59 ° 
The VOYAGES 
and TR AVE L S 
Book I. 
6o. Such Is the Relation of the Monk Rubruquis, who had 
the belt Opportunity that any Man had to that Time, of 
looking into the Affairs of the Tartars , of examining 
their Force, of enquiring into the Form of their Govern- 
ment, and making himfelf perfectly acquainted with their 
Manners and Cuftoms, of which he has given fo large, fo 
curious, and fo accurate an Account. Before we proceed 
to our Remarks thereon, it may not be amifs to dear up 
a few Difficulties that occur in this Relation, and which, 
for want of being clearly refolved, may occafion fome 
Doubts in the Mind of our inquifitive Reader; and this is 
the more neceffary, becaufe hitherto nothing of this kind 
has been done, at leaft in our Language ; but the Rela- 
tion has been left naked and unfupported to the Cenfure 
of the Perufer, without the leaft Notice taken of thofe 
Fads that muft neceffarily embarrafs him, and in a great 
Meafure affed the Credit of the Author. I am very fen- 
fible, that many of my Readers may be of Opinion, that 
I might fpare myfelf fome part of the Trouble I take in 
illuftrating thofe old Writers ; but I beg leave to obferve 
once for all, that it is not either for their Intereft or mine, 
that I fiiould do fo. If I had not been throughly fatisfied 
that thefe Travels were the beft in their kind, I Ihould 
not have inferted them ; but with refped to the World, 
this is not enough ; for though I have it in my Power to 
give them what fee ms to me moft proper for fuch a Col- 
ledion, yet I owe it to them, and to myfelf, to make it 
as evident as it is poffible, that I difcharge this Truft as I 
ought, and that I give them nothing which is not truly 
worthy of their Pcrufal ; and this can no otherwife be 
done, than by obviating every Difficulty that may poffi- 
bly incline them to differ from me in Sentiment, and there- 
fore I hope this will juftify me in the Pains I am ftill to 
take with regard to this Author, who, as he was a Wri- 
ter of great Candour and Sincerity, fo he has mentioned 
many Particulars, which, tho’ they were well known in 
his Time, and more efpecially to the Prince, to whom 
this Work was addreffed ; yet are fo imperfedly known 
to us, that without a ftrid Search into the Hiftories of 
thofe Times, it is not eafy to conceive, how they can be 
reconciled to the reft of his Narration. 
We will ftate thefe plainly, and then the Truth of my 
Obfervation will be manifeft. In the firft Place, it feems 
extraordinary that the King of France Ihould be fo much 
deceived with refped to the Embaffy that was fent him 
from the Tartars, which occafioned the whole of this 
Tranladion ; but with refped to this, it appears clearly 
from the Hiftorians that have written the Reign of Saint 
Louis , that thefe Embaffadors came from a Tartar Prince 
called Ercalihay , and brought with them Letters which 
are ftill extant, and which pofitively affert, that it was the 
Defign of the Khan , to co-operate with the Chriftians, in 
order to reduce the Power of the' 'Mohammedans. At the 
Head of this Embaffy was one David , who is named in 
the Letters as one to whom the King of France might 
give entire Credit, to which his Majefty might be more 
inclined, becaufe he had in his Company Friar Andrew de 
Lontumal , whom the Pope had formerly fent into Tarta- 
ry, and who affured the King, that he had known Da- 
vid there in a Poll of Diftindion. This Embaffador it 
was, that pofitively afferted, that the Khan was become a 
Chriftian, and that there was no Difficulty in procuring a 
clofe Alliance between him and the Chriftians. Upon 
this, the King firft fent Friar Andrew with a confiderable 
Number of Perfons in his Train, back with the Tartar 
Ambaffadors, in the beginning of the Year 1250 ; but as 
to the Succefs of this Negociation, we have no Account. 
There is another thing a little dark in our Author’s Ac- 
count, and that is with relped to his Charader ; for tho 
it appears plainly, ’ that he was fent by the King his Matter 
with Letters to Sartach , yet he frequently tells us, that he 
did not affed to be thought an Ambaffador, but defired 
rather to be con fide red as a Monk, who vifited Tartary 
from his Zeal for the Chriftian Religion. 
His Reafon for'adihg thus, was to preferve the Honour 
of the King, from fuffering thro’ any ill Treatment that he 
might meet with, to which he was induced by many Rea- 
fon's, but particularly , by thefe two. In the firft place, he 
was perfedly fatisfied, that what had been reported as 
to the Converfion of Sartach, was falfe ; and next, be- 
caufe he was aware the Tartars were informed, that the 
King his Mafter had been beat in Egypt , and taken Prifo- 
ner there by the Infidels ; whence he concluded, that he 
fhould not meet with a very good Reception. He there- 
fore takes great Care to inform the King, that whatever 
Ufage he received, could refled no Difhonour upon his Ma- 
jefty, becaufe of the Precaution he had taken to affume 
no higher Charader than that of a Monk, who came to 
preach the Chriftian Religion to the Tartars . But the 
Readers may very probably wonder why the Tartar Prince 
Ercalthay, fhould take fuch a Step as this, in order to 
miflead fo great a Monarch, and yet, if he adverts to the 
Account our Author has given of the Genius and Difpofi- 
tions of the Tartars , he will eafily perceive, that this was 
a Stroke of their Policy, and no very bad one. They had 
a Mind to be perfedly acqainted with a Defign of the 
Franks their Forces, and the Manner in which they in- 
tended to carry on the War againft the Saracens ; nor 
could they fall upon a Way more proper than this for ac- 
complilhing their Ends. The Charader afforded, by our 
Author, to the Tartars , isjuftifiedby all Writers, both 
ancient and modern ; for their Policy with refped to fo- 
reign Countries, confifts entirely in Cunning and Subtilty 5 
for not having the Advantages that other Nations have of 
free Commerce and conftant Intercourfe with the Inhabi- 
tants of diftant Countries, they fupply themfelves with In- 
telligence by fuch Artifices as thefe. Some petty Tartar 
Prince takes upon him to fend Minifters to foreign Courts, 
whofe Bufinefs it is, under Colour of a Negotiation, to 
get the beft Accounts they can of the Regions in which 
they refide, in order to ferve their Countrymen whenever 
Occafion offers as Harbingers or Guides ; and as they de- 
pend on thefe Arts in Time of Peace, fo they place all 
their Confidence in War, in the Quicknefs of their Mo- 
tion, and in that Rapidity with which they over- run even 
great Countries, before the Inhabitants have Time to take 
proper Meafures for their Defence. 
It was for thefe Reafons, and to fave the Honour of the 
King his Mafter, that our Author denied that any Embaf- 
fadors had been fent to Mangu-Khan , for he confidered 
Friar Andrew as fent only to the Prince, who wrote to the 
King his Mafter, and not to the great Khan, of whom it 
does not appear that the French had any juft Ideas, till they 
were derived to them by this Relation. We may add to 
all this, that our Author was fomething diffident as to the 
Charafter which David affumed, by his giving us to under- 
ftand, that in thofe Days there were a certain bad fort of 
People, who in thefe remote Parts of the World, made 
a Practice of giving themfelves out for the Minifters 
of Princes they fcarce knew, and made a Livelihood by 
fuch ftrange Exploits. He likewife feems to be fully fatif- 
fied, that the Eaftern Chriftians in general were Men of 
great Vivacity, and fo fertile in their Imaginations, that 
every thing they faw or heard appeared to them in the 
Light of a Wonder, and as fuch they reported it wherever 
they came, to ferve their own Purpofes. 
Upon thefe Principles he grounds the political Part of 
his Work, in which he feems to labour with all his Force 
to eftablifh thefe two Maxims. The firft, that it was not 
dther fafe or honourable to aim at making Alliances with 
:he T artars , who were in his Sentiments a fierce intracla- 
fte fort of People, very proud of their extraordinary Sue- 
:effes, and who underftood all Applications made, to them, 
is proceeding from Fear. The fecond, that their Power 
vas nothing near fo great as it had been reprefented, fo that 
here was far lefs Danger like to accrue from the regarding 
hem as Enemies, than from treating with them as Friends, 
nto which Notion he was led by obferving, that their Dffi 
;ipline was not exa<ft, that they were utterly unacquainted 
vith the regular Art of War, and no way capable of car- 
ving it on againft fuch as flood .upon their Guard, and 
^ere prepared to meet' them in the Field with well-difci- 
ttined Armies. That which feems to be the leaft defence- 
ible Part of his Work, is his ftrqng Attachment to the 
Pope, and his high Notions of his Power, both of which, 
lowever, are in fome meafure excufable, confidering the 
\ge in which he lived, and the Conduct of the Popes in 
hofe times, who took upon them to excommunicate apd 
rieoole 
