Peyssonnel on the peoples of the Danube and Black Sea
A French consul to the Crimean khan reconstructs, in 1765, the peoples who held the Black Sea steppe from the Huns to the Tatars.
Full title Historical and geographical observations on the barbarian peoples who have inhabited the banks of the Danube and the Black Sea (with a map and an inscription plate)
Charles de Peyssonnel (1727-1790) was French consul to the khan of the Crimean Tatars at Bakhchysarai from 1753 to 1757. In 1765 he published Observations historiques et geographiques on the 'barbarian peoples' of the Danube and Black Sea: Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, Pechenegs, Cumans, Walachians and Tatars. He draws mostly on Byzantine and classical writers and matches ancient Crimean place names to modern ones, but his own knowledge of the khanate and the Nogai hordes shows in asides. The corpus copy is the 1765 Paris edition (Tilliard), with Google scans of the same.
How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
Mainly the Crimean Tatars, their khan and the Nogai hordes subject to him; he also calls earlier Turkic steppe peoples (Alans, Uzes, Cumans) 'Peuples Tartares' in a broad sense.
Why read it
It shows an 18th-century expert who had lived among the Crimean Tatars fitting them into a long line of steppe peoples, and explaining Crimean ruins by earlier Greek, Genoese and 'Cimmerian' builders.
Watch out
Mostly compiled history. Some etymologies (such as Krim from Cimmerium) are guesses, and 'Tartare' is used very broadly for Turkic and steppe peoples.
Eski-Krim: from 'Cimmerium' to a wretched market town
Editorial contextPeyssonnel identifies the town the Tatars call Eski-Krim ('Old Crimea') with Ptolemy's Cimmerium and argues that its name, which the Tatars gave to the whole peninsula, is Cimmerium disfigured. Now only a miserable market town, it seemed to have once been large and flourishing, with monuments from remote antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Genoese period.
The town that the Tartars today call Eski-Krim is certainly the ancient Cimmerium of Ptolemy … its name Krim, which is also that of the peninsula of Crimea, is plainly the word Cimmerium … disfigured by the Tartars. This town, now no more than a wretched market town, appears once to have been large and flourishing. There are still several monuments of remote ages, of the Middle Ages and of the Genoese period.
Working translation
Original wording
La Ville appellée aujourd'hui par les Tartares Eski-Krim, est certainement l'ancienne Cimmerium de Ptolémée … son nom de Krim, qui est aussi celui de la presqu'Isle de Crimée, est visiblement le mot Cimmerium … défiguré par les Tartares. Cette Ville qui n'est plus qu'un misérable Bourg, paroît avoir été autrefois vaste & florissante. Il y a encore plusieurs monumens des siècles reculés, du moyen âge & du temps des Génois.
Peyssonnel lived in Crimea but does not say he saw these ruins. His Cimmerium etymology is a guess; Eski-Krim is the medieval Solkhat or Qirim, the Golden Horde's seat in Crimea, and Qirim is usually explained from Turkic.
Editorial contextWriting of the Cumans who held the land between the Danube, the Black Sea and the Dniester in the 13th century, Peyssonnel says they had no towns, villages or fixed homes and lived always in movable felt tents. He adds from his own knowledge that they were just like the Nogais of his day, whom he considers almost the same nation.
These barbarians still had neither towns, nor villages, nor fixed dwellings; they were constantly camped under felt tents, which they carried from place to place; they were exactly like the Nogais of today, who are almost the same nation.
Working translation
Original wording
Ces Barbares n'avoient encore ni Villes, ni Villages, ni Habitations fixes; ils étoient sans cesse campés sous des Tentes de feutre, qu'ils transportoient d'un lieu dans un autre; ils étoient parfaitement semblables aux Nogaïs d'aujourd'hui, qui sont à peu près la même Nation.
Shooting backwards while fleeing, 'as the Tartars still do'
Editorial contextTelling how Cuman horsemen raided the Latin crusaders besieging Adrianople in 1205, Peyssonnel describes their tactic of fleeing while loosing arrows backwards without stopping, 'as the Tartars of today still do'. The Latins could not catch them, because the Cumans were more lightly armed and had faster, better-trained horses.
The Cumans took flight, contenting themselves with loosing a volley of arrows behind them from time to time without halting, as the Tartars of today still do. The Latins could not overtake these enemies, who were more lightly armed than they and had faster horses, better trained for running.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Comains prirent la fuite, en se contentant de faire de temps en temps quelques décharges de flèches, par derrière, sans arrêter leur marche, comme font encore les Tartares d'aujourd'hui. Les Latins ne purent atteindre ces ennemis, qui étoient armés plus légèrement qu'eux, & avoient des Chevaux plus vîtes, & mieux exercés à la course.
Yedisan, the 'Seven Thousand' horde that made a khan
Editorial contextCorrecting a Moldavian chronicler, Peyssonnel explains that the name Yedisan belongs only to the plains beyond the Dniester, taken from one of the four Nogai hordes under the Crimean khan. Yedi-san means 'seven thousand', the horde's original number of men. He adds that this horde alone, in revolt, deposed Khan Alim Girai and put Qirim Girai on the throne, events he witnessed and reported to the French court in 1759.
This horde is called Yedsan or Yedi-San, that is, seven thousand, because it was originally made up of seven thousand men … This one horde, in revolt, deposed Alim Girai Khan and placed on the throne Qirim Girai Khan, who reigns today. The details of this event, which I witnessed, can be seen in the report I sent to the Court in 1759.
Working translation
Original wording
Cette Horde s'appelle Iedsan, ou Iedi-San, c'est-à-dire, sept mille, parce qu'elle étoit originairement composée de sept mille hommes … Cette seule Horde révoltée a dépossédé Alim Gueraï Khan, & placé sur le Trône Crim Gueraï Khan qui règne aujourd'hui. On voit les détails de cet événement dont j'ai été témoin, dans la Relation que j'en ai envoyée à la Cour en 1759.
About Yedisan Nogais, subjects of the Crimean khan
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
retrospective history compiled from Byzantine and classical sources, informed by the author's consular residence in the Crimea (Bakhchisarai 1753-1757) and Black Sea posts
Research notes
Compiled history; the ethnographic notes on the Crimea belong to Peyssonnel's consular knowledge rather than to the cited sources. Companion Traite sur le commerce de la mer Noire (1787) recorded separately.
Why it matters
An eighteenth-century diplomat's reconstruction of the succession of steppe peoples on the Black Sea from the Huns to the Tatars, written by a man who lived among the Crimean Tatars; shows how the Crimean khanate was fitted into the long "barbarian" sequence.