LIBRARY OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE PRESENTED BY ALIMIAE QrllT, 1942/43 RTHUR PROBSTHAIN >riental Bookseller WORKS ISSUED BY XLbc Ibaf^lu^t Society. THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK TO THE EASTERN PARTS OF THE WORLD, 1253-55. SECOND SERIES, No. IV. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/journeyofwilliamOOruys I THE JOURNEY OF Jy^^ WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK THE EASTERN PARTS OF THE WORLD/ i253-55ยป AS NARRATED BY HIMSELF, WITH TWO ACCOUNTS OF THE EARLIER JOURNEY OF JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE. ^Tranglatclr from tftc Uatin, ani ffittitelr, toitl^ an Introtructorg i^ottrp, BY WILLIAM WOODVILLE ROCKHILL, HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY. NOV 1 8 1942 ^1 4-1 LONDON PRINTKD AT THE BEDFORD PRESS 20 AND 21, BEDr<-nRDBURY, W.C. COUNCIL THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY. Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., Pres. R.G.S., President. The Right Hon. The Lord Stanley of Alderley, Vice-President. Rear-Admiral Sir William Wharton, K.C.B., Vice-President. C. Raymond Beazley, M.A. Colonel G. Earl Church. Sir Martin Conway. Albert Gray. ' F. H. H. Guillemard, M.A., M.D. Edward Heawood, M.A. Dudley F. A. Hervey, C.M.G. Admiral Sir Anthony H. Hoskins, G.C.B. J. Scott Keltie, LL.D. F. W. Lucas. A. P. Maudslay. Major M. Nathan, C.M.G., R.E. E. J. Payne, M.A. E. G. Ravenstein. Howard Saunders. H. W. Trinder. Charles Welch, F.S.A. William Foster, 'B.A., Honorary Secretary. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface . . . . . . ix Introductory Notice . . . . xiii Itinerary of Friar William of Rubruck . . xlv Bibliography ...... xlvii The Journey of Friar John of Pian de Carpine, as narrated by himself . . . . I The same Journey described by Friar Benedict the Pole . . . . . -33 The Journey of Friar William of Rubruck . . 40 Index . . . . . . 283 Map to Illustrate the Two Journeys . In pocket PREFACE. N publishing the narrative of Friar William of Rubruck, a work which should rank as high in the literature of travel as that of Marco Polo, his better-known successor in the field of Asiatic exploration, the Hakluyt Society, I think, not only renders a service to students, but performs an act of justice long due to a great, though much neglected, traveller, who for six hundred and fifty years has remained imperfectly known and appreciated. It must be a source of lasting regret to all members of the Society that our great geographer and lamented President, Sir Henry Yule, was not able to undertake the preparation of an edition of William of Rubruck's Itinerariuni, as he had long contemplated doing ; but his high opinion of the narrative, expressed in several of his works, has already greatly contributed towards establishing the traveller's unquestionable right to pre-eminence among the earliest European explorers of Asia, It is sincerely hoped that the present volume will further aid in showing the equity of Friar William's claim to the highest recognition. It is an interesting fact that to England, and England alone, the great French traveller owes the chief contribu- X PREFACE. tions to the establishment of his fame. From England came the first notice of his work in the Optis Majus of Roger Bacon ; by Richard Hakluyt the relation of his journey was first made known to the world ; to Samuel Purchas he owes the first publication of the complete text of his narrative. 1 trust that it will now be found that from an English Society he receives full recognition of his great and lasting worth. In the Introductory Notice no attempt has been made to give in detail the history of the early relations between Western Europe and the Mongol Empire ; this subject has been elaborately and lucidly treated by such high authori- ties as Abel Remusat, Baron d'Ohsson, Sir Henry Howorth, Cahun, and others. The object of the editor has simply been to give an idea of the knowledge possessed by Western Europe concerning the Mongols down to the time of Friar William's journey ; and to show the sources of information of which that traveller could, and very probably did, avail himself as a preparation for his journey. Among the most valuable sources of information to which Friar William had access, was the narrative by Benedict of Poland of his journey to the Court of Kuyuk Khan, in 1246, in company with John of Plan de Carpine. It is highly probable that Friar William met Friar John before leaving France in 1248, and received advice from him, and possibly communication of his report to the Pope, if it was written at that time. At all events, as the route followed by the latter was for much of the way through the same countries traversed by Friar William and as the two narratives complete and corroborate each other, it has been deemed advisable to give in full the relations of Friars John and Benedict. As to the first part of the Historia Mongaloruin of Friar John, relating to the customs and history of the Mongols, I have introduced in foot-notes to the text all such PREFACE. Xl portions of it as bear directly on the narrative of Friar William ; and similar use has been made of the account of the mission of Friar Ascelin in 1247, which has reached us in the extracts preserved by Vincent of Beauvais of the report made by Simon of St. Quentin, a member of the mission. I have largely availed myself of mediaeval Chinese works for elucidating or corroborating Friar William's statements, and have had frequent recourse to Oriental writers, Mohammedan or Armenian, for the same purpose. Greek and Latin authors and European travellers, ancient and modern, have been consulted with profit ; though, unfortunately, I have not had access to a number of works of the latter class which may contain valuable corrobora- tive evidence of the thorough reliability of our traveller. It would seem that the MS. of Lord Lumley, published by Hakluyt, divided Rubruck's narrative into a number of chapters, to each of which a title was given, presumably by the copyist: for the other MSS., from which the text of Michel and Wright, the one translated here, was pre- pared, do not give these head-lines. I have deemed it more convenient to divide the text arbitrarily into sections where the narrative permitted it, and have not given titles to any. Concerning the spelling of proper names, I have chosen in each case what appeared to me the best reading to be found in any of the MSS., and have retained it uniformly throughout the work. l^he punctuation in the MSS. is very faulty ; I have occasionally altered it, but only where to do so seemed absolutely necessary for a proper com- prehension of the narrative. The above are the only liberties that I have taken with the text of Rubruck : I trust they will be deemed justifi- able. It affords me much pleasure to express here my sincere Xll PREFACE. appreciation of the services rendered me by Mr. William Foster, Honorary Secretary of the Hakluyt Society, who has, by his kind suggestions, corrections, and general revision of my work while going through the Press, greatly added to its value. I have also to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance given me by many friends in elucidating the text of the Itinerarmni. To Thomas Watters, formerly of H. B. M. Consular Service in China ; to H. Leon Feer, my first guide in Oriental studies, of the National Library in Paris ; to Father Alishan, of the Armenian Convent of St. Lazarus at Venice ; to F. Grenard, the Central Asian traveller and companion of the unfortunate Dutreuil de Rhins ; to Father F. Ehrle, the learned Prefect of the Vatican Library ; and last, but not least, to Panagiotes Calogeropoulos, the genial and scholarly librarian of the Greek Boule at Athens; I tender my heartfelt thanks. W. WOODVILLE ROCKHILL. Washington, D. C. March \2th, 1900. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. N 1222 the Mongols, already masters of all northern Asia from the Chinese Sea to Lake Balkash, having de- stroyed the Khorazmian empire and ravaged Transcaucasia, broke through the Caucasus and spread ruin and terror over southern Russia, then known as the Kipchak, and the valley of the Volga as far north as the modern city of Kazan. But barely a rumour of this invasion reached western Europe, and con- temporary writers have left us but a few brief references to it and " the Tartars," as the Mongols and their allies were to be called for ages to come.^ It was really not till ^ Albericus Trium Fontium, in his Chronicon, and under date of 1222 (p. 150), records that the people called Tartars by the Hungarians and the Comans, and their leader, King David, or Prester John, on learning of the fall of Damietta (in 12 19), retreated as best they could to their own country, and the little that was known of them was soon forgotten. Under date of 1239 (P- S?'), the same annalist describes the Tartars from information given him "by one who had seen them" in the following terms : "They have a big head, short neck, very big chest, big arms, little legs, and their strength is wonderfully great. They have no religion, fear nothing, believe nothing, worship nothing but their king, who calls himself King of Kings and Lord of Lords.' For further information he refers his readers to the narrative of John of Palatio {sic) Carpini. On the confusion existing between Chingis Khan and a Christian king, called David, see Yule {Cathay, 175), who refers to a Relatio de Davide Rege Tartaroriiin Christia7io in Eccard's Corpus Historic, ii. XIV INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 1238, when a second and greater Mongol expedition against Christendom had carried devastation over nearly half of eastern Europe, that the princes and rulers of western and southern Europe began to awaken to some slight comprehension of the immensity of the danger which threatened them ; and that a few of them realised that unless they could unite Christendom against the Mongols they, their crusades, petty wars, and interminable wrangling and fighting between Popes and Emperors would be for ever put an end to, swept away in the rapidly rising flood of Mongol conquest.^ Though a mission sent by the Ismaelians to the Kings of France and of England in 1238, asking for aid against the Tartars, may have imparted the first reliable information to western Europe about the Mongols,- the following extract from Matthew Paris, under date of 1240, gives such a full description of this new people, embodying prac- tically all the earliest information possessed in western Europe, not excepting that brought by the Ismaelians, of them and their country down to the time of the journey of Friar John of Pian de Carpine to the Mongol court in 1246, that I will translate it in full. " That the joys of mortal men be not enduring, nor worldly happiness long lasting without lamentations, in ^ Matthew Paris {Chronica Majora, iii, 488) says that in 1238 the fear of the Mongols was so great in western Europe that people of Gothland and Friesland did not dare come to Yarmouth for the herring fishery, and that herrings were therefore so cheap that forty or fifty sold for a piece of silver, even at places far away from the coast (see also Cahun, Introdiictioti, 356). 2 From France the Ismaelian envoy despatched one of his suite to plead for assistance with Henry III of England. When he had delivered his message, the Bishop of Winchester, who had taken the cross at that time and was present at the audience, exclaimed : " Let those dogs devour each other and be utterly wiped out, and then we shall see, founded on their ruins, the universal Catholic Church, and there shall truly be one shepherd and one flock" (Matth. Paris, iii, 487). INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XV this same year {i.e., 1240) a detestable nation of Satan, to wit, the countless army of the Tartars, broke loose from its mountain-environed home, and piercing the solid rocks (of the Caucasus), poured forth like devils from the Tartarus, so that they are rightly called Tartari or Tartarians. Swarming like locusts over the face of the earth, they have brought terrible devastation to the eastern parts (of Europe), laying it waste with fire and carnage. After having passed through the land of the Saracens, they have razed cities, cut down forests, overthrown fortresses, pulled up vines, destroyed gardens, killed townspeople and peasants. If perchance they have spared any suppliants, they have forced them, reduced to the lowest condition of slavery, to fight in the foremost ranks against their own neighbours. Those who have feigned to fight, or have hidden in the hope of escap- ing, have been followed up by the Tartars and butchered. If any have fought bravely (for them) and conquered, they have got no thanks for reward ; and so they have misused their captives as they have their mares. For they are in- human and beastly, rather monsters than men, thirsting for and drinking blood, tearing and devouring the flesh of dogs and men, dressed in ox-hides, armed with plates of iron, short and stout, thickset, strong, invincible, indefatigable, their backs unprotected,^ their breasts covered with armour ; drinking with delight the pure blood of their flocks, with big, strong horses, which eat branches and even trees, and which they have to mount by the help of three steps on account of the shortness of their thighs. They are without human laws, know no comforts, are more ferocious than lions or bears, have boats made of ox-hides, which ten or twelve of them own in common ; they are able to swim or to manage a boat, so that they can cross the largest and swiftest rivers ^ The Ismaelian envoy said they did this so that they could not flee ;Matth. Paris, iii, 488). XVI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. without let or hindrance,^ drinking turbid or muddy water when blood fails them (as beverage). They have one- edged swords and daggers, are wonderful archers, spare neither age, nor sex, nor condition. They know no other language than their own, which no else knows ; for until now there has been no access to them, nor did they go forth (from their own country) ; so there could be no knowledge of their customs or persons through the common intercourse of men. They wander about with their flocks and their wives, who are taught to fight like men. And so they came with the swiftness of lightning to the confines of Christendom, ravaging and slaughtering, striking every one with terror and incomparable horror. It was for this that the Saracens sought to ally themselves with the Christians,- hoping to be able to resist these monsters with their combined forces. It is believed that these Tartars, of cursed memory, are of the ten tribes^ who, 1 Pian de Carpine (690) says : "When they come to a river, they cross it in the following way, even if it is a large one : the chiefs have a round, light skin, around the top of which they have loopholes very close together through which they pass a cord, and they stretch it so that it bellies out, and this they fill with clothes and other things, and then they bind it down very tightly. After that they put their saddles and other hard things on it, and the men likewise sit on it. Then they tie the boat thus made to the tail of a horse, and a man swims along ahead leading it ; or they sometimes have two oars, and with them they row across the water, thus crossing the river Some of the poorer people have a leather pouch, well sewn, each man having one ; and in this pouch or sack they put their clothing and all their things, and they tie the mouth of the bag tightly, and tie it to the tail of a horse, then they cross as stated above {i.e., swimming, holding on to the horse's head ?). Pel sJiih (bk. 94, 16) says the Kitan crossed rivers in the same way ; and the Chinese traveller, Wang Yen-te, who went to Karakhodjo in A.D. 981, says the Ta-ta (or Tartars) used to cross the Yellow River on inflated sheepskins or rafts dragged by camels (Ma Tuan-lin, bk. 336, 12). In 1474 the Venetian Contarini was taken across the Don on a raft tied to a horse led by a Tartar {Travels., 153). - Referring to the Ismaelian mission of 1238, previously mentioned. The Assassins had every reason to fear the Mongols ; a few years later, they were exterminated by Hulagu and his ti'oops. '^' Roger Bacon {Opus Maji/s, i, 268) thought it probable that the Mongols who had broken through the Caspian gates were the soldiers INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XVll having forsaken the Mosaic law, followed after the golden calves, and whom Alexander the Macedonian endeavoured at first to shut up in the rugged mountains of the Caspians with bitumen-covered rocks.^ When he saw that the undertaking exceeded the power of man, he invoked the might of the God of Israel, and the tops of the mountains came together, and an inaccessible and impassable place was made. Josephus says of this place : " will God do as much for the believer as he has done for the unbeliever ?" So it seemed that God did not wish them to come out ; nevertheless, it is written in sacred history that they shall come out toward the end of the world, and shall make a great slaughter of men. There arises, however, a doubt whether the Tartars now coming from there be really they, for they do not use the Hebrew tongue, neither do they know the laws of Moses, nor have they laws, nor are they governed by them. To which it may be answered that, notwithstanding this, it is credible that they may belong to those who were shut up, and to whom reference has been made. ... It is stated, however, that the Tartars take their name from a certain river which flows from the mountains which they had at an earlier date penetrated, and which is called Tartar โ– {โ€ข in like manner the river of Damascus is called Farfar."^ of Antichrist. The Armenian historians of the period were of the same opinion (Dulaurier, 198, 248). The IsmaeHan envoy of 1238 thought they had started either from the Arctic shores, or from the Caspian mountains, or their vicinity (Matthew Paris, iii, 488). 1 Conf Roger Bacon, i, 364, and infra, p. xxxi. ^ The Ismaelian envoy said they took their name from the river Tar. Pian de Carpine (645) says a branch of the Mongols called Su-Mongal took their name from the river Tartar, which flowed through their country (conf Vincent of Beauvais, bk. xxix, ch. Ixxxix, 422^^, and infra, p. 1 14, note. Maundevile (127) speaks of " the river of Fassar (or Farfar), which flows by the cyties of Marryoche and Arteyse ;" and he adds, " bessyde the Cytie of Damas ys a Ryvere that Cometh from the Mounteyne of Lybane, that men hyt callen 2 Matthew Paris, op. cit., iv, 76-78. xviii INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. On April 9th, 1241, the battle of Lignitz was fought and lost by Henry, Duke of Silesia, and the Mongols swept over his dukedom and Moravia, at the same time as another of their armies under the great Batu entered Hungary. The last barrier against an invasion of central and western Europe was swept away, and the Pope, the Church, and the Princes of Europe attempted but feebly and too late to organise resistance. On March lOth, 1241, Henry, Count of Lorraine, wrote to Henry, Duke of Brabant, imploring his immediate assistance.^ The latter sent a copy of this letter to the Bishop of Paris.^ The clergy of Germany ordered solemn fasts, and preached a crusade. But the most important letter written at this critical period was that of Frederic H to Henry HI of England.^ The Emperor, from his long and intimate relations with the Arabs, possessed more correct and wider knowledge concerning the Mongols and their wars than probably any man of his period. In this letter he refers with some detail to the first Mongol invasion in Albane." Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxi, 429a) says : " Tartar! modo interrogative clamoroso loquuntur, gutture rabido et horribile. Cantantes mugiunt ut Thauri, vel ululant ut Lupi, voces inarticulates in cantando proferunt, et banc cantilenam A /a alali {La Allah il Allah/ I suppose) communiter ac frequentissime canunt." The Armenian chronicles speak of the sharp, piercing voices of the Tartars (Dulaurier, 248). Long before this the Wei shu^ bk. 103, 15, had, in speaking of the origin of the Oguz Turks {Kao-cKe) who descended from a wolf, noted that to this first father they owed their whining, drawling speech, and that their songs resembled the howling of wolves. ^ See Matthew Paris, op.cit., iv, 109-111. ^ See Raynaldus, Anitales, ii, 258. ^ It is really an appeal to Christendom : " to Germany, ardent in battle ; to France, who nurses in her bosom an intrepid soldiery; to warlike Spain ; to England, powerful by its warriors and its ships ; to Crete, to Sicily, to savage Hibernia, to frozen Norway." In this letter the Emperor frankly admits that all suppositions as to the origin of the Tarfari, or Ta^'tarei^ are baseless, and that no one knows whence they had come. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. xix Europe, the subjugation of the Comans and of southern Russia. Then he passes to the second invasion, to the conquest of Hungary, the defeat of King Bela IV at Pesth, and to the still more overwhelming one of Lignitz. He tells King Henry of the devastation of Poland, of Bohemia, of the marches of Austria ; and dwells pathetically on the urgent need for unity of action of all Christian Princes for the common defence, made so difficult by the cruel attacks on him by the Pope. He finishes his letter by saying that he puts his trust in God, and hopes that by the com- bined efforts of Christendom the Tartars will be driven finally down into their Tartarus.^ So intense, however, was the feeling of a large part of Europe against the Emperor, that we are assured that this letter was not generally accepted as a disinterested call for the defence of Christian Europe, and that to serve his own ends against the Pope he had invented this " plague of Tartars."'- And so this letter was used by the Church only as further evidence of its great enemy's wickedness, and no effort was made by any of the powers of western Europe to assist Frederic with men or money. The Pope's quarrels, Jerusalem and Constantinople, were their only cares. On the receipt of the news of the Mongol invasion of Hungary, Pope Gregory IX wrote to King Bela,^ as he had written the year before to sympathize with the Queen of Georgia, condoling with him, encouraging him to further resistance, and promising all those who should take the ^ Ad sua Tartara Tartari detriidentur. In a letter of Innocent IV to the Archbishop of Aquilaea, in 1243. we find this pun again. Joinville credits St. Louis with having also got it off somewhere about this time, and we have it practically in the cjuotation from Matthew Paris given above. I cannot decide to whom the credit of the discovery belongs, though I am inclined to think that it was Frederic ; but then, would Pope Innocent have plagiarized his arch-enemy ? (conf. Remusat, Mem., 15). - Matthew Paris, op. cit.., iv, 119. โ– ' Raynaldus,^ยซ;m/^j, ii, 246-248, 259. b2 XX INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. cross against the Mongols the same indulgences as if they had gone to the Holy Land. He wrote in the same strain to Coloman, brother of Bela, and issued an encyclical ordering a crusade to be preached. The defeat of Bela at Pesth, and the loss of his kingdom to the Mongols swiftly followed, and filled the old Pope with alarm and distress. He wrote to Bela on July ist, condoling again with him, and promising him, if Frederic would but show his contrition by returning to the Church, and thus restore peace to Christendom, to bring all the forces of the Church to the help of Hungary.^ .'\nd so, while the Emperor and the Pope worked to destroy each other, the Pope ful- n\inating against Frederic, and Frederic continuing to wage war against the Pope in Italy, the Mongol inva- sion was left to run its course. On August 21st, 1241, Pope Gregory IX died, and in December of the same year the Mongol Emperor, Ogodai, followed him to the grave. Among the Mongols, the emperor was elected by the various members of Chingis Khan's family, and by the great generals and officers of state sitting as a parliament ; so the news of the death of Ogodai put an end to the invasion of Europe ; the presence of Batu, the General- issimo, and of all the military chiefs was needed at the great meeting {kuriltai), which would soon have to be held near Karakorum, in Mongolia, to choose his successor. Thus it was that, though the Mongols remained in Hungary till 1243, and even detached divisions of their army into Austria and Dalmatia, their great westward movement was stopped, and weak and divided Europe was saved, though it knew it not, but stood helplessly expecting the fatal blow ; for the Mongols' claim to universal dominion was now well known over Europe, and no one could entertain any doubt of their ability to enforce it. ^ Raynaldus, Annales^ ii, 261. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XXl In 1243 Innocent IV was elected Pope; and with his characteristic energy he lost no time in putting to use such spiritual means as he could command to encourage the organization of armed resistance against the supposed impending Mongol invasion. On July 22nd he wrote to the Archbishop of Aquilsea to proclaim a crusade, exhort the Germans to take the cross to go to the help of the Hungarians " against the envoys of Satan, the ministers of the Tartarus," and promising the same indulgences as for a crusade to the Holy Land.^ But besides these measures the Pope promptly adopted others more in conformity with his holy calling, his well-known proselytizing zeal, and the deep interest he took in the extension of the labours of the powerful Mendicant Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis. He organized missions, not only among the various heretical sects of Europe and Asia, and the pagan tribes of north- east Europe, but also to the Mongols ; in the hope, as he says in a letter to " the King and the Tartar people," of " averting their onslaughts on Christendom through fear of Divine wrath," and to preach to them Christianity ; as well as with the ulterior purpose of finding out through the missionaries exactly the plans of the Mongols as regarded Europe. The Pope must have been encouraged to believe that his representations might have some effect on the Mongol Sovereign by the prevailing belief in the existence, some- where in the far East, of the Nestorian Christian realm of Prester John ; and probably by the more recent information given him by a Russian bishop named Peter, who had fled before the invaders to Lyons, that " the Mongols wor- shipped one God, and were not without some religious beliefs."' 1 Raynaldus, Annales^ ii, 295. - Matth. Paris, op. cit., iv, 388 ; see also Remusat, op. at., 25, and injra, p. 236, note i. The Bishop, by the way, adds still a little more xxii INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. The Pope organized two missions to the Mongols, and to the leaders of each of them he gave letters to be delivered, it is presumable, to the first important Chief they should meet, the one in Russia, the other in Armenia or the adjacent countries. He confided both these missions to Franciscans. The ambassador sent to the Mongols in Russia was Friar John of Pian de Carpine^ near Perugia, who was at that time provincial of his order at Cologne ; the other was Friar Lawrence of Portugal, of whose previous life we know nothing. These missions appear to have been organized by the personal initiative of the Pope, and the envoys were ready to leave Lyons before the first sitting of the General Council, for the letters to the Mongol Emperor given to them bear date the 9th March, 1245, and the Council, which was opened on the 26th June, only approved the Pope's action. The Council of Lyons had been convened more especially for the purpose of " finding a remedy for the Tartars and other spurners of the faith and persecutors of the people of Christ;"- but so far as the Tartars were concerned, its action was characteristic of the times, and affords further confusion to the story of Prester John, by apparently confounding him with John the Baptist. He says that the Mongols "say they have saint John the Baptist for chief" {dicunt se habere sanctum Johantiem Baptistaiji pro dure). The earliest knowledge gained by Europe of Prester John dates from 1145 (Albericus, Chronico/i, 307). It is also recorded under the same date by Otto, Bishop of Freisingen (D'Avezac, op. cit., 547. Conf. supra., p. xiii, note i). 1 The editors of the A7ialecta Francisca7ia (iii, 266) remark that -it would be more correct to write his Latin names Piano Carpinis or de Carpine., Planum Carpinis or Planum Carpi being the Latin form of the Italian Pian di Carpina, the modern Pian la Magione or Magione, about fourteen miles from Perugia (see also Liverani, 12). We have become so atcustomed to speak of Friar John as Pian de Carpine, and of Friar William of Rubruck as Rubruck, that I have retained these names ; though we might just as well speak of Thomas of Canter- bury as Canterbury, or Robert of Lincoln as Lincoln. Strangely enough Remusat {Relations Folitzques, 27, 34) makes out that Law- rence and John were sent together to Balu on the Volga ; and Vivien de St. Martin {Hist, de la Geog., 269) repeats this blunder. ^ Matth. Paris, op. cit.., iv, 411. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XXlU proof, if such were necessary, of the utter demoralization of Europe. It decided that, "whereas the Tartars are the most bitter enemies of the Cliristian name, and the Cliristians are still exposed to their attacks โ€” for not having conquered them all yet, as they in their desire to extinguish the religion of Christ wish to do, they will surely come back, and the horrors seen in Poland, Russia, Hungary, and other countries will be renewed;" therefore it advised, besought, and entreated all Christian people to block every road or passage by which the enemy could pass, either by means of ditches, walls, buildings, or such other contrivances as they might deem best, and to give immediate notice to the Pope of the appearance of the enemy, to the end that he might take additional measures for their protection. The Council further promised that the Church would itself contribute, and cause all Christian localities directly inter- ested in the matter to contribute, towards the expense these defences would occasion.^ Friar John of Plan de Carpine set out from Lyons on the 1 6th of April, 1245 ; and after various incidents which will be found related in his narrative of his journey given on subsequent pages, delivered the letter of the Pope, not to any Mongol Prince in Russia, but to Kuyuk Khan himself in northern Mongolia, not far from the city of Kara- korum. On the 9th of June, 1247, Friar John and his companion. Friar Benedict of Poland, were back in Kiew in Russia ; and in the autumn of the same year the}^ again reached Lyons, where they presented to the Pope the reply of Kuyuk to his letter, and related the incidents of their adventurous journey.'^ ^ Raynaldus, op. cit.^ ii, 332. โ– ^ The text of Friar John's Historia Mongalormn., and of his account of his journey, together with the short narrative of his companion Friar IJenedict, have been admirably edited and annotated by D'Avezac in 1839 ; this work has been of inestimable service to me. xxii INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. The Pope organized two missions to the Mongols, and to the leaders of each of them he gave letters to be delivered, it is presumable, to the first important Chief they should meet, the one in Russia, the other in Armenia or the adjacent countries. He confided both these missions to Franciscans. The ambassador sent to the Mongols in Russia was Friar John of Pian de Carpine^ near Perugia, who was at that time provincial of his order at Cologne ; the other was Friar Lawrence of Portugal, of whose previous life we know nothing. These missions appear to have been organized by the personal initiative of the Pope, and the envoys were ready to leave Lyons before the first sitting of the General Council, for the letters to the Mongol Emperor given to them bear date the 9th March, 1245, and the Council, which was opened on the 26th June, only approved the Pope's action. The Council of Lyons had been convened more especially for the purpose of " finding a remedy for the Tartars and other spurners of the faith and persecutors of the people of Christ;"^ but so far as the Tartars were concerned, its action was characteristic of the times, and affords further confusion to the story of Prester John, by apparently confounding him with John the Baptist. He says that the Mongols "say they have saint John the Baptist for chief" {dicuni se habere sanctum JoJiannem Baptistam pro diice). The earliest knowledge gained by Europe of Prester John dates from 1145 (Albericus, Chronico/i, 307). It is also recorded under the same date by Otto, Bishop of Freisingen (D'Avezac, op. cit., 547. Conf. supra, p. xiii, note i). 1 The editors of the Analccta Franciscana (iii, 266) remark that -it would be more correct to write his Latin names Piano Carpinis or de Carpine, Planum Carpinis or Planum Carpi being the Latin form of the Italian Pian di Carpina, the modern Pian la Magione or Magione, about fourteen miles from Perugia (see also Liverani, 12). We haA'e become so atcustomed to speak of Friar John as Pian de Carpine, and of Friar William of Rubruck as Rubruck, that I have retained these names ; though we might just as well speak of Thomas of Canter- bury as Canterbury, or Robert of Lincoln as Lincoln. Strangely enough Remusat {Relations Politiques, 27, 34) makes out that Law- rence and John were sent together to Batu on the Volga ; and Vivien de St. Martin {Hist, de la Gcog., 269) repeats this blunder. 'โ– ^ Matth. Paris, op. cil., iv, 411. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XXlU proof, if such were necessary, of the utter demoraHzation of Europe. It decided that, "whereas the Tartars are the most bitter enemies of the Christian name, and the Christians are still exposed to their attacks โ€” ^for not having conquered them all yet, as they in their desire to extinguish the religion of Christ wish to do, they will surely come back, and the horrors seen in Poland, Russia, Hungary, and other countries will be renewed;" therefore it advised, besought, and entreated all Christian people to block every road or passage by which the enemy could pass, either by means of ditches, walls, buildings, or such other contrivances as they might deem best, and to give immediate notice to the Pope of the appearance of the enemy, to the end that he might take additional measures for their protection. The Council further promised that the Church would itself contribute, and cause all Christian localities directly inter- ested in the matter to contribute, towards the expense these defences would occasion.^ Friar John of Pian de Carpine set out from Lyons on the i6th of April, 1245 ; and after various incidents which will be found related in his narrative of his journey given on subsequent pages, delivered the letter of the Pope, not to any Mongol Prince in Russia, but to Kuyuk Khan himself in northern Mongolia, not far from the city of Kara- korum. On the 9th of June, 1247, Friar John and his companion. Friar Benedict of Poland, were back in Kiew in Russia ; and in the autumn of the same year they again reached Lyons, where they presented to the Pope the reply of Kuyuk to his letter, and related the incidents of their adventurous journey.^ ^ Raynaldus, op. ciL, ii, 332. - The text of Friar John's Historia Mongaloriun, and of his account of his journey, together with the short narrative of his companion Friar Benedict, have been admirably edited and annotated by D'Avezac in 1839 ; this work has been of inestimable service to me. XXlV INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. As to the mission of Friar Lawrence of Portugal, we know practically nothing concerning it ; no mention is made of it in any work which has come down to us. From a statement in the Ecclesiastical Annals} that in 1247 the Pope sent this same Friar as his Legate to Asia Minor, we may infer that he may actually have started on the mission assigned him in 1245, ^-^^ may have visited parts of western Asia, thus acquiring such knowledge of that region as justified the Pope's selection of him for this new office ; but the new mission which the Pope sent in the same year, 1247, to the Mongol Commander-in-Chief, Baidju, in Armenia, tends to prove that Lawrence had not been able to deliver the letter entrusted to him in 1245.^ However this may be, in 1427 the Pope determined on sending another mission to the Mongols of Asia Minor, with a letter of similar tenour to those given in 1245 to Friar John and Friar Lawrence ; and he chose this time as leader a Dominican friar, Ascelin or Anselm, this Order having already at the time established itself in western Asia. A short narrative of the journey has been preserved to us in Vincent of Beauvais's great encyclopaedia, entitled Speculum Majoruni : he deriving his information from a report which was written by Friar Simon of St. Quentin, a member of the mission, but which has not reached us. It is not without interest, though it adds hardly anything to our general knowledge of the Mongols ; nor does it give any details whatever about the route followed by the mission. Friar Simon's narrative, like that of Friar John of Pian de ^ Raynaldus, oJ>. a'f., ii, 378. " Additional proof of this is found in the statement made in 1247 by Friar Ascelin, the head of the mission of that year to Baidju, that the Pope did not know who the (ireat Khan was, nor had he ever heard of Baidju, nor Batu, nor anyone else among them. Remusat, op. a'/., 27, states wrongly that Ascelin's mission was sent by the Pope in 1245, at the same time as that of Pian de Carpine. - Vivien de St. Martin, op. sup. cit.., 270, follows Remusat, and says that Friar John wrote the relation of Lawrence of Portugal's mission. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XXV Carpine, consisted presumably of two parts โ€” the journey proper, and notices on the ethnology and history of the Mongols and the nations contiguous to them ; for we find scattered about in Bks. XXIX and XXX of the Speculum Historiale, among much information on the Mongols taken verbatim from John of Pian de Carpine's work, other additional details, which can only have been derived from Friar Simon. ^ Friar Ascelin and his companions were made to suffer all the humiliations and discomforts his predecessors and successors on similar missions were subjected to by Mongol arrogance and natural boorishness. Lodgings far remote from the Court, poor and scanty food, insults, delays innumerable ; nothing was omitted to make the ambassa- dor feel how insignificant he was, and in what low estima- tion the Pope was held. The envoy's conduct did not improve matters, though we must admit that he was sorely provoked ; he showed himself unbending, and sadly lacking in suavity of manner, or in any desire to ingratiate himself with the Mongols. The result was what was to be expected โ€” a rude reply to the Pope's missive and the utter failure of the mission. It was 1250 before Ascelin ventured back to the Pope and made his report. When John of Pian de Carpine reached Lyons in the latter part of 1247, a crusade against the Saracens was about to be undertaken, and King Louis IX of France, who had taken the cross on its first preaching in 1245, was on the point of leaving for Aigues-Mortes, there to take ship for Cyprus. But the Pope feared that the departure of the King would leave him exposed to the attacks of that arch-fiend, the Emperor Frederic ; and so, in the hope 1 I have embodied or referred to nearly all these additional details in subsequent notes to Rubruck's narrative. Vincent of Beauvais had no knowledge of Rubruck or his woik. See Specuhnii Histoiiah\ bk. xxxi, chs. XL to Lll, 453^-454^. Xxvi INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. of inducing the King to defer his departure till his personal safety was amply provided for, he sent, in the early part of 1248, three months after his arrival, Friar John of Pian de Carpine and his companion Benedict the Pole, to Paris, to represent his urgent needs to the King and seek to delay his setting out for the Holy Land.^ There was then at the Court of King Louis, among the numerous members of the mendicant Orders of which he was so fond, a Franciscan called William, a native of the village of Rubruck in French Flanders. He was about to accompany the King on the crusade, and St. Louis was to entrust to him some four years later a secret mission to the Court of the Mongol Emperor, the report of which forms the subject of this volume. There is every reason for supposing that Friar William met at Paris the two returning travellers, and heard from their lips the story of their adventurous journey ; and he may possibly have conceived at that time the desire to visit those remote regions, preach the true faith, and bring back to the Church of Rome the Christians scattered through- out the Mongol empire, whose existence Friar John had revealed to him. During the next four years Friar William was destined to hear and see much, while with St. Louis, tending to strengthen in him the desire to visit the Mongols, and to supply him with valuable information for his cruidance.- 1 Wadding, Annales^ iii, 125. Louis, when on his way in 1248 to Aigues-Mortes, went to Lyons to see the J'ope, and presumably to give him an answer to the message brought him by Friar John (Wilham of Nangis, 6'ยฃ'j'/rt, 357). 2 The only source of information concerning Friar William known to exist is his own narrative of his journey ; my statements are based entirely on it. He speaks several times of the Seine, of Paris, and of St. Denis. His prolonged residence in Paris may be inferred from his reference to the intimate friends {ainicos speciales) he had there, though he may have become intimate with them while in the Holy Land. If Friar William did not meet John of Pian de Carpine and Benedict the Pole in Paris, he saw, probably as soon as it was Introductory notice. xxvii On September 21st, 1248, St Louis landed on the island of Cyprus, and three months later there arrived at Nicosia an embassy from Ilchikadai, a Mongol General commanding the forces in Persia, bearing letters complimenting the King, "whose renown had already spread throughout western Asia," and who, it was believed by all, was to deliver it out of the hands of the Saracens, and offering Mongol assis- tance against Islam for the recovery of the Holy Places. The envoy was Sabeddin Morrifat David, or simply David,^ as he is called by Rubruck. He told the King much pleasing news : he said the name of the Pope was already famous among the Tartars ; that the mother of the Great Khan was a Christian ; and that on the day of the Epiphany, three years before, the Great Khan himself and the greatest princes of the Tartars had also become Christians, converted by a Saracen bishop called Mallachias ; that Ilchikadai even before that had been baptized ; that the Great Khan of the Mongols was most favourable to the Christians ; and much more to the same effect. This was translated to the King by a Dominican monk, Friar Andrew of Longumeau (or Longumel), who, besides possessing a good knowledge of Arabic, had been among the Mongols with Friar Ascelin's written, the short narrative of Benedict. In the only passage in which he refers to Friar John, he mentions a detail only found in Benedict's account of the journey (see infra^ p. 38). Antonio de Macro, in Wadding {Anttales, iii, 207), states that on June 20th, 1248, Friar Benedict the Pole suffered martyrdom for the faith, with another member of his Order, called John of Piano (not to be confounded with John of Plan de Carpine), at Armaloch in Persia. If this be correct, Benedict may not even have had time to go to Paris, but, after making his report at Lyons, have left at once for Armenia. In this case, it is conceivable that a copy of this report was given William of Rubruck by John of Pian de Carpine. Shortly after, WiUiam of Rubruck went to the Holy Land, not to return for eight or ten years ; but at the time of writing his narrative, in 1255, he apparently did not know of the existence of the work of John of Pian de Carpine, which must have been written not later than 1248, for the author does not appear to have long survived the hardships of his journey (D'Avezac, 599-601). 1 William of Nangis, 360 ; D'Ohsson, ii, 237. XXVlil INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. mission in 1247, and had there met this same David at the camp of Baidju, the Commander-in-Chief of the Mongol forces in western Asia.^ King Louis was destined to find out, a few years later, that Ilchikadai's mission had been undertaken without authority from the Mongol Emperor ; and that the information vouchsafed him by David was of that unsubstantial kind Orientals are but too apt to give when knowing it will afford pleasure to their hearers.^ At the time, however, the King was so pleased with it and with the corroborative evidence in a letter from the Con- stable of Armenia to the King of Cyprus received at about the same time, speaking of the vast numbers of Christians he had found in the Mongol country, through which he was travelling on his mission to the Great Khan,^ that he at once determined to send, not only a return mission to Ilchikadai, but also one to the Emperor of the Mongols, 1 William of Nangis (359), Jean Pierre Sarrasin (254), and all contemporary writers who refer to the subject, state that Andrew had been on Friar Ascelin's mission. The chronicler of the mission, Simon of St. Quentin, only mentions Brothers Alexander, Alberic, Guischard of Cremona (who joined the party at Tiflis, to act as inter- preter probably), and himself Sarrasin calls Andrew, Friar Andrieu de St. Jacques, and William of Nangis styles him Andreas, Andrus and Andrien. Joinville refers to him, but not by name. Some writers think that the Friar Ascelin of the mission of 1245 is the same as the Andrew of that of 1249. Remusat {op. cit., 27) thinks Andrew joined Ascelin's mission during its journey to Mongol headquarters. ^ Mangu Khan wrote to St. Louis (see infra, p. 249) that David was an impostor, but I imagine that we are not to understand this too literally. Ilchikadai had attempted to establish direct relations with the French King without obtaining the sanction of the Emperor ; he was consequently, and quite properly, disavowed. D'Ohsson (ii, 238) is of opinion that the envoys were impostors in every sense, and their letters pure forgeries. If this be so, I cannot see why David should have been willing to return with the French mission to the Mongol headquarters in Persia, and how it happened that his com- panion and accomplice, Marcus, was at Sartach's ordti in 1253, when William of Rubruck passed through there, enjoying apparently some influence on account of his knowledge of languages (see infra, pp. 102, 105). Copies of the letters brought by David were sent to the Pope and to King Louis' mother, Queen Blanche (see Remusat, op. cit., 45, who has views identical with mine as to David's mission). 3 William of Nangis, 360, 361. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE XXIX who the envoy told him was called Kuyuk Khan,^ for the purpose of exhorting him and his princes to the per- formance of Christian duties, and expressing his pleasure at the happy disposition of the Mongols as regarded the faith of Christ. Friar Andrew was naturally chosen as ambassador, and accompanied by his brother, another monk whose name has not reached us, four laymen, one of whom would seem to have been an Englishman, and David, he set out for the Emperor's camp about the middle of February, 1249,^ bearing letters from the King and Legate, and rich presents, among others a tent made like a chapel, the walls adorned with scenes representing the Annunciation and other events of sacred history, " pour eulz montrer et enseigner comment ils devoient croire." Kuyuk was dead when the mission arrived at the Mongol court on the I mil, and it was the regent, the Empress Ogul Gaimish, who received it, and who promptly put this most unexpected advance of the great Frank sovereign to a very practical use. " When the great King (Queen) of the Tar- tarins," says Joinville, " had received the messengers and the presents, he sent for several kings, whose security he insured, and who had not yet come to do him homage, and he had the chapel set up, and spoke to them as follows : ' My lords, the King of France has come under my sub- jection, and here is the tribute he sends us ; and if you come not to our mercy, we will send for him to confound ^ Sarrasin {loc. cit.) writes the name Quia Qiian. 2 Sarrasin (255) says he was accompanied by "un siens frere et maistre Jehans Goderiche et uns autres clers de Poissy, et Herbers h sommehers, et Gerbers de Sens." VViUiam of Nangis (367) says he had two other friars of his Order, two clerks, and two sergeants-at- arms {serjans cVarmes). He adds that the envoy " envoia assez (tost) lettres au roys Loys de ce que 11 avoit trouve ; lesquelles lettres 11 roys envoya en France a sa tres-chiere mere la royne Blanche." Perhaps these letters may some day be found. Remusat {op. cit.., 52) mentions the names of three other persons who, according to various con- temporary writers, accompanied this mission : they are John of Carcassonne, Guillaume, and Robert, a clerk. XXX INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. you.' And many there were among them who, for fear of the King of France, placed themselves in subjection to that King."^ In the spring of 1249, St. Louis, Queen Margaret, Friar William of Rubruck,- and all the army of Crusaders set sail for Egypt. The fatal battle of Mansurah, the captivity of the King, and the capitulation of Damietta followed shortly after; and in the spring or summer of 1250, the King, with the remnants of his army, was landed at Ptolemais, on the coast of Palestine, a much sadder though hardly a wiser man, as his further conduct showed. Near there, in 125 1, while occupied in fortifying the town of Caesarea, he received Friar Andrew on his return from the Mongol court with the envoys of the Empress-Regent, Ogul Gaimish โ€” that " most abominable sorceress, viler than a dog," as the Emperor Mangu described her a few years later in a letter to King Louis โ€” bearing a letter from her to the French King. It was in the following terms (I will not spoil Joinville's quaint language by attempting to translate it) : " Bone chose est de pez ; quar en terre de pez manjuent cil qui vont a quatre piez, I'erbe pesiblement. Cil qui vont a deus labourent la terre dont les biens viennent passiblement.^ Et cete chose te mandons, nous pour toy aviser ; car tu ne pens avoir pez se tu ne I'as a nous, et tel roy et tel (et moult en nommoient) et touz les avons mis a I'espee. Si te mandons qui tu non env^oies tant de ton or et de ton argent chascun an, que tu nous retieignes a amis ; et se tu ne le fais, nous destruirons toy et ta gent aussi comme nous avons fait ceulz que nous avons devant nommez." " And be well assured," adds Joinville, 1 Joinville, op. cit., 48. 'โ– ^ I take it that Friar William accompanied the crusade to Egypt, for he speaks of the width of the Nile at Damietta as one who had seen it, and of the annual rise of the river. ^ Passiblement: " laboriously." INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. xxxi " that he (the King) repented greatly for ever having sent thither." ^ If this mission was a diplomatic failure, it supplied King Louis, nevertheless, with much valuable and original infor- mation on the Mongols, their country, origin, customs and history. He learnt that the Tartarins had come from a great sandy desert, which began at the eastern end of the world at some marvellous rocky mountains, which no one had ever passed, and behind which were confined the people of Got and Margoth,'^ who are to come with Antichrist at the end of the world. He then heard of their first great chief and his laws (though Friar Andrewd id not mention Chingis Chan by name), of his miraculous conversion to Christianity after a vision in which God had promised him dominion over Prester John, and of his warring with him ; of Christianity among the Mongols ; of the eight hundred chapels on carts seen in one camp ; of the German prisoners at Talas;^ of the many ruined cities passed on the long journey of a year, travelling ten leagues a day ; of the huge piles of bleached human bones marking the devastating march of the Mongols f of the fires through which they had sought to force his envoy to pass, with the presents he bore, before his audience with the Regent. He must have heard "with special delight of the presence in south-eastern Russia of a great Mongol Christian chief, Sartach, son of the mighty Batu โ€” a story believed alike by Christians and 1 Joinville, op. cit., 148. 2 Clearly a reference to the Great Wall of China. The people of Gog and Magog had been heretofore placed south of the Caucasus {supra., p. xvii). Friar Andrew now locates them to the east of the Tartars (conf. Mat^co Polo, i, 276, 283). ^ .See Rubruck's narrative, infra., p. 136. ^ Sempad, brother of King Heythum of Little Armenia, wrote to the King of Cyprus, that along his route to the Mongol court he had passed a hundred thousand (I) piles of bones of those killed by the Tartars (William of Nangis, 360. Conf. Friar John's account, iijf?'a, XXXll INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Mohammedans; and of many other things equally new and strange, but all encouraging to the Christian King's and to Friar William of Rubruck's hopes of conversion and con- sequent peace.^ We are able with the scanty notices at our disposal to gain but slight knowledge of the route followed by Friar Andrew. We know only that he started from Antioch. It seems likely that he went by way of the great northern route through Little Armenia, C?esarea in Cappadocia, Sivas and Erzerum : the same road followed by Friar William of Rubruck, but in the opposite direction, in 1255. After passing through Tiflis, he went either to Taurinum (Tabriz) or to the camp in the plain of Mugan, where were usually the Mongol headquarters for western Persia ; and where, I suppose, he found Ilchikadai, and delivered the letters he bore ; and where also the prudent David probably left him. Friar Andrew and his com- panions, having accomplished this part of their mission, skirted the southern shores of the Caspian, and thence, probably by way of the Syr daria valley, they reached Chimkent and Talas.- Here they turned eastward, crossed the Chu and Hi rivers south of the Balkash, and reached the camp of Ogul Gaimish on the river Imil, a little to the north-east of the lake. As to the route followed on the return journey, we have but one indication concerning it โ€” ^ See for the above details, Joinville, 147, et seq., and Rubruck's narrative, passim. 2 William of Nangis (365, 366) says that the King sent " missions " to Ilchikadai and the Great ' Khan ; but they were both entrusted to Brother Andrew, who is styled capitanetis et magister. Rubruck tells us {infra., p. 119) that Friar Andrew had skirted the southern and eastern shores of the Caspian ; he also refers {infra., p. 136) to this envoy having mentioned (presumably to him in con- versation) the presence of German captives at Talas. I take it that he had actually seen them there, for otherwise the extremely careful Rubruck would certainly ha\'e noted that Andrew had only heard of their presence. Mangu told Rubruck that Ogul Gaimish received Friar Andrew's mission ; and as this Regent resided in the ordu of Kuyuk on the Imil, the envoy evidently did not -go further east than this point. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. xxxiii that furnished by Rubruck โ€” that they went along the eastern shore of the Caspian.^ This suffices, however, to establish the fact that the route followed coming- west- ward from the Balkash must have been, as far as the Caspian, a nearly due east and west one, parallel to that followed later on by Rubruck himself, though perhaps to the south of it. Friar Andrew had hardly finished relating his adventures, and the King was still at Caesarea, when there arrived from Constantinople a mission under Philip of Toucy, the son of the former Regent of the Empire.^ From him the King heard of the wonderful adventures of this knight and other noblemen sent by the Emperor Baldwin II to the Comans of southern Russia. Philip told him of this people's way of swearing friendship by the killing of a dog ; of the burial he had seen of one of their chiefs, with whom were interred a squire and a horse ; and many other strange tales. It seems hkely that among this party of knights (there were ten in all) was one called Baldwin of Hainaut, who had not only been to the Comans' country on this mission, but had, actually married while there the daughter of the Coman Prince.^ More than that, he had ^ It is highly improbable that the mission in going skirted both the southern and the eastern shores of the Caspian, for there was abso- lutely no reason for the Mongols to make an envoy travelling east- ward go up north along the eastern shore of the Caspian, neither Batu nor any of the other great chiefs living between the Caspian and the Aral. King Heythum, in 1253, going from Cilicia to the Mongol court, travelled by way of Derbend and the mouth of the Volga, but then he was anxious to see Sartach. 2 Joinville says Narjoe (Narjot) de Toucy, but Du Cange and sub- sequent editors have shown that the envoy to St. Louis must have been Philip, son of Narjot. ^ There can be little doubt that this Baldwin was on the mission, for Rubruck in his narrative speaks of him as a person well known to King Louis, which he could not have been otherwise, for he had been for many years past in the service of the emperors of Constantinople. On this personage, see infra, p. 102. xxxiv INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. travelled also through Asia, sent probably on a mission by the Emperor and had gone as far as the camp of the Mongol emperor near Karakorum. From him Friar William of Rubruck got much valuable information, which finally decided him in favour of the road through Russia rather than that by way of Armenia in journeying to the Mongols. The former route he was already familiar with from Friar John of Pian de Carpine's mission, and it had the great advantage of taking him to the camp of Sartach, the Christian Mongol, from whom he might expect help on his journey, and assistance in establishing a mission among the Mongols. So pleased was King Louis with De Toucy and the knights who accompanied him, that he retained them near him for a year before he would let them go back to Constantinople. This gave William of Rubruck, who had long since made up his mind to try the venture, all the necessary time to complete his preparations. The King readily gave him the small sum of money he needed to defray his expenses, with letters to Sartach and to the Emperor of the Mongols, commending him and his companions to their kindness, but carefully avoiding giving them any official character. After the insolent letter sent him by Ogul Gaimish, self-respect forbade his attempting to open formal friendly relations with this people โ€” at least for the time being. Queen Margaret gave the Friar a beautifully-illuminated psalter, and prob- ably some of the many rich church vestments he carried with him. These, together with a Bible, a present of the King, his breviary, one or two cherished devotional books, and, strangely enough, a valuable Arabic manu- script, composed his simple outfit. And so equipped he embarked, probably at Acre, and with the returning De Toucy mission, some time in the early spring of 1252, reached Constantinople safely, and there remained INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XXXV till May 7th of the following year, when he started for Mongolia.^ In the preceding pages I have endeavoured to indicate briefly the extent of the knowledge possessed by Europe of the Mongols and their empire down to the middle of the thirteenth century, and to show the probable sources of information Friar William of Rubruck had avail- able as a preparation for his great journey of over ten thousand miles through Asia. I should have liked to be able to say something of the traveller himself, but we know absolutel}' nothing about him save his own state- ment, that at the time of his journey he was " a very heavy man," France can claim him as her child, for there is little doubt that he was a native of the village of Rubruck in old French Flanders, and not of Ruysbrock in Brabant, a few miles south of Brussels, as has been commonly supposed ; but the date of his birth is unknown, as is that of his death.'- His narrative affords us, fortu- ^ There is evidence in Rubruck'"s narrative that his travelling com- panion, Bartholomew of Cremona, had been residing in Nicea iififra, p. 170). As to his interpreter, nicknamed Homo Dei, it is more likely that he took him along with him from Palestine. That Rubruck left Palestine in 1252 seems to me probable from the strange error he has made concerning the reigning emperor of Trebizonde : an error which he could not possibly have committed had he been with St. Louis throughout 1252, when the mission from Trebizonde arrived at Sidon (see infra^ p. 46, note 3) Yule {Ency. Brit., xxi, 46) thinks he must have received his commission at Acre, where the King was residing from May 1252 to June 1253. - See Yule's admirable article in Ency. Brit. (Ninth Edition), xxi, 46-47 ; and his Marco Polo, ii, 536 ; Oscar Peschel, Erkiinde, 165 etseq.j F. M. Schmidt, Ueber Ricbriik's Reise, 163 ; Michel and Wright, op.cit., 205 ; de Backer, Rubrotick, iii et seq.; da Civezza, Saggio di Bibliografia., San Franciscana, 503 ; Nouvelle Biographic Generate, xxxii, 938-940; Hist, litferaire de la France, xix, 114 et seq. The name of our author's birthplace is variously written. Of the five MSS. used in the preparation of Michel and Wright's edition of the text, four have Rubruc, and one Rubruk. In other works where he is mentioned we find his name spelled Ricbruk, Rubricck, Rubruc, Rubroiick, Ritbroc, Risbrotic, Risbrouke, Risbrooke, Riiysbrok, Rttysbrock, Ruysbrocke, Rtd'ruqiiis, Rubricis and Ridn-iqtds. If, as seems highly probable, the place of his birth was the village of Rubrouck, as written in Flemish, we should write his name in English Ruliruck C 2 XXXvi INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. nately, abundant indications of his character. " These paint for us," says Yule, " an honest, pious, stouthearted, acute and most intelligent observer, keen in the acquisition of knowledge ; the author, in fact, of one of the best narratives of travel in existence. His language, indeed, is Latin of the most un-Ciceronian quality โ€” dog-Latin we fear it must be called ; but, call it what we may, it is in his hands a pithy and transparent medium of expression. In spite of all the difficulties of communication, and of the badness of his turgemanus or dragoman, he gathered a mass of particulars, wonderfully true or near the truth, not only as to Asiatic nature, geography, ethnography and manners, but as to religion and language . . ."^ I would only venture to add to this well-deserved praise of Friar William, bestowed on him by the greatest authority on mediaeval geography of our century, that not only was he keen and intelligent, but conscientious and thorough in a high degree. Study of his narrative shows his careful preparation for his work as an explorer. Solinus and Isidorus of Seville are, it is true, his only geographical authorities ; still he makes careful use of them, not quoting them blindly, but comparing every statement of theirs with the facts as he observed them. The only quotations he makes are taken from the Bible, and are not always accurate, and from Virgil's Aeneid\ but we gather from a few passing references in his narrative that he had read historical works and the classical poets, and had specially noted the movements Europewards of the tribes The editors of the Biographie Geiierale say he was born about 121 5. Aug. St. John (as quoted by the editors of the text of the Soc. de Geographies 205) puts it at about 1220 โ€” Daunou {Hist. litt. de la France, 126) thinks he died about 1270, but this is purely conjectural โ€” Da Civezza {Storia Universalle, i, 429) says 1230, and Schmidt (163) between 1220 and 1230. There is, so far as I am aware, absolutely no authority for any of these dates. 1 Yule, Ency. Brit., xxi, 47 ; conf F. M. Schmidt, 166. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. xxxvii of western Asia since the time of the great Hunnic inva- sions : which latter presented to his mind many striking analogies with the Mongol ones just over. While preparing for his journey at Constantinople in the winter and spring of 1253, he saw the Armenian traders who then as now swarmed there, and most of whom had had experience among the Mongols ; and from them, and possibly from the resident Armenian monks, he also secured information on the Tartars and the countries he was to visit. During his residence in Asia Minor and in Egypt he had probably acquired a tolerable knowledge of Arabic, as he appears to have been able to converse freely with any of the " Sara- cens " he met during his journey ; and he tells us himself that he picked up enough Mongol to be able to control, or perhaps even dispense with, his very poor interpreter. In short, I think, we may safely say that he left no stone unturned to fit himself thoroughly for the work he had undertaken. Let us now note what Friar William was able to add by his journey and careful observations to Europe's sum of general and geographical knowledge. His principal con- tributions to geographical science were the indication of the true sources and course of the Don and Volga, the lake nature of the Caspian,^ the identity of Cathay with the classical country of the Seres, a description of the Balkash and of the inland basin of which it occupies the eastern extremity, the first description of the city of Karakorum, the first mention of Kaoli or Korea, and of the Tungusic tribes of Orengai, the Orieiiguts of mediaeval Mohammedan writers. Natural history owes to him the earliest mention 1 Albert of Bollstaedl had at about the same date stated that the Caspian was a lake, not a gulf, but he had simply accepted the views of Ptolemy. The fact had alieady been established by the Arab geographers of the tenth century โ€” by Ibn Haukal for example โ€” but Europe was in ignorance of this. XXxvi'il INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. in western writers of the wild ass or kulan, and of the argali or ovis Poli. Ethnology is indebted to him for interesting facts too numerous to mention. To him lin- guistics and anthropology owe the first accurate information on the Goths of the Crimean coast, on the identity of the Comans with the Kipchak, Turks and Cangle, on the difference between the Tartars and the Mongols, on the connexity of the languages of the Bashkirds {Pascatir) and the Hungarians, on the origin of the Danubian Bulgarians, on the affinity between the languages of the Russians, Poles, Bohemians and Slavs and that of the Wandals, and on that of the Turkish language with that of the Uigurs and Comans. Pie was the first to give a nearly accurate explanation of the Chinese script, to note the true peculiarities of the Tibetan, Tangutan (Turkish), and Uigur modes of writing. These discoveries in this special line of research are not all we owe to this most perspicacious traveller ; but I will not prolong the list, as we have a number of other im- portant ones in the field of the history of religions to credit him with. He was the first to describe the Christian communities in the Mongol empire, and to give details of their rituals and the tenets of their faith ; we owe to him the earliest description of the Lamas or northern Buddhist monks, of their temples, their ritual, their Living Buddhas, of their use of prayer beads, and of their favourite formula, Oni viani padnie, Imm. He shows the peculiarities of the Uigurs' form of worship, and likewise of their dress. Peculiarities and superstitions of the Greek and Armenian churches did not escape him ; in short, no one traveller since his day has done half so much to give a correct knowledge of this part of Asia. It was Friar William's desire to present his report to King Louis in person ; but on arriving in Cyprus in 1255 he found that the King, whom he hoped to see in Palestine, had returned to France ; and the Provincial of his Order INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XXXIX refused to allow him to follow him there. He took him with him to Acre, to the house of his Order, directing him to transmit his report to the King from that place. This the traveller reluctantly did, requesting at the same time the King to use his influence with the Provincial of the Franciscans in Syria, who appears to have belonged to the Province of France, to have him given permission to make a visit to France, to see the King and the personal friends he had there. King Louis must have complied with Friar William's request, for we learn from Roger Bacon that he met the traveller in France a few years later, and conversed with him about his discoveries and adventures. We know that he made a careful examination of his report, nearly every geographical detail of which we find embodied in his famous Opus Majlis} It was fortunate for Friar William 'that he met, during his probably short stay in France, this brilliant and ap- preciative writer, for he alone saved him and the results of his arduous journey from utter oblivion for three centuries and a half: as it was only in 1600 that Richard Hakluyt published a portion of his report from a manu- script belonging to Lord Lumley,^ which Purchas in 1625 republished and completed, in his Pilgrinies, from another ^ See Opus Majus, i, 354 et seq. Bacon says he had made special use, in writing his geographical description of the northern parts of the world, of the work of William of Rubruck, " qiieni libruni diligenter vzdi, et cum ejus auciorc contuli^ et similiter cum mult is aliis, qui loca orientis et meridana rimata stint" {Opus Majus^ i, 305). The other travellers were probably returning crusaders. Bacon was familiar, however, with the work of John of Pian de Carpine [pp. cit., i, 371)- ' So little known was Rubruck at the time when Hakluyt published his work, that Gerard Mercator wrote to Hakluyt in 1580, in reply to a letter telling him of the Itinerarium: " I have not yet seen the complete treatises of William of Tripoli {sic) and John du Plan Carpin ; I have only seen some extracts of them in other works" 'Bergeron, Iraitc des Tartares, ii, 116, 121). The extracts were probably solely taken from xl INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. MS. in Bennet (now Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge, the text having been supplied him, he says (vol. iii, p. 23), " by Master Haciuits industrie." Between the date of the writing of Bacon's Opus Majus (1264) and the middle of the present century, there are found but the briefest mentions of Friar William in the numerous works written by members of the Franciscan and other Orders. Vincent of Beauvais did not know of the existence of Friar William's Itinerarium ; at all events, not a single detail concerning the Mongols given by him is traceable to this work. Wadding, the great historian of the Franciscans, makes no mention of him at all in his Annales, though he devotes many pages to the missions of Pian de Carpine, Lawrence of Portugal, Ascelin, etc. ; while in his Scriptores Ordiiiis Minorinn he misquotes an earlier reference to him by John Pitts, though he makes him out to have been a native of Brabant instead of an English- man, as Pitts had imagined him to be. He credits him with having written an Itinerarium Orientis, De Gestis Tartaroruni, which many subsequent writers have supposed to be two distinct works, whereas it evidently designates the two parts into which Friar William's report, like that of his predecessor. Friar John of Pian de Carpine, is divided. Lasor a Varea (ii, 297) mentions Risbrooke among the writers who refer- to Palestine, and (ii, 555) as having written a work de Tartaroruni gestis. De Soto (ii, 46) has a short reference to our traveller, gives the title of his work as Itinerarium ad partes Orientales, una cum relatione Tar- taroruni} and refers to the existence of several MSS. of it in the British libraries, to Bergeron's translation, and to its Friar John's Historia Moiigcdorwn., which had been frequently quoted in works of the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. 1 Bacon {pp. cit.., ii, 368), speaking of the Tartars' claim to universal dominion, says that it is referred to " in libra Jratris Gidielnii de vioribus Tiwtaroritm^''' but this, I take it, is only a sub-title, as it were, of the first part of his work. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. xli having also appeared in Dutch in a collection of travels published in Leyden in 1706. We must come down to Father da Civezza's Storia Univcrsalle Delle Missione Francescana (i 857-1 861), to find a full account of Rubruck's journey, and appreciation of its great worth, by a member of his Order ; and even in this valuable work the author has, it would appear, been con- tent to quote from the faulty translation of Be'rgeron (1634) 5 ^'^d throughout his notice of our traveller he writes his name Riibriqitis} The only explanation which suggests itself of this neglect of Friar William's work by writers of his Order, is that his mission, like that of Friar Andrew of Longumeau, equally ignored in their works, was undertaken by order of and for the King of France, and not for the sole advance- ment of the interests of the Church and the Franciscans. Though this explanation is hardly satisfactory, for the glory gained by the traveller redounded necessarily on the Order to which he belonged, and the Franciscan, Roger Bacon, had promptly made known to the Pope its great value, I cannot but think the neglect in which Friar William was left for so many centuries was, to a great extent, intentional. Even at the present day, the great history of the Franciscan Order which is being published by the Fathers of the College of San Bonaventura, does not contain a single reference to Friar William or Friar Andrew of Lone^umeau. 1 I have not been able to consult a number of works which have appeared since 1800, containing biographical notices of Rubruck, but those I have seen consider him " untrustworthy," " credulous," "superstitious" (see, e.g., Nouvelle Biographie Univ., xxxii, 938; Hist. Hit. de la France, xix, 126 ; and also see Da Civezza, op. cit., i, 429-457). The same writer, in his Saggio di Bibliografia, 503, reproduces de Backer's biographical notice of our author, the only good part of the book. Cahun, 392, speaks of " I'inintelligence du moine Rubruquis . . . son etroitesse de jugement et d'informationsqui eclate a chaque ligne dans une relation pleine de mots spirituels, mais vide de serieux.'" xlii INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. In 1839, the Societe de Geographic of Paris published, in the Fourth Volume of its Recueil de Voyages et de Meinoires, what may be considered the editio princeps of the Itiner- ariurn ; in which the editors, no less distinguished scholars than Francisque Michel and Thomas Wright, availed themselves not only of the texts published by Hakluyt and Purchas, but of five other MSS. since discovered, three from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, one from the British Museum, and one from the Library of the Univer- sity at Leyden. None of the manuscripts present any vari- ations of importance, the different readings in them being clearly attributable in nearly every case to negligent copying; all have been derived from a single original. It is therefore hardly probable that the discovery of any new manuscripts can alter in any important detail the text as given by the two learned editors.^ Of the translations which have appeared of Friar William's work little ma}- be said ; all of them have been ^ See Recueil de Voyages et de Mcnwires^ iv, 199-212. The MSS. of Cambridge bear the' numbers LXVI, ccccvii, and CLXXXi in Nasmith's Latalooue of the Parker Collection. The Brit. Mus. MS. is numbered 14. C. xili of the King's Library, and the MS. of Leyden is No. yj of the Vossius Collection. The editors mention (p. 210) another MS., said to exist in the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillips, but they were unable to consult it. Researches recently made by Mr. W. Foster, at the request of the editor of the present volume, have also failed to discover it. As to the MS. referred to by the same editors (p. 202) as existing in the Vatican Library, Father Francesco Ehrle, the learned Prefect of that library, has very kindly made a careful search for it, but without result. It is true that this MS. is catalogued by Montfaucon {Bibl. bibl.., i, 86) as in the Petau Collection under the two numbers 292, 933 ; but Father Ehrle is of opinion that the entry is erroneous, or, at all events, that the MS. was not sent to the Vatican when this collection was presented to it by Queen Christina of Sweden. Mr. de Vries, the librarian of the University of Leyden, to whom Father Ehrle wrote on the subject, is also of opinion that the supposed Vatican MS. is in all likelihood the No. 77 of the Vossius Collection, referred to previously. Henri Cordier {Odoric, Ixxxiii) mentions a MS. of Rubruck in the No. 686 of the Dupuy Collection of the National Library of Paris. Mr. H. Leon Feer has kindly collated this MS. with Michel and Wright's text, and shown that it is an exact reproduction of the text as published by Hakluyt. It bears date 1646, and was probably copied from Hakluyt's published text. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. xliii made on Hakluyt's or Purchas' renderings. Astley, Robert Kerr, Pinkerton in English ; Bergeron, Fleury, I'Abbe Prevost, La Harpe, and more recently ([888) Eugene Miiller in French ; the AlLgenieine Historic der Reisen (i/'4y) in German, and many others, are but so many editions of the old English translations. The translations of Hakluyt and Purchas, however valuable, were inevitably inaccurate in many places, for a more thorough knowledge of Asia and the Mongols than was possessed by Europe at the time was necessary for a correct rendering of Friar William's text. Purchas truly remarks : " the Friers Latin, for some barbarous words and phrases, hath beene trouble- some to translate." It is, however, to say the least, strange that most writers of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries have preferred to avail themselves of these translations, instead of making use of the text as pub- lished by Hakluyt, Purchas, or the Societe de Geographic. Desguignes, Karamsin, Remusat, d'Ohsson, and even Henri Cordier in his splendid edition of Friar Odoric, quote from Bergeron's translation. Though often quoting him, none of those who have used the rich mine of information opened to them by the old monk seem to have fully realised its value ; or, at all events, they have not given adequate expression to their appreciation of his great merit, Purchas alone excepted, who says he holds the Friar's work " a Jewell of Antiquitie." It was reserved for Oscar Peschel,^ and especially for Sir 1 Oscar Peschel, i:ni'Xv('//cife(i65), says: "der Bericht des Ruysbroek, fast unbefleckt durch storende Fabeln, durch seine Naturwahrheit als ein grosses geographisches Meisterstuck des Mittelalters bezeichnet warden darf."' In 1877 Louis de Backer published a so-called original translation from the Latin of the Itinerariuin. To the errors of previous translators he has added so many extraordinary blunders of his own that one is astonished that it was ever accepted by the learned editors of the valuable collection in which it appeared. Exclusive of Yule's invaluable notes on Rubruck, the only important work on the subject โ€” and its value is inestimable โ€” is the study of xhV INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Henry Yule, to whom geography owes so much, to put Friar William in the high place he so richly deserves among the great travellers of the world. " The generation immediately preceding his (Marco Polo's) own has be- queathed to us," the latter says, " in the Report of the Franciscan Friar William de Rubruquis on the mission with which St. Lewis charged him to the Tartar Courts, the narrative of one great journey which, in its rich detail, its vivid pictures, its acuteness of observation and strong good sense, seems to me to form a Book of Travels of much higher claim than any one series of Polo's chapters ; a book, indeed, which has never had justice done to it, for it has few superiors in the whole Library of Travel."^ Franz Max Schmidt, Ueber Rubruk^s Reise von 1253-1255, published ill 1885. 1 Yule, Marco Polo, i, 102. ITINERARY OF FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 125: May June July Augfust 21. I. 3- 5- 12. September 16. October 27. 31- November 8. 9- 5(?) December 30- 3- ?) 6. ?> 13- )) 27. 1254. January March 4- 29. April May 5- 24. August Septembei October 30- 8. 18. 'i6. 16. Novembei โ–  I. )) 15- Left Constantinople. Reached Soldaia (Sudak). Left Soldaia. Met Tartars for first time. Reached Scatay's camp (Remained till 8th). Camp at Isthmus of Perekop. Reached first camp beyond Isthmus. Reached bank of Tanais (Don. โ€” Remained till 23rd); Reached Sartach's camp. Left Sartach's camp. Reached bank of EtiHa (Volga). Left Batu's camp. Reached bank of Jaic (Ural). Took southerly course. Reached Kinchat. Took easterly course. Reached Cailac. Left Cailac. Reached head of Ala kul. Accelerated speed. Passed through gorge infested with devils. Reached Mangu's camp. Received in audience by Mangu. Left for Karakorum. Reached Karakorum. Audience of Mangu. Public discussion with Tuin. Received permission to leave. Left Karakorum. Reached Batu's camp. Left Batu's camp. Left Sarai. Reached mountains of Alans. xlvi itinp:kary of friar william of rubruck. 1254. November 17 21 51 โ€” - December 23 Reached Iron Gate (Derbend). Reached Samaron. Reached Samag. Entered plain of Mogan. Reached Naxua (Najivani. 1255. January 13. February 2. 15- โ€ž i7(?). โ€ž 22 (?). 23(?). 4- March April )> May June 19. 5- 17- 16. Left Naxua. At Ani. Reached head of Araxes. Reached Marsengen. Reached Camath on the Euphrates (Kara su). Reached Sebaste (Sivas). Reached Caesarea in Cappadocia. Reached Iconium (Konieh). Reached Curta on coast. Left Curta. Reached Cyprus. 29. At Antioch. August 15. At Tripoli. TITLES OF BOOKS CITED BY ABBREVIATED REFERENCES. Abulgasi Bayadur Chan. Histoh-e Genealogiqiie dcs Tartars. Tra- duite du Manuscript Tartare par D***. Leyden, 1726. i vol., i2mo. Acta Sanctorum. Ex Latijiis et Graecis aliarunique gentiiDn Monii- metitis, etc. Paris. In 4to. Al Bekri. See Ibn Alathir. Albericus Trium Fontium. Chrotticon. Edited by Leibnitz. Acces- siones Historicae. Hanover, 1698. Vol. ii. Ammianus Marcellinus. Reritni gestariim. Nisard edit., Paris, 1869. In 4to. Analecta Fraficisca?ja, sive Chronica aliaqite varia docunienta ad historiatn Fratrum Minortcm spectafitia. Edita a Patribus Col- legii S. BonaventLirae. Ad Claras Aquas (Quaracchi). 1887- 1897. 22 vols., 4to (all published). Antoninos (?). Zametki xii-xv Tcka., otnossiastcJdasia k Krymskomii gorodu Siigdee (Sudaku)^ p7'ipissan7iiya na Grecheskom Sinak- sa7-e. In Zapiski Odesskago obstchestva istorii i drevnostei, v, 1863, pp. 595-837. Arrian. Expeditio Alexandri. Miiller's edit. In Didot's collection. Assemanus, Joseph Simonius. Bibliotheca Orjeiitalis Clemejjtino- Vaticana. Rome, 1721. 4 vols., fol. To\r\& W, De Scriptojibus Syris Monopliyritis. Atkinson, Thomas Witlam. Oriental and Wester?i Siberia: a Narra- tive of Seven Years' Explorations and Ad\entures in Siberia, Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary and Part of Central Asia. London, 1858. i vol., 8vo. Atkinson, Thomas Witlam. Travels in the Regions of the Upper attd Lower Avioor and the Russian Acquisitions on the Confines of hidia and China. London, i860. 1 vol., 8vo. Baber. Memoires de. Traduits par Pavet de Courteille. Paris, 1871. 2 vols., 8vo. Bacon, Roger. Opus Majtis. Edited by John Henry Bridges. Ox- ford, 1897. 2 vols., 8vo. xlviii TITLES OF BOOKS. Badger, George Percy. The Nestorians atrd their Rituals : with a Narrative of a Mission to Mesopotamia and Coordistan in 1842- 1844. London, 1852. 2 vols., 8vo. Barbaro, Josafa. Trai'els to Tana and Persia. Thomas' translation, edited by Lord Stanley of Alderley. London, 1873. i vol., 8vo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Bartels, Max. Die Medicin der Natiirv'dlker. Ethnologische Beitrage zur Urgeschichte der Medicin. Leipzig, 1893. i vol., 8vo. Beal, Samuel. Buddhist Records of the Western World. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen-tsiang (a.D. 629). London, 1884. 2 vols , 8vo. Benjamin of Tudela. Voyage an tour du vionde, commence Pan MCCXXlll. In Bergeron's Voyages., i. Bergeron, Pierre. Voyages fails principalement en Asie dans les xii, xiii, xiv, et XV siecles, &ic. La Haye, 1735. 2vols.,4to. (Though usually quoted as Bergeron's, this work is a recast of that writer's vi'ork of 1634, by Van der Aa of Leyden. See d'Avezac, op. cit. - 439-442.) Bergman, Benjamin. Nomadische Streiferien U7iter den Kalmiiken., in den Jahren 1802 und 1803. Riga, 1805. 4 vols., i2mo. Bitchurin, Father Hyacinthe. Du Chanianisme en Chine. In Nou- .^elles Annates des Voyage., Nouv. serie, xxvi, pp. 287-316. Bouche-Leclerc, A. Histoire de la Divinatioti dans PAntiquitc. Paris, 1882. 4 vols., 8vo. Bretschneider, E. Notices of the Medicevai Geogra^phy and History Oj Ce}ttral and Western Asia. Drawn from Chinese and Mongol writings, and compared with the observations of Western Authors in the Middle Ages. In fournal of the North Chijia branch of the Royal Asiatic Society., New Series, vol. x, pp. 75-307. Bretschneider, E. On the Knowledge Possessed by the Ancient Chinese on the Arabs and Arabian Colonies and other Western Countries mentioned in Chinese Records. London, 187 1. In 8vo. Bretschneider, E. Archceological and Historical Researches on Peking and its Em'it'ons. Shanghai, 1876. In 8vo. Bretschneider, E. Notes on Chinese Medice^'al Ti^a7>ellers to the West. Shanghai, 1875. In 8vo. Bunbury, E. H. A History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and Romans, from the Earliest Ages till the Fall of the Roma7i Empire. 2nd edit. London, 1883. 2 vols., 8vo. Busbeck. Epistolae deque rebus Turcicis. Leipzig, 1689. 2 vols., 8vo. Cahun, Leon. Introduction a rhistoire de PAsie. Turcs et Mongols. Des origines a 1405. Paris, 1896. i vol., 8vo. Castren, Matthias Alexander. Ethnologische Vorlesungen iiber die Altaische Volker, nebst Samojedischen Marchen und Tartarische Heldensagen. St. Petersburg, 1857. i vol., 8vo. TITLES OF BOOKS. xllX Castren, Matthias Alexander. Reisen im No7'den. Leipzig, 1853. I vol., i2mo. Chabot, J. B. Histoire de Mai^Jabalaha III, Patriarche des Nestorieits 1281-1317), ei dii uioitie Rabban Catctna, Ambassadeur du Roi Argoun en Occident {iiZ'j). Paris, 1895. i vol., 8vo. Chandra Das, Sarat. India?i Pandits i7i the Land of Snow. Calcutta, 1893. I vol., Svo. Chardin, Le Chevalier. Voyages en Perse et aiitres lieiix de V Orient. Nouvelle edit. Par L. Langles. Paris, 181 1. 10 vols., Svo. Chavannes, Edouard. Le Nestoriattisme et rinscription de Kara Balgasoun. Paris, 1897. In Svo. 'Kxtra.ciirom Journal Asiatiqtie, 1897. Chavannes, Edouard. Voyageurs Chinois ches les Khitan et les Joutchen. Paris, 1S98. i vol., Svo. (Extracts from Joitriial Asiatique, No. 6, 1897 ; No. 8, 189S.) Chien Han shu. The Book of the Anterior Han, or the Annals of the Early Han Dynasty, covering the period from B.C. 206 to a.d. 24. Chin shti. The Book of the Chin Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 265 to 419. Choii shu. The Book of Chou, or the Annals of the Chou Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 557 to 581. Clarke, Edward D. Travels in Russia, Tartary, and Turkey. Edin- burgh, 1852. I vol., Svo. Clavijo, Ruy Gonzalez de. Narr-ative oj the Embassy to the Court of Tiniour at Saniarcand, A.D. 1403-6. Translated by Clements R. Markham. London, 1859. i vol., Svo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Codinus. See Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Thematibus et de Administrando Imperio. See Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Bysantinae. Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Ceremoniis Aulae Byza7itiiiae. See Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Contarini, Ambrosio. The Travels of to the Great Lord Ussuncassan, King of Persia, in 1473. Edited by Lord Stanley of Alderley. London, 1873. i vol., Svo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Cordier, Henri. Les Voyages en Asie au XI V^ Steele du bienheureux frere Odoric de Pordenone, Religieux de Saint Francois. Paris, 1891. I vol., small 4to. Corpus Scriptorum Historicae Byzantinae. Editio emendatior et copiosior, Consilio B. G. Niebuhrii instituta. Bonn, 1S31- 184 (?) Svo. Cosmas Indicopleustes. The Christian Topography. Translated from the Greek by J. W. McCrindle. London, 1897. i vol., Svo. (Hakluyt Soc). Da Civezza, Marcellino. Storia universale delle Missione Francescane. Rome, 1857-1861. 5 vols., Svo. d 1 TITLES OF BOOKS. Da Civezza, Marcellino. Saggio di Bibliografia geographica, eilmo- graphica Scm Franciscana. In Prato, 1879. i vol., 8vo. D'Avezac. Relatio7i des Mo?7gols ou Tartares par /e/rere Jeatt dn Plan de Carpm^ de 1' ordre des Freres M incurs, Legat du Saint-Siege Apostolique, Nonce en Tartarie, pendant les annees 1245, 1246 et 1247, et Archeveque d'Antivari, etc. Paris, 1839. 4to. (In 2nd part of vol. iv of the Recueil de Voyages et de Memoires publie par la Socle te' de Ge'ographle.) De Backer, Louis. Gulllaunie de Rubrotick, Ambassadeur de Saint Louis en Orient. Recit de son voyage traduit de V original Latin et annote par. Paris, 1877. i vol., i8mo. Deguignes. Hlstolre Gmerale des Htms, des Tiircs^ des Mongols^ et des autt^es Tartares Occidentanx^ etc. Paris, 1756-1758. 5 vols., 4to. De Morgan, J. Mlssloft scientlfique au Caucase. Etudes archeo- logiques et historiques. Paris, 1889. 2 vols., 4to. Tome ii, Recherches sur les origines des peuples du Caucase. D'Ohsson, le Baron C. Histoire des Mongols, depuis Tchinguiz Khan jusqu'a Timour Bey ou Tamerlan. La Haye, 1834. 4 vols. 8vo. De Soto, Fr. Joannis. Bibliotheca tmiversa Fra7tcisca7ta. Matriti, 1732. 3 vols., 4to. Deveria, G. Mtisulma7is et Ma7iichee77s Chinols. \n Jour7tal Asi- atiquc, IX^ serie, vol. x. Deveria, G. Notes d\pigraphie Mo7igole-Chi7ioise. Paris, 1897, in 8vo. (Extract irom Joi(r7ial Aslatique, 1896.) Du Cange. Glossarium 77iedlae et l/tfitiiae Lati7titatis, conditu a Carolo Dufresne Domino Du Cange cum supplementis integris D. P. Carpenterii at additamentis Adelungi et aliorum digessit G. A. L. Herschel. Paris, 1840. 7 vols., 4to. Dulaurier, Ed. Les Mo7igols d''apres les Jiistorie7ts Ar7ne7iie7is. Frag- ments traduits sur les texts originaux. In Journal Asiatique, Ve serie, vol. xi (1858). Elias, Ney. See Mirza Haidar. Finlay, George. History 0/ Greece. Tozer's edit., London, 1S77. 7 vols., 8vo. Gibbon, Edward. Decline a7id Fall of the Ro7/ia7t E7ipire. W. .Smith's edit., London, 1881. 8 vols., 8vo. Gombojew, Galsang. Randbe77ierktmgen zii Pla7io Carpi7ii. In Me- la7iges Asiatiques de PAcademie des Scieiices de St. Petersbourg, 1856, ii, pp. 650-666. Grenard, F. Missio7i scie7ttijique da7is la Haute Asie, 1890-1895. Paris, 1898. 3 vols., 4to. TITLES OF BOOKS. li Haiton. Histoire Orientate on des Tartares. Traduit suivant I'edition Latine de Andre Miiller, Greiffenhag. In Bergeron's Voyages^ vol. ii. Hakluyt, Richard. Cottection of the Earty Voyages, Travels and Dis- coveries of the English Nation. London, 1809. 5 vols., 4to. (Vol. i, pp. So-ioi, text of Rubruck ; pp. 101-129, translation.) Hammer, J. de. Histoire de f Empire Ottoman, depuis son origine jusqu'a nos jours. Traduit de I'allemand par J. J. Hellert. Paris, 1835. 5 vols., 8vo. Hammer- Purgstall. Geschichte der Goldenen Horde in Kiptchak, das ist der Mongolen in Russland. Pesth, 1840. i vol., 8vo. Haroldus, Franciscus. Epitome Annalium Ordinis Minorum. Rome, 1662. 2 vols., fol. Haxthausen, A. von. Transcaucasia. Sketches of the Nations and Races between the Black Sea and the Caspian. London, 1854. I vol., Svo. Heyd, W. Histoire du Commerce du Levant an Moyen-Age. Edition frangaise par Furcy Raynaud. Paris, 1885. 2 vols., 8vo. Hou Han sJiu. The Book of the Posterior Han Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 25 to 220. Howorth, H. H. History of the Mongols, from the ninth to the nineteenth century. London, 1876. 4 vols., Svo. Ibn Alathir. Fragments de geographes et d'historiens Ai^abes ei Persans inedits, relatifs aux anciens peuples du Caucase et de la Russie meridionale. Traduits et accompagnes de notes critiques, par M. Uefremery. In Journ. Asiat., 4^ serie, xiii, 457-522 ; xiv, 447-513. Ibn Batuta. Voyages d'Ibn Butoutah. Texte Arabe, accompagne d'une traduction par C. Defremery et le Dr. B. R. Sanguinetti. Paris, 1874-79. 4 vols., 8vo. Ibn Foszlan. Ibn Foszlan icnd anderer Araber Berichte iiber die Russen alterer Zeit. Text und Ubersetzung mit kritisch-philo- logischen Anmerkungen, etc., von C. M. Frahn. St. Petersburg, 1823. I vol., 8vo. Ibn Haukal. The Oriental Geography of Ibn Haiikal, an Arabian traveller of the tenth century. Translated by Sir William Ouseley. London, 1800. i vol., 4to. Ibn Khaldun. Notice sur les Prolegomenes Historiqiies de, par E. Quatremfere. In Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits, vol. xix, Pt. I. Ibn Khordadbeh. Le livre des routes et des provinces. Public, traduit et annote par C. Barbier de Meynard. fournal Asiatiqite, Vie serie, v, pp. 5-127, 446-532- Ill TITLES OF BOOKS. Ishtakri. Das Buck der Lander, von Schech Ebn Ishak el Farsi el Isztachri. Aus dem Arabischen iibersetzt von A. D. Mordtmann. Hamburg, 1845. i vol., Svo. Isidorus. Sancti Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etyiiwlogiarwn. Libri XX. In J. P. Migne's Patrologiae Cursiis Coinpletus, omnium SS. Patrum, Doctorum Scriptoi^umque ecclesiasticorum qui ab aevo Apostolico ad Innocentii III tempora floruerunt. Vol. Ixxxii. Paris, 1850. In 4to. Jenkinson, Anthony. Early Voyages and Travels to Russia and Persia. London, 1886. 2 vols., 8vo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Joinville, Le Sieur de. Histoire de Saint Louis. Francisque Michel edit. Paris, 1867. i vol., Svo. Jordanus. The Wonders of the East. Translated by Henry Yule. London, 1863. i vol., 8vo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Jornandes. De Getarurn sive Gothorum Origine et rebus gestis. Nisard edit., 1869. In 4to. Karamsin. Histoire de P Empire de Russie. Traduite par St. Thomas et JaufFret. Paris, 1819-1826. 11 vols., Svo. Vols, x and xi translated by De Divoff. Lasor a Varea, Alph. Universus Terrarum Orbis scriptoruui calanio dileneatus. Patavii, 17 17. 2 vols., fol. Lebeau. Histoire du Bas Empire. Brosset edit. Paris, 1824. 21 vols., Svo. Le Bruyn, Corneille. Voyages de, par la Moscovie en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales. La Haye, 1732. 5 vols., small 4to. Lejean, G. Ethnographie de la Turquie d'' Europe. In Petermann^s Geograph. Mittheihnigen. Erganzungsband, i860 und 1861. Liang shu. Book of Liang, or the Annals of the Liang Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 502 to 556. Liverani, Francesco. Era Giovanni da Piatt di Carpine, nel contado di Magio7ic. Viaggiatore e descrittore. Perugia, i S76. Svo. Ma Tuan-lin. Wen hsieii fung Ji'ao. In 348 books. (The best- known Encyclopsedia in Chinese. It covers the period from the commencement of Chinese history to the early part of the thirteenth century. Books 324-348 relate to foreign tribes and nations, and are composed entirely of extracts from the Annals and other authoritative works. See Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, 55.) Mamachio, Th. Maria. Annaliuni Ordinis Pj'aedicatoricm. Rome, 1756. I vol., fol. (all published). Marco Polo. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Translated and edited by Henry Yule. 2nd edit. London, 1875. 2 vols., Svo. Masudi. Les Prairies d^or. Texte et traduction par C. Barbier de Maynard et Pavet de CourteiUe. Paris, 1861-1877. 9 vols., Svo. Titles of books. Hii Matthaeis Parisiensis. Chronica Majora. Edited by Henry R. Luard. London. 5 vols., 8vo. Maundevile, Sir John. The Voiage and Travaile of. Edited by J. O. Halliwell. London, 1883. i vol., 8vo. Menander Protector. In Fragjnentii Historicoriim Graecorii?n, of C. Miiller, vol. iv. Paris, 1868. 4to, Didot edit. Mesalek al-absar. Notice de I'ouvrage qui a pour titre Mesalek al-absar, par M. Quatremere. In Notices et Extraits des Mamc- scrits, vol. xiii, pp. 151-384. Paris, 1838. 4to. Michaud. Histoire des Croisades. Edit. Huillard Breholles. Paris, 1867. 4 vols., 8vo. Migne, I'Abbe. Noiivelle Encyclopedie theologique. Vol. ix. Dic- tio7iaire de statistique religieuse. Paris, 185 1. 4to. Mirza Haidar. Tarikh-i-Rashidi. N. Elias and E. Denison Ross's translation. London, 189S. i vol., 8vo. Miiller, Carolus. Geographi Graeci minores. Paris, 1882. 2 vols., 4to. Didot edit. Miiller, Eugene. Deux Voyages en. Asie au XIII<^ siecle, par Guil- laume Rubruquis et Marco Polo. Paris, 1888. i vol., i8mo. Muratori. Scriptoresreruinitalicariim. Milan, 1723-175 1. 25V0IS., 4to. Nestor. Chronique dite de Nestor. Traduite sur le texte slavon-russe, avec introduction et commentaire critique par Louis Leger. Paris, 1884. I vol., 4to. Pachymeres. See Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Palladius, Archimandrite. Elucidations of Marco Polo's Travels in North China, drawn from Chinese sources. In Journal of China branch of Royal Asiatic Society., New series, vol. x, pp. 1-54. Pallas, Professor. Voyages dans plusieurs Pt'ovinces de P Empire de Russie., etc. Paris, 1788- 1793. 5 vols., 4to. Pears, Edwin. The Fall of Cotistaiitinople . London, 1885. i vol., 8vo. Pei shih. The Northern History, the history of the Northern Wei, Tse, Chou, and Sui Dynasties, covering the period from a.d. 386 to 581. Peschel, Oscar. Geschichte der Erdkicnde bis auf Alexander von Humboldt und Carl Ritter. 2nd edit. Miinchen, 1877. i vol., 8vo. Plinius. Naturalis Historiae. Traduction de Littre. Nisard edit., 1865. 2 vols., 4to. Ploss, H. Das Kind in Branch und Sitte der Volker. Anthropo- logische Studien. Leipzig, 1884. 2 vols., 8vo. Ploss, H., and Bartels, Max. Das Weib in der Natur- und Volker- ktmde. Anthropologische Studien. Leipzig, 1895. 2 vols., 8vo. Pomponius Mela. De Situ Orbis. Nisard edit. Paris, 1895. I vol., 4to. Ptolemaeus, Claudius. Geographia. Edidit C. F. A. Nobbi. Editio stereotypa. Leipzig, 1843. 2 vols., i8mo. iiv TITLES OF BOOKS. Purchas, Samuel. His Pilgrivies. London, 1625. 4to. Vol. lil Part ii. (Booke i, pp. 1-52, translation of Rubruck.) Quatremere, Etienne. Histoire des Mongols de la Perse. Ecrite en persan par Raschid-Eldin. Tome i (all published). Paris, 1836. I vol., fol. Radloff, Wilhelm. EtJinographische UebersicJit der Tiirkstdjtwie., Siberians tend de7' Mongolei. Leipzig, 1883. 8vo. Radloff, Wilhelm. Aiis Siberien. Lose Blatter aus meinem Tage- buche. 2nd edit. Leipzig, 1893. 2 vols., 8vo. Rawlinson, George. History of Herodotus. A new English version, with copious notes and appendices. London, 1862. 4vols.,8vo. Rawlinson, George. Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World. 4th edit. London, 1879. 3 vols., 8vo. Raynaldus, Odoricus. Annates Ecclesiastici, ab anno MCXCVlll. Lucae, 1747. 21 vols., 4to. , Reclus, Elisee. Nouvelle Geographic Universelle., la terre et les hommes. Paris. In 4to. Reinaud. Relation des Voyages fails paries Arabes et les Persans dans r Inde et a la Chine dans le IX<^ siecle de I'ere chretienne. Paris, 1845. 2 vols., i6mo. Remusat, Abel. Memoires sur les Relations politiques des Princes Chretiens et particiilierenient des Rois de F'rance avec les Etnpereurs Mongols. Paris, 1822- 1824. 4to. Rockhill, William W. The Land of the Lamas. Notes of a Journey through China, Mongolia, and Tibet. New York, 1891. i vol., 8vo. Rockhill, William W. Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet. Washington; 1895. I vol., 8vo. Rockhill, William W. Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892. Washington, 1894. i vol., 8vo. Sarrazin, Jean Pierre. See Joinville. Schiltberger, Johann. The Bondage and Travels of in Europe., Asia and Africa., 1396-1427. Translated by J. Buchan Telfer. London, 1879. I vol., 8vo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Schmidt, Franz Max. Ueber Rubruk^s Reise von 1253-1255. In Zeit- schrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde zu Berlin., vol. xx, pp. 161 - 253. Berlin, 1885. In 8vo. Smirnow, Jean N. Les Populatio7is Fittnoises des bassins de la Volga et de la Kama. Etudes d'ethnographie historique. Traduites par Paul Boyer. Paris, 1898. i vol., 4to (all published). Solini, C. Julii. Collectanae Rerum Memorabilitim, recognovit Th. Mommsen. Berlin, 1864. i vol., 8vo. Sporer. Die Seenzone des Balchash nach Russischeti Quelle7t. In Peterniamis Geographische Mittheilungen, vol. xiv. Strabo. Strabonis Geographica. Graece cum versione reficta C. Mullero et F. Dubnero. Paris, 1853. 2 vols., 4to. TITLES OF BOOKS. Iv Sin shii. Book of Sui, or the Annals of the Sui Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 581 to 617. T'ang s/iic. Book of the T'ang Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 618 to 906. (The " New" (/^-zV^) History is the work here referred to.) Taylor, Isaac. The Alphabet; an Account of the Origin and Develop- ment of Letters. London, 1883. 2 vols., 8vo. Theophanes, Byzantius. See Fragnienta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. iv. Theophylactus. See Corpus Scriptoruvi Historiae Byzaiitinae. Thomsen, Vilhelm. Inscriptions de VOrkhon dechiffrees. Helsingfors. 1896. I vol., 8vo. Tott, Baron, de. Memoirs of, on the Turks and the Tartars. London, 1785 (?). 2 vols., i2mo. Tournefort, Pitton de. Relation d'un Voyage du Levant. Amstei-dam, 17 1 8. 2 vols., 4to. Tylor, Edward B. Primitive Culture : Researches into the Develop- ment of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art and Custom. 2nd edit., London, 1873. 2 vols., 8vo. Tylor, Edward B. Researches into the Early History of Maitkind and the Developjnent of Civilizatio7t. 3rd edit., London, 1878. I vol., 8vo. Vincent of Beauvais. Speculi Majoris, Viyicentii Burgundi Prae- sulis Belvacensis Ordinis Praedicatorum. Tomus quartus. Qui Speculum Historiale\ws.cx\\i\\.\xx. Venice, 1591. i vol., fol. Waddingus, Lucas. Annates Mino7'um, seu Trium Ordinum a St. Francisco Institutorum. Rome, 1731-1745. 19 vols., fol. Waddingus, Lucas. Scriptores Ordinis Minorinn. Quibus accessit syllabus illorum, qui ex eodem Ordine pro fide Christi fortiter occubuerunt. Priores atramento, posteriores sanguine Christianam religionem asserverunt. Recessuit Fr. Lucas Waddington. Rome, 1750. I vol., 4to. Wei shu. Book of the Wei, or Annals of the Wei Dynasty, covering the period from A.D. 386 to 556. William of Nangis. In Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France., vol. xx. Paris, 1840. In 4to. William of Tyr. Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. In Recueil des Historiens des croisades. Historiens occidentaux. Tome i. 2 Pts., 1844, fol. Wu tai shih. The History of the Five Dynasties of Liang, T'ang, Chin, Han and Chou ; covering the period from A.D. 907 to 959, (The " New " {Hsitt) History is the work here referred to.) Ivi TITLES OF BOOKS. Yiian-chuang. Meinoires sur les Contrees Ocddefttales. Traduit du Sanscrit en Chinois, en I'an 648, par Hiouen Thsang, at du Chinois en Frangais par Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1858. 2 vols., large 8vo. Yule, Henry. Cathay and the Way Thither j being a collection of mediaeval notices of China. London, 1866. 2 vols., 8vo. (Hakluyt Soc.) Yule, Henry, and Arthur C. Burnell. A Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial IVords and Phrases, etc. London, 1866. i vol., 8vo. ERRATA. P. 102, line 5 p'oui bottom, omit it that. P. 122, โ€ž 2 โ€ž read Batho. P. 139, โ€ž 15 read Lepsinsk. P. 139, ,, 17 โ€ž Balkash. P. 158, ., 9 from bottom, read classical. P. 160, ,, 5 โ€ž ,, Hai t'ieh shan P. 162, โ€ž 7 โ€ž โ€ž Kuyuk. P. 190, โ€ž 19, transpose refe7'ence (2) to line 20, after wora daughter. P. 198, โ€ž I, read Orengai. P- 253, โ€ž II, โ€ž his children. THE JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN, 1245-1247, AS NARRATED BY HIMSELF. J. Of the route we went, and of the countries through which we passed. (733)' ,HEN therefore we had arranged, as has been ah'eady stated elsewhere, to set out for the (land of the) Tartars we (left Lyons on the i6th April, 1245, and after travelling through Germany)"^ came to the King of Bohemia.^ And having asked his advice (734), for we were personally acquainted with this lord from of old, which was the best road for us to go by, he answered that ^ The numbers in brackets are those of the pages of the text in d'Avezac's edition. References to Rubruck's narrative are to the pages of the Latin text. ^ These details are supplied from Benedict's narrative. See also d'Avezac, 480. ^' Wenceslaw I, born in 1205, reigned from 1240 to 1253. After having been a friend of the Emperor Frederic, he had gone over to the Pope's party, and become the leader of the German league against him. B 2 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE it were best, it seemed to him, to go by Poland and Ruscia ; for he had relatives in Poland, with whose aid we could enter Ruscia ; so having given us his letters and a good escort to take us through Poland, he caused also money to be given us to defray our travelling expenses through his lands and cities as far as (the court of) Boleslas, Duke of Selesia, his nephew, with whom also we were personally acquainted.^ II. The latter also gave us his letters and an escort and money for our expenses in his towns and cities, as far as Conrad, Duke of Lenczy.- At that time, through God's special grace, the Lord Vassilko, Duke of Ruscia,^ had come there, from whom we learnt more accurately of the Tartars ; for he had sent his ambassadors to them, who had come back to him and to his brother Daniel, bearing to the lord Daniel a safe conduct to go to Bati.* And he told us that if we wanted to go to them we must have rich presents to give them, for they were in the habit of asking for them most importunately, and if they were not given them (and this is quite true), an ambassador could not conduct his business satisfactorily with them ; and that furthermore he was looked upon as a mere nothing^ (735)- Not wishing that the affairs of the Lord Pope and of the Church should be obstructed on this account, with some of that which had ^ He resided at Lignitz (d'Avezac, 481). Karamsin, iv, 21, says he was Conrad's son. 2 Who was in Cracow (d'Avezac, 482). ^ Vassilko, Duke of Volhynia and Vladimir, son of Roman and grandson of Rurik (Karamsin, iii, 134, iv, 100, 142 ; d'Avezac, 482). * Daniel, Duke of Galitch. He had fought against the Mongols in the great Ijattle of the Kalka, 31 May, 1223. Karamsin says Daniel only undertook this journey to Batu's camp in order to deceive him, and inspire the Mongols with confidence in him, the better to be able to prepare means for delivering his country from their yoke. It was for this purpose also that he sought the aid of the Church of Rome, and expressed the wish to march against the Mongols under the Papal flag. Pope Innocent IV gave him the title of King of Gallicia ; but Daniel informed him that he wanted troops, not a title. Nego- tiations were finally broken off between Rome and Daniel in 1249 (Karamsin, iii, 288, 323, iv, 21, et scq.). ^ Conf. Rubruck's remarks, 218, 396. TO THE COURT OF KUVUK KHAN. 3 been given us in charity, so that we should not be in want and for use on our journey, we bought some skins of beavers and of some other animals. Duke Conrad, the Duchess of Cracow/ some knights and the bishop of Cracow, hearing of this, gave us some more of these skins. Furthermore Duke Conrad, his son, and the Bishop of Cracow besought most earnestly Duke Vassilko to help us as much as he could in reaching the Tartars ; and he replied that he would do so willingly. III. So he took us with him to his country ; and as he kept us for some days as his guests that we might rest a little, and had called thither his bishops at our request, we read them the letters of the Lord Pope, in which he admonished them to return to the unity of holy mother Church ; we also advised and (736) urged them as much as we could, as well the Duke as the Bishops, and all those who had met there, to that same end. But as at the very time when this duke had come to Poland, his brother, Duke Daniel, had gone to Bati and was not present, they could not give a final answer, but must wait his return before being able to give a full reply. IV. After that the Duke sent one of his servants with us as far as Kiew.^ Nevertheless we travelled ever in danger of our lives on account of the Lithuanians, who often committed undiscovered outrages as much as pos- sible in the country of Ruscia, and particularl}^ in these places through which we had to pass ; and as the greater part of the men of Ruscia had been killed by the Tartars or taken off into captivity, they were unable to offer them ^ The duchess was called Grimislavva, the duke's son, Lesko (d'Avezac, 482). Furs were used as currency in Russia at the time ; see Rubruck, 329, - On the Dnieper. It had been captured by Batu in 1238, when nearly the whole population was massacred and the city totally de- stroyed (Karamsin, iv, 10, et scq.). B 2 4 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE the least resistance ;^ we were safe, however, from the Ruthenians on account of this servant. Thence then, by the grace of God having been saved from the enemies of the Cross of Christ, we came to Kiew, which is the metropohs of Ruscia. And when we came there we took counsel with the Millenarius,- and the other nobles who were there, as to our route. They told us that if we took into Tartary the horses which we had, they would all die, for the snaws were deep, and they did not know how to dig out the grass from under the snow like Tartar horses, nor could (737) anything else be found (on the way) for them to eat, for the Tartars had neither straw nor hay nor fodder. So, on their advice, we decided to leave our horses there with two servants to keep them ; and we had to give the Millenarius presents, that he might be pleased to give us pack-horses and an escort. Before we reached Kiew, when in Danilov^ I was ill to the point ot death ; but I had m3^self carried along in a cart in the intense cold through the deep snow, so as not to interfere with the affairs of Christendom. V. Having settled then all these matters at Kiew, on the second day after the feast of the Purification of Our Lady (February 4, 1246), we started out from Kiew for other barbarous peoples, with the horses of the Millenarius and an escort. We came to a certain town which was under the direct rule of the Tartars and is called Canov f the prefect of the town gave us horses and an escort as far as another town in which was a certain Alan prefect who was 1 Conf. Rubruck's remarks, 247. 2 In Mongol mingatan. ^ There are several places called Danilow and Danilowka in Russia, but I do not find any at the present time on the route between Vladi- mir and Kiew. * The present town of Kaniew on the Dneiper, about 75 miles below Kiew. TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 5 called Micheas,^ a man full of all malice and iniquity, (738) for he had sent to us to Kiew some of his body-guard, who lyingly said to us, as from the part of Corenza,"^ that we being ambassadors were to come to him ; and this he did, though it was not true, in order that he might extort presents from us. When, however, we reached him, he made himself most disagreeable, and unless we promised him presents, would in no wise agree to help us. Seeing that we would not otherwise be able to go farther, we promised to give him some presents, but when we gave him what appeared to us suitable, he refused to receive them unless we gave more ; and so we had to add to them according to his will, and something besides he subtracted from us deceitfully and maliciously. VI. After that we left with him on the second day of Quinquagesima (19th February), and he led us as far as the first camp^ of the Tartars, and on the first Friday after Ash Wednesday (23rd February), while we were stopping for the night as the sun went down, the Tartars broke in on us in arms in horrible fashion asking who we were. We answered them that we were envoys of the Lord Pope, and then, having accepted some food from us, they left at once. Starting again at morn, we had only gone a little way when their chiefs who were in the camp came to us, and inquired of us why we came to them, and what was our business. W^e answered them that we were the envoys of the Lord Pope, who was the lord and father of Chris- tians ; that he had (739) sent us to the King as well as to the princes and all the Tartars, because he desired that ^ Conf. what Benedict says of him, mfra, 34. Micheas' Mongol title was probably Daruga. ^ The name of this Mongol general is variously written Choranza, Curoniza, and Karancha. ^ Custodia. Rubruck uses the word Jierbergia in the same sense. This " first camp " is the same that Benedict (z'/z/ra, 34) states they reached three days after leaving Brother Stephen of Bohemia. 6 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE all Christians should be friends of the Tartars and at peace with them. Moreover, as he wished that they should be mighty with God in heaven, he, the Lord Pope, advised them as well through us as by his letters, that they should become Christians and receive the faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for otherwise they could not be saved. He told them furthermore that he was astonished at the slaying of human beings done by the Tartars, and especially of Christians and above all of Hungarians, Moravians and Poles, who were his subjects, when they had injured them in nothing nor attempted to injure them ; and as the Lord God was gravely offended at this, he cautioned them to abstain henceforth from such acts, and to repent them of those they had done. Furthermore we said that the Lord Pope requested that they should write to him what they would do and what was their intention ; and that they would give answer to him to all the above points in their letters. Having heard our motives, and understood and noted them down, they said that, in view of what we had said, they would give us pack-horses as far as Corenza, and supply a guide ; and at once they asked for presents (740), which we gave them, for we must needs do their will. Vn. Having given them the presents, and taken as pack- horses some from which they got off, we started under their guidance for Corenza ; but they sent ahead a swift messenger to this chief with what we had told them. This chief is lord of all those (Tartars) who are encamped facing the peoples of the West, lest they suddenly and unexpectedly attack them. This chief has under him, we were told, sixty thousand armed men. When we reached him, he made us put our tents far from him,^ and sent us 1 This again happened at Batu's camp, see infra, 9. Friar Ascelin was treated in like manner at the camp of Ilchikadai in 1249. TO THE COURT OF KUVUK KHAN. 7 his slave stewards^ who asked us with what (741) we wanted to bow to him, that is to say whether we would make him presents. We replied that the Lord Pope had not sent any presents, for he was not sure we could reach them ; and that furthermore we had had to pass through very dangerous places, exposed to the Lithuanians, who make raids along the roads from Poland to near the Tartars, over which we had had to travel ; but nevertheless with what we were carrying with us, by the grace of God and of our Lord the Pope, and for our personal use, we would show him our respect as well as we could. But when we had given him a number of things, they were not enough for him, and he asked for more through intermediaries, promising to have us conducted most honourably if we complied with his request, which we had to do since we wished to live and carry out satisfactorily the order of the Lord Pope. VIII. Having received the presents they led us to his orda or tent, and we were instructed to bend three times the left knee before the door of his dwelling, and to be very careful not to put our feet on the threshold of the door ; and this we were attentive to observe, for sentence of death is on those who knowingly tread upon the threshold of a chiefs dwelling.'-^ After we had entered we were obliged to repeat on bended knee before the chief and all the other nobles (742), who had specially been convened there for that purpose, what has been previously said. We pre- sented to him also the letters of the Lord Pope ; but as our interpreter, whom we had brought with us from Kiew, was not able to translate them for him, nor was there any one else competent to do so, they could not be interpreted. After this, horses were given us, and three Tartars, two of Servos suos procuratorcs. I presume they were Christian, pro- bably Russian, slaves. - .See Rubruck's narrative, 319. 8 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DECARPINE whom were chiefs over ten, and the other a man {homo) of Bati, guided us with all speed to that latter chief This Bati is more powerful than all the other Tartar princes save the Emperor, whom he is held to obey. IX. We started (for Bati's camp) on the Monday after the first Sunday of Quadragesima (26th February), and riding as fast as horses could go trotting, for we had fresh horses three or four times nearly every day, we rode from morning to night, and very often even at night, and it was not before Wednesday in Holy Week (4th April) that we could get to him.^ We crossed the whole country of the Comans, which is all a plain, (743) and has four great rivers. The first is called the Neper, along which, on the side of Ruscia, roams Corenza, and on the other side through those plains, Mauci, who ismightier than Corenza. Secondly, the Don, along which roams a certain prince called Catan, who has as wife Bati's sister. The third is the Volga, a very big river, along which goes Bati.- The fourth is called Jaec, along which go two Millenarii, one along one side of the river, the other along the other. All these (chiefs) descend in winter time to the sea, and in summer go up the courses of these rivers to the mountains. Now this sea is the Mare-Magnum from which goes out the arm of Saint George which goes to Constantinople. We went along for many days on the ice on the Neper. These rivers ^ The mission left Kiew on February 4th, 1246, reached Corenza's camp on or near the west bank of the Dnieper somewhere about the 22nd, and probably crossed the river between Yekaterinoslaw or Alexandrwsk, where it makes a south-westerly bend. ^ Friar John is the first western writer to call the Dnieper, Don, and Volga by these names ; even Rubruck does not use them. This is explained by the fact that the former had a Russian interpreter, accustomed, like all his countrymen, to use these terms ; the latter got his information from the Mongols, and where that failed used the classical terms. Mauci appears to be the Mauchy of Abulghazi ; he was the second son of Chagatai. Catan is, I think, the same as Rubruck's Scatai. He must not be confounded with Katan, mentioned in a subsequent passage. Conf. also Benedict's narrative, infra, P- 34- TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 9 are big, very full of fish, especially the Volga, and they fall into the sea of Greece which is called Mare-Magnum. We went for many days along the shore of this sea, which on account of the ice was very dangerous in several places ; for it freezes along the coast quite three leagues out.^ But (744) before we cam.e to Bati, two of our Tartars went ahead to tell him all we had said at Corenza's. X. When then we came to Bati on the borders of the Comans' country, we were made to camp a good league from their tents," and befc^re we were taken to his court we were told we would have to pass between two fires, which we refused to do under any consideration. But they told us : " Fear not, we only make you pass between these two fires lest perchance you think something injurious to our lord, or if you carry some poison, for the fire will remove all harm." We answered them : " Since it is thus we will pass through, so that we may not be suspected of such things." When we came to the ovda we were ques- tioned by his procurator, who is called Eldegai, as to what we wanted to make our obeisance with, that is to say, what gifts we desired to give him ; we answered him as we had previously answered Corenza, that the Lord Pope had sent no presents, but that we ourselves, of those things which we had by the grace of God and the Lord Pope for our 1 D'Avezac (485) justly remarks : "We may feel surprise at the geo- graphical ignorance of the friar, who, though he might have known the truth by the testimony of his own eyes, remained imbued with ancient errors, and confounds in a single sea the Pontus, the Palus Mseotis, the Caspian sea, or sea of the Khazars, and also the great lake of Aral." Rubruck's geographical knowledge was much superior on all these points. He does not mention the Aral lake, and may have taken it to be part of the Caspian ; I am inclined to think, however, that he passed some distance north of it. 2 Siationes, which the friar says (616) were 'โ– 'โ–  rotundas hi modiwi tentorii." In another part of his work (770) Friar John says that he found at Batu's camp the son of the Duke of Yaroslaw, who had with him a Russian knight called Sangor, a Coman by birth, but then a Christian. The friar's interpreter at Batu's camp was a Russian from Susdal. lO JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE expenses, desired to show him our respect as best we could. Presents having been given and accepted, the procurator called Eldegai questioned us as to our coming ; and to him we gave the same reasons as we had previously given to Corenza. (745) XI. Having been informed of our reasons, they led us into the dwelling, after having made a bow, and heard the caution about the threshold, which has been men- tioned. Having entered then we said what we had to say on bended knees, and then we presented him the letters (of the Pope), and requested that interpreters be given us able to translate them. These were given us on Good Friday (6th April), and we carefully translated the letters into the Ruthenian, Saracenic, and Tartar languages, and this latter interpretation was given to Bati, who read it and noted it carefully. After that we were taken back to our dwelling, but no food was given us, save once on the night of our arrival a little millet in a bowl. XH. This Bati holds his court right magnificently, for he has door-keepers and all the other ofhcials like unto their Emperor. He sits also in a raised place, as on a throne, with one of his wives ; but every one else (of his family), as well his brothers and his sons as others of lesser degree, sit lower down on a bench in the middle (of the tent). All the other people sit behind them on the ground, the men to the right, the women to the left. He has tents made of linen {pannis lineis). (746) They are large and quite hand- some, and used to belong to the King of Hungary. And no outsider save a servant dare enter the tent, no matter how great and mighty he may be, unless he is called, unless perchance he knows he is wanted. When we had stated our object, we took a seat to the left,^ for thus do all 1 With the women, placing them in a position of inferiority ; the women sat on the right of the chief, the traveller's left when facing TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. II ambassadors in going, but on coming back from the Emperor they always placed us on the right. In the middle of the dwelling near the door is a table, on which is placed drink in gold and silver vases ; and Bati never drinks, nor does any prince of the Tartars, especially when they are in public, without there being singing and guitar playing. And when he rides out, there is always carried over his head on a pole an umbrella or little awning ; and all the very great princes of the Tartars do likewise. This Bati is kind enough to his own people, but he is greatly feared by them. He is, however, most cruel in fight ; he is very shrewd and extremely crafty in warfare, for he has been waging war for a long time. XIII. On Holy Saturday (7th April) we were called to his tent and that same procurator of Bati's came out to us, and told us from him that we were to go to the Emperor Cuyuc in their country, and that some (747) of our party would be kept there (with Bati) in the expectation that they would want to send them back to the Lord Pope. We gave them letters concerning all we had done to carry back (to the Pope), but when they had got as far as Mauci, he detained them until our return. As for ourselves, on the day of the Resur- rection of the Lord (8th April), having said mass and settled everything, accompanied by the two Tartars who had been detailed to us at Corenza's, we started out most tearfully, not knowing whether we were going to life or death.^ We were furthermore so feeble that we could hardly ride ; during the whole of that lent our only food had been millet with salt and water ; and likewise on the him. The left side of the host is the place of honour in China, but not so in Mongolia and Tibet, where guests sit to the right of the host. ^ Benedict {infra, 35) says they started on Tuesday after Easter, i.e., 10th April. 12 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE other fast days ; nor had we anything else to drink but snow melted in the kettle.^ XIV. Comania hath to the north of it, immediately after Ruscia, the Morduins, the Bilers, or great Bulgaria, the Bascarts or great Hungary ; after the Bascarts, the Parrosits (748) and the Samogeds, after the Samogeds those who are said to have dog-faces, who live in the deserts along the coasts of the Ocean. To the south it {i.e., Comania) has the Alans, the Circasses, the Gazars, Greece and Constantinople ; also the land of the Ibers, the Cachs, the Brutaches, who are said to be Jews and who shave their heads, the country of the Zicci, of the Georgians and of the Armenians, and the country of the Turks.^ To the west it has Hungary and Ruscia. And this country (of Comania) is extremely long, for we v.'ere riding through it at great speed, having every day fresh horses, five or seven times a day, except, as I have said, when we were riding through desert tracts when we got better and stronger horses (749) able to stand more work, and we 1 The Bilers are the Belar of mediaeval Mahommedan writers, the Bulgars of the Volga (d'Avezac, 490) ; Schiltberger (49) speaks of the city of i?c'/ar. The country of the Bascarts is Rubruck's /"aj-^ra/zVy Friar John uses the Russian form of the name, BasJikiirt. The Parossits are the Borassyts of Edrisi, the Permiaks of modern writers (d'Avezac, 492). The Samogeds are the Samoyeds, the inhabitants of "the country of darkness" of Mohammedan mediieval writers ; Rubruck refers to them (266), but does not name them. Friar John, in another part of his work (678), says " the Samogeds hve by the chase, and make their dwelHngs and clothing of the skins of animals." The dog-faced people, or CynocephalcE, as Benedict [infra, 36) calls them, are a classical reminiscence (see infra, 36, and d'Avezac, 493). King Heythum of Armenia speaks of a country beyond Khatai, where the men were shaped like dogs (Dulaurier, 472). On the Alans, Circasses (or Kerkis) and Gazars, see infra, ^1, note i. On the Ibers, or Georgians, see infra, 46. In another passage of his work (709) Plan de Carpine identifies the Georgians with the Obesi, the Abazes or Abkhases (d'Avezac, 497). Friar John's Cachs appear to be the people of Kakhethi in Georgia (d'Avezac, 495). The Brutaches may be the inhabitants of the Berdagj of mediaeval Mohammedan writers (d'Avezac, 496). Rubruck refers (382) to Jews living in this district. On the Zicci, a western branch of the Cherkess, see i7ifra, 45, note 4. TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 13 kept this up from the beginning of lent to the eighth clay after Easter (i6th April).^ The Tartars killed these Comans ; some fled from before them, and others were reduced to slavery. Most of those who fled have come back to them. XV. After that we entered the country of the Cangitae,- which in many places suffers from a great scarcity of water, and in which but few people remain on account of this deficiency of water. And so it happened that the men of leroslav, Duke of Ruscia, who were going to join him in the country of the Tartars, lost some of their number who "died of thirst in this desert. In this country and also in Comania, we found many human skulls and bones scattered about on the ground like cattle-dung.^ We travelled through this country (of the Cangitae) from the eighth day after Easter to nearly the Ascension of our Lord.* These people are pagans, and the Comans as well as the Cangitae do not till the soil, but only live on the produce of their animals ; nor do they build houses, but live in tents. The Tartars have also annihilated them, and now occupy their country ; those of ihem who were left they have reduced to slavery. XVI. Leaving the country of the Cangitae we entered that of the Bisermins.^ These (750) people used to speak the ^ Benedict {infra, 35J says it only took them two weeks to ride through Comania, but he counts merely from the time they left Batu's camp. To this we must add the " five weeks and more " he says they took to ride from the Dnieper to Batu's camp, near Sarai, on the Volga. The two narratives agree perfectly. โ– ^ Rubruck (274) calls them Cangle, and says they were Comans. Benedict uses the same name for them as John. ^ Conf the Constable of Armenia's remarks in Introductory Notice, supra. ^ I.e., from the i6th April, 1246, to the middle of May : Ascension day falling that year on the 17th May. '" Bisermin is a corrupt form of Mussulman. Phi-su-ma7i kuo, "country of the Pusuman," occurs in Chinese works of the Mongol period. In the Russian annals the name Bussurmaji is also found (Bretschneider, Af^(^. Travel., Z3 ; s-lsohis Med. Geog., 120). D'Avezac, 14 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN UE CARPINE Coman language, and do still speak it ; but they hold the religion of the Saracens. We found in that country in- numerable ruined cities, overthrown villages, and many de- serted towns. There is a great river in that country whose name 1 do not know, and on which stands a city called lanckint, and also another called Barchin, and still another called Ornas, and many more whose names I do not know.^ This country used to have a lord who was called (523) thinks Friar John used it to designate Turkestan ; it seems to me, ho\ve\'er, that he applies it more particularly to the Khorazmian empire. Benedict {infra^ 37) calls this country Ti/rkya {i.e., Turkestan). He says they travelled through it for ten days, or roughly 350 miles. Anthony Jenkinson (79) uses the word Bussarma7ts to designate the M^oslem, and says it means circumcised. See also infra, p. 48, note 3. ^ The '"great river" is the Syr daria. The traveller must have followed it up from its mouth to perhaps Chimkent, which may be the town of Lenifinc he mentions in another part of his work {771)- D'Avezac, (512) and Bretschneider {Med. Geog., 135) identify lanckint with Yengiiikend, and Barchin with the Pa-erh-chen of the Chinese, the Bat'khalikcnd of the Persians. As to Ornas, Fraehn {Ibn Foslaft, 162) thinks it is Urghendj ; d'Avezac, (505-511) tries to prove that it was the ancient Tanais, the mediceval Tana at the mouth of the Don. I accept as much more probable Bretschneider's suggestion {Med. Geng,^ 236) that it was Otrar, the ruins of which famous place have been found on the right bank of the Syr daria, to the east of Fort Perowsky. In another part of his work (672-674), Friar John says that after the election of Ogodai as Emperor, Batu was sent against the Alti- Soldan and the country of the Bisermins {i.e., the Khorazm Shah and the Khorazmian empire). In the latter country "a certain city called Barchin resisted them for a long time. . . . But the people of another city called lanckint hearing (of the capture of Barchin), went out and surrendered themselves into his hands, and so their city was not destroyed. . . . And then they(2'.i?., the Mongols) marched against a city called Ornas (also written in some MSS. Ornac and 0)'par), and this city was a very populous one, for there were there not only many (kinds of) Christians โ€” Gazars. Ruthenians, and Slavs, and others โ€” but also Saracens, and these latter had dominion over the city. And this city was full of riches, for it is situated on a river which flows by lanckint and the land of the Bisermins, and which flows into a sea (or lake, 7nare), so it is as it were a (sea) port, and all the other Saracens had a very great market in that city. And as (the Mongols) could not capture it otherwise, they cut the river which flowed by the town, and flooded it with all its things and people." It is Cjuite true that these details of the siege of Ornas agree with what Mohammedan writers tell us of the siege of Urghendj by the Mongols in 1221 (see d'Ohsson, ii, 265, et seq.), and for that matter with what Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxxix) says of the siege of Bagdad in 1258 ; but the siege of Otrar in 12 19 was also one of the longest and most difficult the Mongols had undertaken in this famous campaign, and the inundating TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. I 5 the Great Soldan/ and he was put to death by the Tartars with all his progeny, but I am ignorant of his name. The country has very high mountains ; to the south of it is Jerusalem, Baldach, and the whole country of the Saracens. Near its borders are stationed the chiefs Burin and Cadan, who are uterine brothers.^ To the north of it is a part of the country of the Black Kitayans and an Ocean, and in that quarter is stationed Sitan, a brother of Bati.^ We travelled through this country from the feast of the Ascen- sion (17th May) to about eight days before the feast of Saint John the Baptist (24th June). (751) XVTI. After that we entered the country of the Black Kitayans, in which they {i.e., the Mongols) have built anew, as it were, a city called Omyl, in which the Emperor has erected a house where we were invited to drink ; and he who was there on the part of the Emperor of Urghendj may have been done on account of the success of this expedient in the siege of Ornas. As to the identity of Ornas with Tana, we have no knowledge even that the latter place existed in the thir- teenth century ; in fact, we learn from Rubruck that in his time the trade of the Sea of Azow was carried on at Matriga, and that only small flat boats went to the mouth of the Don for fish and salt. Had any trading port existed there at the time, he would surely have men- tioned it. The Russian bishop Peter (1245) speaks of a very great city called Eni/ic, or Ornar/ii, which had been captured by Batha- tarcan (Matth. Paris, Op. cit., iv, 387). Mohammedan mediaeval writers say that Juchi in 12 19 captured Ozkend, Barkhalikend and Eschnars (d'Ohsson, i, 222). It is just possible that Eschnars, where- ever it was on the :5yr daria, is Peter's Ernas or Oniackt, and that this place is the same as Friar John's Ornas and Benedict's {infra, 36) Oriiariim. Sir John Maundevile (255) refers to the city of Octora7-. ^ Altisoldanus : in some MS. Altisoldain and Alti-Soldamis. I have followed d'Avezac (504) in translating it as if it were Alius Soldaiiics. The Sultan here referred to isAlayeddin Mohammed. According to Mohammedan writers, he died a fugitive from the Mongols, in a little island in the Caspian, in 1220 (d'Ohsson, ii, 255). ^ Burin is the same as Rubruck's Buii ; Kadan, according to Rashideddin, was not a son of Chagatai, as Friar John states (666), but of Ogodai (d'Avezac, 584). ^ Sitan is the Schiban of Mohammedan writers. Friar John (666) says that he and Batu were sons of Tossuc-can, by which name he designates Juchi, the eldest son of Chingis. l6 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE made the nobles of the town and also his own two sons clap their hands before us (when we drank).^ Leaving this place we found a not very large lake, and as we did not ask its name, we do not know it. On the shore of this lake was a little hill, in where there is said to be an opening, whence in winter there issue out such great tempests of wind that people can barely and at great danger pass by." In summer, however, though one always hears the sound of the winds, but little comes out of the opening, according to what the inhabitants told us. We travelled along the shore of this lake for several days ; it has several islands ^ Conf. Rubruck, 225. The original town of Imil, on the river which still bears that name, and which flows into the Ala Kul, passing south of the town of Chuguchak, was built by the Kara-Khitai somewhere about 1 125. Imil was Kuyuk's appanage {ulus) (Bretschnieder, Med. Geog., 109, 221, 305). In another passage (648), Friar John says that Ogodai rebuilt the city. He adds that " to the south of it lies a great desert (evidently the Takla-makan), in which it is credibly asserted that wild men live. They have no speech, nor joints in their limbs. If they fall down they cannot get up without assistance. They have, however, enough instinct {discretionem) to make felt of camels' (wild camels ?) wool, with which they clothe themselves and make shelters against the wind. If any Tartars chase them and wound them with arrows, they put grass in the wound and flee swiftly before them." The presence of wild men somewhere in the deserts of Central Asia has been reported by many travellers, from Heythum, of Armenia, to Sir Douglas Forsyth and P. K. Kozloff", of Roborowsky's expedition in 1893-95. The latter heard of them living in the valley of the Urungur (not far from Omyl, by the way) โ€” see Rockhill, Land of the Lamas., 150, 256 ; also hisZ'z'arK, 144, and Geog. Jour., \yi, 554. Chinese annals of the sixth century make mention of a race or tribe called K'o-lan, living probably between Sa-chou and the Lob nor, which they describe as the most degraded and unsightly of all savage tribes. They could not distinguish colours or sounds ; they were stupid and weak, knew not how to fight, or even quarrel ; in every respect they were like brute beasts (MaTuan-lin, bk. 334, 4). 2 Either the traveller's memory served him badly, or else the text is here wrong. The lake, it would seem, is the Ala Kul, and the wind, that which blows through the Ala Tau coming from the Ebi nor and the desert beyond (see note to p. 294 of Rubruck). If this be the case, he cannot have come to the lake after leaving Omyl, but must have passed it before getting there, or else he passed it on his return journey. If the text is at fault, the only correction necessary would be to change the first word " leaving," and read " before reaching." That he passed the Ala Kul on his way east, seems clear from the fact that he states, a few lines further on, that he travelled along it, " having it on his left." TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 1/ in it, and it lay upon our left hand. This country has great abundance of streams, not large ones, however ; on either bank of these rivers are woods, but of no great width.^ Ordu lives in this country f he is older than Bati, in fact, older than any (752) of the other chiefs of the Tartars, and the orda or court is that of one of his wives who rules over it. For it is a custom among the Tartars that the courts of their princes and nobles are not broken up (on their death), but some women are always appointed who govern them, and the same proportion of presents are given them that their lord had been in the habit (during his life) of allowing them. After this we came to the first oi-'da of the Emperor,^ in which was one of his wives ; but as we had not yet seen the Emperor they would not invite us nor let us come into her 07^da, though they had us well served in our own tent, according to Tartar fashion ; and they kept us there for a whole day, so that we might rest. XVIII. Proceeding thence on the eve of the feast of Saint Peter (28th June), we entered the country of the Naiman, who are pagans.* On the day of the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul (29th June) there fell in that place a great snow, and we experienced great cold. This country is exceptionally mountainous and cold, and (753) ^ Conf. what Rubruck says (281) of the country of the Kara-Khitai. 2 Urda or Orda of Mohammedan writers. Little is said of this prince in the works to which I have had access. He took part in the great wars in Europe and Asia, and seems to have been a faithful adherent of Kuyuk, as it was he who made the report to that Emperor on Ujugen's conspiracy to seize the throne before Kuyuk's election (d'Ohsson, ii, 194, 203). ^ This must have been in the I mil country, as the Emperor here referred to is clearly the then deceased Ogodai. * Rubruck says the Naiman were Christians. Supposing they pro- fessed the Uigur creed, which Rubruck states to have been a jumble of Manichseism and Buddhism, with perhaps a slight tinge of Nestorianism, they might be classed among his idolaters (as he, in fact, sometimes does the Uigurs), or among Christians. Conf. Ney Elias {Tarikhi-rashidi, 290), where, translating from Jiwani, he speaks of the Naiman as Tarsa, which he renders by " Christians." 1 8 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE there is very little plain in it. These two nations^ do not till the soil, but like the Tartars live in tents. These latter have nearly exterminated them. We travelled through this country many days. XIX. After that we entered the country of the Mongals, whom we call Tartars. And we journeyed through that country for three weeks, I think riding hard, and on the day of the feast of blessed Mary Magdalen (22nd July) we arrived at Cuyuc's, the present emperor. Along all this (part of the) route we travelled very fast, for our Tartars had been ordered to take us quickly to the solemn court which had already been convened for several years for the - election of an emperor,"^ so that we might be present at it. So we had to rise at dawn and travel till night without a stop ; often we arrived so late that we did not eat at night, but that which we should have eaten at night was given us in the morning ; and we went as fast as the horses could trot, for there was no lack of horses, having usually fresh horses during the day, those which we left being sent back, as I have stated previously ; and in this fashion we rode rapidly along without interruption. II. Concerning the arrangement of the Emperor's court and of his princes. (754) I. When we reached Cuyuc's camp, he caused us to be given a tent and allowances such as the Tartars are in the habit of giving ; but they treated us better than they did the other ambassadors. We were not called (before Cuyuc) however, for he had not yet been elected, nor had they ^ I.e.^ the Kara-Khitai and the Naiman. ^ Ogodai died in 1241, but the parUament {kiiriltai) which elected Kuyuk only met in the spring of 1246 (d'Ohsson, ii, 195, et seq.). TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KUAN. 1 9 settled about the succession ; the translation of the letters of the Lord Pope, and what else we had said (to Corenza and Batu), had been sent him by Bati. And when we had been there five or six days, he sent us to his mother,^ where the solemn court was being held. When we got there they had already erected a great tent (755) made of white purple, which in our opinion was large enough to hold more than two thousand persons ; and around it a wooden paling had been made, and it was ornamented with divers designs. On the second or third day we went with the Tartars who had been assigned to guard us (to this tent) ; and all the chiefs met there, and each one was riding around in a circle over hill and dale with his men. On the first day they were all dressed in white purple ; on the second day, and then it was that Cuyuc came to the tent, they were dressed in red (purple) ; on the third day they were all in blue purple, and on the fourth day in the finest baldakins."^ In the paling near the tent were two big gates : one through which only the Emperor could pass, and at which there was no guard though it was open, for no one would dare to go in or out by it ; and the other way by which all those who had admittance went in, "and at this one were guards with swords, bows and arrows, and if anyone came near the tent outside of the set bounds, he was beaten if caught, or shot at with headless arrows if he ran away. The horses were kept at about two arrow-flights, I should say, from the tent. The chiefs went about everywhere with a number of their men all armed ; but nobody, unless a chief, could go to the horses, without getting badly beaten for ^ The Empress Turakina, who was Regent from the time of Ogo- dai's death to the election of Kuyuk. ^ Conf. Benedict's account {infra^ p. y]), and Rubruck (230) ; also d'Avezac (524). Purpura may have been a velvet stuff, but its meaning remains uncertain. Baldakinus was a silk brocade (Heyd, ii, 697). C 2 20 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE trying to do so. And many (of the horses) there were which (756) had on their bits, breast-plates, saddles and cruppers quite twenty marks worth of gold^ I should think. And so the chiefs held counsel beyond^ the tent, and discussed the election, while all the rest of the people were far away from the tent. And there they remained till about noon, when they began drinking mare's milk, and they drank till evening so plentifully that it was a rare sight. III. They called us inside (the tent), and gave us mead, for we would not drink mare's milk at all ; and this was a great honor they showed us ; and they kept on urging us to drink, but not being in the habit of it, we could not -do so, and we let them see that it was distasteful to us, so they stopped pressing us. In the great square was the duke Jeroslav of Susdal in Ruscia, and several princes of the Kitayans and Solanges, also two sons of the King of Georgia,^ a soldan, the ambassador of the Calif of Baldach, and more than ten other soldans of the Saracens,^ I believe, and as we were told by the procurators. For there were more than four thousand envoys, as well those bringing tribute as those offering presents, soldans and other chiefs who had come to present themselves (757) in person, those who had been sent -by their (rulers), and those who were governors of countries. All these were put together outside the paling, and drink was given to them at the same time ; as for ourselves and the duke Jeroslav, when- ever we were outside with them they always gave us a higher place. I think, if I remember rightly, that we 1 About ;^io 10^. of our money. ^ Infra^ or " outside the paling," in the space reserved for them, and which is called a little farther on magiiwii foriim^ or " great square." ^ These two princes were David, son of Giorgi Lascha, and David, son of Queen Rusudan, his cousin. Kuyuk decided that the latter should succeed the former on the throne of Georgia on his death (Dulaurier, 451). "^ Conf d'Ohsson, ii, iq6. TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 21 were at that place for a good four weeks ; and I am under the impression that the election was made there, though it was not proclaimed. It was for the following reason that it was generally believed (that Cuyuc had been chosen) : whenever Cuyuc came out of the tent, they sang to him, and as long as he remained outside of it they inclined before him certain fine staffs on the ends of which were (tufts of) red wool, which was done to no other chief They called this tent {statid) or court the Sira-Orda.^ IV. Coming out of the tent, we all rode together to another place some three or four leagues distant, where there was a fine large plain near a river flowing between 1 Simon of St. Quentin (Vincent of Beauvais, bk. xxxi, ch. xxxii, 452a) describes as follows the ceremonial of raising a new Mongol emperor to the throne. He did not witness himself such a ceremony, and it may well be that he got the details from Benedict the Pole, who was back in Asia Minor in 1248, at about the time of the return of Ascelin's mission from Baidju's camp (see Introductory Notice). " All the Barons being assembled, they placed a gilded seat in their midst, and made this Gog (chan, i.e., Khakan) sit on it, and they put a sword before him and said, ' We want, we beg, and we connnancl that you shall have dominion over all of us.' And he said to them : ' If you want me to reign over you, are you ready each one of you to do what I shall command, to come whenever I call, to go wherever I may choose to send you, to put to death whomsoever I shall com- mand you ?'" They replied that they were. Then he said to them, ' My command shall be my sword.' To this they all agreed. They then placed a piece of felt on the ground, and put him on it, saying : ' Look upwards and recognize God, and downward and see the felt on which you sit. If you reign well over your kingdom, if you make largess, and rejoice in justice, and honour each of your Princes according to his rank, you shall reign in glory, all the world shall bow to your rule, and God will give you everything your heart can desire. But if you do otherwise, you shall be miserable, lowly, and so poor that this felt on which you sit shall not even be left you.' After saying this, the Barons made the wife of Gog sit on the felt ; and with both of them seated there, they lifted them up from the ground, and proclaimed them with a loud voice and cries Emperor and P2mpress of all the Tartars" (conf Schiltberger, 48). The Sira Orda, Friar John states in another passage (608), was half a day's journey from Karakorum. We learn from other sources that it was situated at a place called Ormektua. The ernperor Ogodai used to pass the summer there (d'Ohsson, ii, 84). The staffs with tufts of red wool on the ends were tughs. Baber, i, 217, says the Khan of the Mongols in his time had nine tughs. 22 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE mountains/ where another tent was set up, and it is called by them the Golden Orda : and here it was that Cuyuc was to have been placed on the throne on the day of the Assumption of our Lady (15th August); but it was deferred on account of the hail which fell, to which I have referred previously. This tent (758) rested on pillars covered with gold plates, fastened with gold nails and other woods, and the top and sides of it were covered with balda- kins; the outside, however, being of other kinds of stuff. Here we remained until the feast of Saint Bartholomew (24th August), when there assembled a great multitude, and they all stood with their faces turned to the south, some of them a stone's throw from others, going ever farther and farther away, making genuflexions towards the south. As for us, not knowing whether they were making incantations or bending their knees to God or what else, we would not make any genuflexions.^ After doing this for a long while they went back to the tent, and placed Cuyuc on the imperial seat, and the chiefs knelt before him ; and after that the whole people did likewise, except ourselves who were not his subjects. Then they began drinking, and as is their custom, they kept on drinking till evening. After that they brought in carts of cooked meat, without salt, and to each four or five they gave a quarter. 1 This river must be the Orkhon, unless we identify the Sira Orda, or Ormektua, with the modern Urmukhtin, about 60 miles south of Kiakhta, on the road to Urga, in which case the river would be the Shara ossu. In Mongol, " Golden Orda" is Alian ordic. - As shown in the next paragraph, the friar made the prescribed genuflexion to the living emperor. See on this subject in general Ainer. Hist. Review, ii, 42, et seq., 627 et seq. ; also Pauthier, Ceremonial a la Cour de Klioiibilai. It is interesting to note that in A.D. 981 the Chinese envoy, Wang Yen-te, sent to the Uigur Prince of Kao-chang-, refused to make genuflexions {pai) to him, as being con- trary to the established usages as regards envoys. The prince and his family, however, on receiving the envoy, all faced eastward (towards Peking) and made an obeisance {pai) on receiving the imperial presents {shozi fs'i^i) (Ma Tuan-lin, Bk. 336, 13). TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 23 To those who were inside (the tent) they gave meat and salted broth for sauce ; and in this fashion they passed days in feasting. V. It was at this place (the Golden Orda) that we were called into the Emperor's presence ; after that Chingay^ (759) the prothonotary had written down our names and the names of those who had sent us, and also those of the chief of the Solanges and of the others, he repeated them all, shouting with a loud voice before the Emperor and all the chiefs. When this had been done each of us had to bend the left knee four times,^ and they cautioned us not to touch the threshold, and having searched us carefully for knives, and not having found any, we entered the door on the east side, for no one dare enter that on the west side save the Emperor ; and the same rule applies if it is the tent of a chief; but those of low rank pay little attention to such matters. And when we entered his tent, it was the first occasion since he had been made Emperor (that he had given an audience). He received likewise the ambas- sadors, but very few persons entered his tent. Here also such great quantities of presents were given him by the ambassadors, silks, samites, purples, baldakins, silk girdles worked in gold, splendid furs and other things, that it was a marvel to see. Here also it was that a kind of umbrella or awning (760) that is carried over the Emperor's head was presented to him, and it was all covered with precious stones.^ Here also a certain governor of a province brought 1 Chingai was a Uigur ; he had been minister of Ogodai, but during the regency of Turakina he was deprived of his office (d'Ohsson, ii, 189). ^ Probably an error for three times. Baber (i, 224) mentions the fact of one of his uncles bending the knee nine times before his elder brother, but this is very unusual. 2 One of the insignia of royalty in the East from the earliest times. Such umbrellas are called chatfra in Sanskrit, chatta ox chhatr in Hindustani. Ibn Batuta fiii, 228) speaks of a chhatr raised over the elephant of the Sultan of Sindh, which was of silk set with precious stones, and had a handle of pure gold. 24 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE to him many camels covered with baldakin and with saddles on them, and a kind of arrangement inside of which people could sit, I think there were forty or fifty of them ; and (he also gave him) many horses and mules covered with armour, some of hide, others of iron.^ They asked us if we wished to make any presents; but we had already used up nearly everything we had, so we had nothing at all to give him. It was while here that on a hill some distance from the tent there were more than five hundred carts, all full of gold and silver and silken gowns, all of which was divided up between the Emperor and the chiefs ; and the various chiefs divided their shares among their men as they saw fit. VI. Leaving this place, we came to another where there was a wonderful tent, all of red purple, a present of the Kitayans. We were taken into it also, and here again when we entered they gave us mead or wine to drink, and offered us cooked meat, if we wanted it. There was a high platform of boards^ in it, on which was the Emperor's throne (761): and the throne was of ebony, wonderfully sculptured ; and there were also (on it) gold, and precious stones, and, if I remember rightly, pearls ; and one went up to it by steps, and it was rounded behind. There were benches placed around the throne, on which the ladies sat in rows on the left side f on the right side no one sat on raised seats, but the chiefs sat on seats of lesser height placed in the middle (of the tent), and the other people sat behind them and the whole day there came there a great concourse of ladies. These three tents of which I have spoken* were ^ On the armour in use among the Mongols, see Rubruck, 381. 2 SolaiHum de tabiclis. Conf. Rubruck's description of the palace at Karakorum. ^ From this it would seem that the seats occupied by the wives of the Emperor were on a level with his throne. Conf, however, Benedict, i7tfra^ p. 38. * The tent of white purple, the Sira Orda, and the Golden Orda. TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 25 very big ; but his wives had other tents of white feh, and they were quite large and handsome. It was here also that they separated : the mother of the Emperor went in one direction, the Emperor in another, for the purpose of rendering justice. The paternal aunt of the Emperor was in prison, for she had killed his father in the time when their army was in Hungary, and it was for this that the army had retreated from those countries. She and a number of others were tried for this, and put to death.^ VII. At this same time Jeroslav, grand-duke in a part of Ruscia called Susdal, died at the Emperor's orda. It happened that he was invited by the mother of the Emperor (to her tent), and she gave him to eat and drink with her own hand, as if to honour him ; and he went back to his lodgings (762) straightway and fell ill, and after seven days he was dead, and all his body became livid in strange fashion ; so that everyone believed that he had been poisoned, that they might get free and full possession of his lands. As an argument in favour of this (suppo- sition, the Empress) sent at once, without the knowledge of any of her people who were there, an envoy in all haste to his son Alexander in Ruscia to come to her, for she wished to give him his father's lands ; but he would not go, but remained there (at home) ; in the meanwhile (the Empress) sent also letters for him to come and receive his father's lands. It was believed by all that he would be put to death if he should come, or imprisoned perpetually.^ 1 I cannot trace this story. After Kuyuk's election he had an inquiry made into the conspiracy of Ujugen to seize the throne after the death of Ogodai. A number of Ujugen's officers were, as a result, put to death (d'Ohsson, ii, 203). All accounts agree that Ogodai died a natural though sudden death, which overtook him after a hunt and anight of drinking. ^ Yaroslaw II, Vsevolodvitch, Grand Duke of Russia, reigned from 1238 to 1247. He went to the Mongol Court in 1245 or 1246. Karamsin (iv, 38) refers to the rumour that he had been poisoned there, but dis- misses it as highly improbable. He says that the Duke died on his 26 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE VIII. It was after this death (of Jeroslav) that our Tartars took us to the Emperor, if I remember correctly the time ; and when the Emperor heard from our Tartars that we had come to him, he ordered us to go back to his mother, for he wanted two days after that to unfurl his standard against the whole of the western world, as was emphatically told us by those who knew, as has been previously stated, and he wished us not to know it. When we had returned (to the Empress), we remained there a few days, when we were sent back again to him ; and we remained with him for quite a month, in such hunger and thirst that we were barely able to keep alive, for the allowances which they gave the four of us were scarcely enough for one ; and we could find nothing to buy, the market being too far away. Had not the Lord sent us a certain Ruthenian called Cosmas, a goldsmith, and a great favourite of the Emperor,^ who helped us a little, I verily believe we should have died, unless the Lord (763) had helped us in some other way. He showed us before putting it in place the throne of the Emperor which he himself had made, and also the seal he had manufac- tured for him, and he told us the superscription on his seal.2 We also learnt many private details {secreta) about way back to Russia, and that his body was carried back to Vladimir. Alexander did visit the Mongol Court, with his brother Andrew, but was lucky enough to get back to Russia in 1249 (Karamsin, iv, 78-80). This Alexander is the famous St. Alexander Nevsky. 1 Rubruck's best friend at the Court of Mangu was the French goldsmith, Guillaume Buchier. 2 In another passage (715) he says the seal of the Emperor bore the Avords : "God in Heaven, and Cuyuc-Can on earth. Might of God. The seal of the Emperor of all men." The letter of Kuyuk to Pope Innocent IV begins by '"'' Dei fortitiido Ciiyuc Can., oimiium hoviinuvi imperato}', which in Mongol would be Mbngkd Tdn_s;ri Kuchiindiir, Kiiyuk Khakhan. " By the power of eternal Heaven, Kuyuk, Khakhan." This, I take it, was the inscription on the seal, which in all probability was written in Mongol and in Chinese seal ..characters (conf. Deveria, Notes depigraphie Moitgole., 31, and Sir John Maundevile, 231). TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 2/ the Emperor, from those who had come with other chiefs, several Ruthenians and Hungarians who knew Latin and French, also Ruthenian clerks and others who had been with them, some as long as thirty years, in war and in other events, and who knew all about them as they under- stood the language, having been continually with them some twenty, others ten years, more or less. From these we were able to learn about everything : they told us most freely of all things without our having to question them, for they knew of our desire. IX. After these things had happened the Emperor sent his prothonotary Chingay to tell us to write down what we had to say and our business, and to give it to him ; this we did, writing down all we had previously said at Bati's, as has been stated above. After an interval of several days, he had us again called, and told us, through Kadac, the procurator of the whole empire, and in the presence of the prothonotaries Bala and Chingay, (764) and of many others of his secretaries, to say all we had to say ; and this we did right willingly. Our interpreter on that occasion, as well as on the other, was Temer, a knight of Jeroslav's, now a clerk with him, and another clerk of the Emperor's.^ And he {i.e., Kadac) asked us on the latter occasion if there were any persons with the Lord Pope who under- stood the written languages of the Ruthenians or Saracens or Tartars. We replied that we did not use either the Ruthenian, Tartar, or Saracenic writing, and that though there were Saracens in the country, they were far distant from the Lord Pope. We added that it appeared to us the best plan for them to write in Tartar, and to have it translated to us, and that we would carefully write it down 1 In another passage ('771) he gives the name of this clerk as Dubarlaus, and says he was also in the service of Duke Yaroslaw. He also mentions two servants of the Duke's called Jacob and Michel 28 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE in our language, taking both the (original) letter and the translation to the Lord Pope. On this they left us and went back to the Emperor. X. On the feast of Saint Martin (nth November) we were again summoned, and Kadac, Chingay, Bala and several others of the secretaries came to us, and the letter was translated to us word for word ; and as we trans- lated it into Latin^ they made us explain each phrase, wishing to ascertain if we had made a mistake in any word ; and when (765) the two letters were written they made us read them together and separately for fear we had left out anything, and they said to us : " Be sure you understand it all, for it must not be that you do not understand every- thing, when you have reached such very distant lands." And having told them : " We understand it all," they re-wrote the letter in Saracenic, so that it might be read to the Lord Pope if he could find any one in our part of the world able to do so. XL It is the custom of the Emperor of the Tartars never to address in person a stranger, no matter how great he may be ; he only listens, and then answers through the medium of someone, as I have explained. Whenever they explain any business to Kadac, or listen to an answer of the Emperor, those who are under him {i.e., his own subjects), remain on their knees until the end of the speech, no matter how great they may be. One may not, for it is not the custom, say anything more about any question after it is disposed of by the Emperor.^ This Emperor has a procurator, prothonotaries and secretaries, and also all the other officers for public as well as private affairs, except advocates, for they carry out without a murmur all judgments according to the Emperor's decision. The 1 This translation is given in d'Avezac, 594. The letter contains nothing of importance or interest. ^ Gonf. Rubruck, 360, 396. TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 29 Other princes of the Tartars do in hke manner as regards those things which pertain to their offices. XII. This Emperor may be forty or forty-five years or more old ; he is of medium stature, very prudent and extremely shrewd, and serious and sedate in his manners ; (766) and he has never been seen to laugh lightly or show any levity, and of this we were assured by Christians who were constantly with him. We were also assured by Christians who were of his household that they firmly believed that he was about to become a Christian. As signal evidence of this he keeps Christian clerks and gives them allowances, and he has always the chapel of the Christians in front of his great tent, and (these priests) chant publicly and openly and beat (a tablet) according to the fashion of the Greeks at appointed hours, just like other Christians, and though there may be ever so great a multitude of Tartars and of other people. And the other chiefs do not have this. XIII. Our Tartars who were to come back with us told us that the Emperor proposed sending his ambassadors with us. He wished, however, I think, that w-e should ask him to do so, for one of our Tartars, the elder of the two, told us to ask it ; but it not seeming to us good that they should come, we replied that it was not for us to ask it, but that if the Emperor of his own will sent them, we would with God's help guide them safely. There were various reasons, however, for which it seemed to us inex- pedient that they should come. The first reason was that we feared they would see the dissensions and wars among us, and that it would encourage them to march against us. The second reason was that we feared they were intended to be spies. The third reason was that we feared lest they be put to death, as our people for the most part are arrogant and hasty : thus it was that when the ser- vants who were with us ij^'j') at the request of the 30 JOURNEY OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE Cardinal Legate in Germany were going back to him in Tartar dress, they came near being stoned by the Germans on the road, and were forced to leave off that dress.^ And it is the custom of the Tartars never to make peace with those who have killed their envoys till they have wreaked vengeance upon them. The fourth reason was that we feared they would carry us off, as was once done with a Saracen prince, who is still a captive, unless he is dead. The fifth reason was that there was no need for their coming, for they had no other order or authority than to bring the letters of the Emperor to the Lord Pope and the other princes (of Christendom), which we (already) had, and we believed that evil might come of it. Therefore it pleased us not that they should come. The third day after this, which was the feast of Saint Brice (13th November), they gave us permission to leave {lice}itiani) and a letter of the Emperor signed with his seal, and then they sent us to the Emperor's mother, who gave to each of us a fox-skin gown with the fur outside and wadding inside, and also a piece of purple โ€” of which our Tartars stole a palm's length from each, and also more than half of another piece which was given to our servant ; but though it was no secret to us, we did not choose to make any ado over it. IIL Concerning the route we travelled in coming back. (768) I. So we started on our way back, and we were travelling the whole winter, resting most of the time in the snow in the desert, save when in the open plain where there 1 Hugh of Santocaro, the Pope's Legate in Germany, had sent some of his sei'vants with the mission to assist it โ€” probably as far as Kievv (Wadding, Amtales, iii, 119, and d'Avezac, 481). Conf. Rubruck's remarks (312) about the danger of allowing Mongol envoys to visit Europe. TO THE COURT OF KUYUK KHAN. 3 I were no trees we could scrape a bare place with our feet ; and often when the wind drifted it we would find (on waking) our bodies all covered with snow.^ And so we travelled along till we came to Bati, on the Ascension of our Lord (9th May), and to him we told what (the Emperor) had answered the Lord Pope. He replied that he had nothing to ask other than what the Emperor had written ; but he said that we must carefully tell the Lord Pope and the other lords everything the Emperor had written. Safe conducts having been given us we left him, and reached Mauci on the Saturday after the octave of Pentecost (2nd June), where were our companions and servants who had been detained, and whom we caused to be brought back to us. Thence we went to Corenza, who again begged presents of us, but not having (anything) we gave nothing. He gave us two Comans, who were accounted of the Tartars, as far as Kiew (769) in Ruscia."^ Our own Tartar did not leave us till we had left the last Tartar camp. The others who had been given us by Corenza led us in six days from the last camp to Kiew. H. We reached (Kiew) fifteen days before the feast of Saint John the Baptist (9th June). The Kiewians who had heard of our arrival all came out to meet us rejoicing, and congratulated us as if we had risen from the dead, and ^ The only detail concerning the route followed by the mission on its return journey is a brief reference (771) to its having passed through a town of the Bisermins called Lemfinc. Although I am unable to identify this town (it may, however, be Chimkent), it was in all probability in the Syr daria valley; and it seems likely that the route followed from Kuyuk's camp to this point was practically the same as in going, and from there to Batu's also very nearly the same : though on the 9th May, when the mission arrived at that Prince's camp, he may have been somewhat farther north than the neighbourhood of Sarai, his winter quarters. - In another passage (771) he notes that he met on the border of Comania the Duke Roman (of Russia), then on his way to the Tartars ; also the Duke Aloha and the Duke of Cherneglove (Chernigow), who accompanied him back through Russia. 32 FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARriNE. SO they did to us throughout Ruscia, Poland and Bohemia.^ Daniel and Vassilko his brother received us with great rejoicing, and kept us, against our will, for quite eight days ; during which time they held counsel between themselves and the bishops and other notables about those things on which we had spoken to them when on our way to the Tartars. And they answered us jointly, saying, that they wished to have the Lord Pope for their particular lord and father, and the holy Roman Church as their lady and mistress, and confirming likewise all they had previously transmitted on the matter through their abbot ; and after that they sent with us to the Lord Pope their letters and ambassadors. ^ He notes (772) that he met at Kiew a number of Constantinople traders who had come there through the Tartar country ; all of them were Italians. He mentions among others Michel of Genoa, Manuel of Venice, and Nicolas of Pisa. NARRATIVE OF FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE'S MISSION; DERIVED FROM AN ORAL STATEMENT OF HIS COMPANION, FRIAR BENEDICT THE POLE.i (774) N the year of Our Lord one thousand two hundred and forty-five, Friar John of the order of Minor Friars, and of Pian de Carpine, despatched by the Lord Pope to the Tartars in company with another friar,- left Lyons in France, where the Pope was, on Easter day (i6th April), and having arrived in Poland he took at Breslau a third friar of the same order, Benedict by name, a Pole by nationality, to be the companion of his labour and tribulations and to act as his interpreter. Through the assistance of Conrad, Duke of the Poles, they reached Kiew, a city of Ruscia, now under the dominion of 1 The text was published for the first time by d'Avezac {pp. cit., 77A-779)- It was found in MS. No. 2477 of the Colbert Collection in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. ^ Stephen of Bohemia was his name, as we learn from Wadding {Sa-ipffli-es, 221). D 34 NARRATIVE OF the Tartars. The headman of the city gave them an escort for a distance of six days thence to the first camp of the Tartars, near the border of Comania.^ (775) II- When the chiefs of this camp heard that they were envoys of the Pope they asked for and received presents from them. Friars John and Benedict, having by their order left behind the third friar, who was too feeble, also their horses and the servants they had brought with them, set out for a second camp on the Tartars' own horses and with pack animals provided by them ; and so, after changing horses at several camps, they came on the third day to the chief of an army of eight thousand men,^ and his attendants {jninistri), having asked for and received presents, conducted them to their chief Curoniza. He questioned them as to the motive of their journey and the nature of their business. This having been stated, he gave them three of his Tartars, who got them supplied with horses and food {expensis) from one army to another, till finally they came to a prince, Bati by name, who is one of the greatest princes of the Tartars, and the same that ravaged Ungaria. III. On the route thither they crossed the rivers called Nepere and Don. They spent five weeks and more on the road, to wit, from the Sunday, Invocavit, to the Thursday, Cenae Domini, on which day they reached Bati,^ finding him beside the great river Ethil, which the Ruscians call Volga, and which is believed to be the Tanais."*^ The 1 Apparently the town governed by the greedy Alan Micheas, mentioned by Plan de Carpi ne {supra, p. 4). 2 Pian de Carpine {supra, p. 5) refers to this camp as " the first camp of the Tartars." ^ The Sunday, In^iocabit, is the first Sunday in Lent (26th February, 1246). Thursday, Coena Domijii, is Holy Thursday, i.e., 5th April, 1246. Friar John says they reached Batu's on the 4th April. * All classical geographers believed that the Volga joined the Don not far from its mouth, and that the combined streams flowed into the sea of Azow. Even Ptolemy appears to have held this view. Conf. Rubruck (252) who gives the course of the Volga correctly. FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE'S MISSION. 35 attendants of Bati having asked for and received presents, consisting of forty beaver skins and eighty badger skins/ these presents were carried between two consecrated fires ; and the Friars were obh'ged to follow the presents, for it is a custom among the Tartars to purify ambassadors and gifts by fire. Beyond the fires there was a cart with a golden statue of the Emperor, which it is likewise customary to worship.- But the Friars refusing positively to worship it, were nevertheless obliged to bow their heads (before it). Bati, having heard the letter of the Pope (legatione), and examined every word of it, sent them (776) after five days, that is to say on the Tuesday after Easter,^ together with his letters which he gave to one of their own Tartar guides, to the son of the great Emperor,^ which son's name is Cuyuc Kan, in the fatherland of the Tartars. IV. Leaving therefore Prince Bati, (the Friars), having wrapped their legs with bandages, so as to be able to bear the fatigue of riding, left Comania behind after two weeks. In this country they found a great deal of wormwood {absinciuni),^ for this country was once called Pontus, and Ovidius says of Pontus : " Tristia per vacuos horrejti absinthia campos."^ While the Friars were travelling through Comania they ^ Pelles taxorum. 2 Conf. Plan de Carpine's remarks (620) on the subject. ^ April loth, 1246. Pian de Carpine (747) states they left Batu's camp on April 8th. * Ogodai, son of Chingis Khan, died in 1241 ; his son Kuyuk Avas only elected in 1246. 'โ– ' Saksaul, or Anabasis Ainviodendro?!. On the time taken to traverse Comania, see supra^ p. 13, note i. Clavijo (104) states that he was made to travel clay and night in order to reach Timur's court more promptly. " Ovid., Epist.^ I, iii. D 3 36 NARRATIVE OF had on their right the country of the Saxi/ whom we beheve to be Goths, and who are Christians ; after them the Gazars, who are Christians.^ In this country is the rich city of Ornarum,^ which was captured by the Tartars by means of inundations of water. After that the Circasses, and they are Christians ; after that the Georgians, and they too are Christians. Prior to that, while in Ruscia, they had the Morduans on their left, and they are pagans, and for the most part they shave the backs of their heads. After them were the Bylers, and they are pagans ; and after that the Bascards, who are the ancient Ungari ; then the Cynocephales, who have dogs' heads ; and then the Parocitse,* who have a small narrow mouth, who can masticate nothing, but who live on liquids and sustain themselves on the odours of meats and fruits. {yj'j') V. On the border of Comania they crossed a river called Jaiac, and there begins the country of the Kangitae. They travelled through this for twenty days, and they found few people there, but many swamps and vast salt marshes and salt rivers,^ which we take to be the Maeotide 1 The Goths of the Crimea (conf. Rubruck, 219). ^ Contemporary Mohammedan writers state that the Ghozz or Khazar Turks Hved to the east of the sea of Tabaristan or Caspian (Ibn Khaldun, Not. et ext?:, xix, i, Pt. I, 1 56). They may have occupied the country around the Lake Aral, which the KankaH (the friars' Cangitae or Caitgle) had evacuated in the early part of the thirteenth century (d'Ohsson, i, 196). The Khazars were mostly Jews, but Christians and Mohammedans were also numerous amongst them. ^ Pian de Carpine (674) calls it Ornas (see Schuyler, Turkestan., i, 401, and supra, p. 14, note i). * Solinus {op. cit.., 207) speaks, on the authority of Megasthenes, of a dog-headed people of India, without speech, and also of a people which fed solely on the odour of wild apples (conf. Pliny vii, 2, 282, 283 ; McCrindle, Ancient India, 83 ; also supra, p. 12, note ; and Schiltberger, 35). The Chinese annals of the sixth century {Liang shu, bk. 54 ; Nan shift, bk. 79) tell of a kingdom of dogs {Koic kuo) in some remote corner of north-eastern Asia. The men had human bodies but dogs' heads, and their speech sounded like barking. The women were like the rest of their sex in other parts of world. ยฐ Salsas, et flumina salsa. The salt marshes and lakes near the river Ural (Jaiac), the largest of which is the Indersky, into which FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE'S MISSION. '^J swamps. For eight days they went through a vast desert, barren and sandy. After the country of the Kangitae they came to Turkya, where they for the first time^ found a big city (called) Janckynt, and they travelled for about ten days in this Turkya.^ Now Turkya professes the religion of Machomet. After Turkya they entered a country called Kara-Kytai, which meaneth Black Kytai ; and these people are pagans, and they found no town there. These were once the masters of the Tartars.^ After that they entered the country of the Tartars on the feast of Mary Magdalen. VI. They found the Emperor in that country in a great tent which is called Syra-Orda, and here they remained for four months, and they were present at the election of Cuyuc Kan, their Emperor. And the same Friar Benedict the Pole told us orally that he and the other friar saw there about five thousand great and mighty men, who on the first day of the election of the king all appeared dressed in baldakin ; but neither on that day nor on the next, when they appeared in white samites, did they reach an agreement. But on the third day, when they wore red samites, they flow two salt springs. There are some thirty salt lakes in the Ural province. The remark that these swamps may be the Maeotide swamps is probably the editor's. Benedict and his companion did not, however, know of the existence of the Aral, nor did William of Rubruck, nor Marco Polo either, for that matter. Friar William passed probably a considerable distance to the north of it ; the two first-named took it for a part of the Caspian, which in turn they believed to be a portion of the Black Sea. 1 Prima, i.e., since leaving the right bank of the Dnieper. By Turkya we must understand Turkestan. Friar John (680) calls the Seldjuk empire of Asia Minor Uriim, i.e.. Rum. This Turkya he calls (672) the country of the Bisermins. ^ The part of Turkestan ( Turkya) through which they travelled was the valley of the Syr daria. They probably went from near Yengui- kend or Yanikent (janckyni, Pian de Carpine's lanckint) to near the modern town of Turkestan, or perhaps considerably to the east of it (see Schuyler, i, 401). ^ This phrase seems to me to show some knowledge on the part of Benedict of the story of Unc Khan and Prester John. 38 NARRATIVE OF came to an agreement and made the election. This same friar declared also that about three thousand envoys, coming from different parts of the world, were present at that same court with messages, letters, tribute or presents of divers kinds and in great numbers. These same friars, who were counted among them, had to put on, (778) as of necessity bound, baldakin over their gowns, for no ambas- sador may appear in the presence of the chosen and crowned sovereign unless he be properly dressed.^ VI r. Having been taken into the Syra-Orda, that is to say, the tent {statio), of the Emperor, they saw him there crowned and gorgeous in splendid attire seated on a raised dais {tabulatuni), richly ornamented with gold and silver, and above it was trellis-work (^cancellatiini), and around the edge four separate flights of steps led up to the platform. Three of tliese flights were in front of the dais ; by the middle one the Emperor alone goes up or comes down, by the two side ones the nobles and others (pass), but by the 'ourth, which is behind (the Emperor), his mother, his wife, and his relatives ascend. The Syra-Orda had three openings in guise of doors ; the middle one, which far exceeded the others in size, was always left without any guard, the King alone entering by it. And if anyone else should have entered by it, he would have been without a doubt put to death. The two other side doors were closed with silk (hangings), and had very rigid guards, who watched them in arms, and through these everyone else passed with signs of reverence for fear of the established punishment. VIII. On the third day the letter of the Lord Pope was carefully listened to and gone over through (the medium of) officials and interpreters. After that the Friars were sent to the mother of the Emperor, whom they found in another ^ Rubruck (268) refers to this remark of Benedict. FRIAR JOHN OF PIAN DE CARPINE'S MISSION. 39 locality, seated in like fashion, in a large and most beautiful tent. After receiving them with great courtesy and friendliness, she sent them back to her son. While they were stopping there, they used frequently to have with them some of the Georgians living among the Tartars. They are quite respected by the Tartars, because they are a strong and warlike people. They are called Georgians because Saint George aids them in their fights ; and he is their patron and they honour him (779) above all other saints.^ They use the Greek idiom in their Holy Scrip- tures, and they have crosses over their tents and carts. The customs of the Greeks are observed in divine service among the Tartars. IX. The business on which the Friars had come having been settled, they took their leave of the Emperor, carrying back with them letters of his signed with his seal to the Lord Pope ; and they went their way back, travelling westward with the ambassadors of the soldan of Babylon,- who after accompanying them for fifteen days then left them and turned southward. The Friars continued on their journey westward, and after passing the Rhine at Cologne, got back to the Lord Pope in Lyons, and pre- sented to him the letters of the Emperor of the Tartars. ^ Conf. Rubruck (383) where he derives the name from that of the river Cur. 2 The Ayubite Sultan of Egypt, whose capital, Cairo, was then called Babylon. THE JOURNEY TO THE EASTERN PARTS OF THE WORLD, OF FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK, OF THE ORDER OF MINOR FRIARS, IN THE YEAR OF GRACE MCCLIII. (213) O the most excellent lord and most Christian Louis, by the grace of God illustrious King of the French, from Friar William of Rubruck, the meanest in the order of Minor Friars, greetings, and may he always triumph in Christ. It is written in Ecclesiasticus of the Wise man : " He shall go through the land of foreign peoples, and shall try the good and evil in all things. "^ This, my lord King, have I done, and may it have been as a wise man and not as a fool ; for many do what the wise man doth, though not 1 Ecclesiasticus, xxxix, 5. The Vulgate has: '''โ€ข In terrain aliejti- genarum gentium pertransiet : bona enini et viala in hoviinibiis tentabit^'' whereas our monk has : " In terrain alienariini gentium transiet^ bona et mala in omnibus temptabity I fancy he quotes here from memory, as he does (391) in another passage of the Bible, which he also misquotes. JOURNEY OF FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 4I wisely, but most foolishly ; of this number I fear I may be. Nevertheless in whatever way (214) I may have done, since you commanded me when I took my leave of you that I should write you whatever I should see among the Tartars, and you did also admonish me not to fear writing a long letter, so I do what you enjoined on me, with fear, however, and diffidence, for the proper words that I should write to so great a monarch do not suggest themselves to me. Be it known then to your Sacred Majesty that in the year of our Lord one thousand CCLIII, on the nones of May (7th May), I entered the Sea of Pontus, which is commonly called Mare Majus, or the Greater Sea,^ and it is one thousand CCCC miles in length,"^ as I learnt from merchants, and is divided as it were into two parts. For about the middle of it there are two points of land, the one in the north and the other in the south. That which is in the south is called Sinopolis, and is a fortress and a port of the Soldan of Turkia ; while that which is in the north is a ^ The name Pontus, or Pontus Euxinus, was used by all classical authors to designate the Black .Sea, and is also found in the early Mohammedan writers (Masudi and Edrisi). The earliest use of the name " Black Sea" would seem to be in Constantine Porphyrogenitus {De adininistrando^ 152); he there refers to it as iKOTeivr] daXdaarj, though throughout the rest of the work he invariably uses the name " Pontic Sea" (TIovtlkt] daXdcrar]), or Pontus {Hovtos). Friar Jordanus (53) uses the name Mare Nigrum. His Mare Maurion seems to desig- nate the eastern part of the Euxine. Some of the early Arab geo- graphers use the name "Sea of Nitoch," and "Sea of the Khazars." ^ This is greatly in excess of the truth. Hakluyt has " 1008 miles in length." The classical writers had very erroneous ideas about the size of the Black Sea (see Pliny, iv, 24, and Tchihatcheff, Asie Mmeure, i, 34, ei seq.). The greatest length of the Black Sea is about 550 geographical miles, its greatest width about 325 (Rawlinson, Herodotus, iii, 65). ^ Sinopolis, or Sinope, was captured by the Turks in 1215 (Hammer, Hist., i, 34). Strabo (xii, 3, 467) says it was a colony of the Milesians. The city stood on a rocky peninsula, and had two ports. It was noted from early times for its powerful fleet and its tunny-fish {rrrfkaiivbeia) fisheries (see also Ibn Batuta, ii, 348, and Heyd, i, 298, 551). The Seldjuk kingdom of Rum, with its capital at Iconium, comprised most 42 JOURNEY OF certain province now called by the Latins Gazaria,^ but by the Greeks who inhabit along its sea coast it is called Cassaria, which is Cesaria. And there are certain promon- tories projecting out into the sea to the south toward Sinopolis ; and there are three hundred miles between Sinopolis and Cassaria, and so there are seven hundred miles from these points to Constantinople in length and breadth, and seven hundred to the east, which is Hyberia, that is to say, the province of Georgia. So we made sail for the province of Gazaria, or Cassaria, which is about triangular in shape, having on its west side a city called Kersona,-^ where Saint Clement was martyred. 'of Asia Minor. It was formed from the Seldjuk empire in 1084, and lasted to 1300 (Hammer, op. cii., i, 11, et seq.). Pian de Carpine (680) speaks of " the soldan of Urum," but nowhere uses the word Turkia. ^ This name was given to the Crimea, probal:)ly in the eighth century, on account of the Khazars who then occupied it as part of their domain, which extended from north of the Caucasus to the Don. This nation, which seems to have been of Turkish stock, though some writers say of Finnish, is first mentioned by Prisons in A.D. 626. He writes their name 'AKaT^tpot and 'AKaTipoi. Menander calls them Kar^ipoi, and Jornandes uses the form A^azirri. The form Xafยซpot is also used. Rashideddin says that when the descendants of Oguz entered Persia, one of their tribes, having fixed its residence amidst forests, received the name of Agache?-is. Quatremere (53) identifies the Khazars with the Agacheris, or " Men of the Woods," but the latter name would seem to have been applied to many Turkish tribes. Pian de Carpine (674) refers to the Khazars as Gazari, and Friar Jordanus (54) speaks of "the empire of Osbet (Uzbeg), which is called Gatzaria." ^ The city of Sevastopol. Jornandes (428) says the Scythians allowed the Greeks (of Heraclea) to found this town of Chersonesus to trade with them. He speaks of the Aulziagri Huns who lived in the neighbourhood of Cherson, " where the greedy trader brought the rich products of Asia." In the earliest times, as in those of our traveller and Ibn Batuta, the export trade of this place consisted principally in furs and slaves. Jornandes, in fact, speaks {lo'c. cit.) of the Hunuguri as noted for the sable skins with which they supplied the market ; the " rich products of Asia" referred to above only means the silk and other fabrics of western Asia, which were imported into Cherson by the Greek traders. The exact nature of the trade at this place may probably be determined by what Strabo (xi, 2, 423) states in reference to that of the town of Tanais, at the mouth of the Don (Tanais), He says that the nomads brought there slaves, furs, and various products of native industry, while the Greeks imported principally tissues and wine โ€” a real west coast trade ! (see also Heyd, i, 11, 48 ; and infra^ p. 43, note 2, on the trade of Soldaia). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 43 And as we were sailing past it we saw (215) an island on which is a temple said to have been built by angelic hands.^ In the middle, at the summit of the triangle as it were, on the south side, is a city called Soldaia,2 ^hich ^ Berthier de la Garde says that this passage of Rubruck applies very exactly to a point (or headland) in the harbour of Sevastopol, and corroborates the legend which connects it with the martyrdom of St. Clement and the construction of a church dedicated to him on this spot. This headland would seem to have been at one time an island, and it would at all events look like one to a ship sailing by. The church on it is marked on Russian maps of as late a date as 1772. It is about 12 versts from the monastery of St. George, and the relics of St. Clement were found there by Constantine the Philosopher. Bacon (i) 357)) after quoting this passage of Friar William, adds "in this temple the body of the saint was buried." Some writers have located the place of St. Clement's martyrdom at Inkerman, but Berthier thinks this inadmissible {Materials for the Archceology oj Russia, No. 12 ; The Antiquities of Southern Russia, Excavations in the Chersonesus, by A. L. Berthier de la Garde, 1893, 61, et seq.). St. Clement is said to have been the immediate successor of Peter the Apostle. He was exiled to the Chersonesus during the persecution of Diocletian, and was martyred in about A. D. 100, during the persecution of Trajan. Whether our traveller referred to this spot or to another in the neighbourhood must remain doubtful, for traditions are also connected with Cape Chersones and Cape Fioraventi ; on the latter now stands the monastery of St. George, but it is believed by some archsologists that the famous temple of Artemis of the Thracians, or Parthenon, occupied the same place, though other authorities say it was on Cape Chersones. 2 The modern Sudak. The earliest mention 1 have found of this place dates from the twelfth century ; then, as now, it was known to Oriental writers as Sudak ; while western mediaeval authors write the name Sodaia, Soldachia, Soltadia, Sholtadia, but more frequently Soldaia. The Greeks transcribed the name lovylaia. As Friar William justly remarks, it was in his time the emporium for Western Asiatic and Russian trade, monopolising that which in former centuries had been carried on at Kherson and Tanais โ€” for Tana hardly existed in his time, at least we find no mention of it anywhere. Ibn Alathir (xiv, 456) says it was the capital of the Kipchak, and that the inhabitants of the country drew their supplies from it, for it was situated on the sea of the Khazars, and ships came there laden with stuffs. The Kipchaks bought from them, selling them young girls, slaves, black fox, beaver, grey squirrel skins, and other products of their country. Ibn Batuta tells us (ii, 415) that when he visited this town "its port was among the largest and finest known. Outside the city are gardens and streams. Turks inhabit it, with a corps of Greeks, who live under their protection and are artizans ; most of the houses are built of wood. This city was formerly very large, but the greater part was destroyed in a civil war between the Greeks and the Turks." Sudak was first captured by the Mongols in 1223, but lost shortly after, being recaptured in 1239 Hammer Golden. Horde, 87 ; 44 JOURNEY OF looketh across towards Sinopolis ; and thither come all the merchants arriving- from Turkia who wish to go to the northern countries, and likewise those coming from Roscia and the northern countries who wish to pass into Turkia. The latter carry vaire and minever, and other costly furs ;^ the others (the former) carry cloths of cotton or bombax,^ silk stuffs and sweet-smelling spices.^ To the east of this province is a city called Matrica,* where the river Tanais Antoninos, Zametki xii-xv veka, etc., 595 ; Heyd, i, 299, ei seq.). Friar William thought โ€” and in this he but followed the opinion of classical writers โ€” that the coasts of the Crimea ran due east and west, north and south, Sudak occupying the south-east angle on the coast. ^ Variuin et grisium. There is some uncertainty as to the exact species of furs called by these names. " Vair et griz," " vaire and minever," are constantly used in mediaeval works. Ducange (iii, 961) says they are commonly synonymous terms, but sometimes they are used to indicate distinct kinds of furs. Vaire is supposed to be squirrel ; inifiever is also a kind of scpirrel skin, possibly the same as vaire, but with the white fur of the belly left on it. Others, however, say that vimever was an inferior quality of ermine. Ibn Batuta (ii, 401), speaking of the Russian furs, ranks ermine first and, sable or marten second. Pegolotti (Yule's Cathay, 306) speaks of the " Sclavonian squirrel." In another passage (329), Rubruck says that skins, varii et grisH, formed the currency of the Russians. Hakluyt renders these words by "ermines and gray furres." Purchas (34) translates this, "little spotted and grisel'd skins." Karamsin (i, 307), quoting Russian annalists, says the skins used as currency were those of marten and squirrel. I am inclined to beHeve that, whatever the correct interpretation of these words may be, as used by Friar William they designate marten and grey squirrel skins. 2 Heyd (ii, 614) says that the most ancient name given to cotton in western works is bonibaciiim, though, from the end of the thirteenth century, one occasionally finds the word cottoman, derived from the Arabic rotn. Rubruck uses the word cottojie in several passages ; Joinville also speaks of telle de coton. ^ On the spice trade of the Levant in the thirteenth century, see Heyd, ii, 611, 693, et seq. * Matrica, also called Matracha, Matica, and Matrega, \va.s situated on the Taman peninsula, near the straits of Kertch, and on a branch of the Kuban river, called by Edrisi the Sakir. I have not been able to ascertain the date of its foundation, but in the tenth century it was already an important political and commercial centre of the Khazars. It is mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus (De administr., l8l), who calls it Tafxdrapxa (possibly ra Mdrapxa). In A.D. 966 it was captured by the Russians under Sviatoslaw, and formed part of a Russian principality, which derived its name, Tmutorkan (Constantine's Tamatarcha ?), from it, down to the time of the Coman invasion in the early part of the twelfth century, when it seems to have regained its FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 45 falls into the sea of Pontus, through an opening xii miles wide. For this river, before it enters the sea of Pontus, forms a kind of sea to the north which has a width and breadth of seven hundred miles, with nowhere a depth of over six paces,^ so large vessels do not enter it, but the merchants of Constantinople who visit the said city of Matrica send their barks as far as the River Tanais^ to buy dried fish, such as sturgeon, barbel and tench,^ and other fishes in infinite varieties. The said province of Cassaria is therefore encompassed by the sea on three sides : to wit, on the west, where is Kersona, the city of Clement, and to the south where is the city of Soldaia, to which we were steering, and (216) which makes the apex of the province, and to the east by the sea of Tanais. Beyond this opening is Zikuia,^ which does not obey the independence (Karamsin, i, 214). In 1230 we hear of Matrica as having a Greek prince, people and clergy. In the middle of the fifteenth century Matrica was occupied by the Genoese, who held it for a long time under the suzerainty of one of the Cherkess princes (Antoninos, 829 ; Heyd, i, 206 ; ii, 180, 379). 1 Friar William's view that the real mouth of the Don (Tanais) is at the Straits of Kertch, and that the Sea of Azov {Palus Maeotis) is properly but part of the river, meets with the approval of modern geographers. Reclus {Ge'o^raphie, v, 792) says that " the Maeotide Gulf is a river and a sea at the same time." Conf. our author's further remarks on the subject, 252. The views of the ancients regarding the Palus Maeotis, which Rubruck here only refers to as " a kind of sea," were rather hazy. Strabo (vii, 5, 258) gives its circumference as 9,000 stadia. Pliny (iv, 24, 197) says that some authors state it is 1,406,000 paces in circumference, others 1,125,000. Jornandes (428) gives its circumference as 1,400,000 paces, and adds that its depth nowhere exceeds eight ells. ^ Had the town of Tanais, or Tana, still existed at the time, it is hardly credible that our traveller would have omitted to mention it. ^ Hosas (or thosas) barbotas. I have translated the terms con- jecturally. Tench is tinea in Latin, tetiche in Old French. In another passage, 249, our traveller refers to a barbota given him on the Don. Hakluyt has " Sturgeon, Thosses, Barbils, etc." ^ Strabo (ii, 31, 107 ; xi, 12, 45 ; xvii, 24,712) refers to the Zygi^ Zygoi^ or Zygioi^ among the tribes Hving between the Se;a .of Hyrcania (Caspian) and the Pontus. He also mentions (xi, 11, 446) a tribe of Sigi7i7ioi living near the Caucasus, prol^ably in the plains north of it, as he refers to the women being expert chariot-drivers. Constantine 46 JOURNEY OF Tartars, and to the east (of that) are the Suevi^and Hiberi,^ who do not obey the Tartars. After that, to the south, is Trapesund, which hath its own lord, Guido by name, who is of the family of the emperors of Constantinople, and he obeyeth the Tartars.^ After that is the country of Porphyrogenitus {De aduim.^ i8i) says : " i8 or 20 miles from Tama- tarcha (Matrica) is the river Ucruch (Ou/cpoux) which separates Zichia (Zixi'ds) from it ; from the Ucruch (probably a branch of the Kuban) to the river Nicophin {Niic6\J/lv) was Zichia." Pian de Carpine (748) speaks of the ferra Ziccorum. See also d'Avezac, 497, and Douglas W. Freshfield, Proc. Roy. Geo. Soc, x, 328, et seq. 1 The Siiania7ts oi VXvsy^^ (vi, 4), or Soaiies (Sodi/at) of Strabo (xi, 14, 425). They are a people of Karthwelian race, and still occupy in the western Caucasus the country (Suanetia) they did in classical times (de Morgan, ii, 182, 189 : Finlay, iv, 339). ^ By Hiberi our author has already told us he understands Georgians. He would have stated the case more correctly if he had said that the Georgians did not quietly submit to the Tartar yoke, for Georgia had been subdued by the Mongols in 1239 or thereabouts. 3 This is one of the very few errors into which our traveller has fallen. The Emperor Andronikos Ghidos (his Guido) of Trebi- zonde only reigned to 1235. From 1238 to 1263, Manuel I, surnamed '' the Great Captain," was on the throne. Joinville (167) says : " Tandis que le roy fermoit Sayete {i.e., was fortifying Sidon, in 1252), vindrent a li les messages 'k un grant seigneur de la profonde Grece, lequel se fesoit appeler le grant Commenie et sire di Trafentesi (the Great Comnenus, lord of Trebizonde) .... Au roy requistrent que il li envoaist une pucelle de son palais, et il la prenroit a femme. Et le roy respondi que il n'en avoit nulles amenees d'outre-mer, et leur loa que ils alassent en Constantinoble a I'empereur, qui etoit cousin le roy, et li requeissent que il leur baillast une femme pour leur seigneur, tele que feust du lignage le roy et du sien." Had not Friar William left on his journey before the time of the arrival of this important mission at Sidon, it cannot be conceived that he should have committed this mistake as to the reigning emperor. The empire of Trebizonde was founded in 1204 by Alexis Komnenos, son of Manuel, the eldest son of Andronikos. He took the title of " Great Comnenus," which was also borne by his successors. He died in 1222, and was succeeded by Andronikos Ghidos, his son-in-law, who became a vassal of the Seldjuk sultan of Iconium. When the Mongols, in 1240 or thereabouts, had driven the Queen of Georgia, Rusadan, from Tiflis, and her son David had been elected King of the Iberian and Lazian tribes, Trebizonde threw off the yoke of allegiance to the Turks, and united itself with the new Iberian kingdom. Andronikos was succeeded in 1235 by Joannes I (Axuchos), who was killed while playmg tzitkanioti, a game resembling polo, in 1238, and was succeeded by Manuel I, " the Great Captain," a son of the founder of the empire, who reigned until 1263. He was in the early part of his reign a vassal of the Seldjuks, and after the battle of Konsadac in 1244, of the Mongols (Finlay, iv, 317-339). The name Trebizonde is written Trapezounta by Byzantine authors, e.g.., Const. Porphyro., De Aduiiins , 226. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 4/ Vastacius, whose son is called Ascar after his maternal grandfather/ and who is not subject (to them). From the opening (of the sea) of Tanais to the west as far as the Danube all is theirs {i.e., the Tartars'), even beyond the Danube towards Constantinople, Blakia,"^ which is the land of Assan,^ and minor Bulgaria as far as Sclavonia, all pay them tribute ; and besides the regular tribute, thc}- have taken in the past few years from each house one axe and all the iron which they found unwrought.'* We arrived then in Soldaia on the I2th of the calends of June (May 21st), and there had preceded us certain 1 John Ducas Vataces, or John III, was the Greek emperor at Nicea from 1222 to 1255. He had by his first wife, Irene Lascaris, daughter of the Emperor Theodore Lascaris, whom he succeeded, a son called also Theodore Lascaris, our author's Ascar (see Gibbon, vii, 358, et seq. ; Lebeau, xvii, 326, et seq. ; and on this emperor's character and administration, zi^z^., xvii, 413-415). Though Vataces was not a vassal of the Mongols, he paid them tribute. - The Vlachs or Vallachians of Thessaly (our author's Blakia) called themselves, as do the modern Greeks, by the name of Romans. The name of Vlachs, or Vallachians, appears to have been given them by the Sclavonians who colonized their depopulated country. This country became known as Great Vlachia, or Vallachia (Finlay, iii, 227). 3 Or rather " the kingdom of the Asanides." This Bulgo-Vallachian kingdom was founded in the latter part of the twelfth century by three brothers, Peter, Asan (or Yusan), and John. Asan first mounted the throne in 1186, and on his death in 1196 he was succeeded by Peter, who shortly afterwards was murdered and succeeded by John. This state seems to have been quite as much Vallachian as Bulgarian. The old Bulgarian language had completely died out, the language of the court was Vallachian, and Asan and his successors affected to regard themselves as descendants of the Romans (Finlay, iii, 229, et seq , iv, 28). After the first Asan, several monarchs of Bulgaria bore this name ; but from 1246 to 1277 the reigning sovereign was named Michel (Lebeau, xvii, 348, etseq.). * In massa. Hakluyt's text reads fritmenfu/n, " corn," instead of ferrwn, as in all the other MSS. In his translation (1102) the passage is rendered : " exacted of every household an axe, and all such corne as they found lying in heapes." Such tribute of iron seems to have been commonly levied by the Mongols, a people little able to produce the quantity of that metal needed by them. To cite only a few cases, we read that Hulagu demanded from each person on the capitation lists of Armenia the payment, among other things, of one arrow and one horseshoe (Dulaurier, 483). We are told in the Chronicle of Nestor {12) that the Drevlians of Russia paid the Khazars a tribute of one sword for each household (see also Karamsin, i, 50, 314). 48 JOURNEY OF merchants of Constantinople, who had said that envoys from the Holy Land were coming who (217) wished to go to Sartach.^ I had, however, publicly preached on Palm Sunday (April 12th) in Saint Sophia that I was not an envoy, neither yours nor anyone's, but that I was going among these unbelievers according to the rule of our order. So when I arrived these said merchants cautioned me to speak guardedly, for they had said that I was an envoy, and if I said I was not an envoy I would not be allowed to pass. So I spoke in the following way to the captains of the city, or rather to the substitutes of the captains, for the captains had gone to Baatu during the winter bearing the tribute, and had not yet returned : " We have heard say in the Holy Land that your Lord Sartach is a Christian,^ and greatly were the Christians rejoiced thereat, and chiefly so the most Christian lord the King of the French, who has come thither on a pilgrimage and is fighting against the Saracens^ to wrench the holy places from out ^ This Mongol chief was son of Batu. His name is variously written in the MSS., Sartach, Sartath, Sarhat, Sarcath, Sarckac, Sarthac, Sarcach, Sarchat, Serttah, and Salcath. I have uniformly written it Sartach, a transcription which closely approximates that adopted by Mohammedan contemporary writers (Bretschneider, Med. Geoo-., 298). '^ The belief that Sartach was a Christian was general at the time ; most contemporary Avriters, Mohammedan as well as Christian, refer to it. The Armenian chronicles say that Sartach had been brought up by the Russian (or Syrian) Christians, was baptized, and lived as a Christian ; Bar Hebraeus states that not only had he been baptized, but that he became a deacon {Klaproth, /ourn. Asiat., xii, 211, 277 ; Dulaurier, 452 ; see also Friar William's opinion of his Christianity, 263). In 1254, Pope Innocent IV wrote to him congratulating him on his conversion, which he had learnt from a presbyter named John, who had come to him from Sartach. On this mission of John to the Pope, see Remusat, 61. He thinks it was a self-imposed one. ^ The Mongols called the Mohammedans Sartol, the Sarti of Pian de Carpine (710). This word, the same as our Saracefi, comes from the Arabic sharki, '' Oriental." The earliest use I have found of it in a western writer is in Eusebius {Hist. Ecdes., vi, 42, 288), who there speaks of the BdpjSapoi ^apaKrjvoi. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (De Ceremon.., i, 739) refers to the Eo-Tre'ptot, or the Saracens of the FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 49 their hands : it is for this I wish to go to Sartach, and carry to him the letters of the lord king, in which he admonisheth him of the weal of all Christendom." And they received us right favourably, and gave us lodgings in the episcopal church. And the bishop of this church had been to Sartach, and he told me much good of Sartach, which I later on did not discover myself. Then they gave us the choice whether we would have carts with oxen to carry our effects, or sumpter horses. (218) And the merchants of Constantinople advised me to take carts, and that I should buy the regular covered carts such as the Ruthenians carry their furs in,^ and in these I could put such of our things as I would not wish to unload every day ; should I take horses it would be necessary to unload them at each stopping-place and to load other horses ; and furthermore I should be able to ride more slowly following the gait of the oxen. Then I accepted their advice, unfortunately, however, for I was two months on the way to Sartach, which I might have travelled in one had I gone with horses. I had brought with me from Constantinople, on the advice of merchants, fruits, muscadel wine and dainty biscuits to present to the first captains (of the Tartars), so that my way might be made easier, for among them no one is looked upon in a proper way who comes with empty hands. All these things I put in one of the carts, since I had not found the captains of the city, and I was told they would be most acceptable to Sartach if I could carry them to him that far. We set out on our journey West i^El Magreb). Plan de Carpine's Biserinins {i.e., Mussuliiians) seems to have applied more particularly to the Mohammedan states of Turkestan (see Bretschneider, Med. Geog., 120). ^ Probably in all points similar to the high two-wheeled Tartar carts used in south-east Russia and Central Asia, and still called arba : a name which Ibn Batuta (ii, 361, 362), who travelled in one from Soldaia to the Kipchak court in the fifteenth century, gives to this conveyance. E 50 TOURNEY OF about the calends of June (ist June) with our four covered carts and two others which were lent us by them and in which was carried bedding to sleep on at night. And they gave us also five horses to ride, for us five persons, myself, and my companion Friar Bartholomew of Cremona, and Gosset the bearer (219) of the presents, and Homo Dei the dragoman,^ and the boy Nicholas whom I had bought at Constantinople by means of your charity.^ They gave us also two men who drove the carts and looked after the oxen and horses. Now from Kersona all the way to the mouth of the ^ Homo Dei TiL7'gemannus. The name of Friar William's interpreter has puzzled former translators, and I confess that I do not feel sm-e that the explanation I have to offer of it is acceptable. Hakluyt has " the man of God, Turgemanus." Bergeron translates it by "/^ bon- honime^^ while da Civezza and F. M. Schmidt retain the Latin na,me. Assuming that this man was a half-bred Arabic-speaking Syrian, a language with which the Friar was almost certainly familiar, and that he was also a Mohammedan, it occurs to me that he may have been called Abd-uUah, " the servant or slave of Allah," and that our traveller preferred to give him a name which had not such a strong Mohammedan cachet about it. In mediaeval Greek and Latin, avOpaynos and homo, and in French Jiommc, had the meaning of "liegeman, bondsman, slave." Tu7'gemanniis is the Arabic tarjuman, the Turkish terguman, the mediccval and modern French ti-iichement or triicheman. The form terciman also occurs, as in the letter of Arghun to the Pope, dated 1285 (Chabot. 190). The word dragoman was also in use, even before the time of Finar William. It occurs in Byzantine Greek under the form 8payofj.dvos (Codinus, 40), and Joinville (lox) says, "II avoit gens illec qui savoient le sarrazinnois et le frangois, que Ton appele drugemens." William Thomas (1550), in his translation of Barbaro's Travels, uses (51) the word troiichma7t. 2 Very likely a native of the Kipchak, for his familiarity with the anguages of the country through which Friar William was about to travel would have made him a valuable addition to the party. The slave-markets of the Levant were supplied at this time principally from the Kipchak. A little later on, the Mameluks of Egypt were mostly recruited among these Kipchak slaves. The Alesalek al-absar (269) says that " notwithstanding the superiority of the inhabitants of the Kabdjak over the troops of the Djerkes, Russians, Madjar, and As, these people carried off their children, which they sold to traders." On the slave trade of the Levant in the Middle Ages, see Heyd, ii, 555, et seq. Nicholas only accompanied Friar William as far as Batu's camp on the Volga. He was detained there, and sent back to Sartach to await the Friar's return. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 5 1 Tanais there are high promontories along the sea, and there are forty hamlets between Kersona and Soldaia, nearly every one of which has its own language ; among them were many Goths, whose language is Teutonic.^ Beyond these mountains to the north is a most beautiful orest," in a plain full of springs and rivulets, and beyond this forest is a mighty plain which stretches out for five days to the border of this province to the north, where it contracts, having the sea to the east and the west, so that there is a great ditch from one sea to the other.^ In this plain used to live Comans^ before the Tartars came, and they forced the cities referred to and the forts to pay them ^ Friar Benedict {supra, p. 36) speaks of the " country of the Saxi, whom we beheve to be Goths," which he says lay to the south of his route when travelHng through Comania. It would seem from the follow- ing passage of Barbaro (27) that "forty villages" was the name of a place. He says, speaking of the Isle of Capha, as he calls the Crimea, that it has " twoo places walled, but not stronge, the one whereof is called Sorgathi (Sudak?), which they also called Incremin, that signifieth a forteresse ; and the other Cherchiarde, which signifieth xl places." I am rather inclined to believe, however, that Barbaro slightly mis- understood his informant. The word castella, used by Friar William, is old Yvenchkasel, or cazal; the modern French equivalent is ^'"boiirg." William of Tyr (mi, 1 1 1 2) has '"'' quicitDique . . . casalia habent,^'' which in the old French version is rendered "cil qui auront les viles cham- pestres que Ton apele casiaus." Hakluyt renders casalia by "cottages or gi"anges" (107) ; castella he translates "castles" (103). Barbaro (30), speaking of these Goths of the Crimea, says : "The Gothes speake dowche, which I knowe by a dowcheman, my servunt, that was with me there : for they understode one an other well enough, as we un- derstande a furlane {i.e., a man of Forli) or a florentine. Of this neighborhode of the Gothes and Alani, I suppose the name Gotitalani to be deryved, for Alani were first in this place. But than came the Gothes and conquered these cuntreys, myngleng their name with the Alani, and so being myngled togither called themselfs Gotita- lani, who, in effect, folowe all the Greekish facions, and so also do the Circassi." Busbeck, in the middle of the sixteenth century, while at Constantinople conversed with two of these Goths, one of whom, he says, looked like a man from Flanders. He took down a vocabulary in their language, some seventy-five words and phrases, about two- thirds of which are pure Teutonic, if not English {Epistolce, 383, et seq. ; see also Heyd, ii, 208 ; Yule, Cathay, 200 ; d'Avezac, 49ยป). ^ The southern Crimea is still noted for its beautiful and varied orest growth (Reclus, v, 824). ' The ditch at the Isthmus of Perekop. * On the Comans, see infra, note to p. 253 of text. E 2 52 JOURNEY OF tribute ; but when the Tartars came^ such a multitude of Comans entered this province, all of whom fled to the shore of the sea, that they ate one another, the living the dying, as was told me by a certain merchant who saw it, the living devouring and tearing with their teeth the raw flesh of the dead, as dogs do corpses. Toward the end of this province are many and large lakes, on whose shores are brine springs, the water of which as soon as it enters the lake is turned into salt as hard as ice. And from these brine springs Baatu and Sartach derive great revenues, for from all Ruscia they come thither for salt, and for each cart- load they give two pieces of cotton worth half an yperpera. There come there also by sea many ships for salt, and all contribute according to the (220) quantity (they take).^ After having left Soldaia we came on the third day across the Tartars, and when I found myself among them it seemed to me of a truth that I had been transported into another century. I will describe to you as well as I can their mode of living and manners. 1 The Mongols invaded the Crimea for the first time in 1222. D'Ohsson (i, 339) says : โ– โ– ' On the news of the unexpected invasion of the Mongols, the Kipchacs (Friar Wihiam's Comans) retired from all sides towards the extremities of their territory, abandoning their best pasture lands to the enemy's army, which took up its winter quarters in the heart of the country. Ten thousand Kipchac families passed the Danube and entered the territory of the Roman empire ; the Emperor, John Ducas, took them in his service .... A great number also took refuge on Russian territory." 2 Strabo (vii, 4, 258) already refers to the great quantity of salt the Greeks were in the habit of getting from the Palus Maeotis. At the present day the salt lakes of Perekop yield annually as much as 23 millions of poods, or 759 millions of pounds. There are four other groups of salt lakes in the Crimea, but the Perei<op group yields the most (E. Stanton, Salt Productinn of Russia ; U.S. Consular Reports, vol. iv, 477 ; see also Tott, 358, and Clarke, 112). The yperpera appears to have been worth about ten shillings sterling (see i7ifra^ note to p. 244 of text, for the value of \h& yperpera). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 53 11:^0 WHERE have they fixed dvvelHng-places, nor ^^P do they know where their next will be. They have divided among themselves Cithia/ which extendeth from the Danube to the rising of the sun ; and every captain, according as he hath more or less men under him, knows the limits of his pasture lands and where to graze in winter and summer, spring and autumn. For in winter they go down to warmer regions in the south : in summer they go up to cooler towards the north. The pasture lands without water they graze over in winter when there is snow there, for the snow serveth them as water.^ They set up the dwelling in which they sleep on a circular frame of interlaced sticks ^ Isidorus, to whom Friar William frequently refers as an authority, says (xiv, 500) that formerly Scythia extended from India to the con- fines of Germany and the Danube, but that later on this term was applied to a region of smaller extent, beginning in the east at the Seric Ocean, and extending westward to the Caspian, while to the south it reached to the Caucasus. Hakluyt (104) renders the first phrase : "They have in no place any settled citie to abide in, neither knowe they of the celestiall citie to come." Clavijo (112) says : " The Zagatays have no other dwellings than tents, mioving from the banks of the rivers in summer to the warm districts in winter. Timur with all his host wanders in the same way over the plains, Avinter and summer." - Strabo (vii, 3, 254) says of the Scythians: "The tents of the Nomads are of felt, and fixed on carts, and in these they live ; all around them ai'e the flocks which supply them with the milk, cheese, and meat on which they feed. They follow them in their pasturages, changing all the time for new places with grass. In winter they live in the marshes near the Mseotis, in summer in the steppes {iv rols TreSt'ots)." The custom of dividing the pasture lands, or assigning certain limits to the annual migrations of each band or tribe, existed from the earliest times among the Turks ; as it does, in fact, among all pastoral tribes, or those living by the chase, as the Indians of North America. In the Annals of the Chin dynasty of China (a.d. 557-581), we read of the Turks that " though they wander about, each of the tribes has its separate land" {Chou shu, bk. 50, 3 ; conf. also Marco Polo, i, 244 ; Radloff, A us Siberien^ i, 414 ; and Sven Hedin, Through Asia, i, 419). The latter, speaking of the Kirghiz of the Pamirs, says : "They spend the summer on the ycylaiis (suminer pasture-grounds) .... and in winter .... they seek the pastures {kishlaks) in the valleys. The members of the same aul are, as a rule, kinsmen, and always graze the same yeylaus and the same kishlaks. No other aul is permitted to encroach upon pastures thus appropi'iated without previous agreement." 54 JOURNEY OF converging into a little round hoop on the top, from which projects above a collar as a chimney, and this (framework) they cover over with white felt. Frequently they coat the felt with chalk, or white clay, or powdered bone, to make it appear whiter, and sometimes also (they make the felt) black. The felt around this collar on top they decorate with various pretty designs. Before the entry they also suspend felt (221) ornamented with various embroidered designs in color. For they embroider the felt, colored or otherwise, making vines and trees, birds and beasts.^ ^ The round felt-covered tent common to the Tartar, Turki, and Mongol tribes has been described in about the same terms by every writer on this part of Asia (see Herodotus, iii, 35 ; Marco Polo, i, 244; Ibn Batuta, ii, 361, 377-379, 387 ; Bergmann, ii, 82, etseq. ; Pallas, Voyages, i, 503). I will only give Pian de Carpine's description of it (616): "They {i.e., the Mongols) have round tent-like dwellings Istationes), made of twigs and small sticks. In the top they have a round opening which admits the light, and by which the smoke can escape, for they keep a fire always in the centie. The sides and roof are covered over with felt, and the doors are also made of felt. Some dwellings are large, some small, according to the importance or poverty of the people. Some of them can be taken down and put up in a moment, and are always carried on pack animals ; while others cannot be taken apart, and are carried on carts ; one ox hitched to the cart could haul the smaller ones : the larger require three, four, or more, according to their size ; and wherever they go, either to war or elsewhere, they take them along with them." The custom of carrying set-up tents on carts, which at one time or another has obtained among various peoples and tribes of Northern Asia, is noted by Hesiod (Goettling's ed., 33) ; by Herodotus (iv, 46) ; by Hippocrates {De aere, aqua et locis, 44, 353) (this last-named author mentioning a detail not found elsewhere, that the Scythian carts had four and even six wheels) ; Strabo (i, 104, 249, et pas.) ; Pomponius Mela (i, 619) ; and many other classical writers also speak of them. Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii, 176, tells us the Alans had their cart- tents covered with bark {corticibiis tectis). Chinese annals state that a great branch of the Turkish nation was known to them in the first centuries of the Christian era as the Kao-Me^ or " High carts;" on account, it is said, of the high-wheeled felt-covered carts in which they lived, but the characters with which the name is written are purely phonetic. These Kao-ch'e, who at a later period were called by them T'ieh-le, or K'i-le, comprised the Kirghiz, the Uigurs, the Alans, the Karluks, nearly all the tribes, in fact, called Oguz Turks by Mohammedan writers {T'attg shu, bk. 257 ; Ma Tuan lin, bks. 344, 347). In the twelfth and early part of the thirteenth centuries, a branch of these Kao-ch'e lived to the north- east of the Caspian, around the Aral lake. They were known to mediaeval Mohammedan writers as the Kankalis, or Kankly, a name FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 55 And they make these houses so large that they are sometimes thirty feet in width. I myself once measured the width between the wheel-tracks of a cart xx feet, and when the house was on the cart it projected beyond the wheels on either side v feet at least. I have myself counted to one cart xxii oxen drawing one house, eleven abreast across the width of the cart, and the other eleven before them. The axle of the cart was as large as the mast of a ship, and one man stood in the entry of the house on the cart driving the oxen.^ Furthermore they weave light twigs into squares of the size of a large chest, and over it from one end to the other they put a turtle-back also of twigs, and in the front end they make a little doorway ; and then they cover this which Abulghazi (41) says was derived from the Turki word kang^ " cart," their first father having invented carts. Friar WilUam (265) refers to the Cangle. Pei shih (bk. 94.) says that the Kitan tribes of Shih-wei, to the east of Lake Baikal used ox-carts, on which they had straw-covered huts hke the feh-covered ones of the Turks (see also Marco Polo, i, 244 ; Ibn Batuta, ii, 361 ; Barbaro, 13 ; Anthony Jenkinson, 52, 55). In modern times Pallas {Voyages, v, 154) notes that he met, near the lower Volga, a band of Tartars or Mankates, who called them- selves Kunduran, " like most of the people inhabiting the Kuban, whence they came." " Their Jurts, or Jurtens," he says, " differ in shape and construction from those of the Kalmuks and other Nomadic peoples of Asia. They are not susceptible of being taken to pieces, iDut they are also lighter, and of a size to be on a cart, that is to say, they are only 8 ft. or 9 ft. in diameter When they go from one place to another, they put this tent, or cabin, on a two-wheeled cart {Arda), so that it rests in front and behind on the shafts, and reaches beyond the wheels on the sides .... The rich have two or three cabins, according to the size of their families. These have, besides, a private cart carrying a little kind of house in wood, something like the moveable huts of our shepherds. In these they sleep with their wives. In summer, when they are stopping for any length of time in any one spot with their flocks, they do not take the trouble to take the cabins off the carts .... They harness bulls to their carts, usually two, with a third sometimes as leader" (see also Le Bruyn, Voj/ages, i, 305). Mongol tents of the present time have usually designs in stitchwork on the felt which covers the entry, and Kirghiz tents have broad ornamental bands in fringe and stitchwork around the sides. 1 These carts must have been exceptionally large ones. Conf. Plan de Carpine's remarks in the preceding note. 56 JOURNEY OF coffer or little house with black felt coated with tallow or ewe's milk, so that the rain cannot penetrate it, and they decorate it likewise with embroidery work. And in such coffers they put all their bedding and valuables, and they tie them tightly on high carts drawn by camels, so that they can cross rivers (without getting wet). Such coffers they never take off the cart. When they set down their dwelling-houses, they always turn the door to the south,^ and after that they place the carts with coffers on either side near the house at a half stone's throw, so that the dwelling stands between two rows of carts as between two walls. (222) The matrons make for themselves most beautiful (luggage) carts, which I would not know how to describe to you unless by a drawing, and I would depict them all to you if I knew how to paint. A single rich Moal or Tartar has quite c or cc such carts with coffers. Baatu has xxvi wives, each of whom has a large dwelling, exclusive of the other little ones which they set up after the big one, and which are like closets, in which the sewing girls live, and to each of these (large) dwellings are attached quite cc carts.^ And 1 The tents faced south because the prevaihng winds of Northern Asia are westerly. I have often seen Mongol tents facing east and south-east. When camped, as in the narrow valleys south of the Ts'aidam and around the Koko nor, the tents always face down the valley (conf. Bergmann, ii, 96, and Yule, Marco Polo, i, 245). It is interesting to find it noted in the Chou Shu (bk. 50, 3) that the Khan of the Turks, who lived always on the Tu-kin mountain, had his tent invariably facing south, " so as to show reverence to the sun's rising- place." ^ Ibn Batuta (ii, 413) tells us that one of the wives of the Tartar Khan of the Kipchak, when on a short visit to her father, Andronicus 1 1 the Younger, Emperor of Constantinople, though she had left in the Khan's camp most of her women and baggage, had still with her nearly 400 carts, 2,000 horses, 300 oxen, 200 camels, 500 horsemen, 200 young slave-girls, and 20 pages. The Chinese traveller, Ch'ang- chun (1221-1224), speaking of the camp of Ochigin, the younger brother of Chingis Khan, says that it was composed of "several thousands of black carts and felt tents standing in rows." The same traveller tells us of the camp {ordii) of one of Chingis' consorts, which was composed of " more than a thousand carts and tents" (Bretsch- neider, Med. frcwel., 21, 24). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 57 when they set up their houses, the first wife places her dwelHng on the extreme west side, and after her the others according to their rank, so that the last wife will be in the extreme east ; and there will be the distance of a stone's throw between the iurt of one wife and that of another. The ordiC' of a rich Moal seems like a large town, though there will be very few men in it. One girl will lead xx or XXX carts, for the country is flat, and they tie the ox or camel carts the one after the other, and a girl will sit on the front one driving the ox, and all the others follow after with the same gait. Should it happen that they come to some bad piece of road, they untie them, and take them across one by one. So they go along slowly, as a sheep or an ox might walk. ;HEN they have fixed their dwelling, the door turned to the south, they set up the couch of the master on the north side. The side for the women is always the east side, that is to say, on the left '^ Curia. Friar William states (267) that he uses this word to render the Mongol term orda., a word now usually transcribed ordu or ordo. Pian de Carpine (609) says, " orda means the dwellings {statioiies) of the emperor and the princes." This interpretation of the word is con- firmed by contemporary Mohammedan writers (Quatremere, 21, 23, 98). Chinese writers of the Mongol period translate the word by hsing kung, or " moveable palace" (Bretschneider, yl/^rt'. travel., 25). Palladius (40) says the term ordo is, properly speaking, a separate palace of the Khan, under the management of one of his wives. Bergmann (ii, 83) states that among the Kalmuks the word oergo [ordu) is used to designate either a collection of tents or else the dwelling of a prince or high lama. The Kalmuk terms oergo, garr, and kosh, he adds, correspond to our " palace, house, hut." The Jihan Kushai (Quatremere, 54) says the Mongols used the word iurt to designate a camp or a dwelling (see also d'Ohsson, i, 83). Friar William, how- ever, is not very careful in the use of the word curia; he applies it alike to the camp of a prince, to a single tent โ€” he does not use the word tejitoriuui more than two or three times โ€” to the imperial court, as court and as building, in which it is being held. I have there- fore translated curia, sometimics by the Mongol term ordu, some- times by iicrt, and other times by court. Quatremere (loi) is of opinion โ€” and Friar William's use of the word curia seems to justify his belief โ€” that the word ordu designated originally those tents of the Mongols which were always set up and carried about on ox-carts. 58 JOURNEY OF of the house of the master, he sitting on his couch with his face turned to the south. (223) The side for the men is the west side, that is, on the right. Men coming into the house would never hang up their bows on the side of the women. ^ And over the head of the master is ahvays an image of felt, like a doll or statuette, which they call the brother of the master ; another similar one is above the head of the mistress, which they call the brother of the mistress, and they are attached to the wall ; and higher up between the two of them is a little lank one {inacilenta), who is, as it were, the guardian of the whole dwelling. The mistress 1 So firmly established were these rules of etiquette that they were strictly adhered to by the Mongol emperors in their palaces. The same rules still obtain throughout Mongolia, and among the Tai'tar and Tibetan tent-dwellers. The annexed plan of the interior of a urt of Altai Tartars, taken from ^?^^\o^{Aiis Sibirien, i, 270), explains this interior arrangement of the tents (see also infra^ the descrip- tion of the ceremonies in the palace at Karakorum, and conf. Plan de Carpine, 745). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 59 places in her house on her right side, in a conspicuous place at the foot of her couch, a goat-skin full of wool or other stuff, and beside it a very little statuette looking in the direction of the attendants and women. Beside the entry on the women's side is yet another image, with a cow's tit for the women, who milk the cows ; for it is part of the duty of the women to milk the cows. On the other side of the entry, toward the men, is another statue with a mare's tit for the men who milk the mares.^ 1 Pian de Carpine (618-620) says : " They have certain idols made of felt in the image of a man, and these they place on either side of the door of their dwelling ; and above these they place things made of felt in the shape of tits, and these they believe to be the guardians of their flocks, and that they insure them increase of milk and colts. They make yet others out of silk stuffs, and these they honour greatly. Some persons put these in a handsomely-covered cart before the door of their dwelling, and whoever stealeth anything from that cart is without mercy put to death. Now, when they want to make these idols, all the noble ladies in the camp meet together, and make them with due reverence ; and when they have made them they kill a sheep and eat it, and the bones they burn in the fire. And when any child falls ill, they make in this same fashion an idol and tie it over its couch. The chiefs, chiliarchs, and centurions have always a he-goat in their dwellings. To these said idols they offer the first milk of every flock and of every herd of mares ; and when they begin to eat or drink, they first offer them of their food or drink. And when they kill any animal, they offer the heart in a bowl to the idol in the cart, and leave it there till the morrow, and then they take it away, cook it and eat it. " They also make an idol of their first emperor, which they place in a cart in a place of honour before the dwelling, as I saw before the 07'da of the emperor (Kuyuk Khan), and they offer it many gifts ; and they offer it also horses, which none may ride till their death. They offer it likewise other animals, and if they kill any of these to eat they break none of their bones, but burn them in the fire. And they bow to it facing the south, as they bow to God" (conf supra, 35, Benedict's account). Marco Polo (i, 249, ii, 478) informs us that the chief of these " gods" of felt is called N'aii^ay, and that the image on his left hand is his wife, and his children those in front of him. Barbaro (34) says : "The Tartariens worship Images that they carie in their carts, though some there be that use daylie to worship that beast that they happen first to meete whan they go foorthe of their doores." Passing to modern times, Pallas ( Voyages, iii, 433, iv, 511) tells us of the 'โ–  idols dressed like dolls" found in the iurts of the Buriats. These idols, he says, are also found among the Beltire Tartars of the Abakan. When sacrifices are made, their magicians take these idols and bless them. The same traveller {op. ciL, iv, 579) speaks of the Tus, or 6o JOURNEY OF And when they have come together to drink, they first sprinkle with Hquor this image which is over the master's head, then the other images in order. Then an attendant goes out of the dwelling with a cup^ and liquor, and sprinkles three times to the south, each time bending the knee, and that to do reverence to the fire ; then to the east, and that to do reverence to the air ; then to the west to do reverence to the water ; to the north they sprinkle for the dead. When the master takes (224) the cup in hand and is about to drink, he first pours a portion on the ground. household gods of the Tartars of Krasnoyarsk, which they also call Aiiiiae. They sacrifice to them little animals, and offer them the skins of the victims, meat, or such other objects as they value or wish to obtain. The idol placed on the east side of the entry of the tent, but outside it, is the representative of an evil deity which they have to propitiate by sacrifices. There is another idol, that of the good deity. On the day of its feast they hold it over the fire, perfuming it with absinth, when it turns red. This idol is kept inside the iurt. Radlofif {Aus Sibirien^ i, 363), speaking of the Kumandin Tartars, says that on entering one of their huts he found hanging over the window opposite the door five idols. The first with its head upwards was said to be Sary-kan^ the next one, which resembled it closely, was called Kyrgys-ka7i. The third figure was called Tos-kanym., and its head was downwards, while the second had its upwards. The fourth figure was that of Kudy-kan^ and it was a little larger than the previous ones. As to the fifth, it was called Kop-kdlgcin. The two last-named were provided with moustaches. The owner of the hut did not show any special reverence to these idols, though he asked Radloff not to touch them. Palladius (15), quoting the Hei-lung chiang xuai cJii^ or_" Records of the foreign tribes of the Amur country," says : " The Dahurs and Barhus have in their dwellings, according to the number of the male members, puppets made of straw, on which eyes, eyebrows, and mouths are drawn ; these puppets are dressed up to the waist. When some one of the family dies his puppet is taken out of the house, and a new puppet is made for every newly-born member of the family. On New Year's Day offerings are made to the puppets, and care is taken not to disturb them by moving them, etc., in order to avoid bringing sickness into the house." The word ongot. oiigoii^ or ongotui^ by which these idols are usually designated among the Tungusic people, appears to be the original of Marco Polo's Natigay (Yule, Marco Polo, 250 ; see also Cordier, Odoric, 486 ; d'Ohsson, i, 16 ; Gombojew, 652). ^ Ciphum. Wooden cups were then as now in general use among all the tribes of northern Asia. Ibn Batuta (ii, 392) refers to " the pretty and light wooden cups" used by the people of the Kipchak in his time. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 6l If he were to drink seated on a horse, he first before he drinks pours a Httle on the neck or the mane of the horse. ^ Then when the attendant has sprinkled toward the four quarters of the world he goes back into the house, where two attendants are ready with two cups and platters to carry drink to the master and the wife seated near him upon the couch. And when he hath several wives, she with whom he hath slept that night sits beside him in the day, and it becometh all the others to come to her dwelling that day to drink, and court is held there that day, and the gifts which are brought that day are placed in the treasury of that lady.- A bench with a skin of milk, or some other drink, and with cups, stands in the entry.^ ^ The custom of making oblations towards the cardinal points, the zenith and the nadir, is still adhered to by many Mongols and Tibetans. It is noted by the Russian archbishop Peter in 1245 (Matth. Paris, op. cit., iv, 388), and by Pian de Carpine (622) who says they specially reverenced and worshipped the sun, the moon, fire, water, and the earth ; in the morning especially they made these libations. 2 Mesalek al-absar (264) referring to the Turks of the Kipchak, has : " Each of the princesses his wives {i.e., of the Khan of Kipchak) collects a portion of the taxes. Each day of the year this prince goes to the house of one of his wives, with whom he passes the day and takes his meals. She presents him with a full suit of clothes, and he gives the clothes he takes off to some favourite courtier." Pian de Carpine (642) says : "When a Tartar has several wives, each has her own tent and household, and he drinks and eats and sleeps with one of them one day, and another day with another. One of them, how- ever, is the greatest among them, and he stops more frequently with her than with the others ; and though they are so many they do not often wrangle among themselves." ^ Pallas (Voyages, 1,698) remarks : " The principal piece of furniture of the dirty cabins of the Bashkirds is a big skin or vase of leather in the form of a bottle ; it is placed on a wooden stand, and is always full of sour milk, which they call arjanp See on arjan or airan, Rubruck, p. 240 of text. 62 JOURNEY OF ^^^^N winter they make a capital drink of rice, of ^^^^ millet, and of honey ; it is clear as wine : and wine is carried to them from remote parts. In summer they care only for cosmos} There is always cosmos near the house, before the entry door, and beside it stands a guitar-player with his guitar. Lutes and vielles (225) such as we have I did not sec there, but many other instruments which are unknown among us.'^ And when the master begins to drink, then one of the at- tendants cries with a loud voice, " Ha!" and the guitarist * These three kinds of drinks, which Friar William in another passage (335) calls cervoise (beer) of rice, or terracma, cervoise of millet, and doal, were imported probably from China and the Kipchak, but were certainly not manufactured by the Mongols. The wine they probably got from Persia and from Turkestan. Pian de Carpine (640) states the facts more accurately. He says : " They (the Mongols) drink great quantities of mare's milk, if they have it ; they drink also sheep's, goat's, cow's, and camel's milk. Wine, cervoise, and mead {lucdojiem^ Friar William's bal, or boal ?) they have not, unless it is sent from other nations or is given to them." Ibn Batuta (ii, 408) says of the Kipchak : '' The principal drink of the Turks is a wine prepared with honey, for they belong to the hanefite sect and consider the use of wine permissible. When the Sultan wants to drink, his daughter takes the cup in her hand ; she salutes her father by bending her knee, then she hands him the cup. When the Sultan has drunk, she takes another cup and hands it the great khatun, who drinks, then she presents it to the other khatuns according to their rank .... Finally the inferior emirs rise and serve drink to the sons of the Sultan, and during all the time they sing nawaliyah (short songs)" (see also Quatremere, 356). Chinese travellers in the Kipchak in the thirteenth century also refer to the use there made of a " fermented beverage from honey" (Bretschneider, Med. travel.^ 118). The cervoise of rice {cer'-('isia de risio) is, of course, Chinese rice wine. Cosmos is Marco Polo's keniis, our kmniz or kumiss (see Yule, Marco Polo., i, 250). - The most ancient and commonly-used musical instruments of the Turkish tribes appear to have been the reed-pipe, drum, and several kinds of guitars with four, five, or nine strings {Pei shi/i, bk. 94). Bergmann (ii, 175) says the Kalmuks use the drum, a kind of zither, the flute, and a violin. Radloff {Aiis Sibirieji, i, 381) states that the Tartars of the Altai have a reed-pipe, a guitar, a kind of violin called kobys, a horizontal harp (zither ?) called tyattagan. I have never seen an instrument of the latter description used by Mongols, though instruments of this description are employed in China, Japan, and Korea. See also F. Grenard {Haute Asie, ii, 136, et seq.); and Clarke (53), who says the commonest instrument among the Kalmuks is a two-stringed lute {balalaika). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 63 Strikes his guitar, and when they have a great feast they all clap their hands, and also dance about to the sound of the guitar, the men before the master, the women before the mistress. And when the master has drunken, then the attendant cries as before, and the guitarist stops. Then they drink all around, and sometimes they do drink right shamefully and gluttonly.^ And when they want to challenge anyone to drink, they take hold of him by the ears, and pull so as to distend his throat, and they clap and dance before him. Likewise, when they want to make a great feasting and jollity with someone, one takes a full cup, and two others are on his right and left, and thus these three come singing and dancing towards him who is to take the cup, and they sing and dance before him ; and when he holds out his hand to take the cup, they quickly draw it back, and then again they come back as before, and so they elude him three or four times by drawing away the cup, till he hath become well excited and is in good appetite, and then they give him the cup, and while he drinks they sing and clap their hands and strike with their feet.^ Of their food and victuals you must know that they (226) eat all their dead animals without distinction, and with such flocks and herds it cannot be but that many animals die.^ Nevertheless, in summer, so long as lasts ^ Plan de Carpine (637) goes so far as to say that drunkenness was honourable among the Mongols. At all events, now, as in old times, this people has shown a strong taste for drink. Friar William, in the course of his narrative, frequently refers to this fact. - Gombojew (664) says it is still customary among the Mongols to sing when bringing a guest wine. โ– โ– ^ Plan de Carpine (638) says : "Their food is everything that can be eaten ; for they eat dogs, wolves, foxes and horses, and when pushed by necessity, human flesh. They also eat abluviones quae egredhmtur de iumentis cum piiliis. I have also seen them eat lice, saying : " Why should I not eat them that eat my son's flesh and drink his blood ?" I have seen them also eat rats. They use neither tablecloths nor napkins. They have no bread nor oil nor vegetables, nothing but 64 JOURNEY OF their cosmos, that is to say mare's milk, they care not for any other food. So then if it happens that an ox or a horse dies, they dry its flesh by cutting it into narrow strips and hanging it in the sun and the wind, where at once and without salt it becomes dry without any evil meat, of which, however, they eat so little that other people could scarcely exist on it. " They get their hands covered with the grease of the meat, but when they have finished eating they wipe them on their boots, on the grass, or something else, though the more refined among them have some little bits of cloth with which they wipe their hands when they have finished earing. One of them takes the food (out of the kettle), and another takes the pieces of meat from him on the point of a knife, and gives to each one : to some more, to others less, as they wish to show them more or less honour" (see also Gombojew, 659). - The habits of the Mongols are to-day exactly what they were in Friar WiUiam's time. I may add that it is usual when one has finished eating anything out of the little wooden bowl each one carries with him, to lick it clean and put it back in the folds of one's gown. The charge of cannibalism was frecjuently made against the Mongols by mediaeval writers. The Russian Archbishop, Peter, stated, in 1245, before the Council of Lyons, that the Mongols "eat the flesh of mares, and dogs, and other abominations, and even when necessary human flesh, not raw, however, but cooked ; they drink blood, or water, or milk" (Matth. Paris, iv, 386-389). See also the letter of Ivo of Narbonne in 1243 to the Archbishop of Bordeaux {ibid.^ iv, 273), and the Introductory Notice, supra. Joinville (147) states that the Mongols carried their uncooked meat " entre leurs celles et leur paniaus (horse blankets), quant le sane en estbien hors ; si la manjuent toute crue." This idea that the Mongols cooked their meat under their saddles is as old as Ammianus Mar- cellinus at least. He says (xxxi, 347), speaking of the Huns, "they are satisfied with wild roots for food, or with the flesh of the first animal they find ; they mortify it for a while on their horse between their thighs" (conf. Schiltberger, 48). Coming down to more recent times, we read in Busbeck {Epistolce, 385) that some Goths of the Crimea told him that the Tartars ate the raw flesh of dead horses, and that they put bits under the saddles of their horses, which they ate with delight when it had become heated by the bodies of the horses (see also Gombojew, 657 ; and Clarke, 52, 70). While there is no doubt that the Mongols, like the Chinese, will eat horses, camels, or cattle which have died naturally, I doubt whether they ever do it except y^zz^/^ de inieux. Bergmann (ii, 116) agrees v.'ith this view; see, however Tott (i, 349). YAVi-A.s {Voyages, i, 512) says they have the greatest aversion for wolf's flesh, and in fact for that of all other small carnivorous animals. I may note here, in connection with the Mongols' way of eating, that they never take the scum off the pot in which meat is boiling, but eat it with the meat, holding it to be the choicest juice and essence of the meat. This custom I find noted by John de Luca in his Relation des Tartares (Thevenot, i, 28 ; and also Rockhill, Diary, 207). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 6$ smell. ^ With the intestines of horses they make sausages^ better than pork ones, and they cat them fresh. The rest of the flesh they keep for winter. With the hides of oxen the}' make big jars, which they dry in admirable fashion in the smoke.2 With the hind part of the hide of horses they make most beautiful shoes. With the flesh of a single sheep they give to eat to L men or C ; for they cut it up very fine in a platter with salt and water,^ for they make no other sauce ; and then with the point of a knife or a fork which they make for the purpose, like that which we use to eat coddled pears or apples, they give to each of the bystanders a mouthful or two according to the number of the guests. Prior to this, before the flesh of the sheep is served, the master takes what pleases him ; and further- more if he gives to anyone a special piece, it is the custom that he who receives it shall cat it himself, and he may not give it to another ; but if he cannot eat it all he carries it off with him, or gives it to his servant if he be present. (227) who keeps it; otherwise he puts it away in his captargac, which is a square bag which they carry to put such things in, in which they store away bones when 1 Sun-dried meat is used in Mongolia and among the nomads of Tibet. It is usually eaten without any other preparation. - Andi/Iges, in French andoiiilles. Bergmann (ii, 129) says that the Tartar horse-sausages surpass all others. They are made of blood or pieces of the intestines {ma7igensiiicken). Andouille is made in the same way. 2 VslWa's {Voyas:es, i, 516) describes in detail the manufacture of these leather vessels, which are made both of horse and of ox hides, the latter being the better. " They leave them in the smoke," he says, " two, three, or even four days, when they become as translucid as horn." Radloff {Aus Sibirien, i, 425) says that among the Kirghiz they are called saba^ and that they hold four to six buckets (see also Rockhill, Diary ^ 172). Those I have there described are of a more primitive make. ^ Ibn Batuta (ii, 407) describing a feast given by the Khan of the Kipchak, says that a golden or silver ladle containing salt dissolved in water was put on each table. Salt dissolved in a little pot-liquor is, at the present day, placed before the guests at a Mongol meal. The most honoured guest will receive the brisket or the tail of the sheep, these being the choicest pieces (conf. Bergmann, ii, 128). 66 JOURNEY OF they have not time to gnaw them well, so that they can gnaw them later and that nothing of the food be lost.^ This cosmos, which is mare's milk, is made in this wise. They stretch a long rope on the ground fixed to two stakes stuck in the ground, and to this rope they tie toward the third hour the colts of the mares they want to milk. Then the mothers stand near their foal, and allow themselves to be quietly milked ; and if one be too wild, then a man takes the colt and brings it to her, allowing it to suck a little ; then he takes it away and the milker takes its place. When they have got together a great quantity of milk, which is as sweet as cow's as long as it is fresh, they pour it into a big skin or bottle, and they set to churning it with a stick prepared for that purpose, and which is as big as a man's head at its lower extremity and hollowed out ; and when they have beaten it sharply it begins to boil up like new wine and to sour or ferment, and they continue to churn it until they have extracted the butter. Then they taste it, and when it is mildly pungent, ^ Join\'ille (148) speaking of the way of eating of the Tartars, remarks : " Ce que il ne peuent manger jetent en un sac de cuir ; et quant il ont fain, si oevrent le sac, et manguent touzjours le plus viex devant : dont je vi un Coramyn (Korasmian) qui fu des gens I'empereour de Perse, qui nous gardoit en la prison, que quant il ouvroit son sac nous nous bouchions (le nez), que nous ne pouvions durer, pour la puueisie (puanteur) qui issoit du sac." The Dutch envoys to Peking, in 1654, having been at an imperial banquet at which Mongol chiefs were also present, noted that "it was a pleasure to sjee these famished Tartars filling their leather pouches or skins with the hair still on" (Nieuhoff, Embassy, 53-59)- It is still customary among the Mongols for the guests to dispose of all the food placed before them. If one cannot eat all that is given him, he may give it to the bystanders, or else he will store it away in his gown. I have never seen them use a bag of the description referred to. Kabtas^a, or kabfagan, means " pouch or bag" in Mongol ; and Mr. F. Grenard has kindly informed me that in Turki works of the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries he has found the word K'ap/orghai, meaning " pouch, large purse," and sometimes " cartridge case." Pian de Carpine (640) notes that " it is a great sin among them to allow any portion of drink or food to be lost : so they may not give a bone to the dogs unless they have previously taken the marrow out of it." The same habit obtains to-day among the Mongols and Kirghiz. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. Gj they drink it.^ It is pungent on the tongue Hke rape wine when drunk, and when a man has finished drinking, it leaves a taste of milk of almonds on the' tongue, and it makes the inner man most joyful and also intoxicates weak heads (228), and greatly provokes urine. They also make caracosnios^^ that is " black cosjnos'' for the use of the great lords. It is for the following reason that mare's milk curdles not. It is a fact that (the milk) of no animal will curdle in the stomach of whose fetus is not found curdled milk.^ In the stomach of mares' colts it is not found, so the milk of mares curdles not. They churn then the milk until all the thicker parts go straight to the bottom, like the dregs of wine, and the pure part remains on top, and it is like whey or white must. The dregs are very white, and they are given to the slaves, and they provokes much to sleep.* This clear (liquor) the lords drink, and it is assuredly a most agreeable drink and most efficacious. Baatu has XXX men around his camp at a day's distance, each of whom sends him every day such milk of a hun- dred mares, that is to say every day the milk of three thousand mares, exclusive of the other white milk which they carry to others.^ As in Syria the peasants give a ^ On the preparation of ktwtiss, Friar William's cosmos, conf. Yule {Marco Polo, i, 249) ; Pallas, {Voyages, i, 506, 511) ; and Atkinson {Western Siberia, 287). - Yule {Marco Polo, i, 252) says that "black kumiss" is mentioned in Wassaf. Bretschneider {Med. Geog., 249) says Chinese mediaeval writers sometimes call the Kipchak Ha-la-chih (Turkish, kalladj, "black"), because the people sent black mare's milk as a present to the Mongol emperors. I have found no other references to this beverage, nor is it, I think, known at the present day. An alcoholic drink called araka, or areki, is distilled by the Mongols from kumiss (Pallas, Voyages, \, 510). ^ Regula e7iivi est quod nulliiis aniinalis ift ciijus fetus ventre lac non i7ivenitur coaguhim coagulaiur. Previous translators have all failed to understand this passage. * These dregs are called bossa by the Kalmuks ; they are also used in tanning skins (Pallas, Voyages, i, 511). '" Plan de Carpine (671) refers to the Emperor's herds of mares for milking ; and Marco Polo (i, 291) says : " the Khan keeps an immense 6S JOURNEY OF third of their produce, so it is these (Tartars) must bring to the ortf?( of their lords the milk of every third day. As to cow's milk they first extract the butter, then they boil it down perfectly dry, after which they put it away (229) in sheep paunches which they keep for that purpose ; and they put no salt in the butter, for on account of the great boil- ing down it spoils not. And they keep this for the winter.^ What remains of the milk after the butter they let sour as much as can be, and they boil it, and it curdles in boiling, and the curd they dry in the sun, and it becomes as hard as iron slag, and they put it away in bags for the winter. In winter time, when milk fails them, they put this sour curd, which they call gruit, in a skin and pour water on it, and churn it vigorously till it dissolves in the water, which is made sour by it, and this water they drink instead of milk.- They are most careful not to drink pure water. The great lords have villages in the south, from which millet and flour are brought to them for the winter. The poor procure (these things) by trading sheep and pelts. The slaves fill their bellies with dirty water, and with this they are content. They catch also rats, of which many kinds stud of white horses and mares ; in fact more than 10,000 of them, and all pure white without a speck. The milk of the mares is drunk by himself and his family, and by none else." 1 The Mongols of the present day prepare and keep their butter in the same way. Bergmann (ii, 121) remarks that they make butter of cow's, ewe's or mare's milk, but the soft mare's milk butter does not keep as well as the other two kinds. ' In another passage Friar William more correctly transcribes the name grut. It is the kiirt of the Kirghiz (Radloff, Aus Sibirien, i, 428), the kiiriit of the Afghans, the chiira of the Tibetans. Marco Polo (i, 254) says of it : " They also have milk dried into a paste to carry with them, and when they need food they put this in water and beat it up till it dissolves, and then drink it." This drink is called sJiuur))nk among some of the Tartars (Pallas, Voyages, i, 511, 699; see also Radloff, op. cit., i, 298 ; Yule, Marco Polo, i, 257 ; and Tott, i, 333). In the Koko nor country and Tibet, \\v\skriit or chura is put in tea to soften, and then eaten either alone or mixed with parched barley meal {tsauibd). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 69 abound here. Rats with long tails they eat not, but give them to their birds.^ They eat mice and all kinds of rats which have short tails. There are also many marmots, which are called sogur, and which congregate in one hole in winter, XX or XXX together, and sleep for six months ; these (230) they catch in great numbers.- There are also conies,^ with a long tail like a cat's, and on the end of the tail they have black and white hairs. They have also many other kinds of small animals good to eat, which they know very well how to distinguish. I saw no deer there. I saw few hares, many gazelles. Wild asses I saw in great numbers, and these are like mules. I saw also another kind of animal which is called arcali,^ which has quite the body of a sheep, and horns bent like a ram's, but of such size that I could hardly lift the two horns with one hand, and they make of these horns big cups. They have hawks and peregrine falcons^ in great numbers, which they all carry on their right hand. And they always put a little thong around the hawk's neck, which hangs down to the middle of its breast, by which, when they cast it at its - Here, of course, their hawks, eagles {barkul), and other hunting" birds are meant. The best hawks appear to have come from the Upper Yenisei and the Lower Amur (d'Ohsson, i, 104). ' Probably the Hfus citillus^ the suslik of the Russians, which Pallas says the Mongols are very fond of eating. He says also that they like the flesh of badgers and marmots i^Voyages^\^ 197, 512). Mr. Grenard tells me that soghm\ more usually written sour in Turki, is the ordinary name of the marmot. ^ Ciiniculi. Marco Polo (i, 244) states that the Mongols are very fond of " Pharaoh's rats,'' which is supposed to be some variety of gerboa. * On p. 278 he gives the correct Mongol name, cithvi {k/iuian), of this animal. He is the first western traveller to mention it by that name, and the same remark applies to the argali^ the Ovis Poll. Marco Polo (i, 18]) speaks of the wild sheep of Badakshan, whose horns were "good six palms in length" (see Yule's remarks, op. cit., i, 185). โ– '' Falcones^ girfaus erodios (or herodios). Bergeron has rendered the latter term by " herodiens et faucons." The same words occur, however, in Marco Polo ; and Yule (i, 262), renders them, no doubt correctly, by " peregrine falcons" (see Ducange, 1131, s. v. Herodius). 70 JOURNEY OF prey, they pull down with the left hand the head and breast of the hawk, so that it be not struck by the wind and carried upward. So it is that they procure a large part of their food by the chase. ^ Of their clothing and customs you must know, that from Cataia, and other regions of the east, and also from Persia and other regions of the south, (231) are brought to them silken and golden stuffs and cloth of cotton, which they wear in summer.^ From Ruscia, Moxel, and from greater Bulgaria and Pascatir, which is greater Hungary, and Ker- kis,^all of which are countries to the north and full of forests, and which obey them, are brought to them costly furs of many kinds, which I never saw in our parts, and which they wear in winter. And they always make in winter at least two fur gowns, one with the fur against the body, the other with the fur outside exposed to the wind and snow; these latter are usually of the skins of wolves or foxes or papions โ– ,'^ and while they sit in the dwelling they have ^ Falconry is still a favourite amusement among the Mongols, Kirghiz, and the Manchus of China. At the present day hawks are carried on the left hand, if small, or on the left forearm if the birds are large (see Marco Polo, i, 384, 388 ; Yule, CatJiay. 135 ; Bergmann, ii, 187 ; Radloff, Aits Sibirien^ i, 466 ; and Rockhill, Diary, 13). Anthony Jenkinson (73) says the Tartars used to kill wild horses with their hawks. ^ Panni serici et aiirei et tele de wambasio. The first is probably the same as the stuff called nacchetti di seta e doro by Pegolotti, which, he says, western traders went all the way co China to get (Heyd, ii, 698) ; and which Friar William in another passage (317) calls nasic. The tele de wambasio (or bonibasio) is called elsewhere by our traveller tele de cotione ; Joinville (107) also speaks of " telle de eotoft." Heyd (ii, 612) mentions the cotton of Asia Minor, Persia, India, and Egypt as the most esteemed in the Middle Ages ; the cotton fabrics of Persia and India were especially fine. ^ Kerkis in this passage designates the Kirghiz ; elsewhere our author uses the same word as the name of the Cherkess. * Papionibus. In another passage (315) he says Mangu Khan sent him three gowns, de pellibiis papionuvi. The papion โ€” for the word is still used in French โ€” is a baboon, the cynocephalus papion. I cannot imagine, however, that monkey skins were ever much used as iurs among the Mongols ; the supply must have been small, the cost considerable. There is a species ot baboon, 1 believe, found in the FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 71 another lighter one. The poor make their outside (gowns) of dog and kid (skins). When they want to chase wild animals, they gather together in a great multitude and surround the district in which they know the game to be, and gradually they come closer to each other till they have shut up the game in among them as in an enclosure, and then they shoot them with their arrows.^ They make also breeches with furs.- The rich furthermore wad their clothing with silk stuffing, which is extraordinarily soft, light and warm. The poor line their clothes with cotton cloth, or with the fine wool which they are able to pick out of the coarser. With this coarser they make felt to cover their houses and coffers, and also for bedding. With wool and a (232) third of horse hair mixed with it they make their ropes. They also mountains north of Peking, and another kind of monkey, with long reddish hair on parts of its body, in Eastern Tibet and Ssii-ch'uan. The skin of the latter is used as a fur by the Chinese, though not commonly. I am inclined to thind that the papion of Friar Rubruck was a badger, or some variety of fox. Ibn Batuta (ii, 401) says the most prized fur in the Kipchak was ermine, next sable, then grey squirrel. Ibn Alathir (xiv, 456) speaks of the Kipchak selling at Sudak bo7'thasi or black fox, beaver, grey squirrel, or other furs. ^ On the great hunts of the Mongols, see Marco Polo (i, 384, 386- 388) ; Yule {Cathay^ i, 135) ; and d'Ohsson (i, 321). "^ The Mongols of the present day commonly wear in winter trousers of sheep or lamb skins, with the wool on the inside. The Kirghiz wear in riding huge baggy trousers called chiinbar^ into which they tuck their gowns. Pian de Carpine (614) thus describes the Mongol dress : " The clothes of the men and women are of one pattern. They do not use capes, cloaks, hoods, or skins [pellilncs) ; but they wear tunics of bukeran, purple or baldakin, made in the following fashion. They are open from top to bottom, and double over the breast ; on the left side they are fastened with a tape, and on the right with three, and furthermore on the left side they are open to the armpit. They make fur gowns of all kinds after the same pattern ; but ihey wear the outside fur gown with the fur outside, and it is open behind, with a tail clown to the knees." The purple, baldakin, and bukeran, of Friar John are probably, as pointed out by d'Avezac (525), Rubruck's " silk and gold stuff, and cloth of cotton." Though there seems little doubt Xh'AX bitke7'an was a light cotton or stuft, muslin our author (290) speaks of a stift bukeran {stamina rigidata). (See also Yule Marco Fo/o, i, 48, and. supra, p. 19). 72 JOURNEY OF make with felt covers, saddle-cloths and rain cloaks ; so they use a great deal of wool.^ You have seen the costume of the men. The men shave a square on the tops of their heads, and from the front corners (of this square) they continue the shaving to the temples, passing along both sides of the head. They shave also the temples and the back of the neck to the top of the cervical cavity, and the forehead as far as the crown of the head, on which they leave a tuft of hair which falls down to the eyebrows. They leave the hair on the sides of the head, and with it they make tresses which they plait together to the ears.^ And the dress of the girls differs not from the costume of the men, except that it is somewhat longer. But on the day following her marriage, (a woman) shaves the front half of her head, and puts on a tunic as wide as a nun's ^ Felt is still applied to all these and many other purposes by the Mongols. They mix horse-hair with the wool in making ropes, so that they may not stretch when wet, and to prevent them from getting kinlded. On the manufacture of felt, see Atkinson {Upper and Lower Amoor^ 42), and Rockhill {Ethnology, 700). 2 Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxi, 420^) says : " They shave across the top of the head and both temples to the ears, so that the shaved part of the head has the shape of a horseshoe. They also shave the back part. The rest of the hair they wear long and make into plaits behind the ears. And all those among them shave their heads in this fashion, whether they be Romans {i.e., Greeks), Saracens, or others." Pian de Carpine (611) describes the Mongols as follows : " They differ in their appearance from all the rest of mankind, for they are broader between the eyes and cheeks than other men, and their cheekbones stand out a good deal from the jaws. Their noses are flat and small ; they have small eyes, with lids drawn up to the eyebrows. They are usually small in the waist, a few only excepted ; nearly all are of short stature. Nearly all of them have but very little beard ; a few have some hairs on their upper lip and as a beard, and this they never shave. They wear ci^owns (of hair) on the tops of their heads, like clerks (among us), and from one ear to the other, for a width of about three fingers, they shave it all as a general thing, right round the crown. On their foreheads they shave off all (the hair) for a space of two fingers in breadth ; the hair left behind the crown and the shaven part (on the forehead) they let grow down to the eyebrows, while they let the hair on either side grow longer than in front. The rest of their hair they let grow like women, making two plaits of it, tying them each behind the ear. They have also small feet." FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 73 gown, but everyway larger and longer, open before, and tied on the right side. For in this the Tartars differ from the Turks ; the Turks tie their gowns on the left, the Tartars always on the right.^ Furthermore they have a head-dress, which they call bocca, made of bark, or such other light material as they can find, and it is big and as much as two hands can span around, and is a cubit and more high, and square like the capital of a column. This bocca they cover (233) with costly silk stuff, and it is hollow inside, and on top of the capital, or the square on it, they put a tuft of quills or light canes also a cubit or more in length. And this tuft they ornament at the top with pea- cock feathers, and round the edge (of the top) with feathers from the mallard's tail, and also with precious stones. The wealthy ladies wear such an ornament on their heads, and fasten it down tightly with an amess, for which there is an opening in the top for that purpose, and inside they stuff their hair, gathering it together on the back of the tops of their heads in a kind of knot, and putting it in the bocca. whicli they afterwards tie down tightly under the chin.'^ So it is that when several ladies are riding together, ^ The Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Tibetans, and I beHeve most of the other nations of northern Asia of the present day, fold their gowns to the right across them. The Chinese annals of the sixth century note the peculiar habit of the Turkish tribes, of folding their gowns across them to the left. " They button to the left {tso jen)" the Chou shu, bk. 50, 3, says of them. โ– ^ Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxxv, 421/'), describes the bogiak., but does not mention it by its name. Pian de Carpine (614) says : " Married women wear a very full gown, open in front down to the ground. On their heads they wear a round thing made of twigs or bark, and it is an ell in height, and finishes on top in a square ; and it grows in size all the way up to the top, and on the summit of it is a long slender rod of gold, silver or wood, or else a feather. And it is fastened on to a felt cap {pillolinii) which reaches to the shoulders : and the cap as well as this thing is covered with bukeran or purple or baldakin ; and they never go before men without this thing [:instrumen- iiij/i) on, and by it they are distinguished from other women. The maidens and young women can be distinguished from the men with great difficulty, for in all respects they are dressed like them. They 74 JOURNFA' OF and one sees them from afar, they look like soldiers, helmets on head and lances erect. For this bocca looks like a helmet, and the tuft above it is like a lance. And all the women sit their horses astraddle like men. And they tie their gowns with a piece of blue silk stuff at the waist and they wrap another band at the breasts, and tie a piece of white stuff belo\v the eyes which hangs down to the breast.^ And the women there are wonderfully fat, and she who has the least nose is held the most beauti- ful. They disfigure themselves horribly by painting their {i.e., the men) have caps which are not Hke those of other nations, but we are unable to clearly describe their shapes." Quatremere (102) quotes a number of Persian authors who use the word bogtak to distinguish the head-dress worn exclusively by Mongol princesses (see also Ibn Batuta, ii, 379, 388 ; Cordier, Odoj'ic, 369, 409 ; Yule, Cathay, 131 ; and Clavijo, 154). Such high head-dresses seem to have been worn at various times by inany Asiatic peoples or tribes ; whether they were quite like the Mongol bogtak or not I am unable to say. IVei shii (bk. 102, 13), speaking of an Uigur people called the Yen-ta, says : "It was the custom of the Yen-ta for brothers to have the same wife : if a man had no brothers, his wife wore a head-dress (or cap) with but one horn. If he had brothers, she added as many points (or horns) as he had brothers." Yiian-chuang describes in about the same terms the head-dress of the women of Himatala. who may, by the way, be the Yen-ta of the Wei shu (Julien, Voyages, ii, 197). The nearest modern approach to the Mongol bogtak seems to me to be the high head-dress, covered with bark or red cloth, of the Votiak women of Kasan (Pallas, Voyages, v, 32). We find another head- dress of like description, which may owe its origin to the bogtak, worn at the present time by the Christian women of Urfah. between Diarbekir and Aleppo (Percy Badger, i, 329). The head-dress of the Kirghiz women, and the high Flemish head-dress called hennin, introduced into France by Isabeau de Baviere, should not be omitted in this enumeration. 1 Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxxv, 421^) describes the gorgeous harness of the big stout palfreys the rich Mongol ladies rode. " All the wives of great Barons," he says, " are dressed in samites or golden purples (purpuris deaicratis), as are their husbands. Usually, however, all women are clothed in boqueram (gowns) made with miany plaits at the waist .... They have also another kind of gown of white woollen stuff (panno laiieo albo), which all Tartars put on over their clothes when it rains and in winter." Vincent is here quoting from Friar Simon of St. Quentin. The Mongols referred to lived in Asia Minor or Persia. The Kirghiz women still cover their faces when riding and exposed to the cutting wind. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 75 faces.^ They never lie down in bed when having their children."^ (234) It is the duty of the women to drive the carts, get the dwelHngs on and off them, milk the cows, make butter and gniit, and to dress and sew skins, which they do with a thread made of tendons. They divide the tendons into fine shreds, and then twist them into one long thread. They also sew the boots, the socks and the clothing.^ They never wash clothes, for they say that God would be angered thereat, and that it would thunder if they hung them up to dry.* They will even beat those they find washing them. Thunder they fear extraordinarily ; and ^ Conf., infra, his description of Scatay's wife. The custom of rubbing" the tace with unguents, usually black, to protect the skin from the effects of the wind, has been practised in northern Asia for a long time. As early as the seventh century, we hear of it obtaining in Tibet (Rockhill, Land of the Lamas, 214). 2 The Kalmuk women have their children in a crouching position ; the Kirghiz bring forth theirs kneehng (H. Pioss, Das Weib., li, 276). In China, Japan, Mongolia and Tibet, a crouching position is, I believe, the rule. Pallas {Voyages, i, 570), says that when a Kalmuk woman is in childbirth, a lama is called in who reads prayers, while the husband stretches a net round the outside of the tent, and beats the air with a club till the child is born ; crying the while gart chetkir, " be off, devil ! " ^ Pian de Carpine (643) says : " The maids and women ride and race on horseback as skilfully as the men ; we saw them also carrying bows and arrows. The women are able to stay on horseback tor a very long time as well as the inen ; they ride with very short stirrups. They take good care ot their horses, but then they are careful of all their things. Their women do all the work : they make the fur gowns, the clothes, the shoes and boots, and everything else that is made of leather. They drive the carts and load (reparant) them, they load the camels, and they are most active and strong in all their work. All the women wear trowsers (feinoralia), and some of them shoot with the bow like men." All writers of the period state that the Mongol women accompanied the men into the battles, were fine archers, and fought as bravely as they (Matth. Paris, iv, 388 ; d'Ohsson, i, 329). The domestic duties ot the Mongol women are the same to-day as they were in Friar William's time (see Bergmann, ii, 165-167, and Radloif, Aiis Sibiricn, i, 295-297). "* Conf. d'Ohsson, i, 409 ; ii, 93. The Mongols of the present day still have this superstition (Rockhill, Diary, 154, 207). Rashideddin says that they believed any liquor spilt in the tent, or wet boots put to dry in the sun, would attract lightning (d'Ohsson, ii, 618). ^6 JOURNEY OF when it thunders they will turn out of their dwellings all strangers, wrap themselves in black felt, and thus hide themselves till it has passed away.^ Furthermore, they never wash their bowls, but when the meat is cooked they rinse out the dish in which they are about to put it with some of the boiling broth from the kettle, which they pour back into it.^ They also make the felt and cover the houses.^ The men make bows and arrows, manufacture stirrups and bits, make saddles, do the carpentering on (the frame- work of) their dwellings and the carts ; they take care of the horses, milk the mares, churn the cosmos or mare's niilk, make the skins in which it is put ; they also look after the camels and load them. Both sexes look after the sheep and goats, somxetimes the men, othertimes the women, milking them.^ They dress skins with a thick mixture of sour ewe's 1 Plan de Carpine (632) says : " If anyone is killed by thunder, all the people who were in the camp (at the time) must pass through fire. The tent, bed, cart, felt and clothing, and everything of the kind they have will be touched by no one till they have been purified." Schilt- berger (50) says that among the Tartars a man killed by lightning was held to be a saint. - Pian de Carpine (639) says : " They never wash their bowls, and if sometimes they rinse them out with the pot liquor, they pour it back into the pot on the meat. In like fashion they wash their pots and cooking utensils." The Mongols still follow this expeditious plan. They never wash the pails in which they keep milk or curd ; it would bring bad luck ; but they leave on the inside a thick crust of hardened curd, mixed with hair and dung (conf. Atkinson, Western Siberia, 286 ; see also supra, p. 64). ^ Cooperiunt doiiio's. By this, I take it, is to be understood that the women put the sheets of felt in place over the framework of the tents each time they were set up. I have not noticed that this work was exclusively reserved to the women among the Mongols of the present day. "* Pian de Carpine (643) says : "The men look after nothing at all but their arrows, though they give a little attention to the flocks. They hunt and practise archery : for all of them from the smallest to the biggest are good archers, and as soon as their children are two or three years old they begin to ride, to manage horses, and to race. And they give them bows according to their age, and teach them to shoot : they are very agile and daring." FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 7/ milk and salt.^ When they want to wash their hands or head, they fill their mouths (235) with water, which they let trickle on to their hands, and in this way they also wet their hair and wash their heads.- As to their marriages, you must know that no one among them has a wife unless he buys her ; so it sometimes happens that girls are well past marriageable age before they marry, for their parents always keep them until they sell them. They observe the first and second degrees of consanguinity, but no degree of affinity ; thus (one person) will have at the same time or successively two sisters.'^ Among them no widow marries, for the following ^ Lacte ovhiin acetoso inspissato et salso. VdWd.^ {Voyages^ \^\\) says that the Kalmuk women tan skins with the residuum of milk left after the distillation of araka and a little salt. The skins are after- wards softened and smoked. " Sometimes," he adds, " they use a mixture of ashes and salt water, and after the skins have been dried and smoked, they are rubbed with a mixture of putrid sheep or ox liver and milk." The Mongols and Tibetans of the Koko nor country soften the skins with sour cream. ^ This mode of washing the face and hands is still in vogue in Mongolia and northern China. Persian authors say that the Yassak^ or Ordinances of Chingis Khan, ordered all Mongols not to put their hands in any water, but to take it up in their mouths to wash with (Quatremere, op. cit.^ 436). ^ Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxvi, 420^) states that a Tartar did not consider a woman his wife till she had conceived or borne a child. If she proved barren, he might send her away. Furthermore, a husband did not get the wife's dower till she had borne him a son, nor did the woman receive it from her father and mother till she had a child. Pian de Carpine (612) says of the Mongols' marriage customs : "Each one hath as many wives as he can support ; some have a hundred, some fifty, some ten, some more, others fewer. And as a general rule they marry all their relatives except their own mother, their daughters and sisters by the same mother. They may however marry their sisters through their father, and also their father's wives after his death. A younger brother, or some other younger member of the family, is expected on the death of his elder to take the brother's wife. All other women without any distinction they take as wives, and they buy them right dearly from their parents. After the death of their husbands (the women) do not easily make second marriages, except some one wishes to take his step-mother as a wife" (see also Marco Polo, i, 222, 245 ; Radloff, op. cit., i, 476 ; and Rockhill, Diary., i 56). The Chinese annals attribute the above customs to a number of tribes of northern Asia, to the Turks, to the Tu-ku-hun, a people pi-obably of 78 JOURNEY OF reason : they believe that all who serve them in this life shall serve them in the next, so as regards a widow they believe that she will always return to her first hus- band after death. Hence this shameful custom prevails among them, that sometimes a son takes to wife all his father's wives, except his own mother ; for the orda of the father and mother always belongs to the youngest son, so it is he who must provide for all his father's wives who come to him with the paternal household, and if he wishes it he uses them as wives, for he esteems not himself injured if they return to his father after death.^ When then anyone has made a bargain with another to take his daughter, the father of the girl gives a feast, and the girl flees to her relatives and hides there. Then the father says : " Here, my daughter is yours : take her wheresoever you find her." Then he searches for her with his friends till he finds her, and he m.ust take her by force and carry her off with a semblance of violence to his house.- Kitan (or Moho) descent, to the T'ang-hsiang, a Tibetan people, and to others {Chou shu, bk. 50 : T^ang shii^ bk. 221). Of the Turks the CJwu shii says they could marry in the ascending lines of affinity, but not in the descending. These customs still prevail among the Kafirs (Robertson, Kafirs of the Hindu Kiish, 535 ; see also Elias, Tarikh-i- rashidi, 251). ^ To cite but one example of this custom among the Mongols : Tutukai (or Budugai), fourth daughter of Hulagu, married in the first place Tenker Kurkan, then his son Sulamuh, then his son Jijak Kurkan (Howorth, Histo7y, iii, 213). Conf. Gombojew, p. 652, and Quatremere, op. cit., 89, 92. Clarke {Travels, 52) says that in his time (1799) a Kalmuk widow became the property of her husband's brother, if he chose to claim her (see also Haxthausen, Trajiscniicasia, 403, who notes this custom among the Orsethes). Pian de Carpine (642) notes that there was no difference between the sons of the first wife and those of concubines as to inheritance and other rights. It is stil customary among the Kirghiz for the youngest son to receive as his inheritance, besides a portion of the flocks and herds, his fa.ther's winter camp with its pasturages {kishlak) (Radlofif, op. cit., i, 416). Blackstone {Commentaries ii, 83) says this custom once prevailed in Scotland. " Clarke {op. cit., 70), speaking of the marriage customs of the Kal- muks, says : "A girl is first mounted, who rides off at full speed. Her lover pursues, and if he overtakes her she becomes his wife." Wei FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 79 (236) rmw^S to their justice you must know that when two men fight together no one dares interfere, even a father dare not aid a son ; but he who has the worse of it may appeal to the court of the lord, and if anyone touches him after the appeal, he is put to death. But action must be taken at once without any delay, and the injured one must lead him (who has offended) as a captive. They inflict capital punish- ment on no one unless he be taken in the act or con- fesses.^ When one is accused by a number of persons, they torture him so that he confesses. They punish homicide with capital punishment," and also co- shii, (bk. 103, 15) speaking of the Kao-ch'e (Turks or Uigurs), says the man iDrought cattle and horses to the camp in which he wished to choose a wife, and took the one who could sit a horse which he tried to make throw her. This may be a survival of an older custom, in which the bride fled with โ€” or was carried off by โ€” her lover. Tang shu (bk. 219, 7) says of Kitan (or Sien-pi) of Shih-wei, probably of the same stock as the Mongols, that the man began by serving the family of the woman for three years ; then a portion of her property was given to the woman he had chosen for a wife, and he carried her off to the sound of drums and with dancing. When the husband died, the woman did not marry again. On the social organisation of the Mongols of the present day, see Kopernicki {Journ. Anthrop. Inst., i, 413, et seq.); Grenard {op. cit., ii, 249, 250) states that in Chinese Turkestan, especially among the Kazak, the idea of abduction of the bride is still clearly observed in the marriage ceremonies. 1 According to the Chinese code of the present dynasty, the death penalty cannot be applied unless the criminal confesses. Torture is permitted, however, to extract it. ^ Chingis Khan's Ulag yassak, or Great Ordinances, punished with death homicide, robbery, adultery, fornication, sodomy ; also him who lost for the third time money entrusted to him, him who received stolen goods or runaway slaves, him who picked up a weapon in battle and did not restore it to its owner, him who used sorcery to another's injur)', him who interfered in a duel (d'Ohsson, i, 408}. Haithon (7/z'j'/. Orient., 72) says the Mongols considered it a mortal sin to leave the bit in a horse's mouth when he was feeding. Plan de Carpine (641)" mentions capital punishment for adultery, brigandage, and open larceny. He also remarks (635) ; "Their women are chaste and nothing is heard among them of lewdness ; but some of the expressions they use in joking are very shameful and coarse." They have not changed since then. Marco Polo (i, 259) says that for "horse-stealing or some other great matter, they cut the thief in two with a sword. Howbeit, if he 8o JOURNEY OF habitinj^ with a woman not one's own. By not one's own, I mean not his wife or bondwoman, for with one's slaves one may do as one pleases. They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty thefts, such as that of a sheep, so long as one has not repeatedly been taken in the act, they beat him cruelly, and if they administer an hundred blows they must use an hundred sticks โ– } I speak of the case of those beaten under order of authority. In like manner false envoys, that is to say persons who pass themselves off as ambassadors but who are not, are put to death. Likewise sorcerers, of whom I shall however tell you more, for such they consider to be witches. , When anyone dies, they lament with loud wailing, then they are free, for they pay no taxes for the year. And if anyone is present at the death of an adult, he may not enter the dwelling even of Mangu Chan for the year. If it be a child who dies, he may not enter it for a month. (237) Beside the tomb of the dead they always leave a tent if he be one of the nobles, that is of the family of Chingis, who was their first father and lord. Of him who is dead the burying place is not known.- And always be able to ransom himself by paying nine times the value of the thing stolen, he is let off." Ibn Batuta (ii, 364), referring to the Kipchak, says : " He in whose possession is found a stolen horse, must return it to its owner, and give him nine like it ; if he cannot do this, his children are seized : but if he has no children, he is slaughtered like a sheep." ^ Marco Polo (i, 259) says : "When anyone has committed a pett)' theft, they give him, under the orders of authority, seven blows of a stick, or seventeen, or thirty- seven, or forty-seven, and so forth, always increasing by tens in proportion to the injury done, and running up to one hundred and seven." - Vincent of Beauvais (bk. xxix, ch. Ixxxvi, 4216) says : "If the dead Tartar has been a rich and mighty man, he is buried in his most costly robes, and in some hidden place remote from all, so that he be not despoiled of his raiment." He goes on to say that the friends of the deceased kill his horse and skin it, fill the skin with straw, and suspend it by poles over his tomb. They eat the flesh, and keep up their lamentations over the deceased for 30 days, more or less. " There are some Tartars," he adds, "and some Christians also FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 8 1 around these places where they bury their nobles there is a camp with men watching the tombs. I did not understand that they bury treasure with their dead. The Comans but very bad ones, among whom the sons, on the father getting old and worn out by age, give him a certain fatty substance (pmguia) Hke sheep's tail to eat, which oppresses him and he is easily suffocated. When the father is dead, they burn the body and collect the ashes, which they keep as something precious. And every day when they eat they sprinkle their food with this powder" (see Gombojew, 658). Pian de Carpine (628) says : " When a person is dead, if he is of the nobles, he is buried secretly in the steppe wherever it pleaseth them : he is buried however with his tent (statio) and seated in the middle of it, and they put a table before him, and a bowl full of meat, and a jar full of mare's milk ; and a mare with her foal is buried with him, also a horse with bit and saddle. And another horse they eat, and fill the skin with straw and put it on two or four poles over him, so that he may have a dwelling in the other world, and a mare to give him milk, and that he may increase his horse herd, and have horses on which to ride. And the bones of the horse which they eat they burn for the good of his soul. And often the women come together to burn bones for the souls of the men, as I have seen with my own eyes, and have been told by others. I saw also that Occodai-can, the father of the present Emperor (Kuyuk), had let a small tree grow for his soul, and he ordered that no one was to cut a branch of it, and whoever did, as I found out myself, was beaten, despoiled and badly treated. So it was that though I was greatly in need of something to whip my horse with, I did not dare cut a switch there. Furthermore they bury gold and silver with a person. They break up the cart on which he was carried, destroy his dwelling, and his name may not be pronounced by anyone for three generations." D'Ohsson (ii, 60) states that when Tului, son of Chingis, died, a mirror (tulid) was called gueiczugu, the use of the word tului having been tabooed. Various other cases might be cited (see Rockhill, Diary, 160). Friar John adds (630) : " Some of their great people are buried in another fashion. They go secretly into the steppe (ca/npo), and having removed the grass in a certain spot together with its roots, they make a great pit, and in the side of this pit they make a grave underground ; and the slave which he loved best they put under him, and he lies there so long under him that he is about to draw his last breath, when they take him out to let him breathe ; and this they do three times, and if he escapes alive he is free thereafter, and does what he pleases, and is a great man in the camp, even among the relatives (of his dead master). The dead man they place in the grave made in the side of the pit as explained above ; then they fill up the pit which is in front of the grave, and put back the grass as it was before, so that no one may find the place afterwards. There is another mode of burial similar to the above, except that they leave a tent above the grave on the steppe. " In their country there are two cemeteries. The one in which they bury the emperors, chiefs and all the nobles : and wherever they may be, whenever it is possible, they carry them thither ; much gold and silver is buried with them. The other is that in which were buried all those who were killed in Hungary; for a great many were killed there. 82 JOURNEY OF raise a great tumulus over the dead, and set up a statue to him, its face to the east, and holding a cup in its hand at the height of the navel. They make also pyramids to the rich, that is to say, little pointed structures, and in some places I saw great tiled covered towers, and in others stone houses, though there were no stones thereabout. Over a person recently dead I saw hung on long poles the skins of xvi horses, four facing each quarter of the world ; and they had placed also cosmos for him to drink, and meat for him to eat, and for all that they said of him that he had been baptised. Farther east I saw other tombs in shape like great yards covered with big flat stones, some round, some square, and four high vertical stones at the corners facing the four quarters of the world.^ When anyone sickens he lies on his couch, and places a sign over his dwelling To that cemetery no one dare come except the guardians who are placed there to watch it ; and if anyone should come there, he would be laid hold of, despoiled and beaten and very badly treated. It happened that we ourselves in ignorance of this entered the bounds of the cemetery of those who had been killed in Hungary, when they came on us and v/anted to shoot us with their arrows ; but as we were ambassadors and did not know the customs of the country, they let us go." The appellation of " first father" applied to Chingis is but the trans- lation of his Chinese dynastic title of T^ai tsu, " the great ancestor. Most founders of dynasties in China since the third century, B.C., have either borne this title or that of Kao tsii, "Exalted ancestor." In the letter of Arghun to the Pope in 1285, he refers to " Gingiscam primo patri omnium Tartarorum" (Chabot,//zi'/. de Mar-Jabalaha^ ^90). See also, on the burial customs of the Mongols and Comans, Ibn Batuta, iv, 301 ; Lebeau, Bas Empire^ xvii, 397 ; and Palladius, 11, 12. The Kirghiz still bury their dead in a recess dug in the side of the grave (Sven Hedin, op. cit.., i, 420). Conf. Joitrti. Roy. Asiat. Soc, n. s., xii, 443. ^ The tumuli of Southern Russia and of Northern Asia, the tombs of Comans, Turks and of other peoples who have at various times occu- pied these vast regions, have been described by most travellers who have visited these countries (Atkinson, West. Siberia., 168, 235 ; also his Upper attd Lower Amoor., 39, 157, 179, 191, etc.) One dome-shaped tomb he describes (p. 191) was 37 ft. high. In a place near Kopal the tombs covered an area of four miles by one. Radlofif (^z/j- Sibirien, ii, \o/^ ei seq)., gives a detailed description of similar tombs, and of the interior arrangement and contents of a number which he opened. The Choii shit (bk. l) says that it was customary among the ancient Turks to place around a tomb as many upright stones as the deceased had killed persons in his lifetime. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 83 'that there is a sick person therein, and that no one shall enter. So no one visits a sick person, save him who serves him.^ And when anyone from the great ordu is ill, they place (238) guards all round the ordu, who permit no one to pass those bounds. For they fear lest an evil spirit or some wind should come with those who enter. They call, however, their priests, who are these same soothsayers. HEN therefore we found ourselves among these barbarians, it seemed to me, as I said before, that I had been transported into another world. They surrounded us on their horses, after having made us wait for a long while seated in the shade under our carts. The first question was whether we had ever been among them before. Having answered that we had not, they began to beg most impudently for some of our provisions. We gave them some of the biscuit and wine that we had brought with us from the city,^ and when they had drunk one flagon they asked for another, saying that a man enters not a house with one foot only ; but we gave it not, excusing ourselves on the score of the smallness of our stock. Then they asked whence we came and where we wanted to go. I told them what I have already said : that we had heard that Sartach ^ Pian de Carpine (628) says : " When any one of them sickens unto death, a spear is put in his tent and around it they wrap a black felt ; and thenceforth no one who is a stranger dare enter the bounds of his dwelling. And when he begins to agonize, nearly all leave him, for no one of those who have witnessed his death can enter the orda of any chief or of the emperor until the new moon" (conf Rubruck, p. 344 of text). ^ Vz//a, Constantinople, rj ttoXis, is of course meant. We usually derive the Turkish name Stambul from njv ttoXiv, but I am inclined to believe that Pears {Fall of Constantinople^ 177) is right in thinking that the Turkish name is but an abbreviation of Constantmople, just as Sktnderim is of Alexandretta, Isnik of Niceaea, etc. G 3 84 JOURNEY OF was a Christian, and that I wanted to go to him, for I had your letters to deliver to him. They made most diligent inquiry whether I was going of my own free will, or whether I was sent. I answered that no one forced me to go, nor would I go if I did not want to, so I was going of my own free will (239), and also of the will of my superior. I was most careful never to say that I was your ambassador. Then they asked me what was in the carts, whether it was gold or silver or costly clothing that I was taking to Sartach. I answered that Sartach would see for himself what we were bringing to him when We reached him, but that it was none of their business to ask : they should have me shown to their captain, and that he, if it so pleased him, should have me taken to Sartach, otherwise I would go back. Now there was in that province a relative of Baatu, a captain b}^ the name of Scatay,^ to whom the lord emperor of Constantinople was sending (by me) letters that I be allowed to pass. So they agreed (to do as I asked), supplying us with horses and oxen, and two men to guide us ; and those who had brought us went back. Before, however, giving us all this, they kept us waiting for a long time, begging of our bread for their little ones, admiring everything they saw on our servants, knives, gloves, purses and belts, and wanting everything. I excused myself on the plea that we had a long journey before us, and that we could not at the starf deprive ourselves of necessary things. Then they called me an impostor. It is true that they took nothing (240) by force ; but they beg in the most importunate and impudent way for whatever they see, and if a person gives to them, it is so much lost, for they are ^ The name is variously written Scatai, Scafay, Scatafai, Scatatay and Scatanay. It may be that the chief is the same as the Cadan, Cartan, or Catan, mentioned by Pian de Carpine (667), and siipra^ p. 8, and whose wife, he says (743) was Batu's sister. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 85 ungrateful. They consider themselves the masters of the world, and it seems to them that there is nothing that anyone has the right to refuse them : ^ if he refuses to give, and after that has need of their service, they serve him . badly. They gave us to drink of their cow's milk, from which the butter had been taken ; it was very sour, and is what they call aira?- And thus we left them, and it seemed to me that we had escaped from the midst of devils. On the next day we came to their captain. For two months, from the time we left Soldaia to when we came to Sartach, we never slept in a house or tent, but always in the open air or under our carts ; and we never saw a city, but only Comans' tombs in very great numbers.^ That evening the man who was guiding us gave us cosmos to drink, and at the taste of it I broke out in a sweat with horror and surprise, for I had never drunk of it. It seemed to me, however, very palatable, as it really is. 1 Plan de Carpine (636) says : "They are haughtier than any other people, and despise all the rest of the world, holding them as less than nothing, be they high or low. . . . They are greater liars than other men, and there is hardly any truth in them. At first some of them are quite bland, but they bite like the scorpion. They are astucious and deceitful, and where they can, they get around everyone by trickery." 2 The ordinary drink of the Kirghiz is boiled milk mixed with water, and allowed to get sour. It is called airan (see Pallas, Voyages^ i, 618 ; Radloff, Aus Sibirien, i, 439). Atkinson, Upper and Lower Amoor (42), calls it hymn. ^ Ibn Batuta (ii, 363) remarks that it is the custom of the people of the Kipchak to travel in the same way as the pilgrims on the Hedjaz road. They start after the morning prayer, camp towards nine or ten o'clock in the morning, start again in the afternoon, and camp again in the evening. Bergmann (ii, 182) says that the usual distance travelled daily by a Kalmuk is estimated by them at from 20 to 25 versts, or about 13J to i6\ statute miles. In Mongolia and Central Asia, the length of the stage is regulated to a great extent by the supply of grass and water ; the average distance, however, is, I think, from 20 to 30 miles when travelling on horseback, and 14 to 15 with camels. Friar William probably went at about this latter rate, or even more slowly, with his ox carts. S6 - JOURNEY OF SN the morning then we came across the carts ot Scatay carrying the dwellings, and it seemed to me that a city was coming towards me.^ I was also astonished at the size of the herds of oxen and horses and flocks of sheep, though I saw but few men to manage them. So I asked how many men (Scatay) had under him, and I was told that there were not (241) over five hundred, of whom we had passed half at another camp. Then the man who guided us began telling me that I must give something to Scatay, and he made us stop while he went ahead to announce our coming. It was already past the third hour, so they set down their dwellings near some water, and (Scatay's) interpreter came to us, and as soon as he learnt that we had never been among them before he begged of our provisions, and we gave him some. He wanted also a gown, for he was to act as translator of our words in the presence of his master. We excused ourselves. He asked what we were bringing to his master, so we got a flagon of wine and filled a small basket^ with biscuits and a plate with apples and other fruit, but he was not pleased because we were not taking some costly tissue. However we went with this in fear and trembling. (Scatay) was seated on ^ Ibn Batuta (ii, 380) thus describes his first view of the camp of the Khan of Kipchak : " Then the imperial cortege, which the Turks call ordu, arrived. We saw a great city moving with its inhabitants, containing mosques and markets, with the smoke of kitchens rising in the air ; for the Turks cook their food during the march. Carts drawn by horses transport these people, and when they have come to the camping place they unload the tents which are on the arias, and put them up on the ground ; for they are very light. They do the same with the mosques and the shops." 2 Veringal. Yule {Marco Polo, i, 371) says there is a Venetian sea- term, Vernegal, applied to a wooden bowl in which the food of the men is put. I have not found this word in any dictionary at my dis- posal, but as Friar William in another passage (254) uses the word cophinum, the old French word coffin, meaning " a small basket," I have no hesitation in translating it as I have done. It was probably a round flat basket, in shape and size like a plate. Hakluyt (p. iii) renders it by " maund." See also Pauthier, Marco Polo, 280. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. '87 his couch, with a little guitar in his hand, and his wife was beside him ; and in truth it seemed to me that her whole nose had been cut off, for she was so snub-nosed that she seemed to have no nose at all; and she had greased this part of her face with some black unguent, and also her eyebrows, so that she appeared most hideous to us. Then I spoke to him in the terms previously used, for it was essential that we should everywhere say the same thing ; about this we had been well cautioned by those who had been among them, never to change what we said. Then I begged him to be pleased to accept these trifles of us, excusing myself, being a monk and not allowed by my order to own gold or silver or costly robes (242) : so I had nothing of the sort to give him, only of our food to offer him for a blessing. Then he had the things accepted, and at once distributed among his men who had gathered there to drink. I also gave him the letters from the emperor of Constantinople. This was on the octave of the Ascension (5th June). He at once sent them to Soldaia, to be translated there, for they were in Greek, and he had no one with him who knew the Greek language. He asked us if we would drink cosmos, or mare's milk ; for the Christians, Ruthenians, Greeks and Alans who live among them, and who wish to follow strictly their religion, drink it not ; for of a truth they consider themselves to be no longer Christians if they drink it, and the priests have to bring them back into the fold as if they had denied the faith of Christ.^ Then I made answer that we had had enough of our own to drink so far, but that if that liquor ^ Greek priests whom I have consulted on this point have assured me that such used to be in the twelfth century the general belief of the Christians inhabiting among the Tartars. They have, however, been unable to produce any documentary evidence. The Armenian chronicles say that the Georgians would not partake of the Mongol feasts nor drink their kumiss, " because they were Christians " (Dulaurier, 236, 238). 88 JOURNEY OF should give out, we should have to drink what he gave Us. He asked about the contents of the letters we were sending to Sartach. I told him that the sealed ones were our bulls but that there was naught in them but good and friendly words. He then asked what we would say to Sartach. I answered : " Words of the Christian faith." He asked which, for he would be pleased to hear them. Then I expounded to him as well as I could through my inter- preter, who was neither over intelligent nor fluent, the symbol of the faith. When he had heard it, he remained silent, but wagged his head. Then, having made choice of two men to watch over us, and over the horses and oxen, he made us drive about^ with him until the return of the messenger whom he (243) had sent to have the letters of the emperor translated, and we went about with him until the day after Pentecost (8th June). |N Pentecost eve (6th June) there came to us certain Alans, who are there called Aas, and they are Christians according to the Greek rite, and use the Greek writing and have Greek oriests.^ ^ Bigare. Friar William seems to use this word to designate the moving about of the camp with the big tents on carts. 2 The Alans or Aas appear to be identical with the An-ts'ai or A-lan-na of the Hou Han shtc (bk. 88, 9), of whom we read that "they led a pastoral life N.W. of Sogdiana (K'ang^chii) in a plain bounded by great lakes (or swamps), and in their wanderings went as far as the shores of the Northern Ocean" (Ma Tuan-lin, bk. 338). Pei shih (bk. 97, 12) refers to them under the name of Su-te and Wen-na-sha (see also Bretschneider, Med. Geog., 258, et seq). Strabo (xi, 2, 422, and 5, 434), refers to them under the name of Aorsi living to the north but contiguous to the Albani, whom some authors confound with them, but whom later Armenian historians carefully distinguish from them (De Morgan, Afzi-j/wz, i, 232). Ptolemy (vi, 14) speaks of this people as the " Scythian Alans" ('AXavot ^icvdai) ; but the first definite mention of them in classical authors is, according to Bunbury (ii, 486), found in Dionysius Periergetes (305), who speaks of FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 89 They are not however scismatfcs like the Greeks/ for without any respect to persons they honour all Christians. And they brought us cooked meats, begging us to eat of their food, and to pray for one of theirs who had died. Then I told them that it was the eve of a great festival, and that on that day we did not eat meat, and I told them of the festival, at which they were much pleased, for they were in ignorance of what con- cerned the Christian rite, the name of Christ alone excepted. And they and many other Christians, Ruthenians and Hungarians asked whether they could be saved, for they had to drink cosmos and eat carrion and beasts slaughtered by Saracens and infidels, which those Greek and Ruthenian priests consider about the same as the dXKjjeires' 'AXuvot (see also De Morgan, i, 202, and Deguignes, ii, 279, et seq.). Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi, 348) says the Alans were a congeries of tribes living E. of the Tanais (Don), and stretching far into Asia. " Distributed over two continents, all these nations, whose various names I refrain from mentioning, though separated by immense tracts of country in which they pass their vagabond existence, have with time been confounded under the generic appellation of Alans." Ibn Alathir, at a later date, also refers to the Alans as "formed of numerous nations" (Dulaurier, xiv, 455). Conquered by the Huns in the latter part of the fourth century, some of the Alans moved westward, others settled on the northern slopes of the Caucasus; though long prior to that, in A.D. 51, they had, as allies of the Georgians, ravaged Ai^menia (see Yule, Cathay^ 316 ; Deguignes, i, pt. ii, 277, et seq. ; and De Morgan, i, 217, et seq.). Mirkhond, in the Tarikhi l-Vassa/, and other Mohammedan writers speak of the Alans and As. However this may be, it is thought that the Oss or Ossetes of the Caucasus are their modern representatives (Klaproth, Tad/, /iz'st., 180; De Morgan, i, 202, 231). See also on the subject of the Alans, Yule, Cathay., y]% and Marco Polo., ii, 164, 492 ; Vivien de St. Martin, Nouv. Ann. des Voyages., Aug.-Sept., 1848, 164 ; D&v6r\?i, Journ. Aszat., ix^ serie, viii, 431 ; and Haxthausen, op. at., p. 385, et seq. ^ In the tenth century, we find the Emperor of Constantinople addressing the Alan chiefs as his "spiritual sons" (Const. Porphyro- genitus, L>e adniinis., i, 688). Bar Hebrteus also states that the Alans admitted the unity of persons in the Trinity, but not the unity of nature ; in other words, that they belonged to the church of Rome (Quatremere, 80 ; see also Mosheim, Hist. Tart. Eccles., Appendix, 167, et seq.). 9b JOURNEY OF carrion, or sacrifices to idols ; and because they did not know the facts, neither could they keep them if they did know. Then I explained to them as well as I could, teaching them and comforting them in the faith. The meat which they had brought (244) we kept for the feast day, for we could find nothing to buy with gold and silver, but only with linen or other tissues, and of those we had none. When our servants showed the yperpera, they rubbed them with their fingers, and put them to their noses to smell if they were copper.^ Neither did they {i.e., the Mongols) give us food, but only cow's milk, very sour and bad-smelling. Our wine was about exhausted, and the water was so muddy from the horses that it was not drinkable ; had it not been for the biscuits we had, and God's mercy, we should probably have perished. |N the day of Pentecost (7th June) a certain Saracen came to us, and while in conversation with us, we began expounding the faith, and when he heard of the blessings of God to man in the incarnation, the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment, the washing away of sins in baptism, he 1 This proves that the Mongols had a pretty good idea of Byzan- tine coins of the period. Pachymeres {Andron. PaleoL, vi, 343) says that in the reign of John Ducas Vataces (Friar William's Vatacius) the gold coins [aurea or hyperpera) contained one-third alloy. Even at a later date, Ibn Batuta (ii, 444) says that one of the wives of the Khan of Kipchak " gave me three hundred dinars in gold of the country, which is called alberberah (iperpera) ; but this gold is not good." Pian de Carpine (707) speaks of "yperpera or besants." Gibbon {History., vii, 341) " guesses" from a corrupt passage of Guntherus that " the Perpera was the nummus aureus., the fourth part of a mark of silver, or about ten shillings sterling in value." Friar John uses the word yperpera as synonymous with bezant, as did Joinville, Marco Polo, and others (Yule, Marco Polo, ii, 535). It cannot be estimated at less than los. bd. or \\s. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 9I said he wished to be baptised ; but while we were making ready to baptise him he suddenly jumped on his horse saying he had to go home to consult with his wife. And the next day talking with us he said he could not possibly venture to receive baptism, for then he could not drink cosmos. For the Christians of these parts say that no true Christian should drink, but that (245) without this drink it were impossible to live in these deserts. From this opinion I could not possibly turn him. So you will see how far they are astray from the true faith through this opinion, which has been implanted among them by the Ruthenians, of whom there are great numbers there. On this same day (7th June) this captain (Scatay) gave us a man to guide us to Sartach, and two to take us to a camp which was five days off, as oxen travel. And they gave us also a goat for food, and several skins of cow's milk, but only a little cosmos, for it is held very precious among them. And so we set out due north,^ and it seemed to me that we had passed through one of the gates of hell. The men who conducted us began robbing us in the most audacious manner, for they saw that we took but little care. Finally, after losing a number of things, vexation made us wise. We came finally to the end of this province (of Gazaria), which is closed by a ditch (running) from one sea to the other,- and outside of it was the camp of these (Mongols) ; 1 Recte in aquilonem. Friar William's bearings are always ofif a great many points. In the present case, travelling from Sudak to Perekop, he was going in a general N.W. by N. direction. 2 There is to my mind little doubt that the ditch, which Herodotus (iii, 2, 15) states was built by the blind slaves of the Scythians to close the Chersonesus, was at the isthmus of Perekop ; though some writers think that it, like the wall mentioned by Strabo (vii, 4, 258), ran across the Kertch peninsula from the bay of Kafifa to that of Arabat. That there was a ditch at Perekop in ancient times is demonstrated by the fact that Strabo (vii, 3, 255) places a tribe of Taphrioi (from Td(f)pos, 92 JOURNEY OF and when we came among them they were such horrible- looking creatures that they seemed like lepers. They were stationed there to collect the tax from those who get salt from the salt lakes of which I have already spoken. From this point we should have to travel xv days, they said without seeing anyone. We drank cosmos with them, and gave them a basket full of biscuits ; and they gave the eight of us (246) a goat for the whole long journey, and I know not how many skins of cow's milk. So having changed horses and oxen we set out, and in ten days we covered the distance to the next camp ; and along the whole route we only found water in holes made in hollows, with the exception of two small streams. And we were travelling due east from the time we left this province of Gazaria,^ having the sea to the south and a vast wilderness to the north, which extends in places over xxx days in breadth ; and in it is neither forest, nor hill, nor stone, but only the finest pasturage. Here the Comans, who are called Capchat,^ used to pasture their flocks ; the Teutons, " ditch") immediately north of the isthmus. The word Perekop, I may also remark, means "a cutting," "a ditch." The old ditch of our traveller's time was repaired somewhere about 1470 by the Khan of the Crimea, Mengli Girai. Traces of it still remain, but the forts and redoubts erected by the Russians at the time of the Crimean War have taken the place of the old ramparts (Reclus, Gcographie, v, 835). The word Krim^ the same author (v, 826) says, has the meaning of " fortress," a most appropriate name for the Crimea, which by the cutting and fortifying of the isthmus of Perekop could be turned into an impregnable stronghold. ^ Recte in orientem. Again the bearing given by our traveller must be~wrong ; he travelled in all probability during the first ten days after leaving the isthmus of Perekop, E.N.E. After reaching the first camp beyond Perekop, his route lay probably nearly due N.E. till he came to the Volga. 2 The Comans, or Kipchak Comans, as our author also calls them, are identical Avith the Polovtses, or "dwellers of the Plain," of the early Russian annalists (Nestor, Chroniqiie, 12, 19, et pas.), the Turks of the Desht (or " Plain") Kipchak of Mohammedan contemporary writers. Under the name of Kumam or Comans, they are frequently mentioned by Byzantine writers. The origin of this name is not known. Some writers, as Adelung {Mithridates, i, 479), think they may have taken FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 93 however, call them Valans, and the province Valania. It is stated however by Isidorus that Alania extends from the river Tanais to the Palus Maeotis and the Danube; and this country which extends from the Danube to the Tanais (which is the boundary between Asia and Europe), and which it takes two months hard riding, as ride the Tartars, to cross, was all inhabited by the Capchat Comans, as was also that beyond the Tanais to the Etilia, between which two rivers are x (247) good days. To the north of this province lies Ruscia, which is everywhere covered with it from the river Kuma, which discharges in the Caspian ; but as d Avezac(487) remarks, the name ah-eadyoccurs in Xenop\ion( A nadas/s, vii, 8, 15), under the form Comania {Koixavid}: Assyrian inscriptions of the eighth century, B.C., speak of an expedition of Tiglath Pileser (B.C. 747-727) against the Coniani^ who hved at that time in the present Kurdistan. The king is there said to have defeated their army of 20,000 men, captured and destroyed their castles and towns, and laid waste "the far spreading country of the Comani" (Rawlinson, Five Aiicient Monarchies, ii, 67). It: would, therefore, seem more likely that the river Kuma took its name from the Comani. Pomponius Mela (i, 603) mentions the Comani among the nations of the interior of Western Asia. Rashideddin gives the following legend concerning the origin of the Kipchak : " Oghuz Khan having been defeated by the tribe of the Itbarak, was forced to retire to an island between two rivers. At that time it happened that a woman, whose husband had been killed in the battle, was delivered of a child in the hollow of a large tree. When Oghuz heard of this he said : ' As this woman has no husband, I will adopt her son.' The child received the name of Kipchak, a word derived from the Turkish kubuk, meaning ' a decayed tree.' All the people of Kipchak are descended from this adopted son of Oghuz. After seventeen years, Oghuz succeeded in gaining the superiority over the Itbarak. He conquered Iran, and returned to his original home. Afterwards, when the Itbarak revolted, Oghuz settled the Kipchak between their country and the river Jaik (Ural). Since that time the Kipchak have remained, both in summer and winter, in the same country." The country is frequently called "the Desht" by Mohammedan writers, but the name' is usually written Deshti-Kapchak (Quatremere, 67 ; Mesalek al-absar, 281, 284 ; Burnes, Travels in Bokhara, i, 322, ii, 267). Ibn Alathir (xiv, 456) says the Mongols claimed the Kipchak as of their race. Ibn Batuta(ii, 356) describes the country in about the same terms as Friar William : "This plain is covered with grass and flowers, but one sees in it neither mountain, tree, hill nor slope." See also d'Ohsson, i, 338 ; Yule, Marco Polo, i, 52, ii, 491 ; Bretschneider, Med. Geog., 162 ; Mesalek al-absar, 268. Rubruck (274) says the Cangle were a branch of the Comans. Radloff (^^/i' Sibirien, ii, 10) and Sven Hedin {pp. cit., i, 259) mention a tribe of Kirghiz called Kipchak still living in the eastern Pamirs, 94 JOURNEY OF forests, and extends from Poland and Hungary to the Tanais, and it was all ravaged by the Tartars, and is still being ravaged every day. For the Tartars prefer the Saracens to the Ruthenians, who are Christians, and when the latter can give no more gold or silver they drive them off to the wilds, them and their little ones, like flocks of sheep, there to herd their cattle.^ Beyond Ruscia to the north is Pruscia, which has all been recently conquered by the Teutonic knights \^ and of a truth they might readily acquire Ruscia, if they would put their hand to it, for should the Tartars hear that the great priest, that is the Pope, was about to make a crusade against them, they would all flee to their deserts. ;E travelled eastward, seeing nothing but the sky and the earth, only now and then to our right the sea which is called Sea of Tanais,^ and tombs of Comans visible two leagues off, on account of ^ Plan de Carpine (700) says that when he was in Russia " there was a certain tax-gatherer sent there by Kuyuk Khan and Batu who took from each man one child out of every three, and all the men who had no wives. And as to the women he took all those who had no husbands, and in like manner all paupers. Those left were counted, and of each, down to the new-born babe, whether rich or poor, was exacted the following tribute : a skin of a white bear (or) one black beaver (or) one black sable {zabulus or sabiilus)^ one skin of a black animal they have in the north, the name of which I know not in Latin, but which in German is called iltis (pole-cat), and which the Poles and Ruthenians call dochoi-i {choreke in Russian), (or) one black fox skin. And whoever paid not this was led off to the Tartars and made a slave." ^ The Teutonic order began the conquest of Prussia and Livonia in 1230, but it was not until about 1310 that the whole country was subdued (Karamsin, iii, 167-172). ^ Friar William more frequently gives the sea of Azov its classical name of Palus Mceotis, by which it was also known to many of the Mohammedan writers : Masudi calls it Maitus, and AbulfedaAfยซ/y(r/z. Abulmahasen, Quatremere says {Not. ct Extr., xiii, 272), gives it the name of Sea of Sudak, and Ibn Alathir (xiv, 457) calls it Sea of the FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 95 the custom of burying the whole of a family in one spot. As long as we were in the desert it fared well with us, but such misery as I had to suffer when we came to inhabited places, words fail me to express. For our guide wanted (248) me to meet every captain with a present, but our supplies sufficed not for that, for daily we were eight persons eating our bread, without counting those who came by hazard, who all wanted to eat with us. There were five of us, and the three who were conducting us, two driving the carts and one going with us to Sartach. The meat they had given us was insufficient, and we could find nothing to buy with money.^ To add to this, when we were seated in the shade under our carts, for the heat was intense at that season, they pushed in most importunately among us, to the point of crushing us, in their eagerness to see all our things. If they were seized with a desire to void their stomachs, they did not go away from us farther than one can throw a bean : they did their filthiness right beside us while talking together, and much more they did which Khazars, a name applied to the Caspian by Mohammedan writers, but intelligible here, as some Mohammedan geographers of his time believed that the Caspian communicated by the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea. Barbaro (4, et passi-iri) calls it " Sea of Tabacche," which may be for " Sea of Tanais." ^ Friar Ascelin and Simon of St. Quentin had similar experiences (see Vincent of Beauvais bk. xxxi, ch. xl-lii, 4^^a-4^4l>). Pian de Carpine (670) remarks : " No matter whence the ambassadors come, they are (on arriving among the Mongols) in dire distress as to victuals and clothing ; for their allowances are poor and small, especially when they reach (the camp) of any of the princes and are forced to wait there ; for then they give so little to ten men that two could barely live on it. Nor while at the courts of the princes nor on the road do they give to eat but once a day, and little enough then ; and if they insult one, it cannot be resented, but must be borne in patience. Great numbers of presents are asked for among them, as well by the princes as the great and the small, and if they are not given, they abuse one and hold him as nothing ; and if (the envoys) are sent by a great personage, they will not receive a moderate present, but siy : 'You come from a great personage, and you give so little ?' So they scorn to receive it, and if the ambassadors want to do their work satisfactorily, they must give larger ones," 96 JOURNEY OF was vexatious beyond measure.^ Above all this, however, 1 was distressed because I could do no preaching to them ; the interpreter would say to me : " You cannot make me preach, I do not know the proper words to use." And he spoke the truth ; for after awhile, when I had learned something of the language, I saw that when I said one thing, (249) he said a totally different one, according to what came uppermost in his mind. So, seeing the danger of speaking through him, I made up my mind to keep silence. We travelled along then in great distress from stage to stage till a few days before the feast of blessed Mary Magdalen (22nd June) we came to the great river Tanais, which separates Asia from Europe,- just as the river of Egypt divides Asia from Affrica. At the place where we came to it Baatu and Sartach had established a village of Ruthenians on the east bank, who ferried envoys and merchants across on small boats. They first passed us across, then the carts; putting one wheel in one boat and the other in another and tying the boats together they rowed them across.^ At this place our guide did a most 1 Pian de Carpine (637) remarks : " they are a filthy people in eating and in drinking, and in all their other doings." - The south-eastern boundary of Europe appears to have been fixed at the Tanais or Don from very ancient times. Herodotus (iii, 32) refers to it, but says he cannot conceive why it should have been adopted as the boundary (see Rawlinson's note on the subject). The opinion that the Nile separated Africa from Asia was also adopted by classical geographers (Pomponius Mela, i, 603). On the sources of the Tanais, see infra. Rubruck tells us that after leaving Perekop he travelled in an easterly direction till he came to the Don, and that when he left that river it took him nine days to reach Sartach's camp, which was three days W. of the Volga. The first three or four days he had to travel on foot, and so did not probably cover more than thirty to forty miles. The point where he came on the Don was therefore in all likelihood not over 200 miles from the Volga by the route he followed, which was N.E. (see also F. M. Schmidt, 178-179). ^ These boats were probably canoes. Barbaro (31) speaks of the boats dug out of great trees growing along the Volga, and used by the Russians on that river. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 97 foolish thing ; thinking that the people had to supply us with horses, he sent back to their owners from the near bank the animals which had brought us ; but when we asked for animals they replied that they were ex- empted by Baatu from any other service than ferrying across those who came and went. From merchants even they collect much money. So we remained there on the river bank for three days. The first day they gave us a big barbel^ just out of the water, the second day some rye bread and a little meat which the headman of the village (250) collected from the different houses ; the third day we got dried fish, of which they have great quantities here. That river at this point was as broad as the Seine at Paris. And before we came there, we passed many fine sheets of water full of fish, but the Tartars do not know how to catch them, nor do they care for fish unless they can eat it as they would mutton. This river is the eastern boundary of Ruscia, and takes its rise in the Moeotide fens, which extend to the ocean in the north.^ The river, however, flows southward, forming a big sea of ^ Borbata. Pallas ( Voyages^ i, 202), enumerating the various kinds offish found in the Volga, speaks of the "barbue" or rhombus piscis. This may be our traveller's bo7'bota, or barbata as some of the MSS. write it (see supra, p. 45). 2 Oritur de paludibtcs Meotidis. Hakluyt's MS. wrongly reads 7;zi?r- gitur on p. 120, where this statement is repeated ; all the other MSS., however, have oritur. In the piesent phrase Hakluyt's text omits the word Meotidis. The copyist was evidently disinclined to accept as correct Friar William's statement, which was at variance with the notion concerning the sources of the Don then universally held. Even Roger Bacon {op. cit., i, 357), who has incorporated in his review of the geography of eastern Europe and Asia all Rubruck's remarks, adheres to the classical views on the sources of the Don, and places them in the Rhipaean mountains. Our traveller was the first, since Herodotus, to locate correctly the sources of the Don, which flows out of Ivan Lake in Tula. Herodotus (iii, 42) had said that the Tanais "is a stream which has its source far up the country, in a lake of vast size, and which empties itself into another still larger lake, the Palus Maeotis." The name Don was already used by the Slavs in Rubruck's time ; both Pian de Carpine {stipra, p. 8) and Friar Benedict {supra, p. 34) call it by that name (see also F. M. Schmidt, 184). 98 JOURNEY OF seven hundred miles before it reaches the Sea of Pontus, and all the streams we passed flow also in that direction. This same river has a forest on its west bank. Beyond this point the Tartars go no farther north, for at that season, about the beginning of .A.ugust, they commence going back southward ; so there is another village lower down (the river), where envoys pass over in winter. We found ourselves here in great straits, for we could procure neither horses nor oxen for money. Finally, when I had proved to them that we were working for the common good of all Christendom, they obliged us with oxen and horses ; but we ourselves had to go on foot. . It was the season (251) when they were cutting the rye. Wheat thrives not there ; but they have great abundance of millet. The Ruthenian women arrange their heads as among us, but their outside gowns they trim from the feet to the knee with vaire or minever. The men wear capes like the Germans ; on their heads they wear felt caps, pointed and very high. We trudged along for three days without seeing anyone, and just as we and the oxen were well worn out, and unable to find any Tartars, two horses came running towards us ; we took them with great delight, and our guide and the interpreter got on them, in the hope of being able to find some people. Finally on the fourth day^ we found some people, and we were as happy as shipwrecked mariners on reaching port. Then we got horses and oxen and went along from stage to stage till we reached the camp of Sartach on the second day of the Calends of August (July 31st). ^ Since leaving the ferry across the Don. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 99 ^HE country beyond the Tanais is most beautiful, with rivers and forests. To the north are great forests, inhabited by two races of men : to wit, the MoxeV who are without any reh"gion, a race of pure pagans. They have no towns, but only little hamlets in the forest. Their chief and the greater part of them were killed in Germany; for the Tartars (252) took them with them to the borders of Germany, and so they have formed a high opinion of the Germans,"^ and they hope that through them they may finally be freed of the Tartar yoke. If a trader comes among this people, he with whom he first puts up must provide for him as long as he sees fit to stay among them. If one sleeps with another's wife the husband cares not, unless he sees it with his own eyes ; so they are not jealous.^ They have swine, honey and wax, precious furs and hawks. ^ The Moxel and Merdas form the two branches of the Finnish Mordwin people. These names, according to FaWas (Voyao-es, 1, 104), correctly transcribed are Mokshad and Ersad^ the first name being applied by them to their race in general. The earliest mention I have found of this people is in Jornandes (444), where he speaks of the Mordensimjtis among the peoples of Hermanaric's empire. Constantine Porphyrogenitus {De Adminis.^ 166) refers also to the Mordia country. Nestor {Ch7-o?iiqiie^ 2) calls them iMordwa. Plan de Carpine (676) speaks of them as Mordiiajii, and in another passage (709) as Mordid. Barbaro (33) calls this people the Moxii, and adds that they were mostly pagans. Some of their customs, as described by him, are purely Tartar, especially that of sacrificing horses at burials and setting up the stuffed skin over the grave (see also Castren, Etluiolog. Vorlesit/tge/i, 134, and especially Smirnow, Populatiofts Fmnoises^ i, 260, et seq.). This latter author (264, et seq.) shows that the identification of the Merdas with the Biirtasox Bartas of the early Mohammedan geographers cannot be accepted. - Referring to the conquests being made at the time by the Teutonic Order, and to the possibility of their extending them to the Volga. " Smirnow {op. cii., i, 337) says : " In the beginning the Mordwin family was only the association of several persons living together. . . . There is no question of marriage in the proper sense of the word." The same author, speaking of the Mordwins of the present day, says [Joe. Slip, cit)'- "The girls do not generally marry before twenty or twenty-five ; but when barely at the age of puberty, that is to say at the age of fourteen, they have relations with the boys of their village. . . . . Liaisons between cousins are frec[uent ; they are not unknown between brothers and sisters." H 2 lOO JOURNEY OF After them are the others called Merdas, whom the Latins call Merdinis, and they are Saracens. Beyond them is the Etilia, the largest river I have ever seen, and it comes from the north, from Greater Bulgaria and flows south, and it falls into a certain lake which has a circum- ference of iiii months journey, and of it I shall tell you later.^ So these two rivers, the Tanais and the Etilia, in the north where we crossed them, are only distant the one from the other x days ; but to the south they are far remote from one another. For the Tanais flows down into the Sea of Pontus, while the Etilia forms with many other rivers which flow into it from Persia, this sea or lake. To the south we had very high mountains, inhabited, on the side facing this desert, by the Kerkis^ and the Alans or Aas, who are Christians and still fight the Tartars. Beyond them, along the sea or lake of Etilia, live certain Saracens called Lesgi,^ who likewise owe them no allegiance. Beyond them are the Iron Gates, which Alexander made to keep the barbarous nations out of Persia ; of these I ^ On Friar William's views concerning the Caspian, see z;?_/rยซ, p. ii8. ^ The Cherkesses or Circassians are of course meant. Here, as on p. 70, our traveller writes the name Kcrkis. In the present passage, however, MSS. D and E give the correct reading, Cherkis. Pian de Carpine (659) also writes Kergis for Cherkis. The only detail he gives concerning them (679) is their habit of taking a strip of skin off their faces from ear to ear as a sign of mourning for their deceased fathers. The Cherkesses, who descend from the ancient Sarmatian tribes of classical authors, have occupied for the last two thousand years the Caucasian slope of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the Kuban steppes (De Morgan, Mission., ii, 277). ^ Strabo (xi, 5, 432) speaks of the Legai (A^yai) and Gelai (TrjXai) two Scythic nations living between Albania {i.e., E. Caucasus) and the Aorsi (the Alans). Latin authors called this people Legce. In the seventh century, Jornandes (432) refers to them as occupying the same country, and calls them Lazi. Ibn Alathir (455) speaks of them as the Leks, and says that in his time (tenth century) they were partly Mohammedan, partly Christian. The country occupied at the present time by the Lesgians is called Daghestan. De Morgan (ii, 278) does not think this people can be classed, on the vague statement of Strabo^ in the Turanian race, but sees in it an inextricable mixture of all the races and tribes which have successively overrun this country (see also infra, 380, 381). ; FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. lOI shall tell you later, for I passed through this place on my way back, and between these two (253) rivers in this country through which we were travelling used to live Comans Capchac before the Tartars occupied it. 10 we found Sartach three days from the Etilia, and ^f^ his 07'du seemed to us very big, for he has six wives, and his eldest son who was beside him had two or three, and every one of them had a big dwelling and perhaps two hundred carts. Our guide went to a certain Nestorian, Coiac^ by name, who is one of the most important men of his ordu. This latter made us go a long way to an officer who is called the Janiiam, for thus they call him whose duty it is to receive envoys.^ In the evening this Coiac had us told to come to him. Then our guide asked us what we were going to take to him, and he was greatly scandalized when he saw that we were getting nothing ready to take to him. We stood in front of him seated in all his glory, striking a guitar and making people dance before him. Then I repeated what I had previously said elsewhere as to the reason for which we had come to his master, begging him to assist us that his lord might see our letters. I also excused myself, being a monk, for neither having, receiving nor carrying with me gold or silver or any precious thing, 1 The name is variously written in the MSS. Catac, Coiat and Coiac. 2 In another passage (298) the name is correctly written lam. Marco Polo (i, 420) says : " And the messengers of the Emperor in travelling from Cambaluc, be the road whichsoever they will, find at every 25 miles of the journey a station which they call Yanib, or, as we should say, the ' Horse Post-House.' " -Pallas ( Voyages, i, 698) speaks of \h.e Ja/ni, or "relais de poste," of Asiatic Russia when he visited it in 1769 (see also Yule, Cathay, 131 ; Cordier, Odon'c, 374, 416 ; d'Ohsson, i, 406 ; and Yule, Marco Polo, i, 423). These post- stations were established by Ogodai in 1234 throughout the Mongol empire (d'Ohsson, ii, 63). I02 JOURNEY OF but only books and the chapel,^ with which we served God, so we were not offering presents to either him or his lord, for having put away all worldly goods I could not be the bearer of those of others. Then he replied right pleasantly that (254) I did well, being a monk, to keep my vows ; that he did not want of our things, but would rather give us of his own if we were in want ; and he caused us to sit down and drink of his milk, and after awhile he besought us to say a blessing for him, which we did. He also asked us who was the greatest lord among the Franks. 1 said : " The Emperor, if his land were in peace." " No," he said, " it is the King of France." For he had heard of you from Mcssire Baldwin of Hainaut.""^ I also found there one of the companions of David,^ who had been in Cyprus (with him), and who had told him of all he had seen. Then we went back to our lodgings. The next day (ist August) I sent him (Coiac) a flagon of muscadel wine, which had kept perfectly good during the 1 Capella in qua serviebamiis Deo. The word capella in medijeval Latin, and also in modern French, is used to designate both the place in which mass is celebrated, and by extension the chalice, candle- sticks, censors, and other objects used in church worship. Friar William uses it in the latter sense. See Ducange, Glossarhem, ii, 221, and Littre, Dictionnaire, s. v. chapelle. 2 Baldwin of Hainaut, a knight in the service of the Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople, had married, in 1240, a Coman princess, daughter of Soronius, on the conclusion of a treaty of peace between that Prince's horde and Baldwin II (Lebeau, Histoire, xvii, 392). We learn from our traveller (326) that Baldwin had travelled through northern Asia, going as far, it would seem, as Karakorum. I know no other mention in any contemporary record of this journey. ^ Unum de sociis David. The David referred to is he who in 1248 came to St. Louis, when at Nicosia in Cyprus, on a mission from the Mongol general Ilchikadai. For some inexplicable reason all translators have misunderstood the reference, and have translated these four words by "a Knight of the Temple," supposing, I take it, that it that sociiis David was for sociits or miles Salomonis (Hakluyt, 116, 117 ; Purchas, 13 ; Bergeron, 32 ; Karamsin, iv, 73 ; da Civezza, Storia Universalle^ i, 433 ; Deveria, Notes d'epigraphie., 45). William of Nangis (360) says E)avid's companion when at St. Louis' camp was called Marchus. This may be the person here referred to. FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. IO3 whole long journey, and a hamper^ of biscuits which pleased him very much ; and that evening he kept our servants with him. The next day he sent me word to come to the court, bringing with me the king's letters, the vestments and the church ornaments and the books, fo his master wished to see them. We did accordingly, putting in one cart the books and the chapel, and in another bread, wine and fruit. Then he caused us to explain all about the books and vestments, and many Tartars and Christians and Saracens looked on seated on their horses. When he had finished examining them, he asked if I would give all these things to his master. When I heard this I was shocked, and his words displeased me. Dissimulating, however, I replied : " My lord, we beg that your lord will deign receive this bread, wine and fruit, not as a present, for it is too trifling, but for a blessing, and so that we appear not before him with empty hands. He shall see the letters of the lord King, (255) and by them he shall know why we come to him, and then we will await his pleasure, we and all our belongings. As to these vest- ments they are holy, and may not be touched except by priests." Then he told us to put them on to go in unto his lord, and this we did. I put on the most costly of the vestments, with a most beautiful cushion {pulvinar) against my breast, and took the Bible which you had given me, and the beautiful Psalter which my lady the Queen had presented me with, and in which were right beautiful pictures. My companion took the missal and the cross, while the clerk (Gosset) put on a surplice and took the censer. And so we came before his {i.e., Sartach's) dwell- ing, and they raised the felt which hung before the entry, ^ CopJiinus, which I take to be the same as the verhigal used on p. 86. Isidorus (xx, 720) says cophmus is '"'' vas ex virgulis aptuin miindare stercora, et terrani poriare." The French word coffin is, still sometimes heard. 104 JOURNEY OF SO that he could see us. Then they made the clerk and the interpreter to bow the knee (three times) โ€ข} of us they did not demand it. Then they enjoined us earnestly to be most careful in going in and coming out not to touch the threshold of the dvvelling,^ and also to chant some blessing for him. So we went in chanting, " Sa/ve, regina !" In the entry of the dwelling there was a bench with cosmos and cups, and all Sartach's wives had come thither and the Moal came crowding in around us. Then this Coiac handed him the censer with the incense, and he examined it, holding it in his hand most carefully. After that he handed him the Psalter, at which he took du good look, as did the wife who was seated beside him. Then he handed him the Bible (256), and he asked if the Gospels were in it. I said that it contained all the Sacred writings. He also took in his hand the cross, and asked if the image on it were that of Christ. I replied that it was. Those Nestorians and Hermenians never make the figure of Christ on their crosses ; they would thus appear to entertain some doubt of the Passion,^ or to be ashamed of ^ This additional detail is only found in MS. A. The cushion csiWtd. palvinarmni is used to carry the Gospels on, but in this case the Bible was probably placed on it. ^ Plan de Carpine, Marco Polo, Friar Odoric, all mention this point of Mongol etiquette. At a later date, when the Mongol emperors occupied palaces, it was extended to the threshold of the audience hall (Yule, Cathay, 132 ; and Marco Polo, i, 370, 372). The pro- hibition extended to the tent ropes. The same custom existed among the Fijians, I believe. I may note that it also prevailed in ancient China. It is said of Confucius '"when he was standing he did not occupy the middle of the gate-way ; when he passed in or out, he did not tread on the threshold" {Lun-yii, bk. x,.ch. iv, 2). ^ Male setitire de passione. " The Nestorians have no images or pictures in their churches, and are very much opposed to the use of them, even as ornaments, or as barely representing historical facts illustrative of saci^ed scriptures. They will not even allow of a crucifix, and regard the mere exhibition of such an emblem, to say nothing of adoration, as a monstrous iniquity. . . . The only symbol in use among them is the plain Greek cross" (Badger, ii, 132, 414). Father Alishan tells me that the Armenians will not have the image of the Christ on their crosses, so as not to expose Him to the scoffing of FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. IO5 it. Then he caused the bystanders to withdraw so that he could better see our ornaments. Then I presented to him your letter, with translations in Arabic and Syriac, for I had had them both translated and written in these languages at Acon.^ And there were there (at Sartach's camp) Hermenian priests who knew Turkish and Arabic, and that companion of David who knew Syriac, Turkish, and Arabic. Then we went out and took off our vestments, and some scribes and this Coiac came, and they translated the letters (into Mongol). When he (Sartach) had heard them, he caused our bread and wine and fruit to be accepted, and our vestments and books to be carried back to our lodgings. All this took place on the Feast of Saint Peter in chains (ist August). ^155? HE next morning (2nd August) came to us a priest, the brother of that Coiac, who begged for a little vase with holy oil,^ for Sartach wanted to see it, he said ; and we gave it to him. Toward vespers (257) Coiac called us, and said to us : " The lord King hath written good w^ords to my lord ; but they contain certain difficulties, concerning which he would not venture to do anything without the advice of his father : so you must go to his father. And the two carts which you brought here, with the vestments and books, leave them to me, for my lord wishes to examine them carefully." I at once suspected unbelievers. Crosses with the image of the Saviour on them are sometimes used by them, he adds, and some are known to have been in use even before our traveller's time. ^ Or Acre, from which port I think it probable that Friar William sailed to Constantinople. ^ Crisniate. The Nestorians do not use holy oil or chrism, but only pure olive oil. The Chaldeans, however, use chrism in baptisms {Badger, ii, 212, 213, 408). The Armenians make a great use of holy oil, which they call inieron (Tournefort, Voyage^ ii, 163). I06 JOURNEY OF evil of his greed, and said to him : " My lord, not only these, but the two other carts which we have, will we leave under your care." " No," he said ; " leave these, but do what you wish with the others." I told him this was quite impossible, but that we would give everything over to him. Then he asked us if we wished to remain in the country. I said : "If you have well understood the letters of the lord King, you can sec that that is the case." Then he said that we must be very patient and humble ; and with this we left him that evening. The next morning he (Coiac) sent a Nestorian priest for the carts, and we brought all four of them. Then the brother of this Coiac came up, and separated all our belongings from the things which we had taken the day before to the court, and these, to wit the books and the vestments, he took for himself; notwithstanding that Coiac had ordered us to take with us the vestments we had worn before Sartach, so that, should occasion arise, we might put them on before Baatu ; but the priest took them from us by force, saying : " What, you have brought these to Sartach, and now you want (258) to take them to Baatu!" And when I sought to reason with him, he answered me : " Say no more, and be off with you." So I had to bear it in patience, for we were not allowed to go in unto Sartach, nor was there anyone to do us justice. I was afraid also of the interpreter, lest he say something differently from what I should speak, for he used to be eager for us to make presents to everyone. I had one comfort ; as soon as I discerned their greed, I abstracted the Bible from among the books, also the sentences and the other books of which I was specially fond.^ I did not ^ Setitencias et alios libros qiios majis diligebain. In another passage (272) he says the only books he had were a Bible and a breviary ; perhaps by Sentencias he refers to the latter book. Among the books which Sartach kept, we are told (380), there were a copy of the FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. lO/ dare abstract the Psalter of my lady the Queen, for it had been too much noticed on account of the gilded pictures in it. And so we were sent back with the two remaining carts to our lodgings. Then came he who was to guide us to Baatu, and he wanted to start at once. I told him that on no account would I take the carts, and this he reported to Coiac, who ordered that we should leave them and our servant with him, and this we did. Travelling then due east toward Baatu, we came on the third day (5th August) to the Etilia,^ and when 1 saw its waters, I wondered from where away up in the north (259) so much water could come down. Before we left Sartach, the above mentioned Coiac and a number of scribes of the court said to us : " You must not say that our lord is a Christian. He is not a Christian, but a Moal." For the name of Christian seems to them that of a nation. They have risen so much in their pride, that though they may believe somewhat in the Christ, yet will they not be called Christians, wishing to exalt their own name of Moal above all others, nor will they be called Tartars. The Tartars were another people of whom I have heard as follows. Bible in verses, and a work in Arabic worth thirty bezants, or about ยฃ\6 los. These two books, together with the Psalter, were perma- nently kept by Sartach, but all the others were given back to the traveller when he stopped at Sartach's camp on his way back to Syria. ^ Ptolemy was the first classical writer to mention the Volga, which he calls Rha. Menander (229) calls it Attila, Constantine Porphy- rogenitus {De Adminis., 105) uses the two forms Atel (^Arrjk) and Etel ('EreA), while Theophanes [Chronologta, i, 545) calls \t Atal {'AtoX). The original of these names is the Turkish aiel or itzl. meaning " river." The name Volga was already employed by the Russians in Rubruck's time ; both Pian de Carpine {supra, p. 8) and Friar Benedict {supra, p. 34) use it, but they thought this river emptied into the Black Sea. The name Volga is derived, I think, from that of the Bulgars, who lived on its banks, in the present government of Kazan ; though it has been commonly supposed they took their name from the river. I08 JOURNEY OF ^^T the time when the Franks took Antioch^ the sove- reignty of these northern regions belonged to a certain Con cham. Con was his proper name, chain his title, which means the same as soothsayer. All soothsayers are called chain, and so all their princes are called chain, because their government of the people depends on divination. Now we read in the history of Antioch, that the Turks sent for succor against the Franks 1 The Crusaders captured Antioch in A.D. 1098. The original of our traveller's Con cham is Our Khan, " the Universal Khan," a title taken in 1125 by Yeh-lii Ta-shih, the founder of the Kara-Khitai dynasty. In 1126 he established his capital at Belasagun, on the Chu (or Hi) river (Bretschneider, Med. Geog., loi, 109 ; d'Ohsson, i, 165). The t\i\QKhan, Rubruck's Cham, though of very great antiquity, was only used by the Turks after A.D. 560, at which time the use of the -word K hat un (Rubruck's eaten, 315) came in use for the wives of the Khan, who himself was termed Ilkhan. The older title of Shan-yii did not, however, completely disappear among them, for Albiruni says that in his time the chief of the Ghuz Turks, or Turko- mans, still bore the title of Jeniiyeh, which Sir Henry Rawlinson {Proc. Roy. Geo. Soc, v, 15) takes to be the same word as that tran- scribed Shan-yii by the Chinese (see CKien Han shii, bk. 94, and Chou shu, bk. 50, 2). Although the word Khakhan occurs in Menander's account of the embassy of Zemarchus, the earliest mention I have found of it in a western writer is in the Chf^onicofi of Albericus Trium Fontium, where (571 ), under the year 1239, he uses it in the form Cacamts. The proper use of the works Khan and kadn is thus stated by Quatremere, 10, 84, et seq. : " We find in the historians two different names to designate the Mongol monarchs, that of khan and that oi kadn. The first, which is common to the Mongol language and to the other Tartar dialects, was the title that Chinghiz took, passed since to a portion of the princes of his family, and is given still in our days to the sovereigns of the different peoples of Northern Asia. As to the name kaan, the first monarch who bore it was Oktai, who transmitted it to his successors, to the exclusion of all the other Mongol princes. This title was doubtless higher than that of khan, since the emperors of the prin- cipal dynasty had adopted it to distinguish themselves from the other khans, over whom they exercised the right of sovereignty .... I do not hesitate to admit that kadn is only due to the slightly-altered pronunciation of the (Mongol) word Kkakan ;" see also Lacouperie, Khan, Khakan and other Tartar Titles. The title Khakhan is used by Simon of St. Quentin (Vincent of Beauvais, bk. xxxi, ch. xxxii, 452a) under the form Gogcham, which means, he says, " Emperor, King." The title Khakan being once transcribed Gog-cham, it was but natural for Simon to give to Mangu, whom he takes for the brother of Kuyuk, the bearer of the title, the name of Magog, as he, in common with most Europeans of his time, FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. 109 to King Con cham ; for from these parts came all the Turks."^ That Con (260) was of Caracatay. Now Cava means black, and Catay is the name of a people, so Caracatay is the same as "Black Catay."- And they are so called to distinguish them from the Cathayans who dwell by the ocean in the east, and of whom I shall tell you hereafter. Those Caracatayans lived in highlands (alpibits) through which I passed, and at a certain place amidst these alps believed that the Mongols were the people of Gog and Magog spoken of by Ezekiel the Prophet (xxxviii, 1-5, 15, 16; xxxix, 6, 11-16). He also uses the word Chan^ or Chaam, which means, he says, " King or Emperor, magnificent or magnified" {inagjtificus sive tiiagni- fwafus). The word Khaijt, meaning a sorcerer, a shaman, which our traveller takes to be the same as Khan or Khakan, has not even an etymo- logical connection with it ; see infi-a. ^ The earliest mention of the Turks is found in the Choii shu (a.d. 557-581), bk. 50. The customs of this people resembled closely those which Rubruck and his contemporaries ascribe to the Tartars in their times, especially as regards the funeral rites and the rules governing marriage, the worship of Heaven and Earth, etc. Menander refers to them in his account of Zemarchus' mission ; he calls them (227) " the Turks who used to be called Sacae." Theo- phanes Byzantius {Frag. Hist. Graec, iv, 270) speaks of " the Turks who used to be called Messagetae in olden times, and who are called by the Persians in their language Kermichiones {Kepfjuxlava}," while Theophylactus (124) refers to the " Huns who live in the north and east, and whom the Persians call Turks." The same author (286) confirms what the C/tozt shu says about their cult. Pian de Carpine does not mention the Turks, and only once Turkia, though he in one passage (680) refers to the " Soldan of Urum," the Seldjuk kingdom of Rum, Friar William's Turkia. Our author would seem to be well aware of the racial affinities between the Turks and the Mongols. Benedict {supra, p. 37) uses the word Turkia to designate Turkestan (see also William of Tyr, 22, 24). ^ The dynasty of the Khara-Khitai, called Hsi (or Western) Liao by the Chinese, was founded in A.D. 1224 by Yeh-lii Ta-shih, a prince of the Khitan dynasty of Liao, which had just been destroyed in northern China by the Nii-chen Tartars. No satisfactory explanation of the origin of the name " Black Khitai " has been given ; Bret- schneider has given a complete translation of the article on the Hsi Liao found in the History of the Liao {Liao shih), followed by other trans- lations drawn from the annals of the Kin and Yuan dynasties {Med. Geog., 96, et seq. ; see also d'Ohsson, i, 165 ; and Yule, Cathay, 178, et seqJ). Bretschneider states that the explanation given by d'Herbelot {Bibl. Orient., ii, 203) of the name Kara Khitai is absurd ; its name is there derived from the people who bore it living in the woods ; d'Herbelot explains the name Kara Mongol m. a like manner. no JOURNEY OF dwelt a certain Nestorian, a mighty shepherd and lord over a people called N-ayman/ who were Nestorian Christians. When Con chain died, that Nestorian raised himself to be king (in his stead) and the Nestorians used to call him King John, and to say things of him ten times more than was true. For this is the way of the Nestorians who come from these parts : out of nothing they will make a great story, just as they have spread abroad that Sartach is a Christian, and so of Mangu chan and Keu chan,^ because they show more respect to Christians than to other people ; though of a truth they are not Christians. So great reports went out concerning this King John ; though when I passed through his pasture lands,^ no one knew anything of him save a few Nestorians. (261) On those pasture lands lived Keu chan, to whose court went Friar Andrew, and I also passed through them on my way back. This John had a brother, also a mighty shepherd, whose name was Unc f and he lived beyond the alps of the 1 Plan de Carpine (752) states that the Naiman were heathens. It was not when the first Gur-Khan of the Kara Khitai died that the Naiman prince seized the throne, but in 1211 or 1212, when the last Gur-Khan was dethroned by Guchluk Khan (Rubruck's King John) of the NaiiTians. Mohammedan and Chinese authorities agree on this point (d'Ohsson, i, 167, et seq. ; Bretschneider, Med. Ceo"., 113). The Naiman were a Turkish tribe (Howorth, History, i, Pt. I, 20, 691). Sven Hedin, o;p. cit., i, 316, ii, 672, mentions a tribe of Naiman Kirghiz Hving on the Eastern Pamirs. The word Nainiaii means " hght" in Turki. Ney EHas {Tarikli-i-rashidi, 74, 93) says the name of this people must have been Naiman-Uighurs. 2 Kuyuk Khan. The MSS. usually write this Kenchavi, but in some passages we find the form Keu chan, which is a much better transcription. ^ Pasciia, which our author seems to use as synonymous with alpes. * Unc chan is the Togrul of Rashideddin, a son of Gurkhan Khan of the Keraits (d'Ohsson, i, 51). Marco Polo (i, 227) speaks of " Unc Can, the same that we call Prester John." Palladius \op. cit., 23) has shown how some of the confusion concerning Ung Khan has arisen, the title of Wang Khan (Ung Khan) being transfeiTed from Prester John, already dead at the time, to the Turkish tribe of Wang-Ku FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. Ill Caracatayans, some three weeks journey from his brother, and he was lord of a little town called Caracarum,^ and the people he had under his rule were called Crit and Merkit," and they were Nestorian Christians. But that lord of theirs had abandoned the worship of Christ, and had taken to idolatry, having about him priests of the idols, who are all invokers of demons and sorcerers. Beyond those pasture lands, some x or xv days, were the (Ongu, Raschideddin's Ongot). The whole subject of Prester John has iDeen so admirably discussed by Yule {Marco Polo, i, 229, et seq.) that nothing remains to be said about it. ^ Villule que dicitur Caracarum. The name of this famous town is variously written in the MSS., Caraav'-uin, Caracaron, Carecaricni^ Caratoruin, Caratharic-m. I have everywhere used the first form, which is also that most frequently found in the MSS. Pian de Carpine (608) is the first western traveller to mention it by name. He writes it Caracaron ; he did not visit the city, though he got to within half a day's journey of it. 2 D'Avezac {op. a/., 534) has suggested that Friar William's CriY and Merkit should be corrected to Crit and Afecrit, so as to agree with Pian de Carpine's statement (645). D'Avezac takes Crit,'Merkit for a double word like Longa and Solanga, Chin and Machin, etc., and identifies them with the Keraits. Howorth {History, i, Pt. I, 699) agrees with d'yVvezac's views. That our traveller should have grouped the two names together on account of the similarity of sound is probable, but that he meant to refer the two names to one people is very doubtful. Yule {Marco Polo, i, 231) thinks Friar William's Crit and Merkit are the Keraits and Mekrits, the latter already mentioned by Pian de Carpine (645) under the form Merkit. While the Keraits were undoubtedly Nestorian Christians (see Quatremere, 93), our traveller is, it would seem, wrong in thinking that the Mekrits had been converted to Christianity. The Keraits lived on the Orkhon and the Tula, S.E. of Lake Baikal ; Abulfaraj relates their conversion to Christianity in 1007 by the Nestorian Bishop of Merv. Rashided- din, however, says their conversion took place in the time of Chingis Khan (d'Ohsson, i, 48 ; Chabot, op. cit., 14). D'Ave7ac (536) identifies, with some plausibility, I think, the Keraits with the K'i-le (or T'ieh-le) of the early Chinese annals. The name K'i-le was applied in the third century, A.D., to all the Turkish tribes, such as the Hui-hu (Uigurs), Kieh-ku (Kirghiz) Alans, etc., and they are said to be the same as the Kao-ch'e, from whom descended the Cajigle of Rubruck {Vang shu, bk. 217, i ; Ma Tuan-lin, bk. 344, 9, bk. 347, 4). As to the Merkits, or Merkites, they were a nomadic people of Turkish stock, with a possible infusion of Mongol blood. They are called by Mohammedan writers Uduyut, and were divided into four tribes. They lived on the Lower Selinga and its feeders (d'Ohsson, i, 54 ; Howorth, History, i, Pt. I, 22, 698). 112 JOURNEY OF pasture lands of the Moal,^ who were very poor people, without a chief and without religion except sorcery and soothsaying, such as all follow in those parts. And next ^ Moal. Friar William's transcription of the word Mongol seems to be taken from the Turki form of that word, Mogul. The earliest mention I have found of the name Mongol in oriental works occurs in the Chinese annals of the After T'ang period (a.d. 923-934), where it occurs in the form Meng-ku. In the annals of the Liao dynasty (A.D. 916-1125) it is found under the form Meng-ku-li. The first occurrence of the name in the Tung chien kang-mii is, however, in the 6th year Shao-hsing of Kao-tsung of the Sung (a.d. 1136). It is just possible that we may trace the word back a little earlier than the After T'ang period, and that the Meng-wa (or ngo^ as this character may have been pronounced at the time), a branch of the Shih-wei, a Tungusic or Kitan people living around Lake Keule, to the east of the Baikal, and along the Kerulun which empties into it, during the seventh and subsequent centuries, and referred to in the T''ang shic (bk. 219), is the same as the later Meng-ku. Though I have been unable to find, as stated by Howorth {History, i, pt. I, 28), that the name Meng-ku occurs in the T'ang shu, his conclusion that the northern Shih-wei of that time constituted the Mongol nation proper, is very likely correct. " On tracing the Mongols to the Shih-wei," he says {pp. sup. cit., 2,1) "we connect them to some extent with the Kitan who were descended from the Shi-wei ; and if this be well grounded, we connect them further with the Sian-pi and Uhuan, who were of the same stock as the Khitans, and also with the Yuan-yuan." I. J. Schmidt {Ssanang Setze/t, 380) derives the name Mojigol from ino7tg, meaning "brave, daring, bold," while Rashideddin says it means '' simple, weak" (d'Obsson, i, 22). The Chinese characters used to transcribe the name mean "dull, stupid," and "old, ancient," but they are used purely phonetically. Simon of St. Quentin (Vincent of Beauvais, bk. xxxi, ch. xxxiv, 452<a:) says that the Tartars called them- selves Mongli ox Mongol, and Pian de Carpine (645) transcribes the name Mongal. In Byzantine works the only mention I have found of the name is in Pachymeres (i, 344), who speaks of " the Tochari who call themselves Muguls (Ou? avToi MouyovAt'ous Xiyovcnv)^'' The Mongols of the present day are commonly called by the Chinese Ta-tzu, but this name is resented by the Mongols as oppro- bious, though it is but an abbreviated form of the name Ta-ta-tzil, in which, according to Rubruck, they once gloried. Pian de Carpine (645) thus describes the country occupied by the Mongols at the time of the birth of Chingis Khan. " There is a certain country in the East which, as previously stated, is called Mongal. That country had once four nations : one called Yeka Mongal, or the Great Mongals, the second called vSu-Mongal, or Aquatic-Mongals, though they called themselves Tartars from a certain river which flows through their country and which is called Tatar (or Tartar) ; another was called Merkit ; the fourth Mecrit. All these nations had the same physical appearance and spoke one language, though they were divided among themselves into provinces and principalities" (conf Haithon, Hist. Orient., 26 ; see also supra, p. Ill, note 2, and infra, p. 115, note 2). FRIAR WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK. II 3 to the Moal were other poor people, who were called Tartars.^ Now King John being