Reflection of Mongolian Primary Sources of the 13th century in the Dynastic History "Yuan Shi" Based on the Material of Mongol Campaigns against Rus and Eastern Europe
This s tudy presents the results of a comparative analysis of the information
contained in the Chinese dynas tic his tory Yuan shi (1370) and the Yuan texts of the
13th and the beginning of the 14th century on the campaigns of the Mongols in Rus
and in Eas tern Europe during the firs t half of the 13th century. The article provides
evidence of the exis tence (along with specific examples) of the Mongol primary
sources of the mid-thirteenth century which information was used by the authors
of Yuan Shi for writing biographies of a number of officials of the Mongol Empire
who participated in these campaigns. Various components of the sources of Yuan shi
were examined to demons trate this conclusion. One of the mos t important sources
was the Yuan compendiums of official documents, such as Jing-shi dadian (1331)
as well as the so-called “codes of regulations”. The significance of the enormous
compilation of Jing-shi dadian for the authors of Yuan shi consis ted in the fact
that for this compilation original texts of decrees, rescripts, and edicts of the kaans
of the Mongol Empire, as well as the Yuan emperors, were translated from the
Mongolian language into Chinese during the 1310s — 1320s. Thus, the authors
of Yuan shi had access to many original documents drawn up in the office of the
Mongol Empire until the 1260s. In addition, the author used the s till extant texts
of the Yuan his toriographers and writers Wang Yun (1227–1304), Yao Sui (1238–
1313) and Yan Fu (1236–1312). The author demons trates the ways passed by the
information from s tatements of service of ranks in the Yuan time, Mongol acts, and
Yuan letters of honor of the titled dignitaries to texts of the Yuan authors and then
to Yuan shi. Fragments of the texts of the above-mentioned Yuan authors are quoted
as well as passages from extant narratives and documents of the Mongol Empire and
the Yuan Dynas ty. Many of them are introduced into scientific circulation for the
firs t time. They provide various details of the military campaigns of the Mongols in
Rus and Eas tern Europe and information on the activities of such his torical persons
as the Genghisides Batu, Ugedei, Guyuk and Mengu-kaan, commanders Subedei,
Tutuk and Shiri-gambu. They also contain important observations concerning the
Rus, the Alans and the Kipchaks, whom the Mongols encountered during these
campaigns. This information covers the following issues: geography of the Mongol
campaigns with the place-names retained in the Mongols’ documents; the course of
hos tilities; details of sieges of cities by the Mongols and the means used for this;
exact chronology of events of these campaigns, etc.
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