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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
352
MARCO POLO BOOK II.
Seljukian Coin with the Lion and Sun.
King of France) a bull of his, that is to say, a golden plate of a palm in breadth and half a cubit in length, on which his orders were inscribed. Whosoever is the bearer of that may order what he pleases, and his order shall be executed straightway."
These golden bulls of the Mongol Kaans appear to have been originally tokens of high favour and honour, though afterwards they became more frequent and conventional. They are often spoken of by the Persian historians of the Mongols under the name of Páî zalz, and sometimes Páizalz Sir-i-Slier, or " Lion's Head Paizah." Thus, in a firmán of Ghazan Khan, naming a viceroy to his conquests in Syria, the Khan confers on the latter " the sword, the august standard, the drum, and the Lion's Head Paizah." Most frequently the grant of this honour is coupled with Yarlisíz ; " to such an one were granted Yarlígiz and Pái'zah," the former word (which is still applied in Turkey to the Sultan's rescripts) denoting the written patent which accompanies the grant of the tablet, just as the sovereign's warrant accompanies the badge of a modern Order. Of such written patents also Marco speaks in this passage, and as he uttered it, no doubt the familiar words Yarlígiz u Páizaiz 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,* ends with the words : " Dedimus baisa et privilegium cum bullis rubeis," where the latter words no doubt represent the Yarlígiz altanzghá, the warrant with the red seal or stamp, t as it may be seen upon the letter of Arghun Khan. (See plate at eh. 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. Yarlíg] cum le bolle rosse, et to 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 I 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, Oljaïtu, and Abusaid, and it is also found on some of those of Mahomed Uzbek Khan of Kipchak.
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 keep
ing ; 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.
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
1
* " In anno Simiae, octavâ lunâ, die quarto exeunte, juxta fluvium Cobam (the h-uban), apud Ripam Rubeam existentes scripsimus." The original was in lingua Pcrsayca. t See Golden Borde, p. 218.
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