RABBAN SAWMA

From East To West 

The idea of the Middle Kingdom is that China is at the centre of all things under Heaven. Inside the borders was order and balance (civilisation). Outside was disorder and violence (barbarians).

Few therefore experienced the entire journey along the Silk Road from China to Europe. The first known travellers were Rabban Bar Sawma and his companion Markos. These two intrepid souls left Beijing (Khan-Baliq) about 1278 AD, reaching Baghdad a couple of years later. Then, in 1287, Rabban Sawma left Baghdad on an embassy to the Frankish kings, visiting Paris and Bordeaux before returning via Rome the following year.

The story of Sawma and Markos was not rediscovered until the late nineteenth century, when manuscripts written in Old Syriac were found in Turkey. Since translated into French and English, these papers recorded a summarized version of original accounts by the travellers, and were written some time before 1318.

The 'possibility' of such a journey, a complete transit of the Silk Road from the East China Sea to the Mediterranean, arose from a change in political attitudes. Under Kublai Khan, son of the conqueror Genghis Khan, the vast and ungovernable Mongol Empire was split into four:

         China, The Great Khan

         Russia, The Golden Horde

         Persia, The Il-Khanate

         Central Asia, The Chagatai Khanate

Theoretically, this subdivision among the sons of Genghis provided a militarily secure environment for merchant traders and government envoys to travel the whole way. The motivation of Sawma and Markos was probably untroubled by considerations like these. They were Nestorian monks. Their object was to visit the holy places in Jerusalem and receive a spiritual blessing.

The Travellers

Sawma and Markos were Christians, professing their faith according to the doctrines of the Church of the East. Often incorrectly called Nestorians after a theological dispute at the Council of Nicaea (431) and Chalcedon (451), they spread throughout Asia from the seat of their Patriarch in Seleucis and Ctesiphon near Baghdad:

          "...the four quarters of the earth were illuminated by their disciples...

          "...the Indians (Henduwaye) and the Chinese (Sinaye) and other Oriental nations from various countries submitted to the bridle of the fear of God..."

Though widely dispersed, the Church of the East remained a minority religion in Asia. It did not enjoy the official protection and political influence of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople or the Catholic Church in Rome. Its followers were outnumbered by their host nationalities and had little access to state power. This did not detract from the commitment of those communities that did exist.

Sauma was born in KHAN-BALIK, "the royal city in the country of the East...the city of the king of kings KUBLAI KHAN", modern-day Beijing. He was the son of "a believer...SHIBAN the Sa'ora (the Inspector or Visitor)". Marcos was born in KAWSHANG, the son of a "righteous and believing man...who served God continually in His church...BAYNIEL...an archdeacon."

When Sauma "took the garb of the monk and received the tonsure" it was from "the holy and pious father Mar Giwagis (George) the Metropolitan". When Markos "received the tonsure...the garb of the monk" it was from "the pious Metropolitan MAR NESTORIS". (Mar is a title of respect meaning 'My lord', or sometimes 'Saint').

These are all signs of an organised and well established church, at least in Khan-Balik and Kawshang. Of course, neither monk was an average member of their congregations. They spent years in a cave isolated from them, inhabiting a cave on a mountain and spending their time in prayer and fasting. After a decade of this, Sauma developed a reputation for "his life as a recluse...and men used to gather together about him to hear his words, and honour was set apart from him". He, and Markos too, were given the title of Rabban, or teacher (like the Hebrew honorific 'rabbi').

And, as might be expected from a pair of strict anchorites, they had a revelation. "One day they meditated saying, 'It would be exceedingly helpful to us if we were to leave this region and set out for the West, where we could then [visit] the tombs of the holy martyrs and Catholic Fathers and be blessed. And if Christ the Lord of the Universe prolonged our lives and sustained us by His grace, we could go to Jerusalem, so that we might receive complete pardon for our offences and absolution for our sins of foolishness'."

At first they are not sure if they can do it, worried about "the toil of the journey...the fatigue of travelling...the terror of the ways...the tribulations that would beset [them] in a foreign country." The lords of Kawshang are also sceptical, warning "Ye have no knowledge of the length of this journey, and the expenses which it demands. We, however, do know, and we advise you not to set out empty [handed]. If ye do, ye will be unable to arrive at the place which ye have decided to be your destination."

The monks reluctantly accept "beasts on which to ride, and gold and silver, and wearing apparel and rugs" as a condition for their 'release'. Thus equipped, they set off for Tangoth on the western edge of China, the beginning of Central Asia.

The Journey

"And RABBAN SAWMA and RABBAN MARK came...to the city of TANGOTH...the people of TANGOTH (TANGUT) were ardent believers...And they loaded the two monks with gifts of every kind...and a crowd escorted them on their way, and shed tears...

"And from there they went to the country of LOTON (KHOTAN), a toilsome and fatiguing journey of two months; the region was a bare and barren desert and it was without inhabitants, because its waters were bitter, and no crops are sown there. And on the whole journey there were only eight days when, with the greatest difficulty, was sweet water found which the travellers could carry with them.

"And in the days when they arrived at LOTON it happened that a war was raging between...KUBLAI KHAN and King OKO. And OKO had fled from him and entered this country and destroyed thousands of men...The caravan roads and ways had been cut, and grain was scarce and could not be found, and many died of hunger and perished through want.

"And after six months the two monks went forth to...the country of KASHKAR (KASHGAR). And they saw that the city was already empty of its inhabitants, because it had already been plundered by the enemy.

"And they came to the place where King KAIDO was encamped by the Teleos (TALAS)...and they asked him for a written order so that no man in his country might do them harm.

"And with the greatest of difficulty and in a state of exhaustion whereto fear was added, they arrived at KHORASAN. Having lost the greater part of what they had on the road, they went to the monastery of MAR SEYHON, which was in the neighbourhood of the city of TUS.

"And having enjoyed the conversation of those brethren they set out to go to ADHORBIJAN, so that they might travel from there to BAGHDAD, to MAR DENHA the Catholicus...Now it happened that Mar Catholicus had come to MARAGHAH, and they met him there...

"And they arrived in BAGHDAD and...they went to the Great Church of KOKE. And they went to the monastery of MAR MARI the Apostle...

"And they turned back and came to to the holy monastery of MAR MICHAEL of TAR'IL. And they bought a cell and both of them were received by the monks who were there. And the thought which made them toil through the journey had rest, although they had not arrived at the end of their expectation."

Plotting the pilgrims' path from Beijing to Baghdad is not an exact science. The Syriac writer admits "we have abridged very much of what [Sauma] himself wrote in his narrative in Persian. And even the things which are mentioned here have been abridged." There are gaps at critical stages in their journey as a result.

It can only be assumed that the travellers joined the main route at Xi'an and left China through Dunhuang. Tangut is a region and its principal city is not named. It is clear that they chose the 'southern route' to skirt the Taklimakan desert, passing through Khotan to Kashgar. They then left the main route to head north, crossing the Tien Shan mountains to reach the Camp of Khaido Khan. The precise location of the crossing-place at the Talas river is unknown.

The account is silent for the next stage between Talas and Tus. It is a reasonable guess that they returned to more commonly travelled sections of the Silk Road as soon as they could. However, no mention is made of their passing through the famous oasis towns of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, or Merv. Either these details were omitted in the translated version, or the travellers stuck with the northern fringes of Sogdia where the Khan's writ was more secure. They certainly did not enjoy this part of their trip, complaining of fear, exhaustion, and losing "the greater part of what they had on the road".

The latter stages of their journey through the regions of Khorasan and Adhorbijan are also short on detail. But get around the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the Mongol capital of Helugal Khan they did, through another range of mountains, on whatever tracks were then available. 

The monks did not press on to Jerusalem. For the next decade they were unable to complete their quest. The turbulent political situation around the Il-Khanate prevented their movement, in or out of it, in any direction.

An early attempt to go north via Christian Armenia and Beth Gurgaye (Georgia) failed when "the road was cut because of the murders and robberies which had taken place upon it". A plan to go back east was aborted when they received a report that "the road by which they travelled there was wholly cut off...for the hearts of the kings of two frontiers were changed...and they were fighting".

More importantly, there was no safety in traveling west, which was the direct route to the holy places. Helugal Khan and his successors Abhgha Khan and Arghon Khan were in perpetual conflict with the Muslim world, represented by the Caliphate in Cairo. These Mahommedans were, in turn, trying to dislodge European Crusaders who were clinging to thin strips of Palestinian and Syrian coastline.

The Embassy

"And ARGHON [Mongol ruler of Il-Khan] intended to go into the countries of Palestine and Syria and to subjugate them and take possession of them, but he said to himself, 'If the Western Kings, who are Christians, will not help me I shall not be able to fulfil my desire'. Thereupon he asked the Catholicus [Patriarch of the Church of the East] to give him a wise man, 'one who is suitable and is capable of undertaking an embassy, that we may send him to those kings'.

"And when the Catholicus saw that there was no man who knew the [Mongol] language except Rabban Sawma, and knowing that he was fully capable of this, he commanded him to go. Then RABBAN SAWMA said, 'I desire this embassy greatly, and I long to go'...Then straightway King ARGHON wrote for him 'Authorities' to the king of the Greeks [Byzantium], and the king of the PEROGAYE [Franks],...and the Catholicus sent him with letters...suitable for presentation to MAR PAPA [Pope of the Catholic Church]...

"And RABBAN SAWMA set out on his journey...And he arrived at BETH ROMAYE on the borders of the Sea of Meka [Black Sea] and went down in a ship...And after some days he arrived at the great city of CONSTANTINOPLE...

"And he departed from Constantinople and went down to the sea...and came to the middle thereof, where he saw a mountain from which smoke ascended all day long and in the night time fire showed itself on it. And no man is able to approach the neighbourhood of it because of the stench of sulphur proceeding from it [an eruption of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily occurred 18 June 1287].

"This sea is called the 'Sea of Italy'. Now it is a terrible sea, and very many thousands of people have perished therein. And after two months of toil, and weariness, and exhaustion, RABBAN SAWMA arrived at the sea-shore, and he landed at the name of which was NAPOLI [Naples];

"The name of its king was IRID SHARDALO [King Charles II]...Now it happened that there was war between him and another king, whose name was IRID ARKON [king of Aragon, James III]. And the troops of one had come in many ships, and the troops of the other were ready, and they began to fight each other, and the king of ARKON conquered King SHARDALO and slew twelve thousand his men and sunk their ships in the sea [naval battle in Bay of Sorrento is dated 24 June 1287].

"And from that place they travelled inland on horses, and they passed through towns and villages and marvelled because they found no land which was destitute of buildings...On the road they heard that MAR PAPA [Pope Honorius IV] was dead...Three days later the Cardinals [in Rome] sent and summoned RABBAN SAWMA...[and] began to ask him questions, saying, 'What is thy quarter of the world, and why hast thou come?', and he replied...

"And they went from that place to the country of TUZSKAN [TUSCANY]...and thence they went to GINOH [GENOA]. Now the latter country has no king, but the people thereof set up to rule over it some great man with whom they are pleased...And from that place they went to the country of ONBAR [LOMBARDY]...

"Afterwards they went to the country of PARIZ to king FRANSIS [city of Paris, kingdom of France, Philippe IV 'the Fair']...and RABBAN SAWMA and his companions remained for a month in this great city Paris, and they saw everything that was in it...

"And they went forth from that place...to go to the king of England [Edward I], to Kasonia [GASCONY]. And having arrived in twenty days at their city [BORDEAUX]...the king commanded RABBAN SAWMA to celebrate the EUCHARIST, and he performed the Glorious Mysteries; and the king and his officers of state stood up, and the king partook of the Sacrament, and made a great feast that day...

"And from that place we came [back] to the city of Genoa, in order to pass the winter there...At the end of winter there came from the country of ALMADAN [ALLEMAGNE, or Germany] a man of high degree who was the...'Visitor' of MAR PAPA, and who was on his way to Rome...And they set out for Rome and they arrived there in fifteen days. And straightway RABBAN SAWMA went into the presence of MAR PAPA [Nicholas I, elected in 1288], bowing down to the ground as he did so, and he kissed his feet and his hands, and he withdrew walking backwards, with his hands clasped [to his breast]...

"And MAR PAPA...said unto him, 'It will be good if thou wilt keep the festival [Easter] with us, for thou wilt see our use [liturgy]...Some days later RABBAN SAWMA said to MAR PAPA, 'I wish to celebrate the Eucharist so that you may see our use'...And on that day a very large number of people were gathered together in order to see how the ambassador of the Moguls celebrated the Eucharist. And when they had seen they had rejoiced and said, 'The language is different, but the use is the same'...And having performed the mysteries, he went to MAR PAPA and saluted him...Then RABBAN SAWMA said...'let me receive the Offering from thy hands'...And the Pope said, 'So let it be!'...And he consecrated the Mysteries and gave the Eucharistic Mystery to RABBAN SAWMA...

And RABBAN SAWMA returned. He crossed the sea he had crossed when he came, and he arrived at the place where King ARGHON was, sound in body, and with soul safely kept. And he gave him the Letter of Blessings, and the gifts which he had brought from MAR PAPA and from all the kings of the Franks...and he related the wonderful things he had seen, and the power of their kingdoms.."

From the transcript of Sauma's embassy it is clear that his personal focus is on "the religious life of the West. The 'marvels' he is looking for are first and foremost the relics of the saints and the great churches". When this 'magnificent obsession' is edited out, the remaining comments are those of any traveller, emphasising the differences, and similarities,  between Occident and Orient.

In Paris he was impressed that there were "thirty thousand scholars who were engaged in the study of ecclesiastical books of instruction...of commentaries and exegesis of all the Holy Scriptures, and also of profane learning...they studied wisdom,...philosophy and speaking and healing, geometry, arithmetic, and the science of the planets and the stars; and they were engaged constantly in writing, and all these pupils received money for subsistence from the king".

In Genoa he wondered at "a garden which resembled Paradise; the winter was not [too] cold, and its summer not [too] hot. Green foliage is found therein all year round, and trees, the leaves of which do not fall, and which are not stripped of their fruit. There is in the city a kind of vine which yields grapes seven times a year, but the people do not press out wine from them."

These improvements resonated with similar developments in the new Il-Khan capital of Tabriz:

"The Mongolian official Bolad, who came to serve the Ilkhans after holding high positions at the Yuan court, contributed to a large experimental garden near Tabriz designed to stimulate Iranian agriculture by introducing new techniques and seeds from China and India. In the area of medicine Bolad and Rashid al-Din, vizier to the Ilkhans, established a large hospital in Tabriz and translated such works as the fourth-century Chinese manual on The Secrets of the Pulse."

Sauma never did get to Jerusalem, and the Frankish kings didn't enter into a joint-crusade with the Mongols. But the embassy was not a failure for the pilgrim. He saw nearly enough body-parts of holy people to make up his own table of the Last Supper. And the Rabban and Pope Nicholas partaking of each other's bread and wine as the flesh and blood of Christ was significant in terms of recognition and legitimacy of the Church of the East.

These ceremonies of acceptance were certainly an advance on Sauma's first visit to Rome, when the suspicion of the Catholic Cardinals had been thinly veiled: "The Cardinals said, 'It is a marvellous thing that thou who art a Christian, and a deacon of the Throne of the Patriarch of the East has come upon an embassy from the king of the Mongols'."

It seemed to be news to these eminent churchmen of the West "that many of our Fathers have gone into the countries of the Mongols, and Turks, and Chinese and have taught them the Gospel, and at the present time there are many Mongols who are Christians". The Rabban ended their interrogation of him with some sharp words of his own: "I have come from remote countries neither to discuss, nor instruct in matter of the Faith...but I came to make known the words of King [ARGHON] and the Catholicus."

Sauma's persistence in waiting for the election of a new Pope paid off, in the sense that the papacy moved on from its traditional loathing of the Mongolian hordes, to seeing some strategic advantage in an alliance with them against a common foe. There also appeared some idea of reconciliation with what had formerly been regarded as an errant branch of the Church. The Pope sent the Catholicus "a crown for his head...a ring from his finger... and a 'Pethika' or Bull which authorized him to exercise Patriarchal dominion over all the Children of the East. And he gave to RABBAN SAWMA a 'Pethika' which authorised him to act as Visitor-General over all Christians".

                                                                                                                                                      

Text from The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China: The History of the Life and Travels of Rabban Sawma, Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Mongol Khans to the Kings of Europe..., translated from Syriac manuscripts by Sir EA Wallis and published by the Religious Tract Society, London, in 1928.

Supplemented by PG Borbone, 2008, 'A 13th Century Journey from China to Europe: The Story of Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma', Egitto e Vicino Oriente, 31, 221-242.

Other references include Roxann Prazniak, 2013, 'Tabriz on the Silk Roads: Thirteenth-Century Eurasian Cultural Connections', Asian Review of World Histories, 1.2, 169-188; and

Jack Weatherford, 2018, 'The Silk Route from Land to Sea', Humanities, 7, 32