CELEBRATED TRAVELLERS.
WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS.
Born about 1220.—Died after 1293.
The conquests of Genghis Khan and his successors, extending from the Amoor and the Chinese Wall to the confines of Poland and Hungary, having excited extraordinary terror in the minds of the Christian princes of Europe, many of them, and particularly the pope and the King of France, despatched ambassadors into Tartary, rather as spies to observe the strength and weakness of the country, and the real character of its inhabitants, than for any genuine diplomatic purposes. Innocent IV. commenced those anomalous negotiations, by sending, in 1246 and 1247, ambassadors into Mongolia to the Great Khan, as well as to his lieutenant in Persia. These ambassadors, as might be expected, were monks, religious men being in those times almost the only persons possessing any talent for observation, or the knowledge necessary to record their observations for the benefit of those who sent them. The first embassy from the pope terminated unsuccessfully, as did likewise the maiden effort of St. Louis; but this pious monarch, whose zeal overpowered his good sense, still imagined that the conversion of the Great Khan, which formed an important part of his design, was far from being impracticable; and upon the idle rumour that one of his nephews had embraced Christianity, and thus opened a way for the Gospel into his dominions, St. Louis in 1253 despatched a second mission into Tartary, at the head of which was William de Rubruquis.
This celebrated monk was a native of Brabant, who, having travelled through France, and several other countries of Europe, had passed over, perhaps with the army of St. Louis, into Egypt, from whence he had proceeded to the Holy Land. Of this part of his travels no account remains. When intrusted, however, with the mission into Tartary, he repaired to Constantinople, whence, having publicly offered up his prayers to God in the church of St. Sophia, he departed on the 7th of May, with his companions, and moving along the southern shore of the Black Sea, arrived at Sinopia, where he embarked for the Crimea. From an opinion that any indignities which might be offered to Rubruquis would compromise the dignity of the king, it had been agreed between Louis and his agent that, on the way at least, the latter should pretend to no public character, but feign religious motives, as if he had been urged by his own private zeal to endeavour the conversion of the khan and his subjects. Upon reaching Soldaza in the Crimea, however, he discovered that, secret as their proceedings were supposed to have been, the whole scheme of the enterprise was perfectly understood; and that, unless as the envoy of the king, he would not be permitted to continue his journey.
Rubruquis had no sooner entered the dominions of the Tartars than he imagined himself to be in a new world. The savage aspect of the people, clad in the most grotesque costume, and eternally on horseback, together with the strange appearance of the country, the sound of unknown languages, the practice of unusual customs, and that feeling of loneliness and desertion which seized upon their minds, caused our traveller and his companions to credit somewhat too readily the deceptive testimony of first impressions, which never strictly corresponds with truth. Travelling in those covered wagons which serve the Tartars for carriages, tents, and houses, and through immense steppes in which neither town, village, house, nor any other building, save a few antique tombs, appeared, they arrived in a few weeks at the camp of Zagatay Khan, which, from the number of those moving houses there collected, and ranged in long lines upon the edge of a lake, appeared like an immense city.
Here they remained some days in order to repose themselves, and then set forward, with guides furnished them by Zagatay, towards the camp of Sartak, the prince to whom the letters of St. Louis were addressed. The rude and rapacious manners of the Tartars, rendered somewhat more insolent than ordinary, perhaps, by the unaccommodating temper of their guests, appeared so detestable to Rubruquis, that, to use his own forcible expression, he seemed to be passing through one of the gates of hell; and his ideas were probably tinged with a more sombre hue by the hideous features of the people, whose countenances continually kept up in his mind the notion that he had fallen among a race of demons. As they approached the Tanais the land rose occasionally into lofty hills, which were succeeded by plains upon which nothing but the immense tombs of the Comans, visible at a distance of two leagues, met the eye.
Having crossed the Tanais and entered Asia, they were for several days compelled to proceed on foot, there being neither horses nor oxen to be obtained for money. Forests and rivers here diversified the prospect. The inhabitants, a fierce, uncivilized race, bending beneath the yoke of pagan superstition, and dwelling in huts scattered through the woods, were yet hospitable to strangers, and so inaccessible to the feelings of jealousy that they cared not upon whom their wives bestowed their favours. Hogs, wax, honey, and furs of various kinds constituted the whole of their wealth. At length, after a long and a wearisome journey, which was rendered doubly irksome by their ignorance of the language of the people, and the stupid and headstrong character of their interpreter, they arrived on the 1st of July at the camp of Sartak, three days’ journey west of the Volga.
The court of this Tartar prince exhibited that species of magnificence which may be supposed most congruous with the ideas of barbarians: ample tents, richly caparisoned horses, and gorgeous apparel.—Rubruquis and his suit entered the royal tent in solemn procession, with their rich clerical ornaments, church plate, and illuminated missals borne before them, holding a splendid copy of the Scriptures in their hands, wearing their most sumptuous vestments, and thundering forth, as they moved along, the “Salve Regina!” This pompous movement, which gave the mission the appearance of being persons of consequence, and thus flattered the vanity of Sartak, was not altogether impolitic; but it had one evil consequence; for, although it probably heightened the politeness of their reception, the sight of their sacred vessels, curious missals, and costly dresses excited the cupidity of the Nestorian priests, and cost Rubruquis dearly, many valuable articles being afterward sequestrated when he was leaving Tartary.