CHAPTER V: THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE OF THE TARTARS AND THEIR CHIEF MEN, AND THE DOMINION EXERCISED BY THE EMPEROR AND THE PRINCES(1)
HAVING spoken of their customs we must now add something
about their empire. First we will tell of its beginning, secondly
of its chief men, thirdly of the dominion exercised by the Emperor
and the princes. (p. 19)
In the east there is a land, of which we have spoken above,
which is called Mongolia. At one time there were in this land four
tribes, one the Yekamongol, that means the Great Mongols; the
second the Su-Mongol, that is to say the Mongols of the Water, but
these called themselves Tartars from a certain river named the
Tartar, which flows through their territory; another was called
the Merkit; the fourth was the Mecrit. All these tribes were alike
in appearance and had the same language, although they were
separate from each other, having their own provinces and rulers.
In the land of the Yekamongols there was a man called Chingis.
He became a mighty hunter before the Lord, and learned to steal
and take men for prey. He also went into other territories and any
men he could capture and get to join his band he did not let go
again. He drew to himself men of his own nation and they followed
him as their leader in all kinds of wrong-doing. When he had
collected a great many followers he started fighting with the
Sumongols or Tartars and he killed their leader and after much
fighting he conquered all the Tartars and reduced them to subjection. After this he fought with all the others; he fought with
the Merkits who were settled next to the territory of the Tartars,
and these also he conquered in battle. Then he went on to attack
the Mecrit and likewise defeated them.
When the Naimans heard that Chingis was behaving in this
arrogant fashion they were angry, for they had had an extremely
active Emperor to whom all the aforesaid tribes used to pay tribute.
When he had paid the debt of all flesh, his sons succeeded in his
place, but they were young men and foolish and did not know how
to rule the people; instead they separated from and were at variance
with each other. In the meantime Chingis had risen to great
power; nevertheless the young men made assaults on the territories
mentioned above, killing men, women and children and seizing
plunder.
On hearing this, Chingis assembled all the men subject to him.
The Naimans also and the Karakitayans,(2) that is the Black Kitayans, assembled against him for battle in a certain narrow valley (p. 20)
between two mountains, through which we passed on our way to
their Emperor, and a battle was fought in which the Naimans and
Karakitayans were defeated by the Mongols. The greater part of
them were killed and others who could not make their escape were
reduced to slavery.
Occodai Chan, the son of Chingis Chan, after he had been made
Emperor, built a city in the land of the Karakitayans, which he
called Omyl.(3) Near this city to the south is a vast desert, which,
they say for a certainty, is inhabited by wild men, who do not
speak at all and have no joints in their legs. If at any time they
fall, they cannot get up again without the help of others, but they
are intelligent enough to make felt out of camel's hair which they
use to clothe themselves and as a protection against the wind.
And if sometimes the Tartars pursue them and wound them with
their arrows, they put grass in the wound and bravely flee before
them.
The Mongols on their return to their own country prepared for
war against the Kitayans,(4) and moving camp they entered their
territory. When this came to the ears of the Emperor of the
Kitayans he went to meet them with his army, and a hard battle
was fought in which the Mongols were defeated and all the Mongol
nobles in that army were killed with the exception of seven. This
gives rise to the fact that, when anyone threatens them saying
"If you invade that country you will be killed, for a vast number
of people live there and they are men skilled in the art of fighting", they still give answer, "Once upon a time indeed we were
killed and but seven of us were left, and now we have increased
to a great multitude, so we are not afraid of such men."
Chingis however and the others who were left fled back to their
own country and after a short, rest Chingis again prepared for
battle and set out to make war against the land of the Uighurs.
These people, who are Christians of the Nestorian sect, he also (p. 21)
defeated in battle, and the Mongols took their alphabet, for
formerly they had no written characters;(5) now however they call
it the Mongol alphabet. Chingis then proceeded to make war on
the land of Sari-Uigurs, the land of the Karanites, the land of the
Voyrat and the land of Kanana, all of which countries he overcame
in battle.
After that he returned to his own country and, after a short
rest, he summoned all his men and they set out together to
make war on the Kitayans. When they had fought for a long time
against them, they conquered a large part of the territory of the
Kitayans; they also hemmed in their Emperor in their largest
town, which they besieged for such a long time that the army's
supplies completely ran out. When they had nothing at all left
to eat, Chingis Chan ordered that out of every ten men they should
give one to be eaten. The men in the city, however, fought manfully against them with engines and arrows; and when they ran
out of stones they threw silver instead, and especially melted-down
silver, for this city contained much wealth. When they had fought
for a long time and were unable to conquer it, the Mongols made
a big subterranean passage from the army to the middle of the city
and, suddenly making an opening in the ground the inhabitants
being all unawares they leapt out into the middle of the city and
fought with the men of the place. Those who were outside likewise attacked them and, breaking down the gates, they entered
the city and, having killed the Emperor and many of the men, they
took possession of it and carried off gold and silver and all its
wealth; and when they had put some of their own men in command
of the land of the Kitayans, they returned home. Then, once the
Emperor of the Kitayans was defeated, Chingis Chan became
Emperor. Part of the territory of the Kitayans, however, they have
up to the present in no wise been able to conquer, for it is situated
in the sea.
The Kitayans,(6) of whom we have just spoken, are pagans, and (p. 22)
they have their own special writing; it is said that they also have
an Old and New Testament; and they have lives of Fathers and
hermits and buildings made like churches, in which they pray at
stated times; and they say they have some saints. They worship
one God, they honour Our Lord Jesus Christ, and they believe
in eternal life, but they are not baptised. They show honour and
respect to our Scriptures, they love Christians and give much in
alms. They seem to be most affable and kindly men. They have
no beard and their physiognomy is much like that of the Mongols,
though they are not so broad in the face. They have their own
language. Better artificers are not to be found in the whole
world in all the trades in which men are wont to be engaged.
Their land is very rich in corn, wine, gold and silk and in all the
things which usually support human life.
When Chingis had rested for a short time, he divided his
armies. One of his sons, Tossuc(7) by name, who was also called
Chan, that is, Emperor, he sent with an army against the Comans,
and after much fighting Tossuc defeated them. When he had
conquered them he returned home.
Chingis sent another son with an army to attack the Indians,
and he conquered Lesser India. These black people are Saracens,
and are called Ethiopians. This army advanced to make war on
the Christians in Greater India. Hearing this, the king of that
country, commonly called Prester John, assembled an army and
went to meet them; and he made figures of men out of copper and
set them in saddles on horses, putting fire inside them; and he
placed men with bellows on the horses behind the copper figures,
and with many such figures and horses fitted up like this they
advanced to fight the Tartars. When they reached the battleground, they sent forward these horses, one next the other, while
the men behind put I know not what on to the fire in the figures
and blew hard with the bellows. As a result horses and men were (p. 23)
burned up by Greek fire, and the air was black with smoke. They
then shot arrows at the Tartars which wounded and killed many
of them, and thus they cast them out of their territory in confusion
and we have never heard that they went back again later.
On their return journey through the desert they came to a land
where so we were definitely told at the Emperor's court by
Russian clerics and others who had been living among them for
a long time they found monsters who had the likeness of women.
When they asked them by means of many interpreters where the
men-folk of that country were, they replied that every female
born there had a human form, but every male had the shape of a
dog. Whilst they were prolonging their stay in this land, the dogs
collected together in another part of the river and, in the severe
winter weather, they plunged into the water; immediately after
this they rolled in the dust, and the dust thus mixed with the
water froze on them. When they had done this many times, they
were covered with a thick coating of ice, and with a great rush they
joined battle with the Tartars. But when the latter shot at them
with their arrows, the arrows rebounded as if they had shot at
stones; nor were their other arms able to injure them in any way.
The dogs, however, springing upon the Tartars, bit them, wounding and killing many of them, and in this way they cast them out
of their country. This gave rise to a saying which is still current
among the Tartars: "Your father or brother was killed by the
dogs". The women they captured they took to their country and
they were there until they died.
While this army, that is to say the army of the Mongols, was
returning, they came to the land of Burithabet,(8) which they
conquered in battle. The inhabitants are pagans; they have an
incredible or rather discreditable custom, for when anyone's
father pays the debt of human nature they collect all the family
together and eat him; we were told this for a fact. They do not
grow beards, indeed they carry in their hands, as we saw, an iron
instrument, with which they always pluck their beards if any hair
happens to grow there, and they are exceedingly misshapen.
From there the army returned home. (p. 24)
At the same time that he was dividing the other armies, Chingis
Chan also went with an expedition towards the west through the
land of the Kergis, whom he did not conquer, and, so we were told
there, he reached as far as the Caspian Mountains. The mountains
in that part towards which they were directing their course are of
loadstone; consequently they attracted their arrows and iron
weapons. The inhabitants hemmed in by the Caspian Mountains
hearing, it is believed, the noise of the army, began to break
through a mountain, and when the Tartars came back that way
on another occasion ten years later, they found the mountain
broken in pieces. When the Tartars, however, tried to get at
them, they could not, for a cloud lay ahead of them, beyond
which they could in no way progress, for as soon as they reached
it they lost all power of sight. Those on the opposite side, however, believing that the Tartars were afraid of attacking them,
rushed towards them, but as soon as they reached the cloud they
could go no further, for the reason already given. Before reaching
the aforesaid mountains the Tartars travelled for more than a
month through a vast wilderness.
Going on from there still westwards, they journeyed for more
than a month through a large desert, and they came to a land where
so we were told with absolute certainty they saw beaten
tracks, but were unable to find any people; however, they made a
thorough search throughout the land, with the result that they
came across one man with his wife and these were brought before
Chingis Chan. When he asked them where were the inhabitants
of that country, they replied that they dwelt in the earth under the
mountains. Chingis Chan, keeping the woman, sent the husband
to tell those men to come at his command. He went to them and
repeated all Chingis Chan's messages to them. They replied
saying that on such and such a day they would come to Him to do
his bidding. In the meantime, however, they assembled by secret,
underground routes and coming to fight against the Tartars, they
suddenly rushed upon them and killed many of them. They, that
is to say Chingis Chan and his followers, realised that they could
gain nothing but rather would lose men, and in addition to this,
they could not bear the sound of the sun indeed at the time when (p. 25)
the sun was rising they were obliged to place one ear on the
ground and stop up the other completely so as not to hear that
terrible noise, and yet even by taking these measures they were
unable to prevent many of them from meeting their death on
account of it so they took to flight and left the country. However,
they carried off those people with them, that is to say the man and
his wife, and they remained in the land of the Tartars until their
death. When questioned as to why they dwelt underground they
said that at one season of the year when the sun rises the noise is so
great that men cannot on any account stand it, as we have already
told was the case with the Tartars. Indeed at that time they
even used to strike musical instruments and beat drums and other
things in order not to hear the noise.
While Chingis Chan was on the way back from that country,
they ran short of food and suffered great hunger. Then they
happened to come across the fresh entrails of an animal; they took
them and, putting aside only the dung, they cooked them and
brought them before Chingis Chan, who ate them with his men.
As a result of this Chingis decreed that neither the blood nor the
entrails nor any part of an animal that can be eaten, with the
exception of the dung, is to be thrown away.
He then returned to his own country and there made many
laws and statutes, which are observed inviolably by the Tartars.(9)
We will give only two of these. One is that if anyone, puffed up by
pride, wishes to be Emperor on his own authority without an
election by the princes, he shall be put to death without any
mercy. Hence before Cuyuc Chan's election, in accordance with
this law one of the princes, a nephew of Chingis Chan, paid the
death penalty, for he wanted to rule without an election. Another
decree is that they are to bring the whole world into subjection to
them, nor are they to make peace with any nation unless they first
submit to them, until the time for their own slaughter shall come.
They have fought now for forty-two years and they are due to (p. 26)
rule for another eighteen years. After that, so they say, they are
to be conquered by another nation, though they do not know
which; this has been foretold them. Those who escape with their
lives, they say, are to keep the same law which is kept by those
who defeat them in battle. Chingis also decreed that their armies
should be organised into groups under captains of a thousand, a
hundred, and ten, and "darkness" that is, ten thousand.(10) He
also decreed many other things which it would be tedious to tell
of, and in any case I do not know what they are. After this he was
killed by a thunderbolt, having completed his decrees and
statutes.
Chingis had four sons. One was called Occodai, the second
Tossuc Chan, another Chiaaday and the name of the fourth I do
not know. All the Mongol chiefs are descended from these four.
The first, namely Occodai Chan, had the following sons: the
eldest is Cuyuc, who is the present Emperor, and Cocten and
Chirenum, and I do not know if he had any more sons. The sons
of Tossuc Chan are: Bati, who is the richest and most powerful
after the Emperor, Ordu, who is the eldest of all the chiefs, Siban,
Bora, Berca, Thaube. I do not know the names of Tossuc Chan's
other sons. The sons of Chiaaday are Burim and Cadan. I do not
know the names of the rest of his children. The sons of Chingis
Chan's other son, whose name I do not know, are as follows:
one is called Mongu; his mother is Sorocan, and among the
Tartars this lady is the most renowned, with the exception of the
Emperor's mother, and more powerful than anyone else except
Bati; another son is called Bichac; he had a number of other sons,
but I do not know their names.(11) (p. 27)
The names of the chiefs are as follows: Ordu--he was in
Poland and Hungary; Bati, Birin, Syban, Dinget, all of whom
were in Hungary; Cirpodan who is still beyond the sea fighting
against certain Sultans of the land of the Saracens, and others who
are beyond the sea. The following have stayed in their own
country: Mengu, Sirenen, Hubilai, Sirenum, Sinocur, Chuacenur,
Caragai, Sibedei, an old man who is known among them as "the
knight", Bora, Berca, Mauci, Corenza; this last named, however,
is the least of them all. There are many other chiefs, but I do not
know their names.
The Emperor of the Tartars has a remarkable power over
everyone. No one dare stay anywhere except in the place he has
assigned to them. It is he who appoints where the chiefs are to be,
but the chiefs fix the positions of the captains of a thousand, the
captains of a thousand those of the captains of a hundred, and the
captains of a hundred those of the captains of ten. Moreover,
whatever command he gives them, whatever the time, whatever
the place, be it to battle, to life or to death, they obey without a
word of objection. Even if he asks for an unmarried daughter or
sister, they give her to him without a murmur. Indeed, each year
or every few years he collects young girls from all parts of the
land of the Tartars, and if he wants to keep any for himself he
keeps them; the others he gives to his men just as it seems good
to him to arrange.
Whatever envoys he despatches, to whatever place and wherever
it may be, they are bound to give them without delay pack-horses and provisions. Also from whatever quarter envoys come
to him bearing tribute, they have likewise to be provided with
horses, carts and supplies. Envoys who come for any other reason,
however, are in a most unhappy position as regards both food and
clothing, for poor and inadequate provision is made for them;
and particularly when they come to the princes and have to prolong
their stay there, for then such a small quantity is given to ten men
that two could scarcely live on it. Even in the princes' ordas and
on the journey they are given nothing to eat except once a day, and
that little enough. Moreover, if they suffer any injury they cannot
easily make any complaint and so are obliged to bear it patiently. (p. 28)
In addition, they are asked for many presents both by the princes
and others of high and lower rank and if these are not forthcoming
they despise them, indeed they consider them of no account; if
they have been sent by men of importance, the Tartars are unwilling to receive a small gift from them, saying "You come from
an important man and you give so little". And they refuse to
accept it and, if the envoys wish for success in their undertaking,
they are bound to give larger gifts. On that account we had no
choice but to bestow in gifts a great part of the things given to us
by the faithful for our expenses.
This also ought to be known, that all things are in the hands of
the Emperor to such an extent that no one dare say this is mine
or his, but everything is the Emperor's; that is to say goods, men
and animals. On this point indeed a decree of the Emperor was
recently issued. The chiefs have like dominion over their men
in all matters, for all the Tartars are divided into groups under
chiefs. Both the Emperor's men and all others are bound, without
raising any objection, to provide envoys of the chiefs whatever
the destination to which they are being despatched with pack-horses and provisions and men to look after the horses and to
serve the envoys. The chiefs as well as the others are obliged to
give mares to the Emperor as rent, so that he can have the milk for
a year, or for two or three years as it pleases him; and the men
under the chiefs are bound to do the same for their lords, for not a
man among them is free. In short, whatever the Emperor and the
chiefs desire, and however much they desire, that they receive
from their subjects' property; and their persons they dispose of
in all respects according to their own good pleasure.
After the death of the Emperor, as has been said above, the
chiefs assembled and elected in his stead Occodai, a son of the said
Chingis Chan. Occodai held a council of his princes and then
divided up his armies. Bati, who ranked second to him, he sent
against the country of the Great Sultan and the land of the
Bisermins.(12) These latter were Saracens but spoke the Coman (p. 29)
language. Entering their territory, Bati fought with them and
overcame them in battle. A certain city called Barchin held out a
long time against him a for they dug a great number of pits around
the town and covered them over, and when the Tartars were
nearing the city they fell into the pits, and so were unable to take
it until they had filled them in.
The inhabitants of another city called Sakint, hearing of this,
came out to meet the Tartars and of their own accord surrendered
to them. In consequence their city was not destroyed, but many
men were killed and others transported. The Tartars plundered
the city and filled it with fresh inhabitants; they then proceeded
to attack the city of Ornas. This city was densely populated, for
there were many Christians there, namely Gazarians, Ruthenians,
Alans and others, and there were also Saracens there. The government of the city was in the hands of the Saracens. This city was
moreover filled with great wealth for it is situated on a river which
flows through Iankint and the land of the Bisermins and runs
into the sea, which makes it as it were a port, and other Saracens
used to carry on extensive trading with that place. The Tartars,
unable to conquer the city by any other means, threw a dam across
the river, which ran through the town, and submerged it with its
inhabitants and property. Having accomplished this, the Tartars
then entered the land of the Turks, who are pagans.
Subduing this country, they attacked Russia, where they made
great havoc, destroying cities and fortresses and slaughtering men;
and they laid siege to Kiev, the capital of Russia; after they had
besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death. When we were journeying through that land
we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about
on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated (p. 30)
town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there
are at the present time scarce two hundred houses there and
the inhabitants are kept in complete slavery. Going on from
there, fighting as they went, the Tartars destroyed the whole
of Russia.
Proceeding from Russia and Comania, the afore-mentioned
chiefs made war on the Hungarians and Poles. A great number of
the Tartars were killed in Poland and Hungary, and if the
Hungarians had not taken flight and had resisted manfully, the
Tartars would have left their country, for they were filled with such
fear that they all tried to run away. Bati, however, drawing his
sword, withstood them to the face saying: "Do not flee, for if you
do, not one will escape, and if we are to die, let us all die, for that
is about to happen which Chingis Chan foretold when he said
we should be put to death: if the time has now come let us endure
it." And so fresh heart was put into them and they stayed and
destroyed Hungary.
Then on their way back they came to the land of the Mordvinians,(13) who are pagans, and they conquered them in battle.
They next proceeded against the Billed, that is to say Great
Bulgaria,(14) and destroyed it completely. Going further north they
attacked Baschart,(15) that is Great Hungary, and also defeated them.
Leaving that country they went still further north and came
to the Parossites. These people have small stomachs and tiny
mouths, so we were told, and they cook meat but do not eat it;
when it is cooked they lean over the pot and inhale the steam and
this is their only refreshment. If indeed they do eat anything, it is
extremely little.
The Tartars continuing in their way came to the Samoyedes.
Now these men, so it is said, live entirely off their hunting; even
the tents and clothes they have are made of nothing but animal
skins. Pressing on, the Tartars reached a land bordering on the (p. 31)
ocean, where they came across monsters, who, we were told for
a fact, had a human shape in every respect except that the
extremities of their feet were like the hooves of oxen and, although
they had human heads, they had the faces of dogs. They would
speak two words like human beings and the third they would
bark like a dog, and they broke into barking in this way at intervals;
however, they always came back to the matter in hand, so it was
possible to understand what they were talking about. From there
the Tartars returned to Comania and some of them have stayed
there even until now.
At the same time Occodai Chan sent Cirpodan with an army
to the south against the Kergis(16) and he defeated them in battle.
These men are pagans and have no beards; they have a custom
that when a man loses his father by death, out of grief he removes
from his face a strip of skin from one ear to the other as a sign of
mourning.
Having conquered the Kergis, Cirpodan proceeded south
against the Armenians. When the Tartars were crossing a desert,
they came upon certain monsters, so we were told as a certain
truth, who had a human shape, but only one arm with a hand,
in the middle of the breast, and one foot, and two of them shot
with one bow; and they ran at such a rate that horses could not
keep on their track, for they ran by hopping on their one foot and,
when they grew tired with this method of progress, then they got
along on the hand and foot turning cart-wheels. (Isidore called
them Cyclopedes.) When this had exhausted them, they ran
again in their former fashion. The Tartars managed to kill some
of them, and we were told by the Russian clerics who live in the
orda with the Emperor that in the legation at the Emperor's court
several of the envoys of whom we made mention above came from
them to make peace with him.
Moving on from there, the Tartars reached Armenia, which they
conquered in battle; they also defeated part of Georgia, and the
rest of the country came to do their bidding, and they gave them
forty thousand yperpera each year as tribute and still do the
same, (p. 32)
Continuing their march, the Tartars came to the land of the
Sultan of Rum(17), a man of considerable might and power; and they
fought against him and defeated him. They pushed on further,
subduing and conquering, as far as the country of the Sultan of
Aleppo, of which they are at the present moment taking possession, and it is their intention to attack other countries beyond this.
Never up to the present day have they returned to their own
country. The same army attacked the territory of the Caliph of
Baghdad, which it also subdued. Every day they pay them as
tribute four hundred besants, in addition to brocades and other
gifts. Every year the Tartars send envoys telling the Caliph to
come to them, and every year he sends magnificent presents with
the tribute, begging them to release him from this obligation. The
Emperor accepts the presents, nevertheless he sends for him to
come.
Notes
(1) This is a most perplexing chapter, since it combines very accurate and
detailed information not found in any other Western writer with a number of
traveller's tales and purely legendary matter. The account of the Mongol
tribes and the derivation of their names is extremely accurate, except the
derivation of the name of the Tartars from the river Tartar, which is incorrect. [p. 18, n1]
(2) The Kara Khitay were a Mongol people who had been driven out of northern
China and had established a powerful empire in Turkestan in the twelfth
century. They were Buddhists in religion. [p. 19, n1]
(3) Omyl, i.e. Imil on the river of the same name, in Tarbagatai.
(4) Northern China or Cathay was at this time ruled by an alien dynasty, the
Chin, who originated in eastern Manchuria and had driven out their predecessors,
the Khitan, a century earlier. Southern China or Manji still maintained its independence under the Later Sung dynasty, while western China was part of
the Tangut kingdom, ruled by the Hsia. All three were later absorbed in the
Mongol empire.
(5) What John says of the derivation of the Mongol alphabet from Uighur is
perfectly correct. [p. 21, n1]
(6) This is the first Western account of the Chinese. At this period Buddhism
was the dominant religion in China, especially in the Northern kingdom, but it
had become so syncretistic and receptive to foreign influences that John of Piano Carpini's description is not unreasonable. Cf. Wieger, Histoire des
Croyances religieuses en Chine, pp. 542-3 and 559.
The two Testaments are no doubt the Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures. [p. 21-22, n2]
(7) This is Juchi, the eldest son of Chingis and the fattfer of Batu. From
this point the account of the Mongol campaigns becomes almost legendary,
owing no doubt to John's reliance on the "Russian clerics". [p. 22, n1]
(8) Possibly Tibet.[p. 23, n1]
(9) From this point John's narrative once more becomes authentic and based
on reliable information. The "laws and statutes" the Yasa are famous in
Mongol history, and the Persian historian Juwaini says that a copy was kept in
the treasury of all Chingis Khan's descendants. There is a full discussion of
the subject in G. Vernadskyj The Mongols and Russia, pp. 99-110.[p. 25, n1]
(10) "Tuman". John of Piano Carpini wrote "tenebras", "darkness">
owing to a confusion between "tuman" the word for 10,000 and "duman",
darkness. William of Rubruck (infra, p. 171) gives the word its proper
significance. [p. 26, n1]
(11) This is the most complete and accurate account of the dynasty of Chingis
Khan to be found in any Western writer. See the genealogical table, pp. xl-xli.
Almost the only errors are that Chirenen (or Shiramun) was not the son of
Ugedey but of Mutugen son of Jagatay (Chiaaday) and that Cadan was not the
son of the last-named but of Ugedey, and is probably the same as the one
whom John of Piano Carpini names Cocten.
In the list of chiefs Hubilai is Kubttay, the brother and successor of Mongka.
Sibedei is Subuday or Subutay, the greatest of the Mongol generals, and his
title of Knight (Miles) represents the Mongol Bagatur (Turk. Bahadur^ which
signifies both a hero and a commander. [p. 26, n2]
(12) John's account of the campaign of Ugedey is somewhat confused. The
conquest of the "great Sultan" of Korezm and "the land of the Bisermins"
was the work of Chingis Khan and his sons in 1219-23, and it was followed up
by a minor campaign by Chormagan-Noyan (John's "Cirpodan", p. 31) in 1230 and the following years in North Persia, Armenia and Georgia. But the
great event of Ugedey's reign was the conquest of Russia and the invasion of
Central Europe by Batu and Subutay. This was the campaign which was the
turning point in Russian history and which determined the fate of Eastern
Europe for the next two centuries. The Mongol attack came, not from the
Caucasus as John suggests, but from the northern steppes. It began in 1236-7
with the conquest of the Cumans and the Bulgars on the Middle Volga, which
John puts after the invasion of Europe. In fact the conquest of north-east
Russia took place in the following year (1238), while the destruction of Kiev,
and the invasion of Hungary and Poland, followed in 1240 to 1242. [p. 28-29, n1]
(13) The Finno-Ugrian people who still exist as an autonomous Republic of the
U.S.S.R. [p. 30, n1]
(14) Great Bulgaria was a Moslem State on the Middle Volga and was a very
important centre of trade between Europe and Asia during the early Middle
Ages. [p. 30, n2]
(15) The modern Bashkirs who have given their name to the Soviet Autonomous
Republic of Bashkiria in south-east Russia. [p. 30, n3]
(16) The Circassians or Cherkess.
(17) The Seljuk Sultanate of Iconium, conquered by the Mongols in 1243-4.
