A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 · Chapter 35Chapter IX. (8)
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The soothsayers are the priests of the Mongals, and whatever they command to be done is performed without delay. I shall describe their office, as I learnt it from the goldsmith and others. Of these soothsayers there are great numbers, under the direction of a chief priest, whose house is always about a stone's throw in front of the great house of Mangu-khan, and under his charge are all the chariots which carry idols. The other soothsayers dwell behind the court, in places appointed for them; and such as have confidence in their art come to consult them from various distant parts. Some of them are skilful in astronomy, especially their chief, and they foretel eclipses of the sun and moon. When these are to happen, all the people prepare their food, that they may not be under the necessity of going out of doors, and during the eclipse they play on various instruments of music, and set up loud shouts: when it is over, they indulge in feasting and carousing, to express their joy.
These soothsayers pretend to foretell lucky and unlucky days for all affairs; and the Tartars never levy an army, or undertake a war without their approbation. They had long since resumed their attack on Hungary, but that the soothsayers have always opposed it. They make every thing which is sent to court pass between two fires, as a purification, likewise, all the household stuff belonging to a dead person must be purged in the same manner; and, if any living creature drop down, or any thing whatever fall to the ground during the ceremony, it becomes the property of the soothsayers, who, besides, have a certain proportion of every thing which they purify as their due. There was, therefore, a twofold reason why Friar Andrew Carpini was made to pass between the fires; both because he brought presents, and because Con-khan, for whom these had been brought, was dead: But as I brought nothing, this was not required of me.
Once on a time, some very costly furs were presented at the court of the Christian lady, whom Pascha, the good woman of Metz served, and the soothsayers, in passing them between the fires, took more than was their due. Another woman, who had the custody of the treasures belonging to that lady, accused them of the fraud to her mistress, who reproved them severely for their conduct. Sometime afterwards the lady fell sick, and the soothsayers accused the servant, who had detected their fraud, of having bewitched her. She received the bastinado for seven days successively, and other tortures, to make her confess; and on hearing of her mistress's death, begged to be killed that she might follow her, for that, in truth, she had never done her the smallest injury. But, as she confessed nothing, Mangu-khan commanded that she should live. After this the soothsayers accused the daughters nurse of the deceased lady, which nurse was a Christian, and wife to the chief of the Nestorian priests. She and her servant-maid were tortured to make a confession, and the maid answered, that the nurse had sent her to receive responses from a certain horse. The nurse also confessed that she had used some spells to procure the love of her lady, but had never done any thing to hurt her. On being demanded to say whether her husband knew of her incantations, she excused him, saying that he had burnt the characters which she had made. Then she was put to death, and the husband was sent to be judged by his bishop in Kathay.
It happened that the principal wife of Mangu brought forth a son, and the soothsayers were brought to foretell the destiny of the infant, when they prophesied that he should live long and prosperously, and become a great lord; but he died in a few days. On being reproached for their falsehood, they said that the nurse of Cerina, who had been lately put to death, had killed the boy, and pretended to have seen her carrying him away. There were then in the camp a son and daughter of the nurse, whom the lady immediately sent for in a rage, and ordered them to be put to death. Some time afterwards this came to the ears of Mangu-khan, who was much enraged at the conduct of his wife. He caused the man to be beheaded who had slain the nurses son, and made his head to be hung round the neck of the woman who had killed her daughter, ordering her to be cudgelled with burning fire-brands, through among all the tents, and then put to death. He would also have put his wife to death if it had not been for the sake of the children he had by her; but he commanded her to be shut up for seven days without food, and went out from his court for a whole, moon.
After the feast of Pentecost, they began to prepare their letters for your Majesty, and, in the mean time, the khan returned to Caracarum, and held a great feast on the 15th of June, at which all the ambassadors were desired to be present, but I went to church to baptize the three children of a poor German. William the goldsmith was chief butler at this feast, as he had the charge of the silver tree which poured out the drink. On this occasion the khan gave, during four successive days, a complete suit of apparel each day to all his courtiers, every day a new colour; and he made them a speech, saying, "I have sent my brothers afar into dangers among foreign nations; it shall be seen how you will conduct yourselves when I send you to extend the boundaries of our empire."
At this time there was an ambassador at the court from the khans of Bagdat, of whom it was reported, when Mangu declared he would not grant them peace unless they would destroy all their warlike ammunition, that he answered, "We will do this when you pluck off all the hoofs from your horses." I saw there, also, the ambassadors from a soldan of India, who brought with him eight leopards and ten hare-hounds who were taught to sit on a horses croup in hunting, like the leopards. When I asked of them, the way to India, they pointed to the west, and they travelled with me, on our return, always westwards, for nearly three weeks. I also saw there the ambassador of the sultan of Turkey, who brought rich presents to the khan. At length the letters being ready for your majesty, they called for me and explained them, and the following is their substance, so far as I could understand them by my interpreter:
"The commandment of the Eternal GOD is this: As there is but one Eternal GOD in heaven, so upon earth let there be but one Lord, Zingis-khan, son of God, and Mangu-tinij[1]. This is the word which is spoken to you; whether Moals, Namans, Markets, or Musselmen; wherever man may hear or horse may go, cause it to be heard and understood, that such as have heard my commands and do not obey, or would levy an army against me, shall be as having eyes and not seeing, as having hands and unable to hold any thing, and as having feet, yet unable to walk.
[1] Explained as signifying the sound of iron, probably in allusion to his martial power.--E.
"This is the commandment of the Eternal GOD, and by the virtue of the Eternal GOD, the commandment of Mangu-khan, the great emperor of the Moals, is given to Lodowick the French King, and to all other lords and priests, and to the great world of the Franks, that they understand my words and the commandments of the Eternal GOD, made to Zingis-khan; neither but from Zingis-khan ever came this commandment unto you[2].
[2] The obscurity of this passage is inexplicable.--E.
"A certain man, named David, came unto you as an ambassador from the Moals, but he was a liar; and with him you sent your ambassador to Khen-khan. After Khen-khan was dead, your ambassador came to this court, and Charmis his wife sent you a nassick cloth. But how could that wicked woman, more vile than a dog, know matters appertaining to war and peace, and to settle the great world in quiet?
"Those two monks who came from you to Sartach, were sent by Sartach to Baatu; but as Mangu-khan is the greatest over the world of the Moals, Baatu sent them unto us. And now that the great world of the Franks, and the priests, and monks, may live in peace and enjoy their goods, and that the commandment of GOD might be heard among you, we would have sent certain Moals as our ambassadors to you by your priests; but your messenger answered, that betwixt us and you there was a warlike nation, with many bad men and troublesome ways, so that they were afraid they could not bring our ambassadors in safety to you; but if we would deliver them our letters, containing our commandments to King Lodowick, they engaged to carry them. For this cause we have not sent our ambassadors along with them; but we have sent you this, the commandment of the Eternal GOD, by your priests. And this is the commandment of the Eternal GOD, which we have given you to understand, and when you shall hear and believe it, if you will obey, send your ambassadors unto us, so that we may be satisfied whether you will have peace or war. When, by the power of the Eternal GOD, the whole world shall be in unity, peace, and joy, from the rising of the sun to where it sets, then shall it appear what we will do. But if ye shall see and hear the commandment of the Eternal GOD, and will not hearken to or believe it, saying, our country is far off, our hills are strong, our sea is great; and in this confidence shall lead an army against us to know what we can do; he that made what is hard easy, and that which is far off near, the Eternal GOD himself knows that alone."
While these things were going forwards, my companion heard that we were to return by the wilderness to Baatu, under the guidance of a Moal, on which he ran to Bulgai, the chief secretary, signifying to him, by signs, that he should certainly die if he went that way. On the day when we were to receive our pass, which was a fortnight after the feast of St John, 8th July, the secretary said to him; it is the pleasure of Mangu, that your companion shall return by Baatu, and as you are sick, you may remain and shall be provided in necessaries till some ambassador come, with whom you may return more easily by a way where there are villages. The friar answered "God grant the khan a long and prosperous life, I will remain." Then they brought us three garments, saying, that as we refused gold or silver, and had stayed long here, praying for the khan, he entreats that each would accept a single garment, that you may not depart empty handed.
SECTION XXXIX.
The departure of Rubruquis from the Court of Mangu-khan, and his journey by Saray and other places, to Tripoly in Syria.
Leaving the Leskar or moving camp of Mangu-khan, we came to Caracarum, and while we remained in the house of William Bouchier the goldsmith, my guide brought ten jascots, five of which he delivered to William, commanding him, from the khan, to expend these for the use of the friar while he remained there, and he left the other five with my interpreter for my subsistence by the way; for William had given them such instructions without my knowledge. I immediately changed one of the jascots into small money, which I distributed among the poor Christians of Caracarum. Another was spent in providing garments and other necessaries for our journey. With the third my interpreter bought several articles, of which he afterwards made some profit. The other two we expended on the road, as, after we came into Persia, sufficient necessaries were nowhere given us. William, your majestys citizen and subject, sends you a girdle set with a precious stone, which is worn in those parts as a defence against thunder and lightning, and most humbly salutes you, always commending you to God in his prayers.
My companion and I parted with tears, he remaining with master William, while I, with my interpreter, the guide, and one servant, returned to the court of Baatu, our guide having authority to take a sheep once in four days, for the sustenance of all four. From Caracarum to the court of Baatu our journey continued four months and ten days, during all which time we never saw a town, or even the appearance of a single house, except one village, in which we did not even eat bread; nor in all that time did we ever rest, except one day, when we could not get horses. We returned, for the most part, by the same kind of people through whom we had passed in going, and yet through other countries, for we went in the winter, and returned in the summer, by the higher parts of the north, except that for fifteen days journey we had to travel along a certain river among the mountains, where there was no lodging, except by the river side[1]. Sometimes we had to go two, or even three days, with no other food than cosmos; and at one time we were in great danger, not being able to fall in with any people, our provisions all exhausted, and our horses quite tired.
[1] The reason of the change was, probably, that they might fall in with the travelling Tartar camps, who went northwards in the summer, that they might procure food and change of horses. In going to Mangu, he appears to have travelled through Soongaria, and, in returning, through the country of the Kalmaks. The river here mentioned may have been the Borotala.--E.
When we had travelled twenty days, I heard that the king of Armenia had passed by on his journey to the court of Mangu. In the end of August I met with Sartach, who went to Mangu, accompanied by his wives and children, and with flocks and herds; yet the bulk of the families over whom he ruled, remained between the Tanais and Etilia, or Volga. I sent my duty to him, saying that I would willingly have remained in his country, but that Mangu had ordered me to return and carry his letters. His answer was, that I must obey the will of Mangu-khan.
I then asked Coiac to return our clothes and books. "What," said he, "did you not bring them to Sartach?" I said that I had certainly brought them to Sartach, but had not given them, and put him in mind of what I had said on that former occasion. To this he answered "You say truth, and none can resist the truth. I left your goods with my father, who dwells in Saray, a new town, which Baatu has built on the eastern shore of the Volga, but our priests have some of your vestments." "If any thing please you," said I, "keep it, so that you restore my books." I requested letters from him to his father to restore my things; but he was in haste to be gone, and said that we should alight at the train of the ladies, which was near at hand, and he should send me Sartachs answer. Though I was fearful he might deceive me, yet I dared not to contend with him. Late in the evening his messenger came with two coats, seemingly all of silk, saying that Sartach had sent me these, one for myself, and that I might present the other to my king on his behalf. I answered, that I wore no such garments, but should present both to my king, in honour of his lord; and I now send both by the bearer of these letters. He delivered me also a letter for the father of Coiac, to restore all that belonged to me.
We returned to the court of Baatu on the same day on which I had departed thence the year before, being the second day after the invention of the Holy Cross, 16th September 1254; and I found our young men in health, though much afflicted with poverty. Gosset told me, they had perished for want, if the king of Armenia had not comforted them, and recommended them to Sartach, for the Tartars believed I was dead, and even asked them if they could keep oxen and milk mares; for if I had not returned, they had certainly been reduced to servitude. After this Baatu called me before him, and made the letters which Mangu-khan sends you to be interpreted to me. He likewise demanded what way I would go, whether by sea or land? I said the sea would be frozen, as whiter was approaching, and I must, therefore, go by land; and believing your majesty was still in Syria, I directed my journey to Persia, for if I had known you were in France, I would have gone through Hungary. We had to travel a month with Baatu before we could obtain a guide. At length they appointed a Jugur, who understanding I would give him nothing, and that I wished to go by Armenia, caused our letters to be made for conducting me to the soldan of Turkey, hoping he might there receive gifts. We left the moving court of Baatu fifteen days before All Saints, 16th October, and went direct southwards for Sarai, always keeping near the Volga, and there the Volga divides into three branches or arms, each almost twice as large as the branch of the Nile at Damieta. Besides these, it divides into four lesser arms, so that we had to pass seven branches of the river in boats: Upon the middle branch, is a village called Sumerkant[2], without any wall, but which was besieged by the Tartars for eight years before they could gain possession, and had formerly cost the Saracens and Alani nine years; for though not fortified, it is surrounded by water. We there found a German and his wife, with whom Gosset had lived all the preceding winter, by the order of Baatu. On the east side of this river Baatu always travels, and Sartach on the west, never going farther south than this place, as there is very good grass in great abundance. Coiacs father, on receiving the letters of Sartach, restored my vestments, except a surplice, an albs, an almic trimmed with fine silk, a stole, a girdle, and a tualia adorned with gold embroidery. He gave me back, likewise, my silver plate, except the censer, and a small box for holding chrism, all of which were with the priest who attended Sartach; and he returned my books, except our ladys psalter, which he kept with my leave, as I could not deny him, for he said Sartach took great delight in it. A bible also, and an Arabian book worth thirty sultanies, were retained, and many other things which I never recovered. Sarai, and the palace of Baatu are on the east side of the river, and the valley through which the arms of the river spread abroad, is more than seven leagues in breadth.
[2] Sarni, Saray, or Sarey, seems to have been built on the Achtuba, or eastern branch of the Volga, near Zarewpod, where many traces of a large town, still exist. Sumerkent is unknown, but may have been near Astrachan, formerly named Hadschi-Aidar-Khan. But there are ruins of a town still existing on both sides of the Volga, which are now used for the purpose of making saltpetre.--Forst.
After leaving Sarai, on the feast of All Saints, 1st November, we travelled south till the feast of St Martin, 11th November, when we came to the mountains of the Alani. In fifteen days travel we found no people, except at one little village, where one of the sons of Sartach resided, accompanied by many falconers, and falcons. For the first five days we did not meet a single man, and were a whole day and night in great danger of perishing for want of water. The Alani in some of the mountains, still hold out against the Tartars, so that two of every ten of the subjects of Sartach are obliged to guard certain passes in the mountains of Dagistan, lest the Alanians carry away the cattle in the plain. There are likewise certain Mahometans called Lesghis in these mountains who are not subjugated, so that the Tartars had to give us a guard of twenty men to see us safe beyond the Iron-gate. I was glad of this circumstance, as I had never seen the Tartars armed; and yet, of all those twenty, only two had habergions, which they said they had procured from the Alani, who are excellent smiths and armourers. In my opinion, the Tartars have small store of armour, except bows and arrows, and leather jackets; some have iron plates, and skull cups from Persia, and I saw two at the court of Mangu armed with clumsy and unwieldy coats of rough hog-skin. We found one castle of the Alanians, which had been subdued by the Tartars, about which there were many vineyards, and there we drank wine for the first time. On the following day we reached Derbent or the Iron-gate, built by Alexander the Macedonian, on a small plain between the sea and the mountains, one end of the city reaching to the shore, while the other extends a mile in length to the top of the mountain, on which is a strong castle. But the breadth of the city scarcely exceeds a stones throw. It has very strong walls, and turrets of large polished stones, with no trenches; but the Tartars have demolished the tops of the turrets, and the bulwarks of the walls.
Two days journey from Derbent we came to a city named Samaron[3], in which there were many Jews; near which we saw walls descending from the mountains to the sea; and leaving the way by the sea, because it turns to the east, we went up into the high countries, towards the south. Next day we passed through a valley, in which we could perceive the foundations of walls, stretching quite across between two mountains, which were themselves quite impassable. All these walls were erected of old by Alexander, for restraining the fierce nations of Scythian shepherds, inhabiting the wilderness, from invading the plains and cities of the southern countries of Persia and Asia Minor. There were also other walls and inclosures inhabited by Jews. Next day we came to a great city called Samach[4]; and after this we entered the great plain of Moan, through which runs the river Cur or Cyrus, from which the Curgi or Curdi have their name, whom we call Georgians, and which river passes through the middle of Tefflis, their capital. The Cur comes directly from the west, running east into the Caspian, and in it are excellent salmon[5]. In the plains of Moan or Mogan we again met with Tartars; and through this plain flows the Araxes, which comes from Armenia the Greater, called likewise the land of Ararat. To the west of that plain is Curgia[6], and in this plain the Crosmini, Krosmians or Korasmiens[7], formerly dwelt. Ganges or Kanja, a great city in the entrance of the mountains towards Georgia, was their capital, and prevented the Georgians from coming down to plunder the plain country. We next came to a bridge of boats fastened together with great iron chains, for crossing the united stream of the Kur and Araxes.
[3] Schabran, or Schabiran.--E.
[4] Shamaki, in Shirvan.--E.
[5] The Karai, on which Tefflis or Tiblis stands, runs from the north-west; the Demur, Araz or Araxes from the west; and both united form the Kur, which runs directly south into the Caspian.--E.
[6] Georgia or Gurgistan is to the north-west of the plain of Mogan.--E.
[7] These were the ancestors of the present Turks, who laid the foundation of the Osmanian or Othoman empire. Kanja, called Ganges or Ganghe in the text, was their capital.--Frost.
We proceeded thence, travelling up the river called pontem inidignatus Araxes, leaving Persia and the Caspian mountains on our left hand, towards the south, Curgia and the great sea on our right hand, towards the west[8]. Going all the way southwards[9], we passed through the meadows of Bacchu- khan, the general of the Tartar army on the Araxes, who has likewise subjugated the Curgi, the Turks, and the Persians. There is another Tartar governor of Persia at Tauris, named Argon, who presides over the tribute. But Mangu-khan has recalled both of these generals to make way for one of his brothers, as I formerly mentioned, who is to have the command in Persia. I was in the house of Bacchu, who gave me wine, while he drank cosmos; and, although it was the best new wine, I would rather have had cosmos, if he had offered it, being more restorative for such a half starved wretch as I then was. We ascended the Araxes to its head, and beyond the mountains, where it rises, is the good city of Arsorum [10], which belongs to the Soldan of Turkey [11]. When we departed from Bacchu, my guide went to Tauris to speak with Argon, and took my interpreter with him; but Bacchu caused me to be carried to Naxuam [12], formerly the capital of a great kingdom, and the greatest and fairest city in those parts, but the Tartars have now made it a wilderness. There were formerly eight hundred churches [13] of the Armenians here, which are now reduced to two very small ones, in one of which I held my Christmas as well as I could, with our clerk Gosset. Next day the priest of this church died, and a bishop with twelve monks came from the mountains to his funeral, for all the bishops of the Armenians are monks, and likewise most of those belonging to the Greeks [14].
[8] This passage is erroneous or corrupted. In travelling westwards up the Araxes or Araz, he had Persia on his left, to the south, Georgia on his right, to the north, and the Caspian sea and mountains of the Iron-gate were left behind him, to the east and north-east.--E.
[9] Westwards.--E.
[10] Arz-roum on the Frat or Euphrates, perhaps a corruption of Arx- romanorum; as the Turks give the name of Roum to a part of Lesser Asia; and all the eastern nations call the Constantinopolitan empire Roum to this day.--E.
[11] Turkey, in these travels of Rubruquis, is always, to be understood as referring to the Turkish dominion in Asia Minor, of which Konieh or Iconium was the capital.--E.
[12] Nak-sivan, or Nag-jowan.--E.
[13] This must be an error for eighty.--E.
[14] Rubruquis here tells a long story of an Armenian prophecy, from which they expected to be freed from the iron yoke of the Tartars, by St Louis, not worth inserting.--E.
In the city of Naxuam I met a Catalan friar, of the order of Predicants, named Barnard, who lives with a friar of the Holy Sepulchre, resident in Georgia, and possessing extensive lands there. We were detained in Naxuam by the snow, till the 6th January 1255, and came in four days to the country of Sabensa, a Curdish prince, heretofore powerful, but now tributary to the Tartars, who destroyed all his warlike stores. Zacharias, the father of Sabensa, possessed himself of all the country of the Armenians, from whence he drove out the Saracens. In this country there are many fine villages of true Christians, having churches like those of Europe; and every Armenian has in his house, in an honourable place, a wooden hand holding a cross, before which a lamp continually burns; and that which we do by holy water, they do with frankincense, which they burn every evening through every corner of the house, to drive away evil spirits. I eat with Sabensa, and both he and his wife did me great reverence. His son Zachary, a wise and comely young man, asked me if your majesty would, entertain him; for though he has plenty of all things, he is so uneasy under the Tartar dominion, that he would rather retire to a strange country, than endure their violent exactions. These people say they are true sons of the church, and if the Pope would send them aid, they would bring all the neighbouring nations under subjection to the church of Rome.
From Naxuam we travelled in fifteen days into the country of the soldan of Turkey, to a castle called Marseugen, inhabited by Armenians, Curgians, and Greeks, the Turks only having the dominion. From that place, where we arrived on the first Sunday of Lent, till I got to Cyprus, eight days before the feast of St John the Baptist, I was forced to buy all our provisions. He who was my guide procured horses for us, and took my money for the victuals, which he put into his own pocket; for when in the fields, he took a sheep from any flock he saw by the way, without leave or ceremony. In the Feast of the Purification, 2d February, I was in a city named Ayni, belonging to Sabensa, in a strong situation, having an hundred Armenian churches, and two mosques, and in it a Tartar officer resides.