Editorial contextAfter the Kalka, the Tatars crushed the captured Rus princes under boards and sat on top to feast, 'and so ended their lives'. Then they turned back from the Dnieper and vanished, and the chronicler confesses he does not know where they came from or where they went: 'God knows whence He brought them upon us, for our sins.'
and the princes they seized and crushed, putting them under boards, and they themselves sat on top to dine, and so they ended their lives. … And the Tatars turned back from the Dnieper river, and we do not know whence they came nor where they have gone again; God knows whence He brought them upon us, for our sins.
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Original wording
а князи имъше издавиша, подъкладъше подъ дъскы, а сами верху сѣдоша обѣдати, и тако животъ ихъ концяша. … Татари же възвратишася отъ рѣкы Днѣпря, и не съвѣдаемъ откуду суть пришли, и кдѣ ся дѣша опять; Богъ вѣсть, отколѣ приде на насъ, за грѣхы наша.
Editorial contextFrom the Russian chronicles Herberstein copies a story that the Tartars were 'Moabites' who came out of the north-eastern deserts, driven by a prophet named Gideon who preached the end of the world. The chronicle's date of AD 1025 for the Kalka battle is wrong (it was 1223), and the editor Major notes the attribution to Bishop Methodius is an anachronism.
They say that the Moabites, who were afterwards called Tartars, and who differed from the rest of mankind in language, manners, and dress, came to the river Calka ; but that no one knew whence they came, or what religious doctrine they held.
Sigismund von Herberstein, retelling the Russian annals (translated by R. H. Major, 1851-52)
Editorial contextThe Nikon Chronicle adds names from Russian heroic poetry to the Kalka disaster: Aleksandr Popovich, his servant Torop, Dobrynia 'Golden Belt' and seventy great bogatyrs all fell to the Tatars. The same page tells how the captured princes were laid under planks while the Tatars sat on top to eat, crushing them. Older chronicles do not name these heroes; the compilers took them from oral epic.
and in that battle they killed Aleksandr Popovich and his servant Torop, and Dobrynia Riazanich Golden Belt, and seventy great and brave bogatyrs; all were slain by the Tatars through the wrath of God for our sins.
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Original wording
убиша же на томъ бою: и Александра Поповичя, и слугу его Торопа, и Добрыню Рязаничя Златаго пояса, и седмьдесятъ великихъ и храбрыхъ богатырей, вси побіени быша гнѣвомъ Божіимъ за грѣхи наша отъ Татаръ.
Tokhtamysh, 'a certain tsar from the east, from the Blue Horde'
Editorial contextAfter his defeat at Kulikovo, Mamai heard that 'a certain tsar from the east named Tokhtamysh, from the Blue Horde' was coming against him. They met on the Kalka and Mamai lost. The passage shows the Rus knew the Horde as several 'hordes' with colours, and treated a new khan from the east as a stranger.
and news came to him that a certain tsar from the east, named Tokhtamysh, from the Blue Horde, was coming against him. And Mamai, with the army he had prepared against Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich, went against him with that army, and they met on the Kalka
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Original wording
и се пріиде ему вѣсть, что идеть на него нѣкый царь съ востока, именемъ Тахтамышь, изъ Синіе Орды. Мамай же, еже уготова на великого князя Дмитреа Ивановича рать, съ тою ратью поиде противу его, и срѣтошася на Калкахъ