Whosoever Is The Bearer Of That May Order What He Pleases, And
His Order Shall Be Executed Straightway."
These golden bulls of the Mongol Kaans appear to have been originally
tokens of high favour and honour, though afterwards they became more
frequent and conventional.
They are often spoken of by the Persian
historians of the Mongols under the name of Paizah, and sometimes
Paizah Sir-i-Sher, or "Lion's Head Paizah." Thus, in a firman of Ghazan
Khan, naming a viceroy to his conquests in Syria, the Khan confers on the
latter "the sword, the august standard, the drum, and the Lion's Head
Paizah." Most frequently the grant of this honour is coupled with
Yarligh; "to such an one were granted Yarligh and Paizah" the former
word (which is still applied in Turkey to the Sultan's rescripts) denoting
the written patent which accompanies the grant of the tablet, just as the
sovereign's warrant accompanies the badge of a modern Order. Of such
written patents also Marco speaks in this passage, and as he uttered it,
no doubt the familiar words Yarligh u Paizah were in his mind. The
Armenian history of the Orpelians, relating the visit of Prince Sempad,
brother of King Hayton, to the court of Mangku Kaan, says: "They gave him
also a P'haiza of gold, i.e. a tablet whereon the name of God is written
by the Great Kaan himself; and this constitutes the greatest honour known
among the Mongols. Farther, they drew up for him a sort of patent, which
the Mongols call Iarlekh," etc.
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