GOD Almighty in wisdom and intelligence distinguished Chingiz-Khan from all his coevals [contemporaries] and in alertness of mind and absoluteness of power exalted him above all the kings of the world; so that all that has been recorded touching the practice of the mighty Chosroes of old and all that has been written concerning the customs and usages of the Pharaohs and Caesars was by Chingiz-Khan invented from the page of his own mind without the toil of perusing records or the trouble of conforming with tradition; while all that pertains to the method of subjugating countries and relates to the crushing of the power of enemies and the raising of the station of followers was the product of his own understanding and the compilation of his own intellect. And indeed, Alexander, who was so addicted to the devising of talismans and the solving of enigmas, had he lived in the age of Chingiz-Khan, would have been his pupil in craft and cunning, and of all the talismans for the taking of strongholds he would have found none better than blindly to follow in his footsteps: whereof there can be no clearer proof nor more certain evidence than that having such numerous and powerful foes and such mighty and well-accoutred enemies, whereof each was the faghfur [Persian word for Emperor of China] of the time and the Chosroes [Persian kings] of the age, he sallied forth, a single man, with few troops and no accoutrement, and reduced and subjugated the lords of the horizons from the East unto the West; and whoever presumed to oppose and resist him, that man, in enforcement of the yasas [Mongol law] and ordinances which he imposed, he utterly destroyed, together with all his followers, children, partisans, armies, lands and territories. There has been transmitted to us a tradition of the traditions of God which says: ‘Those are my horsemen; through them shall I avenge me on those that rebelled against me’ nor is there a shadow of doubt but that these words are a reference to the horsemen of Chingiz-Khan and to his people.

And so it was that when the world by reason of the variety of its creatures was become a raging sea, and the kings and nobles of every country by reason of the arrogance of pride and the insolence of vainglory had reached the very zenith of ‘Vainglory is my tunic, and pride my cloak ‘, then did God, in accordance with the above-mentioned promise, endow Chingiz-Khan with the strength of might and the victory of dominion- ‘Verily, the might of the Lord is great indeed’ [Quranic verse]; and when through pride of wealth, and power, and station the greater part of the cities and countries of the world encountered him with rebellion and hatred and refused to yield allegiance (and especially the countries of Islam from the frontiers of Turkestan to uttermost Syria), then wherever there was a king, or a ruler, or the governor of a city that offered him resistance, him he annihilated together with his family and followers, kinsmen and strangers ; so that where there had been a hundred thousand people there remained, without exaggeration, not a hundred souls alive ; as a proof of which statement may be cited the fate of the various cities, whereof mention has been made in the proper place.

In accordance and agreement with his own mind he established a rule for every occasion and a regulation for every circumstance; while for every crime he fixed a penalty. And since the Tartar peoples had no script of their own, he gave orders that Mongol children should learn writing from the Uighur; and that these yasas and ordinances should be written down on rolls. These rolls are called the Great Book of Yasas and are kept in the treasury of the chief princes. Wherever a khan ascends the throne, or a great army is mobilized, or the princes assemble and begin [to consult together] concerning affairs of state and the administration thereof they produce these rolls and model their actions thereon; and proceed with the disposition of armies or the destruction of provinces and cities in the manner therein prescribed.

At the time of the first beginnings of his dominion, when the Mongol tribes were united to him, he abolished reprehensible customs which had been practised by those peoples and had enjoyed recognition amongst them; and established such usages as were praiseworthy from the point of view of reason. There are many of these ordinances that are in conformity with the Shari’at.

In the messages which he sent in all directions calling on the peoples to yield him allegiance, he never had recourse to intimidation or violent threats, as was the custom with the tyrant kings of old, who used to menace their enemies with the size of their territory and the magnitude of their equipment and supplies ; the Mongols, on the contrary, as their uttermost warning, would write thus: If ye submit not, nor surrender, what know we thereof? The Ancient God, He knoweth If one reflects upon their signification, [one sees that] these are the words of them that put their trust in God—God Almighty hath said ‘And for him that putteth his trust in Him God will be all-sufficient’ [Quranic verse]—so that of necessity such a one obtains whatever he has borne in his heart and yearned after, and attains his every wish.

Being the adherent of no religion and the follower of no creed, he eschewed bigotry, and the preference of one faith to another, and the placing of some above others; rather he honoured and respected the learned and pious of every sect, recognizing such conduct as the way to the Court of God. And as he viewed the Moslems with the eye of respect, so also did he hold the Christians and idolaters in high esteem. As for his children and grandchildren, several of them have chosen a religion according to their inclination, some adopting Islam, others embracing Christianity, others selecting idolatry and others again cleaving to the ancient canon of their fathers and forefathers and inclining in no direction; but these are now a minority. But though they have adopted some religion they still for the most part avoid all show of fanaticism and do not swerve from the yasa of Chingiz-Khan, namely, to consider all sects as one and not to distinguish them from one another.

The Tartars mean to conquer the entire world if they can, as we have already said. This is why their emperor heads his letters thus: “The Power of God, the Emperor of all Men”. And so, as it is said, they do not make peace with anyone unless they submit. Therefore, because except for Christendom, there is no land in the world which they not taken, they are preparing to fight us. Everyone should know that we lived at the Tartar court where there had been convened a solemn counsel at which it has been decided for many years (we were there when they elected Cuyuc emperor in our presence, who is called Khan in their language) which aforesaid Cuyuc Khan raised his standard, along with those of all his princes, against the Church of God and the Roman Empire, and against all the states of Christendom and the people of the west, unless they do what he has ordered of the Lord Pope and the great men and the whole population of the western Christians.

But we should not do this, it seems to us, because of the great and intolerable servitude (such as has not until now been heard of until now) that we saw with our own eyes, to which the Tartars reduce all of their subject peoples, and because the Tartars are a faithless and people cannot trust in their words at all, because whatever they promise they do not observe, when they see chance favor them. The Tartars are dishonest in all their acts and promises; they intend to supplant all the princes, nobles, soldiers and honest men in the world as said above), and they do this by trick and artifice against their subjects, then also because it is not fitting that Christians should submit to the Tartars because of their abominations, and because the worship of God will be reduced to nothing and their souls perish and their bodies be afflicted in an unbelievable number of ways. At first the Tartars are mild but later they sting and injure like scorpions; and also because they are few in number and weaker in body than the Christian people.

The soldiers and commanders of the army were assigned in this council. Of every ten men they sent along three with his slaves from every land within their power. We were told that one army is to enter through Hungary, and the second through Poland. What is more, they come to fight constantly for eighteen years. That is the time allotted to the campaign. Last March when we passed through Russia we found the army summoned from all the Tartars. Furthermore they will advance in three or four years as far as Comania. From Comania they will attack the lands listed above: we do not know yet whether they will come roughly after the third winter, whether to expect them at that time, or if they will more likely come suddenly.

This is all certain and true unless God, by his grace, puts an obstacle in their path, as he did when they came into Hungary and Poland. They had meant to fight thirty years, but their emperor was poisoned and so they suspended the war until now. Now, however, because a new emperor has been installed, the Tartars have begun to prepare for war. You should know that the emperor said with his own mouth that he wished to send an army into Livonia and Prussia. And because he intends to overthrow the whole world or reduce it to servitude, and because slavery is intolerable to our people, as we said above, we must fight them.

If one province does not wish to cooperate with another, the Tartars will choose to attack that land, and they will use the men whom they capture to fight against another country, and those men will be in the forefront. If they fight badly they will be killed by the Tartars, while if they fight well the Tartars will hold them with promises and praise and indeed, if they do not flee from them, the Tartars will promise to make them great lords. Afterwards, though, when the Tartars are certain that they will not run away, they will make unhappy slaves of them; and as for the women, to those whom they wish to keep as servants and concubines they will do the same thing. Thus with the men of defeated provinces they will destroy the next country, nor will another province be able to resist them by itself, just as we have seen, unless God wishes to defend them, because, as said above, men are gathered for war from their entire empire. Therefore if the Christians wish to save themselves, their country, and Christianity, they must gather in one body the kings, princes, barons and rectors of the lands and send men to fight the Tartars under a single plan, and before this they should begin to strip the land because after the Tartars are seen in the countryside no one will be able to help to another, because these men will, in companies, seek out and kill men everywhere. And if they close themselves in fortresses, the Tartars place three or four thousand men or more around the fortress or city who besiege it. And they nonetheless will spread through the land killing men….

They [Christian armies] should organize their battle groups as the Tartars do, by commanders of thousands, and hundreds, by captains of ten and generals of the army. These generals should not enter the battle, just as Tartar generals do not, but should watch and command the army. They should establish the rule that the men advance to battle at the same time or otherwise, as they are positioned. And whoever abandons his fellow to advance to the battle or to the fighting, or whoever flees unless all retire, should be severely punished; because then part of the Tartar soldiers follow the fugitives and kill them with arrows and part of the Tartars remain with those who fight, and so confuse and kill those staying and fleeing. And likewise whoever loots before the enemy army is beaten should be punished the most, for among the Tartars these men are killed without mercy. The battleground should be chosen, if possible, where there is a flat field, so they may see in all directions. And they should have, if possible, a great wood at the back or on the side, because then the Tartars cannot enter between themselves and the wood. Nor should they advance in a single body, but instead they should make up many battle groups divided from each other, but not too far apart. And they should set up a battle line against those who attack first which charges them; and if the Tartars feign flight they must not chase them very far unless they can see well enough lest the Tartars draw them into ambushes as they are accustomed to do. And the other battle groups must be prepared to help that group if there is a chance.

Above all, they must have scouts everywhere who see when other Tartar squadrons come back from the right and left; and they must always send a squadron against the squadron that attacks them. The Tartars always try to surround their enemies, so they must be very careful lest this happen to them because an army is easily defeated this way. The squadrons, however, must be careful of this: not to chase a long way after them because of the traps the Tartars commonly prepare; indeed the Tartars fight more by trickery than strength. The leaders of the army must always be prepared to send help, if necessary, to those in the battle, and therefore they should stay a short distance behind them so their horses do not become tired because we do not have a great number of them. But the Tart does not mount for three or four days afterwards the horse he has ridden for one day; so they do not ride tired horses because of the great number they have. And if the Tartars retreat, our men should still not pursue and in turn become separated, because the Tartars only pretend to do this so the army will be divided and afterwards they freely attack and destroy the whole country. They must beware and not squander their supplies and so be known to be reduced to poverty and give the Tartars a means to kill them and others and destroy the whole country and because of their squandering allow the name of God to be blasphemed. They must act diligently so that if it happens that some soldiers leave, others take their place.

Our leaders should also mind the army day and night lest the Tartars overcome them quickly and suddenly, because the Tartars, like devils, study many methods of attack. Therefore they must be prepared both night and day nor should they give in to pillage, or sit too long at table and be discovered unprepared, because the Tartars always watch to find a way to attack. Indeed, the men of a country that expects the Tartars or fears that they will come upon them should have secret caches in which to put grain and other things for two reasons: naturally so the Tartars cannot get it and so, God willing, they can find it later. People fleeing the countryside should burn fodder and straw or hide it well, so that the Tartars’ horses find less to eat….

Fortresses and cities [without excellent geographic positions] should be carefully surrounded with deep walled fosses and well built walls, and they should have enough arrows and stones and slingshot. They should be most careful not to allow the Tartars to bring up their catapults, but should drive them away with their own machines. And if it happens through some trick or scheme the Tartars do set up their catapults they should destroy them with their own if they can. They should fight back with crossbows and slings and catapults so the Tartars do not approach the city. They should prepare for other things as stated above. As for fortresses and cities which are situated by rivers, they must carefully see to it that they are not submerged. But is must be known that the Tartars prize it when men lock themselves in towns and fortresses rather then fight in the field. Indeed they say that these men are little pigs closed in a pen around whom they place guards, as stated above.

If Tartars are thrown from their horses in battle they must be captured at once because when they are on the ground they shoot well and injure and kill horses and men. And if they are caught they should be kept in order to have through them something like a perpetual peace, or else great sums shall be given for them because they value each other so. Therefore when they are captured, if they are taken alive, a strict guard must be kept lest they escape…

Now I wish to begin to tell you in this part of our book all the very great doings and all the very great marvels of the very great lord of the Tartars, namely the great Kaan who now reigns, who is called Cublai Kaan, which Kaan means to say in our language the great lord of lords, emperor, and this lord who now reigns indeed he really has this name of lord of lords by right because everyone knows truly that this great Kaan is the most powerful man in people and in lands and in treasure that ever was in the world or that now is from the time of Adam our first lather till this moment; and under him all the peoples are set with such obedience as has never been done under any other former king…

…And because in the present place it is convenient to say something of the armies of the great Kaan, it must be known that in all the provinces of Catai [northern China], of Mangi [southern China], and in all the rest of his dominion are found many unfaithful and disloyal persons who would rebel against their lord if they could; and therefore it is necessary in every province where there are large cities and many people to keep armies there, which stay in the country four or five miles away from the city, which cannot have gates or walls to prevent them from entering in whenever they please. And the great Kaan makes these armies change every two years, and he does the same with the captains who command them; and with this curb the people stay quiet, and cannot move nor make any change. Besides the pay which the great Kaan always gives them from the revenues of the provinces, these armies live on an infinite number of flocks which they have and on the milk which they send to the cities to sell, and so buy the things which they need. And they are scattered in different places thirty, forty, & sixty days journeys distant…

… Now we will say what he did –of the rewards and honours which he gives for this victory- to the barons who bear themselves well in war and in battle, when he came back; and again I will tell you what he did to those who were mean and cowardlv. You must know then that the great Kaan has twelve wise harons who have charge of learning and informing themselves of the operations which the captains and soldiers carry out particularly in the expeditions and battles where they are; and those then report to the great Kaan. I tell you that to those captains who prove themselves well in war and in battle, him who at first was lord, that is head, of a hundred men he makes him lord of a thousand, and him who at first was lord of a thousand he makes him lord of ten thousand and thus he gave to each according to his rank as he saw that they deserved; and with all this he makes him a great gift of gold and fair silver vessels and of many fair jewels, and a superior tablet having or denoting authority, that is with orders of authority. And he presented them also with fair jewels of gold and of silver and with pearls and with precious stones & with horses; and he gave so many of them to each that it was a marvel. For they had deserved it very well, for never afterwards were men seen who did so much in arms for the love of their lord as those did on the day of the battle…