The Story of the Mongols: Whom We Call the Tartars by Fr. Giovanni Carpini (PDF)

Description

In April 1241 Mongol armies had killed some one hundred thousand European knights and men-at-arms in Poland and Hungary. They had beaten every western army they had come against. Henry II of Silesia was dead, Boleslav IV, Count of the Poles, was in hiding, and the kingdom of Hungary no longer existed; its king, Bela IV, was fleeing to the Adriatic coast pursued by a Mongol army determined to kill him. As for the country itself, the Mongols began to systematically strip and depopulate it and to strike coins. It belonged to Batu, grandson of Jinghiz Khan, the Emperor of All Men. Meanwhile, Pope Gregory IX and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II prepared to continue their person¬al war while Mongol scouts approached Venice. There was no army the Europeans could muster to oppose them. There seemed no reason to suppose that Western Europe would not suffer the fate of central Europe and Russia. In February 1241 the Mongol army had left its base in southern Russia and begun to cross the frozen rivers into central Europe. It consisted of about seventy thousand men, all of them cavalry. Nominally com¬manded by Batu, a grandson of Jinghiz Khan, he was guided by his grandfather’s famous lieutenant, Subotai, a brilliant campaigner. This general had commanded in the campaigns against the Northern Sung of China and had helped in the destruction of the Kwarizmian Em¬pire. He had planned the campaign against Europe for a year and the results would show.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐A fascinating book! Of interest not only to the expert, but also to everyone seriously interested in history. The following article provides perspective. On August 24, 2000, The Los Angeles Times carried an article headlined “Digging for Romans in China.” The article presented evidence for a Roman legion having been stationed in China sometime around the beginning of this era. The Romans apparently stayed a considerable while, and very likely intermarried with the local Chinese.What? Romans in China? But wasn’t Marco Polo the first? No, he was simply the most famous. Sporadic, but unrecorded, contacts quite possibly occurred since the domestication of the horse in prehistoric times. Nor was Marco Polo the first documented contact. Preceding him by some fifty year was Friar Giovanni di Plano Carpini.In Giovanni’s time, about 1250 AD, some 800 years had passed since the devastation caused by the Huns, but these events were by no means forgotten. Reports filtering in regarding the Mongols (also called Tartars) were even more frightening. Europe badly needed information on how to deal with this new threat. Friar Giovanni was sent by the Pope to convert the Mongols to Christianity — if possible. But the main purpose of his mission was to spy.Friar Giovanni seems like an unlikely emissary/spy – he was sixty years old and corpulent; but he executed his mission admirably. His slender book is not only an important historical source, but also a most fascinating record of his observations. Compared to other medieval travel accounts (e.g., Polo, Mandeville) Giovanni’s is very measured and matter of fact; nor does he pepper his account with numerous fantastic assertions. Yet – and this is the fascinating part – he is not entirely free of these either. He mentions a race of people who have no knees; another race whose women are of human appearance, but whose men have the shape of a dog; another who have only one arm and leg, and who must work in pairs to shoot a bow; yet another have very small mouths and live off the fumes of their cooking; and several more. He also mentions a place where the sun makes such a terrible sound (yes, sound!) that people live underground. Now, he does not actually claim to have seen these wonders. So why does he seemingly cheapen his account by including these? My own explanation is this: the medieval worldview required that such creatures exist. It appears to have been the duty of every writer of travel accounts to confirm this worldview.But then, have we really gotten very far away? What about recurrent reports of Bigfoot? And what about the strange menagerie populating Star Wars and Star Trek?The cover of the book is a gem! Taken around 1900, it shows a Mongol warrior in full panoply – he could have stepped right out of the army of Jenghis Khan! Worth getting for the cover alone.

⭐This manuscript offers a unique view of the Mongol culture at the time of it’s arrival on the world stage, in that the author was able to see the Mongol court when many of the major players were either still alive (Subotai) or but recently deceased and still within the living memory of people he did meet. Even after filtering out the prejudices of his times and background, the West is fortunate that a learned and world wise a man made this remarkable journey and recorded his findings. The historians and military professionals who study the Mongol art of war owe a great debt to Friar DiPlano Carpini, not least for the courage and steadfast attention to his duty he showed in undertaking this task at a time when he was already advanced in years.The thing that impressed me the most (other than the sheer enormity of his journey) is that Friar Carpini did not hesitate numerous times in this manuscript to plainly state when he did not know something, rather than make something up or pass on as fact something he himself did not beleive to be true. Despite the obvious descripancies owing to the world view of a 13th century man, this was a very logical and well educated 13th century man, and I think a truthful man whose words deserve to be read and appreciated today. Pope Innocent IV was very well served when he sent Friar Carpini on his mission, and any military scout today could draw lessons from the good Friar.

⭐I bought this for my son who is taking a college history class and he LOVES this book. As a primary source, it is essential reading, but the fact that my son read it almost in one sitting (highly unusual for him) is testament to the book. I, myself, have not read it yet so I cannot speak to it more than this, but I plan to read it and once done, will update.Update to above: I read the book. It is interesting, especially for a primary source. It shed some terrific insights on the thinking of those in the West regarding the Mongols. There are some not-so-subtle contradictions in Carpini’s text as well, which makes this reading all the more interesting as well. If you’re a history lover, particularly of this period of time, the book is certainly worth reading and probably keeping.

⭐The front and rear covers are blurry. Every other photograph clips almost entirely off the page. It’s a lackluster printing, for sure. Hopefully the material is worth it.

⭐The book itself is interesting. The printing left certain images off the bottom of the pages. I can only assume the printing was misaligned somehow. Look for a different one.

⭐Interesting book on the Mongols culture from Giovanni Da Pian Del Carpine.

⭐This is an account written a long time ago by a pious monk. So “Name of the rose” it aint! What you you get is factual experience mixed with third party mythology. I have to admit that I love this stuff! While witches were being burnt at the stake and “evil doers” were in the stocks, just the sheer romance of a wilder time makes up for the dry style that this is written in, after all, there were no ghostwritters at that time.

⭐This book took me 2 hrs to read. I think it would be good reading for a 10 to 12 year old who is interested in history. Since it is a translation from a report written in the early 13th century I had to think some of it’s content was based on myth and hearsay. The text may have also been influenced by the religious training of the Franciscan Friar “Carpini” who wrote the report “Historia Mongalorum” for Pope Innocent IV in 1247 AD.I would call this book amusing but not reliable information for serious history buffs.I found the chapter “Yaun Dadu, 1260 to 1368 AD” in the book “Beijing, Imperial Capital to Olympic City” more informative.

⭐This is a great text, but the edition is absolute junk. There are typos and missing words on every other page. The illustrations are too dark to be visible and they are captioned incorrectly, often only partially printed. The end notes are printed twice, typography is inconsistent, the front and back cover are so pixelated that they are barely readable… I could go on.Again this is a wonderful primary source and the translation strikes a good balance between preserving medieval syntax while being easy on the modern reader. You should read this book, but definitely not in this edition.

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