Tataro-mongoly v Azii i Europe: Sbornik statei [The Tataro-Mongols in Asia and Europe: ACollection of Articles] by S. L. TikhvinskiiReview by: Peter B. GoldenThe American Historical Review, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Feb., 1979), pp. 124-125Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1855684 .

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1 24 Reviews of Books

energy and intelligence that produced his histori- cal works.

DOROTHY ROSS

Princeton University

S. A. SKILLITER. William Harborne and the Trade with Turkey, I578-I582: A Documentary Study of the First Anglo-Ottoman Relations. New York: Oxford Univer- sity Press, for The British Academy, London. I977. Pp. XXii, 291. $38.oo.

In 1580 England joined France, Venice, and Ra- gusa as the only European states privileged to maintain diplomatic and commercial relations with the Ottoman Empire. There is much that is unknown and perhaps forever unknowable about the background to the opening of direct Anglo- Ottoman relations. The fluidity of governance (whikh enabled a handful of intrepid Elizabethan merchants and a resourceful Ottoman translator to make diplomatic initiatives in the eastern Medi- terranean), the sheer number of interested, indeed, jealous observers of the English achievement, and the vagaries of documentation combine to make the historian's task a formidable one. S. A. Skilliter has nonetheless managed to rescue a handsome portion of the previously unknown by piecing to- gether some fifty Ottoman and European docu- ments into a lucid narrative centered on the role of one William Harborne-merchant, secret agent, and ultimately first English ambassador to the Sublime Porte.

Although English ships were not strangers to Ottoman ports, prior to Harborne's mission Eng- lish merchants traded in the Levant under the protection of the privileged French. France was anxious to preserve its lucrative monopoly, while Spain was no less determined to block any accord between its chief European rival and the "infidel" Turk. Elizabeth I's excommunication in I570 and England's growing estrangement from Catholic Europe spurred interest in the Levant and the development of independent commerce. Continen- tal religious politics dovetailed with Ottoman aspi- rations. Forced to replace its entire fleet after the Lepanto debacle even as it prepared to strike at Persia, the Ottoman Empire was in need of an ally, preferably one willing to trade in war materi- als. In defiance of the papal ban on the export of munitions to the Turks, a few English ships laden with contraband-usually in the form of bells stripped from cathedrals and monasteries-en- deared England to the Turks and paved the way for Harborne's diplomatic coup and the regular- ization of direct trade.

Notwithstanding the apparent focus on Har- borne, much of the book's interest resides in the

exploratory torrespondence between England and the Ottomans and the ingenuity of the Ottoman translator Mustafa Chiaus. Skilliter's study of the Ottoman and Latin texts of the correspondence reconstructs Mustafa 's linguistic legerdemain, plumbs the subtleties of the diplomatic break- through, and points up the role of the go-between as policy maker. As the documents demonstrate, "if one can call Harborne the builder of the al- liance then Mustafa is its architect" (p. 43).

Skilliter's book is both less and more than its title promises. Although Harborne is a constant figure in the narrative, he is often completely ab- sent from the supporting documents, and the full range of his activities even during his pioneering visit to Istanbul can only be surmised. But, if the book is something less than the complete adven- tures of William Harborne from I578 to 1582, it is also more than that. The diplomatic historian and even more the Ottomanist will find in Skilliter's exposition, and in his appendix of documents with their contemporaneous translations, both a careful study of the tortuous path of bilateral negotiations and an invaluable source for Ottoman diplomat- ics.

MADELINE C. ZILFI

University of Maryland, College Park

S. L. TIKHVINSKII, editor. Tataro-mongoly v Azii i Evrope: Sbornik statei [The Tataro-Mongols in Asia and Europe: A Collection of Articles]. 2d ed., rev. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo "Nauka." 1977. Pp. 502. 2 r. 49 k.

This collection of twenty-two articles by Soviet and Mongol specialists, a revised and expanded version of the I970 volume, focuses on the period and effects of the Mongol conquests in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle and Far East. In I96I, according to the editor, S. L. Tikhvinskii, the People's Republic of China began a campaign to portray Chingis Khan as a "great unifier of peoples." As a consequence, the redoubtable Mongol warrior has become a codeword in current Sino-Soviet polemics. Tikh- vinskii roundly excoriates these "revisionist" cir- cles in the PRC and indicates that the purpose of this work is to expose the "scientific untenability" of those theories that would ascribe any positive developments to the conquest period.

Despite the shrill tone adopted by some of the authors, some of the contributions have substance and are equipped with a serious scholarly appa- ratus. Regrettably, many are biased and few are original. The theme binding many of the pieces together is that of the negative impact of the Mon-

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Ancient I 25

gol legions on this or that region. Thus, we are predictably informed that Chingis Khan played a "progressive" role in uniting the Mongols and founding the Mongol state. Once foreign con- quests began, "his activity acquired a reactionary character" (Sh. Sandag). He did not truly aid the unification of peoples, rather he exterminated en- tire cultures, such as the Tangut (E. I. Kychanov). The real aggressor in the Mongol-Khwarazmshah conflict was Chingis Khan (I. P. Petrushevskii). In I230, the Mongols were considering annihilating the population of northern China and trans- forming the area into pastureland (L. I. Duman).

Resistance to the invaders is treated according to well-known formulas. Thus, the Korean ruling class capitulated out of fear that the masses, who were arming themselves for the struggle with the .Mongols, would turn on their own rulers (V. M. Serov). "Having achieved the submission of Rus', the Horde was unable to break the political struc- tures which existed there" (L. V. Cherepnin). It was resistance in Rus' and neighboring areas that prevented the Mongols from invading Western Eu- rope (V. T. Pashuto). Mongol and Chinese impe- rialism combined in the effort to conquer South- east Asia (A. A. Bokshchanin). In contrast to current Chinese views, the revolts that marked the end of the Yuan dynasty in China had strong antiforeign feelings rather than social problems at their core in some regions (L. A. Borovkova).

S. Kuchera's "The Conquest of Tibet by the Mongols" is more original. It is marked by a care- ful analysis of the Chinese, Tibetan, Mongol, and other sources and concludes that Tibet did not fall to the Mongols during Chingis's lifetime. Rather, it was a more gradual process, completed by the I 250S and followed by the conquest of the Mongols by Tibetan civilization. Ch. Dalai's survey of the struggle between Qubilay and Arigh Bugha (and later Qaydu) argues that Arigh Bugha was, in fact, the lawful successor to the throne and a true Mon- gol patriot, who would not succumb to the blan- dishments of a foreign (Chinese) civilization. N. Ts. Munkuev's "Notes on the Ancient Mon- gols" points to some of the major problems of medieval Mongol studies-the question of the eth- nogenesis of the Mongols and the continuity of politico-ideological traditions from the Hsiung-nu, Hsien-pi, Juan-juan, and Tfirks. He also gives an analysis of the Mongol social categories otegu boghol and nokor. His second contribution consists of translations from Chinese sources pertaining to the wretched economic condition of most Mongol tribesmen during the Chingisid era. N. P. Shastina presents an interesting account of the positive and negative images of Chingis Khan in medieval Mongol literature. The article also contains data on the continuation of the cult of Chingis (as late

as I956 a temple containing various relics was erected in the PRC). L. N. Gumilev's attempt to show that the author of the "Secret History of the Mongols" was a somewhat muted anti-Chingisid member of the "Old Mongol Party" seeking a return to the pristine virtues of the Mongol sol- diery is highly conjectural.

As with any large collections of essays, the qual- ity is uneven and there are a goodly number of repetitions. Regrettably, the editor did not include a bibliography, index, list of abbreviations, or cross-references. The absence of a study on Mon- gol ideology is surprising. Notwithstanding the tendentiousness of some of the contributions and the obvious desire of some authors to score pole- mical points, this collection contains a consid- erable amount of useful information and cannot be ignored by those interested in the multifaceted Mongol era.

PETER B. GOLDEN

Rutgers University, Newark

ANCIENT

W. K. C. GUTHRIE. A History of Greek Philosophy. Volume 4, Plato. The Man and His Dialogues: Earlier Period. New York: Cambridge University Press. I975. Pp. xviii, 603. $37.50.

The present volume is the fourth in what is becom- ing a monumental and magisterial history of Greek philosophic thought. In conjunction with its predecessors, it forms an ambitious and major ac- complishment of historical scholarship in our time. This book is devoted to Plato and the early "So- cratic" dialogues: Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Hippias Major and Minor, Ion, Pro- tagoras, Meno, Euthydemus, Gorgias, Menexenus, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, and Republic. Presum- ably, the next volume will deal with the later, less dramatic, often more difficult writings. Although a case can be made for a thematic presentation of Plato's philosophy, W. K. C. Guthrie has, with good reasons, wisely decided to consider each of the dialogues as a unified expression of ideas; he discusses them in the probable order of their com- position. We are thus offered concise accounts of the substance of the dialogues. But we are, in addition, provided with valuable information con- cerning the dramatic setting, date, historical con- text, persons, and allusions found in the dialogue. There are also illuminating chapters, sections of comments, and notes on points of special interest and importance to our understanding and appre- ciation of the dialogues.

A notable feature of Guthrie's study of Plato's

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