Bukhara, a century after the Tartars
Editorial contextBukhara, the chief city beyond the Oxus, had still not recovered, Ibn Battuta says, from being ravaged by the Tartars more than a century earlier. He found nobody there with any learning. Here 'Tartars' means the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan.
then, after one stage, we came to Bokhara, which is the principal city of the country beyond the Gihon. After it had been ravaged by the Tartars, it almost entirely disappeared : I found no one in it who knew any thing of science.
About Mongols of Genghis Khan ('the Tartars')
Keep in mind
Bukhara was sacked again by Ilkhanid Mongol troops in 1273, so not all the damage he saw dated from 1220.
A queen's travelling mosque, left at the border
Editorial contextIbn Battuta escorted Uzbek Khan's Byzantine wife on a visit to her father in Constantinople. Like her husband, she carried a mosque (evidently a tent) that was set up at every halt for daily prayers. At the first Byzantine fortress she left it behind, and from then on, he says with some dismay, the call to prayer stopped and wine appeared at her table.
The Queen had with her a mosque, which she set up at every stage, just as her husband used to do. In this she had daily prayers. She left it, however, at the fortress. After this the office of the Moazin ceased : wine was brought into the banquet and of this she drank.
About Golden Horde; Byzantine princess Bayalun
Balkh's great mosque, broken open by Genghis Khan for treasure
Editorial contextBalkh lay in ruins, never rebuilt since Genghis Khan destroyed it; only the outline of the city could be traced. Its mosque had been one of the finest in the world, and Genghis had three of its pillars torn down because he was told treasure was hidden beneath them. Ibn Battuta then tells the legend behind that rumour: a governor's wife built the mosque from the price of a jewelled robe and buried a third of the money under a pillar for repairs.
It has not been rebuilt since its destruction by the cursed Jengiz Khan. … Its mosque was one of the largest and handsomest in the world. Its pillars were incomparable : three of which were destroyed by Jengiz Khan, because it had been told him, that the wealth of the mosque lay concealed
About Mongols of Genghis Khan
Keep in mind
He saw the ruins; the story of the pillars and the treasure is local tradition.
Queens on the throne, faces uncovered
Editorial contextAfter Friday prayer Uzbek Khan sat in a 'golden alcove' on a gilded, jewelled throne, with his four wives seated on the throne beside him in full view. When each wife came in, the khan rose and led her by the hand to her seat. Ibn Battuta, used to royal women being hidden, was struck by this, and a page earlier he notes that Turkish noblewomen here went unveiled and were highly respected. He was given sheep, a horse and a leather bag of kumiss.
Whenever one of these wives enters, he arises, and taking her by the hand, puts her into her place upon the throne. Thus they are exposed to the sight of all, without so much as a veil.
About Golden Horde royal family
Nine animals for one stolen
Editorial contextCrossing the Kipchak steppe by hired cart (araba), Ibn Battuta noticed huge herds grazing with no herdsmen. He explains it by the harsh law on theft: a thief had to return the animal with nine more, and if he could not, his children were taken, or he himself killed. He also notes that the treeless steppe folk burned dung for fuel.
he is compelled to return it with nine others of equal value. But, if this is not in his power, his children are taken. If, however, he have no children, he is himself slaughtered just like a sheep.
About Golden Horde (Kipchak steppe)
Keep in mind
The sentence begins on the previous page (n102): a man 'convicted of having stolen a beast'. The law is what he was told, not a case he saw.
A khan deposed for breaking Genghis Khan's Yasa
Editorial contextIbn Battuta visited the camp of Sultan Tarmashirin, a devout Muslim khan who prayed in a mosque inside his camp. He explains that Genghis Khan's law book, the Yasa, required an annual assembly where nobles could depose a ruler who had broken its rules. Tarmashirin had abolished that assembly, so, after Ibn Battuta left, the Tartars and their nobles deposed him and he was killed.
Now, Tarmashirin had entirely abolished the observance of this day, which gave very great offence. Some time, therefore, after we had left the country, the Tartars, together with their nobles, assembled and deposed him, appointing for a successor one of his relations
About Chaghatayid Mongols ('the Tartars') under Tarmashirin
Keep in mind
The deposition happened after he left, so he reports it second-hand; his account of the Yasa assembly is not confirmed by other sources.
A khan buried under a hill with slaves and impaled horses
Editorial contextIbn Battuta reports that a Mongol khan was killed by rebel kinsmen and buried with about a hundred relatives. The khan was laid on a couch in an underground chamber with his weapons, gold and silver vessels, four slave women and six favourite servants, and earth was heaped over it into a hill. Four horses were impaled on stakes on the mound. Everyone wore white hoods for mourning.
a large sepulchre was dug for him under the earth, in which a most beautiful couch was spread, and the Khan was with his weapons laid upon it. With him they placed all the gold and silver vessels he had in his house, together with four female slaves, and six of his favourite Mamluks … and the earth heaped upon them to the height of a large hill.
About Mongols of the Yuan dynasty
Keep in mind
He says the khan was killed before he reached the capital, so the burial is almost certainly reported, not seen; the translator notes he could find no record of such a khan's death, and no Yuan emperor died this way at that date.
A leather bag of kumiss from the khan
Editorial contextThe khan's welcome gift was practical steppe hospitality: sheep, a horse and a skin of kimiz (kumiss), fermented mare's milk, which Ibn Battuta notes was highly valued as a drink. He also explains that each of the khan's wives had her own household, and that a visitor was expected to call on every one of them.
Upon this day I was presented to the Sultan, who received me very graciously, and afterwards sent me some sheep and a horse, with a leathern bag of kimiz, which is the milk of a mare ; and very much valued among them as a beverage.
About Golden Horde
Genghis Khan the blacksmith
Editorial contextAt Bukhara Ibn Battuta retells what was said of the Tartars' founder: that Genghis Khan began as a blacksmith in the country of 'Khota', a big, generous man who won followers by feasting them, then conquered Khota, China, Kashgar and Almaliq before turning on Khwarezm. The translator notes that other histories give his origins very differently.
It is said that Jengiz Khan, who came with the Tartars into the countries of Islamism and destroyed them, was in his outset a blacksmith in the country of Khota.
About Mongols ('the Tartars')
Keep in mind
A popular story ('it is said'); the blacksmith tale may have grown from Temujin's name, which resembles the Turkic word for iron. The rest of the story continues on the next page (n115).
The King of China is a Tartar
Editorial contextIn China, Ibn Battuta says plainly who ruled: the king was a Tartar, a descendant of the Genghis Khan who had laid waste to Muslim lands. He adds that every Chinese province had a separate town for Muslims, with their own mosques, and that the kings honoured them.
The King of China is a Tartar, and one of the descendants of Jengiz Khan, who entered the Mohammedan countries, and desolated many of them. In all the Chinese provinces, there is a town for the Mohammedans, and in this they reside.
About Mongols of the Yuan dynasty
Silent trade with unseen people in the Land of Darkness
Editorial contextAt Bulgar he was told of a Land of Darkness forty days north, reached only by dog-sledges over ice, where there were no trees, stones or houses. Merchants left their goods and withdrew; next day they found sable and ermine in their place, and could take the furs or leave them. Nobody ever saw the other party, so the merchants did not know if they traded with men or demons. He did not go.
each man, leaving what he has brought with him, goes back to his appointed station. On the morrow they return to look for their goods, and find, instead of them, sable, ermine, and the fur of the sinjab. … for the merchants know not whether it is with mankind or demons that they have to do ; no one being seen during the transaction.
About Unknown northern peoples; Golden Horde merchants
Keep in mind
Hearsay; he says he decided not to make the journey. Modern scholars also doubt that he reached Bulgar itself.
The rope trick at a Mongol governor's feast
Editorial contextAt a banquet given by the emir Qurtay at El Khansa (Hangzhou), the Khan's jugglers performed. A ball on a strap was thrown up out of sight; a boy climbed the strap and vanished; the master followed with a knife and threw down the boy's limbs, then put them together and the boy stood up. Ibn Battuta says he was so shaken he had palpitations. The Muslim judge beside him swore it was all illusion.
he then threw the hand of the boy upon the ground, then his foot ; then his other hand, then his other foot ; then his body, then his head. He then came down, panting for breath, and his clothes stained with blood. … The juggler then took the limbs of the boy and applied them one to another
About Yuan Mongol court entertainers
Keep in mind
He says he witnessed it; a judge present called it trickery. Some scholars doubt how much of the China section is first-hand.
Twenty-four thousand scholars killed: a story at fourth hand
Editorial contextThe editor Ibn Juzayy inserts a report passed down a chain of four people: a scholar from Iraq, met at Mecca, said that 24,000 learned men died in the Tartar war in Iraq and that he and his nephew were the only scholars who escaped. It is a vivid example of how atrocity figures travelled by word of mouth, and the text is careful to show the chain.
that in the war with the Tartars in Irak not fewer than four and twenty thousand learned men perished ; and that himself, and that man, pointing to his brother's son, were the only learned men who had escaped.
About Mongols of Hulagu ('the Tartars')
Keep in mind
Fourth-hand report added by the editor, not by Ibn Battuta; the number cannot be checked.