History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
great khan, or emperor of the Moguls 4 and Tartars. 5 Of these
kindred, though rival, names, the former had given birth to the
imperial race; and the latter has been extended by accident or
error over the spacious wilderness of the north.
101 (return) [ On the traditions of the early life of Zingis, see
D’Ohson, Hist des Mongols; Histoire des Mongols, Paris, 1824.
Schmidt, Geschichte des Ost-Mongolen, p. 66, &c., and Notes.—M.]
2 (return) [ The khans of the Keraites were most probably
incapable of reading the pompous epistles composed in their name
by the Nestorian missionaries, who endowed them with the fabulous
wonders of an Indian kingdom. Perhaps these Tartars (the
Presbyter or Priest John) had submitted to the rites of baptism
and ordination, (Asseman, Bibliot Orient tom. iii. p. ii. p.
487—503.)]
3 (return) [ Since the history and tragedy of Voltaire, Gengis,
at least in French, seems to be the more fashionable spelling;
but Abulghazi Khan must have known the true name of his ancestor.
His etymology appears just: _Zin_, in the Mogul tongue, signifies
_great_, and _gis_ is the superlative termination, (Hist.
Généalogique des Tatars, part iii. p. 194, 195.) From the same
idea of magnitude, the appellation of _Zingis_ is bestowed on the
ocean.]
4 (return) [ The name of Moguls has prevailed among the
Orientals, and still adheres to the titular sovereign, the Great
Mogul of Hindastan. * Note: M. Remusat (sur les Langues Tartares,
p. 233) justly observes, that Timour was a Turk, not a Mogul,
and, p. 242, that probably there was not Mogul in the army of
Baber, who established the Indian throne of the “Great
Mogul.”—M.]
5 (return) [ The Tartars (more properly Tatars) were descended
from Tatar Khan, the brother of Mogul Khan, (see Abulghazi, part
i. and ii.,) and once formed a horde of 70,000 families on the
borders of Kitay, (p. 103—112.) In the great invasion of Europe
(A.D. 1238) they seem to have led the vanguard; and the
similitude of the name of _Tartarei_, recommended that of Tartars
to the Latins, (Matt. Paris, p. 398, &c.) * Note: This
relationship, according to M. Klaproth, is fabulous, and invented
by the Mahometan writers, who, from religious zeal, endeavored to
connect the traditions of the nomads of Central Asia with those
of the Old Testament, as preserved in the Koran. There is no
trace of it in the Chinese writers. Tabl. de l’Asie, p. 156.—M.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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