WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS.
Born about 1220.—Died after 1293.
Born about 1220.—Died after 1293.
Born about 1220.—Died after 1293.
Theconquests of Genghis Khan and his successors, extending from the Amoor and the Chinese Wall to the confines of Poland and Hungary, having excited extraordinary terror in the minds of the Christian princes of Europe, many of them, and particularly the pope and the King of France, despatched ambassadors into Tartary, rather as spies to observe the strength and weakness of the country, and the real character of its inhabitants, than for any genuine diplomatic purposes. Innocent IV. commenced those anomalous negotiations, by sending, in 1246 and 1247, ambassadors into Mongolia to the Great Khan, as well as to his lieutenant in Persia. These ambassadors, as might be expected, were monks, religious men being in those times almost the only persons possessing any talent for observation, or the knowledge necessary to record their observations for the benefit of those who sent them. The first embassy from the pope terminated unsuccessfully, as did likewise the maiden effort of St. Louis; but this pious monarch, whose zeal overpowered his good sense, still imagined that the conversion of the Great Khan, which formed an important part of hisdesign, was far from being impracticable; and upon the idle rumour that one of his nephews had embraced Christianity, and thus opened a way for the Gospel into his dominions, St. Louis in 1253 despatched a second mission into Tartary, at the head of which was William de Rubruquis.
This celebrated monk was a native of Brabant, who, having travelled through France, and several other countries of Europe, had passed over, perhaps with the army of St. Louis, into Egypt, from whence he had proceeded to the Holy Land. Of this part of his travels no account remains. When intrusted, however, with the mission into Tartary, he repaired to Constantinople, whence, having publicly offered up his prayers to God in the church of St. Sophia, he departed on the 7th of May, with his companions, and moving along the southern shore of the Black Sea, arrived at Sinopia, where he embarked for the Crimea. From an opinion that any indignities which might be offered to Rubruquis would compromise the dignity of the king, it had been agreed between Louis and his agent that, on the way at least, the latter should pretend to no public character, but feign religious motives, as if he had been urged by his own private zeal to endeavour the conversion of the khan and his subjects. Upon reaching Soldaza in the Crimea, however, he discovered that, secret as their proceedings were supposed to have been, the whole scheme of the enterprise was perfectly understood; and that, unless as the envoy of the king, he would not be permitted to continue his journey.
Rubruquis had no sooner entered the dominions of the Tartars than he imagined himself to be in a new world. The savage aspect of the people, clad in the most grotesque costume, and eternally on horseback, together with the strange appearance of the country, the sound of unknown languages, the practice of unusual customs, and that feeling ofloneliness and desertion which seized upon their minds, caused our traveller and his companions to credit somewhat too readily the deceptive testimony of first impressions, which never strictly corresponds with truth. Travelling in those covered wagons which serve the Tartars for carriages, tents, and houses, and through immense steppes in which neither town, village, house, nor any other building, save a few antique tombs, appeared, they arrived in a few weeks at the camp of Zagatay Khan, which, from the number of those moving houses there collected, and ranged in long lines upon the edge of a lake, appeared like an immense city.
Here they remained some days in order to repose themselves, and then set forward, with guides furnished them by Zagatay, towards the camp of Sartak, the prince to whom the letters of St. Louis were addressed. The rude and rapacious manners of the Tartars, rendered somewhat more insolent than ordinary, perhaps, by the unaccommodating temper of their guests, appeared so detestable to Rubruquis, that, to use his own forcible expression, he seemed to be passing through one of the gates of hell; and his ideas were probably tinged with a more sombre hue by the hideous features of the people, whose countenances continually kept up in his mind the notion that he had fallen among a race of demons. As they approached the Tanais the land rose occasionally into lofty hills, which were succeeded by plains upon which nothing but the immense tombs of the Comans, visible at a distance of two leagues, met the eye.
Having crossed the Tanais and entered Asia, they were for several days compelled to proceed on foot, there being neither horses nor oxen to be obtained for money. Forests and rivers here diversified the prospect. The inhabitants, a fierce, uncivilized race, bending beneath the yoke of pagan superstition, and dwelling in huts scattered through the woods, wereyet hospitable to strangers, and so inaccessible to the feelings of jealousy that they cared not upon whom their wives bestowed their favours. Hogs, wax, honey, and furs of various kinds constituted the whole of their wealth. At length, after a long and a wearisome journey, which was rendered doubly irksome by their ignorance of the language of the people, and the stupid and headstrong character of their interpreter, they arrived on the 1st of July at the camp of Sartak, three days’ journey west of the Volga.
The court of this Tartar prince exhibited that species of magnificence which may be supposed most congruous with the ideas of barbarians: ample tents, richly caparisoned horses, and gorgeous apparel.—Rubruquis and his suit entered the royal tent in solemn procession, with their rich clerical ornaments, church plate, and illuminated missals borne before them, holding a splendid copy of the Scriptures in their hands, wearing their most sumptuous vestments, and thundering forth, as they moved along, the “Salve Regina!” This pompous movement, which gave the mission the appearance of being persons of consequence, and thus flattered the vanity of Sartak, was not altogether impolitic; but it had one evil consequence; for, although it probably heightened the politeness of their reception, the sight of their sacred vessels, curious missals, and costly dresses excited the cupidity of the Nestorian priests, and cost Rubruquis dearly, many valuable articles being afterward sequestrated when he was leaving Tartary.
It now appeared that the reports of Sartak’s conversion to Christianity, which had probably been circulated in Christendom by the vanity of the Nestorians, were wholly without foundation; and with respect to the other points touched upon in the letters of the French king, the khan professed himself unable to make any reply without the counsel of his fatherBatou, to whose court, therefore, he directed the ambassadors to proceed. They accordingly recommenced their journey, and moving towards the east, crossed the Volga, and traversed the plains of Kipjak, until they arrived at the camp of this new sovereign, whose mighty name seems never before to have reached their ears. Rubruquis was singularly astonished, however, at the sight of this prodigious encampment, which covered the plain for the space of three or four leagues, the royal tent rising like an immense dome in the centre, with a vast open space before it on the southern side.
On the morning after their arrival they were presented to the khan. They found Batou, the description of whose red countenance reminds the reader of Tacitus’s portrait of Domitian, seated upon a lofty throne glittering with gold. One of his wives sat near him, and around this lady and the other wives of Batou, who were all present, his principal courtiers had taken their station. Rubruquis was now commanded by his conductor to kneel before the prince. He accordingly bent one knee, and was about to speak, when his guide informed him by a sign that it was necessary to bend both. This he did, and then imagining, he says, that he was kneeling before God, in order to keep up the illusion, he commenced his speech with an ejaculation. Having prayed that to the earthly gifts which the Almighty had showered down so abundantly upon the khan, the favour of Heaven might be added, he proceeded to say, that the spiritual gifts to which he alluded could be obtained only by becoming a Christian; for that God himself had said, “He who believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he who believeth not shall be damned.” At these words the khan smiled; but his courtiers, less hospitable and polite, began to clap their hands, and hoot and mock at the denouncer of celestial vengeance. The interpreter, who, in all probability, wholly misrepresented the speeches heattempted to translate, and thus, perhaps, by some inconceivable blunders excited the derision of the Tartars, now began to be greatly terrified, as did Rubruquis himself, who probably remembered that the leader of a former embassy had been menaced with the fate of St. Bartholomew. Batou, however, who seems to have compassionated his sufferings, desired him to rise up; and turning the conversation into another channel, began to make inquiries respecting the French king, asking what was his name, and whether it was true that he had quitted his own country for the purpose of carrying on a foreign war. Rubruquis then endeavoured, but I know not with what success, to explain the motives of the crusaders, and several other topics upon which Batou required information. Observing that the ambassador was much dejected, and apparently filled with terror, the khan commanded him to sit down; and still more to reassure him and dissipate his apprehensions, ordered a bowl of mare’s milk, orkoismos, to be put out before him, which, as bread and salt among the Arabs, is with them the sacred pledge of hospitality; but perceiving that even this failed to dispel his gloomy thoughts, he bade him look up and be of good cheer, giving him clearly to understand that no injury was designed him.
Notwithstanding the barbaric magnificence of his court, and the terror with which he had inspired Rubruquis, Batou was but a dependent prince, who would not for his head have dared to determine good or evil respecting any ambassador entering Tartary,—every thing in these matters depending upon the sovereign will of his brother Mangou, the Great Khan of the Mongols. Batou, in fact, caused so much to be signified to Rubruquis, informing him, that to obtain a reply to the letters he had brought, he must repair to the court of the Khe-Khan. When they had been allowed sufficient time for repose, a Tartar chief was assigned them as a guide, and being furnishedwith horses for themselves and their necessary baggage, the remainder being left behind, and with sheepskin coats to defend them from the piercing cold, they set forward towards the camp of Mangou, then pitched near the extreme frontier of Mongolia, at the distance of four months’ journey.
The privations and fatigue which they endured during this journey were indescribable. Whenever they changed horses, the wily Tartar impudently selected the best beast for himself, though Rubruquis was a large heavy man, and therefore required a powerful animal to support his weight. If any of their horses flagged on the way, the whip and the stick were mercilessly plied, to compel him, whether he would or not, to keep pace with the others, which scoured along over the interminable steppes with the rapidity of an arrow; and when, as sometimes happened, the beast totally foundered, the two Franks (for there were now but two, the third having remained with Sartak) were compelled to mount, the one behind the other, on the same horse, and thus follow their indefatigable and unfeeling conductor. Hard riding was not, however, the only hardship which they had to undergo. Thirst, and hunger, and cold were added to fatigue; for they were allowed but one meal per day, which they always ate in the evening, when their day’s journey was over. Their food, moreover, was not extremely palatable, consisting generally of the shoulder or ribs of some half-starved sheep, which, to increase the savouriness of its flavour, was cooked with ox and horse-dung, and devoured half-raw. As they advanced, their conductor, who at the commencement regarded them with great contempt, and appears to have been making the experiment whether hardship would kill them or not, grew reconciled to his charge, perceiving that they would not die, and introduced them as they proceeded to various powerful and wealthy Mongols, who seem to have treated them kindly, offering them,in return for their prayers, gold, and silver, and costly garments. The Hindoos, who imagine the East India Company to be an old woman, are a type of those sagacious Tartars, who, as Rubruquis assures us, supposed that the pope was an old man whose beard had been blanched by five hundred winters.
On the 31st of October, they turned their horses’ heads towards the south, and proceeded for eight days through a desert, where they beheld large droves of wild asses, which, like those seen by the Ten Thousand in Mesopotamia, were far too swift for the fleetest steeds. During the seventh day, they perceived on their right the glittering peaks of the Caucasus towering above the clouds, and arrived on the morrow at Kenkat, a Mohammedan town, where they tasted of wine, and that delicious liquor which the orientals extract from rice. At a city which Rubruquis callsEgaius, near Lake Baikal, he found traces of the Persian language; and shortly afterward entered the country of the Orrighers, an idolatrous, or at least a pagan race, who worshipped with their faces towards the north, while the east was at that period theKableh, or praying-point of the Christians.
Our traveller, though far from being intolerant for his age, had not attained that pitch of humanity which teaches us to do to others as we would they should do unto us; for upon entering a temple, which, from his description, we discover to have been dedicated to Buddha, and finding the priests engaged in their devotions, he irreverently disturbed them by asking questions, and endeavouring to enter into conversation with them. The Buddhists, consistently with the mildness of their religion, rebuked this intrusion by the most obstinate silence, or by continual repetitions of the words “Om, Om! hactavi!” which, as he was afterward informed, signified, “Lord, Lord! thou knowest it!” These priests, like the bonzes of China, Ava, and Siam, shaved theirheads, and wore flowing yellow garments, probably to show their contempt for the Brahminical race, among whom yellow is the badge of the most degraded castes. They believed in one God, and, like their Hindoo forefathers, burned their dead, and erected pyramids over their ashes.
Continuing their journey with their usual rapidity, they arrived on the last day of the year at the court of Mangou, who was encamped in a plain of immeasurable extent, and as level as the sea. Here, notwithstanding the rigour of the cold, Rubruquis, conformably to the rules of his order, went to court barefoot,—a piece of affectation for which he afterward suffered severely. Three or four days’ experience of the cold of Northern Tartary cured him of this folly, however; so that by the 4th of January, 1254, when he was admitted to an audience of Mangou, he was content to wear shoes like another person.
On entering the imperial tent, heedless of time and place, Rubruquis and his companion began to chant the hymn “A Solis Ortu,” which, in all probability made the khan, who understood not one word of what they said, and knew the meaning of none of their ceremonies, regard them as madmen. However, on this point nothing was said; only, before they advanced into the presence they were carefully searched, lest they should have concealed knives or daggers under their robes with which they might assassinate the khan. Even their interpreter was compelled to leave his belt and kharjar with the porter. Mare’s milk was placed on a low table near the entrance, close to which they were desired to seat themselves, upon a kind of long seat, or form, opposite the queen and her ladies. The floor was covered with cloth of gold, and in the centre of the apartment was a kind of open stove, in which a fire of thorns, and other dry sticks, mingled with cow-dung, was burning. The khan, clothed in a robe ofshining fur, something resembling seal-skin, was seated on a small couch. He was a man of about forty-five, of middling stature, with a thick flat nose. His queen, a young and beautiful woman, was seated near him, together with one of his daughters by a former wife, a princess of marriageable age, and a great number of young children.
The first question put to them by the khan was, what they would drink; there being upon the table four species of beverage,—wine, cerasine, or rice-wine, milk, and a sort of metheglin. They replied that they were no great drinkers, but would readily taste of whatever his majesty might please to command; upon which the khan directed his cupbearer to place cerasine before them. The Turcoman interpreter, who was a man of very different mettle, and perhaps thought it a sin to permit the khan’s wine to lie idle, had meanwhile conceived a violent affection for the cupbearer, and had so frequently put his services in requisition, that whether he was in the imperial tent or in a Frank tavern was to him a matter of some doubt. Mangou himself had pledged his Christian guests somewhat too freely; and in order to allow his brain leisure to adjust itself, and at the same time to excite the wonder of the strangers by his skill in falconry, commanded various kinds of birds of prey to be brought, each of which he placed successively upon his hand, and considered with that steady sagacity which men a little touched with wine are fond of exhibiting.
Having assiduously regarded the birds long enough to evince his imperial contempt of politeness, Mangou desired the ambassadors to speak. Rubruquis obeyed, and delivered an harangue of some length, which, considering the muddy state of the interpreter’s brain and the extremely analogous condition of the khan’s, may very safely be supposed to have been dispersed, like the rejected prayers of the Homeric heroes, in empty air. In reply, as he wittilyobserves, Mangou made a speech, from which, as it was translated to him, the ambassador could infer nothing except that the interpreter was extremely drunk, and the emperor very little better. In spite of this cloudy medium, however, he imagined he could perceive that Mangou intended to express some displeasure at their having in the first instance repaired to the court of Sartak rather than to his; but observing that the interpreter’s brain was totally hostile to the passage of rational ideas, Rubruquis wisely concluded that silence would be his best friend on the occasion, and he accordingly addressed himself to that moody and mysterious power, and shortly afterward received permission to retire.
The ostensible object of Rubruquis was to obtain permission to remain in Mongolia for the purpose of preaching the Gospel; but whether this was merely a feint, or that the appearance of the country and people had cooled his zeal, it is certain that he did not urge the point very vehemently. However, the khan was easily prevailed upon to allow him to prolong his stay till the melting of the snows and the warm breezes of spring should render travelling more agreeable. In the mean while our ambassador employed himself in acquiring some knowledge of the people and the country; but the language, without which such knowledge must ever be superficial, he totally neglected.
About Easter the khan, with his family and smaller tents or pavilions, quitted the camp, and proceeded towards Karakorum, which might be termed his capital, for the purpose of examining a marvellous piece of jewelry in form of a tree, the production of a French goldsmith. This curious piece of mechanism was set up in the banqueting-hall of his palace, and from its branches, as from some miraculous fountain, four kinds of wines and other delicious cordials, gushed forth for the use of the guests. Rubruquis and his companions followed in the emperor’strain, traversing a mountainous and steril district, where tempests, bearing snow and intolerable cold upon their wings, swept and roared around them as they passed, piercing through their sheep-skins and other coverings to their very bones.
At Karakorum, a small city, which Rubruquis compares to the town of St. Denis, near Paris, our ambassador-missionary maintained a public disputation with certain pagan priests, in the presence of three of the khan’s secretaries, of whom the first was a Christian, the second a Mohammedan, and the third a Buddhist. The conduct of the khan was distinguished by the most perfect toleration, as he commanded under pain of death that none of the disputants should slander, traduce, or abuse his adversaries, or endeavour by rumours or insinuations to excite popular indignation against them; an act of mildness from which Rubruquis, with the illiberality of a monk, inferred that Mangou was totally indifferent to all religion. His object, however, seems to have been to discover the truth; but from the disputes of men who argued with each other through interpreters wholly ignorant of the subject, and none of whom could clearly comprehend the doctrines he impugned, no great instruction was to be derived. Accordingly, the dispute ended, as all such disputes must, in smoke; and each disputant retired from the field more fully persuaded than ever of the invulnerable force of his own system.
At length, perceiving that nothing was to be effected, and having, indeed, no very definite object to effect, excepting the conversion of the khan, which to a man who could not even converse with him upon the most ordinary topic, seemed difficult, Rubruquis took his leave of the Mongol court, and leaving his companion at Karakorum, turned his face towards the west. Returning by an easier or more direct route, he reached the camp of Batou in two months. From thence he proceeded to the cityof Sarai on the Volga, and descending along the course of that river, entered Danghistan, crossed the Caucasus, and pursued his journey through Georgia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Syria.
Here he discovered that, taught by misfortune or yielding to the force of circumstances, the French king had relinquished, at least for the present, his mad project of recovering Palestine. He was therefore desirous of proceeding to Europe, for the purpose of rendering this prince an account of his mission; but this being contrary to the wishes of his superiors, who had assigned him the convent of Acra for his retreat, he contented himself with drawing up an account of his travels, which was forwarded, by the first opportunity that occurred, to St. Louis in France. Rubruquis then retired to his convent, in the gloom of whose cloisters he thenceforward concealed himself from the eyes of mankind. It has been ascertained, however, that he was still living in 1293, though the exact date of his death is unknown.
The work of Rubruquis was originally written in Latin, from which language a portion of it was translated into English and published by Hackluyt. Shortly afterward Purchas published a new version of the whole work in his collection. From this version Bergeron made his translation into French, with the aid of a Latin manuscript, which Vander Aa and the “Biographie Universelle” have multiplied into two. In all or any of these forms, the work may still be read with great pleasure and advantage by the diligent student of the opinions and manners of mankind.