Riazan: through the forest in winter
Editorial contextThe Tatars came 'through the forest' in winter, ravaged the Riazan land as far as Pronsk, burned Riazan and killed its prince. The chronicler describes what they did to captives: some were impaled or stretched, others shot with arrows, others tied with their hands behind their backs. Then the army moved on to Kolomna.
the godless Tatars came from the eastern lands onto the Riazan land, through the forest, and began to make war on the Riazan land, and captured as far as Pronsk; having captured all Riazan they burned it, and killed their prince; of those they seized, some they stretched out, others they shot through with arrows, and others they bound with their hands behind them
Working translation
Original wording
придоша отъ всточныя страны на Рязаньскую землю, лѣсомъ, безбожніи Татари, и почаша воевати Рязаньскую землю, и плѣноваху и до Проньска; поплѣнивше Рязань весь и пожгоша, и князя ихъ убиша, ихже емше овы растинахуть, другыя же стрѣлами растрѣляху въ ня, а ини опакы руцѣ связывахуть
About Tatars (Mongols under Batu)
Continue in this sourceThe Laurentian Chronicle: the Mongol storm over Suzdal Rusc. 852 to 1305 · 14 passagesA sorceress envoy demands a tenth of everything
Editorial contextThe Tatars came to Ryazan land 'without number, like locusts'. From their camp they sent envoys to the Ryazan princes, a woman sorceress and two men, demanding a tenth of everything: of people, of princes and of horses. The editor's footnote on this page adds that another copy lists the horses by colour, ten of each. The princes answered that when none of them were left, all would be theirs.
foreigners called Tatars came upon the Ryazan land, a multitude without number, like locusts … and from there they sent their envoys, a woman sorceress and two men with her, to the Ryazan princes, asking of them a tenth of everything: of people, and of princes, and of horses, a tenth of everything.
Working translation
Original wording
придоша иноплеменьници, глаголеми Татарове, на землю Рязаньскую, множьство безъ числа, акы прузи … и оттолѣ послаша послы своя, жену чародѣицю и два мужа съ нею, къ княземъ Рязаньскымъ, просяче у нихъ десятины во всемъ, и въ людьхъ, и въ князьхъ, и въ конихъ, во всякомъ десятое.
About Tatars (Batu's army)
Continue in this sourceThe Novgorod First Chronicle: the Tatars arrive1016 to 1447 · 12 passagesBatu's demand: a tenth of everything
Editorial contextCamped on the river Onuza, Batu sent envoys to the Riazan princes asking for a tenth of everything: princes, people, armour and horses. The princes answered: 'when we are gone, all will be yours.' One manuscript printed alongside says the envoys were 'a sorceress woman and two men with her', a detail that may echo Mongol shamanesses or may be later colour.
And from there they sent their envoys, a sorceress woman and two men with her, to the Riazan princes, asking of them a tenth of everything: of princes, and of people, and of armour, and of horses.
Working translation
Original wording
И оттолѣ послаша послы своя жену чародѣйцу и два мужа съ нею ко княземъ Рязаньскимъ, просяще у нихъ десятины во всемъ: въ князехъ, и въ людехъ, и въ доспѣсехъ, и въ конехъ.
About Batu's envoys; the princes of Riazan, Murom and Pronsk
Keep in mind
The 'sorceress' appears only in the parallel copy; the main Nikon text simply says 'envoys'. The tithe demand matches the Novgorod First Chronicle.
Kasimov: a Tatar prince's town on the Oka
Editorial contextWhen 'wind-swift' Tatars of Sayyid Ahmad's horde raided Muscovy, Sultan Kasim drove them off, and in gratitude the grand prince granted him a yurt (here, a domain) on the Oka in the Murom district, and 'there he built a town'. Hammer adds that the district town that still bears his name, on a height at the mouth of the Babinka, ringed by an earthen rampart, was in his day home to about five hundred Tatars with their own quarter and mosque. A rare case of a Tatar town founded inside Russia with Russian consent.
Out of gratitude the grand prince granted Kasim a yurt on the Oka, in the district of Murom. There he built a town … His name is still borne today by the district town at the mouth of the Babinka into the Oka, which, lying on a height and surrounded by an earthen rampart, and still inhabited today by half a thousand Tatars, preserves the memory of its origin through its Tatar quarter and mosque.
Working translation
Original wording
Aus Dankbarkeit dafür räumte der Grossfürst dem Kasim einen Jurt an der Okka, im Gebiethe von Murom, ein. Dort baute er eine Stadt … Seinen Nahmen erhält noch heute die am Einflusse der Babinka in die Okka gelegene Kreisstadt, welche, auf einer Anhöhe gelegen, mit einem Erdwall umgeben, noch heute von einem halben Tausend Tataren bewohnt, durch tatarische Slobode und Moschee das Andenken ihres Ursprunges bewahrt.
About Sultan Kasim, a Tatar prince in Muscovite service, and his Tatars
Keep in mind
The same sentence oddly says Kasim named the town after 'the Khan of the Crimea'; the modern details come from a handbook, not Hammer's own visit.