their fringes
"
(Matt, xxiii. 5).
z
An error for Toctay or Tokhta, who was Khan of Kypchak 1291-1313 and
controlled the western end of the land route to the east.
8
No doubt this was an echo of the great controversy between Boniface VIII
and Philip the Fair. The effectiveness of Nogaret's propaganda campaign is
JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO 22J
I ask the brethren who shall receive this letter that they should
do their best to bring its contents to the notice of the Lord Pope
and Cardinals and the Procurator of our Order in the Curia. I
beg the Minister General of our Order for an antiphonary, and the
legends of the saints, a gradual and a noted psalter as an example,
for I have nothing but a small breviary with shortened lessons
and a small missal.
If only I had an example, the aforesaid boys could make copies
from it.
Now I am in the act of building another church, so that the
boys can be divided among several places.
I have already grown old, and my hair is white from labours
and tribulations rather than years, for I am fifty-eight years old.
I have an adequate knowledge of the Tartar language and script,
which is the usual language of the Tartars 1
, and now I have translated
into that language and script the whole ofthe New Testament
and the Psalter and have had it written in beautiful characters.
And I bear witness to the Law of Christ and read and preach
openly and in public. And I planned with the aforesaid King
George, if he had lived, to translate the whole of the Latin Office
so that it might be sung through the whole land under his dominion.
And while he lived Mass was celebrated in his church according
to the Latin rite in their own script and language, both the
words of the Canon and the Preface. And the son of the said king
is called John after my own name and I hope in God that he will
follow in the footsteps of his father.
Now from what I have seen and heard, I believe that there is
no king or prince in the world who can equal the Lord Chan in
the extent of his land, and the greatness of the population and
wealth.
FINIS
Given in the city of Cambaliech of the kingdom of Cathay, in
the Year of Our Lord 1305, the 8th day of January.
notorious, but one would hardly have expected to find traces of its influence
as far away as China!
1
It is not clear whether he means the Mongol language and the Uighur
script or the Uighur language also. I think he means the latter.
228 THE MONGOL MISSION
THE THIRD LETTER OF JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO
To the Reverend Father in Christ to Brother to
Brother to the Vicar of the Minister General of the
Order of Friars Minor, to the Vicar of the Master of the Order of
Preachers and to the brethren of both Orders who are residing
in the province of Persia: Brother John of Monte Corvino, an
unprofitable servant of Christ, a preacher of the Christian faith,
and legate and envoy of the Roman Apostolic See greeting and
love in Him who is the true love and health of all.
The order of charity demands that those far away and above
all those who travel for the law of Christ should at least be consoled
by words and letters, when they cannot see one another face
to face. I have thought that you may well wonder why you have
never received letters from me who have dwelt so long in such
a distant land. But I have wondered no less that never until this
year have I received letters or good wishes from any Brother or
friend, so that it seemed to me that no one remembered me,
especially as I heard that rumours of my death had reached you.
Wherefore I now notify you that last year at the beginning of
January, I sent letters by a friend of ours who was among the
companions of the Lord Cothay Chaan who came to the Lord
Chaan of Cathay, to the Father Vicar and the brethren of the
province of Gazaria [Crimea], informing them briefly of my
present situation and circumstances. In this letter I asked the
Vicar to send on copies of it to you, and now I find from reliable
men who have come to the Lord Chaan of Cathay with the envoys
of the aforesaid Lord Cothay that my letter has reached you and
that the same messenger who carried it afterwards came from the
city of Sarai to Tauris [Tabriz], Wherefore I did not intend to
mention the matter and contents of this letter further, so as not
to repeat myself: firstly about the persecution [I suffered] from
the Nestorians: secondly about the church and houses that have
been completed. I have had six pictures made of the Old and
New Testaments for the instruction ofthe ignorant, and they have
inscriptions in Latin, Turkish and Persian, so that all tongues may
JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO
be able to read them. The third thing is that ofthe boys whom I
bought, some have departed to the Lord. And fourthly, from the
time I have been in Tartary, in Cathay, I have baptized several
thousand people.
Now in this year of our Lord 1305, 1 have begun a new house
before the gate of the Lord Chaan, and the distance between his
court and our house is only a stone's throw from the gateway of
the Lord Chaan. Master Peter of Lucalongo, a faithful Christian
and a great merchant, who was my companion from Tauris,
bought the land for the house of which I have spoken and gave it
me for the love of God and by the inspiration of grace, for one
could not find a more suitable place for building a Catholic church
in the whole empire of the Lord Chaan. I received the site at the
beginning ofAugust and with the aid of my benefactors and helpers
it was completed by the feast of St. Francis, with a surrounding
wall and buildings and simple offices and a chapel which can hold
two hundred people. But I could not finish this church on account
of the winter. However, I have collected timber in the house and
by God's mercy I will complete it in the summer. I assure you
it seems a marvel to all who come from the city and elsewhere, when
they see the place newly made and a red cross set aloft above it,
since they had not yet heard a word of it from here. And we sing
office solemnly in our chapel in the common chant, because we
have not got noted psalters
1
. The Lord Chaan can hear our voices
in his chamber, and this is told as a wonder far and wide among the
nations, and will count for much according to the disposition and
fulfilment of God's mercy.
From our first church and house to the second church, which
I built afterwards, it is about two and a half miles' distance inside
the city, which is very large. And I have divided the boys and
placed some in the first church and some in the second and they
sing office by themselves. But I celebrate Mass in each in alternate
weeks as the chaplain, for the boys are not priests.
1
Secundum ttswn quia notas non habemus.
230 THE MONGOL MISSION
Of the Great Tartar Empire
Concerning the lands of the Orientals and especially the empire
ofthe Lord Chaan, I declare that there is none greater in the world.
And I have a place in his court and the right of access to it as
legate of the Lord Pope, and he honours me above the other
prelates, whatever their titles. And although the Lord Chaan
has heard much of the Roman Curia and the state of the Latins,
yet he greatly desires to see envoys come from those parts.
In this country there are many sects of idolaters who have
different beliefs, and there are many kinds of monks with different
habits, and they are much more austere and strict in their
observance than are the Latin religious.
Concerning India, I have seen a great part myself and have
made enquiries about the rest, and it would be of great profit
to preach the Christian faith to them if Friars would come. But
none save thoroughly reliable men should be sent> for these
countries are most beautiful, abounding in spices and precious
stones, though they have few of our fruits. And owing to the high
temperature and the warmth ofthe climate ofthis country they go
naked with nothing but a small loin cloth and therefore they have
no needs of the arts and products of our tailors and shoemakers.
There it is always summer and never winter. I baptized there
about a hundred persons.
In the same letter Brother John himself says that a stately
embassy came to him from Ethiopia, requesting that he should go
there to preach or should send good preachers, for from the time of
St. Matthew and his disciples they have had no preachers to
instruct them in the Christian faith and they greatly desired to
come to the true faith of Christ. And if Friars were sent there, they
would convert them all to Christ and they would become true
Christians. For there are very many in the East who are Christians
only in name and believe in Christ, but know nothing of the
Scriptures and the doctrines of the Saints, living in simplicity
because they have no preachers and teachers.
Brother John also says that since the Feast of All Saints he has
baptized more than four hundred people. And because he has
JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO 23!
heard that a number of Friars of the two Orders have reached
Gazzaria and Persia, he exhorts them to preach the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ fervently and to gain fruit of souls.
This letter was written in the city of Cambaliech [Peking] ofthe
Kingdom of Cathay in the year of Our Lord 1306 in the month of
February^ on Quinquagesima Sunday.
232 THE MONGOL MISSION
THE LETTER OF BROTHER PEREGRINE, BISHOP OF ZAYTUN
To the Reverend Father in Christ, to Brother . . . Vicar of
the Minister General, and to the other brethren of the Vicariate
of the East, Brother Peregrine, made bishop of poverty in another
world, sends homage and greeting, desiring to hear news from the
world of the faithful.
For though I and my companions had acted like the prodigal
son in flying to distant lands, as others have done, yet the Order
like a good mother ought at least to remember the sons whom it
has consigned to a strange exile. For a mother's heart does not
treat a son with the rigour of justice. And below: and I am a
bishop, however unworthy. And Mow: and I reached Ca[m]baliech
[Peking] with our father. Brother Andrew of Perugia the
Bishop.
First of all I will speak of the Archbishop, Brother John. His
outward life is good and hard and difficult. For as to that King
George, it is certain that he converted him completely and
worthily to the true faith, though previously he had mingled with
the Nestorians. And the king himself in one day converted several
thousands of his people. And had he lived, we should indeed have
subdued his whole people and kingdom to Christ, and a change
might even have been wrought with the Great Chan. For before
the said Archbishop came to the empire of the Great Chan, no
Christian of whatever nation or class could erect an oratory
however small it might be, or a cross, on account of the power of
the Nestorians, who prevented it. And so they were compelled
either to follow a schismatic and erroneous rite or to take the way
of the unbelievers. But after Brother John came, with the help of
God he has erected a number of churches, in spite of the Nestorians.
And the other Christian peoples who hate the schismatic
Nestorians have followed Brother John, especially the Armenians
who are now building for themselves a remarkable church and
intend to give it to him. Wherefore he is
constantly with them
and has left the Latin Church to the other brethren. Likewise
there are good Christians, called Alans, 30,000 of whom are in
PEREGRINE OF CASTELLO 233
the great king's pay, and these men with their families come to
Brother John; and he preaches to them and encourages them.
Nor do we see and we can preach to them and administer
the Sacraments of the Church. But among the infidel we can
preach freely and in the mosque [moscheta] of the Saracens we
have preached often that they might be converted, and to the
idolaters likewise in their great cities by means of two interpreters.
Many come together and wonder greatly and enquire
diligently about these things. And now it is begun, we have good
hopes, seeing the crowds eager to hear and running to where we
preach. Truly we believe that if only we possessed their languages,
God would show forth His wonders. Truly the harvest is great
and the labourers are few and they have no sickle. For we brethren
are few and quite aged and unskilled in the learning of languages.
May God forgive those who hinder the brethren from coming.
Ofa truth I believe the enemy has done this for fear that we should
invade his kingdom of which he holds undisputed possession.
In Cambaliech there are the Archbishop and Brother Andrew
of Perugia and Brother Peter of Florence, the Bishop, and they
lack nothing in temporal things. But in spiritual things they
have never been so rich. For the Holy Spirit has fallen
upon them and come on these two bishops, and they are so constant
in prayer and in holy meditation and the Spirit so visits and
consoles and animates them that they seem to forget all else,
waiting day and night in holy vigils on the Lord.
Now I have been made Bishop of Cayton,
1
and there I am free
to serve God in peace and quiet with three devout brethren. And
these servants of God are Brother John of Grimaldi, Brother
Emmanuel of Monticulo and Brother Ventura of Sarezana who
has become a Friar in this country, and since they are well established
in all virtues, God is honoured by them. Would that we
had a hundred like them with us ! In the city of Cayton we have a
good church which an Armenian lady left us, with a house, and
she provided the necessaries of life for ourselves and for others if
they come. And outside the city we have a fair place with a wood
1
Zaytun or Ch'uan-chou-fu: the great medieval port in Fukien province
near Amoy.
234 THE MONGOL MISSION
where we want to make cells and a chapel. We stand in need of
nothing so much as brethren, whom we long for. For Brother
Gerard the Bishop is dead, and we other Friars cannot live long,
and no others have come. The church will be left without baptism
and without inhabitants.
If I were to write an account of the state of this mighty empire
the greatness of its power, the size of its armies, the extent of
its territory, the amount of its revenue and its expenditure of
charitable relief it would not be believed. The Latins here have
compared it in these respects to all the other kings of the world,
but I do not write how it surpasses them. The great city of
Cayton, where we are, is on the sea and is distant about three
months' journey from Cambaliech the great.
Given at Cayton the 3rd of the Kalends of January in the Year
of Our Lord 1318.
ANDREW OF PERUGIA 235
THE LETTER OF ANDREW OF PERUGIA
BROTHER ANDREW OF PERUGIA of the Order of Friars Minor,
called by divine permission to be a bishop, to the reverend father
Brother Guardian of the Convent of Perugia: greeting and everlasting
peace in the Lord.
And below he continues:
For on account of the vast distance of lands and seas that lies
between you and me, I can scarcely hope that the letters I have sent
can reach your hands.
And below he goes on:
You should know that I with Brother Peregrine of good
memory, my fellow bishop and the inseparable companion of my
pilgrimage, with much labour and weariness, fasting and hardship
and danger by land and by sea, in which we were robbed of
everything, even our tunics and habits, came at last with the help
of God to the city of Cambaliech, the imperial residence of the
Great Chan, in the year of Our Lord's Incarnation 1318, as I
suppose.
1
Here we consecrated the Archbishop according to the
mandate given us by the Apostolic See, and stayed there almost
five years. Throughout this time we received alafa from the
noble Emperor for the food and dress of eight persons. For
alafa is a grant which the Emperor makes to the envoys of great
men, to ambassadors, soldiers, artificers in different crafts,
minstrels, poor men and persons of every sort and kind; and the
sum of these grants exceeds the income and expenditure of many
Western kings.
I forbear to speak of the wealth and magnificence and glory
ofthis great Emperor, ofthe vastness ofthe empire and the number
of its cities and their size; and of the government of the empire,
in which no man dares to draw sword against another; for it
would be too long to write and would seem unbelievable to my
hearers. For even I who am on the spot hear such things that I
can hardly believe them.
1
There is an error in the date; from what he says later in the letter it seems
he must have arrived in China about 1313.
236 THE MONGOL MISSION
There is a certain large city by the ocean called Zayton in the
Persian tongue. In this city a rich Armenian lady has built a
church^ fair and large enough, which she has given and bequeathed
with suitable endowment to Brother Gerard the Bishop
and our brethren that were with him, after it had by her will been
made a cathedral by the Archbishop.
Now after the said Bishop, who was the first to hold the see,
had died and been buried there, the Archbishop wished to make
me his successor. But as I did not consent to this appointment
and succession, he conferred it on Brother Peregrine, the Bishop
I have already mentioned, who betook himselfthere, when he had an
opportunity, and after he had ruled it for a few years ended his
life there in the year of Our Lord 1322, the day after the Octave
of the Apostles Peter and Paul. And since for various reasons I
was not contented in Cambaliech, almost four years before the
death of the Bishop I got leave that the aforesaid alafa, or imperial
alms, should be paid to me at this city of Zayton which as I
said is almost three months' journey from Cambaliech. I travelled
there very honourably with a train of eight horses allowed me by
the Emperor, and arrived while Brother Peregrine was still alive.
There is a wood near the city, a quarter of a mile away, and here
I caused a fair and fitting church to be built with buildings to
house twenty brethren, and with four chambers, any of which
is good enough for a bishop.
Here then I have taken up my abode, and I live on the bounty
ofthe Emperor which I have already referred to and which, according
to the estimate of the Genoese merchants, may amount to the
value of a hundred gold florins or thereabouts. And a great part
of this alms I have spent in this house and I think there is not a
heritage among all those in our province to be compared with
it for beauty and convenience.
At last, not long after the death of Brother Peregrine, I received
the Archbishop's decree appointing me to the above cathedral
church, to which appointment I gave my assent as seemed reasonable.
And now I live either at the residence or church in the city
or at the hermitage, according as I will. And I am healthy in body
and vigorous and active, so far as my age allows : in fact I have
ANDREW OF PERUGIA 237
none of the natural defects and characteristics of old age except
my white hairs.
In this vast empire there are verily men of every nation under
heaven and of every sect; and each and all are allowed to live
according to their own sect. For this is their opinion, or I should
say their error, that every man is saved in his own sect. And we
can preach freely and securely, but of the Jews and the Saracens
none is converted. Ofthe idolaters, exceedingly many are baptized:
but when they are baptized they do not adhere strictly to Christian
ways.
Concerning the Holy Brethren 1
Four of our brethren were martyred by the Saracens in India:
one of whom was thrown twice over into a great fire and came out
unhurt. Yet none of them was converted from his unbelief by
such a stupendous miracle.
I have taken care to send a brief account of all these things to
your Paternity that through you they may be brought to the notice
of others. I do not write to my spiritual brethren and my chief
friends because I know not who has died and who still live. So
I pray that they hold me excused. But I greet them all and commendmyselfto
all as closely as I can. And do you. Father Guardian,
commend me to the Minister and the Guardian at Perugia and to
all the brethren in general. All the suffragan bishops appointed
by the Lord Pope Clement for the see of Kambalik have departed
to the Lord in peace. I alone remain. Brother Nicholas of
Banthra [Banzia] and Brother Andrutius of Assisi and another
bishop died on their entry into Lower India in an exceedingly
hot country where many other brethren have died and been buried.
May your Paternity fare well in the Lord now and for ever.
Given at Zayton in the year of Our Lord 1326 in the month
of January.
1
The martyrdom of the Franciscans at Tana near Bombay took place in 1321.
INDEX
Abaga, Khan of Persia, xxvi-xxviii,
xxx, xli
Abbasid Khalifate, xxv
Abdullah (interpreter), 92, 128-9,
152, 154, 206
Abu-Said, xli
Acacron, 213
Acre, xxii, xxxi, 88, 158, 218-19
Agnes of Bohemia, Blessed, 50
Aini (see Ani)
Akhtube, River, 2077*
Ala Kul, Lake, xvi, 5971, 14671
Alania, 112
Alans (Assi, Aas), xxxiii, 29, 40-2, 48,
52, 58, 109-10, 116, 124, 179,
209-11, 232
Alans, Mountains of, 125, 210
Albania, 125
Aleppo, xxvi, 32, 217
Alexander Nevski, St., IOTI, 65
Alexander of Macedon, 116, 131, 211
Alghu, xl
Aljigiday, xix
Almalig, xxxiv
Altai Mountains, ix, xoiw, 14671
Amoy, 233*1
Amur, River, 12371
Andrew, Duke of Chernigov, 10
Andrew, Prince of Vladimir, 6571
Andrew of Longjumeau, Friar, xviii,
xix, xxi, 122, 125, 135, 147, 158,
190, 198
Andrew of Perugia, 222-3, 232-3, 235
Andronicus Ghidos, 9171
Andrutius of Assisi, Brother, 237
Ani, 216
Antioch, xx, xxi, xxvii, 121, 218
Arabuccha (see Arik Buka)
Aracci plain, 210
Ararat, 212
Araxes, River, 212-14, 216
Argon, 212-13, 215
Argun, Khan of Persia, xxvi, xxviii,
xxixiz, xxx-xxxi, xli
Arik Buka (Arabuccha, Arikboga),
xli, 185-6
Armenia, xx, xxi, xxvi, 2971, 31, 58,
149, 196, 209, 216, 222; Greater,
166, 2125 Lesser, 217
Armenian Christians, 119, 151, 163,
166, 173-4? 213, 216, 219
Armenian Missions, xx-xxi
Armenians, 41, 149, 179, 214, 232
Arnold, Brother, 225
Arsengen, 217
Assan, 220
Assans, 91, 131
Assassins, xiv, xxv, 184-5
Assassins, Mountains of the, 125
Ascelin, Friar, xviii, xix, xxi
Astrakhan, 20971
Austria, xiii, 71
Avars, viii
Avignon, xxxiii, xxxiv
Ayas, 218
Azov, Sea of (Sea of Tanais,
Meotide Marshes), 81, 90-1, 112-
114, 125
Baachu, 212-13
Bacon, Roger, 88
Baghdad, xxv, xxvi, 32, 41, 59, 180,
185
Baghdad, Khalif of, xxv, 32, 62, 201
Baidar, xl
Baigi, xxiv
Baiju, xix, xxi
Baikal, Lake, 123;*
Bala, 66-7
Baldwin n, Emperor, xxii
Baldwin of Hainault, Sir, 118, 170
Balkash, Lake, xx, 8172, 12571, 13671,
145
Baku, 165
Barchin, 29, 59
Bartholomew of Cremona, Friar, xxi,
92, 152, 155, 164-5, 167, 172, 178,
204-6
Bartholomew, St., 213
Barunusin, 218
Baschart, Bascart (see Bashkirs;
Hungary, Great)
Basil, 177
Baskaks (bastaki^ 40
Bashkirs (Baschart, Bascart, Bascards),
30, 80
Bastarcs (see Bashkirs; Hungary,
Great)
239
240 INDEX
Batu (Bati, Baatu), xiii-xviii, xxiixxiii,
xxivw, xl, 10-11, 26-30, 51,
55-7, 61, 69-71, 79-8o, 91, 93, 95,
99, 107, 114, 120, 124-30, 134-7.
147, I49-50> 155-7* 188-9, 196,
203-4, 206-10
Belgraye, 185
Benedict the Pole, Friar, xv, 4;
Narrative of, 79-84
Berke (Berca), xl, 26-7, 124
Bernard the Catalan, Friar, 215
Beybars, xxvii
Billeri (see Bulgaria, Great)
Birin, 27
Bisermins, 28-9, 41, 59, 70
Blaci (see Vlachs)
Black Sea (Great Sea, Sea of Pontus),
55-6, 89-91, 114* n6
Blakia (see Wallachia)
Boal, xl
Bohemia, 70, 72, 131
Bohemond of Antioch, xxvi
Bolac, 136, 187, 196
Boleslas, Duke of Silesia, xv, 50
Bolgay (Bulgai), xxv, 163, 165, 167,
175, 184, 204-5
Boniface VIII, Pope, 226
Boniface of Molendino, 218
Bora, 26-7
Bordeaux, xxix
Bosphorus, 5472
Breslau, 7972
Brutachi (Bruthachi), 41, 58
Buchier, William (Master William
of Paris), 157-8, 163, 171, 175-73
180-2, 185, 200, 206 j son of, 157,
159, 187, 192, 194
Buddhists (twns\ 2171, 138-413 189;
Debate with, xxiii, 191-4
Bulgai (see Bolgay)
Bulgaria, Great (Billeri, Byleri), 30,
41, 58, 101, 116, 124, 126, 131
Bulgaria, Lesser, 91, 124, 132
Bulgars (Bolgars, Bylers), viii, 2972,
8072, 124, 131, 132; Black, 13172
Bulls of Pope Innocent IV, 73-6
Buri (Burim), xiv, 59, 135, 216
Burithabet, 23, 41
Byleri (see Bulgaria, Great)
Bylers, 80
Cadan, 26, 59
Caesarea, 217
Caesarea (see Crimea)
Cailac, 137, 149
Camath, 217
Cambaliech (see Peking)
Cappadocia, 217
Caracarom (see Karakorum)
Caragai, 27
Carbon, 55, 70
Caspian Mountains, 24, 125, 212
Caspian Sea (Sea of Etilia, of Sircam),
xi, 116, 125, 131, 135
Cassaria (see Crimea)
Cassi, 41
Cathay (see China, Northern)
Cathayans (see Chinese)
Caths, 58
Catora, 41
Cattaro, xiii
Caucasia, 12572
Caucasus, xi, 42*2, 131, 135, 144, 213
Caule (see Korea)
Ceccarelli, Alfonso, 222
Cemanium, 214
Ceylon, xxxiv
Champagne, 72
Chamus (see Ogul Garnish)
Charles of Anjou, xxvii, xxxi
Chechen, 4272
Chernigov, Duke of, 71
Chiaaday (see Jagatay)
China, vii vih, xi-xii, xxvi, xxxixxxiv,
2OM, 142/2, 170, 222-37
China, Northern (Cathay, Khitay),
viii, xi, 1972, 41, 101, 123, 138,
143-4, 171, 185, 199, 224, 229
China, South, 17171
Chinese (Khitayans, Cathayans), 572,
16, 20-1, 42, 62, 64, 122, 144, 184
Chinese Mongol Mission, xxxi-xxxiv
Chingay (Chinkay), xxiv, 63, 66-7
Chingis Khan, x-xii, xxiii, xxv, xl,
10, 19-22, 24-6, 2872, 32, 38, 43,
123, 133, 141-2, 148, 170, 202,
22571
Chinkim, xli
Chin (Jurgen), xi, xxiv, 2072
Chirenen (see Sirenum)
Chormagan-Noyan (Cirpodan, Chiropodan),
27, 2872, 31
Christians: of Central Asia, xx-xxi,
xxiv-xxvii, xxix, xxxiv, 6072, 82,
91-2, 1 10-12, 129-30, 137-9,
144-6, 150-1, 160-9, 172-4, 177-
80; of China, xxvii, xxix, xxxiixxxiv,
144, 224-37; of Near East,
xxvi, xxix, 213-16
Chu, River, 13471, 13672
Chuacenur, 27
Ch'uan-chou-fu (see Zaytun)
Chuguchat, 13471
Chuvash, Sow
Cilicia, 21771, 218
Circassians (Kergis, Cherkess), 24,
31, 41, 58, 80, 116, 124
Cirina, 154, 163, 166, 199
Cirpodan (see Chonnagan-Noyan)
Cocteleban, 71
INDEX 241
Coiac, 117-21, 207-9
Coir Chan (see Gur Khan)
Coligneus, 71
Comania, 30-1, 40-1, 45, 55-6, 583
71, 79-81
Comans (Cumans), xii, 12, 2971, 41,
58, 69-70, 93, 105, 107, 112-13,
116, 125, 130
Conrad, Duke of Mazovia (of Lenczy,
of the Poles), 5072, 51, 79
Constantine, ion
Constantine of Lambron, 2i8n
Constantinople, xxii, xxviiw, 55, 58,
71, 90-2, 131, 170, 214, 220;
Emperor of, 107, 109
Corenza, 27, 53-7, 69-70, 79
Corycas, 2i8w
Cosmas, 66
Cosmir, 41
Cota Khatun, 165-9, 184
Cothay Chaan (see Tophta Khan)
Cotota Khatun, 162-3, *72a J 74
Cracow, Duchess of, 51
Crimea (Cassaria, Caesarea, Gazaria,
Gasaria), xxii, 42/2, 90-3, 112, 139,
228, 231
Crit (see Kerait)
Crosminians, 212
Crusades, xxvii-xxviii, xxx-xxxi, 158??
Cumae, 41
Cumans (see Comans)
Cur, River, 212
Curca, 218
Curgi (see Georgians)
Cuyuc Chan (see Guyuk Khan)
Cyclopedes, 31
CynocephaU, 80
Cyprus, xix, 118, 163, 216, 218
Dalmatia, xiii
Damascus, xxvi, xxx, 158
Daniel, Prince of Galicia, xiv-xv,
xvii, 51, 70
Danilone, 52
Danube, River, 91, 94, 112, 131
David, King of Georgia, 40-1
David (Mongol envoy), xix, 119, 190,
203, 220
David (Nestorian priest), 165, 174
Derbent (Iron gate), 116, 124-6,
210-11
Dinget, 27
Divult (see Omyl)
Dneiper, River, xii, xiii, 55, 79
Dokuz Khatun, xxiv-xxy,
xli
Dominican Missions, xviii-xxi
Don, River (Tanais), 55, 79, 8o, 90,
93, 112, 114, 116, 125
Dubuzlaus, 70
Dzungaria, xvi, 146*2, 14771
Edessa, xxvi
Edward I, King of England, xxviixxix,
xxxi
Egypt, xxvi, xxvii, xxx, 131
Eldegai, 56
Emmanuel Comnenus, 9171
Emmanuel of Monticulo, Brother, 233
England, xxviii
Equius, 136
Erzerum, 160, 213
Erzingan, 2177?
Ethil River (see Volga)
Ethiopia, 22, 41, 230
Etilia, River (see Volga)
Euphrates, River, 213, 217
Feodor, Boyar, IOTZ
France, 131, 15576, 208
Franciscan Missions, xv-xviii, xxixxiii,
xxxi
Franks, 214, 216
Frederick II, Emperor, xiv
Frunze, 13471
Fukien, 233?!
Gaikhatu, xli
Galicia, xiii, xvi
Gandja, 21271
Gasaria (see Crimea)
Gazan, xli
Gazarians (Gazars), 29, 41, 58
George, King of Ongut Turks, xxxii,
225-7, 232
Georgia (Hyberia, Iberia), xi, xiv,
29, 31, 40, 58, 62, 90, 213, 215
Georgians (Curgi, Iberians), 41, 80,
82, 91, 125, 179, 212, 216, -219
Gerard, Brother, Bishop of Zaytun,
223, 234, 236
Germans, xiii, xiv, 135, 187, 200-1,
209
Germany, 72, 115-16
Ghiyas ed-din, Kaikhosran II, Sultan
of Rum, 2177*
Giordino di Giano, Brother, 2
Golden Horde, xvi, xl, 63, 20771
Gosset, xxi, 92, 129, 208-9
Goths, viii, 4272, 80, 93
Great Sea (see Black Sea)
Greece, 58, 132
Greece, Sea of (see Black Sea)
Greek Church, 82, no
Greeks, 109, 139, 152, 216, 219
Gur Khan (Coir Chan), 121-2
Guyuk Khan (Cuyuc, Keu), xiv,
xvi-xx, xxv, xli, 25-6, 39, 43-5,
57, 60-70, 80-2, 122, 127, 147-8,
198, 203; letter of, to Pope, 83-6
Guzari (Khazars), 80
242 INDEX
Kami, x, xxiy
Harran, xxvi
HetJaum I, King of Armenia, xx-xxi,
xxv-xxvi, 187, 207-83 216) 218, 220
Hethum II, King of Armenia, 222
Hindu Kush, xi
Hircania, 212
Hubilai (see Kubilay Khan)
Hulagu Khan, xxiv-xxxvi, xli, 18572
Hungarians, 53, 66, 83, no, 124, 129,
150, 179* 201 (see also Huns)
Hungary, xiii, xviii, 14, 27, 2972, 30,
44-5, 58, 65, 112, 130, 132, 157,
169, 177, 185, 197, 208, 215, 220
Hungary, Great (Baschart, Bascart,
Bastarcs, Pascatu), 30, 41, 101,
131-2, 170
Huns, viii-x, 131-2; Eastern, viii;
White, viii
Hyberia (see Georgia)
lagat River (see Ural)
lankint (lankinc), 29, 59
Iberi (see Georgians)
Iberia (see Georgia)
Iconium (Konya), 217-18
Iconium (Rum), xxi, 32, 20272
II Khans, xxviii, xxx, xli, 222
Iliac, 131
Imil, 2072, 59
Imil, Riyer, xxj 2072
India, viii, xi-xii, xxxii, xxxiv, 202,
222, 224, 230, 237; Greater, 22, 425
Lesser (see Ethiopia)
Innocent IV, Pope, xv, xviii, 51;
Bulls of, 73-6,* Khan's letter to,
83-6, 220
Iran, Eastern, xii
Iron Gate (see Derbent)
Irtish Valley, 572
Ishmaelites, 213
Isidore, 31, 112, 125, 131, 170
Islam, xii, xiv, xviii, xxv, xxvi, xxvii,
xxxi, xxxiv (see also Saracens)
Ismailians, xiv, xxv, 15877
Itoga, 12
Ityl (Itil), River (see Volga, River)
Jagatay (Chiaaday), Khan of Turkestan,
xxvii, xl, 26
Jagatay sultanate, xxxiv, xl
Iames
of Florence, xxxiv
aroslaus (see Yaroslav)
ebe, xi
erome of Ascoli (see Nicholas IV,
Pope)
Jerusalem, xxix, xxx, 59, 166, 205, 214
Jews, 41, 58, 211, 237
John, King (see Prester John)
John, King of Ongut Turks, 227
John of Beaumont, Sir, 127
John of Grimaldi, Brother, 233
John of Marignolli, xxxiii, xxxiv
John of Monte Corvino, xxxi-xxxiii,
222, 232-3; Letters of, 224-31
John of Piano Carpini, vii, xv-xviii,
xx, xxi, xxiv72, xxv, 2, 76, 79, 127;
History of Mongols of, 3-72
John Vatatzes, Emperor, gin
Joinville, xix-xx
Jonas, 173
Juchi Khan (Tossuc), xl, 22, 26
Juchi, House of, xviii
Jude Thaddeus, St., 213
Julian, Brother, 13272
Jurjen (see Chins)
Kachi, xli
Kadac, 66-7
Kaidu, xxxi-xxxii, xli
Kaizaks, 5872
Kalka, River, xii
Kamakh, 21772
Kams (soothsayers), 12, 12172, 181,
i83> 197-201
Kanana, 21
Kangli (Kankali), 5872, 8172, 125, 13272
Kaniev, 52
KankaU (see Kangli)
Kansu, xi, 14272
Kara Hulagu, xl
Kara Khitayan (Caracathayans, Black
Kitayans), xi, xxiv, 19-20, 41, 59,
81, 120-1, 136
Kara-Balsaghun, xn
Karakorum (Caracorum), x, xvii, xxiii,
5, 6572, 122-3, 138-9, 144. 152, 156,
170, 175-80, 183-4, 201, 205-6
Karanites, 21, 41
Karthlians, 5872
Kayalig, 13772
Kangli Turks (Kangits, Kangites,
Cangles, Kankali), 41, 58-9, 8172,
125* 131-2
Kazakhstan, xl, 14672; Eastern, 13471,
137/2
Keban, 21772
Kerait (Grits), x-x^i,
xxiv
Kergis (see Circassians)
Kerkis (see Kirgiz)
Kersona (see Sebastopol)
Kerulen, River, 12372
Keu Chan (see Guyuk Khan)
Khaketians, 5871
KhanbaUk (see Peking)
Khazars, 80, 9072
Khingan Mountains, ix
Khitans (see Chinese)
Khorezm (Khiva), xi, 28n, 5971
Khorezmians, 212
INDEX 243
Kiev, xiii, xvii, 29-30, 52, 55* 65/2,
69-71, 79; Prince of, xii
Kinchat, 134
Kirakos of Kantzag, xxvi
Kirgiz (Kerkis), 10172, 170
Kirgiz Steppe, 125*2, 132
Kitay (see China, Northern)
Kitayans (see Chinese)
Kitbuka, xxv-xxvi
Klosterneuburg, xiii
Kocho-Tsaidam, x
Konya, 21772
Kopal, 13772
Korea (Caule), 171
Kozadagh, 21772
Kubilay Khan (Hubilai), xxiii/2, xxiv,
xxvi, xxx, xxxii, xh, 2672, 27
Kura, River (Cur), 21172, 212
Kuza-Dagh, 217/2
Kypchak Khanate, xl, 6372, 22671
Kypchaks (see Comans)
Kyzul Kum, 8172
Lajazzo, 21872
Lawrence of Portugal, xv, xviii72, 74
Legnica (Liegbitz), xiii
Lemfinc, 71
Lesghians (Lesgi), 116, 125, 210
Lige, 72
Lithuanians, 5272
Livonia, 45
Longa, 142
Louis IX (St. Louis), King of France,
xiv, xix-xxi, xxvii, 88-9, 118-19,
127/2, 128, 154, 15872, 190, 208;
Mongka Khan's letter to, 201-4
Lyons, Council of, xxviii, xxx
Madras, xxxii
Magyars, viii, xiii
Malazkirt, 21672
Mameluk sultanate, xxvi
Manchuria, xi, 14272
Manchu, xi
Mangu (see Mongka Khan)
Mangu Ternir, xl
Manicheanism, x, xxiv, 173, 192
Manji, 2072
Manse, 171
Mansurah, 158
Manzikert, 21672
Mar Denha, xxvii-xxviii
Mar Yaballaha III, xxviii, xxx
Marco Polo, xxiii, xxxii, 117/2
Maria Palaeologina, xli
Mark (Mongol envoy), xix
Marsengen, 216
Martyropoh's, xxvi
Massis, Mount, 214-15
Matrica (Taman), 90-1
Mauci, 27, 55, 57, 69, 71
Mecrits, 19, 41
Melic of Georgia, 40-1
Meotid Marshes (see Azov, Sea of)
Meotis, Marsh of (see Azpv, Sea of)
Merdas, 116
Merkrits, 19, 41, 122
Mesopotamia, xxv-xxvi
Methodius, 213
Metz, woman from, 157, 198
Michael, Duke of Chernigov, 10, 39
Michaes, 52
Minusinsk Steppe, 17072
Moan plain, 211
Mohi, xiii
Moksha (Moxel), 10172, 115
Mongka Khan (Mongu, Mengu,
Mangu), xviii, xxiv, xxv, xli, 26-7,
6372, 122-3, 125, 128, 130, 134-75
140-1, 147-9, 15 1> 153-703 172-8*
180-97, I99> 206-8, 210-12, 218;
letter to St. Louis, 201-4, 208
Mongol (Tartar) alphabet, 21, 56/2,
141-2, 227
Mongolia, ix-xi, xxii, xxxii, 19, 122/2,
222j Eastern, xi, 12372; Outer, x-xij
Western, xi, xxiv, 572, 6072
Mont Real and Crac, Sultan of, 158
Moravia, xiii
Moravians, 53, 83
Mordvinians (Mordvins), 30, 41, 58,
80
Moscow, xiii
Moxel (see Moksha)
Muc, 143
Mugan Steppe, 2iz
Mulahida (Mulidet, Mulibet), 125,
185
Mutugen, xl
Mylapur, xxxii
Naimans, x-xi, xxiv, 5, 19-20, 41, 60,
8 1, 122, 147
Nakhichevan, 21372
Naxua, 213
Nepere, River (see Dnieper)
Nestorians, xxv-xxvi, xxviii-xxix,
xxxiii, 41, 60, 85, 119, 122, 124,
137-8, 142, 144-5* 150, 152, 160-9,
174-5* 177-80, 188-90, 192-4, 199,
224-6, 228, 232
Nicholas IV, Pope, xxix, 222
Nicholas (servant), 92, 208
Nicholas of Banzia, Brother, 237
Nicholas of Pistoia, Brother, 224
Nicholas of Santo Siro, 218
Nicosia, 218
Noah's ark, 214
Nogaret, 226/2
244 INDEX
Nogay, xl
Nongrot, 70
Obesi (see Georgians)
Occodai Chan (see Ugedey Khan)
Odoric of Pordenone in Friuli,
Blessed, xxxiii
Ogul Garnish (Chamus), xx, xli, 203
Olaha, Duke, 71
Old Man of the Mountains, 158
Oljaitu, xxx-xxxi, xli
Omyl (Ixnil, Divult), 20, 59/1
Onankerule, 123, 148, 170
Ongut Turks, xxiv, xxxii, 22577
Onon, River, xi, 12372
Orda (Ordu), xvi, 60
Orda (ancestor of Khans of the White
Horde), xl, 26-7
Orengai, 170
Organa, Khatun, xl, 13772
Organum, 137
Orkhon, Upper, ix
Ornas, 29, 80
Orochon, 17071
Orpar, 59
Ossetes, 10972
Pacaster, Sultan of Turkey, 219
Palestine, xxv, xxvii, xxix, xxx
Pannonia, 132
Paquette of Metz, 157, 198
Paris, Matthew, xiv
Parker, John, xxvii
Parossites (Parocitae), 30, 41, 58,
81
Pascatu, Pascatur, Pascaver (see Hungary,
Greater)
Peking (Khanbalik, Cambaliech), xi,
xxvii, xxxiii, xxxiv, xli, 225, 232-7
Peregrine, Brother, 222-3, 235-65
Letter of, 232-4
Perekop, Lines of, IIITZ
Persia, viii, xxvi, xxvii, xxxi, xli, 29,
101, 116, 124, 126, 137, 158, 166,
185, 206, 2O8, 210-12, 222, 231
Persians, 41
Peter of Florence, Brother, 233
Philip IV, King of France, xxix, 2267;
Pietro de Lucalpngo, xxxii, 229
Poland, xiii, xvi, 27, 2972, 30, 44-5,
50, 70-2, 79, 112
Poles, 53, 83, 131
50, 70-2, 79,
oles, 53, 83, 131
Prester John, xix, xx, 22, 122, 141,
147. 225
Prussia, 45, 113
Quayaligh, 1377;
Quilidj Arslan IV, Sultan of Iconium,
2O272
Rabban Markos, xxviii
Rabban Sauma, xxviii-xxxi
Rashid al-Din, xxv
Reindeer Tungus, 170/2
Riazan, xiii, xv
Richard of Burgundy, xxxiv
Roman Empire, vii-viii
Romanus, Duke, 71
Rome, xxix, xxxii xxxiii
Rum (see Iconium)
Rumanians, 1247?
Russel, Reginald, xxvii
Russia, xi-xvii, xxxi, 10, 29-30, 3377,
39 50a 52, 583 70-1, 90, 935 101, 112
Russians, 66, 124
Rusudan, Queen of Georgia, 21971
Ruthenians, 29, 31, 39-4i> 52, 54> 7i>
92, 109-12, H4-I5> 124, 126, 131,
I39> 172, I79> 183
Sahensa, 215-16
St. George, Arm of (see Bosphorus)
Sakint, 29
Salimbene, Fra, 2
Samag, 211
Samarkand, xxi
Samaron, 211
Samoyedes, 30, 41, 58
Sancopoltus, Duke, 71
Sangor, 70
Saracens, xix, 5, 27-9, 39, 41-2, 59,
62, 92, ui-12, 124, 126, 128, 132,
137-8, 149, 159, 184, 186, 188-9,
209-10, 213, 219, 233, 237; Debate
with, xxiii, 189, 191, 193-4
Sarai, xhi, 207, 209-10, 228
Sarai-Batu, 20772
Sarai-Berka, 20771
Sargis, xix
San-Uigurs, 21, 41
Sartak (Sartach), xvi, xxi, xl, 91, 93,
106-7, 114-15? 117-24, 127-9, 149,
154-5, 188, 190, 203, 207-10, 215,
217
Sarti, 41
Saxi, 42, 80
Scatatai, 107-9
Sclavonia, 91
Scythia, 93-4 144
Sebaste, 217
Sebastol (Kersona), 90, 92-3
Segin, 144
Sefitrennoe, 20771
Seljuks, xxi, 3271, 2O2n3 21772
Semiretchensk, 13771
Sempad, Constable of Armenia, xx-
xxi
Seres, 143
Sergius, the monk, 151, 160-9, 172-4?
178-9, 181, 183-6, 188, 205
INDEX 245
Seroctan(Soyorgatani Baigi, Sorocan),
xxiv, xli, 26
Shaman, i2n
Shamanism, xxiii, 19772
Shiban (Siban, Syban, Stican), 26-7,
59, 147
Shi'ite sect, xxv
Siban (see Shiban)
Siberia, ioi
Sicci, 58
Sicily, xxxi
Simon of Tournai, xviii
Sinocur, 27
Sinope (Sinopolis), 89-91
Sircan, Sea of (see Caspian Sea)
Siremon (see Sirenum)
Sirenen, 27
Sirenum (Chirenen, Siremon), 26-7,
147-8
Sis, 218
Sivas, 21772
Slavonia, 132
Slavs, 131
Solangi, 5, 15, 4o-i, 62-3, 142-3
Soldaia (see Sudak)
Solinus, 170
Soyorgatani Baigi (Seroctan), xxiv,
xli, 185
Stican (see Shiban)
Subutay (Subuday, Sibedei), xi, xiii,
2672, 27, 2972
Sudak (Soldaia), xxii, 90-1, 93, 107,
109, 124
Suev, 91
Summerkent, 209
Su-Mongol, 19, 41, 170
Sung Dynasty, 17 in
Susdal (Suzdal), xiii, 65, 70-1
Syr Darya, River, 5972
Syra Orda (Sira Orda), 5, 62, 81-2
Syria, xiv, xx, xxvi-xxix,' 99, 125,
1587*, 208, 216
Syrians, xxv
Tabriz (Tauris), xxxi, xli, 212-15,
222, 224, 228-9
Talas, 135-6
Taman (Matrica), 90-1
Tamerlane (see Timur)
Tana, xxxiv, 23771
Tanais, River (see Don)
Tangut, xi, 2072, 142, 172
Taoists, 15371
Tarbagatai, 2071, 13472
Tarci, 41
Tarim, River, 571
Tartars, xi, xiv, xvi, xxxiiiw, 19,
12 1-3
Tashkent, 1357?
Tatar, xl
Tauris (see Tabriz)
Tebec (see Tibetans)
Tekudar, xli
Temer, 66, 70
Teutonic Knights, 5072, 113
Teutons, 112
Theodolus, 158-60
Theodore Lascaris, 9172
Thomas, Friar, 152
Thomas of Tolentino, xxxiv
Tibet, 14272
Tibetans (Tebec), 142, 172
Tien-Shan Mountains, 134, 13571,
14672
Tiflis, 212, 215-16
Tigris, River, 213
Timur Khan (the Great Chan Chingtsung),
xxxii, xxxiv-xxxv, xli, 224-
226, 228-30, 235
Toctay (see Tokhta)
Togrul Khan, xi
Tokhta (Toctay, Cothay), Khan of
Kypchak, xl, 22672, 228
Tomiti, 41
Tossuc (see Juchi)
Trebizond, 91
Tripoli, 218
Tsarev, 20772
Tuda Mangu, xl
Tugan, xl
7mns, 153, 189. I9I-4
Tuka-Timur, xl
Tula, 11472
Tuluy, xviii, xli
Tunis, xxvii
Turakina Khatun (Toragana), xh",
6 in, 65, 82
Turcomans, 41, 137
Turfan, x, xxiv, 571
Turgai, 8172
Turkestan, xi, xxiv, xxxi, 1972, 81
Turkey, xxvi, 89-91, 124, 185, 202,
216, 218-19; Sultan of, 209, 213,
217-19
Turks, viii, xxvi, 29, 41, 58, 102, 1215
East, ix-x; West, xxiv
Tver, xiii
Ugedey Khan (Occodai Chan), xiii,
xiv, xli, 13, 20, 26, 28, 31, 61, 65,
11772; House of, xviii-xix, xxxi
Uighurs (Uigurs), ix-x, xxiv, 5, 20,
41. 137-8, 140-2, 172, 194, 209,
227; Alphabet of, 21, 140, 22771
Ulagchi, xl
Ulus, Western, xvi
Unc Chan, 122-3, 141
Union, Act of, xxviii
Ural, River (Yaik, Yaralk, lagat), 55,
8r, 12572, 131
246 INDEX
Urga, x
Uzbeg, xl
ValanSj 112
Vandals, 131-2
Vasilko, Prince of Volhynia, xv, xvii,
5I3 70
Vastasius, Emperor, 91, 152, 159-60,
185, 187, 216, 220
Ventura of Sarezana, Brother, 233
Vincent of Beauvais, 2
Vlachs (Blaci), 124, 131
Vladimir, xiii, 6$n
Volga, River (Ethil, Ityl, Etilia), xiii,
xv, xvii, xxii, 2971, 55, 80, 116-17,
121, 124, 126, 1295 I35> 207, 209
Voyrat, 21, 41
Vratislav, 71
Wallachia (Blakia), 91, 132
Wang Khan, I22n
Wenceslas, King of Bohemia, xv, 50
White Horde, xl
William, Master (see Buchier, William)
William of Rubruck, vii, xxi-xxiii,
xxv-xxvii, xxxi, xxxv, 55^, 66,
Son, 88; Journal of, 89-220
Wroclaw, 79^
Yaik, River (see Ural, River)
Yams, 117, 146, 148, 157
Yang Chow, xxxiii
Yankint, 81
Yaroslav, xiii
Yaroslav I, Grand Duke of Vladimir
(Jaroslaus, Jerozlaus), 10, 15, 39,
58, 62, 65, 70-1
Yasa, the, 25/2
Yekamongol, 19
Yuan dynasty, xli
Zachaiias, 215
Zaisan, Lake, 134^
Ziquia, 91
Zaytun (Cayton, Ch'uan Chou-fu),
xxxiii, xxxiv, 223, 233-4, 236
Zichians, 58^