Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (42 page)

“Have you seen these?”: Secret History,
§ 244.

the Uighur khan:
In the
Secret History
(§ 238), the Uighur leader is referred to as the Idu’ut, which means something like king, prince, or khan.

II. The Mongol World War: 1211–1261

“By the arms of Zingis”:
Edward Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(London, J. M. Dent, 1910), vol. 5, p. 76.

4. Spitting on the Golden Khan

“The hooves of our Mongol horses”:
Quoted by a Sung representative in “Meng-Ta Peu-Lu Ausführliche Aufzeichnungen über die Mongolischen Tatan von Chao Hung, 1221,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen
1221
und
1237
(Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980), p. 210.

their capital city of Zhongdu:
The same place had many names at different times. Under the Jurched, it was Zhongdu. When Khubilai Khan created his capital here it became known as Khanbalik (the khan’s city) to Mongolians and other foreigners; the Chinese called it Dadu (or Ta-tu). Later, it was named Peking, and now Beijing.

“reverently upon the ground”: Peking Gazette,
June 30, 1878, quoted in C. W. Campbell’s
Travels in Mongolia:
1902
(reprint, London: Stationery Office, 2000), p. 74.

the full commitment of every warrior:
see Sechen Jagchid and Paul Hyer,
Mongolia’s Culture and Society
(Boulder: Westview, 1979), p. 370.

“Our empire is like the sea”:
“Meng-Ta Peu-Lu Ausführliche Aufzeichnungen über die Mongolischen Tatan von Chao Hung, 1221,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh,
p. 61.

Mongol military:
Thomas J. Barfield,
The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221
B
.
C
. to
A
.
D
. 1757
(Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992).

Mongol warriors could travel ten days:
Marco Polo,
The Travels of Marco Polo,
trans. Teresa Waugh (New York: Facts on File, 1984), p. 57.

needed no fires to cook:
See “Meng-Ta Peu-Lu Ausführliche Aufzeichnungen über die Mongolischen Tatan von Chao Hung, 1221,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh,
p. 58.

the central camp for each unit:
See “Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh Kurzer Bericht über die schwarzen Tatan von P’eng Ta-Ya und Sü T’ing, 1237,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen
1221
und
1237
(Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980), p. 187.

communications became more important:
Walther Heissig,
A Lost Civilization: The Mongols Rediscovered,
trans. D. J. S. Thompson (London: Thames & Hudson, 1966), p. 35.

The Mongols referred to these grass-eating people:
For more on the Mongol terminology for settled people, see Uradyn E. Bulag,
Nationality and Hybridity in Mongolia
(Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. 213.

“they come as though the sky were falling”:
See “Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh Kurzer Bericht über die schwarzen Tatan von P’eng Ta-Ya und Sü T’ing, 1237,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh,
p. 187.

In 1219, the Year of the Hare:
There is debate about whether some of these events occurred in 1207 or 1219, since both were the Year of the Hare.

“red bull”: Secret History,
§ 240.

Kashgar, a trading city:
Regarding the events in Kashgar, the
Secret History
placed this invasion in the Year of the Ox, 1205, but almost all other sources show that it occurred in the Year of the Ox, 1217.

Jebe’s army defeated the army of Guchlug:
For more information on the Mongol campaign against Guchlug, see René Grousset,
The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia,
trans. Naomi Walford (New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 1970), p. 234.

“to be one of the mercies of the Lord”:
Ata-Malik Juvaini,
Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror,
trans. J. A. Boyle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997), p. 67.

“Jebe pursued Guchlug”: Secret History,
§ 237.

“He had brought about complete peace and quiet”:
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan,
p. 77.

“this Emperor having nothing more to fear”:
François Pétis de la Croix,
The History of Genghizcan the Great: First Emperor of the Ancient Moguls and Tartars
(London: Printed for J. Darby, etc. 1722), pp. 119–120.

“I have the greatest desire to live in peace”:
Quoted in René Grousset,
Conqueror of the World,
trans. Marian McKellar and Denis Sinor (New York: Orion Press, 1966), p. 209.

“henceforth the abscess of evil”:
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan,
pp. 79–81.

“laid waste a whole world”:
Ibid., p. 80.

“the whirlwind of anger”:
Ibid., p. 80.

he uncovered “his head”:
Ibid., p. 80.

5. Sultan Versus Khan

“War for the nomadic people”:
Sechen Jagchid,
Essays in Mongolian Studies
(Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1988), p. 12.

the story of the tattooed messenger:
François Pétis de la Croix,
The History of Genghizcan the Great: First Emperor of the Ancient Moguls and Tartars
(London: Printed for J. Darby, etc., 1722), p. 136

“Commanders, elders, and commonality”:
Henry H. Howorth,
History of the Mongols,
pt. 1,
The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks
(London: Longmans, Green, 1876), p. 81.

“it is the will of God”:
Robert P. Blake, and Richard N. Frye, “History of the Nation of the Archers (the Mongols) by Grigor of Akanc,”
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
12 (December 1949), p. 301.

“effaced from off the earth”:
Yaqut al-Hamawi quoted in Edward G. Browne,
The Literary History of Persia,
vol. 2 (Bethesda, Md.: Iranbooks, 1997), p. 431.

“the greatest joy a man can know”:
Michael Prawdin,
The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy,
trans. Eden Paul and Cedar Paul (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1940), p. 143.

“Stories have been related to me”:
Quoted in Browne, Literary History of Persia, p. 430.

All the Mongol prisoners:
The murder of the Mongol warriors is related by Luc Kwanten,
Imperial Nomads: A History of Central Asia,
500
–
1500
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979), p. 131.

nails into their heads:
Stuart Legg,
The Barbarians of Asia: The Peoples of the Steppes from 1600
B
.
C
. (New York: Dorset, 1970), p. 274.

Those cities that surrendered:
For a fuller account of these campaigns, see David Morgan,
The Mongols
(Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1986), pp. 60–61.

the numbers given by historians:
For more on the supposedly high number of people killed, see Legg,
Barbarians of Asia,
p. 277.

“if all my sons”:
Paul Ratchnevsky,
Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy,
trans. Thomas Nivison Haining (Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1991), p. 140.

“When you tell Jochi to speak”:
Paul Kahn,
The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origins of Chinggis Khan
(Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 1998), p. 153.

“She didn’t run away from home”:
Ibid., § 254.

“from a single hot womb”:
Ibid., § 254.

“game killed by mouth”:
Ibid., § 255.

“Mother Earth is broad”:
Ibid., § 255.

“laid the knee of courtesy”:
Ata-Malik Juvaini,
Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror,
trans. J. A. Boyle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997), pp. 182–183.

“because of———”:
Rashid al-Din,
The Successors of Genghis Khan,
trans. John Andrew Boyle (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971), p. 98.

“the vision should never stray”:
Colonel Kh. Shagdar, “Ikh Khaadin surgaal gereeslel,”
Chingis Khaan Sydlal,
vol. 4 (2002), pp. 3–35; translated from the Mongolian.

“People conquered on different sides”:
Ibid., p. 3–35.

his men cordoned off:
For a fuller description of the group hunting procedures, see “Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh Kurzer Bericht über die schwarzen Tatan von P’eng Ta-Ya und Sü T’ing, 1237,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen
1221
und
1237
(Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980), p. 117.

Yesui prepared the body:
For more information on Mongol funeral practices, see V. V. Barthold, “The Burial Rites of the Turks and the Mongols,” trans. J. M. Rogers,
Central Asiatic Journal
14 (1970), pp. 195–227.

“A mighty name”:
The cleric’s comments come from Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani,
Tabakat-I-Nasiri: A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia,
trans. Major H. G. Raverty (Bengal: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1881; reprint, New Dehli: Oriental Books, 1970), pp. 1041–1042.

the text of a letter:
The English text of the letter of Genghis Khan can be found in E. Bretschneider,
Mediæval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources,
vol. I (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967), pp. 37–39.

“died in the fullness of years and glory”:
Edward Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(London: J. M. Dent, 1910), vol. 6, p. 280.

6. The Discovery and Conquest of Europe

“For our sins”: The Chronicle of Novgorod:
1016
–
1491
; trans. Robert Michel and Novill Forbes, Camden 3rd Series, vol. 25 (London: Offices of the Society, 1914), p. 64.

“was ever spreading the carpet of merrymaking”:
Ata-Malik Juvaini,
Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror,
trans. J. A. Boyle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997), p. 202.

“exceedingly tall in structure”:
Rashid al-Din,
The Successors of Genghis Khan,
trans. John Andrew Boyle (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971), pp. 61–62.

newly recruited clerks:
For more information on the growing administration, see Thomas T. Allsen, “The Rise of the Mongolian Empire and Mongolian Rule in North China,” in
The Cambridge History of China,
vol. 6,
Alien Regimes and Border States,
907
–
1368
, ed. Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 397.

“a castle with doors”:
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan,
pp. 236–237.

“would sit, every day”:
al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan,
pp. 84–85.

a 10 percent bonus:
For more information on the bonus, see Larry Moses and Stephen A. Halkovic Jr.
Introduction to Mongolian History and Culture
(Bloomington, Ind.: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1985), p. 71.

In an effort to improve trade:
See Thomas J. Barfield,
The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China,
221
B
.
C
. to
A
.
D
.
1757
(Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992), p. 206.

weights and measures:
See Henry H. Howorth,
History of the Mongols,
pt. 1,
The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks
(London: Longmans, Green, 1876), p. 156.

–
“that wherever profit”:
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan,
p. 77.

“every tenth returned to his home”: The Chronicle of Novgorod:
1016
–
1471
, trans. Robert Michel and Nevill Forbes, Camden 3rd Series, vol. 25 (London: Offices of the Society, 1914), p. 66.

“the Tartars turned back”:
Ibid., p. 66.

“Tartars came in countless numbers”:
Ibid., p. 81.

“They have hard and robust breasts:
The quotes in this paragraph are from Matthew Paris,
Matthew Paris’s English History from the Year
1235
to
1273
, trans. J. A. Giles, 1852. (London: Henry G. Bohn; reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1968), vol. 1, p. 469.

“no eye remained open to cry for the dead”:
J. J. Saunders,
The History of the Mongol Conquests
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), p. 82.

“an immense horde of that detestable race of Satan”:
Paris,
Matthew Paris’s English History,
vol. 1, p. 314.

“ravaged the eastern countries”:
Ibid., p. 314.

“They clothe themselves”:
Ibid., p. 314.

“They have no human laws”:
Ibid., p. 314.

“clouds of Tatars”:
Saunders,
History of the Mongol Conquests,
p. 83.

“To thee, Tsar, I bow”: Chronicle of Novgorod,
pp. 87–90.

“headstrong and brave”:
al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan,
p. 138.

“You broke the spirit of every man”: Secret History,
§ 277.

the two armies met:
For information on the battle, see Erik Hildinger, “Mongol Invasion of Europe,”
Military History
(June 1997).