Volume 1

Opus majus / edited, with introduction and analytical table by John Henry Bridges.

  • Roger Bacon
Date:
1897-1900]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Opus majus / edited, with introduction and analytical table by John Henry Bridges. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Present extent of Tartar dominion. qui nunc regnant, nisi tres reges, scilicet Cingis Cham, et Keu Cham, et Mangu Cham: qui Keu fuit filius Cingis, et Mangu filius ejus. Haec igitur gens Moal est stultissima ab origine prima et pauperrima, quae tamen permissione divina paulatim omnes nationes vicinas subjugavit, et totam mundi latitudinem in parvo tempore prostravit. Quae si esset concors, primo egressu Aegyptum et Africam vastaret, ut sic ex omni parte Latinos circumdaret. Nam nunc a parte aquilonis regnant usque in Poloniam, quia tota Ruscia est eis subjecta; et tota terra ab oriente usque ad Danubium et ultra Danubium, scilicet Bulgaria et Blachia sunt eis tributariae. Ita quod usque ad terram Constantinopolitanam tenet eorum imperium. Et Soldanus Turkiae, et rex Armeniae, et princeps An- tiochiae, et omnes principes in oriente usque in Indiam sunt eis subjecti, praeter paucos, qui aut nimis distant aut habent loca in montanis tutissima quae expugnari non possunt. Primo igitur in terra ubi imperator moratur est Cathaia nigra, ubi fuit Presbyter Johannes. Post eam terra fratris sui ultra per iter trium septimanarum, deinde terra Moal et Tartarorum ultra eos per iter quasi duodecim dietarum. Sed tota haec terra est in qua moratur imperator vagans per diversa loca. Terra tamen, in qua primo fuerunt Moal, vocatur Oznam Kerule; et ibi est adhuc curia Cingis Cham ; sed quia Caracarum ejus cum regione fuit prima adquisitio eorum, ideo civitatem illam habent pro imperiali, et prope illam eligunt suum Cham, id est imperatorem. Deinde post Moal et Tartaros ad orien- tem sunt fortes homines, qui vocantur Tangutx, qui ceperunt primo Cingis Cham in bello ; sed, pace facta, iterum subju- gavit eos. Isti homines habent boves fortissimos, habentes caudas plenas pilis, sicut equi, quorum vaccae non permittunt 1 ‘ Tangut is a name very conspicuous in the Mongol era. The name Tanggod is properly a Mongol plural designating certain tribes of Tibetan blood called by the Chinese Tanghiang, who established an independent kingdom on the North-West frontier of China with their capital at Ninghia on the Yellow River. . . . This kingdom, called by the Chinese Hia and by the Mongols Tangut, was several times invaded by Chinghis, and it was on the campaign of its final conquest that he died in 1227. In a general way Tangut corresponded to the modern province of Kansuh.’ [Yule’s ed. of Marco Polo, vol. i. note to p. 186.]