OF THE CITY OF CARACORON.
Caracoron is a city of some three miles in compass. [It is surrounded
by a strong earthen rampart, for stone is scarce there. And beside it
there is a great citadel wherein is a fine palace in which the Governor
resides.] ’Tis the first city that the Tartars possessed after they
issued from their own country. And now I will tell you all about how
they first acquired dominion and spread over the world.{1}
Originally the Tartars{2} dwelt in the north on the borders of
CHORCHA.{3} Their country was one of great plains; and there were no
towns or villages in it, but excellent pasture-lands, with great rivers
and many sheets of water; in fact it was a very fine and extensive
region. But there was no sovereign in the land. They did, however, pay
tax and tribute to a great prince who was called in their tongue UNC
CAN, the same that we call Prester John, him in fact about whose great
dominion all the world talks.{4} The tribute he had of them was one
beast out of every ten, and also a tithe of all their other gear.
Now it came to pass that the Tartars multiplied exceedingly. And when
Prester John saw how great a people they had become, he began to
fear that he should have trouble from them. So he made a scheme to
distribute them over sundry countries, and sent one of his Barons to
carry this out. When the Tartars became aware of this they took it
much amiss, and with one consent they left their country and went off
across a desert to a distant region towards the north, where Prester
John could not get at them to annoy them. Thus they revolted from his
authority and paid him tribute no longer. And so things continued for a
time.
NOTE 1.—KARÁKORUM, near the upper course of the River Orkhon, is
said by Chinese authors to have been founded by Búkú Khan of the
Hoei-Hu or Uigúrs, in the 8th century. In the days of Chinghiz, we
are told that it was the headquarters of his ally, and afterwards
enemy, Togrul Wang Khan, the Prester John of Polo. [“The name of
this famous city is Mongol, _Kara_, ‘black,’ and _Kuren_, ‘a camp,’
or properly ‘pailing.’” It was founded in 1235 by Okkodai, who
called it Ordu Balik, or “the City of the Ordu,” otherwise “The
Royal City.” Mohammedan authors say it took its name of Karákorum
from the mountains to the south of it, in which the Orkhon had
its source. (_D’Ohsson_, ii. 64.) The Chinese mention a range of
mountains from which the Orkhon flows, called _Wu-tê kien shan_.
(_T’ang shu_, bk. 43_b_.) Probably these are the same. Rashiduddin
speaks of a tribe of Utikien Uigúrs living in this country.
(_Bretschneider, Med. Geog._ 191; _D’Ohsson_, i. 437; _Rockhill,
Rubruck_, 220, note.)—Karákorum was called by the Chinese _Ho-lin_
and was chosen by Chinghiz, in 1206, as his capital; the full
name of it, _Ha-la Ho-lin_, was derived from a river to the west.
(_Yuen shi_, ch. lviii.) Gaubil (_Holin_, p. 10) says that the
river, called in his days in Tartar _Karoha_, was, at the time
of the Mongol Emperors, named by the Chinese _Ha-la Ho-lin_, in
Tartar language _Ka la Ko lin_, or _Cara korin_, or _Kara Koran_.
In the spring of 1235, Okkodai had a wall raised round Ho-lin
and a palace called _Wang an_, built inside the city. (_Gaubil,
Gentchiscan_, 89.) After the death of Kúblái, _Ho-lin_ was altered
into _Ho-Ning_, and, in 1320, the name of the province was changed
into _Ling-pé_ (mountainous north, _i.e._ the _Yin-shan_ chain,
separating China Proper from Mongolia). In 1256, Mangu Kaan decided
to transfer the seat of government to Kaipingfu, or Shangtu, near
the present Dolonnor, north of Peking. (_Suprà_ in Prologue, ch.
xiii. note 1.) In 1260, Kúblái transferred his capital to _Ta-Tu_
(Peking).
Plano Carpini (1246) is the first Western traveller to mention it
by name which he writes _Caracoron_; he visited the Sira Orda, at
half a day’s journey from Karákorum, where Okkodai used to pass the
summer; it was situated at a place Ormektua. (_Rockhill, Rubruck_,
21, 111.) Rubruquis (1253) visited the city itself; the following
is his account of it: “As regards the city of Caracoron, you must
understand that if you set aside the Kaan’s own Palace, it is not
as good as the Borough of St. Denis; and as for the Palace, the
Abbey of St. Denis is worth ten of it! There are two streets in
the town; one of which is occupied by the Saracens, and in that is
the marketplace. The other street is occupied by the Cathayans,
who are all craftsmen. Besides these two streets there are some
great palaces occupied by the court secretaries. There are also
twelve idol temples belonging to different nations, two Mahummeries
in which the Law of Mahomet is preached, and one church of the
Christians at the extremity of the town. The town is enclosed by
a mud-wall and has four gates. At the east gate they sell millet
and other corn, but the supply is scanty; at the west gate they
sell rams and goats; at the south gate oxen and waggons; at the
north gate horses.... Mangu Kaan has a great Court beside the Town
Rampart, which is enclosed by a brick wall, just like our priories.
Inside there is a big palace, within which he holds a drinking-bout
twice a year; ... there are also a number of long buildings like
granges, in which are kept his treasures and his stores of victual”
(345–6; 334).
Where was Karákorum situated?
The Archimandrite Palladius is very prudent (_l.c._ p. 11):
“Everything that the studious Chinese authors could gather and
say of the situation of Karakhorum is collected in two Chinese
works, _Lo fung low wen kao_ (1849), and _Mungku yew mu ki_
(1859). However, no positive conclusion can be derived from these
researches, chiefly in consequence of the absence of a tolerably
correct map of Northern Mongolia.”
Abel Rémusat (_Mém. sur Géog. Asie Centrale_, p. 20) made a
confusion between Karábalgasun and Karákorum which has misled most
writers after him.
Sir Henry Yule says: “The evidence adduced in Abel Rémusat’s paper
on Karákorum (_Mém. de l’Acad. R. des Insc._ VII. 288) establishes
the site on the north bank of the Orkhon, and about five days’
journey above the confluence of the Orkhon and Tula. But as we have
only a very loose knowledge of these rivers, it is impossible to
assign the geographical position with accuracy. Nor is it likely
that ruins exist beyond an outline perhaps of the Kaan’s Palace
walls.”
In the _Geographical Magazine_ for July, 1874 (p. 137), Sir Henry
Yule has been enabled, by the kind aid of Madame Fedtchenko in
supplying a translation from the Russian, to give some account of
Mr. Paderin’s visit to the place, in the summer of 1873, along with
a sketch-map.
“The site visited by Mr. Paderin is shown, by the particulars
stated in that paper, to be sufficiently identified with Karákorum.
It is precisely that which Rémusat indicated, and which bears in
the Jesuit maps, as published by D’Anville, the name of _Talarho
Hara Palhassoun_ (_i.e._ Kará Balghásun), standing 4 or 5 miles from
the left bank of the Orkhon, in lat. (by the Jesuit Tables) 47° 32′
24″. It is now known as Kara-Khărăm (Rampart) or Kara Balghasun
(city). The remains consist of a quadrangular rampart of mud and
sun-dried brick, of about 500 paces to the side, and now about 9
feet high, with traces of a higher tower, and of an inner rampart
parallel to the other. But these remains probably appertain to the
city as re-occupied by the descendants of the Yuen in the end of
the 14th century, after their expulsion from China.”
Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 123) rightly observes: “It
seems, however, that Paderin is mistaken in his supposition.
At least it does not agree with the position assigned to the
ancient Mongol residence in the Mongol annals _Erdenin erikhe_,
translated into Russian, in 1883, by Professor Pozdneiev. It is
there positively stated (p. 110, note 2) that the monastery of
_Erdenidsu_, founded in 1585, was erected on the ruins of that
city, which once had been built by order of Ogotai Khan, and where
he had established his residence; and where, after the expulsion
of the Mongols from China, Toghon Temur again had fixed the Mongol
court. This vast monastery still exists, one English mile, or more,
east of the Orkhon. It has even been astronomically determined by
the Jesuit missionaries, and is marked on our maps of Mongolia.
Pozdneiev, who visited the place in 1877, obligingly informs
me that the square earthen wall surrounding the monastery of
Erdenidsu, and measuring about an English mile in circumference,
may well be the very wall of ancient Karákorum.”
Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni
Tso, or Erdeni Chao, Monastery occupies the site of Karákorum, near
the bank of the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old)
Orkhon. (See map in _Inscriptions de l’Orkhon_, Helsingfors, 1892;
a plan of the vicinity and of the Erdeni Tso is given (plate 36) in
_W. Radloff’s Atlas der Alterthümer der Mongolei_, St. Pet., 1892.)
According to a work of the 13th century quoted by the late
Professor G. Devéria, the distance between the old capital of the
Uighúr, Kara Balgasún, on the left bank of the Orkhon, north of
Erdeni Tso, and the Ho-lin or Karákorum of the Mongols, would be
70 _li_ (about 30 miles), and such is the space between Erdeni
Tso and Kara Balgasún. M. Marcel Monnier (_Itinéraires_, p. 107)
estimates the bird’s-eye distance from Erdeni Tso to Kara Balgasún
at 33 kilom. (about 20½ miles). “When the brilliant epoch of the
power of the Chinghizkhanides,” says Professor Axel Heikel, “was
at an end, the city of Karákorum fell into oblivion, and towards
the year 1590 was founded, in the centre of this historically
celebrated region of the Orkhon, the most ancient of Buddhist
monasteries of Mongolia, this of Erdeni Tso [Erdeni Chao]. It was
built, according to a Mongol chronicle, on the ruins of the town
built by Okkodaï, son of Chinghiz Khan, that is to say, on the
ancient Karákorum.” (_Inscriptions de l’Orkhon_.) So Professor
Heikel, like Professor Pozdneiev, concludes that Erdeni Tso
was built on the site of Karákorum and cannot be mistaken for
Karabalgásun. Indeed it is highly probable that one of the walls of
the actual convent belonged to the old Mongol capital. The travels
and researches by expeditions from Finland and Russia have made
these questions pretty clear. Some most interesting inscriptions
have been brought home and have been studied by a number of
Orientalists: G. Schlegel, O. Donner, G. Devéria, Vasiliev, G. von
der Gabelentz, Dr. Hirth, G. Huth, E. H. Parker, W. Bang, etc., and
especially Professor Vilh. Thomsen, of Copenhagen, who deciphered
them (_Déchiffrement des Inscriptions de l’Orkhon et de l’Iénissei_,
Copenhague, 1894, 8vo; _Inscriptions de l’Orkhon déchiffrées,
par_ V. Thomsen, Helsingfors, 1894, 8vo), and Professor W. Radloff
of St. Petersburg (_Atlas der Alterthümer der Mongolei_, 1892–6,
fol.; _Die alttürkischen Inschriften der Mongolei_, 1894–7, etc.).
There is an immense literature on these inscriptions, and for the
bibliography, I must refer the reader to _H. Cordier, Etudes
Chinoises_ (1891–1894), Leide, 1895, 8vo. _Id._ (1895–1898), Leide,
1898, 8vo. The initiator of these discoveries was N. Iarindsev,
of Irkutsk, who died at Barnaoul in 1894, and the first great
expedition was started from Finland in 1890, under the guidance
of Professor Axel Heikel. (_Inscriptions de l’Orkhon recueillies
par l’expédition finnoise, 1890, et publiées par la Société
Finno-Ougrienne_, Helsingfors, 1892, fol.) The Russian expedition
left the following year, 1891, under the direction of the
Academician W. Radloff.
[Illustration]
M. Chaffanjon (_Nouv. Archiv. des Missions Scient._ IX., 1899, p.
81), in 1895, does not appear to know that there is a difference
between Kará Korum and Kará Balgásun, as he writes: “Forty
kilometres south of Kara Korum _or_ Kara Balgásun, the convent of
Erdin Zoun.”
A plan of Kara Balgásun is given (plate 27) in _Radloff’s Atlas_.
See also _Henri Cordier et Gaubil, Situation de Holin en Tartarie_,
Leide, 1893.
In Rubruquis’s account of Karákorum there is one passage of great
interest: “Then master William [Guillaume L’Orfèvre] had made for
us an iron to make wafers ... he made also a silver box to put
the body of Christ in, with relics in little cavities made in the
sides of the box.” Now M. Marcel Monnier, who is one of the last,
if not the last traveller who visited the region, tells me that he
found in the large temple of Erdeni Tso an iron (the cast bore a
Latin cross; had the wafer been Nestorian, the cross should have
been Greek) and a silver box, which are very likely the objects
mentioned by Rubruquis. It is a new proof of the identity of the
sites of Erdeni Tso and Karákorum.—H. C.]
[Illustration: Entrance to the Erdeni Tso Great Temple.]
NOTE 2.—[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 113, note) says: “The earliest
date to which I have been able to trace back the name Tartar is
A.D. 732. We find mention made in a Turkish inscription found on
the river Orkhon and bearing that date, of the _Tokuz Tatar_, or
‘Nine (tribes of) Tatars,’ and of the _Otuz Tatar_, or ‘Thirty
(tribes of) Tatars.’ It is probable that these tribes were then
living between the Oguz or Uigúr Turks on the west, and the Kitan
on the east. (_Thomsen, Inscriptions de l’Orkhon_, 98, 126, 140.)
Mr. Thos. Watters tells me that the Tartars are first mentioned
by the Chinese in the period extending from A.D. 860 to 874; the
earliest mention I have discovered, however, is under date of
A.D. 880. (_Wu tai shih_, Bk. 4.) We also read in the same work
(Bk. 74, 2) that ‘The Ta-ta were a branch of the Mo-ho (the name
the Nû-chēn Tartars bore during the Sui and T’ang periods: _Ma
Tuan-lin_, Bk. 327, 5). They first lived to the north of the Kitan.
Later on they were conquered by this people, when they scattered, a
part becoming tributaries of the Kitan, another to the P’o-hai (a
branch of the Mo-ho), while some bands took up their abode in the
Yin Shan in Southern Mongolia, north of the provinces of Chih-li
and Shan-si, and took the name of _Ta-ta_.’ In 981 the Chinese
ambassador to the Prince of Kao-chang (Karakhodjo, some 20 miles
south-east of Turfan) traversed the Ta-ta country. They then seem
to have occupied the northern bend of the Yellow River. He gives
the names of some nine tribes of Ta-ta living on either side of
the river. He notes that their neighbours to the east were Kitan,
and that for a long time they had been fighting them after the
occupation of Kan-chou by the Uigúrs. (_Ma Tuan-lin_, Bk. 336,
12–14.) We may gather from this that these Tartars were already
settled along the Yellow River and the Yin Shan (the valley in
which is now the important frontier mart of Kwei-hua Ch’eng) at the
beginning of the ninth century, for the Uigúrs, driven southward
by the Kirghiz, first occupied Kan-chou in north-western Kan-suh,
somewhere about A.D. 842.”]
NOTE 3.—CHORCHA (_Ciorcia_) is the Manchu country, whose people
were at that time called by the Chinese _Yuché_ or _Niuché_, and
by the Mongols _Churché_, or as it is in Sanang Setzen, _Jurchid_.
The country in question is several times mentioned by Rashiduddin
as Churché. The founders of the _Kin_ Dynasty, which the Mongols
superseded in Northern China, were of Churché race. [It was part of
Nayan’s appanage. (See Bk. II. ch. v.)—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—The idea that a Christian potentate of enormous wealth
and power, and bearing this title, ruled over vast tracts in the
far East, was universal in Europe from the middle of the 12th to
the end of the 13th century, after which time the Asiatic story
seems gradually to have died away, whilst the Royal Presbyter
was assigned to a locus in Abyssinia; the equivocal application
of the term _India_ to the East of Asia and the East of Africa
facilitating this transfer. Indeed I have a suspicion, contrary
to the view now generally taken, that the term may from the first
have belonged to the Abyssinian Prince, though circumstances led to
its being applied in another quarter for a time. It appears to me
almost certain that the letter of Pope Alexander III., preserved
by R. Hoveden, and written in 1177 to the _Magnificus Rex Indorum,
Sacerdotum sanctissimus_, was meant for the King of Abyssinia.
Be that as it may, the inordinate report of Prester John’s
magnificence became especially diffused from about the year 1165,
when a letter full of the most extravagant details was circulated,
which purported to have been addressed by this potentate to the
Greek Emperor Manuel, the Roman Emperor Frederick, the Pope, and
other Christian sovereigns. By the circulation of this letter,
glaring fiction as it is, the idea of this Christian Conqueror
was planted deep in the mind of Europe, and twined itself round
every rumour of revolution in further Asia. Even when the din of
the conquests of Chinghiz began to be audible in the West, he was
invested with the character of a Christian King, and more or less
confounded with the mysterious Prester John.
The first notice of a conquering Asiatic potentate so styled had
been brought to Europe by the Syrian Bishop of Gabala (_Jibal_,
south of Laodicea in Northern Syria), who came, in 1145, to lay
various grievances before Pope Eugene III. He reported that not
long before a certain John, inhabiting the extreme East, king and
Nestorian priest, and claiming descent from the Three Wise Kings,
had made war on the _Samiard_ Kings of the Medes and Persians, and
had taken Ecbatana their capital. He was then proceeding to the
deliverance of Jerusalem, but was stopped by the Tigris, which he
could not cross, and compelled by disease in his host to retire.
M. d’Avezac first showed to whom this account must apply, and the
subject has more recently been set forth with great completeness
and learning by Dr. Gustavus Oppert. The conqueror in question was
the founder of Kara Khitai, which existed as a great Empire in
Asia during the last two-thirds of the 12th century. This chief
was a prince of the Khitan dynasty of Liao, who escaped with a
body of followers from Northern China on the overthrow of that
dynasty by the _Kin_ or Niuchen about 1125. He is called by the
Chinese historians Yeliu Tashi; by Abulghazi, Nuzi Taigri Ili;
and by Rashiduddin, Nushi (or Fushi) Taifu. Being well received
by the Uighúrs and other tribes west of the Desert who had been
subject to the Khitan Empire, he gathered an army and commenced
a course of conquest which eventually extended over Eastern and
Western Turkestan, including Khwarizm, which became tributary to
him. He took the title of _Gurkhan_, said to mean Universal or
Suzerain Khan, and fixed at Bala Sagun, north of the Thian Shan,
the capital of his Empire, which became known as _Kará_ (Black)
_Khitai_.[1] [The dynasty being named by the Chinese _Si-Liao_
(Western Liao) lasted till it was destroyed in 1218.—H. C.] In 1141
he came to the aid of the King of Khwarizm against _Sanjar_ the
Seljukian sovereign of Persia (whence the _Samiard_ of the Syrian
Bishop), who had just taken Samarkand, and defeated that prince
with great slaughter. Though the Gurkhan himself is not described
to have extended his conquests into Persia, the King of Khwarizm
followed up the victory by an invasion of that country, in which he
plundered the treasury and cities of Sanjar.
Admitting this Karacathayan prince to be the first conqueror (in
Asia, at all events) to whom the name of Prester John was applied,
it still remains obscure how that name arose. Oppert supposes that
_Gurkhan_ or _Kurkhan_, softened in West Turkish pronunciation
into _Yurkan_, was confounded with _Yochanan_ or _Johannes_; but
he finds no evidence of the conqueror’s profession of Christianity
except the fact, notable certainly, that the daughter of the last
of his brief dynasty is recorded to have been a Christian. Indeed,
D’Ohsson says that the first Gurkhan was a Buddhist, though on what
authority is not clear. There seems a probability at least that
it was an error in the original ascription of Christianity to the
Karacathayan prince, which caused the confusions as to the identity
of Prester John which appear in the next century, of which we shall
presently speak. Leaving this doubtful point, it has been plausibly
suggested that the title of Presbyter Johannes was connected with
the legends of the immortality of John the Apostle (ὁ πρεσβύτερος,
as he calls himself in the 2nd and 3rd epistles), and the belief
referred to by some of the Fathers that he would be the Forerunner
of our Lord’s second coming, as John the Baptist had been of His
first.
A new theory regarding the original Prester John has been
propounded by Professor Bruun of Odessa, in a Russian work entitled
_The Migrations of Prester John_. The author has been good enough
to send me large extracts of this essay in (French) translation;
and I will endeavour to set forth the main points as well as the
small space that can be given to the matter will admit. Some
remarks and notes shall be added, but I am not in a position to do
justice to Professor Bruun’s views, from the want of access to
some of his most important authorities, such as Brosset’s _History
of Georgia_, and its appendices.
It will be well, before going further, to give the essential
parts of the passage in the History of Bishop Otto of Freisingen
(referred to in vol i. p. 229), which contains the first allusion
to a personage styled Prester John:
“We saw also there [at Rome in 1145] the afore-mentioned Bishop of
Gabala, from Syria.... We heard him bewailing with tears the peril
of the Church beyond-sea since the capture of Edessa, and uttering
his intention on that account to cross the Alps and seek aid from
the King of the Romans and the King of the Franks. He was also
telling us how, not many years before, one JOHN, KING and PRIEST,
who dwells in the extreme Orient beyond Persia and Armenia, and
is (with his people) a Christian, but a Nestorian, had waged war
against the brother Kings of the Persians and Medes who are called
the Samiards, and had captured Ecbatana, of which we have spoken
above, the seat of their dominion. The said Kings having met him
with their forces made up of Persians, Medes, and Assyrians, the
battle had been maintained for 3 days, either side preferring
death to flight. But at last PRESBYTER JOHN (for so they are wont
to style him), having routed the Persians, came forth the victor
from a most sanguinary battle. After this victory (he went on to
say) the aforesaid John was advancing to fight in aid of the Church
at Jerusalem; but when he arrived at the Tigris, and found there
no possible means of transport for his army, he turned northward,
as he had heard that the river in that quarter was frozen over in
winter-time. Halting there for some years[2] in expectation of a
frost, which never came, owing to the mildness of the season, he
lost many of his people through the unaccustomed climate, and was
obliged to return homewards. This personage is said to be of the
ancient race of those Magi who are mentioned in the Gospel, and to
rule the same nations that they did, and to have such glory and
wealth that he uses (they say) only an emerald sceptre. It was
(they say) from his being fired by the example of his fathers, who
came to adore Christ in the cradle, that he was proposing to go to
Jerusalem, when he was prevented by the cause already alleged.”
Professor Bruun will not accept Oppert’s explanation, which
identifies this King and Priest with the Gur-Khan of Karacathay,
for whose profession of Christianity there is indeed (as has been
indicated—_supra_) no real evidence; who could not be said to have
made an attack upon any pair of brother Kings of the Persians and
the Medes, nor to have captured Ecbatana (a city, whatever its
identity, of Media); who could never have had any intention of
coming to Jerusalem; and whose geographical position in no way
suggested the mention of Armenia.
Professor Bruun thinks he finds a warrior much better answering
to the indications in the Georgian prince John Orbelian, the
general-in-chief under several successive Kings of Georgia in that
age.
At the time when the Gur-Khan defeated Sanjar the real brothers
of the latter had been long dead; Sanjar had withdrawn from
interference with the affairs of Western Persia; and Hamadán (if
this is to be regarded as Ecbatana) was no residence of his. But
it was the residence of Sanjar’s nephew Mas’úd, in whose hands was
now the dominion of Western Persia; whilst Mas’úd’s nephew, Dáúd,
held Media, _i.e._ Azerbeiján, Arrán, and Armenia. It is in these two
princes that Professor Bruun sees the _Samiardi fratres_ of the
German chronicler.
Again the expression “extreme Orient” is to be interpreted by local
usage. And with the people of Little Armenia, through whom probably
such intelligence reached the Bishop of Gabala, the expression the
_East_ signified specifically Great Armenia (which was then a part
of the kingdom of Georgia and Abkhasia), as Dulaurier has stated.[3]
It is true that the Georgians were not really Nestorians, but
followers of the Greek Church. It was the fact, however, that in
general, the Armenians, whom the Greeks accused of following
the Jacobite errors, retorted upon members of the Greek Church
with the reproach of the opposite heresy of Nestorianism. And the
attribution of Nestorianism to a Georgian Prince is, like the
expression “_extreme East_,” an indication of the Armenian channel
through which the story came.
The intention to march to the aid of the Christians in Palestine is
more like the act of a Georgian General than that of a Karacathayan
Khan; and there are in the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
several indications of the proposal at least of Georgian assistance.
The personage in question is said to have come from the country of
the Magi, from whom he was descended. But these have frequently
been supposed to come from Great Armenia. _E.g._ Friar Jordanus says
they came from Moghán.[4]
The name _Ecbatana_ has been so variously applied that it was
likely to lead to ambiguities. But it so happens that, in a
previous passage of his History, Bishop Otto of Freisingen, in
rehearsing some Oriental information gathered apparently from
the same Bishop of Gabala, has shown what was the place that he
had been taught to identify with Ecbatana, viz. the old Armenian
city of ANI.[5] Now this city was captured from the Turks, on
behalf of the King of Georgia, David the Restorer, by his great
_sbasalar_,[6] John Orbelian, in 1123–24.
Professor Bruun also lays stress upon a passage in a German
chronicle of date some years later than Otho’s work:
“1141. Liupoldus dux Bawariorum obiit, Henrico fratre ejus
succedente in ducatu. Iohannes Presbyter Rex Armeniæ et Indiæ cum
duobus regibus fratribus Persarum et Medorum pugnavit et vicit.”[7]
He asks how the Gur-Khan of Karakhitai could be styled King of
_Armenia_ and of India? It may be asked, _per contra_, how either
the King of Georgia or his _Peshwa_ (to use the Mahratta analogy
of John Orbelian’s position) could be styled King of Armenia and
of _India_? In reply to this, Professor Bruun adduces a variety of
quotations which he considers as showing that the term _India_ was
applied to some Caucasian region.
My own conviction is that the report of Otto of Freisingen is not
merely the _first mention_ of a great Asiatic potentate called
Prester John, but that his statement is the whole and sole basis
of good faith on which the story of such a potentate rested;
and I am quite as willing to believe, on due evidence, that the
nucleus of fact to which his statement referred, and on which such
a pile of long-enduring fiction was erected, occurred in Armenia
as that it occurred in Turan. Indeed in many respects the story
would thus be more comprehensible. One cannot attach any value
to the quotation from the Annalist in Pertz, because there seems
no reason to doubt that the passage is a mere adaptation of the
report by Bishop Otto, of whose work the Annalist makes other use,
as is indeed admitted by Professor Bruun, who (be it said) is a
pattern of candour in controversy. But much else that the Professor
alleges is interesting and striking. The fact that Azerbeijan and
the adjoining regions were known as “the East” is patent to the
readers of this book in many a page, where the Khan and his Mongols
in occupation of that region are styled by Polo _Lord of the_
LEVANT, _Tartars of the_ LEVANT (_i.e._ of the East), even when the
speaker’s standpoint is in far Cathay.[8] The mention of _Aní_ as
identical with the Ecbatana of which Otto had heard is a remarkable
circumstance which I think even Oppert has overlooked. That this
Georgian hero _was_ a Christian and that his name _was_ John are
considerable facts. Oppert’s conversion of Korkhan into Yokhanan
or John is anything but satisfactory. The identification proposed
again makes it quite intelligible how the so-called Prester John
should have talked about coming to the aid of the Crusaders; a
point so difficult to explain on Oppert’s theory, that he has been
obliged to introduce a duplicate John in the person of a Greek
Emperor to solve that knot; another of the weaker links in his
argument. In fact, Professor Bruun’s thesis seems to me more than
fairly successful in _paving the way_ for the introduction of a
Caucasian Prester John; the barriers are removed, the carpets are
spread, the trumpets sound royally—but the conquering hero comes
not!
He does very nearly come. The almost royal power and splendour of
the Orbelians at this time is on record: “They held the office of
_Sbasalar_ or Generalissimo of all Georgia. All the officers of the
King’s Palace were under their authority. Besides that they had
12 standards of their own, and under each standard 1000 warriors
mustered. As the custom was for the King’s flag to be white and the
pennon over it red, it was ruled that the Orpelian flag should be
red and the pennon white.... At banquets they alone had the right
to couches whilst other princes had cushions only. Their food was
served on silver; and to them it belonged to crown the kings.”[9]
Orpel Ivané, _i.e._ John Orbelian, Grand _Sbasalar_, was for years
the pride of Georgia and the hammer of the Turks. In 1123–1124 he
wrested from them Tiflis and the whole country up to the Araxes,
including _Ani_, as we have said. His King David, the Restorer,
bestowed on him large additional domains from the new conquests;
and the like brilliant service and career of conquest was continued
under David’s sons and successors, Demetrius and George; his later
achievements, however, and some of the most brilliant, occurring
after the date of the Bishop of Gabala’s visit to Rome. But still
we hear of no actual conflict with the chief princes of the
Seljukian house, and of no event in his history so important as to
account for his being made to play the part of Presbyter Johannes
in the story of the Bishop of Gabala. Professor Bruun’s most
forcible observation in reference to this rather serious difficulty
is that the historians have transmitted to us extremely little
detail concerning the reign of Demetrius II., and do not even agree
as to its duration. Carebat vate sacro: “It was,” says Brosset,
“long and glorious, but it lacked a commemorator.” If new facts
can be alleged, the identity may still be proved. But meantime the
conquests of the Gur-Khan and his defeat of Sanjar, just at a time
which suits the story, are indubitable, and this great advantage
Oppert’s thesis retains. As regards the claim to the title of
_Presbyter_ nothing worth mentioning is alleged on either side.
When the Mongol Conquests threw Asia open to Frank travellers in
the middle of the 13th century, their minds were full of Prester
John; they sought in vain for an adequate representative, but
it was not in the nature of things but they should find _some_
representative. In fact they found _several_. Apparently no
real tradition existed among the Eastern Christians of any such
personage, but the persistent demand produced a supply, and the
honour of identification with Prester John, after hovering over
one head and another, settled finally upon that of the King of the
Keraits, whom we find to play the part in our text.
Thus in Plano Carpini’s single mention of Prester John as the King
of the Christians of India the Greater, who defeats the Tartars
by an elaborate stratagem, Oppert recognizes Sultan Jaláluddín of
Khwarizm and his temporary success over the Mongols in Afghanistan.
In the Armenian Prince Sempad’s account, on the other hand, this
Christian King of India is _aided_ by the Tartars to defeat and
harass the neighbouring Saracens, his enemies, and becomes the
Mongol’s vassal. In the statement of Rubruquis, though distinct
reference is made to the conquering Gurkhan (under the name of
Coir Cham of Caracatay), the title of _King John_ is assigned to
the Naiman Prince (_Kushluk_), who had married the daughter of the
last lineal sovereign of Karakhitai, and usurped his power, whilst,
with a strange complication of confusion, UNC, Prince of the Crit
and Merkit (Kerait and Merkit, two great tribes of Mongolia)[10]
and Lord of Karákorum, is made the brother and successor of this
Naiman Prince. His version of the story, as it proceeds, has so
much resemblance to Polo’s, that we shall quote the words. The
Crit and Merkit, he says, were Nestorian Christians. “But their
Lord had abandoned the worship of Christ to follow idols, and kept
by him those priests of the idols who are all devil-raisers and
sorcerers. Beyond his pastures, at the distance of ten or fifteen
days’ journey, were the pastures of the MOAL (Mongol), who were a
very poor people, without a leader and without any religion except
sorceries and divinations, such as all the people of those parts
put so much faith in. Next to Moal was another poor tribe called
TARTAR. King John having died without an heir, his brother Unc got
his wealth, and caused himself to be proclaimed Cham, and sent out
his flocks and herds even to the borders of Moal. At that time
there was a certain blacksmith called Chinghis among the tribe of
Moal, and he used to lift the cattle of Unc Chan as often as he had
a chance, insomuch that the herdsmen of Unc Chan made complaint to
their master. The latter assembled an army, and invaded the land
of the Moal in search of Chinghis, but he fled and hid himself
among the Tartars. So Unc, having plundered the Moal and Tartars,
returned home. And Chinghis addressed the Tartars and Moal, saying:
‘It is because we have no leader that we are thus oppressed by our
neighbours.’ So both Tartars and Moal made Chinghis himself their
leader and captain. And having got a host quietly together, he made
a sudden onslaught upon Unc and conquered him, and compelled him
to flee into Cathay. On that occasion his daughter was taken, and
given by Chinghis to one of his sons, to whom she bore Mangu, who
now reigneth.... The land in which they (the Mongols) first were,
and where the residence of Chinghis still exists, is called _Onan
Kerule_.[11] But because Caracoran is in the country which was
their first conquest, they regard it as a royal city, and there
hold the elections of their Chan.”
Here we see plainly that the Unc Chan of Rubruquis is the Unc Can
or Unecan of Polo. In the narrative of the former, Unc is only
_connected_ with King or Prester John; in that of the latter,
rehearsing the story as heard some 20 or 25 years later, the two
are _identified_. The shadowy _rôle_ of Prester John has passed
from the Ruler of Kara Khitai to the Chief of the Keraits. This
transfer brings us to another history.
We have already spoken of the extensive diffusion of Nestorian
Christianity in Asia during the early and Middle Ages. The
Christian historian Gregory Abulfaraj relates a curious history of
the conversion, in the beginning of the 11th century, of the King
of _Kerith_ with his people, dwelling in the remote north-east
of the land of the Turks. And that the Keraits continued to
profess Christianity down to the time of Chinghiz is attested
by Rashiduddin’s direct statement, as well as by the numerous
Christian princesses from that tribe of whom we hear in Mongol
history. It is the chief of this tribe of whom Rubruquis and Polo
speak under the name of Unc Khan, and whom the latter identifies
with Prester John. His proper name is called Tuli by the Chinese,
and Togrul by the Persian historians, but the Kin sovereign of
Northern China had conferred on him the title of _Wang_ or King,
from which his people gave him the slightly corrupted cognomen of
اونک خان, which some scholars read _Awang_, and _Avenk_ Khan, but
which the spelling of Rubruquis and Polo shows probably to have
been pronounced as _Aung_ or _Ung_ Khan.[12] The circumstance
stated by Rubruquis of his having abandoned the profession of
Christianity, is not alluded to by Eastern writers; but in any
case his career is not a credit to the Faith. I cannot find any
satisfactory corroboration of the claims of supremacy over the
Mongols which Polo ascribes to Aung Khan. But that his power
and dignity were considerable, appears from the term _Pádsháh_
which Rashiduddin applies to him. He had at first obtained the
sovereignty of the Keraits by the murder of two of his brothers
and several nephews. Yesugai, the father of Chinghiz, had been
his staunch friend, and had aided him effectually to recover his
dominion from which he had been expelled. After a reign of many
years he was again ejected, and in the greatest necessity sought
the help of Temujin (afterwards called Chinghiz Khan), by whom he
was treated with the greatest consideration. This was in 1196.
For some years the two chiefs conducted their forays in alliance,
but differences sprang up between them; the son of Aung Khan
entered into a plot to kill Temujin, and in 1202–1203 they were in
open war. The result will be related in connection with the next
chapters.
We may observe that the idea which Joinville picked up in the
East about Prester John corresponds pretty closely with that set
forth by Marco. Joinville represents him as one of the princes to
whom the Tartars were tributary in the days of their oppression,
and as “their ancient enemy”; one of their first acts, on being
organized under a king of their own, was to attack him and conquer
him, slaying all that bore arms, but sparing all monks and priests.
The expression used by Joinville in speaking of the original land
of the Tartars, “_une grande_ berrie _de sablon_,” has not been
elucidated in any edition that I have seen. It is the Arabic
بريه _Băríya_, “a Desert.” No doubt Joinville learned the word
in Palestine. (See _Joinville_, p. 143 _seqq._; see also _Oppert_,
_Der Presb. Johannes in Sage und Geschichte_, and _Cathay_, etc.,
pp. 173–182.) [_Fried. Zarncke, Der Priester Johannes; Cordier,
Odoric_.—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] A passage in Mirkhond extracted by Erdmann (_Temudschín_, p. 532)
seems to make Bálá Sághún the same as Bishbálik, now Urumtsi, but
this is inconsistent with other passages abstracted by Oppert
(_Presbyter Johan._ 131–32); and Vámbéry indicates a reason for
its being sought very much further west (_H. of Bokhara_, 116).
[Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._) has a chapter on Kara-Khitaí
(I. 208 _seqq._) and in a long note on Bala Sagun, which he calls
Belasagun, he says (p. 226) that “according to the Tarikh Djihan
Kúshai (_d’Ohsson_, i. 433), the city of Belasagun had been founded
by Buku Khan, sovereign of the Uigurs, in a well-watered plain
of Turkestan with rich pastures. The Arabian geographers first
mention Belasagun, in the ninth or tenth century, as a city beyond
the Sihun or Yaxartes, depending on _Isfidjab_ (Sairam, according
to Lerch), and situated east of Taras. They state that the people
of Turkestan considered Belasagun to represent ‘the navel of the
earth,’ on account of its being situated in the middle between
east and west, and likewise between north and south.” (_Sprenger’s
Poststr. d. Or., Mavarannahar_). Dr. Bretschneider adds (p. 227):
“It is not improbable that ancient Belasagun was situated at the
same place where, according to the T’ang history, the Khan of one
branch of the Western T’u Kuë (Turks) had his residence in the
seventh century. It is stated in the T’ang shu that _Ibi Shabolo
Shehu Khan_, who reigned in the first half of the seventh century,
placed his ordo on the northern border of the river _Sui ye_. This
river, and a city of the same name, are frequently mentioned in the
T’ang annals of the seventh and eighth centuries, in connection
with the warlike expeditions of the Chinese in Central Asia. _Sui
ye_ was situated on the way from the river _Ili_ to the city of
Ta-lo-sz’ (Talas). In 679 the Chinese had built on the Sui ye River
a fortress; but in 748 they were constrained to destroy it.” (Comp.
_Visdelou_ in _Suppl. Bibl. Orient._ pp. 110–114; _Gaubil’s Hist.
de la Dyn. des Thang_, in _Mém. conc. Chin._ xv. p. 403
_seqq._).—H. C.]
[2] Sic: _per aliquot annos_, but an evident error.
[3] _J. As._ sér. V. tom. xi. 449.
[4] The Great Plain on the Lower Araxes and Cyrus. The word Moghán =
_Magi_: and Abulfeda quotes this as the etymology of the name.
(_Reinaud’s Abulf._ I. 300.)—Y. [_Cordier, Odoric_, 36.]
[5] Here is the passage, which is worth giving for more reasons than
one:
“That portion of ancient Babylon which is still occupied is (as
we have heard from persons of character from beyond sea) styled
BALDACH, whilst the part that lies, according to the prophecy,
deserted and pathless extends some ten miles to the Tower of Babel.
The inhabited portion called Baldach is very large and populous;
and though it should belong to the Persian monarchy it has been
conceded by the Kings of the Persians to their High Priest, whom
they call the _Caliph_; in order that in this also a certain
analogy [_quaedam habitudo_] such as has been often remarked
before, should be exhibited between Babylon and Rome. For the
same (privilege) that here in the city of Rome has been made over
to our chief Pontiff by the Christian Emperor, has there been
conceded to their High Priest by the Pagan Kings of Persia, to whom
Babylonia has for a long time been subject. But the Kings of the
Persians (just as our Kings have their royal city, like Aachen)
have themselves established the seat of their kingdom at Egbatana,
which, in the Book of Judith, Arphaxat is said to have founded, and
which in their tongue is called HANI, containing as they allege
100,000 or more fighting men, and have reserved to themselves
nothing of Babylon except the nominal dominion. Finally, the place
which is now vulgarly called Babylonia, as I have mentioned, is not
upon the Euphrates (at all) as people suppose, but on the Nile,
about 6 days’ journey from Alexandria, and is the same as Memphis,
to which Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, anciently gave the name of
Babylon.”—Ottonis Frising. Lib. VII. cap. 3, in _Germanic Hist.
Illust. etc. Christiani Urstisii Basiliensis_, Francof. 1585.—Y.
[6] Sbasalar, or “General-in-chief,” = Pers. _Sipáhsálár_.—Y.
[7] _Continuatio Ann. Admutensium_, in Pertz, Scriptores, IX. 580.
[8] _E.g._ ii. 42.
[9] _St. Martin, Mém. sur l’Arménie_, II. 77.
[10] [“The Keraits,” says Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 111, note), “lived
on the Orkhon and the Tula, south-east of Lake Baikal; Abulfaraj
relates their conversion to Christianity in 1007 by the Nestorian
Bishop of Merv. Rashid-eddin, however, says their conversion took
place in the time of Chingis Khan. (_D’Ohsson_, I. 48; _Chabot,
Mar Jabalaha, III._ 14.) D’Avezac (536) identifies, with some
plausibility, I think, the Keraits with the _Kí-lê_ (or _T’íeh-lê_)
of the early Chinese annals. The name K’í-lê was applied in the
3rd century A.D. to _all_ the Turkish tribes, such as the _Hui-hu_
(Uigúrs), _Kieh-Ku_ (Kirghiz) Alans, etc., and they are said to
be the same as the _Kao-ch’ê_, from whom descended the _Cangle_
of Rubruck. (_T’ang shu_, Bk. 217, i.; _Ma Tuan-lin_, Bk. 344, 9,
Bk. 347, 4.) As to the Merkits, or Merkites, they were a nomadic
people of Turkish stock, with a possible infusion of Mongol blood.
They are called by Mohammedan writers Uduyut, and were divided
into four tribes. They lived on the Lower Selinga and its feeders.
(_D’Ohsson_, i. 54; _Howorth, History_, I., pt. i. 22, 698.)”—H. C.]
[11] [_Onan Kerule_ is “the country watered by the Orkhon and Kerulun
Rivers, _i.e._ the country to the south and south-east of Lake
Baikal. The headquarters (_ya-chang_) of the principal chief of
the Uigurs in the eighth century was 500 _li_ (about 165 miles)
south-west of the confluence of the Wen-Kun ho (Orkhon) and the
Tu-lo ho (Tura). Its ruins, sometimes, but wrongly, confounded with
those of the Mongol city of Karakorum, some 20 miles from it, built
in 1235 by Ogodai, are now known by the name of Kara Balgasun,
‘Black City.’” [See p. 228.] The name _Onankerule_ seems to be
taken from the form _Onan-ou-Keloran_, which occurs in Mohammedan
writers. (_Quatremère_, 115 _et seq._; _see_ also _T’ang shu_, Bk.
43b; _Rockhill_, _Rubruck_, 116, note.)—H. C.]
[12] Vámbéry makes _Ong_ an Uighúr word, signifying “right.” [Palladius
(_l.c._ 23) says: “The consonance of the names of Wang-Khan and
Wang-Ku (Ung-Khan and Ongu—Ongot of Rashiduddin, a Turkish Tribe)
led to the confusion regarding the tribes and persons, which at
M. Polo’s time seems to have been general among the Europeans in
China; M. Polo and Johannes de Monte Corvino transfer the title of
Prester John from Wang-Khan, already perished at that time, to the
distinguished family of Wang-Ku.”—H. C.]