Kadan at Trogir: a muddy channel and a herald shouting in Slavonic
Editorial contextHere Thomas was close by. King Béla had taken refuge on an island off Trogir. Kadan rode round the town trying to get under the walls on horseback, but found the channel separating Trogir from the mainland too deep in mud to ford. He then sent a herald to the bridge who shouted in Slavonic, 'Kadan, prince of the unconquered army, says this to you': hand over our enemies. On the king's orders the guards gave no answer, and the army left.
Duke Kadan, having surveyed all the surroundings of the place, tried whether he could pass beneath the walls on horseback; but when he learned that the water by which the city is cut off from the land was unfordable because of the depth of the mud, he withdrew … [the messenger] cried out in a loud voice in Slavonic, saying: 'This says to you Lord Kadan, prince of the unconquered army.'
Working translation
Original wording
Caeterum Dux Caydanus omnibus loci illius circumstantiis perlustratis tentabat, si posset sub moenibus equitando transire, sed cum cognovisset, quod aqua illa, per quam Civitas a terra dirimitur propter limi profunditatem invadabilis erat, retraxit se inde … exclamavit voce magna Sclavonice dicens: Haec dicit vobis D. Caydanus invictae militiae Princeps.
About Kadan's Mongol force
Keep in mind
Thomas was in Split, a few miles away, so he may have learned details from Trogir; the herald's words are as reported.
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The 'Tartars' Road' over Mount Vlaško
Editorial contextWriting four centuries later, the Trogir historian Giovanni Lucio (Ivan Lučić) explains why King Béla did not trust the island next to Trogir: the Hungarians knew that Tartars swam their horses across huge rivers. He then records a local tradition that the Tartars, leaving, rode past in the king's sight along the slope of Mount Vlaško, and that the road there had been called 'the Tartars' road' ever since, just as a nearby rock is still called the King's Rock.
the Hungarians, knowing that the Tartars were accustomed to cross very large rivers by swimming with their horses, feared that they would cross to the island of Bua as well … who, as they went away, passed in his sight along the slope of Mount Vlasko, having on that occasion left their name to the road, which from then on has been called the Tartars' road
Working translation
Original wording
sapendo gl'Ongari, che li Tartari erano soliti passare con Caualli à nuoto grossissimi fiumi, dubitassero, che passassero anco nell'Isola Bua … i quali nell'andar via passarono à vista sua sopra la costa del monte Vlasco, hauendo lasciato con tal occasione il nome alla strada, che d'indi in qua vien detta strada de Tartari
About Mongol army of Kadan (in local tradition)
Keep in mind
A place-name tradition recorded in 1674, not a medieval report.