Western Information on the Kitans and Some Related Questions

Abstract

WHILST MAINTAINING THEIR FEELING OF IDENTITY, over a period of about eight centuries the Kitans twice underwent a remarkable cultural and linguistic metamorphosis. They played a major role on three different regional stages: first in Manchuria (from about the 8th to the 12th century), then in China, under the dynastic name of Liao (907-1115), and finally in Central Asia where, fugitives from China, they succeeded in establishing a third empire, known as Karakitay (the Black Kitay), which lasted for about a century, until 1218. It cannot be my aim to present here, in a capsule, a history of the Kitans; rather, a few remarks pertaining to the disintegration of the Karakitay state should be made. Some modern historians, including myself (1971: 13031) and Bosworth (1978: 583) have tended to present this event as the result of simultaneous attacks by the Naiman prince Kuchliig and Muhammad, Sultan of Khorezm. This view is in need of revision. It is based on Juvaini's statement (Boyle 1958: 64) that [Kiichlig] fell upon him [the gurkhan] like lightning from a cloud, and taking him by surprise made him prisoner and his kingdom and his army. What in fact happened was that, to escape Chinggis Khan's wrath, in 1208 Kuchlug took refuge with the Karakitay, married the giirkhan's daughter, converted to Buddhism, and in 1211 dethroned the giirkhan Chih-lu-ku. Kuchliig staged a palace coup and it was certainly not his intention to destroy the Karakitay state, over which he had just power. The Taoist sage Ch'ang-chun, travelling through the land in 1219, noted that the Naimans seized the land that had sheltered (Waley 1931: 89). In the words of the Liao-shih, Kiichliig assumed the title giirkhan, adopted the dress and customs of Western Liao and made Chih-lu-ku the imperial father and his wife the empress dowager. As long as they lived he attended them every morning and evening [like a respectful son] (Wittfogel 1949: 652). Chih-lu-ku died a natural death in 1213. Peaceful Kitay-Naiman cooperation is implied also by the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini, according to whom (Menestb, in Pian di Carpine: 254) the Naimans and the Karakitay were allies who had been defeated by the Mongols. The date of the end of the Karakitay empire could be set in 1218, when the fleeing Kichliig was killed by the Mongols. This is the date given also by Paolo Daffina in his commentary on Plano Carpini's text (Menesto, in Pian di Carpine: 430). This was the beginning of the Kitan diaspora, which is the subject of this investigation. As could be expected, the remnants of the Naimans, principal targets of Mongol hostility, were also dispersed and there is evidence that a strong link continued to exist between the two groups. As shown by Kuzeev (1974: 227 et passim), the tamgas (property marks) of the two groups are identical. The name of the Naimans has been preserved in a number of toponyms as far west as the Crimea, in a variety of combinations which include a place called Ktay-Naiman (Kuzeev 1974: 228). Following their triple avatar, the Kitans or, at least, their name, had a varied, long, in fact still continuing, afterlife. The name Cathay, as applied to China, is so well known and has been studied so thoroughly that I will not elaborate its history. Also well known, but more obscure, is the still unresolved question of the Kitan origin of the Prester John legend, a topic I will also bypass in this short presentation.1 In what follows I will examine, first, the names of the Kitans and the Karakitays as they appear in European