Vincent of Beauvais's Mirror of History on the Tartars
A thirteenth-century Dominican world history that preserves the lost report of Simon of Saint-Quentin, who met the Mongol general Baiju in 1247, alongside Carpini's account.
Full title The Mirror of History (Speculum historiale), books 30-32 containing the Historia Tartarorum excerpts from Simon of Saint-Quentin and John of Plano Carpini
Vincent of Beauvais; Simon of Saint-Quentin (excerpted source)
Vincent of Beauvais (died c. 1264), a French Dominican, compiled the Speculum historiale, a huge history of the world, in the 1240s and 1250s. He says he received a 'history of the Tartars' from Simon of Saint-Quentin, a friar of the papal embassy led by Ascelin (Anselm) that reached the Mongol army of Baiju in Persia in 1247, and he spread Simon's material through his chapters by date, adding extracts from John of Plano Carpini. Simon's own text is lost, so Vincent is its only witness. This corpus copy is the Douai 1624 printing, where the Tartar chapters fall in books 29 and 31.
How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
The Mongols: the armies of Chinggis Khan and his heirs, above all Baiju's army in Persia and Armenia and the court of Güyük. The text also calls them Mongals, and notes two Tartar peoples with different languages but one law.
Why read it
It is the only surviving source for an eyewitness Dominican mission to a Mongol army, with sharp, hostile detail on dress, food, law, warfare and a tense audience at which the friars refused to kneel. It also shows medieval legend (Prester John, the enclosed nations of the Caspian) being repeated and, in one case, tested.
Watch out
Simon's words reach us through Vincent's editing, and the tone is often hostile propaganda (charges of cannibalism, lust and cruelty). The 1624 chapter numbers differ from earlier editions, and the OCR of this folio needs checking against the page images.
Editorial contextOn their cunning in sieges: the Tartars promise much to a besieged town, and if it surrenders they say 'come out so we can count you after our custom'. When the people come out, the Tartars keep those they find to be craftsmen and those they want as slaves, and kill all the rest by smashing their heads with stones. This matches other sources on Mongol use of captive artisans.
And if they surrender to them, they say to them: 'Come out to us, so that we may count you according to our custom.' And when they come out to them, those whom they find to be craftsmen they keep for themselves; all the others, except those they wish to keep as slaves, they kill by dashing out their brains with stones upon stones.
Working translation
Original wording
Et siquidem illi se reddiderint eis dicunt illis. Exite ad nos, vt secundum morem nostrum numeremus vos, cumque ad eos exeunt, quos comperiunt esse artifices sibi reseruant, alios autem omnes præter illos quos sibi pro seruis retinere volunt, cum lapidibus super lapides excerebrant.
Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale (Douai 1624), from material he says he received from Simon of Saint-Quentin
Editorial contextIn a chapter on the Tartars' outward appearance and way of life, the text says plainly that they always live in tents and never in villages or cities, because they are country herdsmen with vast flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, camels and horses. They winter on the plains and follow the good pasture into the mountains in summer. The same chapter describes their bull-like singing of 'Alai alai'.
They always live in tents, and not in villages or cities. For they are country herdsmen of livestock, and abound in flocks of sheep and goats and in herds of cattle, camels and horses. In winter they are accustomed to stay on the plain; in summer they follow the richness of the pastures in the mountains.
Working translation
Original wording
In tentorijs semper habitant, & non in villis, vel vrbibus. Pastores enim pecorum rurales sunt, ac gregibus ouium, & caprarum armentisque boum, & camelorum, & equorum superabundant. In hyeme manere consueuerunt in planicie, in æstate vero pascuarum vbertatem sectantur in montibus.
Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale (Douai 1624), from material he says he received from Simon of Saint-Quentin
Editorial contextThis origin story says that in 1202, 'according to some', the Tartars, living in Tartary 'which borders on India', rose against their lord King David, son of Prester John, emperor of India, killed him by treachery and went out to destroy peoples. The chapter goes on to have Chinggis Khan organise them by tens, hundreds and thousands. It is a crusader-era legend; the real event behind it is Chinggis Khan's overthrow of the Kereit ruler Ong Khan in 1203.
In the year of the Lord 1202, according to some, the Tartars, after the killing of their lord, went out to destroy peoples. For while they were still living in their own land, namely Tartary, which borders on India, they conspired against King David their lord, son of Prester John, formerly ruler and emperor of India, and killed him by treacherous scheming.
Working translation
Original wording
Anno Domini 1202. secundum quosdam, Tartari post occisionem Domini sui exierunt in populorum destructionem. Hi etenim post adhuc in terra sua videlicet Tartaria quæ affinis est Indiæ, residentes contra Regem Dauid Dominum suum videlicet presbyteri Ioannis quondam dominatoris & Imperatoris Indiæ filium conspirauerunt, eumque dolose machinando, interfecerunt.
Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale (Douai 1624), from material he says he received from Simon of Saint-Quentin
Friars look for Alexander's enclosed nations and find nothing
Editorial contextScholastic histories said Alexander the Great had the Jews (in other versions Gog and Magog) shut up between the Caspian mountains, to break out at the end of the world. Vincent reports that Dominicans who lived seven years in Tiflis asked Georgians, Persians and Jews about it, and all said they knew nothing of it. The margin says the story 'appears to be a fable', and the next page adds that only Alexander's gates exist, one of which the Tartars broke.
For whereas our scholastic histories say that Alexander the Great, king of the Macedonians, obtained from the Lord by prayer the shutting up of the Jews between the Caspian mountains, and predict that they will come out near the end of the world, our brothers [of the Order of Preachers, in the Georgian city of Tiflis near the Caspian mountains] stayed seven years, and diligently asked the Georgians and Persians, and even the Jews, about that enclosure; and all, even the Jews, say that they know nothing at all of it
Working translation
Original wording
Cum enim dicant historiæ nostræ scolasticæ, quod Alexander magnus Rex Macedonum oratione impetrauit à Domino reclusionem Iudæorum inter montes Caspios, ipsosque circa finem mundi prædicent exituros, Fratres nostri … per 7. annos commorati sunt, diligenter à Georgianis & à Persis, & etiam à Iudæis de inclusione illa inquisierunt, & dicunt omnes etiam Iudæi, quod nihil penitus inde sciunt
Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale (Douai 1624), from material he says he received from Simon of Saint-Quentin
About Dominican friars in Georgia; the legendary peoples shut behind the Caspian mountains
Keep in mind
The friars tested a legend and found no support; the passage does not itself call the Tartars the enclosed nations.
OCR normalized against the page image; long s normalized.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
compilation of earlier sources: Vincent excerpts the lost eyewitness report of the Dominican Simon of Saint-Quentin (Ascelin embassy to Baiju, 1245-1248) and Carpini's Ystoria; the Douai 1624 print is the standard early-modern edition
Research notes
Simon's original report is lost; Vincent's excerpts (with chapter headings 'ex libello fratris Simonis') are the only source; chapter numbering differs between the 1473, 1494 and 1624 editions. The IA volume-set label is the ARLIMA uploader's.
Modern edition of the Simon excerpts: Jean Richard, Simon de Saint-Quentin, Histoire des Tartares (Paris 1965), not open access. Incunable and 1494 copies exist on IA (A336104) for comparison.
Why it matters
Only surviving witness to Simon of Saint-Quentin's Historia Tartarorum, the Dominican counterpart to Carpini's Franciscan report, covering the Mongol army in Armenia and Persia in the 1240s; also the vehicle by which Carpini's text circulated in the Middle Ages.