Chapter LXXIII: Section XIX

_Of the Reverence shewn by Sartach, Mangu-khan, and Ken-chan, to the Christians_.

At the time when the Francs took Antioch from the Saracens[1], a prince named Con-can, or Khen-khan, held dominion over all the northern regions of Tartary. Con is a proper name, and can or khan is a title of dignity, signifying a diviner or soothsayer, and is applied to all princes in these countries, because the government of the people belongs to them through divination. To this prince the Turks of Antioch sent for assistance against the Francs, as the whole nation of the Turks came originally from the regions of Tartary. Con-khan was of the nation called Kara-Catay, or the black Catay; which is used to distinguish them from the other nation of Catayans, who inhabit to the eastwards upon the ocean, of whom I shall speak afterwards. These Kara-Catayans dwelt upon certain high mountains through which I travelled; and in a certain plain country within these mountains, there dwelt a Nestorian shepherd, who was supreme governor over the people called Yayman or Nayman, who were Christians of the Nestorian sect. After the death of Con-khan, this Nestorian prince exalted himself to the kingdom, and was called King John, or Prester John; of whom ten times more is reported than is true, according to the usual custom of the Nestorians, for they are apt to raise great stories on no foundations. Thus they gave out, that Sartach was a Christian, and they propagated similar stories of Mangu-khan, and even of Con-khan, merely because these princes shewed great respect to the Christians. The story of King John had no better foundation; for when I travelled through his territories, no one there knew any thing at all about him, except only a few Nestorians. In these regions likewise dwelt Con-khan, formerly mentioned, at whose court Friar Andrew once was; and I passed through that region in my return. This John had a brother, a powerful prince and a shepherd like himself, who was named Vut-khan, or Unc-khan, who dwelt beyond the mountains of Kara-Kitay, at the distance of three weeks journey from the residence of John. This Vut-khan was lord of a small village named Caracarum, and his subjects were called Crit or Merkit, being Christians of the Nestorian sect. But Vut-khan abandoned the Christian worship and followed idolatry, retaining priests to his idols, who are all sorcerers and worshippers of the devils.

Ten or fifteen days journey beyond the territory of Vut-khan, lay the pastures of the Moal, a poor nation without laws or government, except that they were much given to sorcery and divinations; and near them was another poor nation called Tartars. On the death of John, the khan of the Cara- Kitayans, without male issue, his brother Vut succeeded to all his great riches, and got himself to be proclaimed khan. The flocks and herds of this Vut-khan pastured to the borders of the Moal, among whom was one Zingis, a blacksmith, who used to steal as many cattle as he possibly could from the flock of Vut-Khan. At length the herds complained to their lord of the reiterated robberies which were committed by Zingis, and Vut-khan went with an army to seize him. But Zingis fled and hid himself among the Tartars, and the troops of Vut-khan returned to their own country, after having made considerable spoil both from the Moal and the Tartars. Then Zingis remonstrated with the Moal and Tartars, upon their want of a supreme ruler to defend them from the oppressions of their neighbours, and they were induced by his suggestions to appoint him to be their khan or ruler. Immediately after his elevation, Zingis gathered an army secretly together, and made a sudden invasion of the territories belonging to Vut, whom he defeated in battle, and forced to fly for refuge into Katay. During this invasion, one of the daughters of Vut was made prisoner, whom Zingis gave in marriage to one of his sons, and to whom she bore Mangu-khan, the presently reigning great khan of the Moal and Tartars. In all his subsequent wars, Zingis used continually to send the Tartars before him in the van of his army: by which means their name came to be spread abroad in the world, as, wherever they made their appearance, the astonished people were in use to run away, crying out, the Tartars! the Tartars! In consequence of almost continual war, this nation of the Tartars is now almost utterly extirpated, yet the name remains; although the Moals use every effort to abolish that name and to exalt their own. The country where these Tartars formerly inhabited, and where the court of Zingis still remains, is now called Mancherule; and as this was the centre of all their conquests, they still esteem it as their royal residence, and there the great khan is for the most part elected.

[1] About the year 1097.