The best-selling 16th-century European book on China, compiled in 1585 by a Spanish friar who never went there, with Tartary as China's northern enemy.
Full title History of the Most Notable Things, Rites and Customs of the Great Kingdom of China (first edition), with chapters on China’s Tartar frontier and wars
Juan González de Mendoza (1545 to 1618), a Spanish Augustinian, was chosen for a mission to China that never went; instead he compiled this history in Rome (first edition 1585) from Chinese books brought to Mexico and Manila, the reports of Martín de Rada (1575) and the Franciscans (1579), and Portuguese writers such as Gaspar da Cruz. It went through dozens of editions and translations. Tartary appears as China's northern neighbour and enemy, behind the Great Wall. The corpus holds the 1585 Rome first edition (quoted here), another 1585 copy, a 1596 edition, the 1586 Itinerario and a 1589 Latin version.
How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
The Mongols of the northern steppe beyond the Great Wall, China's traditional enemies, and loosely 'Tartaria' as the whole land north and northwest of China; the viceroy's guard of 'Tartars by nation' may be Mongols or other northerners in Ming service.
Why read it
It fixed for European readers the picture of Tartary as the hostile land beyond the Wall, and preserves a Franciscan eyewitness note of Tartar soldiers guarding a Ming viceroy.
Watch out
Entirely second-hand and often copied closely from Gaspar da Cruz and Rada; Mendoza himself flags some reports as hard to believe.
A 500-league wall against the Tartars, mostly mountains
Editorial contextMendoza reports a wall 500 leagues long running west to east, built by a king 'Tzintzom' (Qin Shi Huang) to protect himself from the Tartars, 'and so the wall takes in the whole frontier of Tartary'. But, he adds, 400 of those leagues are made by nature, very high closed mountains; only the remaining hundred were built by the king, of very strong stone, seven fathoms wide at the base.
There is in this kingdom an enclosure or wall five hundred leagues long ... A king called Tzintzom made it to protect himself from the Tartars, with whom he was at war, and so the wall takes in the whole frontier of Tartary. But it must be understood that 400 of the leagues of the said wall are made by nature, for they are very high, very close-set mountains.
Working translation
Original wording
Hallase en este Reyno vna cerca, o muralla, que tiene quinientas leguas de largo … Hizo la vn Rey llamado Tzintzom, por ampararse de los Tartaros, con quien tenia guerra, y assi toma la muralla toda la frontera de Tartaria. Pero ha se de entender, que las 400. leguas que tiene la dicha muralla, son hechas por la naturaleza, por que son vnas sierras altissimas muy cerradas.
Juan González de Mendoza (Historia del gran Reyno de la China, Rome 1585)
The viceroy's guard: 'Tartars by nation, not Chinese'
Editorial contextIn the account of the Franciscan friars who entered China in 1579, Mendoza describes the Guangdong viceroy's guard of more than two thousand men in silk livery and shining iron helmets with great plumes, swords on the stairs and lances in the courtyards with an arquebusier between each pair. The whole guard, the friars understood, 'was of men who were Tartars by nation, and not Chinese', and they could not find out why, though they asked.
The viceroy's guard (which was more than two thousand men) was drawn up in a line, all dressed in silk livery, and on their heads very shining iron helmets with very large plumes. ... This whole guard (as they understood) was of men who were Tartars by nation, and not Chinese, without their being able to learn the reason, though they inquired diligently.
Working translation
Original wording
Estaua la guarda del Virey (que passauan de dos mill hombres) puesta en hylera, y todos vestidos de librea de seda, y en las cabezas, zeladas de yerro muy relucientes, con muy grandes plumages. … Toda esta guarda (segun entendieron) era de hombres Tartaros de nacion, y no de Chinos, sin poder sauer la caussa, aunque la inquirieron con diligencia.
Juan González de Mendoza (Historia del gran Reyno de la China, Rome 1585), from the report of the Franciscan mission of 1579 (Pedro de Alfaro and companions)
The Tartar now fears China and pays a kind of vassalage
Editorial contextDiscussing China's military system, Mendoza says the Chinese had fought continual wars with the Tartars for many years, 'although today the Tartar fears him so much that he thinks it good to be his friend, and acknowledges a kind of vassalage'. Even so, every city was guarded day and night as if the enemy were at the gate. This reflects the 1571 peace in which Altan Khan accepted a Ming title and tribute trade.
although today the Tartar fears him so much that he thinks it good to be his friend, and acknowledges to him a kind of vassalage. And though at present and for some time past there has been no occasion for war of any importance, he takes the same care in preparation as if he had many very great enemies
Working translation
Original wording
aunque el dia de oy le tiene el Tartaro tanto temor que tiene por bien de ser su amigo, y le reconosce vna manera de vasallaje. Y con estar al presente y de algunos tiempos a esta parte sin ocasion de guerra que sea de momento, tiene el mesmo cuidado en la preuençion que si tuuiera muchos y muy grandes enemigos
Juan González de Mendoza (Historia del gran Reyno de la China, Rome 1585)
Editorial contextMendoza passes on a story that in the provinces toward Tartary, and in Tartary itself, governors set an age by which men and women must either enter religion or marry. At the appointed time all who are to marry gather in a designated city, where twelve elders record their names and wealth; if there are more men than women, they draw lots, and the surplus wait until next year. He introduces it with 'they say'.
They say that in the provinces toward Tartary, and in Tartary itself, a certain very strange manner of marrying is customary, which is that the viceroys or governors have set a time for both men and women, so that on reaching a certain age they are obliged either to enter religion or to marry.
Working translation
Original wording
Dizen que en las Prouincias hazia la Tartaria, y en la mesma Tartaria, se acostumbra vna cierta manera de casar muy estraña, y es que los Virreyes, o Gouernadores tienen señalado tiempo, assi a los hombres como a las mugeres paraque hasta llegar a tal edad tengan obligacion, o de meterse en Religion, o de casarse.
Juan González de Mendoza (Historia del gran Reyno de la China, Rome 1585)
About Peoples of the northern provinces and 'Tartary itself'
Keep in mind
Hearsay introduced with 'they say'; the story echoes older European tales (such as Herodotus's Babylonian bride market) and has no clear Asian source.
Transcribed from 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: Mendoza never reached China; he assembled Chinese books brought to Mexico, the reports of the Augustinian (Rada 1575) and Franciscan (1579, 1582) missions, and Portuguese accounts (Gaspar da Cruz, Escalante)
Research notes
Wholly derivative; borrows extensively (sometimes verbatim) from Gaspar da Cruz 1569 and Martín de Rada; contains the earliest printed Chinese characters in Europe.
The best-selling sixteenth-century European book on China (46 editions by 1600), fixing the picture of Tartary as the hostile nomad realm beyond the Great Wall and transmitting Rada's and Cruz's data on Chinese history and the Mongol (Yuan) conquest.