Broniewski's Description of Tartary (Tartariae descriptio)
A Polish envoy's Latin description of the Crimean khanate, written after his embassy of 1578 to 1579.
Full title Description of Tartary, never before published, with a map of the Tauric Chersonese (Crimea); bound with Reichersdorff’s Transylvania and Moldavia
Marcin Broniewski (Martin Broniovius), twice Polish envoy to the Crimean khan
Marcin Broniewski (Martin Broniovius) went twice as Polish envoy to the Crimean khan, and in 1578 to 1579 he served Stephen Báthory at the court of Mehmed II Giray. He described the khanate's towns, ruins, court, army and economy, from Perekop and Bakhchysarai to Kaffa, Sudak and Kerch, with a map of Crimea. It was written around 1579 and printed at Cologne in 1595. The atlas does not hold the text: the corpus knows the 1595 print only as digital image manifests.
- How they knew
- Eyewitness
- Who “Tartar” means here
- The Crimean Tatars of the Giray khanate, with the Nogais of the steppe. Broniewski's title uses Tartary for the khanate and the lands around it.
- Why read it
- The most detailed sixteenth-century eyewitness description in Latin of the Crimean khanate and its antiquities, with an early map of Crimea.
- Watch out
- It was printed only in 1595, bound with Reichersdorff's work, and Purchas's 1625 English version is abridged. The atlas quotes nothing from this work.
What it says
No quotes from this one yet. Its text is out of reach for now, or the scan could not be read.
The fine print
How we know
firsthand The author saw the places or people described.
firsthand observation: Broniewski was envoy of Stephen Báthory to Khan Mehmed II Giray in 1578-1579, describing the khanate's towns, ruins, court, army and economy; written c. 1579, printed 1595
Research notes
- Published posthumously by the Cologne press together with Reichersdorff; English translation in Purchas (1625) abridged; Russian translation 1867.
- MAPS TEAM: folded 'tabula geographica Chersonesus Tauricae' within this volume.
Why it matters
The most detailed sixteenth-century eyewitness Latin description of the Crimean khanate and its antiquities, explicitly titled 'Tartariae descriptio'; the map of Crimea is an early cartographic source (note for maps team).
Places named
Crimea (Perekop, Bakhchisaray, Kaffa, Sudak, Chersonesus ruins, Kerch); Dnieper and Don steppe; Nogai lands; Azov
Peoples named
Crimean Tatars (Giray khanate); Nogai; Ottoman garrisons (Kaffa); Poland; Muscovy; Cossacks