Only craftsmen spared; 'houses of the dead' for nobles
Editorial contextDescribing Mongol ways of war and burial, Hammer says they killed all prisoners of war except the craftsmen, whom they dragged off as slaves: a key point for who built things in the Mongol empire. Princes' funerals included the killing of concubines and captives; burial places were kept secret, but those of the great were marked by stone monuments or 'houses of the dead'. A stallion, a mare and a foal went into the grave so the dead would ride and have mare's milk in the next life, and a stuffed horse hide was set up over the grave.
Prisoners taken in war they killed, all except the craftsmen, whom they dragged off with them as slaves. … Their burial place was kept secret, but that of the nobles was marked by stone monuments or houses of the dead. A stallion, a mare and a foal were given to the dead man in the grave, so that in the other life he would at once have a mount and not lack mare's milk.
Working translation
Original wording
Die im Kriege Gefangenen tödteten sie alle, bis auf die Handwerker, die sie als Sclaven mit sich schleppten. … Ihr Begräbnissort wurde geheim gehalten, aber den der Vornehmen bezeichneten steinerne Denkmahle oder Häuser der Todten. Ein Hengst, eine Stute und ein Füllen wurden dem Todten ins Grab mitgegeben, damit er im andern Leben sogleich beritten sey, und dass es ihm an Stutenmilch nicht fehle.
About Mongols (Tatars); captive craftsmen
Keep in mind
Hammer blends peoples and centuries: his note for the 'stone houses of the dead' cites a Byzantine source, and the same passage compares a 6th-century Turkish prince, so that detail may not describe the Mongols at all.
Felt idols, the god Natagai, and a smiths' New Year
Editorial contextHammer gathers the old Mongol religion from Rubruck, Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din: idols of felt and silk, offered the heart of each slaughtered animal; prayer facing south; worship of sun, stars and elements, with food and drink dedicated before meals; a chief god Natagai honoured with his whole family; libations to the four quarters outside the tent. He lists three yearly feasts: the smiths' festival recalling the exodus from Ergene Kun, the khan's birthday, and the herd festival with mare's milk poured for Khubilai's ten thousand white horses. In a footnote he quotes Rashid al-Din that on New Year's night Chinggis Khan's family hammered iron on an anvil and gave thanks.
The Mongols had idols of felt and silk. When they slaughtered an animal, the heart was offered to the idols, and they prayed facing south, as the Muslims face the Kaaba. They worshipped the sun and the stars together with the elements … Their principal god was called Natagai, and he was worshipped with his whole family by all Tatars.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Mongolen hatten Götzenbilder aus Filz und Seide. Wenn sie ein Thier schlachteten, wurde den Götzenbildern das Herz dargebracht, und sie betheten gegen Mittag gewandt, wie die Moslimen gegen die Kaaba. Sie betheten die Sonne und die Sterne sammt den Elementen an … Ihr vorzüglicher Gott hiess Natagai, und ward mit seiner ganzen Familie von allen Tataren verehrt.
About Mongols ('all Tatars') before their conversion to Islam
Keep in mind
A patchwork of travellers' reports; Schmidt objected in the margin that no trace of the smiths' feast survived among Mongols, and Hammer answered with Rashid al-Din.
Ibn Battuta at Özbeg Khan's court: unveiled, honoured wives
Editorial contextHammer retells Ibn Battuta's visit. Every Friday Özbeg sat under a golden vault called the golden alcove, on a silver-plated, jewelled throne, with his sons on either side and his daughter before him. Whenever one of his wives came in he rose, took her by the hand and led her to her seat; all were unveiled. Each wife had her own house and household, and Ibn Battuta marvelled at the freedom and standing of women among the Tatars, so unlike Arab and Persian harem seclusion.
Whenever one of his wives came in, he stood up, took her by the hand and led her to her place; they were all unveiled. … Özbeg's wives were highly honoured. Each had her own house and her own household; in general Ibn Battuta wonders at the freedom and esteem which women enjoyed among the Tatars (quite unlike the compulsion of the Arab and Persian harem).
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Original wording
So oft eine seiner Gemahlinnen hereinkam, stand er auf, nahm sie bey der Hand, und führte sie auf ihren Platz; sie waren alle unverschleyert. … Die Frauen Usbeg's waren hochgeehrt. Jede hatte besonderes Haus und besonderen Hofstaat; überhaupt verwundert sich Ibn Batuta über die Freyheit und das Ansehen, welches die Frauen (ganz im Gegensatze arabischen und persischen Haremszwanges) bey den Tataren genossen.
About Golden Horde court of Özbeg (Uzbek) Khan
Keep in mind
Hammer paraphrases; Ibn Battuta's own words are in his Rihla.
The nomad Horde sows its grain
Editorial contextFrom the Venetian Josafa Barbaro, who lived at Tana, Hammer reports that Ulu Muhammad kept his camp moving for eleven years without letting the Horde sow in March and wait for the harvest, so it suffered grain shortage and lived on meat and milk alone. Normally, in February the camp announced the sowing day; those who wanted to grow grain drove out with wagons and seed to fields a day or two from the camp. The harvest was rich: fifty-fold for grain and a hundred-fold for millet. Nomads, in other words, also farmed.
Otherwise it was the custom that in the month of February the day on which sowing should take place in March was proclaimed in the camp. On that day those who wished to grow grain drove with their wagons and seed to the fields, usually one or two days' journey from the court camp, and tilled them. The harvest was plentiful, for the soil gave fifty-fold of the grain
Working translation
Original wording
Sonst war es der Gebrauch, dass im Monathe Februar im Lager der Tag, an welchem im März gesäet werden sollte, ausgerufen ward. An diesem Tage fuhren die, so Getreide bauen wollten, mit ihren Wagen und Samen auf die gewöhnlich vom Hoflager Eine oder zwey Tagreisen entlegenen Felder und bestellten dieselben. Die Ernte war ergiebig, denn der Boden gab das Fünfzigfache des Kornes
About The Horde of Ulu Muhammad and Küchük Muhammad (Golden Horde Tatars)
Tatars wanted to be Turks, Turks wanted to be Tatars
Editorial contextHammer notes that the Black Tatars near Baikal and the Water Tatars on the Kerulen appeared at the end of the 12th century under the name Mongols. When Chinggis Khan raised this small people to world rule, Turkic and Tatar peoples claimed the name for themselves, just as earlier, while Turks and Tatars ruled, each had wanted the other's name. Only later, once that power had faded, did Mongols and Kalmyks refuse to be called Tatars and Ottomans refuse to be called Turks; his note cites Rubruck's remark that the Mongols did not want to be called Tartars. On p. 22 he adds that the Turkic peoples of Russia are called Tatars, 'though the name is incorrect'.
When the small people living south-east of Lake Baikal … was raised by Chinggis Khan to be the ruling tribe of world-conquering armies, Turkic and Tatar peoples laid claim to this name, just as, when the Turks and Tatars held power, Turks wanted to be called Tatars and Tatars Turks. Only in more recent times … do the Mongols and Kalmyks no longer want to be called Tatars, nor the Ottomans Turks.
Working translation
Original wording
Als das kleine Volk, welches südöstlich vom Baikalsee … wohnte, durch Tschengis-Chan zum Herrscherstamme welterobernder Heere erhoben ward, nahmen türkische und tatarische Völker diesen Nahmen in Anspruch, wie, als die Türken und Tataren die Herrschaft inne hatten, Türken Tataren und Tataren Türken heissen wollten. Erst in neueren Zeiten … wollen die Mongolen und Kalmücken nicht mehr Tataren, und die Osmanen nicht mehr Türken heissen.
About Mongols, Tatars, Turks, Kalmyks, Ottomans
Keep in mind
Hammer's own theory of name-borrowing, with a dismissive remark about the 'vanity of barbarous peoples'.
Trial by goat and sieve among the pagan Tatars
Editorial contextHammer's first appendix translates the Ottoman geography Menazir ul-awalim, which here copies al-Qazwini's Athar al-bilad (1275). The Tatars are described as a hard, bloodthirsty Turkic people who worship the sun; their coming is counted among the Prophet's foretold wonders, with a saying about broad-faced, small-eyed 'Turks' who will tie their horses to the pillars of the mosques. A woman once held captive tells how, when her captor fell ill, his kin suspected her of poisoning him, set her on a goat and had a sorceress swing a sieve over her while they stood round with drawn swords; when the goat bleated she was freed. The Ottoman author adds that these pagan Tatars differ from the Crimean and Nogai Tatars, long since Muslims.
I was for a time a captive among the Tatars, when the man who had taken me prisoner fell ill. … One day they held a great assembly, brought a goat and set me on it. A sorceress came with a sieve in her hand, swung it and spoke some words … While this was happening, the goat bleated under me. They said: it is not as we believed, and let me go.
Working translation
Original wording
Ich war eine Zeitlang unter den Tataren gefangen, als der, so mich gefangen genommen, krank ward. … Eines Tages stellten sie eine grosse Versammlung an, brachten eine Ziege, und setzten mich darauf. Eine Zauberinn kam, mit einem Siebe in der Hand, schwang dasselbe und sprach einige Worte … Während diess geschah, meckerte die Ziege unter mir. Sie sagten, es ist nicht, wie wir geglaubet haben, und liessen mich los.
About Pagan Tatars before the Mongol conquests, as seen by Muslim writers
Keep in mind
A single anecdote passed through two compilers, framed by hostile religious prophecy; not a description of Golden Horde practice.