Sarai, an Islamic city built by Khan Berke
Editorial contextIbn Arabshah names Sarai as the throne city of the Dasht and calls it 'a city of Islamic building, of marvellous structure'. Khan Berke, he says, built it when he became a Muslim and made it his royal seat. Just before this he laments that today, from Khwarazm to Crimea, nothing stirs of those peoples, and only gazelles and camels are left.
The throne of the Dasht is Sarai, a city of Islamic building and marvellous structure … Sultan Berke, may God have mercy on him, built it when he became a Muslim, and took it as the seat of kingship and chose it.
Working translation
Original wording
وتحت الدشت سراي وهي مدينة اسلامية البنيان بديعة الاركان … وكان السلطان بركه رحمه الله لما اسلم بناها واتخذها دار الملك واصطفاها
About Golden Horde (Khan Berke)
Keep in mind
Modern scholars credit Batu with founding the first Sarai; Ibn Arabshah gives it to his brother Berke, the first Muslim khan. The first word is printed tht, read as takht, 'throne, capital'.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
Walls of ice at Astrakhan, and Timur's razing of Sarai
Editorial contextAfter defeating Tokhtamysh, Timur resolved to level Astrakhan. Its people used the hard winter to build walls of ice blocks cemented by pouring water over them, but Timur marched through the deep snow, emptied the town, razed it and had its headman (kelanter) Mahmudi drowned under the ice that was meant to protect him. He then went on to Sarai, capital and residence of the khans, and laid it waste, as revenge for the Horde's earlier destruction of a city of the Chagatai realm. The loot of both cities was divided among the army.
In spite of the severe winter, which still gave the inhabitants of Astrakhan the advantage of fortifying themselves with walls of ice, joined together by pouring water over them, and in spite of the deep snow, he marched on Astrakhan, emptied the town of its inhabitants and had it razed … From Astrakhan Timur moved to Sarai, the capital of Kipchak and residence of the khans, and laid it waste
Working translation
Original wording
Trotz des strengen Winters, welcher den Bewohnern von Astrachan noch den Vortheil gewährte, sich mit Eismauern, welche, mit Wasser übergossen, zusammengefügt wurden, zu befestigen, und trotz des tiefen Schnees marschierte er auf Astrachan, leerte die Stadt von ihren Bewohnern, liess sie schleifen … Von Astrachan zog Timur nach Serai, der Hauptstadt von Kiptschak und der Residenz der Chane, und verheerte dieselbe
About Timur's army; townspeople of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Told from the victor's side: Hammer follows Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi's Zafarnama, written in the 1420s for Timur's grandson, through Pétis de la Croix's French version.
Mortar harder than the bricks
Editorial contextAt Tsarevy Pody ('the royal residence') on the Akhtuba, Pallas examined a flat vaulted tomb mound inside a sandstone wall. The vaults were of six layers of square bricks joined with a grey cement so hard that the bricks broke before the mortar did. He analysed it as lime, powdered charcoal and ground sandstone, and wondered whether sour milk, plentiful among a pastoral people, had been mixed in.
It has, however, acquired such a solid consistence, that it is easier to break the well-burnt bricks, than to separate the mortar. This grey cement appears to be a mixture of unslacked lime, pulverized charcoal, and pounded sandstone, instead of the sand used for building.
About Mongol Tartar princes of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
The sour-milk idea on the next page is his own guess.
Glazed tiles and bricks carted off to Astrakhan
Editorial contextPallas says he had never seen such splendour in any Tatar ruin: brick walls laid with great regularity, the joints inlaid with green, yellow, white and blue glazed ornaments, and a facade with mosaic tiles. He blames time and plunder for the damage, adding that whole boatloads of bricks had been shipped to Astrakhan, and that to get a thousand whole bricks the workers smashed two thousand because the mortar was so hard.
The outer face of the walls is not only inlaid, panel by panel in all the joints, with glazed clay ornaments of green, yellow, white and blue colour in triangular and other figures… But time, and still more the greed of the rabble, long ago turned these memorable remains of antiquity into heaps of stones.
Working translation
Original wording
Die äussere Seite der Mauern ist von aussen nicht nur Felderweise in allen Steinfugen mit glasurten Thonzierrathen von grüner, gelber, weisser und blauer Farbe in dreyeckigten und andern Figuren eingelegt… Aber die Zeit und noch mehr der Geitz des Pöbels hat diese denkwürdigen Ueberbleibsel des Alterthums vorlängst in Steinhaufen verwandelt.
About Tatars (Golden Horde builders)
Continue in this sourcePallas's journey through the provinces of the Russian Empire1768 to 1774 · 20 passages'The Golden Horde': stone Tatar mosques on the Akhtuba
Editorial contextIn one line the book marks the ruins of the Golden Horde's capital: 90 versts along the Akhtuba from Tsaritsyn lies 'the Golden Horde, stone Tatar mosques'. By 1600 the city was a field of ruins, and Muscovite clerks named both the builders (the Horde) and the material (stone).
And along the river Akhtuba, 90 versts from Tsaritsyn, is the Golden Horde, stone Tatar mosques.
Working translation
Original wording
А по рѣкѣ по Ахтубѣ на 90 верстахъ отъ Царицына, Золотая орда, мечети Татарскія каменныя.
About The Golden Horde (its ruined capital)
Keep in mind
The book gives no date or builder name beyond 'Golden Horde'; the identification with Sarai (Tsarev settlement) is by later scholars.
Sarai, Astrakhan, Bolgar and Kaffa: the cities of Great Tartary
Editorial contextSchiltberger lists the towns he visited 'that belong to Great Tartary': Urgench, Haitzicherchen (Hajji Tarkhan, old Astrakhan), Sarai 'the residence of the kings of the Tartars', Bolgar, Ibissibur, Tana on the Don, Solkhat in Crimea, and Kaffa with its double walls and its Italian, Greek, Armenian and Jewish quarters. So the Horde of his day had real cities as well as camps.
Item, a city called Haitzicherchen, which is a large city, and in a good country. Another city called Sarei ; there, is the residence of the kings of the Tartars. There is also a city called Bolar, in which are different kinds of beasts.
About Golden Horde Tartars and their subject towns
Keep in mind
He says he was in these places but gives almost no description of Sarai itself; editor Bruun's notes (p.173) add that its ruins lie on the Akhtuba.
Sarai, the lost capital of the Golden Horde
Editorial contextIn Saratov a local official showed Haxthausen coins and ornaments dug from the 'supposed ruins' of Sarai. He then retells its history: Batu founded the city, the khans built magnificent palaces, and Russian grand dukes came to kneel there. On the next page he marvels that nobody could yet say for certain where this great capital had stood.
Batu Khan, the Grand Khan of the Golden Horde, who ruled over the half of two hemispheres, founded in the thirteenth century a powerful city, Sarai, and fixed his residence there. He and his successors built palaces of fabulous magnificence. Princes, among others the Grand Dukes of Russia, were obliged to come and bend the knee before their lord and swear fealty to him
About Khans of the Golden Horde (Mongols and Tatars)
Keep in mind
The history is Haxthausen's summary of received accounts, not something he saw; 'palaces of fabulous magnificence' is his phrase, not a description of surviving remains.
Ibn Battuta at Özbeg Khan's court: unveiled, honoured wives
Editorial contextHammer retells Ibn Battuta's visit. Every Friday Özbeg sat under a golden vault called the golden alcove, on a silver-plated, jewelled throne, with his sons on either side and his daughter before him. Whenever one of his wives came in he rose, took her by the hand and led her to her seat; all were unveiled. Each wife had her own house and household, and Ibn Battuta marvelled at the freedom and standing of women among the Tatars, so unlike Arab and Persian harem seclusion.
Whenever one of his wives came in, he stood up, took her by the hand and led her to her place; they were all unveiled. … Özbeg's wives were highly honoured. Each had her own house and her own household; in general Ibn Battuta wonders at the freedom and esteem which women enjoyed among the Tatars (quite unlike the compulsion of the Arab and Persian harem).
Working translation
Original wording
So oft eine seiner Gemahlinnen hereinkam, stand er auf, nahm sie bey der Hand, und führte sie auf ihren Platz; sie waren alle unverschleyert. … Die Frauen Usbeg's waren hochgeehrt. Jede hatte besonderes Haus und besonderen Hofstaat; überhaupt verwundert sich Ibn Batuta über die Freyheit und das Ansehen, welches die Frauen (ganz im Gegensatze arabischen und persischen Haremszwanges) bey den Tataren genossen.
About Golden Horde court of Özbeg (Uzbek) Khan
Keep in mind
Hammer paraphrases; Ibn Battuta's own words are in his Rihla.
Ruins of an imperial city, its stones carried off to build Astrakhan
Editorial contextNear Tsaritsyn Struys passed the ruins of Czaresgorod, the 'Imperial City', which he says Tamerlane destroyed. It had been built of hard stone, some remains of which could still be seen, but most of it had been carried off to Astrakhan to build that city. This matches the known reuse of brick and stone from the ruined Golden Horde capital, though Struys does not say who built it.
we passed near the ruins of Czaresgorod, or Imperial City, which was destroyed by Tamerlane during the war we spoke of above. It was built of hard stones, of which some remains are still seen, but most were carried to Astrakhan and served to build it.
Working translation
Original wording
nous passâmes prés des ruines de Czaresgorod ou Ville Impériale, qui fut détruite par Tamerlan pendant la guerre dont nous avons ci-dessus parlé. Elle étoit bâtie de pierres dures dont on voit encore quelques restes, mais la plupart furent portées à Astracan, & servirent à la construire.
About Golden Horde (not named as such)
Keep in mind
Struys saw ruins from the river; the Tamerlane story and the stone reuse he had from others.
Timur tears down Sarai, Saraichuk and Astrakhan
Editorial contextAfter defeating Toqtamish, Timur's raiders reached Azaq (Azov), and he destroyed Sarai, Saraichuk and Hajji Tarkhan (Astrakhan) and the surrounding lands. The line is short, but it records in plain words that the Golden Horde's cities were destroyed by Timur, not lost to any natural catastrophe.
… of wealth, captives and goods; his raiding parties reached Azaq, and he demolished Sarai, Saraichuk and Hajji Tarkhan and those regions.
Working translation
Original wording
من الاموال والاسرى والمتاع ووصلت طراشته الى ازاق وهدم سراي وسرايجوق وحاجي ترخان وتلك الآفاق
About Golden Horde (Toqtamish's realm)
Keep in mind
Ibn Arabshah was a child in Damascus in 1395; he learned this from others, later.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
Batu's 'Mongol' army had very few Mongols
Editorial contextIn footnotes to his account of Batu's conquest of Russia and sack of Kiev in 1240, Klaproth points out that Batu's army contained very few Mongols and that he ruled as prince of the Kipchak Tartars. The khans of Kipchak called themselves Tartar sultans and lived at Sarai on the Akhtuba; after their empire split, the khans of Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimea kept the title.
Batu-chan had very few Mongols in his army, and had become prince of the Kipdschak Tartars… The chans of Kipdschak styled themselves Tartar sultans, and resided in the city of Sarai or Saratschik on the river Achtuba; an arm of the Wolga, till the division of their extensive dominions.
About Kipchak Tatars; Golden Horde
Continue in this sourceJulius Klaproth's travels in the Caucasus and Georgia1807 to 1808 · 14 passagesSarai: sixty-three years from building to ruin
Editorial contextIbn Arabshah says Sarai drew so many scholars, men of letters and wits in a short time that no other city could match it, not even the great mosque of Cairo and its villages. He puts the whole life of the city, from its building to its ruin, at sixty-three years, and calls it one of the greatest and most populous of cities.
So Sarai, through these masters, became a gathering place of learning and a mine of good fortune … Between the building of Sarai and its ruin there were sixty-three years; and it was one of the greatest of cities in layout and the most crowded with people.
Working translation
Original wording
فصارت سراي بواسطة هؤلاء السادات مجمع العلم ومعدن السعادات … وبين بنيان سراي وخرابها من الامكنه ثلاث وستون سنه وكانت من اعظم المدن وضعا واكثرها للخلق جمعا
About Golden Horde
Keep in mind
The sixty-three-year span is Ibn Arabshah's own reckoning; the city's history was longer and more complex.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
A royal valley of tombs, not houses
Editorial contextLocal tradition said the khan's palace had stood at Tsarevy Pody. Pallas disagreed: the mounds and brick vaults were, in his view, tombs of Mongol Tartar princes, mosques and walled cemeteries. A wandering people like the Golden Horde, he argues, would no more live in houses than the Kalmyk khans who refused the houses built for them at Yenotaevsk. (Most historians now identify Tsarev with New Sarai, a real city of the Horde, so here the naturalist's judgement went too far.)
In my opinion, the ruins are not the remains of dwelling-houses, but partly of mosques, and partly of vaulted chapels, … A wandering nation, such as were called the golden horde of these countries, could no more be induced to reside in houses, than the Khans and Princes of the Kalmuks along the banks of the Volga;
About the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
This is Pallas's interpretation; later excavation showed the Golden Horde capitals had real houses, workshops and streets.
The ruins of a great Tatar city on the Akhtuba
Editorial contextOn the way home the missionaries stopped at the 'saltpetre town', a Russian cordon post among ruins that stretched far along the Akhtuba, a navigable arm of the Volga. Zwick could see the city had once been large and splendid but could not learn its old name. Just before, he says these Tartars were subdued by Russia 'in 1562' and their lands laid waste from Kazan to Astrakhan (Kazan actually fell in 1552 and Astrakhan in 1556).
At noon we arrived at Selitrenoi Gorodok, (which the Tartars call Tschigit) where we stayed till noon the following day. This ancient Tartarian city must, as it is evident from the remains, have been remarkable for its size and splendour; its ancient name I have not been able to learn. … The ruins of the city extend far and wide along the shore of the river.
About Golden Horde Tatars
Keep in mind
Modern archaeologists identify the Selitrennoye ruins as Sarai (often called Sarai-Batu), a capital of the Golden Horde; Zwick did not know this.
Horsemeat, mare's milk and 'no lies' among the Sarai Tatars
Editorial contextOn the Tatars around old Sarai, Evliya writes that they love horseflesh above all, some boiling it and some eating it raw with the blood running, and drink boza, kumiss (mare's milk) and camel's milk. He claims they know no backbiting, slander or lies, since they fear no one. All these Tatars are desert-dwellers who move with their camel-carts, and they became Muslims (Hanafi and Shafi'i) after Chinggis Khan.
What all of them love most is horse meat: many tribes cook horse meat, and many tribes eat the meat raw with the blood running. Instead of water they drink boza, mare's-milk kumiss and camel's milk … and all the Tatars are desert-dwellers; they mount their camel-carts and migrate.
Working translation
Original wording
همان جملهسی زیاده محبت اتدکلری آت اتیدر ونیجه قبیلهسی آت اتن بشررلر ونیجه قبیلهسی قانی آقیده آقیده اتی چیك یرلر صو یرینه بوزا وآت سودی قمزی ودوه سودی ایچرلر ... وجمله تاتار صحرا نشینلردر دوه عربهلریله بنوب کوچرلر
About Nogay and other Tatars of the Volga (the 'Sarai Tatars')
Keep in mind
Mixes observation with stock claims; Evliya's Volga journey is thought partly invented or exaggerated.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR is partly garbled); bracketed variant markers omitted.
The Lord's Prayer in the language of the Horde
Editorial contextThe German Franciscan part of the Codex contains Christian texts turned into Cuman for preaching. This is the start of the Lord's Prayer: 'Our father who art in heaven, blessed be thy kingdom, thy will be done as in heaven so on earth, give us this day our daily bread'. Elsewhere in the Codex the word for God is 'Tengri', the old Turkic name of the sky god, as Kuun's word index shows.
Our father who art in heaven. Blessed be thy kingdom (khanate). Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth. Give us today our daily bread.
Working translation
Original wording
Atamis kim köctä sen. Algiszle bulsun senig hanlechin. bulsû senig tilemegin nezikkim kocta alley ierda. kundegi ötmackimisni bisga bugun bergil.
About Cumans (Qipchaqs)
Keep in mind
A missionary translation, so it shows the language, not the beliefs of the people who spoke it. 'Kingdom' is rendered with the Turkic word for a khan's realm.
Checked against the page image.
Ruins of a great 'Nogai city' on the Akhtuba
Editorial contextNear the old saltpetre works of Selitrennoi Gorodok on the Akhtuba, Pallas found a stretch of ten versts covered with brick rubble, building traces and walled graves of what he calls a large Nogai town. On the highest mound stood the ruins of a walled palace or castle and of a khan's mausoleum, from whose vaults treasure hunters were said to have dug riches and coffins covered in silver. Modern archaeology identifies this site with Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde.
in which, along the Akhtuba, for a width of one or even two versts, one sees nothing but brick rubble and traces of buildings or of walled graves of a considerable Nogai town that once stood here.
Working translation
Original wording
in welcher man längst der Achtuba, ein auch wohl zwey Werste breit, nichts als Ziegelschutt und Spuren von Gebäuden oder ausgemauerten Gräbern einer hier sonst gestandnen ansehnlichen Nagaischen Stadt sieht.
About Tatars (Pallas says Nogais); the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Pallas calls the town Nogai; the silver coffins are hearsay about earlier treasure digging.
A Tatar history: 'The habitations of the Chans were stone buildings'
Editorial contextAt Mozdok Klaproth bought a history of the Tartars in the Nogai dialect and translates its list of where the khans lived: Sarai, the Akhtuba, Madzhar, and vice-khans at Astrakhan and Kazan. He notes that the word he renders 'stone buildings' is 'Madshar' itself. The Nogais near the ruins also told him it had been the residence of Khan Mamai.
The habitations of the Chans were stone buildings. The residence of one Chan was Urisch, and the residence of another Chan was Churssan… Dshan Beg Chan's residence was at Ack Adil, with the name of Ssaray Aldy… Jaick Chan's was Madshar. There were three vice-chans; at Adshdruchan was the place of abode of Timur Ckutlu-Chan, Borki Chan's habitation was at Ckathatdr, and Sheich Aly Chan's residence at Ckasan.
About Golden Horde khans
Keep in mind
A late native chronicle of unknown date and author; place names are Klaproth's transcriptions.
The ruined city at Selitrennoye
Editorial contextOn the Akhtuba, a branch of the lower Volga, Pallas found an abandoned saltpetre works standing among the ruins of a great city: rubbish heaps, traces of buildings and brick tombs spread over a strip one to two versts wide and more than ten versts long. He calls it 'an extensive city of the Nagays'. Historians today usually identify the site as Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde founded in the thirteenth century.
…here, along the banks of the Akhtouba, on a place from one to two versts broad, we discovered in every direction heaps of rubbish, traces of buildings, and tombs of brickwork, being the ruins of an extensive city of the Nagays. There had been a small fort erected on a hill, which unquestionably contained the principal and most elegant buildings of the place,
About 'Nagays' in Pallas's words; the site is Sarai, capital of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Pallas credits the city to 'Nagays'; the identification with Sarai is modern, not his.
Tsarev: the ruined seat of the 'King of Great Tartary'
Editorial contextSome forty versts below the silk plantation near Tsaritsyn, on the edge of the steppe by the Akhtuba, Gmelin found the ruins of 'an ancient city' that had been the seat of Achmet, 'King of Great Tartary'. He describes many dug-over mounds built not of earth but of bricks covered with earth, traces of courtyards and walls, a 'house of a certain queen', and a high hill everyone took for the royal palace, all stretching 38 versts along the steppe. He adds that history says the place was taken under Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievich and razed a few years later by the Nogais, and that local people still carry off its bricks to build their houses and sometimes find small gold or silver coins, rings and earrings.
there are the remains of a very ancient city, which was the seat of Achmet, King of Great Tartary, and which bear witness to how changeable human fortunes are … The Russians call these remains Tsarevy [pody], or Royal Meadows.
Working translation
Original wording
befinden sich die Ueberbleibsel einer uralten Stadt, welche der Sitz des Königes der großen Tatarey Achmets war, und die ein Zeugniß … wie wandelbar die Umstände der Menschen seyen … Die Russen nennen diese Ueberbleibsel Zarewei oder Königliche Wiesen.
About Golden Horde Tatars (the 'Great Tartary' of Khan Achmet)
Keep in mind
The right edge of these pages is cut off in the scan. The historical dating is Gmelin's reading of Russian history, not something he found on site.
Glazed brick and blue mosaic at Sarai
Editorial contextFrom the same ruins Zwick describes walls of glazed, pointed brick decorated with coloured mosaic on a deep blue ground, which he compares to the building styles of the Turks and Saracens from the Near East to Egypt and Spain. He says the same was true at 'Seray' further up the river. On the next page he describes a six-foot panel of this work, with a white inscription 'in the Tartarian language', reused in the wall of a peasant's cottage.
We perceived, from the ruins of this city, that here as well as at Seray, … walls were built of glazed brick and pointed, and mosaic work of various colours was employed in decoration here, as throughout the ancient Turkish, Tartar, and Saracen tribes, in the East, in Egypt, and Spain. The ground is usually deep blue, with other colours let in.
About Golden Horde Tatars
Keep in mind
The omitted words call Seray the capital of an empire whose name is garbled in the OCR.
The Sugar Lake and the khan's clever wife
Editorial contextBeside the ruined 'queen's house' at Tsarev lies a lake the Tatars call the Sugar Lake, and Gmelin retells their story. A khan (his name is cut off in the scan) was persuaded to put aside his beautiful low-born wife; she outwitted him by carrying him, drunk after a feast, into her own chamber, so he sent her to live in a house by this lake. Knowing he loved falconry, she threw sugar into the lake every day to draw swans and geese, so the khan came daily to hunt and rest with her until death. Gmelin notes drily that the lake really is sweeter than other waters, which may be how the tale began.
so every day she threw a great quantity of sugar into the lake by the house, and so drew a great number of swans and geese, … so that he appeared daily at the lake and rested with the queen after the hunt … It is indeed true that this lake has sweeter water than other rivers
Working translation
Original wording
so warf dieselbe alle Tage eine große Menge Zucker in den angeführten bey dem Haus befindlichen See, und lockte dadurch eine große Anzahl von Schwanen und Gänsen herbey, … daß er bey dem See täglich erschien, nach geendigter Jagd bey der Königin ausruhte … Es ist würklich an dem, daß ermeldeter See ein süßeres Waßer bey sich führet, als andere Flüße
About Tatars (a tale about a khan of 'Great Tartary')
Keep in mind
A local Tatar legend, told as such.
Russian towers built from Tatar rubble
Editorial contextThe few towers still standing among the ruins were not Tatar work at all, Zwick decided, but early Russian forts. His reasons are practical: the towers are held together with clay, while the Tatar buildings used a hard mortar, and they were patched together from broken pieces of fine older buildings, with glazed tiles stuck in any which way.
In the first place, they are built with clay cement, whereas the Tartars used a durable mortar; in the next place, they are evidently piled up from the ruins of handsome buildings, as may be seen by the glazed tiles which are stuck on at random, without any respect to the glazed side.
About Golden Horde Tatars; early Russian settlers
Keep in mind
The judgement that the towers are Russian is Zwick's own reading of the masonry.
A pillar built of horse skulls
Editorial contextOn a conical hill above the Akhtuba, Kalmyks stationed at the military posts had built a circular column entirely of horse skulls and jawbones, with a low wall and ditch decorated with more bones and a huge horse head on top pointing east. The bones came from an epidemic that had killed the post's horses and those of the wintering Kirghiz.
…the Kalmuks who were stationed here at the military posts have erected a singular monument. It is a circular column, raised on the very summit of the hill, and constructed entirely of the skulls and jaw-bones of horses, closely adapted to one another:
About Kalmyks of the Russian frontier posts
Continue in this sourcePallas's travels through southern Russia and the Crimea1793 to 1794 · 20 passagesSarai, the khan's great capital
Editorial contextReturning from Constantinople, Ibn Battuta found the khan had moved to his capital, El Sarai, which he calls very handsome and very large. He met its leading scholar, a Khwarezmian imam whom the khan visited every Friday. The abridged text gives little more about the city itself.
This city of El Sarai is very handsome and exceedingly large. Of its learned men is the Imam, the learned Nooman Oddin, El Khavarezmi. I met him in this place.
About Golden Horde (Uzbek Khan)
Keep in mind
The full Rihla describes Sarai's quarters and peoples at much greater length; this abridgement cuts it down.
A friar goes to Sarai to learn the language
Editorial contextKuun cites the Franciscan Pascal of Vitoria, who in 1337 went to the 'ancient city of Sarai on the bank of the Volga' to learn Turkish among the Cumans and studied it there for a whole year. Sarai was the capital of the Golden Horde, and the story shows missionaries living in the Horde's own city.
Friar Pascal of Vitoria in 1337, as he himself says, hurried to the Cumans in the ancient city of Sarai on the bank of the Volga in order to learn the Turkish language, and there worked as hard as he could at the study of the language for one whole year.
Working translation
Original wording
Fra Pascal de Victoria anno 1337 in antiquam urbem Serai ad ripam Volgae, uti ipse ait, linguae turcicae ediscendae causa ad Cumanos contendit et illic per unum annum integrum studiis linguae quam maxime operam navabat.
About Cumans in the Golden Horde capital
Keep in mind
Kuun paraphrases Pascal's letter; Pascal was killed in Central Asia in 1340.
Checked against the page image.
The runaway slave who hid in Sarai for ten years
Editorial contextTo show how vast Sarai was, Ibn Arabshah tells a story: a slave ran away from one of the city's notables, opened a shop in an out-of-the-way street and made his living there for about ten years, and in all that time his master never came across him or saw him.
It is told that a slave of one of its notables ran away to a spot off the main road, opened a shop there, traded in it and earned his living; this went on for about ten years, and his master never came upon him there, nor met him, nor saw him, because of the city's size and the multitude of its peoples.
Working translation
Original wording
حكي ان رجلا من اعيانها هرب له رقيق في مكان منحي عن الطريق وفتح له حانوتا يتسبب فيه ويحصل له قوتا واستمر ذلك الحين نحوا من عشر سنين لم يصادفه فيه مولاه ولا اجتمع به ولا رآه وذلك لعظمها وكثرة اممها
About Townspeople of Sarai (Golden Horde)
Keep in mind
A 'they say' anecdote, told to make a point about size, not a checked fact.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
Coins struck at Sarai, capital of the Golden Horde
Editorial contextKlaproth reads the coins found at Madzhar: nearly all were minted at Sarai or New Sarai, the Golden Horde capitals, under khans from Mengu-Timur to Tokhtamysh and Pulad (1270s to 1408), some with names in Mongol script. One is struck at Astrakhan. The latest coin helps date the town's end to about 1400.
The great Ssulthan Ghajats Eddunia (the prop of the world) Toktégu-chan, the Just… Coined at Ssarai, the capital, in the year 715; that is, A.D. 1315.
About Golden Horde (Genghisid khans)
Keep in mind
The Arabic legends are garbled in the OCR; the translations are Klaproth's.
One great khan in Cathay and three Tartar kings
Editorial contextHayton closes his history with the Tartar world as it stood when he wrote: a great emperor, Temur Khan, sixth of the line, ruling from the city of Jong in Cathay, and three other Tartar kings, Chapar in Turkestan, Toqta in Comania and Kharbanda (Oljeitu) in Tabriz, who all owe him reverence and take their quarrels to his court. It is a clear picture of 'Tartary' as a family of Mongol states, not a single city or civilisation.
The great emperor of the Tartars, the one who now holds the lordship, is named Temur Khan, and he is the sixth emperor. He holds the seat of his empire in the kingdom of Cathay, in a very great city called Jong … There are also three other kings of the Tartars, who have very great power, and all pay reverence and obedience to the great emperor.
Working translation
Original wording
Le grant empereor des Tartars, celui qui ores tient la seignorie, est només Tamor Can, e est le VI empereor. Au roiaume de Cathaï tient le siege de son empire, en une molt grant cité que est nomée Jong … Encores i a autres trois rois des Tartars, qui ont molt grant puissance, e tous portent reverence e obedience au grant empereor.
About The Chinggisid khanates
Continue in this sourceHayton's Flower of the Histories of the East1260 to 1305 · 13 passagesThe Volga, 'the river on which the city of Sarai stands'
Editorial contextIn his list of rivers al-Umari describes the Athil (Volga) as the river on which the city of al-Sarai is set, flowing through 'the deserts of the Qipchaq' into the Caspian. Sarai was then the capital of the Golden Horde, with which the Mamluks were allied.
Among them is the river Athil. It is the river on which the city of al-Sarai is set. Its source is a spring welling up at the foot of Mount Qaquna; then it turns south, heading west through the deserts of the Qipchaq, north of the silver mines, until it flows into the Sea of Tabaristan [the Caspian].
Working translation
Original wording
ومن ذلك نهر أثيل . وهو المركب عليه مدينة السراى . ومخرجه من عين تنبع فى ذيل جبل قاقونا ، ثم يقتبل الجنوب آخذا بغرب فى صحارى القبجاق على شمالى معادن الفضة ، حتى يصب فى بحر طبرستان
About Golden Horde (Qipchaq steppe)
Keep in mind
Geographical summary; the source and course are partly traditional.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR is partly garbled); vowel marks omitted.
Sarra, capital of Comania, 'almost all laid waste'
Editorial contextIn his geography of Comania (the Kipchak steppe, the Golden Horde's land) Hayton names its chief city Sarra, 'once a very good city', which the Tartars have almost entirely ruined. The editor identifies Sarra with Sarai on the Volga, and later in the book Hayton says the Tartar king Toqta holds his seat in a city called 'Sera'.
The chief city of the kingdom of Comania is called Sarra, which was once a very good city, but the Tartars have laid it almost entirely waste.
Working translation
Original wording
La maistre cité du roiaume de Comaine est apellée Sarra, laquele fu ancienement molt bone cité, mès les Tartars l'ont presque toute gastée.
About Tartars (Golden Horde)
Keep in mind
Sarai is usually credited to the Golden Horde itself (founded under Batu in the 1240s to 1250s), so Hayton's 'once good, now wasted' is puzzling; he may mean another Kipchak town or be confused.
Coins of the Khans dug from the ruins
Editorial contextZwick picked up antiquities at the site: an inscribed alabaster, a copper amulet, a seal, inscribed gems including one bearing the Muslim creed 'There is no God but God', and silver and copper coins of the Khans dated from 710 to 766 of the Hijra, which he converts as 1310 to 1364 AD, from 'Tochtocho-Chan' (Tokhta Khan) to 'Asis Chan' (Aziz Khan). The finds tie the city to the Muslim Golden Horde of the fourteenth century.
I here procured several antiques; amongst others, an alabaster with an inscription, a copper amulet with magical characters, a seal with a name upon it ; a number of ring-jewels, and jewels with inscriptions, … also a quantity of silver and copper coins of the old Chans, from 1310 A.D. (or 710 of the Hegira) to 1364 (or 766.)
About Golden Horde Tatars
Keep in mind
The OCR reads the last date as '1864'; 766 of the Hijra is 1364 to 1365.
Sarai, once the Horde's capital, now a heap of stones
Editorial contextA footnote to Nikitin's route explains that Sarai, on the Akhtuba branch of the Volga, had been the capital of the Golden Horde, where Russian grand dukes went for two centuries to pay tribute. By the nineteenth century it was reduced to ruins. The note is a useful reminder that the Horde did have a real capital city, and that it was well known to Russian historians.
Sarai, now a heap of stones and the abode of loathsome reptiles, still observable on the borders of the Akhtouba, an arm of the Volga, forty-six miles from the sea, was at that time the capital of the great or Golden Orda, the famous residence of the great conqueror Baty, the place where, during two centuries, the Grand-Dukes of Russia had to pay their allegiance and their tribute
About Golden Horde (Tartars of Batu)
Keep in mind
Nineteenth-century editorial comment, not Nikitin. The neighbouring note on Kazan reads '1052' in this OCR, evidently for 1552.
Sarai in 1666: nine thousand reed-roofed houses under Moscow
Editorial contextEvliya says the Sarai of his day was a city full of all kinds of Tatars, now in Muscovite hands. Half the subjects and soldiers were Muslim Kazan Tatars ('Hashdek') and half Muscovite Christians. The town had about nine thousand wretched houses of planks, rushes and reeds and seven monasteries. He names Nogay, Yaman, Teb and Yishdak Tatars living there as subjects of Moscow since its conquest.
(On the buildings of the city of Sarai.) In all there are nine thousand wretched houses covered with planks, rushes and reeds, and there are seven great monasteries in all … Today this city of Sarai is a city filled with every kind of Tatar people.
Working translation
Original wording
( دربیان عمارت شهر سرای ) جمله طقوز بیك تخته وساز وقامش ایله مستور خانهٔ منحوسلردر جمله یدی عدد دیر معظملر واردر ... حالا بو سرای شهری قوم تاتارك اجناسیله مملو بر شهردر
About Tatars of Sarai under Muscovite rule
Keep in mind
Evliya's Volga itinerary is doubted by modern scholars; which town he calls Sarai is unclear, since the Golden Horde capital had long been in ruins.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR is partly garbled); bracketed variant markers omitted.
A saint's mound that heals the sick
Editorial contextHalf a verst from the ruins stood a large, dug-out burial mound where the local Tatars went on pilgrimage, saying a Muslim saint lay buried there. They told Pallas the saint still worked miracles, healed the sick and appeared to them in dreams. Pallas reports this as their belief and dismisses it as the fruit of imagination.
The said Tatars maintain that the saint still works miracles, heals the sick and sometimes appears to them in their sleep; which will be the same case as with so many other holy apparitions and miracles that imagination bore so fruitfully among men in unenlightened times.
Working translation
Original wording
Obgedachte Tataren behaupten, daß der heilige noch itzt Wunder thue, Kranke heile, und ihnen zuweilen im Schlaf erscheine; womit es eben so, wie mit so vielen andern heiligen Erscheinungen und Wundern, welche die Einbildungskraft unter den Menschen in wenig aufgeklärten Zeiten so fruchtbar gebahr, beschaffen seyn wird.
About Kundurov and other Muslim Tatars
Continue in this sourcePallas's journey through the provinces of the Russian Empire1768 to 1774 · 20 passages