Dzungar 'Tatars' seize Lhasa, 1717
Editorial contextDella Penna records how the 'Gionkar Tatars' (Dzungars) invaded Tibet, plundered it and took Lhasa in November and December 1717, and how in 1720 a Qing army of 107,000 Chinese and 30,000 Tatars retook the city and installed a new Dalai Lama. Before this, he says, Tibet had a 'Tatar king' from the Kokonor chiefs as its protector. Here Tatars are the armies competing for Lhasa.
the Chinese army, composed of 107,000 Chinese soldiers and 30,000 Tatars, retook the metropolis of Lhasa, and made themselves masters of the whole of the kingdom of Tibet, on the 20th September, and overthrew completely the Gionkar Tatars, who had treacherously invaded Tibet, and with the connivance of a great part of its people, had plundered the country, and taken Lhasa, in November and December, 1717.
About Dzungar (Oirat) Mongols; Qing army of Chinese and Tatars
Keep in mind
Della Penna was in Tibet in these years; the troop figures are his and may be exaggerated.
A god-king for the Tartars from the Volga to Korea
Editorial contextStewart explains the Dalai Lama's place in the Tartar world: he is worshipped by the 'heathen Tartars' across the whole breadth of Asia, and the more distant ones treat him as God himself. He adds that even the Manchu emperor of China honours him and keeps a lama envoy at the palace in Peking.
Every body knows that the Delai Lama is the great object of adoration for the various tribes of heathen Tartars, who roam through the vast tract of continent which stretches from the banks of the Volga to Correa on the sea of Japan, the most extensive religious dominion, perhaps, on the face of the globe.
About Buddhist Tartars (Mongols, Kalmyks and other Inner Asian peoples)
Keep in mind
General knowledge of the day, drawn from books and Bogle's reports, not from travel among the Tartars.
Decrees in Chinese, Tartar and Tibetan
Editorial contextAfter the Qing armies drove the Dzungars out in 1720, Desideri reports, Tibet's government passed to the Emperor of China, run by ministers some of whom were Chinese, some 'Chinese Tartars' and some Tibetans. Every decree had to be issued in three languages: Chinese, Tartar and Tibetan. 'Chinese Tartars' was the usual period term for the Manchus, so within one book 'Tartar' shifts from Mongols to Manchus.
Till October 1720 Tibet was a monarchy under an absolute and independent king. From that time, however, all power has passed into the hands of the Emperor of China and the actual government consists of a body of ministers appointed by him, some of whom are Chinese, some Chinese Tartars, others again Tibetans. All decrees must be promulgated in three languages Chinese, Tartar and Tibetan.
About 'Chinese Tartars' (Manchus of the Qing court)
Keep in mind
A summary by Wessels, not Desideri's own words. Which 'Tartar' language is meant (Manchu or Mongol) is not stated.
Lhasa's walls and gates, built by 'Ginges-Khang'
Editorial contextDesideri says Lhasa had anciently been an open town, and that 'Ginges-Khang' was the first to protect it with gates and fortifications, with a fort guarding each of the four approaches through the mountains. Ginges-Khang is Desideri's name for Lhazang Khan, the ruler killed by the Dzungars in 1717. The editor's footnote on the same page adds that these defences were built late in the 1600s and pulled down again in 1722 by order of the Kangxi emperor, with only some gates and fragments of wall surviving.
In ancient times, our missionary goes on to tell us, Lhasa was an open place, Ginges-Khang being the first to protect it at various points with gates and fortifications. Situated in a plain the town is enclosed by mountains so as to leave only four approaches each of them defended by a fortification.
About Lhazang Khan ('Ginges-Khang'), the Qoshot Mongol ruler of Lhasa
Keep in mind
Wessels's footnote insists Ginges-Khang is 'not the famous Mogul despot' (Genghis Khan) but a Tibetan king; modern historians identify him as Lhazang Khan of the Qoshot Mongols. Dating of the walls comes from Koeppen via the editor.
A Lhasa ruler 'of ancient Tartar stock'
Editorial contextThe Austrian Jesuit John Grueber reached Lhasa in 1661. As Wessels summarises his report, Tibet then had two kings: a secular governor 'of ancient Tartar stock' who ran the government, and the Dalai Lama, worshipped as a god in his palace. Wessels adds that the Potala was begun in 1642 by the Fifth Dalai Lama, who had risen to power 'with the aid of the Tartar prince Gushi Khan'. The Tartars here are the Qoshot Mongols who held military power in Tibet.
There are two kings in this kingdom; one, the Deva (Deba), of ancient Tartar stock, carries on the government; the other, who is worshipped as a deity, lives in seclusion within the precincts of his palace. … the energetic Ngavang Lobsang, who from being the head of the Tashi Lhumpo monastery had, with the aid of the Tartar prince Gushi Khan, worked his way up
About Qoshot Mongols (Gushi Khan and his heirs)
Keep in mind
The first sentence is Wessels's paraphrase of Grueber as printed by Kircher; the Gushi Khan sentence is Wessels's own history, not Grueber's.
Manning's 'Tatar mandarin' at Lhasa
Editorial contextThomas Manning, travelling to Lhasa in disguise, was dismayed to learn that the chief imperial official there was 'the identical Tatar chieftain' who had been disgraced at Canton over the British occupation of Macao in 1808. Throughout his diary 'the Tatar' means this Manchu amban, whom Manning also calls 'the Tatar dog'.
I had learnt now, to my great sorrow and discomfort, that the chief mandarin at Lhasa was the identical Tatar chieftain who had been disgraced at Canton for his management during the Bengal expedition to Macao. That he was a man of a particular suspicious temper, detested at Lhasa, and that he certainly would give us all the trouble in his power.
About Manchu (Qing) officials
Continue in this sourceBogle's mission to the Panchen Lama and Manning's journey to Lhasa1774 to 1812 · 13 passagesA king's palace amid Tatar tents at Dam
Editorial contextDescribing the northern province of Chang, della Penna says that at Dam, the summer seat of the Tatar king of Tibet, there was nothing but the king's palace; everyone else, mostly Tatars and some Tibetans, lived in tents of felt and of cloth woven from hair. Beyond that, at Nakchu, there was a last fortress and again only tents.
in Dam there is nothing else but the palace belonging to the King and his court, the remainder of the inhabitants (which are mostly Tatars and the other Tibetans) dwelling in tents of felt and of cloth woven out of hair. Two days distant from Dam is Nak chu ka, where is the last fortress of Tibet, but no other dwellings except tents
About Tatars (Mongols) and Tibetan nomads
Continue in this sourceBogle's mission to the Panchen Lama and Manning's journey to Lhasa1774 to 1812 · 13 passagesA Lhasa monastery 'reserved for the Tartars'
Editorial contextIn his tour of Lhasa's temples Desideri notes three more Gelugpa temples and monasteries, one of them in the north-eastern quarter 'reserved for the Tartars', that is for Mongol monks who came to study in Tibet. Elsewhere he says the great monastic universities drew students from Ladakh, Tartary and China. The editor could find no later confirmation that this house was specially for Tartars.
"There are at Lhasa", the narrator continues, "three other idolatrous temples and monasteries of the same sect [the Gelugpa or Yellow-caps]. One is situated in the north-eastern quarter and is reserved for the Tartars. The other two lie towards the east, one near the town-limit, the other just on it, both called by the same name Ramo-cce."
About Mongol monks ('Tartars')
Keep in mind
'Idolatrous' is the missionary's own religious judgement. Wessels identifies the house tentatively with the Muru monastery and notes that later writers do not mention its being for Tartars.
Lhasa, a trading capital with a Chinese garrison
Editorial contextStewart describes Lhasa as populous and flourishing, home to Chinese mandarins, Chinese and Kashmiri merchants and craftsmen, and a daily stream of caravans. Just before this he notes that while Bogle was with the Lama, 'several Mongols and Calmucs arrived from Siberia'. Neither Bogle nor Stewart saw Lhasa: the city is 'represented' to them.
The city of Lahassa, which is the capital, is of no inconsiderable size, and is represented as populous and flourishing. It is the residence of the chief officers of government, and of the Chinese mandarins and their suite. It is also inhabited by Chinese and Cassemirian merchants and artificers, and is the daily resort of numberless traders from all quarters,
About Tibetans, Chinese officials, Kashmiri merchants
Keep in mind
Hearsay about a city no Briton had then visited.