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RUBRUQUIS (or RUBROUCK), WILLIAM OF
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See also:RUBRUQUIS (or RUBROUCK), See also:
(See also:Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, See also:Anna gratie 1253, ad panes Orieniales
.
Friar William went to Tartary under orders from See also:
576)
.
William's mother-See also:tongue may have been Flemish
.
From his See also:representation to Mangu Khan (p
.
361) that certain " Teutonici " who had been carried away as slaves by a Tatar chief were " nostrae linguae," Dr See also:Franz Max See also:Schmidt inclines to think this certain.repenti fort quant it y envoia," Joinville, Histoire de See also:Saint Louis, pp
.
148–49, in See also:Paris edition of 1858 by F
.
See also:Michel, Paulin Paris and F
.
See also:Didot)
.
These returned envoys reached the king when he was at Caesarea, therefore between See also: He must therefore have received his See also:commission at See also:Acre, where the king was residing from May 1252 to the 29th of See also:June 1253; but he had travelled by way of Constantinople, as has just been indicated, and there received letters to some of the Tatar chiefs from the See also:emperor, who was at this time See also:Baldwin de See also:Courtenay, the last of the Latin See also:dynasty . The narrative of the See also:journey is everywhere full of See also:life and See also:interest . The vast conquests of Jenghiz Khan were still in nominal dependence on his successors, at this time represented by Mangu Khan, reigning on the Mongolian See also:steppes, but practically these conquests were splitting up into several great monarchies . Of these the Ulus of Juji, the eldest son of Jenghiz, formed the most See also:westerly, and its ruler was Batu Khan, established on the See also:Volga . Sartak is known in the See also:history of the See also:Mongols as Batu's eldest son, and was appointed his successor, though he died immediately after his See also:father (1256) . The See also:story of Sartak's See also:Christianity seems to have had some See also:foundation; it was currently believed among See also:Asiatic Christians, and it is alleged by Armenian writers that he had been brought up and baptized among the Russians . See also:Pope See also:Innocent IV . (See also:August 29, 1254) refers with See also:enthusiasm to Sartak's See also:baptism, of which he had just heard from a See also:priest whom the khan had sent as See also:envoy to the papal court . Rubrouck and his party landed at Soldaia, or Sudak, on the See also:Crimean See also:coast, then a centre of intercourse between the Mediterranean See also:world and what is now S . See also:Russia . Equipped with horses and carts for the See also:steppe, they travelled successively to the courts (i.e _the See also:nomad camps) of Scacatai (Kadan?), Sartak and Batu, thus See also:crossing the See also:Don and arriving at the Volga: of both these See also:rivers Friar William gives vivid and interesting sketches . Batu kept the travellers for some time in suspense, and then referred them to the Great Khan himself, an See also:order involving the enormous journey to See also:Mongolia .
The actual travelling of the party from the See also:Crimea to the khan's court near See also:Karakorum cannot have been, on a rough calculation, less than 5000 m., and the return journey to Lajazzo in See also:Cilicia would be longer by 500 to 700 M
.
The chief dates to be gathered from the narrative are as follows: the envoys embark on the " Euxine," May 7th, 1253; reach Soldaia, May 21st; set out thence, June 1st; reach the See also:camp of Sartak, See also:July 31st; begin the journey from the camp of Batu E. across the steppes, See also:September 16th; turn S.E., See also:November 1st; reach the Talas See also:river, November 8th; leave Cailac3 (S. of See also:Lake See also:Balkash), November 3oth; reach the camp of the Great Khan, December 27th; leave the camp of the Great Khan on or about July loth, 1254; reach camp of Batu again, September 16th; leave Batu's camp at Sarai, November 1st; arrive at the See also:Iron See also:Gate (See also:Derbent), November 13th; See also:Christmas spent at Nakhshiv5n or See also:Nakhichevan (under See also:Ararat); reach See also:Antioch (from Lajazzo, Layes, or Ayas, of Cilicia, via Cyprus), June 29th, 1255; reach See also:Tripoli, August 15th
.
3 Cailac, where Rubrouck halted twelve days, is undoubtedly tits Kayalik of the historians of the Mongols, the position of which is somewhat indefinite
.
The narrative of Rubrouck shows that it must have been near the See also:modern Kopal
.
The camp of „atu was first reached near the northernmost point of his summer See also:marches, therefore about Ukek or Uvyek, near See also:Saratov (see Marco See also:Polo, Paris ed. of 1824, p
.
3)
.
Before the camp was See also:left they had marched with it five See also:weeks down the Volga
.
The point of departure would See also:lie on that river somewhere between 48° and ,o° N
.
The route taken See also:lay E. by a See also:line See also:running N. of the See also:Caspian and See also:Aral basins; then from about 7o° E. to the See also:basin of the Talas river; thence across the passes of the See also:Kirghiz See also:Ala-tau and S. of the Balkash Lake to the Ala-kul and the Baratula Lake (Ebi-nor)
.
From this the travellers struck N. across the Barluk, or the Orkochuk Mountains, and thence, passing S. of the modern See also:Kobdo, to the valley of the Jabkan river, whence they emerged on the See also:plain of Mongolia, coming upon the Great Khan's camp at a spot ten days' journey from Karakorum and bearing in the See also:main S. from that place, with the Khangai Mountains between
.
This route is of course not thus defined in the narrative, but is a See also:deduction from the facts stated therein
.
The See also:
Thence the party travelled S. by Derbent, and so by Shamakhi to the Araxes, Nakhshivan, See also:Erzingan, See also:Sivas and See also:Iconium, to Lajazzo, Layas, or Ayas, where they embarked for Cyprus and See also:Syria
.
St Louis had returned to See also:France a See also:year before
.
We have alluded to Roger Bacon's mention of Friar William
.
Indeed, in the See also:geographical See also:section of the See also:Opus Majus (c
.
1262) he cites the traveller repeatedly and copiously, describing him as
See also:frater Wilhelmus See also:quern See also:dominus rex Franciae misit ad Tartaros, See also:Anno Domini 1253... qui perlustravit regiones orientiset aquilonis et loca in medio his annexa, et scripsit haec praedicta illustri regi; quern librum diligenter vidi et cum ejus auctore contuli " (see Opus Majus, See also:Oxford edition of 1897, i
.
353-66)
.
Add to this William's own incidental particulars as to his being—like his precursor, Friar John de Plano See also:Carpini—a very heavy See also:man (ponderosus valde), and we know no more of his See also:personality, except the abundant indications of character afforded by the story itself
.
These paint for us an honest, pious, stout-hearted, acute and most intelligent observer, keen in the acquisition of knowledge, the author of one of the best narratives of travel in existence
.
His See also:language indeed is See also:dog
.
Latin of the most un-Ciceronian quality; but it is in his hands a pithy and transparent See also:medium of expression
.
In spite of all the difficulties of communication, and of the badness of his turgemannus or dragoman,' he gathered a See also:mass of particulars, wonderfully true or near the truth, not only as to Asiatic nature, See also:geography, ethnography and See also:manners, but as to See also:religion and language
.
Of his geography a See also:good example occurs in his See also:account of the Caspian (eagerly caught up by Roger Bacon), which is perfectly accurate, except that he places the See also: 
He explicitly corrects the allegation of Isidore that it is a gulf of the ocean: " non est verum quod dicit Ysidorus . . . nusquam enim tangit oceanum, sed undique circumdatur terra " (265).4 Of his interest and acumen in matters of language we may cite examples . The language of the Pascatir (or See also:Bashkirs) and of the Hungarians is the same as he had ' See details in See also:Cathay and the Way Thither, pp. ccxi-ccxiv, and See also:Schuyler's Turkistan, i . 402-5 . Mr Schuyler points out the true identification of Rubrouck's river with the Ili, Instead of the Chu, which is a much smaller stream; and other amendments have been derived from Dr F . M . Schmidt (see below) . ' This meaning may be put on Rubrouck's words: " Our going was in winter, our return in summer, and that by a way lying very much farther See also:north, only that for a space of fifteen days' journey in going and coming we followed a certain river between mountains, and on these there was no grass to be found except See also:close to the river.” The position of the Chagan Takoi or upper Jabkan seems to suit these facts best; but Mr Schuyler refers them to the upper Irtish, and Dr F . M . Schmidt to the Uliungur . " Ego enim percepi postea, quando incepi aliquantulum intelligere idioma, quod quando dicebam unum ipse totum aliud dicebat, secundum quod ei occurrebat . Turn widens nericulum loquendi per ipsum, elegi magis tacere " (248--49) . ' The See also:page references in the See also:text are to d'Avezac's edition of the Latin (see below).learned from See also:Dominicans who had been among them (274).5 The language of the Ruthenians, Poles, Bohemians and Slavonians is one, and is the same with that of the See also:Vandals, or See also:Wends (275) . In the See also:town of Equius (immediately beyond the Ili, perhaps Aspara)5 the See also:people were Mahommedans speaking See also:Persian, though so far remote from Persia (281) . The Uighurs (or Yugurs) of the country about Cailac (see See also:note above) had formed a language and character of their own, and in that language and character the See also:Nestorians of that See also:tract used to perform their See also:office and write their books (281-82) . The Uighurs are those among whom are found the See also:fountain and See also:root of the See also:Turkish and Comanian tongue (289) . Their character has been adopted by the Mongols . In using it they begin See also:writing from the See also:top and write downwards, whilst line follows line from left to right (286) . The Nestorians say their service, and have their See also:holy books, in See also:Syriac, but know nothing of the language, just as some of our monks sing the mass without knowing Latin (293) . The See also:Tibet people write as we do, and their letters have a strong resemblance to ours . The Tangut people write from right to left like the See also:Arabs, and their lines advance upwards (329) . The current See also:money of Cathay is of See also:cotton See also:paper, a palm in length and breadth, and on this they See also:print lines like those of Mangu Khan's See also:seal:—" imprimunt lineas sicut est sigillum Mangu "— a remarkable expression . They write with a painter's See also:pencil and combine in one character several letters, forming one expression:—" faciunt in una figura plures literas comprehendentes unam dictionem,"—a still more remarkable utterance, showing an approximate See also:apprehension of the nature of See also:Chinese writing (329) . Yet this sagacious observer is denounced as an untruthful blunderer by See also:Isaac See also:Jacob Schmidt (a man of useful learning, of a See also:kind rare in his See also:day, but narrow, wrong-headed, and in natural acumen and candour far inferior to the 13th-See also:century friar) simply because Rubrouck's See also:evidence as to the Turkish See also:dialect of the Uighurs traversed a pet See also:heresy, long since exploded, which Schmidt entertained, viz. that the Uighurs were by See also:race and language Tibetan.' See also:Leon Cahun (Introduction a l'histoire de l'Asie, pp . 353-55, 384-86, 392) also shows a See also:strange perversity in depreciating Rubrouck; all this detraction may be contrasted with Oscar Peschel's admirably See also:fair See also:judgment (Geschichte der Erdkunde, p . 165, &c.) . At the same time, Rubrouck may be considered inferior as a politician and diplomatist to Carpini; and the latter's remarkable See also:work has in its turn suffered from undiscriminating eulogy of his successor's Itinerarium . An See also:attempt has been made to strike a See also:balance in the judgment of these two great pioneers in the See also:Dawn of Modern Geography, ii . 375-81 . The narrative of Rubrouck, after Roger Bacon's copious use of it, seems to have dropped out of sight, though five MSS. are still known to exist: the chief of these are (I) Corp . Chr . See also:Coll., See also:Cambridge, No . 66, fols . 67 v.-iio v. of about 1320; (2) No . 181 of the same library, fols . 321-98, of about 1270-90; (3) See also:Leiden Univ .
Libr., No
.
77 (formerly 104), fols
.
16o r.-190 r. of about 1290
.
It has no place in the famous collections of the 14th century, nor in the earlier See also:Speculum Ilistoriale of See also:Vincent of See also:Beauvais, which gives so much attention to the 13th-century intercourse of Latin Christendom with Tartary
.
It first appeared imperfectly in Hakluyt (1598 and 1599), as we have mentioned
.
But it was not till 1839 that any proper edition of the text was published
.
In that year the Recueil de Voyages of the Paris Geographical Society, vol. iv., contained an edition of the Latin text, and a See also:collation of the MSS. put forth by M. d'Avezac, with the assistance of two See also:young scholars, since of high distinction, viz
.
Francisque Michel and See also: Rockhill (See also:London, 190o) ; (ii.) Texts and Versions of . Carpini and . . . Rubruquis ... , edited by C . See also:Raymond Beazley (London, 1903) . See also:Richthofen in his See also:China, i . 6o2-4, has briefly but justly noticed Rubrouck . A French version,with some notes, issued at Paris in 1877, in the Bibliothkque orientate Elzevirienne hardly deserves mention . Dr Franz Max Schmidt's admirable monograph, Uber Rubruk's Reise (See also:Berlin, 1885), has been separately 5 The Bashkirs now speak a Turkish dialect; but they are of Finnish race, and it is quite possible that they then spoke a language akin to Magyar . There is no doubt that the Mussulman historians of that See also:age identified the Hungarians and the Bashkirs (e.g. see extracts from Juvaini and Rashiduddin in App. to D'Ohsson's Hist. See also:des Mongols, ii . 620-23) . The Bashkirs are also constantly coupled with the Majar by Abulghazi . See Fr. tr. by Desmaisons, pp . 19, 140, 18o, 189 . 5 See also:Asp =Equus . Aspara is often mentioned by the historians of Timur and his successors; its exact place is uncertain, but it lay somewhere on the Ili frontier . Dr F . M . Schmidt thinks this identification impossible; but one of his reasons—viz. that Equius was only one day from Cailac—appears to be a misapprehension of the text . ' See Forschungen See also:im Gebiete . der Volker Mittel-Asiens (St See also:Petersburg, 1824), pp . 90-93 . printed from vol. xx. of the Zeilschrift of the Berlin Geographical Society . See also d'Ohsson, Histoire des Mongols (1852), vol. ii. pp . 283—309; See also:Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic See also:Sources (1888), i . 204—5, 262—63, 299, 301, 305—8, 311, 318, 327, 334; H . 25, 38, 41-42, 70—71, 83-86, 91, 116, 120; Beazley, Dawn of Modern Geography, ii . 266, 278-79, 281, 298-99, 303, 320—82, 421, 449-52; M . 17-18, 31-32, 46, 69, 84-85, 88, 98, 501, 105, 188, 236-37, 544 . (H . Y.; C . R . |
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