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Marco Polo, Rustichello of Pisa - The Travels of Marco Polo, 1
"And if the Pope, as was said in the beginning of this book, had sent men fit to preach our religion, the
Grand Kaan would have turned Christian; for it is an undoubted fact that he greatly desired to do so."
In the simultaneous patronage of different religions, Kublai followed the practice of his house. Thus
Rubruquis writes of his predecessor Mangku Kaan: "It is his custom, on such days as his diviners tell him
to be festivals, or any of the Nestorian priests declare to be holydays, to hold a court. On these occasions
the Christian priests enter first with their paraphernalia, and pray for him, and bless his cup. They retire,
and then come the Saracen priests and do likewise; the priests of the Idolaters follow. He all the while
believes in none of them, though they all follow his court as flies follow honey. He bestows his gifts on
all of them, each party believes itself to be his favourite, and all prophesy smooth things to him."
Abulfaragius calls Kublai "a just prince and a wise, who loved Christians and honoured physicians of
learning, whatsoever their nation."
There is a good deal in Kublai that reminds us of the greatest prince of that other great Mongol house,
Akbar. And if we trusted the first impression of the passage just quoted from Ramusio, we might suppose
that the grandson of Chinghiz too had some of that real wistful regard towards the Lord Jesus Christ, of
which we seem to see traces in the grandson of Baber. But with Kublai, as with his predecessors, religion
seems to have been only a political matter; and this aspect of the thing will easily be recognised in a
re-perusal of his conversation with Messer Nicolas and Messer Maffeo. The Kaan must be obeyed; how
man shall worship God is indifferent; this was the constant policy of his house in the days of its
greatness. Kublai, as Koeppen observes, the first of his line to raise himself above the natural and
systematic barbarism of the Mongols, probably saw in the promotion of Tibetan Buddhism, already
spread to some extent among them, the readiest means of civilising his countrymen. But he may have
been quite sincere in saying what is here ascribed to him in this sense, viz.: that if the Latin
Church, with its superiority of character and acquirement, had come to his aid as he had once requested,
he would gladly have used its missionaries as his civilising instruments instead of the Lamas and
their trumpery. (Rubr. 313; Assemani, III. pt. ii. 107; Koeppen, II. 89, 96.)
CHAPTER VII. HOW THE KAAN REWARDED THE VALOUR OF HIS CAPTAINS.
So we will have done with this matter of Nayan, and go on with our account of the great state of the
Great Kaan.
We have already told you of his lineage and of his age; but now I must tell you what he did after his
return, in regard to those barons who had behaved well in the battle. Him who was before captain of 100
he made captain of 1000; and him who was captain of 1000 men he made to be captain of 10,000,
advancing every man according to his deserts and to his previous rank. Besides that, he also made them
presents of fine silver plate and other rich appointments; gave them Tablets of Authority of a higher
degree than they held before; and bestowed upon them fine jewels of gold and silver, and pearls and
precious stones; insomuch that the amount that fell to each of them was something astonishing. And yet
'twas not so much as they had deserved; for never were men seen who did such feats of arms for the love
and honour of their Lord, as these had done on that day of the battle.[NOTE 1]
Now those Tablets of Authority, of which I have spoken, are ordered in this way. The officer who is a
captain of 100 hath a tablet of silver; the captain of 1000 hath a tablet of gold or silver-gilt; the
commander of 10,000 hath a tablet of gold, with a lion's head on it. And I will tell you the weight of the
different tablets, and what they denote. The tablets of the captains of 100 and 1000 weigh each of them
120 saggi; and the tablet with the lion's head engraven on it, which is that of the commander of
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