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| 0109 |
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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to a wrong arabization; although Bärkä became a Mussulman, his name was never changed. Cf.
also EI. s. v. «Berke».
Juwaini (I, 144, 215, 221) calls him بركة Bärkä (with بركا Bärkä in one ms.), and so does Waššäf
(Ha², 92) when he speaks of بركا اويل Bärkä-oyul, «prince Bärkä». We find also بركة Bärkä in
Rašidu-'d-Din when Rašid gives the genealogy of Jöči's branch, but I am at a loss to explain why
Rašid calls him بركاي Bärkäi in the rest of his book (Bl, II, 138, 139, 433, etc.), hence «Barcai» in
Oh, II, 251, and in the genealogies at the end of Oh, III; here, Rašid's source cannot be Juwaini.
The name of the prince 別見哥 Pie-êrh-ko (*Bärgä, for Bärkä) occurs in YS, 3, pên-chi of the
year 1251. Polo's form is in complete agreement with Plan Carpine's «Berca» (Wy, 66); Hethum
the historian writes «Barcha», and we find «Bareque» in the Gestes des Chiprois (Hist. des Crois.,
Arm., II, 891). Although Abū-'l-Ghāzī also writes Bärkä, his mss. often give بركو and بركى Bürkä (cf.
Desmaisons, Hist. des Mogols, II, 181); but it is simply a wrong form which ought not to have
been adopted by the editors of Hist. des Crois., Arm., II, 891 («Bourkai») and which does not
deserve Blochet's attempt at an etymological interpretation (Bl, II, 114; moreover, bürgä means
«flea» and not «partridge» in Turkish).
The YS, 3, in the pên-chi of 1253, says that 必闍別見哥 Pi-shê-pieh-êrh-ko was (or were)
then sent to make a census in Russia (this census of the Russians and the Alans is also mentioned
in YS, 63, 16 a, but without names; it is the census which Kirakos places in 1254 [cf. Brosset,
Deux historiens arméniens, I, 175; Patkanov, Istoriya Mongolov, II, 78]). Bretschneider (Br,
II, 80) thought that pi-shê was a shortened form of 必闍赤 pi-shê-ch'ih (cf. Uigh. bitikči, etc.,
Mong. bičigäči), well attested as meaning «secretary». As to Pieh-êrh-ko (*Bärgä, Bärkä), he
proposed to see in him one of the commissioners of a census of 1259 whom the Russian chronicles
call Berkaï. T'u Chi (6, 7 b), on the contrary, considered that two men's names were referred to,
restored Pi-shê as another transcription of Batu (which is impossible), and identified Pieh-êrh-ko
with the prince Bärkä. I am afraid that both explanations may have to be discarded. From YS,
85, 2 b, and Yüan tien chang, 21, 34 a (cf. P. Ratchnevsky, Un code des Yuan, 123), we see that
officers called 別里哥 pieh-li-ko were employed to levy taxes. Although the Mongol original
of the title is still unknown, it is probable that we must read it as *bärgä (=*bärkä). In such a
case, pi-shê[-ch'ih] and *bärgä would have been sent to the Russians and the Alans in 1253 and in
speaking of a «Berkaï» in 1259, the Russian chronicles would have taken the title of an officer for
the name of a man. But I cannot as yet give this as a final solution.
Batu died at the end of 1254, or more probably early in 1255 (see «Batu»), and was succeeded
by his eldest son Sartaq (more or less a Christian, he was the man to whom Rubrouck carried a
letter addressed by St Louis). Very soon afterwards, Sartaq died childless, and, after the short
reign of Sartaq's brother Ulayči, the rule of the Golden Horde passed in 1256 or 1257 (1257
according to Barthold, in Minaev's Marko Polo, 5, and in 12 Vorlesungen, 171) to Jöči's third son, Batu's younger brother Bärkä,
born c. 1206-1208 (cf. Blochet, Moufazzal, 118). Bärkä died in 1265 or 1266 (cf. Ha¹, 254-
255; Bl, II, 549; Barthold, in Minaev's Marko Polo, 5, and in 12 Vorlesungen, 171, is in favour
of 1266). Bärkä was the first Chinghiz-khanid to become a Mussulman. He was already a
Mussulman when Rubrouck heard of him in 1253-1255 (Wy, 209).
Mufaẓẓal quotes from a «Life» of Baibars the following description of Bärkä's appearance
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21
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31
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261
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341
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361
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371
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381
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391
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401
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441
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451
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461
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471
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481
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491
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511
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521
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531
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541
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551
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561
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571
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581
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591
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601
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611
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621
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631
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