Primary Sources

The Secret History | Other Eastern Sources | Western Sources | Manuscripts and other art

The Secret History

Amazon. The Secret History of the Mongols by Arthur Waley (House of Stratus reprint).

Amazon. Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan by Paul Kahn, Francis Woodman Cleaves. Adaptation of Cleaves erudite translation, presented here as a narrative poem in colloquial English.

Other Eastern Sources

Amazon. The Travels of an Alchemist: The Journey of the Taoist Ch'ang-ch'un from China to the Hindu Kush at the Summons of the Khan translated by Arthur Waley.

"Islamic Law and Genghis Khan's code" by Joe Palmer, a stimulating article, with a great deal about Genghis Khan's Yasa, or law-code, all linked in with contemporary politics.

"The Mongols apparently understood their subjected peoples nearly as well as the West understands the Japanese, that is, not very well. However, they generally made every effort to get along."

Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West by Morris Rossabi. 13th century Nestorian monk travels west.

Western Sources

John of Plano Carpini selections, from a 1955 translation "by a nun of Stanbrook Abbey," from the (unfinished) Travelers and their Narratives section of Explorations in Empire, a project at San Antonio College.

Bibligraphy: Travellers on the Silk Road , an excellent page covering travellers of various periods, from The Silk Road Foundation (UMich).

Amazon. The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars (Historia Mongalorum Quos Nos Tartaros Appellamus), Friar Giovanni Di Plano Carpini's Account of His Embassy to the Court of the Mongol Khan, translated by Erik Hildinger. Amazon reviewers are ecstatic, and quite verbose.

A Letter from Peotr Alexeivich Novgorodski to his Slavic brethren, one of the sources of knowledge of the Yasa. As far as I can see, this is all part of the project, from Mostar the Balkans and Europe.

Manuscripts and other art

Pictures of The Compendium of Chronicles (Jami' al-tavarikh, c.1310), covering Mongol history from Genghis to the 14th century. Unfortuately, there's no translation, just pictures, from The Legacy of Genghis Khan.

The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period on post-Ghengis Mongol rulers in Iran, 1256–1353, and their efforts to use Persian and Arabic literature and art to butress their legitimacy and cultural standing, from The Legacy of Genghis Khan.