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. The shadowy
role of Prester John has passed from the Ruler of Kara Khitai to the
Chief of the Keraits. This transfer brings us to another history.
We have already spoken of the extensive diffusion of Nestorian
Christianity in Asia during the early and Middle Ages.
