As for Baidu, Casan swore that he would
take such vengeance on him that all the world should speak thereof; and he
said to himself that he would tarry no longer, but would go at once
against Baidu and make an end of him. So he addressed all his people, and
then set out to get possession of his throne.
And when Baidu had intelligence thereof he assembled a great army and got
ready, and marched ten days to meet him, and then pitched his camp, and
awaited the advance of Casan to attack him; meanwhile addressing many
prayers and exhortations to his own people. He had not been halted two
days when Casan with all his followers arrived. And that very day a fierce
battle began. But Baidu was not fit to stand long against Casan, and all
the less that soon after the action began many of his troops abandoned him
and took sides with Casan. Thus Baidu was discomfited and put to death,
and Casan remained victor and master of all. For as soon as he had won the
battle and put Baidu to death, he proceeded to the capital and took
possession of the government; and all the Barons performed homage and
obeyed him as their liege lord. Casan began to reign in the year 1294 of
the Incarnation of Christ.
Thus then you have had the whole history from Abaga to Casan, and I should
tell you that Alaue, the conqueror of Baudac, and the brother of the Great
Kaan Cublay, was the progenitor of all those I have mentioned. For he was
the father of Abaga, and Abaga was the father of Argon, and Argon was the
father of Casan who now reigns.[NOTE 2]
Now as we have told you all about the Tartars of the Levant, we will quit
them and go back and tell you more about Great Turkey - But in good sooth
we have told you all about Great Turkey and the history of Caidu,
and there is really no more to tell. So we will go on and tell you of the
Provinces and nations in the far North.
NOTE 1. - The Christian writers often ascribe Christianity to various
princes of the Mongol dynasties without any good grounds. Certain coins of
the Ilkhans of Persia, up to the time of Ghazan's conversion to Islam,
exhibit sometimes Mahomedan and sometimes Christian formulae, but this is
no indication of the religion of the prince. Thus coins not merely of the
heathen Khans Abaka and Arghun, but of Ahmad Tigudar, the fanatical
Moslem, are found inscribed "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost." Raynaldus, under 1285, gives a fragment of a letter addressed by
Arghun to the European Powers, and dated from Tabriz, "in the year of the
Cock," which begins "In Christi Nomen, Amen!" But just in like
manner some of the coins of Norman kings of Sicily are said to bear the
Mahomedan profession of faith; and the copper money of some of the
Ghaznevide sultans bears the pagan effigy of the bull Nandi,
borrowed from the coinage of the Hindu kings of Kabul.
