No monsters, but hairy little men who cry 'chin, chin'
Editorial contextRubruck asked priests at Karakorum about the dog-headed and one-eyed monsters described by Isidore and Solinus. They told him they had never seen any, which surprised him. Then a priest from Cathay told him of tiny hairy creatures with stiff knees living among rocks east of Cathay, caught by leaving out mead to get them drunk, whose blood made a red dye.
They told me they had never seen such, which astonished me greatly, if it be true. … in the countries east of Cathay there are high rocks, among which dwell creatures who have in all respects human forms, except that their knees do not bend, so that they get along by some kind of jumping motion
About Priests at the Mongol court; Cathay
Keep in mind
The creature story is hearsay from a single informant; the denial of monsters is a useful check on older book-learning.
Ogedei throws open the treasury of his new capital
Editorial contextAmong the anecdotes of Ogedei's generosity, Rashid says that while Karakorum (Qara Qorum) was being founded the khan found about twenty thousand silver ingots (balish) piled in the treasury and saw no point in hoarding them. He had it announced that anyone who wanted balish could come and take it. The story assumes a real city with a population of rich and poor, nobles and commoners.
Another story: at the time when he had ordered Qara Qorum to be founded, one day he went into the treasury and saw nearly two tumans [some twenty thousand] of balish [silver ingots]. He said: 'What use to us is hoarding this?' … The people of the city, noble and humble, rich and poor, made for the treasury, and every one of them found a generous share.
Working translation
Original wording
دیکر بوقت آنك قرا قورومرا بنیاد فرموده بود روزی بخزانه در آمد و قرب دو تومان بالش دید فرمود که از اذخار این مارا چه فایده … اهل شهر از شریف و وضیع توانکر و درویش روی بخزانه آوردند و هر کسی نصیبی وافر یافتند
About Mongols (court of Ogedei Qa'an)
Keep in mind
A moralising anecdote about the khan's generosity, taken over from Juvaini, not an eyewitness report.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR for this Persian text is garbled).
Karakorum's quarters, temples and mud wall
Editorial contextRubruck describes Karakorum as two quarters: one of Muslims (Saracens) with the markets, where merchants gathered because of the court, and one of 'Cathayans' (northern Chinese), who were all craftsmen. Outside them stood the large palaces of the court secretaries. There were twelve temples of various idolaters, two mosques and one church; a mud wall with four gates enclosed the town, each gate with its own market for grain, sheep and goats, oxen and carts, or horses.
[one quarter] of the Saracens, where the markets are, and many merchants gather there because of the court … the other is the quarter of the Cathayans, who are all craftsmen. Outside these quarters are large palaces belonging to the court secretaries. There are twelve idol temples of different nations, two mosques in which the law of Mahomet is proclaimed, and one Christian church at the far end of the town. The town is enclosed by a mud wall and has four gates.
Working translation
Original wording
Sarracenorum in quo sunt nundine, et multi mercatores confluunt ibi propter curiam … alius est vicus Catharanorum, qui omnes sunt artifices. Extra istos vicos sunt magna palatia, que sunt scriptorum curie. Sunt ibi duodecim ydolatrie diversarum nationum, due mahummerie in quibus clamatur lex Machometi, una ecclesia cristianorum in extremitate ville. Villa clausa est muro luteo, et habet .iiijor. portas.
About Muslim merchants, Chinese craftsmen and Mongol court scribes
Keep in mind
The printed text reads 'Catharanorum'; one manuscript has 'Cataianorum', i.e. people of Cathay (northern China).
A pavilion raised by Muslim architects to outdo the Chinese
Editorial contextJuvaini follows Ögedei's yearly round of residences near Karakorum. In spring the khan moved to a palace called Qarshi Suri, which 'Muslim architects' had put up in rivalry with the Khitayans (Chinese builders): a lofty pavilion decorated with paintings and many-coloured carpets, with a throne and jewelled vessels. The Mongol khan's buildings are credited to foreign craftsmen competing for his favour.
which Muslim architects had raised in rivalry with the Khitayans, and which is called Qarshi Suri: a very lofty pavilion, adorned with all kinds of paintings and many-coloured carpets.
Working translation
Original wording
که آنرا مهندسان مسلمان بر رغم ختائیان افراشته بودند و آنرا قرشی سوری نام است کوشکی نیک عالی بانواع نقوش و فرشهای متلوّن حالی
About Ögedei Khan's court; Muslim and Chinese builders
Keep in mind
Juvaini visited the Karakorum area after Ögedei's death; the description of the khan's routine is partly from informants.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Mongke Khan: one God, many ways, like fingers on a hand
Editorial contextAfter a debate between Christians, Muslims and Buddhists at his court, Mongke Khan explained the Mongol faith to Rubruck. The Moal believe in one God, he said, but God gives different peoples different ways, as he gives the hand different fingers. It is a vivid statement of the Mongol court's religious tolerance, spoken through an interpreter.
"We Moal," he said, "believe that there is only one God, by whom we live and by whom we die, and for whom we have an upright heart." … "But as God gives us the different fingers of the hand, so he gives to men divers ways.
About Mongke Khan of the Mongols
Keep in mind
Mongke's words reached Rubruck through an interpreter, William Boucher's son.
A tent for two thousand people at Güyük's election
Editorial contextAt the assembly that elected Güyük Great Khan, Carpini found a huge tent of white purple cloth which he reckoned could hold more than two thousand people, ringed by a wooden palisade painted with figures. The chiefs changed the colour of their robes each day. A few pages on he describes another tent, the 'Golden Horde', on pillars covered with gold plates fixed with gold nails.
There we found a very large tent of white purple, so large, in our opinion, that it could hold more than two thousand people. Around it they had set up a scaffold or palisade of wood, covered with various figures and paintings.
Working translation
Original wording
Nous trouuames là vne tente de pourpre blanc tres-grande, voire telle, à nostre aduis, qu'elle estoit capable de tenir plus de deux mil personnes. A l'entour d'icelle on auoit fait esleuer vn eschaffaut ou palissade de bois, remply de diuerses figures & peintures.
About Tartars (Mongol princes and chiefs)
Continue in this sourceBergeron's 1634 French collection of the friars' journeys into Tartaryc. 1245 to 1307 · 17 passagesWhere was Karakorum? Between the Orkhon and the Tamir
Editorial contextIn the Khalkha section's list of ancient sites, the gazetteer copies the Yuan history's account of Hening (Karakorum) and then adds its own finding: according to the 'Map of the Northern Desert', the old capital stood east of the Khangai mountains, between the Orkhon and Tamir rivers. A few pages earlier the same section places the Erdene Zuu monastery on the upper Orkhon. Karakorum here is a known Mongol capital with a location, not a mystery.
According to the Map of the Northern Desert, north of Hening is the Xiluge (Selenge) river, and further north the Kokebuqa ferry; to the west are the Mi river and the Qara Qorum river; to the southwest is a hot spring; to the south the Wangji river. Note: the place lies east of the present Khangai mountains, between the Orkhon and the Tamir rivers.
Working translation
Original wording
朔漠圖和寕北有錫爾格河又北庫庫布哈渡口西有迷河哈刺和林河西南有温泉南有旺吉河按其地在今杭愛山東鄂爾坤塔米爾河之閒
About Mongols (Yuan capital)
Keep in mind
Listed under 'ancient sites' in the Khalkha section; the ruins of Karakorum lie beside Erdene Zuu on the Orkhon.
The silver tree made by a Paris goldsmith
Editorial contextAt Karakorum Mongke had a large walled court beside the town wall with a great palace where he held drinking feasts twice a year. Because it was unseemly to carry skins of milk and drink into the hall, Master William of Paris, a goldsmith captured in Hungary and working for the khan, made at the entrance a great silver tree with four silver lions at its roots, from which mare's milk flowed through a pipe.
Mongke himself has at Karakorum a great court next to the town walls … There is a great palace in which he holds his drinking feast twice a year … At the entrance of this great palace, since it was unseemly to bring in skins of milk and other drinks, Master William of Paris made him a great silver tree, at whose roots are four silver lions with a pipe, all spouting white mare's milk.
Working translation
Original wording
Ipse Mangu habet apud Caracarum magnam curiam juxta muros ville … Ibi est unum magnum palatium, in quo tenet potationem suam bis in anno … In introitu illius magni palatii, quia turpe erat ibi inferre utres cum lacte et aliis potibus, fecit ei magister Willielmus parisiensis unam magnam arborem argenteam, ad cujus radices sunt quatuor leones argentei, habentes unum cannale, et vomentes omnes lac album jumenti.
About Mongke Khan's court; the Parisian goldsmith William Buchier
Keep in mind
Rubruck names the maker as a Parisian captive craftsman; the Mongols' showpiece was European and Chinese workmanship.
Karakorum: smaller than the town of Saint-Denis
Editorial contextRubruck's verdict on the Mongol capital, where he spent the spring of 1254: apart from the khan's palace it was not as good as the little town of Saint-Denis outside Paris, and the abbey of Saint-Denis was worth ten times more than that palace.
As for the city of Karakorum, you should know that, leaving aside the Khan's own palace, it is not as good as the town of Saint-Denis, and the monastery of Saint-Denis is worth ten times more than that palace.
Working translation
Original wording
De civitate Caracaron noveritis quod, excluso palatio ipsius Chan, non est ita bona sicut burgus Sancti Dyonisii, et monasterium Sancti Dyonisii in decuplo valet plus illo palatio.
About Mongols of Mongke Khan's court
Continue in this sourceCarpini and Rubruck in the original Latinc. 1245 to 1329 · 19 passagesA land with no towns except 'Cracurim'
Editorial contextSanudo's chapter headed 'the sordid origin of the Tartars' describes the land 'called Mongal or Tartaria' where the East meets the North: mountainous in parts, mostly gravel and sand, short of water, so that there are no villages or cities 'except one called Cracurim', said to be fairly good, though the land is excellent for raising herds. Cracurim is Karakorum.
The land called Mongal or Tartaria is described as lying in that part where the East joins the North ... and it lacks plenty of water: hence there are no villages or cities there, except one which is called Cracurim, and is said to be fairly good. For raising herds, however, the land is excellent.
Working translation
Original wording
Terra quæ Mongal siue Tartaria dicitur, in ea parte describitur, vbi Oriens Aquiloni coniungitur … & aquarum copiâ caret: vndè nec villæ ibi sunt aut ciuitates, exceptâ vnâ quæ Cracurim vocatur, & satis bona esse dicitur. In alendis tamen pecoribus terra optima est.
About Mongols ('Mongal or Tartaria')
Keep in mind
Copied almost word for word from John of Plano Carpini's report of 1247; Sanudo never went to Mongolia.
Transcribed from the page image; long s normalized.
A new khan lifted on white felt
Editorial contextAt Güyük's enthronement the princes and nobles set him on a golden seat, then moved him down onto a felt on the ground and told him to look up to God in heaven and down to the felt on earth: rule justly and the earth would obey him; rule badly and not even the felt he sat on would be his. Then they raised him and his wife together on the felt and proclaimed them khan and great lady. Caps flew, belts were thrown over shoulders, the crowd knelt nine times, and for seven days meat, salt and mare's milk were handed out from the khan's tent; the women's seats in the golden throne tent were of white felt.
they moved him from the golden seat onto a felt rug on the ground and said: Look up to God in heaven and down at the felt on the earth; if you rule well, if you are just and generous and honour the princes and lords, the earth will be subject to you at your will; otherwise you will be poor, despised and wretched, and not even the felt you sit on will be yours.
Working translation
Original wording
setzten ihn vom goldenen Stuhle auf eine Filzdecke auf die Erde und sagten: Schaue auf zu Gott im Himmel und nieder auf den Filz zur Erde; wenn du gut regierst, wenn du gerecht, freigebig, die Prinzen und Freiherren ehrst, wird dir die Erde unterthan sein nach deinem Willen; im Gegentheil wirst du arm, verachtet und elend sein und nicht einmal der Filz wird dein gehören, auf dem du sitzest.
About Mongol princes and nobles; Güyük Khan and his wife Oghul Qaimish
Keep in mind
Hammer's footnotes cite Carpini, who was present in 1246, and the later Persian historian Mirkhwand; the page does not make clear which detail comes from which.
Karakorum built on an old ruin, with craftsmen from China and Islam
Editorial contextJuvaini says Ögedei chose the Orkhon valley and the Qaraqorum mountains for his throne, though there was no town or village there, only the trace of a wall of the old Uighur city of Ordu-Baliq. An inscribed stone found there named its founder, Buqu Khan. On top of the ruin Ögedei ordered a new city built, 'known as the city of Qaraqorum', and craftsmen of every kind were brought from Khitai and from the Islamic lands, along with farmers.
In that place there had been neither town nor village, only the trace of a wall, which had been Ordu-Baliq … and on top of it he ordered that a city be built, and [it was] named Ordu-Baliq … known as the city of Qaraqorum. And from Khitai they brought [workers] of every kind, and likewise from the lands of Islam craftsmen and farmers.
Working translation
Original wording
در آن موضع شهری و دیهی نبودست مگر رسم دیواری که آن اردو بالیغ بودست … و بر بالای آن فرمود تا شهری بنا نهادند و اردو بالیغ نام … معروف بشهر قراقورم است و از ختای از هر نوع … آوردند و از بلاد اسلام همچنان صناع و زراع
About Ögedei Khan's Mongols; Chinese and Muslim craftsmen
Keep in mind
Juvaini visited Karakorum around 1250, but the founding story comes from court tradition. Garbled words in the OCR are marked with ellipses, including the word for the people brought from Khitai.
Karakorum: smaller than the village of Saint-Denis
Editorial contextRubruck lived for weeks at Karakorum, the Mongol capital founded by Ogedei in 1235. His verdict is famously unimpressed: apart from the Khan's palace the town was smaller than the village of Saint-Denis outside Paris. Rockhill's note records that the ruins were located on the Orkhon river in 1889 by the Russian traveller Yadrintsev.
Of the city of Caracarum you must know that, exclusive of the palace of the Chan, it is not as big as the village of Saint Denis, and the monastery of Saint Denis is ten times larger than the palace.
About Mongols under Mongke Khan
Continue in this sourceFriar William's journey to the Mongol court, with Carpini and Benedict the Pole1245 to 1255 · 21 passagesThe silver tree that poured four drinks at Karakorum
Editorial contextBeside Möngke's palace at Karakorum stood a great silver tree made by a captive Parisian goldsmith, Master Guillaume. Four silver lions at its foot and pipes hidden in the trunk delivered wine, kumiss, honey-mead and rice beer, and a silver angel on top blew a trumpet (worked by a man hidden inside) to call the servers. It is a vivid case of a Mongol showpiece built by a foreign craftsman.
this Master Guillaume had made him a great silver tree, at whose foot were four lions, also of silver, each with a pipe or channel from which mare's milk flowed. The four pipes were hidden in the tree, rising to the top and flowing down from there. On each of these conduits were gilded serpents whose tails wound round the trunk of the tree.
Working translation
Original wording
ce M. Guillaume luy auoit fait vn grand arbre d'argent, au pied duquel estoient quatre lyons aussi d'argent, ayans chacun vne pipe ou canal d'où sortoit du lait de iument. Les quatre pipes estoient cachées dans l'arbre, montans iusqu'au sommet, & de là s'escoulans en bas. Sur chacun de ces muids ou canaux y auoit des serpens dorez dont les queuës venoient à enuironner le corps de l'arbre.
About Mongols (court of Möngke Khan); Guillaume Boucher, a Parisian goldsmith
Continue in this sourceBergeron's 1634 French collection of the friars' journeys into Tartaryc. 1245 to 1307 · 17 passagesKarakorum destroyed, then so forgotten no one knew where it was
Editorial contextAfter the Mongol emperors were driven out of China, Ritter says, Karakorum briefly became their capital again and a base for raids on China, until it was destroyed in the wars between the Oirats and the northern Mongols, which he places around 1415. After that the records fall silent so completely that even its location was forgotten, until the French sinologist Abel-Remusat fixed it again from Chinese texts; Ritter wishes physicists and antiquaries would go and examine the site. On the same page he summarises William of Rubruck's description of the khan's brick-walled enclosure, palace and the foreigners from every nation living there.
Karakorum served them only for a short time as a stronghold from which to attack the Chinese frontier; for in the wars of the Oirats and the northern Mongols it was destroyed … All later reports cease so completely at this point that even the location of the place was forgotten, until Abel-Remusat's critical research could once again assign it its proper position.
Working translation
Original wording
Es diente ihnen auch Karakorum nur kurze Zeit als Waffenplatz, um von da aus die Chinesischen Grenzen anzugreifen; denn in den Kriegen der Oirad und nordischen Mongolen wurde es zerstört, … Alle spätern Nachrichten hören hiermit so ganz auf, daß selbst die Lage des Ortes vergessen war, bis Ab. Remusats Critik demselben von neuem seine richtige Stelle anweisen konnte.
About Mongols and Oirats (western Mongols)
Keep in mind
The date of about 1415 is Ritter's own inference from a Mongol chronicle's mention of rebuilding the city.
Karakorum: an old Uighur town, walled by Ögedei
Editorial contextThe Chinese commentary says that Khorin (Karakorum) had been the town of a Uighur khan in Tang times. The Mongols first used it as their assembly place and in 1235 surrounded it with a wall about five li (Bichurin: about 3.5 versts) round. In the same year, the annal adds, Ögedei built the Wan'an palace there.
In the second month the Mongols surrounded Khorin with a wall. Khorin was formerly the town of the Uighur (Khoikhor) Pijia khan, who lived under the Tang dynasty. The Mongols earlier made it their place of assembly, and now surrounded it with a wall about five li in circuit.
Working translation
Original wording
Во вторый мѣсяцъ Монголы обвели стѣною Хоринь. Хоринь былъ прежній городъ Хойхорскаго Пиця-Хана, жившаго при династіи Тханъ. Монголы прежде назначили его сборнымъ мѣстомъ, а нынѣ обвели стѣною, имѣвшею около пяти ли окружности.
About Mongols; earlier Uighurs (Khoikhor)
Keep in mind
The Chinese compilers are writing long after the event; the Uighur capital (Ordu-Baliq) actually lay some distance from Karakorum, a point this source does not raise.
Karakorum and the older Uighur city: two sites on the Orkhon
Editorial contextHeikel quotes the Persian historian Juvaini: Ogedei founded Karakorum, and on the Orkhon were found the ruins of a city and palace that had belonged to the Uighurs, with inscribed stones before the palace gate. Heikel argues that Karakorum stood where the Erdene Zuu monastery was built about 1590, and was not the same as the older Uighur ruins of Khara Balgasun. Real cities rose and fell here, and their builders are named.
'Before the entrance of this palace lie stones covered with engraved characters, which we have seen. In the reign of the Qaan (Khan) Ogedei these stones were lifted and a pit was found, in which there was a great stone slab bearing an inscription.'
Working translation
Original wording
»Devant l'entrée de ce palais gisent des pierres couvertes de caractères gravés que nous avons vus. Sous le règne du Caan (Khan) Ogotaï on leva ces pierres, et l'on découvrit une fosse, dans laquelle il y avait une grande table de pierre, chargée d'une inscription».
About Uighurs and Mongols
Keep in mind
Juvaini is quoted through d'Ohsson's French; Heikel's placing of Karakorum at Erdene Zuu has since been confirmed by excavation.
Checked against the page image.
The Karakorum valley: Khitan ruins and irrigated fields
Editorial contextNear a large clear lake (Ugii Nuur) Zhang notes the branch road to Helin, the Chinese name for Karakorum, about a hundred li away, and a small old walled town built by the Khitans. The Orkhon plain itself was farmed: people irrigated their fields (and, the text adds, kept some vegetable gardens), though in early autumn the crops were already killed by three frosts.
From the south of the lake a branch road leads west into the city of Helin (Karakorum), about a hundred li away. Due west of the lake there is a small old walled town, also built by the Khitans... In the middle is the Helin plain. Most of the inhabitants farm, bringing water to all their fields... It was then late in the first month of autumn and the hemp and wheat had all withered; when I asked the farmers, they said there had already been three frosts.
Working translation
Original wording
自泊之南而西分道入和林城相去約百余里泊之正西有小故城亦契丹所築也…中即和林川也居人多事耕稼悉引水灌之…時孟秋下旬麻麥皆槁問之田者云巳三霜矣
About Mongols; farmers of the Orkhon valley
Keep in mind
Bretschneider (1888) thought Zhang passed near Karakorum without entering it.
Karakorum: 'capital for five reigns'
Editorial contextThe geography treatise explains that the Lingbei capital took its name, Helin (Karakorum), from the Qara Qorum river to its west. Chinggis made it his capital in 1220 and it remained the capital of five reigns. A small-character note adds that Ogedei walled the city and built the Wan'an palace in 1235, and goes on to list more halls outside the city built in 1237 and 1238. Khubilai moved the capital to Dadu (Beijing) in 1260.
[Hening circuit] was first called Helin; because west of it is the Halahelin (Qara Qorum) river, the city was named after it. In the fifteenth year of Taizu (Chinggis), having pacified the prefectures north of the Yellow River, he established his capital here. At first Yuanchang circuit was set up, later changed to the Helin Transport Commission. It was the capital for five successive reigns. (In the yiwei year of Taizong [Ogedei, 1235] Helin was walled and the Wan'an palace built.)
Working translation
Original wording
始名和琳以西有哈喇和琳河因以名城太祖十五年平定河北諸郡建都於此初立元昌路改轉運和琳使司前後五朝都焉(太宗乙未年城和琳作萬安宫…)
About Mongols (Yuan emperors)
Keep in mind
The Siku copy writes 和琳 for the usual 和林. The words 'Taizu established his capital here' in 1220 are the history's claim; the annals date the building of the walls and palace to 1235.
A silver fountain-tree made by a captive Parisian goldsmith
Editorial contextAt the entrance of Mongke Khan's palace stood a silver tree built by 'master William', a Paris goldsmith taken captive in Hungary. Four silver lions spouted mare's milk, and pipes in the tree poured wine, clarified kumiss, honey mead and rice wine when a hidden man blew a trumpet-blowing angel on top. On the next page Rubruck says the palace itself was laid out like a church with a nave and two rows of pillars.
master William the Parisian had made for him a great silver tree, and at its roots are four lions of silver, each with a conduit through it, and all belching forth white milk of mares. … And from one of these pipes flows wine, from another caracosmos, or clarified mare's milk, from another bal, a drink made with honey, and from another rice mead
About Mongke Khan's court; Guillaume Boucher of Paris
Continue in this sourceFriar William's journey to the Mongol court, with Carpini and Benedict the Pole1245 to 1255 · 21 passagesOgedei walls Karakorum and builds a Palace of Universal Peace
Editorial contextWorking from Chinese annals via Abel-Remusat and Mailla, Ritter dates the building of Karakorum's city walls to 1234 and the palace Wan-an-koung, 'of Universal Peace', to 1234 to 1236, and cites the Persian vizier Rashid al-Din for Ogedei naming the city he had built. He notes on the pages before that the site (Chinese Ho-lin) had first been settled as a residence by Uighur khans in the eighth century and later used by the Kerait, so the Mongols built on an older Turkic capital. The same page lists further palaces and a post road to China with horses and garrisons at every station.
[In 1234] they began there to raise the city walls, which were 45 minutes (5 li) in circumference, and also the palace Wan-an-koung, that is, of Universal Peace. … Ogedei Khan, says the Persian vizier Rashid al-Din in his history of the Mongols, named this great city built by him Karakorum.
Working translation
Original wording
fing man daselbst an die Stadt-Mauern aufzuführen, welche 45 Minuten (5 Li) im Umfange hatten, auch den Palast Wan-an-koung, d. h. des Allgemeinen Friedens. … Oktai-Khan, sagt der Persische Vezier Raschideddin in seiner Mongolengeschichte nannte diese große von ihm erbaute Stadt Karakorum
About Mongols (Ogedei Khan's court)
Keep in mind
The year 1234 is on the previous page (n591); Ritter gives the wall length as '45 Minuten (5 Li)' without further explanation.
The last Yuan heir falls back to Karakorum
Editorial contextIn the summary of the fall of the Mongol dynasty, the Ming founder takes Tatou (Dadu, the Mongol capital at Beijing), which the last Yuan emperor had abandoned, and the heir retreats to Holin, 'or Caracorom', founding a new dynasty in Tartary, the Northern Yuan. Karakorum here is still a working Mongol capital more than a century after its founding.
The heir prince, son of this fugitive Emperor, withdrew to Holin or Karakorum, and founded in Tartary a new dynasty called the Northern Yuan
Working translation
Original wording
Le Prince héritier, fils de cet Empereur fugitif, se retira à Holin ou Caracorom, & fonda en Tartarie une nouvelle Dynastie appellée les Yuen du nord
About Mongols (Yuan dynasty, then the Northern Yuan)
Continue in this sourceMailla's General History of China, translated from the Chinese annalsc. 1737 · 4 passagesCould the empty stone city be Karakorum? The editor wonders
Editorial contextIn his notes, the 1882 editor Arsenyev calls the report of an abandoned fortified city on the Tola 'extremely interesting' and suggests it might be the ruins of Karakorum, the old Mongol capital, which the French scholar Abel-Rémusat had placed near where the Tula joins the Orkhon.
The report of the deserted fortified city (whose stone walls 'need little repair'), standing near the Tola river below Urga, is extremely interesting and could refer to the ruins of Karakorum, which, according to Abel-Rémusat, … probably lay not far from the confluence of the Tula with the Orkhon.
Working translation
Original wording
Свѣдѣніе о запустѣвшемъ укрѣпленномъ городѣ (у каменныхъ стѣнъ котораго „починки немного надобно“), стоящемъ близъ рѣки Толы ниже Урги, чрезвычайно интересно и могло бы относиться къ развалинамъ Каракорума, который, по свидѣтельству Абеля Ремюза, … находился, вѣроятно, недалеко отъ сліянія р. Тулы съ Орхономъ.
About Mongols (ruins of the old Mongol capital, as the editor suggests)
Keep in mind
The editor's guess, not Spafarii's. The ruins of Karakorum were identified on the Orkhon at Kharkhorin in 1889, some distance from the Tuul, so the identification is doubtful.
Priest John and the Tartar princes
Editorial contextZwick's historical introduction repeats the medieval story of Prester John: a certain Master Philip told Pope Alexander III of marvels in Tartary and of the Christian priest-king there, and the Pope sent a letter east in 1177. Zwick is summarising older histories, not reporting anything he saw.
The first intelligence of the Tartarian Princes at Karakorum, was brought to Alexander the Third, by one "Master Philip," … who professed to have travelled in Tartary, and added many marvels of the might and dominion of Priest John, the head of the church at that place.
About 'Tartarian princes' of Inner Asia
Keep in mind
Second-hand history. Karakorum was not founded until the 1220s, so placing Priest John there in 1177 is Zwick's anachronism.
A radish harvest in a land too cold to farm
Editorial contextRashid notes that no crops grew around Karakorum because of the fierce cold, and that farming there only began in Ogedei's reign. When a man managed to raise a few radishes and brought them to the khan, Ogedei had them counted and paid him one silver ingot for each. The story shows a steppe capital fed from outside, where a home-grown vegetable was a marvel.
Another: since there is no farming around Qara Qorum because of the extreme cold, they made a start at it in the reign of the Qa'an. A man sowed radishes and a few came up. He brought them to the Qa'an, who ordered them to be counted, leaves and all; they came to a hundred, and he ordered that the man be given a hundred balish.
Working translation
Original wording
دیکر چون در حدود قرا قوروم از افراط سرما زراعت نمی باشد در عهد دولت قاآن آغاز آن کردند شخصی ترب کاشت و چندی حاصل آمد آنرا به بندکی قاآن آورد فرمود تا آنرا برکها بشمارند صد عدد بر آمد فرمود تا اورا صد بالش دادند
About Mongols (court of Ogedei Qa'an)
Keep in mind
Another generosity anecdote from the Juvaini tradition.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR for this Persian text is garbled).
Karakorum explained as 'the circle of the common people'
Editorial contextIn a footnote Zwick explains that kura means a circle, especially the ring of priests' huts around a Kalmyk temple tent, which served as the centre of a horde without a prince. He then derives the name of Genghis Khan's capital from the same word. It is a striking attempt to read an old imperial capital as a camp word.
Thus, the capital of the famous Genghis Khan, which is known in history under the name of Karakorum, was originally Chara Kura, or, in the Tartar dialect, Kara Kura, the circle of the Blacks, or common people.
About Mongols; Kalmyks
Keep in mind
This is Zwick's own etymology; the name is usually explained as Turkic qara qorum, 'black rocks'.
Nobody yet knew where Karakorum lay
Editorial contextIn a footnote Humboldt lists the rival guesses for the ruins of Karakorum, Mongke Khan's capital: Klaproth put it at one set of coordinates, Abel-Remusat at one of two named ruins, and d'Anville had it two degrees too far south-east. He adds that Wilhelm Schott thought the name meant 'black town' or 'black residence'. The site was still unidentified in his day.
Klaproth places the ruins of Karakorum at latitude 46° 41', longitude 100° 24'. … Abel-Remusat believes Karakorum identical either with Talarho-kara-balgasun (long. 100° 44', lat. 47° 32') or with Baisiri-buritu (long. 100° 36', lat. 48° 24'). … Mr Schott, to whom we owe ingenious and learned research on the Tartar languages, thinks that Karakorum means black town or black residence.
Working translation
Original wording
Klaproth place les ruines de Kara-Khorum lat. 46° 41', long. 100° 24'. … Abel-Rémusat croit Kara-Khorum identique ou avec Talarho-kara-balgasoun (long. 100° 44', lat. 47° 32') ou avec Baisiri-bouritou (long. 100° 36', lat. 48° 24'). … M. Schott, auquel on doit d'ingénieuses et savantes recherches sur les langues tartares, pense que Kara-Koroum signifie ville ou résidence noire.
About Mongols
Keep in mind
Longitudes are reckoned from Paris. The ruins of Karakorum were identified beside Erdene Zuu monastery only in 1889.