Out hawking: Seydyak, a Kazakh tsarevich and Karacha
Editorial contextA year after the Russians founded Tobolsk on the hill opposite the Tobol mouth, the Tatar prince Seydyak, a Kazakh tsarevich named Saltan and Kuchum's counsellor Karacha rode out from the old Tatar capital Sibir 'for bird sport' (falconry) with five hundred Tatars. The voevoda invited them to a feast as if for peace talks; when the guests choked on the wine he had offered, he took it as a sign of treachery, had their men cut down and sent the princes to Moscow.
In the second year after the building of the town of Tobolsk, from the town of Sibir, from Chuvash, there came out for bird sport the Tatars Prince Sedyak and the tsarevich of the Kazakh horde Saltan and Tsar Kuchum's counsellor, the Tatar Karacha, and with them five hundred Tatars.
Working translation
Original wording
По поставленіи града Тоболска во второе лето, из града Сибири, от Чувашъ вышли для птичной потехи Татара князь Седякъ да царевичь Казачьей орды Салтанъ да царя Кучума думной Татаринъ Карача, с нимъ Татаръ пятьсотъ человекъ.
About Prince Seydyak, Tsarevich Saltan of the 'Kazakh horde', Karacha (Kuchum's counsellor); voevoda Danila Chulkov
Keep in mind
Told from the Russian side, which presents the massacre as a justified precaution.
Was China's Tartar conqueror Tamerlane?
Editorial contextRicci writes that China had never been wholly conquered by foreigners until a Tartar leader invaded; his line ruled until 1368, when the Chinese threw off the yoke and the Ming founder Hongwu expelled the Tartars. Some Jesuits guessed this conqueror was Tamerlane, because the Chinese called him 'Tiemor'. Ricci gives up and simply calls him 'the Tartar'. The Chinese name was almost certainly Tiemuzhen, that is Temüjin (Chinggis Khan), not Timur, who lived a century later and never reached China.
yet we do not read that it was ever wholly conquered by foreign peoples until, in the year of our salvation …, some leader from Tartary, a conqueror of kingdoms, invaded this kingdom with his victorious army. Some of our men, on conjectures that in my judgement are not slight, think this leader was Tamerlane or one of his successors, for the Chinese call him Tiemor … Whoever he was, I shall call him the Tartar.
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Original wording
nunquam tamen prius ab externis populis legitur universim esse subactum, quam anno nostrae salutis … e Tartaria Dux nescio quis, regnorum domitor, in hoc regnum sese cum exercitu victore immisisset. Eum Ducem nonnulli e nostris, nec levibus, meo iudicio, coniecturis Tamerlanem, vel e successoribus eius aliquem fuisse arbitrantur. Eum enim Sinae Tiemor appellant … Quisquis is fuerit, Tartarum appellabo.
About Tartars (Mongols) who conquered China
Keep in mind
The year is illegible in both scans and is omitted. The Tamerlane identification is wrong.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
A Kalmyk prince with a wooden castle and a piano
Editorial contextNot every Kalmyk lord lived in a tent. Prince Sered-Dscheh, a colonel in the Russian army, had a large wooden castle on the left bank of the Volga, fortified with Russian-style outworks after the Napoleonic wars and furnished with mahogany, mirrors, clocks, a billiard table and a piano. Even so, he held court out on the steppe for part of the summer.
He resides on the left bank of the Volga, in a large wooden castle, thirty paces in front, which he fortified with Russian outworks when he returned from the French war … His castle is well fitted up in the interior, and contains a number of saloons, with mahogany furniture, lustres, mirrors, a billiard table, piano-forte, a number of clocks, &c.
About Kalmyks (Khoshut horde of Prince Sered-Dscheh)
Continue in this sourceTwo Moravian missionaries among the Kalmyk hordes of the lower Volga1823 · 19 passagesThe 'city of idols' and its tower of bells
Editorial contextFour days later the embassy passed another ruined city, Burgankoron ('idol city'), said to have been home only to the highest pagan priests. In the middle stood a tall octagonal stone tower hung with countless little bells that rang in the wind; inside were thousands of small Chinese idols, and holes in its sides were stuffed with writings in Mongol or 'East Tartar' left by passing lamas.
In the middle of the city stood a tall octagonal stone tower on which hung countless little bells which, when stirred by the wind, made a very loud ringing. In this tower was an entrance, in which we found many thousands of small Chinese idols of many shapes. On the side of the tower were many holes, full of writings in the Mongol or East Tartar language
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Original wording
Mitten in der Stadt stund ein hoher steinerner achteckigter Thurm, daran unzehlich viel Glöcklein hingen, welche, wann sie vom Winde gerührt, ein überaus laut Gethön verursachten. in diesem Thurm war ein Eingang, worin wir viele 1000 kleine Chinesische Götzen, von vielerley Gestalt fanden. An der Seite des Thurms waren viel Löcher, diese lagen voll Schrifften, welche auf Mongalisch oder Ost-Tartarische Sprache geschrieben waren
About Mongols ('East Tartars') and their lamas
Continue in this sourceAdam Brand's journey with the Russian embassy to China1692 to 1695 · 12 passagesA Tartar prince's widow commands the frontier
Editorial contextAt Gartok on the western frontier Desideri found a permanent force of Tartar and Tibetan soldiers guarding the fortress of Tashigang and watching everyone who entered Tibet. Its commander, a Tartar prince, had died, and his widow had taken over the command until a new governor arrived. Desideri and his companion travelled to Lhasa under her protection; later in the book he says this 'Tartar princess' retired to a nunnery near Shigatse.
in a large plain called Cartoà a strong, permanent force of Tartar and Tibetan soldiers was stationed not only for the defence of the frontier-fortress of Treéscy-Khang and the surrounding settlements, but more especially to watch all those who from that side entered the country. The commander, a Tartar prince, had died and his widow had taken over the command
About Tartar (Mongol) garrison of Tibet
Keep in mind
Wessels's paraphrase rather than Desideri's exact words; the Tartars here are the Mongol garrison serving the Mongol-descended ruler of Lhasa.
Women in helmets: how Timur beat the Emperor of Tartary
Editorial contextClavijo tells how Tokhtamysh, 'emperor of Tartary', raided Tabriz and was chased home by Timur. Finding the ford guarded, Timur marched upstream for three days, then had the camp women put on helmets to look like soldiers while the men doubled back, crossed at night and routed the Tartar camp. The next page tells how Tokhtamysh's servant Edigu then became the new lord of Tartary with a horde of 200,000 horsemen.
on the third night Timour Beg ordered the women to put helmets on their heads, that they might look like men ; and all the men rode on, with two horses a piece, leaving the royal encampment, the women who looked like men, the servants, and the prisoners.
About Tokhtamysh and the Tartars of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
A campaign story told at Timur's court, not witnessed by Clavijo.
The Tatar Hazaras, said to descend from Genghis's army
Editorial contextBurnes notes a Hazara tribe of about a thousand families called Tatar Hazaras, whom tradition made descendants of Genghis Khan's army. He points out that the only other people who called themselves Tatar were the Nogais on the Russian frontier. Earlier (vol. I, p.178) he says the Hazaras looked like Chinese and were 'Tartars by descent'.
Tradition states these people to be descendants of Jengis Khan's army, but their name of Tatar deserves remark, since the only other tribe so denominated by the people themselves is the Nogai on the frontiers of Russia.
About Tatar Hazaras
Keep in mind
The descent from Genghis's army is tradition, which Burnes reports without proving.
Prester John between Gog and Magog on the old sea charts
Editorial contextRamusio notes that Marco Polo called the northern lord Uncan 'Prester John' and put his seat in two regions, Og and Magog. He adds that on all the sea charts made 200 and 300 years earlier, Prester John is placed in the north above India, between the Ganges and the Indus, with no mention of an Ethiopian Prester John; on the next page he calls these 'the provinces of Gog and Magog, that is, of the Tartars'.
where Messer Marco Polo says that in the north there was a great lord called Uncan, whose name some take to mean Prester John in our language, and that his principal seat was in two regions, Og and Magog: it should be known that on all those sea charts one sees today, made 200 and 300 years ago, this Prester John is placed in the north and above India
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Original wording
oue dice Messer Marco Polo che sotto la Tramontana v'era vn gran signore detto VmCan che vogliono alcuni questo nome dire Preti Ianni, nella nostra lingua: & che la sua principale sedia era in due regioni, Og & Magog, è da sapere, che in tutte quelle carte da nauigare che si vegghono hoggidi fatte già 200 & 300. anni, v'è posto questo Prete Ianni sotto la Tramontana & sopra l'India
About Tartars identified with Gog and Magog; 'Uncan' as Prester John
Keep in mind
Ramusio is reporting legend and old maps, not asserting the facts himself; useful for the maps team.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR partly garbled); long s and ligatures normalized.
Kerch and Yenikale for Russia, a fortress on a non-existent island for the Ottomans
Editorial contextThe memoir lists Russia's peace terms as the Ottomans understood them: the fortresses and places on the Crimean, Taman and Kuban side would be handed to the Tatars, while Yenikale and the port of Kerch, with their districts, would go to Russia. At most, it says with open sarcasm, the Ottomans would be allowed to build a fortress 'on an imaginary island, whose name and body do not exist' between Yenikale and Taman. The Tatar towns of the strait are real fortresses bargained over by two empires.
All the fortresses and places on the side of Crimea, Taman and Kuban … shall be left and handed over to the Tatars; and secondly Yenikale and the port of Kerch, with their districts and territories, shall be made over to Russia; and at most the Sublime State may build a fortress on an imaginary island, whose name and body do not exist, between Yenikale and Taman.
Working translation
Original wording
قريم وطمان وقوبان جانبنده اولان قلاع وبقاع بالجمله … تاتاره ترك وتسليم اولنه وثانيا یکی قلعه وکرش ليمانی الکا وناحيهلريله روسيه دولتنه تمليك اولنوب نهايه یکی قلعه ايله طمان بيننده اسم وجسمی معدوم بر اطه موهومه ده دولت عليه بر قلعه بنا ايتمك جايز اوله
About Crimean Tatars, Russians and Ottomans
Keep in mind
A hostile Ottoman summary of Russian demands, perhaps translated from French; the sarcasm about the island is the memoir's own. Russia did gain Kerch and Yenikale by the treaty of 1774.
Transcribed from the manuscript image (corpus OCR of this manuscript is garbled); one unclear word omitted.
Royal tombs with poisoned children and arrow traps
Editorial contextHuc passes on a lurid report about Tartar kings' burials: a brick building with statues, a central cavern full of treasure, children killed with mercury to keep their faces fresh and set up around the corpse holding the king's pipe and snuff, and a spring-loaded battery of bows to shoot any grave robber. He says bow-makers sold such traps and that Chinese sometimes bought them to guard their houses.
These monstrous interments sometimes cost the lives of a great number of slaves. They take children of both sexes, remarkable for their beauty, and make them swallow mercury till they are suffocated; in this way they preserve, they say, the freshness and ruddiness of their countenance, so as to make them appear still alive.
About Mongol princes (reported)
Keep in mind
Huc did not see this; 'they say' marks it as hearsay, and it echoes older Chinese tomb legends.