[1] In Section XIX. of this journey, Wasilico, or Wasiley, is mentioned as duke of Russia; but who must only have been duke of some subordinate province. This submission of Russia, or of his particular dukedom, produced no fruit to the Romish see, as the Russian empire still remains what are called Greek schismatics.--E.
CHAPTER IX.
Travels of William de Rubruquis into Tartary, about the year 1253.[1]
[1] Hakluyt, I. 80. for the Latin, and I.101. for the English. See likewise Harris, I. 556.
INTRODUCTION.
These travels were undertaken by order of Louis IX. of France, usually called St. Louis. In the original, or at least in the printed copies which have come down to our times, Rubruquis is said to have commenced his journey in the year 1253; but this date is attended with some difficulties, as we are certain that king Louis was a prisoner from 1249 to 1254. It is possible, indeed, that he may have dispatched this mission while a prisoner; yet it is more probable, that the date may have been vitiated in transcription. The real name of this early traveller, who was a friar of the minorite order, is said to have been Van Ruysbroek[2], from a village of that name near Brussels, Latinized, or Frenchified rather, into De Rubruquis. By Hakluyt he is named Rubruk. The version here offered to the public, is a translation from the Latin copy in Hakluyt, as addressed by the adventurous traveller to his royal master, after his return from traversing the whole extent of Tartary; the English translation, by that early and meritorious collector, being far too antiquated for modern readers.
[2] Pinkerton, Mod. Geogr. II. xvi.
Dedication by the Author
To the Most Excellent and Most Christian Lord Louis, by the Grace of GOD the illustrious King of the French; Friar William de Rubruquís, the meanest of the Minorite Order, wisheth health and continual triumph in CHRIST JESUS.
It is written in the book of Ecclesiasticus, "That the truly wise man shall travel through strange countries; for he hath tried the good and evil among men." All this, Sire, I have performed; and I wish I may have done so as a wise man, and not as a fool. For many do foolishly those things which have been done by wise men, and I fear I may be reckoned among that number. But as you were pleased to command me at my departure, that I should write down every thing I saw among the Tartars, and should not fear to write long letters, I now therefore obey your orders, yet with awe and reverence, as wanting fit language in which to address so great a king.
SECTION I.
Commencement of the Journey.
Be it known, therefore, to your sacred majesty, that in the year 1253, on the 7th of May, we entered into the sea of Pontus, which the Bulgarians call the Great Sea[1]; which I was informed, by certain merchants, is 1008 miles in length, and is in a manner divided, about its middle, into two parts, by means of two provinces which project into it, one on the north, and the other on the south. That which is on the south is called Synope, and contains the castle and port of the Sultan of the Turks. The northern province is called Gasaria by the Latins[2], and Cassaria by the Greek inhabitants of its coast, which is the same with Caesaria; and from thence certain headlands extend southwards into the sea, towards Synope, from the nearest part of which they are 300 miles distant; so that the distance from these points to Constantinople is 700 miles in length and breadth, and 700 miles to Hiberia in the east, which is a province of Georgia.
[1] The Euxine or Black Sea. Though not expressed in the text, he probably took his departure from Constantinople.--E.
[2] By the Latins are here obviously meant the inhabitants of western Europe. The province here mentioned is the Crimea; the Taurica Chersonesus of the ancients, or the modern Taurida.--E.
We arrived in the province of Gasaria, or Casaria, which is of a triangular form, having a city named Kersova on its western extremity, in which St. Clement suffered martyrdom. While sailing past that city, we saw an island containing a church, which is said to have been built by the angels. In the middle of this province, and on a cape to the south, stands the city of Soldaia, directly facing Synope. And here all merchants land who come from Turkey, in their way to the north, and embark here again on their return from Russia and the north for Turkey; these latter bring ermines and martins, and other valuable furs, and the former carry cloths made of cotton, or bombasins, and silk webs, and aromatic spices. On the east of this province is the city of Matriga[3], where the Tanais flows into the Pontus, by a mouth of twelve miles wide[4]. Before this river enters the Euxine, it forms itself into a sea towards the north, of seven hundred miles in length and breadth, but in no place above six paces deep, so that it is not navigable for large vessels: For which reason, the merchants of Constantinople, when they arrive at the city of Matriga, send their barks to the Tanais, where they purchase dried fish, sturgeons, thosas, barbels, and many other sorts of fish.
[3] At the mouth of one of the branches of the Kuban is the town of Temruck, formerly called Tmutrakhan by the Russians, and Tamatarcha by the Greeks; this has been corrupted to Tamaterca, Materca, and Matriga.--Forst.
[4] This obviously refers to the canal of communication between the sea of Azoph and the Euxine.--E.
This province of Casaria has the sea on three sides; on the west, where stands Kersova, or the city of St. Clement; on the south, where is the city of Soldaia, at which we landed; and on the east, where Matriga is situated at the mouth of the Tanais. To the east of that mouth is the city of Zikia, and the countries of the Suevi and Hiberi still further east, all of which are not under the dominion of the Tartars. To the south is Trebisond, which has its own prince, named Guido, who, although of the imperial race of Constantinople, is under the Tartar dominion; and next to it is Synope, which belongs to the sultan of the Turks, who is likewise subjected to the Tartars. Beyond this is the country of Vastacius, whose son is named Astar, after his maternal grandfather, and this country is not under the dominion of the Tartars. From the mouth of the Tanais to the Danube, and even beyond the Danube towards Constantinople, including Walachia, which is the country of Assanus, and the lesser Bulgaria as far as Solonia, pay tribute to the Tartars, who of late years have exacted an axe from each family, and all the corn which they find in heaps, in addition to the regular tribute.
We landed at Soldaia[5] on the 21st of May, where certain merchants of Constantinople had previously arrived, who reported that ambassadors from the Holy Land were coming thither, on their way to Sartach; although I had publickly declared on palm Sunday, in the church of St. Sophia, that I was no ambassador from you or any one, and only travelled to these infidels, in conformity with the rule of our order. On our arrival, these merchants advised me to be cautious of what I said; for, as they had already reported that I was an ambassador, if I should now say the contrary, I should be refused a free passage. Upon this, I addressed myself to the lieutenants of the city, because the captains had gone with the tribute to Baatu, and were not yet returned: saying, "We have heard in the Holy Land, that your lord Sartach[6] had become a Christian, which hath greatly rejoiced all the Christians, and especially the most Christian King of the French, who is there in pilgrimage, fighting against the Saracens, that he may redeem the Holy Land out of their hands: Wherefore, I desire to go to Sartach, that I may carry him letters from the king my master, in which