Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

gjy664 – Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire

19

Appendix 1 – Notes on Primary Sources

(1) The Secret History of the Mongols

Onon, Urgunge. The Secret History of the Mongols. Abingdon : Routledge Curzon Press, 2001.

Original Title

The Secret History is known to the Mongols as Tobchi’an or ‘History’ although the Mongols referred to it by its first line ‘ Cinggis Qan-u ujayur’ meaning ‘The Origin of Chinggis Khan’.

English Title

Translation include: The Secret History of the Mongols, The Life of Chinggis Khan and The True Record of Chinggis Khan, among others.

Date

The year of publication is unknown, however it was presumably written in 1228, aligning with the time of the Great Assembly.

Author

While the original author is unknown, it is known that the author belonged to Chinggis’ clan.

Translation Used

This essay uses Urgunge Onon’s and Igor de Rachewiltz’ translations of the Secret History.

Additional Notes

The Secret History of the Mongols is the earliest native literary account of the Mongols.

(2) “History of the Mongols.”

Carpini, John of Plano. “History of the Mongols.” In The Mission to Asia : narratives and letters of the Franciscan missionaries in Mongolia and China in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries , by Christopher Dawson and Nun of Stanbrook Abbey. London: Sheed and Ward, 1955.

Original Title

Ystoria Mongalorum quos Tartos appellamus ‘History of the Mongols, which we call Tartars’.

English Title

Ystoria Mongalorum is referred to in English as The History of the Mongols.