The Tartar Khan's Englishman [Paperback]

Gabriel Ronay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

Genghis Khan built an empire stretching from the China Sea to Eastern Europe and his son carried Mongol domination to the walls of Christendom and beyond, but the architect of the diplomatic drive preceeding the Tartar holocaust was a mysterious Englishman. This is his story.

Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Sterling Publishing (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184212210X
• ISBN-13: 978-1842122105
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,373,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saved from oblivion. One mans extraordinary story, October 21, 2001

By 

J. Harris "virtualtraveler" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tartar Khan's Englishman (Hardcover)

Gabriel Ronay is one of the few people qualified to write this account. Born in Transylvania he graduated from Edinburgh and Budapest universities where he read history and studied Russian, German, Romance Languages and Finno-Ugrrian philology. He continued his medieval researches while working for the Times and BBC in London.

While studying the annals of Matthew Paris, the learned St Albans chronicler of thirteenth century events, he chanced upon a report, dated 1243, on the capture of the Tartar Khans chief diplomat, together with a group of Tartar officers participating in the siege of Wiener Neustadt in Austria. Astonishingly the envoy was a "native of England".

This chance discovery led Mr Ronay on a 3 year quest to discover the identity of this mysterious Englishman and how he got to be in such an unlikely place.

Based on his extensive research Mr Ronay has uncovered reports on three men, all English, all with the same name and all related to the church. It is Mr Ronays hypothesis that these three men are in fact the same person. The evidence is of course sketchy and would not stand up in a court of law but for at leat one of the cases it seems convincing.

If you believe Mr Ronays evidence then this story recounts an extraordinary life. The Englishman was present at Runnymede for the signing of the Magna Carta as the personal chaplin of Robert Fitz Walter the leader of the rebellious Barrons. He was excommunicated from the chiurch and banished from England for his part in the rebellion. He became a Templar traveled to the Holy land on the 5th Crusade and was present at the siege of Damietta in Egypt. He was expelled from the crusade by the Templars for gambling and wandered through the middle east ending up in Iraq where he was adopted by Monguls in need of literate men with multilungual skills for thier diplomatic core.

He rose through the Mogul diplomatic core and became the great Khans envoy for the European Invasion.

Even if you do not accept Mr Ronays evidence you will learn a great deal about Europe between 1200 and 1240. From the destruction of greater Hungary to the complicity of the Venetians in the Mogul invasion.

All in all a superb book that stretches the limits of professional historical analysis without breaking them.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tartar Khan's Englishman (Hardcover)

A fascinating collection of chronicles and accounts of a mysterious Englisman turned Templar who was an envoy, spy, and diplomat, for Batu Khan's invasion of Europe. All of this occurred a generation before Marco Polo and a dozen years before the papal envoys made their visits to Karakorum.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Detective Work!, October 24, 2004

By 

Lee L. Anderson "Seeker of Arcane Histories" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tartar Khan's Englishman (Paperback)

Whether or not you ultimately agree with Ronay's conclusion, it is one of the most fascinating works of historical detection I have ever read! There is no hard evidence to prove or disprove his theory; however, in his detective work, he introduces the reader to more intimate details of the Magna Carta rebellion, the 5th crusade, the role of the Templars in the contemporary history; and--most interesting to me--the role of Yeliu Chut'sai's Mongolian chancellory, the administrative arm of the Mongol government, and how it worked.

Ronay's work opened up an entire new viewpoint to explore in my academic wanderings. Thank you, thank you, thank you!