lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Written source · German and Mongolian

Sagang Sechen's History of the Eastern Mongols (1662), edited by I. J. Schmidt

A Mongol prince's own chronicle of Chinggis Khan's line and the Buddhist conversion, printed with a German translation in 1829.

Full title History of the Eastern Mongols and their Princely House, composed by Sagang Sechen Khungtaiji of the Ordos (Erdeni-yin tobchi, 1662): Mongolian text with German translation and notes (St Petersburg 1829)

ᠡᠷᠳᠡᠨᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠲᠣᠪᠴᠢ (Erdeni-yin tobči)

Sagang Sechen; I. J. Schmidt (ed. and tr.)

Read the 4 passagesOpen the original book

Sagang Sechen, a noble of the Ordos Mongols, finished his chronicle Erdeni-yin tobchi ('Precious Summary') in 1662. It runs from Indian and Tibetan Buddhist kings through Chinggis Khan and the Yuan emperors of China to the Mongol princes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the conversion of the Mongols to Tibetan Buddhism as its main thread. Isaac Jacob Schmidt, a St Petersburg scholar who had lived among the Kalmyks, printed the Mongolian text with a German translation and long, combative notes (St Petersburg 1829). This is a Mongol's view of Mongol history, in which 'Tatar' is simply one rival tribe. The corpus holds two scans of the 1829 edition and Schmidt's companion study of 1824.

How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
In Sagang Sechen's text the Tatar are one Mongolian tribe, enemies of Chinggis Khan's father, from whom Chinggis later took two wives. In Schmidt's notes 'Tatar' is also the name that outlived the tribe and spread to Turkic peoples conquered in western Asia.
Why read it
The only source in this batch written by a Mongol: it lets a learner hear how the Mongols themselves remembered their capitals, their tents and their Tatar neighbours, without European hearsay.
Watch out
A seventeenth-century compilation that blends Buddhist legend and prophecy with history; its dates were corrected by later scholars, and Schmidt's notes quarrel sharply with Klaproth and Hammer.

What it says: 4 passages

CitiesBeijing (Daitu, Khanbaliq) and Shangdu (Xanadu), China1368

The last Yuan emperor weeps for Daitu and Shangtu

Editorial contextDriven out of China, Toghon Temür flees through the Moltoschi gate lamenting his 'great capital Daitu', built in 1269 'of nine kinds of precious things' by Khubilai (Setsen Khan), and his cool summer seat Shangtu Keibung. He blames his own errors and bad counsellors for the loss. Earlier (p. 113) the chronicle credits Khubilai with building four great cities in eight years, 1264 to 1271, including the summer residence at Shangtu and the winter residence at Daitu; Schmidt's note identifies Daitu as present-day Peking.

My great capital Daitu, adorned in the most manifold ways! My splendid, cool summer seat Shangtu Keibung … My faults are to blame that I have lost my realm. … My great Daitu, built in the yellowish Snake year (1269) of nine kinds of precious things! … My noble Daitu, built by the all-powerful Setsen Khan, where neither in summer nor in winter was boredom to be felt!

Working translation

Original wording

Meine aufs mannigfaltigste geschmückte grosse Hauptstadt Daitu! Mein herrlicher kühler Sommersitz Schangtu Keibung … Meine Fehler sind Schuld, dass ich mein Reich verloren habe. … Mein, im gelblichen Schlangen-Jahre (1269) aus neunerlei Kostbarkeiten erbautes grosses Daitu! … Mein edles Daitu, vom machtvollkommenen Ssetsen Chaghan erbaut, woselbst weder im Sommer noch im Winter Langeweile bemerkbar war!

Sagang Sechen (1662), giving the lament of Toghon Temür; German translation by I. J. Schmidt (1829)
See the original page (p. 137)

About Mongol Yuan dynasty; Toghon Temür (Ukhaghatu Khan)

Keep in mind

A literary lament preserved in Mongol tradition three centuries later, not a record of the emperor's actual words.

BuildingsTibet (Sakya) and Mongol lands to the northProphecy set before 1244; chronicle 1662

A Tibetan prophecy: the Mongol whose house is 'a wooden net'

Editorial contextThe chronicle tells how the Tibetan lama Dagba Gyaltsan foretold to his nephew, the Sakya Pandita, that the ruler of 'the people called Monghol' would send an envoy named Dorda to summon him. The envoy's hat would look as if a sparrowhawk sat on it, his boots would be shaped like a pig's snout, and his house would look like a wooden net. The image fits the collapsible wooden lattice of the Mongol felt tent. The Sakya Pandita set out in 1244 and reached Godan Khan in 1247.

From now on, after some time, the ruler of the people called Monghol … will send you an envoy named Dorda from the northern region. His headgear will look as if a sparrowhawk were sitting on it, his boots will have the shape of a pig's snout, and his house will look like a wooden net

Working translation

Original wording

Von nun an nach einiger Zeit wird der Beherrscher des Monghol genannten Volkes … aus der nördlichen Gegend einen Gesandten, Namens Dorda, an dich senden. Die Kopfbekleidung desselben wird aussehen, als sässe ein Sperber darauf, seine Stiefeln werden die Gestalt eines Schweinsrüssels haben, und sein Haus wird wie ein hölzernes Netz aussehen

Sagang Sechen (1662), reporting a prophecy attributed to Dagba Gyaltsan; German translation by I. J. Schmidt (1829)
See the original page (p. 113)

About Mongols, as foreseen by a Tibetan lama

Keep in mind

A religious prophecy told long after the event; reading the 'wooden net' as the tent lattice is an interpretation, not stated in the text.

Daily lifeMongolian steppeLate 12th century

'Come and eat!': the Tatars poison Chinggis Khan's father

Editorial contextRiding home after betrothing his young son Temüjin, Yesügei passed a Tatar camp holding a feast. The Tatars called out that food was ready and invited him to eat; remembering an old grudge, they mixed poison into his food, and he died soon after reaching friends. The story turns on the steppe duty of hospitality, and it explains the lasting feud between Chinggis Khan's family and the Tatar tribe. Schmidt notes that he knew of no other source for the poisoning; the Secret History of the Mongols, published only later, tells the same story.

On the way he came near a camp of the Tatar, where a feast was being held. They called out to him: 'There is food ready: come and eat!' Yesügei accepted the invitation, turned towards them and dismounted. The Tatar, remembering the old grudge, mixed poison into the food handed to Yesügei

Working translation

Original wording

Unterwegs kam er in die Nähe eines Lagers der Tatar, woselbst ein Fest gefeiert wurde. Diese riefen ihm zu: «Es sind fertige Speisen da: komm und iss!» Jessugei folgte der Einladung, lenkte zu ihnen hin und stieg ab. Die Tatar, des alten Grolls gedenkend, mischten Gift unter die dem Jessugei dargereichte Speise

Sagang Sechen (1662); German translation by I. J. Schmidt (1829)
See the original page (p. 65)

About Tatar tribe; Yesügei Baghatur, father of Temüjin (Chinggis Khan)

Keep in mind

Told more than four centuries after the event, from Mongol tradition.

The nameMongolia; western Asia12th to 13th centuries

How the name Tatar lived on and spread to the Turkic peoples

Editorial contextIn a note on a feud in the chronicle, Schmidt argues that the Taichiud and the Tatar formed one people with the other Mongol tribes. After Chinggis Khan's time the name Taichiud vanishes from history, but the name Tatar lived on, grew better known and wider in meaning, passing to the Turkic peoples the Mongols conquered in western Asia. A compact statement of how 'Tatar' became a catch-all label.

It is settled, moreover, that the Taichiud and Tatar formed only one main people with the other Mongol tribes; further, that the name Taichiud is no longer found in history after Chinggis Khan's time, but the name Tatar lived on, and even became better known and acquired a wider meaning, since it passed also to the Turkic peoples subjugated in the west of Asia.

Working translation

Original wording

Ausgemacht ist es übrigens, dass die Taidschigod und Tatar mit den andern mongolischen Stämmen nur ein Hauptvolk bildeten, dass ferner der Name Taidschigod nach Tschinggis Chaghan's Zeit in der Geschichte nicht mehr gefunden wird, der Name Tatar aber fortdauerte, und sogar bekannter wurde und eine ausgedehntere Bedeutung erhielt, indem derselbe auch auf die, im Westen Asiens unterjochten, türkischen Völkerschaften überging.

I. J. Schmidt (editor's note 35, 1829)
See the original page (p. 382)

About Tatar and Taichiud tribes; Turkic peoples later called Tatars

Keep in mind

Schmidt's own scholarly judgement; modern scholars debate whether the medieval Tatars spoke Mongolic or Turkic.

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

retrospective history: a Mongol noble's chronicle of the Mongol khans from Chinggis to the seventeenth century, compiled from earlier Mongol and Tibetan sources; edition and translation by Schmidt from manuscripts obtained via the Kalmyks and Buryats

Research notes
  • Schmidt's translation and chronology have been corrected by later scholarship (Haenisch, Krueger); the 1662 chronicle itself compiles the Altan tobchi tradition and Tibetan sources. Two IA copies, one with BSB provenance.
  • Schmidt's Forschungen im Gebiete der älteren religiösen, politischen und literärischen Bildungsgeschichte der Völker Mittel-Asiens (1824; IA 10433758bsb) is a companion study.
  • Also recorded independently by the east asian pass: Open scan + OCR text retrieved (German OCR usable; Mongolian not OCRed) (archive.org/details/geschichtederost00ssan).

Why it matters

The first Mongolian chronicle printed in Europe with its original text: an indigenous Mongol account of the khans, the Oirat wars and the Buddhist conversion, letting the Tartary question be tested against a Mongol self-description rather than European hearsay.

Places named

Mongolia; Ordos; northern China; Tibet (religious history); Oirat lands

Peoples named

Mongols and the Mongol empire
Western Mongols (Oirat, Dzungar, Kalmyk)
Religious communities and missions
Chinese dynasties and states

Mongols (Yuan and Northern Yuan khans); Oirats; Tibetan Buddhist hierarchs; Ming and Qing China

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