The Successors of Genghis Khan - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

THE SUCCESSORS OF GENGHIS KHAN
On behalf of Batu, Suqa Mulchitai.
On behalf of Tolui Khan, Alchi'qa went at the command of Sorqoqtani
Beki.
The above-mentioned emirs went upon their way and established
tqyan yams in all the lands and countries throughout the length and
breadth of the climes.
And Qa'an sent messengers to all the ends of the lands with the
message that no mortal should molest another and the strong should
not exercise their strength on the weak, nor seek more than their due
of them, nor behave tyrannically toward them. And the people were
at rest, and the fame of his justice was spread abroad.
Account of the battles fought by the princes and the Mongol
army in the Qipchaq Steppe, Bulghar, Oms, Magas, Alan, Majar, Bular, and
Bashghird, and the conquest of those countries"0
The princes deputed to conquer the Qipchaq Steppe and the neighboring
regions were: of the sons of Tolui, his eldest son Mongke Qa'an
and his brother Bochek; of the family of Ogetei, his eldest son Giiyiik
Khan and his brother Qadan; and the sons of Jochi, Batu, Orda,
Shiban, and Tangqut. Of the principal emirs, there accompanied
them Siibedei Bahadur and several other emirs. They all set out
together in the spring of the bichinytt, that is, the Year of the Monkey,
falling in Jumada II of the year 633 [lath February-iath March,
1236]. Having traveled throughout the summer, in the autumn, in
the region of Bulghar, they joined the family [of Jochi], Batu, Orda,
Shiban, and Tangqut, who had also been deputed to that region.
From thence,221 Batu together with Shiban and Boroldai took the
field with his army against the Bular and Bashghird222 and in a short
220 For an earlier translation of this chapter, see Minorsky 1952, pp. 224—26.
221 This part of Rashid al-Dm's account has, as Minorsky (1952, p. 228) points out,
been inserted in the wrong place. The operations in the Carpathians and Hungary
took place later, in 1240. The present version is based on Juvaini (HWC, pp. 270-
71); for Rashid al-Din's own version, see below pp. 69-71.
222 The phrase "Bular and Bashghird," like Juvaini's "Keler and Bashghird,"
seems to mean simply "the Hungarians." See Horde d'Or, p. 139. However, Minorsky
(1952), follows Blochet in reading Pulu for Bular and thinks this may reflect "some
memory of Poland, which was invaded before Hungary."
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