John de Plano Carpini: Historia Mongolorum

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. [...]

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. Better artificers are not to be found in the whole world in all the trades in which men are wont to be engaged. Their land is very rich in corn, wine, gold and silk and in all the things which usually support human life. [...]

The Emperor of the Tartars has a remarkable power over everyone. [...] 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 [...].They are indeed the most cunning in war, for they have now been fighting against other nations for forty years and more [...]

In the lands of the Saracens and other nations the Tartars, who live among them as their lords and masters, take all the best craftsmen and employ the in their own service, while the rest of the artificers pay tribute out of their work.[...]

Next we entered the land of the Mongols, whom we call Tartars.[...] We arrived in time for the solemn court which had been convened several years back for the election of Cuyuc, who is now Emperor [...]. By the time we got there a large pavilion had been put up made of white velvet, and in my opinion it was so big that more than two thousand men could have gone into it.[...] On the first day they were all clothed in white velvet, on the second in red, on the third day they were all in blue velvet and on the fourth in the finest brocade. [...] Outside were Duke Jerozlaus of Susdal in Russia and several chiefs of the Kitayans and Solangi, and also two sons of the king of Georgia, the ambassador of the Caliph of Bagdad, who was a Sultan, and more than other Sultans of the Saracens. There were more than four thousand envoys there [...]

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 [...]

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, chioice 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 Vratislavia, 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.