Pràctica
8.
Anàlisi dels textos de Carpini i Rubruck
1. Llegeix la narració
feta per John de Plano Carpini: Historia Mongolorum i, a continuació,
respon les preguntes:
If for the attention of our readers we write anything which is not known in your parts, you ought not on that account to call us liars, for we are reporting for you things we ourselves have seen or have heard from others whom we believe to be worthy of credence. |
Per què creus que Plano Carpini fa aquesta advertència inicial? |
The Kitayans are pagans, and they have their own special writing; it is said that they also have an Old and New Testament; and they have lives of Fathers and hermits and buildings made like churches, in which they pray at stated times; and they say they have some saints. They worship one God, they honour Our Lord Jesus Christ, and they believe in eternal life, but they are not baptised. They show honour and respect to our Scriptures, they love Christians and give much in alms. They seem to be most affable and kindly men. They have no beard and their physiognomy is much like that of the Mongols, though they are not so broad in the face. They have their own language. |
Qui són els Kitayans i perquè els anomena així?Hi ha alguna relació entre aquest nom i el que utilitza Marco Polo? |
Chingis Chan ordained that the army should be organised in such a way that over ten men should be set one man and he is what we call a captain of ten; over ten of these should be placed one, named a captain of a hundred; at the head of ten captains of a hundred is placed a soldier known as a captain of a thousand, and over ten captains of a thousand is one man |
Per què creus que Carpini informa tan detalladament de la organització militar dels mongols? |
In the lands of the Saracens, the Tartars, who live among them as their lords and masters, take all the best craftsmen and employ they in their own service, while the rest of the artificers pay tribute out of their work. |
Qui eren els sarracens? |
We were summoned into the presence of the Emperor and Chingay the protonotary wrote down our names and the names of those who had sent us. |
Creus que aquesta era una pràctica original dels mongols o bé una adquisició recent? |
So many gifts were bestowed by the envoys there that it was marvellous to behold - gifts of silk, velvet, brocade, girdles of silk threaded with gold, choice furs and other presents.There up on a hill a good distance away from the tents were stationed more than five hundred carts, which were all filled with gold and silver and silken garments |
En què consisteixen la immensa majoria dels regals i com ho expliques? |
The present Emperor is never seen to laugh for a slight cause nor to indulge in any frivolity, so we were told by the Christians who are constantly with him. The Christians of his household also told us that they firmly believed he was about to become a Christian, and they have clear evidence of this, for he maintains Christian clerics |
A quins cristians es refereix? |
To avoid any doubt arising in the minds of anyone as to our having been to the Tartars, we will write down the names of those with whom we came into contact there. There are as witnesses the merchants fron Vratislava, and also many other merchants, both from Poland and from Austria. Further witnesses are the merchants from Constantinople, the names of these merchants are as follows: Michael the Genoese, Manuel the Venetian, James Reverius of Acre, Nicolas Pisani. The less important are: Mark, Henry, John, Vasius, another Henri Bonadies, Peter Paschani. There were many others, but I do not know their names. |
D'on venien els mercaders estrangersque Carpini troba en el seu viatge per terres mongols? |
2. Llegeix la narració
feta per Guillem de Rubruck i, a continuació, respon les preguntes
| On the third day after leaving Soldaia we came across the Tartars; we met Chagatai's carts laden with their dwellings and it seemed to me as if a large city were approaching me. | Vista la observació de Rubruck, com creus que devia ser la caravana de Chagatai? |
| Our guide went to a certain Nestorian, Coiac by name, who is one of the chief men of his court. There are Nestorians and Saracens living among them like foreigners as far as Cathay. In a certain plain among these pasture lands was a nestorian who set himself up as king and the Nestorians called him King John. | Per què
eren tan importants els nestorians a l'estepa? Peruè eren tan importants els nestorians a la cort dels mongols? Per què eren importants els nestorians i els sarracens a les ciutats de Cathay? Qui era el Preste Joan? |
| Next is grand Cathay, the inhabitants of which in ancient times, so I believe, used to be called Seres. | A partir de quan es parla a Occident dels Seres? |
| The inhabitants of Cathay are little men, and when they speak the breathe heavily trough their noses; it is a general characteristic of all Orientals that they have a small opening for the eyes. They are very fine crafstmen in every art, and their physicians know a great deal about the power of herbs and diagnose very cleverly from the pulse. | Pel que diu
Rubruck creus que ha vist xinesos de veritat? És cert que la medecina i farmacopea xineses estiguessin molt desenvolupades? |
| The ordinary money of Cathay is a piece of paper made out of cotton, a handbreadth in width and length, and on this they stamp lines. | Com expliques que a Rubruck el sorprengui que els xinesos tinguin paper-moneda? |
| They write with a brush like those with which painters paint and in a single character they make several letters which form one word. | Quina descripció de l'escriptura xinesa creus que és més completa, la de Rubruck o la de Carpini? |
| In that land there are many provinces a number of which are still not subject to the Mongols. | A què es refereix ? |