BOOK FOURTH. WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES. XXII., p. 488. RUSSIA. = "It seems that Russia [Chinese A-lo-sz' Mongol Oros; the modern Chinese name for Russia is Wo-lo-sa'] was unknown to the nations of Eastern Asia before the Mongol period. In the Mongol and Chinese annals the Russians are first mentioned after Subutai's invasion of Southern Russia in 1223. The Yüan chao pi shi terms Russia or the Russians Orus, as they are called even now by the Mongols. The Chinese of the Mongol period write A-lo-sz', sometimes also Wa-lo-sz' or U-lu-sz'. All these names evidently render the Mongol appellation Orus. "In the Yüan shi Russia is frequently mentioned. . . . I may notice here some other instances where the Russians are spoken of in the Yuan-shi. We read in the annals, s.a. 1253, that the Emperor Meng k'o (Mangu) ordered Bi-dje Bie-rh-k'o to be sent to Wu-lo-sz' in order to take a census of the people. "It is an interesting fact recorded in the Yüan shï that there was in the first half of the fourteenth century a settlement of Russians near Peking. In the annals, chap. XXXIV., s.a. 1330, it is stated that the Emperor Wen Tsung (Tob Timur, 1329-32, the great grandson of Kubilai), formed a regiment composed of U-lo-sz' or Russians. This regiment being commanded by a wan hu (commander of ten thousand of the third degree), received the name The Ever-faithful Russian Life-guard.' It was placed under the direct control of the council of war. Farther on in the same chapter it is stated that 140 king of land, north of Ta tu (Peking) was bought from the peasants and allotted to these Russians, to establish a camp and to form a military colony. We read again in the same chapter that they were furnished with implements of agriculture, and were bound to present for the imperial table every kind of game, fish, etc., found in the forests, rivers, and lakes of the country where their camp was situated. This Russian regiment is again mentioned in chap. XXXV. "In chapter XXXVI. it is recorded that in the year 1332 the prince Djang-ghi presented 170 Russian prisoners and received a pecuniary reward. On the same page we read that clothes and corn were bestowed on a thousand Russians. In the same year the prince Yen t'ie-mu-rh presented 1500 Russian prisoners to the Chinese emperor, and another prince, A-rh-ghia-shi-li, presented thirty. "Finally, in the biography of Bo yen, chap. CXXXVIII., he is stated to have been appointed in 1334 commander of the emperor's life-guard, composed of Mongols, Kipchaks, and Russians." (E. BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaval Researches, II., pp. 79-81.) Prof. Parker (Asiatic Q. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 148) mentions the appointment of a Russian Governor in 1337, and says: "It was the practice of Princes in the West to send 'presents' of Russian captives. In one case Yen Temur sent as many as 2500 in one batch." APPENDICES. LIST OF MSS. OF MARCO POLO'S BOOK SO FAR AS THEY ARE KNOWN.1 II., p. 533. GLASGOW, Hunterian Museum.2 No. 84, vellum, 4to, Cent. XV.: 1. Guido de Colonna's Destruction of Troy. 2. Julius Valerius' History of Alexander the Great. 3. Archbishop Turpin's Itinerary. 4. Marco Polo. Begins (25, 5 [f. 191 (197) °, lines 1-3): ¶ [blue] Incipit liber domini marci Pauli de Venecijs | de condicionibus et consuetudinibus orientalium regionum [rubric] L [small illuminated initial] Ibrum prudentis honorabilis ac fidelissimi domini marci. Ends (33, 3 [f. 253 (259) °, lines 8-12): girfalci et herodij qui inde postmodum ad diuersas prouincias | et regiones deferuntur et cetera. ¶ [blue] Explicit liber domini marci Pauli | de Venecijs de diuisionibus et consue- | tudinibus orientalium regionum [Pipino's Version]. 5. Frater Odoricus Forojuliensis. 6. Iohannis Mandeville, De Mirabilibus. II., p. 533. GLASGOW, Hunterian Museum, Cent. XIV.3 No. 458, vellum, 4to. 1. Marci Pavli Veneti, De Orientalibus Regionibvs. Begins after a preface by "Frater Franciscus Pipinus de Bononia" beginning (1, 1, lines 1-4): Incipit liber primus domini marci pauli de venecijs de orien [rubric] | L [gilt historiated initial with gestures forming a floreated border.] Ibrum prudentis talibus regionibus. Prolo [last three words rubric] | honorabilis ac fidelissimi domini gus. 1 See The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. II., pp. 530 seq. * Pages 89, 90 of A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow planned and begun by the late John Young . . . continued and completed under the direction of the Young Memorial Committee by P. Henderson Aitken. . . . Glasgow, James Maclehose and Sons, 1908, gr. in -4. |