“more fires than the stars in the sky”: Secret History, § 194.
“If he sends me into fire”: “Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh Kurzer Bericht über die schwarzen Tatan von P’eng Ta-Ya und Sü T’ing, 1237,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks, Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen 1221 und 1237 (Welisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980), p. 161.
“rotten logs”: Secret History, § 96.
“Let us be companions”: Urgunge Onon, trans., The History and the Life of Chinggis Khan (The Secret History of the Mongols) (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990), § 200.
the headwaters of the Onon River: Regarding the location of the khuriltai of 1206, the Secret History describes the place as simply the headwaters of the Onon, but the seventeenth-century Erdeni-yin Tobchi places it more precisely on the island of Kherlen River. Paul Kahn, The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origins of Chingis Khan, exp. ed. (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 1998), p. 189.
“placed him upon a black Felt Carpet”: François Pétis de la Croix, The History of Genghizcan the Great: First Emperor of the Ancient Moguls and Tartars (London: Printed for J. Darby, etc., 1722), pp. 62–63.
“obstinate and has a petty, narrow mind”: Secret History, § 243.
The Great Law of Genghis Khan: For more information on the law of Genghis Khan, see Valentin A. Riasanovsky, Fundamental Principles of Mongol Law, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 43 (Bloomington: Indiana University Publications, 1965), p. 33.
haggling over the value of a wife: For more information on marriage, see Paul Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, trans. Thomas Nivison Haining. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1991), pp. 191.
Theft of animals: For more information, see ibid., p. 155.
hunting rights for wild animals: See Secret History, § 199.
tax exemptions: For more information on Genghis Khan’s tax law, see Riasanovsky, Fundamental Principles of Mongol Law, p. 83.
the supremacy of the rule of law: For more information on the application of law to the royal family, See Boris Y. Vladimirtsov, The Life of Chingis-Khan, trans. Prince D. S. Mirsky (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1930), p. 74.
“punish the thieves”: Onon, Secret History, § 203.
a system of fast riders: For a discussion of postal stations, see Bat-Ochir Bold, Mongolian Nomadic Society: A Reconstruction of the “Medieval” History of Mongolia (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001), p. 168.
Genghis Khan’s shaman: Teb Tengeri’s name was Kokochu. In the Secret History, four men had this name, and the text is not always clear on which is meant as the trustee of Hoelun’s estate. Two Kokochus were already dead before this episode. In addition to the shaman, Kokochu was the name of the Tayichiud boy adopted by Mother Hoelun, and who later became the leader of a unit of one thousand. Many scholars assume that the adopted Kokochu was placed in charge of Mother Hoelun’s people, but a case can be made that since Kokochu Teb Tengeri took over Mother Hoelun’s people after her death, he was the Kokochu named as an administrator. While the issue of precise identity is perplexing, it is probably not particularly important.
“Have you seen these?”: Secret History, § 244.
the Uighur khan: In the Secret History (§ 238), the Uighur leader is referred to as the Idu’ut, which means something like king, prince, or khan.
II. The Mongol World War: 1211–1261
“By the arms of Zingis”: Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London, J. M. Dent, 1910), vol. 5, p. 76.
4. Spitting on the Golden Khan
“The hooves of our Mongol horses”: Quoted by a Sung representative in “Meng-Ta Peu-Lu Ausführliche Aufzeichnungen über die Mongolischen Tatan von Chao Hung, 1221,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks, Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen 1221 und 1237 (Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980), p. 210.
their capital city of Zhongdu: The same place had many names at different times. Under the Jurched, it was Zhongdu. When Khubilai Khan created his capital here it became known as Khanbalik (the khan’s city) to Mongolians and other foreigners; the Chinese called it Dadu (or Ta-tu). Later, it was named Peking, and now Beijing.
“reverently upon the ground”: Peking Gazette, June 30, 1878, quoted in C. W. Campbell’s Travels in Mongolia: 1902 (reprint, London: Stationery Office, 2000), p. 74.
the full commitment of every warrior: see Sechen Jagchid and Paul Hyer, Mongolia’s Culture and Society (Boulder: Westview, 1979), p. 370.
“Our empire is like the sea”: “Meng-Ta Peu-Lu Ausführliche Aufzeichnungen über die Mongolischen Tatan von Chao Hung, 1221,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks, Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh, p. 61.
Mongol military: Thomas J. Barfield, The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 B.C. to A.D. 1757 (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992).
Mongol warriors could travel ten days: Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, trans. Teresa Waugh (New York: Facts on File, 1984), p. 57.
needed no fires to cook: See “Meng-Ta Peu-Lu Ausführliche Aufzeichnungen über die Mongolischen Tatan von Chao Hung, 1221,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks, Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh, p. 58.
the central camp for each unit: See “Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh Kurzer Bericht über die schwarzen Tatan von P’eng Ta-Ya und Sü T’ing, 1237,” in Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks, Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen 1221 und 1237 (Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980), p. 187.
communications became more important: Walther Heissig, A Lost Civilization: The Mongols Rediscovered, trans. D. J. S. Thompson (London: Thames & Hudson, 1966), p. 35.
The Mongols referred to these grass-eating people: For more on the Mongol terminology for settled people, see Uradyn E. Bulag, Nationality and Hybridity in Mongolia (Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. 213.