In The Armenian Prince
Sempad's Account, On The Other Hand, This Christian King Of India Is
Aided By The Tartars To Defeat And Harass The Neighbouring Saracens, His
Enemies, And Becomes The Mongol's Vassal.
In the statement of Rubruquis,
though distinct reference is made to the conquering Gurkhan (under the
name of Coir
Cham of Caracatay), the title of King John is assigned to
the Naiman Prince (Kushluk), who had married the daughter of the last
lineal sovereign of Karakhitai, and usurped his power, whilst, with a
strange complication of confusion, UNC, Prince of the Crit and Merkit
(Kerait and Merkit, two great tribes of Mongolia)[10] and Lord of
Karakorum, is made the brother and successor of this Naiman Prince. His
version of the story, as it proceeds, has so much resemblance to Polo's,
that we shall quote the words. The Crit and Merkit, he says, were
Nestorian Christians. "But their Lord had abandoned the worship of Christ
to follow idols, and kept by him those priests of the idols who are all
devil-raisers and sorcerers. Beyond his pastures, at the distance of ten
or fifteen days' journey, were the pastures of the MOAL (Mongol), who were
a very poor people, without a leader and without any religion except
sorceries and divinations, such as all the people of those parts put so
much faith in. Next to Moal was another poor tribe called TARTAR. King
John having died without an heir, his brother Unc got his wealth, and
caused himself to be proclaimed Cham, and sent out his flocks and herds
even to the borders of Moal. At that time there was a certain blacksmith
called Chinghis among the tribe of Moal, and he used to lift the cattle of
Unc Chan as often as he had a chance, insomuch that the herdsmen of Unc
Chan made complaint to their master. The latter assembled an army, and
invaded the land of the Moal in search of Chinghis, but he fled and hid
himself among the Tartars. So Unc, having plundered the Moal and Tartars,
returned home. And Chinghis addressed the Tartars and Moal, saying: 'It is
because we have no leader that we are thus oppressed by our neighbours.'
So both Tartars and Moal made Chinghis himself their leader and captain.
And having got a host quietly together, he made a sudden onslaught upon
Unc and conquered him, and compelled him to flee into Cathay. On that
occasion his daughter was taken, and given by Chinghis to one of his sons,
to whom she bore Mangu, who now reigneth.... The land in which they (the
Mongols) first were, and where the residence of Chinghis still exists, is
called Onan Kerule.[11] But because Caracoran is in the country which
was their first conquest, they regard it as a royal city, and there hold
the elections of their Chan."
Here we see plainly that the Unc Chan of Rubruquis is the Unc Can or
Unecan of Polo. In the narrative of the former, Unc is only connected
with King or Prester John; in that of the latter, rehearsing the story as
heard some 20 or 25 years later, the two are identified.
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