When The Genoese Held Their
Settlements On The Crimean Coast The Board At Genoa Which Administered The
Affairs Of These Colonies Was Called The Office Of Gazaria.
NOTE 2.
- The real list of the "Kings of the Ponent," or Khans of the
Golden Horde, down to the time of Polo's narrative, runs thus: BATU,
Sartak, Ulagchi (these two almost nominal), BARKA, MANGKU TIMUR, TUDAI
MANGKU, Tulabugha, Tuktuka or TOKTAI. Polo here omits Tulabugha
(though he mentions him below in ch. xxix.), and introduces before Batu,
as a great and powerful conqueror, the founder of the empire, a prince
whom he calls Sain. This is in fact Batu himself, the leader of the
great Tartar invasion of Europe (1240-1242), whom he has split into two
kings. Batu bore the surname of Sain Khan, or "the Good Prince," by
which name he is mentioned, e.g., in Makrizi (Quatremere's Trans. II.
45), also in Wassaf (Hammer's Trans. pp. 29-30). Piano Carpini's account
of him is worth quoting: "Hominibus quidem ejus satis benignus; timetur
tamen valde ab iis; sed crudelissimus est in pugna; sagax est multum; et
etiam astutissimus in bello, quia longo tempore jam pugnavit." This Good
Prince was indeed crudelissimus in pugna. At Moscow he ordered a general
massacre, and 270,000 right ears are said to have been laid before him in
testimony to its accomplishment. It is odd enough that a mistake like that
in the text is not confined to Polo. The chronicle of Kazan, according to
a Russian writer, makes Sain succeed Batu.
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