Of Such
Written Patents Also Marco Speaks In This Passage, And As He Uttered It,
No Doubt The Familiar Words Yarligh U Paizah Were In His Mind.
The
Armenian history of the Orpelians, relating the visit of Prince Sempad,
brother of King Hayton, to the court of Mangku Kaan, says:
"They gave him
also a P'haiza of gold, i.e. a tablet whereon the name of God is written
by the Great Kaan himself; and this constitutes the greatest honour known
among the Mongols. Farther, they drew up for him a sort of patent, which
the Mongols call Iarlekh," etc. The Latin version of a grant by Uzbek
Khan of Kipchak to the Venetian Andrea Zeno, in 1333,[1] ends with the
words: "Dedimus baisa et privilegium cum bullis rubeis," where the
latter words no doubt represent the Yarligh al-tamgha, the warrant with
the red seal or stamp,[2] as it may be seen upon the letter of Arghun
Khan. (See plate at ch. xvii. of Bk. IV.). So also Janibek, the son of
Uzbek, in 1344, confers privileges on the Venetians, "eisdem dando
baissinum de auro"; and again Bardibeg, son, murderer, and successor of
Janibeg, in 1358, writes: "Avemo dado comandamento [i.e. Yarlig] cum le
bolle rosse, et lo paysam."
Under the Persian branch, at least, of the house the degree of honour was
indicated by the number of lions' heads upon the plate, which varied
from 1 to 5. The Lion and Sun, a symbol which survives, or has been
revived, in the modern Persian decoration so called, formed the emblem of
the Sun in Leo, i.e. in highest power. It had already been used on the
coins of the Seljukian sovereigns of Persia and Iconium; it appears on
coins of the Mongol Ilkhans Ghazan, Oljaitu, and Abusaid, and it is also
found on some of those of Mahomed Uzbek Khan of Kipchak.
[Illustration: Seljukian Coin with the Lion and Sun.]
Hammer gives regulations of Ghazan Khan's on the subject of the Paizah,
from which it is seen that the latter were of different kinds as well as
degrees. Some were held by great governors and officers of state, and these
were cautioned against letting the Paizah out of their own keeping; others
were for officers of inferior order; and, again, "for persons travelling on
state commissions with post-horses, particular paizah (which Hammer says
were of brass) are appointed, on which their names are inscribed." These
last would seem therefore to be merely such permissions to travel by the
Government post-horses as are still required in Russia, perhaps in lineal
derivation from Mongol practice. The terms of Ghazan's decree and other
contemporary notices show that great abuses were practised with the Paizah,
as an authority for living at free quarters and making other arbitrary
exactions.
[Illustration: "TABLE D'OR DE COMMANDEMENT," THE PAIZA OF THE MONGOLS.
FROM A SPECIMEN FOUND IN E. SIBERIA.]
The word Paizah is said to be Chinese, Pai-tseu, "a tablet." A trace
of the name and the thing still survives in Mongolia. The horse-Bai is
the name applied to a certain ornament on the horse caparison, which gives
the rider a title to be furnished with horses and provisions on a journey.
[Illustration: Second Example of a MONGOL PAIZA, with Superscription in
the Uighur Character, found near the River Dnieper, 1845.]
Where I have used the Venetian term saggio, the French texts have here
and elsewhere saics and saies, and sometimes pois. Saic points to
saiga, which, according to Dupre de St. Maur, is in the Salic laws the
equivalent of a denier or the twelfth part of a sol. Saggio is possibly
the same word, or rather may have been confounded with it, but the saggio
was a recognised Venetian weight equal to 1/6 of an ounce. We shall see
hereafter that Polo appears to use it to indicate the miskal, a weight
which may be taken at 74 grains Troy. On that supposition the smallest
tablet specified in the text would weigh 18-1/2 ozs. Troy.
I do not know if any gold Paizah has been discovered, but several of
silver have been found in the Russian dominions; one near the Dnieper, and
two in Eastern Siberia. The first of our plates represents one of these,
which was found in the Minusinsk circle of the Government of Yenisei in
1846, and is now in the Asiatic Museum of the Academy of St. Petersburg,
For the sake of better illustration of our text, I have taken the liberty
to represent the tablet as of gold, instead of silver with only the
inscription gilt. The moulded ring inserted in the orifice, to suspend the
plate by, is of iron. On the reverse side the ring bears some Chinese
characters engraved, which are interpreted as meaning "Publication No.
42." The inscription on the plate itself is in the Mongol language and
Baspa character (supra, Prologue, note 1, ch. xv.), and its purport is a
remarkable testimony to the exactness of Marco's account, and almost a
proof of his knowledge of the language and character in which the
inscriptions were engraved. It runs, according to Schmidt's version: "By
the strength of the eternal heaven! May the name of the Khagan be holy!
Who pays him not reverence is to be slain, and must die!" The
inscriptions on the other plates discovered were essentially similar in
meaning. Our second plate shows one of them with the inscription in the
Uighur character.
The superficial dimensions of the Yenisei tablet, as taken from Schmidt's
full-size drawing, are 12.2 in. by 3.65 in. The weight is not given.
In the French texts nothing is said of the size of the tablets. But
Ramusio's copy in the Prologue, where the tables given by Kiacatu are
mentioned (supra, p. 35), says that they were a cubit in length and 5
fingers in breadth, and weighed 3 to 4 marks each, i.e. 24 to 32 ounces.
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