Burundai: 'tear down all your town walls'
Editorial contextThe Tatar general Burundai arrived in Volhynia during a princely wedding and told the princes: if you are at peace with me, raze your towns. Lev dismantled Danilov and Stozhek and then Lviv; Vasilko razed Kremenets and Lutsk. Vladimir-in-Volhynia was too big to pull down quickly, so Vasilko had it burned overnight, and next day Burundai came to see it burned 'with his own eyes' and dined with the prince.
'If you are at peace with me, then tear down all your towns.' Lev tore down Danilov and Stozhek, and from there he sent and tore down Lviv, and Vasilko sent and tore down Kremenets and Lutsk.
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«оже есте мои мирници, розмечѣте же городы своѣ всѣ.» Левъ розмета Даниловъ, и Стожекъ, оттолѣ же пославъ Лвовъ розмета, а Василко пославъ Кремянець розмета и Луческъ.
About Burundai, Tatar general; Princes Vasilko and Lev
Keep in mind
'Razing' here means pulling down fortifications (walls and ramparts), not whole towns.
The census: tens, hundreds, thousands and ten-thousands
Editorial contextThe Horde sent census takers who counted the Suzdal, Riazan and Murom lands and set up officers over tens, hundreds, thousands and ten-thousands, the Mongol decimal system, before returning to the Horde. Clergy were not counted, in line with the Mongol practice of exempting religious men from tax.
That winter the census takers came, and counted all the Suzdal land, and the Riazan and the Murom, and appointed chiefs of ten, of a hundred, of a thousand and of ten thousand, and went off to the Horde; only they did not count abbots, monks, priests, choir clergy, whoever looks to the holy Mother of God and to the bishop.
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Тое же зимы пріѣхаша численици, исчетоша всю землю Суждальскую, и Рязаньскую, и Мюромьскую, и ставиша десятники и сотники и тысящники и темники, и идоша въ ворду, толико не чтоша игуменовъ, черньцовъ, поповъ, крилошанъ, кто зрить на святую Богородицю и на владыку.
About Mongol census officials ('chislenitsy') of the Golden Horde
Continue in this sourceThe Laurentian Chronicle: the Mongol storm over Suzdal Rusc. 852 to 1305 · 14 passagesThe Russians named the Mongols 'Tatars', and Europe copied them
Editorial contextBichurin says the invaders of 1237 to 1240 were Mongols of the 'Tatan' confederation, among whom the Tatar tribe near the Argun was only one conquered clan. In his view the Russians made the first mistake by calling the whole army 'Tatars', Carpini copied it through poor interpreters, and geographers without further inquiry called the whole belt from the Caspian to the Pacific 'Great Tartary'.
And so, in my opinion, the Russians, calling the Tatans 'Tatars' at their first invasion, were the first to err and passed this error on to the western peoples. … and geographers, without further investigation, called the whole belt from the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Sea Great Tartary.
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И такъ, по моему мнѣнію, Россіяне при первомъ нашествіи Татаньцевъ, назвавъ ихъ Татарами, первые погрѣшили и сообщили сію погрѣшность западнымъ народамъ. … а Географы, безъ дальняго изслѣдованія, всю полосу отъ Каспійскаго моря до Восточнаго назвали Великою Татаріею.
About Mongols of the 13th century
Keep in mind
Bichurin's own argument; he is disputing Klaproth, who held that the Mongols were rightly called Tatars. 'Tatan' is his rendering of Chinese Dada.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Fourteen towns in one February
Editorial contextAfter Vladimir the army split up: some went to Rostov, some to Iaroslavl, some along the Volga to Gorodets and Galich, others to Pereiaslavl and as far as Torzhok. The chronicler sums up: hardly a village was left untouched, and fourteen towns fell in the single month of February, not counting 'slobodas' (settlements) and 'pogosts' (parish centres).
and from there they captured all that country and many towns, as far as Torzhok, and there is no place, nor village, and few hamlets, where they did not make war in the Suzdal land; and they took 14 towns, besides slobodas and pogosts, in the one month of February
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и оттолѣ всю ту страну и грады многы все то плѣниша, доже и до Торжку, и нѣсть мѣста, ни вси, ни селъ тацѣхъ рѣдко, идѣже не воеваша на Суждальской земли; и взяша городовъ 14, опрочь свободъ и погостовъ, во одинъ мѣсяць февраль
About Tatars (Mongols under Batu)
Continue in this sourceThe Laurentian Chronicle: the Mongol storm over Suzdal Rusc. 852 to 1305 · 14 passagesThe stone cathedral that became a furnace
Editorial contextWhen the new town fell, the bishop, the grand prince's wife, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, boyars and townspeople shut themselves in the stone Cathedral of the Mother of God, built by the Suzdal princes. The Tatars set it on fire. Then they forced the doors, killed the survivors and stripped the wonder-working icon of its gold, silver and gems. The passage shows a Rus-built stone church and who ruined it.
The Tatars forced open the church doors, and saw some who had perished by fire, and others they put to death with weapons; they plundered the holy Mother of God [cathedral], and stripped the wonderful icon adorned with gold and silver and precious stones
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Татарове же силою отвориша двери церковныя, и видѣша овы огнемъ скончавшася, овы же оружьемъ до конца смерти предаша; святую Богородицю разграбиша, чюдную икону одраша, украшену златомъ и серебромъ и каменьемъ драгымъ
About Tatars (Mongols); Bishop Mitrofan and the princely family of Vladimir
Continue in this sourceThe Laurentian Chronicle: the Mongol storm over Suzdal Rusc. 852 to 1305 · 14 passagesTorzhok's two-week siege and the road to Novgorod
Editorial contextAfter Moscow, Pereyaslavl, Yuryev, Dmitrov, Volok and Tver, the Tatars besieged Torzhok. As at other towns, they fenced it with a palisade and battered it with siege engines for two weeks while Novgorod sent no help. They took it on 5 March and chased the fugitives along the Seliger road 'cutting down people like grass' as far as Ignach Krest, 100 versts from Novgorod. There they turned back, which the chronicler credits to God and St Sophia.
the lawless ones came and surrounded Torzhok, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, and fenced it all round with a palisade, as they took other cities, and the accursed ones battered it there with siege engines for two weeks … Then the accursed godless ones pursued from Torzhok along the Seliger road as far as Ignach Krest, cutting down all the people like grass, to within 100 versts of Novgorod
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придоша безаконьнии и оступиша Торжекъ, на Сборъ чистои недѣли, и отыниша тыномъ всь около, якоже иніи гради имаху, и бишася ту оканнии порокы по двѣ недѣли … Тогда же гоняшася оканьнии безбожници отъ Торжку Серегерьскымъ путемъ оли и до Игнача креста, а все люди сѣкуще акы траву, за 100 верстъ до Новагорода
About Tatars (Batu's army)
Continue in this sourceThe Novgorod First Chronicle: the Tatars arrive1016 to 1447 · 12 passagesThe fall of Vladimir: palisade, siege engines, a burning church
Editorial contextThe chronicle describes the Tatar method at Vladimir. They surrounded the city with a palisade (tyn), set up siege engines (poroki), took the city and set it on fire. The prince's family and the bishop, who had taken monastic vows as the end approached, shut themselves in the gallery of the cathedral. The Tatars broke down the doors, piled up timber and burned the church, suffocating everyone inside.
And the lawless Ishmaelites drew near the city, and surrounded the city in force, and fenced it all round with a palisade … having set up siege engines they took the city and set it on fire … they ran into the church of the Holy Mother of God and shut themselves in the gallery; and the pagans, breaking down the doors, set fire to the church, having piled up timber, and suffocated them all.
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Безаконьнии же Измаильти приближишася къ граду, и оступиша градъ силою, и отыниша тыномъ всь … поставивше порокы взяша градъ и запалиша й огнемь … вбѣгоша въ святую Богородицю и затворишася въ полатѣ; погании же отбивше двьри зажгоша церковь, наволочивше лѣса, и издушиша вся.
About Tatars (Batu's army)
Keep in mind
'Ishmaelites' is a biblical label, not an ethnic name.
Vladimir besieged: scaffolds, catapults and a palisade
Editorial contextAfter parading the captured prince Vladimir Iurevich before the Golden Gate so his brothers on the walls could see him, the Tatars camped around the city. On the Saturday before Lent they built scaffolds and set up 'poroki' (stone-throwing engines), and in one night surrounded the whole city with a timber palisade. The next morning they attacked. It is a precise picture of Mongol siege method.
On Meatfare Saturday they began to prepare scaffolds and set up siege engines until evening, and in the night they fenced the whole city of Vladimir round with a palisade; on Meatfare Sunday after matins they advanced on the city, on the 7th of February, the feast of the holy martyr Theodore Stratelates.
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Въ суботу мясопустную почаша наряжати лѣсы и порокы ставиша до вечера, а на ночь огородиша тыномъ около всего города Володимеря; въ недѣлю мясопустную по заутрени приступиша къ городу, мѣсяца февраля въ 7, на память святаго мученика Ѳеодора Стратилата.
About Tatars (Mongols under Batu)
Keep in mind
The editors note that the date and saint's day do not quite match (the feast is 8 February).
The baskak's warning: heads tied to saddle straps
Editorial contextAfter a quarrel with the local princes, the baskak Akhmat had captured boyars killed, their bodies hung on trees without heads and right hands, and told pilgrims to spread the message that anyone who disputes with his baskak will end the same way. His men then tied the heads to their saddle straps. The Laurentian text starts mid-story because leaves are missing from the manuscript.
'You are guests and pilgrims, you travel through the lands; say this: whoever will hold a dispute with his baskak, so it will be with him.' And whatever common people were seized, with wives and children, he sent all of them away. And he ordered the corpses of those boyars hung up on the trees, cutting off the head and the right hand; and the besermen began to tie the boyars' heads to their saddle straps
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«вы есте гости, а паломници, ходите по землямъ; тако молвите: хто иметь держати споръ съ своимъ баскакомъ, тако ему будеть;» а что изъимано людій черныхъ и съ женами и съ дѣтми, то все попровадилъ прочь. А трупья бояръ тѣхъ повелѣ по деревью извѣшати, отъимая голову и правую руку; и начаша бесурмене вязати головы боярьскыя къ торокомъ
About Akhmat, Muslim baskak (tax agent) of the Kursk land, and his 'besermen'
Keep in mind
The opening of the story is lost in the codex; the chronicler blames Rus sins and princely feuds as much as the baskak.
Tver rises against the khan's cousin
Editorial contextUzbek Khan's nephew Shchelkan came to Tver as envoy. The Moscow chronicle says he meant to kill the Tver princes, rule Tver himself, put Tatar princes into the Rus towns and bring the Christians to the 'Tatar faith' (Islam). Tver rose, and Shchelkan was burned in the prince's palace; the Horde merchants in the town were killed too. Uzbek's revenge helped Moscow's rise.
There came to Tver a very powerful envoy, the tsarevich Shchelkan, from the Horde, from Tsar Uzbek; he was Uzbek's nephew, and he wanted to kill the Tver princes and himself sit as prince in Tver, and to set his own Tatar princes over the Russian towns, and he wanted to bring the Christians into the Tatar faith.
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Пріиде во Тверь посолъ силенъ зѣло царевичь Щелканъ изъ Орды, отъ царя Азбяка; бѣ же сей братаничь царю Азбяку, хотя князей Тверскихъ избити, а самъ сѣсти на княженіи во Твери, а своихъ князей Татарскихъ хотя посажати по Рускимъ градомъ, а христіанъ хотяше привести въ Татарскую вѣру.
About Shchelkan (Chol-khan), son of Diuden and nephew of Uzbek Khan; the people of Tver
Keep in mind
Shchelkan's plans are the chronicler's allegation, written two centuries later from Moscow's side.
Stone figures 'in Tatar shape' on the Don mounds
Editorial contextNear the Cossack settlement of Babskaya on the Don, Gmelin saw two stone statues standing on burial mounds, one of a man and one of a woman 'in Tatar shape', so weathered that little more could be made out than that they were carved from gypsum stone. He was told many more stood between there and Bakhmut, and that in such mounds the dead lay facing east, men with swords and gold and silver rings, though Cossack treasure-hunters had already emptied most of them.
Not far from the Babskaya stanitsa I saw on two kurgans two statues, one of which shows a man and the other a woman in Tatar shape. … In the kurgans on which such memorial columns stand, the bones of the people buried inside are always found laid towards the east
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Ohnweit der Staniza Babskaja sahe ich auf zwei Kurganen zwei Statuen davon die eine einer Manns- und di … eine Weibs-Person in Tatarischer Gestalt vorstellt. … In den Kurganen, auf welchen solche Ehren-Säulen stehen, findet man die Knochen der darinnen begrabenen Menschen allezeit nach Morgen zu gelegt
About Tatars (as Gmelin reads the statues and graves)
Keep in mind
The right edge of the page is cut off in the scan. 'Tatar shape' is Gmelin's impression; such steppe statues were made by several earlier peoples.
Tver kills the Horde's envoy, and a Tatar army lays the land waste
Editorial contextIn 1327 Prince Alexander of Tver killed many Tatars in Tver and other towns, after the mighty envoy Shevkal had come from the Horde with a large Tatar retinue. That winter a huge Tatar army took Tver, Kashin and the Torzhok district and 'laid the whole Russian land waste'. Novgorod escaped by paying the Tatar envoys 2000 in silver and sending gifts to the commanders.
Prince Alexander Mikhailovich killed many Tatars in Tver and in other towns … for a mighty envoy had come from the Horde, named Shevkal, with a multitude of Tatars. … That same winter a Tatar army came, a very great multitude, and took Tver, and Kashin, and the Torzhok district, and, to put it simply, laid the whole Russian land waste
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князь Александръ Михаиловичь изби Татаръ много, во Тфери и по инымъ городомъ … пришелъ бо бяше посолъ силенъ изъ орды, именемь Шевкалъ, съ множествомъ Татаръ. … На ту же зиму приде рать Татарьская, множество много, и взяша Тфѣрь, и Кашинъ, и Новоторжьскую волость, и просто рещи всю землю Русьскую положиша пусту
About Golden Horde envoy Shevkal (Chol Khan) and a punitive Tatar army
Keep in mind
The OCR prints the year as 6855; the event belongs to 6835 (1327).
A Chinese picture of the far north-west: white nights and blue-eyed horsemen
Editorial contextThe Chinese annal describing the Mongol attack on the 'tribes of the state of Kincha' (Kipchak) says the land lay 30,000 li from China, that its summer nights were so short the sun barely set before rising, that it bred fine horses, and that its people were brave, with blue eyes and reddish hair. Bichurin notes on the facing page that this is the Mongol invasion of Russia in 1237.
In summer the nights are extremely short. The sun barely sets and at once rises again. This country produces excellent horses … They are courageous and brave … Their eyes are blue, their hair reddish.
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Лѣтомъ ночи бываютъ чрезвычайно коротки. Солнце едва закатится, и тотчасъ всходитъ. Сія страна производитъ отмѣнныхъ лошадей … Мужественны и храбры … Глаза имѣютъ синіе (голубые), волосы рыжеватые.
About Kipchaks (Polovtsy) and neighbours, as described in Chinese annals
Keep in mind
Second-hand Chinese geography of a land its compilers never saw; parts of the OCR on this page are illegible and were left out.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
The baskak's two settlements empty overnight
Editorial contextAkhmat had founded two 'slobodas' (tax-free trading settlements) in the Kursk land and left two brothers to guard and fortify them. After a Rus prince ambushed their men, the brothers fled to Kursk and on the next day the whole of both settlements scattered. It is a rare glimpse of settlements founded under Horde protection inside Rus, and of how fragile they were.
That same year, after Easter on St Thomas Sunday, those two besermen brothers fled to Kursk, and on the morrow, Monday, all that sloboda ran away, and the other one too; and so both besermen slobodas dispersed.
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Того же лѣта, по Велицѣ дни въ недѣлю Фомину, побѣгоста 2 братеника та бесерменина къ Курьску, а на заутрѣи въ понедѣльникъ побѣже вся свобода та, и другая; и тако розоидошася обѣ свободѣ бесерменьскиѣ.
About Akhmat's 'besermen' (Muslim) settlers; Rus princes of Rylsk and Lipovichsk
Keep in mind
The manuscript spells sloboda as 'svoboda'.