Mongol and Nomadic Taxation

Harvard-Yenching Institute
Mongol and Nomadic Taxation

Author(s): John Masson Smith, Jr.
Source: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 30 (1970), pp. 46-85
Published by: Harvard-Yenching Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718765
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MONGOL AND NOMADIC TAXATION

JOHN
UNIVERSITY
MASSON
SMITH,
OF CALIFORNIA,
JR.
BERKELEY
The dominationof the Scythiansover Asia lasted twenty-eight

years, duringwhich
time theirinsolence and oppression spread ruin on everyside. For besides the regular
tribute,they exacted fromthe several nations additional imposts,which theyfixedat
pleasure; and further,they scoured the countryand plundered everyoneof whatever
theycould.
Herodotus, Persian Wars, I, io6
[Amongthe Kazaks] the collectionof tribute,or taxes ... took the form,not of regularized imposts,but of occasional demands.
A. E. Hudson, Kazak Social Structure(1938), p. 64
HE broadest and most thoroughstudy of Mongol taxation to
dateis H. FranzSchurmann's"MongolianTributary
Practices
of the Thirteenth Century."' This work (despite its title)

ranges from the thirteenthto the fifteenthcenturies and over the
Mongol domains in Mongolia, China, Central Asia, Russia, and the
Middle East, and reconstructsfromthe local sources of all these regions a schemeforMongol imperialtaxation,both in its originsand in
its development.This scheme has, however,some defects,both in its
understandingof the taxes involved and in its corollaryview of the
social arrangementsgivingrise to thistaxation.I shall tryto rearrange
the evidence forimprovedinternalconsistencyand then show what
implicationsthis rearrangementhas forour view of Mongol taxation,
and even of Mongol society (and its scholarship).
Schurmannholds that two kinds of taxationevolved in Mongolian
society: Tribute (alban) and Levy (qubciri), the formerthe symbol
1 HJAS 19(1956).304-389. Much of the thinkingembodied in this articlewas done
in Istanbul during1965-1966, while I was on sabbaticalleave fromBerkeley,supported
by the American Research Institutein Turkey and the Social Science Research Council. I owe ProfessorJosephFletcherof Harvard Universityand theeditorofHJAS many
thanksforhelp withand contributionsto this study.
46
MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION
47
and product (in goods and services) of the commonMongol's subjection and obligation to his noble lord in its permanent, customary
form;and the second the extraordinary,ad hoc version of this same
obligation. As the Mongols attained empire, tributeand levy were
extendedby themall across the Eurasian Steppe and into theirsedentaryconquests,where theywere exacted in addition to many taxes of
the pre-Mongoldispensations.Eventually,in certainparts of the empire, and afterconsiderable experimentation,the confusionresulting
fromthis superimpositionwas overcome,and a triunesystemof taxation based on traditional land-taxes, traditional tolls, and Mongol
tributewas applied. As is generallythe case in Mongol history,the
situationin taxationat the end is clearer than at the beginning.The
finalarrangementof Mongol taxation in China and Persia, reported
even by the arrangersthemselves,can be seen very much as Schurmann has seen it. Not so the earlier situation of Chinggis' time and
down throughthe middle of the thirteenthcentury,which is known
only froma few brief contemporaryaccounts and documents, and
fromthe harking-backof later chronicles and essays whose writers
considered those the Tbad old days." Here distortionhas takenplace.
Schurmanndiscoversthe basic Mongolian taxes, alban and qubviri,
by analogy. The tarkhiinpatents-documents conferringtax immunities-that have survivedfromvarious parts of the Mongol realm,
despite differencesin language, all seem to referto two main categories of taxation fromwhich their recipients are exempted. The
Persian sources specifyqal2n and qubchuir,the Russian documents
dan' and poshlina, the Turkic yasaq and qal&n, and finally,the Mongolian speak of alba and qubviri.2
2
Schurmannrefersto a considerablebody of these documents,and quotes from:
1) a Mongolian patent (also available in Chinese) of Mangala b. Qubilai, lord of
An-hsi, dated 1276, fromN. N. Poppe, Kvadratnaja Pis'mennost'(Moscow-Leningrad,1941), p. 59ff.(Schurmann,

pp. 324-325).
2) a Persian edict ofGhazan Khan (1295-1304), fromRashiduddin,HistoryofGhazan
p. 331).
Khan, K. Jahned. (London,1940), p. 218 (Schurmann,
3) twoRussian documents:a) a letterofMengiuTimur of the Golden Horde, thought
by its editor to date from1267; and b) a yarlighofBirdibekof the Golden Horde,
thought to be of 1357. Both documents are from M. D. Priselkov, Khanskije
JarlykiRusskimMitropolitam(Petrograd,1916) (Schurmann,pp. 341-348).
4) briefexcerpts fromTurkic documents of the Golden Horde and of its Crimean
successor state (Schurmann,pp. 354-355 and note 117).
JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.
48
Schurmann thereforeposits the followingequivalences:'

Mongolian
Persian
Russian
Turkic
Tribute(permanent) Levy (extraordinary)

qubciri
alba(n)
qubchuir
qalan
poshlina
dan'
yasdq
qalan
But the analogy is forced: it requires reversalof the word order of

the Turkic edicts-yaszq qalan-in order to align the Turkic qalzn
with its obvious Persian equivalent,4and it has required Schurmann
to attemptto equate poshlina withyasaq in order to justify this reversal. The reversalneeds justificationparticularlybecause the Russian documentsare simplytranslationsof the Turkic edicts issued by
the Golden Horde, and one would ordinarilyexpect that the word
order of the Russian dan' i poshlina would followthat of the Turkic
original,yaszq qalzn, and thatdan' should thereforemeanyasaq, and
and has tried
poshlina,qal1n.5 Schurmannunderstandsthisdifficulty,
to overcomeit by showingthat "podlinais definitelyused in the sense
ofyasa-yasaq, 'law'."6 He argues that the Russian text "Now whosoever hereupon commitviolence, he shall explain himselfon the Great
Custom (Poslina)"7 is the equivalent of the Turkic "But if they
should take [something],theyshall exculpate themselvesaccording to
the GreatJaza and shall die"8 in its referencesto the Yasa of Chinggis
Khan-as it doubtless is-and thatyasa-yasaq thereforemeans posh3 Schurmann,p. 358.
4 The Turkic phraseologyis exemplifiedby a textSchurmann(p. 354, n. 117) findsin
N. N. Berezin,KhanskijeJarlyki,2 (Kazan, 1851), p. 50 (which I do not have available):

The Persian usage
qaldn tiptrzlamsundlmdsuznldr."
"Basa bu tarkhIdn-ldrz-mzz-dznyasaq
is: qazat. . . qaldn wa qubU2rna-dahand .. ., fromRashiduddin/Jahn,p. 218 (Schurmann, p. 331, n. 56). Turkish word order may be "backward" by Indoeuropean standards, but not in listingand enumerationwhen firstthings-yasaq, in this case-come
first.
5 These equivalences have been stated by Berezin, Vnutrennoe
ZolotoiOrdy
Ustroistvo
(St. Petersburg,185o), p. 19 and idem.,"Ocherk vnutrennogoustroistvaUlusa DzhuOtdeleniya,VIII (1864), p. 475; and
chieva," TrudyVost.Otdel.Russk. Arkheologicheskogo
in the case of qalan = poshlina,by B. Spuler, Die GoldeneHorde (2nd ed.: Wiesbaden,
1965), p. 335.
6 Schurmann,p. 338, n. 76.
7 Quoted by Schurmann,p. 349, fromPriselkov,p. 6i.
8 Quoted by Schurmann,p. 349, fromPriselkov,pp. 58-59.
49
lina.9 This last is more doubtful.The Yrzsihas been called a codification of Mongol customarylaw (among other things)'0 and in this
sense of custom,is an equivalent ofposhlina; Yrsi = Poshlina is possible. But yasaq = poshlina is somethingelse again. For the essential
meaning ofydsU,yasdqis Torder" or "edict";" the Yrsa is "the code
of Chinggis' orders,"howevermuch these orders may have had customaryroots. This distinctionsplits Yrsai fromyaszq in the case at
hand. The Yrs&-Poshlinaequivalence, created by this special circumstance ofan imperialedict enunciatingcustomarylaw, does not establish that,in tax practice,yasaq and poshlinahad any similarity.Yasiq
stands for "taxes ordered by the Mongol ruler," and poshlina means
eccustomarytaxes," two differentthings.
It is not, therefore,theorderofyasliq-qalinthatshould be reversed,
to becomequbchuir-qalizn.
but thatof thePersian usage,qalizn-qubchuir,
It is much easier to believe in a differencein usage between the
styles
Mongols of Persia and the Golden Horde than in two different
in the administrationof the Horde itself. But if we transpose the
instead of reversingthe Turkic yasiq qalln,
Persian qalizn-qubchuir
we obtain a new scheme:
Persian:
Russian:
Turkic:
qubchuir
dan'
yasiq
qalln
poshlina
qalin
Is thistransformation
possible? It is ifqalwncan be related toposhlina,
since Schurmannhas already convincinglyrelated qubchuirtoyasizq.'2
We should inquire again, therefore,into the natures of qallzn and
poshlina.
9 Schurmann,pp. 338, n. 76 and 349-350.
10 V. A. Riasanovsky,CustomaryLaw of theMongol Tribes (Harbin, 1929), p. 2o. Cf.
G. Vernadsky,A Historyof Russia, III, The Mongols and Russia (4th printing: New
Haven and London, 1966), pp. 99-loo.
11W. Radloff(VersucheinesWorterbuches
der Tiirk-dialecte
(St. Petersburg,1905), iII,
col. 214) definesyasa as "code," "decision," ".imperialorder" and "law." Its verbal
form,yasamaq, he defines(cols. 214-215) as meaning "make, do," "erect," "create,"
"construct" and "promise." Schurmann,p. 358, rendersyasamaq as "fix," "determine".
Thus the senses ofyasa thatare closest in spiritto the activityinvolvedare "decision"
and "(imperial) order"; the othermeanings,"code" and "law," with theirundertones
of Medes-and-Persians rigidity,are more remote,just as codificationis posterior to
decision in the process of deciding action.
12 Schurmann,pp. 358-359.
50
To understandwhat qaltn was, it is useful firstto read a general

statementof the Mongols' exactions:
Since all countriesand peoples havecomeundertheirdomination,they
have establisheda census aftertheiraccustomedfashionand classified
everyoneintotens,hundredsand thousands;and requiredmilitary
service
and the equipmentofyams togetherwiththe expensesentailedand the
provisionoffodder-thisin additionto [mial];and overand aboveall this
theyhave fixedthequpchurchargesalso.'3
Thus the Mongols were concerned with militarymanpower and the
postal system(yzm), with mialand with qubchuir.
But what about qalin? It is not mentioned here-or anywherein
Juvayni-but does appear in a discussion of exemption fromthese
same obligationsand taxes:
And as thejudgmentof the GreatDecree of ChinggizKhan was such
thatqaikas,
learnedmenand 'Alids werenot to pay qalianor qiupchuir,
We
[Ghazan]have orderedthatin thatmannertheybe exemptedand freed,
thatone not collectmi21or qiipchair
fromthem,nor takelodgingin their
houses;thatenvoysshallnotcarryanything
off;and that[their]stipends,in
themannerin whichtheyare set downin theregisters,
be paid fromyear
to yearwithoutfail.'4
The Muslim clerics were thus freedfromany obligation to the postal
relay system-as "men of the pen" theywere also clearlyunsuited to
militaryservice-and exempted frommal and fromqubchuir. Since
Ghazan states as precedent for this grant of immunity,the earlier
excuse by Chinggisof these same groups fromqalian and qubchuir,and
since the postal relay organizationwas established by Ogodei, after
Chinggis' death, qalan must,by elimination,be seen as the equivalent
of mal.'5 This would explain why Juvayni,'Ala-i Tabriz! and Nasir13 'Ala'uddin 'Ata-Malik Juvayni,The Historyof the World-Conqueror,
J. A. Boyle
trans. (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), I, pp. 33-34. The edition of the text upon which
Boyle's translationis based is by Mirza Muhammad Qazwini, Ta'rakh-iJahan-Gusha
(Leiden and London: E. J. W. Gibb MemorialSeries, vol. XVI /1-3; 1912, 1916, 1937).
14 Rashiduddin /Jahn,p. 218. Schurmann (p. 331) gives a slightlydifferent
translation.
15 Ghazan's orderis strikingly
similarin contentto theyarlighofBirdibekstatingthe
immunitiesof the Russian clerics. Birdibek,like Ghazan, refersto Chinggis' exemption
of the clerics as the precedent forhis own exemption;he notes that Chinggis excused
them frompaymentof dan' and poshlina, says he also exempts themfromthese, and
then goes on to forbida numberofotherrequisitions(militaryand postal) and seizures.
51
uddin Tisi, all of whom discuss Mongol taxationin detail, make no

mentionof qaltn.16
Mil, as a termof taxation,can best be understoodfromNasiruddin
Tisi's discussion of state finance.'7 He uses it as "resources," as
"property,"in modifiedformas a particulartax (mil-i tamghai),and,
in the usage closest to that of Ghazan's edict, in the general sense of
"taxes." This last usage appears in Tflsi's discussion of staterevenue:
"The Sovereign's revenue (dakhl) is from four sources: from the
heritageof those who have passed away; fromthe taxes (mil) of the
subjects; fromhis own kafayat('lawfulexertions'); fromwhat is granted by the Almighty."'18T-usiincludes under mal in this general sense
the taxes on agriculture (kharaj, or 'ushr if it is in facta tithe), the
capital levy on the wealthy and merchants ((amghdi),the herd tax
(mare'i), and "casual revenues" (tayyerat:escheats and such-like);he
also enumeratessome "new" and some undesirable kinds of charge
that fall within the general categoryof mal, but these, like (ayyzrat,
are oflittlesignificance.Qubchuirhe treatsseparately,and, forreasons
of tact,briefly.Mal, forTuisi,was thus a comprehensivetermforpreMongol taxation,whichJuvayni'stranslatorrightlyrendersas "eordinary taxes."'9
The fact that Chinggis' exemptionsare the same as those of Birdibekapart fromthe
prohibitionsof thesespecificrequisitionsand seizuresalso suggeststhat,analogously,in
Ghazan's edict, Chinggis' qalan is the exact equivalentof Ghazan's mal.
For the establishmentof the postal relay system,see the textfromthe SecretHistory
below on pp. 68-69.
16 For Juvayni'senumerationofMongol taxes,see below, p. 75. 'Ala-i Tabrlzi's statementis as follows:"The truthis thatthe quota of taxes ofeach place is important.Some
of these (taxes) are bound up with the attainingof the harvestand are paid when (the
harvest) is reached. Some of these (taxes) are bound up with (business) transactions,
such as the tamya which can be paid in installments.Some of these (taxes) can be
collected fromthe people (ra'aya) in two or threeinstallmentssuch as the qubcuir....
Quoted by Schurmann,pp. 381-382 and n. 174, froma textof 'Ala-i Tabriz! given in
Zeki Velidi Togan, "Mogollar devrindeAnadolu'nun iktisadivaziyeti,"TuirkHukuk ve
1 (1931).19.
IktisatTarihi Mecmuasz,
17 Tiisi's work is translatedby V. Minorskyin "Nasir al-din Tusi on Finance," in
BSOAS, x: 3 (1941) and morerecentlyin revisedform,in Iranica (Tehran: Publications
of the Universityof Tehran, vol. 775; 1964), pp. 64-85. The Persian text, edited by
M. Minovi,accompanied the originalarticle.
18 Tilsi /Minorsky,
Iranica, p. 69 (omittingsome of Minorsky'saddenda to the text).
19 Juvayni/Boyle,I, p. 34.
52
QalUn not only referredto mrzland therebyto pre-Mongoltaxation,

but also stood originallyfornon-Mongoltaxation,forcharges neither
of Mongol origin nor of application to Mongols. As nomads, the
Mongols bore certain appropriate taxes, collectively designated as
qubchuir(which I discuss furtherbelow), but as conquerors,the Mongols also had privileges,including immunityfromthe taxationof the
conquered peoples. Thus the "contributions" (mu'an) thatJuvayni
lists as charges upon the Mongols include extraordinarylevies (qu7bchuir,'avrizat and bigizr) and the requisites of the postal system
and 'ul1iift),20 but none of the ordinary-seden(yiim,uThgh,ikhra-jftt
tary-taxes listed by TnsI or Rashiduddin: no mal, no kharaj, no
(amghat.Furthermore,qalzn designated not only a certain kind of
taxation,but also the people liable to pay this taxation. These were
not Mongols. By the end of the thirteenthcenturytheMongol military
establishmentin Persia was having difficulty
maintainingitself.The
increasingfrequencyof rebellionsand civilwars, withthe destruction
and attainderof the losers on each occasion, caused abnormal attrition. And the need of the rulers to keep large forcesnear at hand in
case of a risingmade the normal Mongol method of nomadic logistic
support for the army increasinglyimpractical: nomadism requires
dispersion,the Ilkhans needed concentration.2'And so Ghazan Khan,
afteran unsuccessfulexperimentwith a salaried royal army,22under
took to transferthe whole army froma nomadic to an agricultural
base. All the soldiers were to be supplied fromthe land, apportioned
amongthemin grantscallediqp Z',23 andwerein consequenceto"come
into the qalizn."24 The obvious implicationis thatpreviouslythe soldiery-the Mongols-had not been "in the qal2in."
Some furthertexts from Rashiduddin amplify this explanation.
20
See below, p. 75.
21
Rashiduddin /Jahn,p. 300. It should be rememberedthat the Mongol had participated in his conquests not as a soldier armed and supplied fromarsenals and depots by
transportationand supply services,but as a nomad with his familyand his flocksprovidinghim directlywithhis food and mounts.Maintenanceof a Mongol fieldarmyhad
not been a matterof supply based on taxation,but of individual provisionby a selfsufficientnomadic soldiery. Most taxation had been necessary only for purposes less
well adapted to the nomadic way of life than campaigningand fighting.
22 Ibid., pp. 300-302.
23 Ibid.,pp. 302-303.
24 Ibid., p.
3o8.
53
While Ghazan was surelyconcernedabove all else forthe serviceability

of his army, he and his advisors (like his predecessors and theirs)
were also much troubled by the related problem of inadequate state
revenues. Ghazan and his vezirs,unlike the previous governments,
managed to findremediesfortheireconomicmaladies, in large part by
adopting the revolutionarypolicy (of which the introductionof iq(dt'
was one element) of encouragingthe "sedentary sector" of the economy instead of relyingupon the inadequate and incapable nomads.25
This was a major departure fromprevious ideology, but one which
had had precedents in previous policy. Rashiduddin's descriptionof
the charges upon the Mongols prior to Ghazan's introductionof iq.t'
maw&shi(a
is not quite the same as Juvayn!'s: they paid qiupckhir-i
on animals),yizszq,and yizm(so farthe equivalentofJuvayni's
qubchuir
-but also qal&ns!26
'avarizzt and yiim-iilUghI-ikhrajizt-'ulliifat)
qi2pclhiir,
What we have here is not qaliznpaid by Mongols: Rashiduddin would
not have used the plural (qalznzt) had he intended the more general
term,and Juvaynisurelywould have made some mentionof it had it
been paid by the Mongols in his time. Rather, the qalznzt here are
"some non-Mongol taxes" among those generally termed qalzn or
25
Ghazan's reformis summarizedin A. K. S. Lambton's Landlord and Peasant in
Persia(Oxford, 1953), pp. 83-87 and 89-92.
26 Rashiduddin/Jahn,
p. 304. Rashiduddin quotes here fromGhazan's yarligh: "From
no one is it concealed thatpreviously,in the timeof our good fathers,the Mongol ulius
was called upon for,and had demanded of it all sortsof requisitionsand exactions such
as qitpchlir-i
mawashi,and the obligationsof the greatyam, and the bearingof the burdens imposedbyyasaq, and the qalanat, whichwe have now at once orderedabolished."
There is anotherprovocativeqalan textin Rashiduddin (E. Blochet ed., Histoiredes
Mongols[Leyden and London: E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, XVIII:2; 1911], p. 341)
where he discusses a tax which he termsqalan, levied in Persia by Arghiin Aqa in
ca. 1253. As Blochet (p. 341, n.e) points out, Juvayni's treatmentof this same tax
speaks of qubchuir
(cf. Juvayni/Boyle,II, pp. 517 and 519-524), so we must explain
why Rashiduddin used a different
term.As we have seen, Ghazan's reformobliterated
the differentiation
fortaxpurposes betweenMongol and Persian,nomadand non-nomad,
and brought the Mongols "into the qalan." Qalan thus lost the secondary sense of
eesedentarysector" that it had derived fromits primarymeaningof "sedentary taxation" and came to mean "tax-liable population" in general,which in turnaltered its
meaningas taxation to "taxation" in general. Thus, Juvayni'saccount preserves the
general Mongol termof the conquest period for"tax" or "taxation"-qubchur-where
Rashiduddin substitutesqalan because it had now the same sense, while qubchuirhad
come to designatea specifictax among manyand would only confusethe reader if used
in Juvayni'sgeneral way.
54
perhaps, or lesser charges such as

mal in I1khanidpractice: tamghaz,
baij and badraqa. They are symptomaticof the tendencyamong the
Ilkhans to seek out ever more sources of revenue,even at the expense
of the ruling Mongols themselves,a tendencyillustratedby Ghazan's
similareffortsto enlarge the liabilityforqali2n:
theamirs,thejudges [yarghulRepeatedly,he (i.e., Ghazan) reprimanded
chis],and the waztrs[saying]thateverytimepeople comewithcomplaints
and themutasarrifs,
theyaccepttheirwordswithhaste;
againstthehakims,
he indicatedthatit was possible that thosepeople had not givenqaldn
beforethenand had placed theirburdenon others,thatthehakimbrought
theminto theqaldn, and thatsuch people naturallycomplained.27
Those counted in the "nomadic sector" of the tax economy as
members,howeverhumble,ofone or anotherMongol "establishment"
(e.g., anjui)and who possessed both the privilegesof conquerors and
theirburdens-cherik,y&mand qubchuir-objected to attemptsby tax
agents dealing with the "sedentary sector" additionally and inappropriatelyto levy the non-Mongol,sedentaryqalUn upon them.And
when theyvoiced theirobjections they did so in quarters where, as
"Mongols," they would receive sympathetichearings: before the
Mongol militarycommanders (amirs), Mongol judges (yzrghuchis)
and the ministers(vezirs)forfiscalaffairsof the central Mongol government.But their invocation of privilege against governmentneed
was vain. The tendency to extend taxation reached its culmination
with Ghazan's inclusion of the whole army-the Mongol people in
arms-in the qaltn with the grant to them of iq(t4'. Taxation was
therebyrationalized and revenues increased: peasant and nomad,
Persian and Mongol, conquered and conquerorswere all subjected to
qalan (where appropriate) and qubchuir.
The understandingof the termqalian in Persia is complicated by
substitutionin the earliersources of the Persian equivalent,mal, and
by the alterationof the liabilityfor qalzn in Rashiduddin's time to
include the Mongols. But in the Chaghatay region, predominantly
Turkic and persistentlynomadic, the pristine Mongol disregard for
the details of sedentarytaxationsurvived,and the termqalan, withits
original sense of non-nomadic,sedentarytaxation,continued in use.
There, even persons involved in sedentaryoccupations were considered exempt fromqaltn if,throughmembershipin a nomadic estab27
Quoted by Schurmann,p. 333 and n. 6i, fromRashiduddin/Jahn,p. i8o.
55
lishment (injui, here), they counted as "Mongols": "In imposing

qalan, neverwas qalan imposed on the injj28 gardeners... we, from
the time of these previous khlins,togetherwith our elder and our
youngerbrothers,have been cultivatingour gardens; not subject to
any other alban yasaq, we have continued to serve our khans."29
Qal2n, then,was an inclusive designationused by the Mongols for
the traditional,pre-Mongoland essentiallysedentarytaxationof the
conquered West. In Persia, mal was often used in its place, while
qalalnitselfcame also to designatecollectivelythose (originallysedentary)persons liable to qal&n; eventuallyit was collected fromMongols
as well as Persians, insofaras the Mongols might,as agriculturalproprietors,town dwellers or rich men rather than (or as well as) nomads, appropriatelybe considered liable to agricultural,commercial,
or capital taxes.30
28 "Injiu"' is usually translatedas "crown land" (see Lambton, P. 78; or B. Spuler,
Iran Mogollara,Turkish translationby C. Kopriuliu[Ankara,1957], p. 357), but thereis
thatis, of Mongol milimore to it than this.We findRashiduddin speaking of tium2ns,
taryunits,thatare part of Ghazan's injui(HistoiredesMongolsde la Perse,partial edition
and translationby E. Quatremere [Paris, 1836], p. 130), and Quatremere,in the note
(n. 12) to thispassage cites othertextsin which the anjiuconsistsof peoples or persons
and not land. "Royal or princelyestablishment"seems to me thephrase best suited to
comprehendthe mixed componentsof injui: the nomadsprovidingsupportforthe royal
or princelyfamily(see William of Rubruck, in Mission to Asia, C. Dawson ed., [New
York,1966] p. 99, on Batu's supportingherds,and cf.Vreeland,p. 12 on the familieshamjaani ail-assigned to support noble families),the attached nomad militaryunits
(withtheirfamiliesand flocks),and thelanded property(withits peasant or slave tillers,
such as the "gardener" in the text at hand) providinga cash income for the royal or
princelyfamily.A modernanalogue of injii would be the darbar (campingand herding
group cumcomitatus)togetherwiththe urban propertyof the Basseri chief;see Fredrik
Barth,Nomads ofSouthPersia (2nd printing,Oslo, 1964), pp. 74 and 76.
29 Quoted by Schurmann,p. 335 and n. 67, fromW. Radloff,Uigurische
Sprachdenkmaler, S. E. Malov ed. (Leningrad, 1928), p. 28. I have given "alban yasaq" where
Schurmannhas "alban and yasaq" for reasons which will appear below. The text involves a complaintto the ChaghatayKhan, Taghluq Timiir (748/1348-764/1362-63).
W. Bartholdhas also takenthis textto mean thatqal2n was sedentarytaxation,at least
in Turkestan; see his "Ilhanhlar Devrinde Mali Vaziyet," Turk Hukuk veIktisatTarihi
Mecmuasz,I (1931), p. 152; thisis a Turkish translationof Barthold's Russian original,
"Persidskaya nadpis na stene Aniiskoi mecheti Manuche," AniiskayaSeriya, v (St.
Petersburg,191i), of which thereis also a German translationby W. Hinz in ZDMG
(1951).
30 Qalan is considered as sedentarytaxation not only by Barthold (see preceding

note), but by B. Grekov and A. Yakubovskii, La Horde d'Or, French translationby
56
to traditional
And ifqali2nmaybe seen as a generaltermreferring
pre-Mongoltaxationin all its varieties,so also mayposhlina,which,
likeqal2inin thecase oftheMuslimclergy,was one ofthemaincategoriesof taxationfromwhichRussian clericswere exempted.The
documentsissued by the Golden Horde show,in
Russian tarkhain
betterdetail,the samesituationthatthePersiantextsdepict.Birdibek'syarlighof 1357,like Ghazan'sedict,exemptedRussianclerics
fromtwomaintaxes,dan' andposhlina,and froma variety
ofexactions
such as Mongolenvoysand travellers
were accustomed(if not entitled)to require:vehicles(podvoda),food(korm),drink(pitie),"erequests" (zapros)and "tgifts"
These exemptions,
likeGha(pochestie).
zan's, werebased on the precedentforexemptionof such persons
fromdan' and poshlinaestablishedby ChinggisKhan."1
An earlierRussian document,the letterof MengiuTimur,when
comparedwithBirdibek'sedict,showsus whatposhlinawas. Mengiu
Timur,in 1267, orderedthe exemptionof the Russianclergyfrom
dan', from
yamand thetakingofvehicles(podvoda)and food(korm),
from"plow" (popluzhnoe)
and tamga,and from
military
service(voina,
literally"war"). He did so on theprecedentsofChinggis,who gave
exemptions
fromdan' and korm,and of"subsequentemperors,"
who
excusedclericsfrompaymentofdan'; yam;"plow" (popluzhnoe)
and
F. Thuret ofZolotayaOrda, Leningrad,1937, (Paris, 1939), p. I1 I (in part on Barthold's
authority);and by B. Spuler, Die GoldeneHorde,p. 318 and Iran Mojollarz, p. 337. Ann
Lambton's statement(op. cit.,p. 8o) that Radloffequated qalan and khara-jis based on
theuncriticalrenditionofRadloff'stermdan' (II, col. 230) as harac by Abdiilkadirin his
Turkish translationof Barthold's Ani article (forwhich see the preceding note).
31 Priselkov, pp. 6o-6i; translatedby Schurmann, pp. 346-348. Schurmann has
slightlydifferenttranslationsfor some of the lesser (in that their prohibitionis not
referredto precedents)forbiddenexactions:korm-comestibles,pitie-food,zapros-levy,
and (tentatively)pochestie-"honoring"or tributary
gifts.I believethattheseprohibitions
applied to malpractices of Mongol travellersand that they were more specific than
Schurmann'stranslationwould make them.The greatervarietyofprohibitionsby Birdibek as compared with those of MengiuTimur, and of both as against those of earlier
rulers cited by MengiuTimur as precedent-yam (pre-MengilTimur); yam, podvoda,
korm (Mengil Timur); podvoda,korm,pitie,zaprosand pochestie(Birdibek)-suggest to
me increasing simplicityof language as the Mongol administratorstried to set forth
precisely,comprehensiblyand comprehensivelythe demands forbidden.I have tried,
therefore,to find equivalents for demands such as Mongol travellersmight have addressed to Russian farmers.
57
service(voina).82 Here we see (as we do notin the

tamga;and military
laterand more sophisticatedPersian sources) the developmentof
earlyMongoltaxation.As Chinggis'troopsinvadedRussia theydemandedmenand animals,as theywereaccustomedtodo in a nomadic
thispracticewas thenassimilatedtoits
milieuon thebasisofqubchlir;
nearestRussianequivalent:dan' ("tribute"in earlierRussianusage).
and fodderfortheir
And theydemandedprovisionsforthemselves
animals.This was a newkindof demandbothforthe Mongols,uncountrywithits granariesand storeaccustomedto an agricultural
kindof
houses,and forthe Russians,used to a moresophisticated
levyon agriculture;neitherhad a technicaltermforthisexaction,
whichaccordinglywenton record,as it were,directlyout of the
mouthof the Mongoltrooper:"food" (korm).Under their"subsewithRussia and herrequentemperors,"as theMongol'sfamiliarity
sourcesimproved,and as theirneeds changedwiththe transition
to themoreregularconditionsofoccupation,their
fromcampaigning
The new
demandsbecamemorenumerousand moresophisticated.
(since 1229) postal service (yam) was provided for; militaryservice

was made a regulated obligation (voina); and the simple kormwas
differentiated
into an agriculturaltax (the "plow"-popluzhnoe) and
capital levy (tamga). The versatile qubchlir (dan'), of course, was
retained.Mengii Timur's list of taxes is but a variantupon this essential list, a variant paying additional attentiononly to the ramifying
abuses of the postal systemand thus adding to yam the previously
implicit exactions of podvoda ("vehicles") and korm. By Birdibek's
time these tax practices were well established, the tax administrators
Prieselkov,pp. 58-59; translatedby Schurmann,pp. 342-346. Most of the Russian
termsof Mengii Timur's letterhave clear Persian equivalents.Yam and tamga-tamgha
are unchanged,voinais cherik,and podvodaand kormcorrespondto ul1gh ("remount"),
'alifa ("rations") and 'alafa ("fodder"). The correspondencebetween podvoda and
iul1ghsuggeststhatthe sense ofpodvodashould include animals and thatits translation
should be "conveyances" or "means of transportation."
These equivalencesleave only dan' and popluzhnoe,and on the Persian side, qubchiur,
qal2n and m21.Mal (whichcomprehendskhara2j)is the obvious equivalentofpopluzhnoe
("eplow"), and qal2n must be assimilated to m21 (as argued, forother reasons, above)
in Persian fromqubchizrmakes it unlikely that dan' could
because its differentiation
comprehendboth. Qubchizr,by elimination,must equal dan'. And the mal-popluzhnoe
equivalence also undermines Schurmann's equation of qubchur and poshlina, since
poshlina seems clearlyrelated to popluzhnoe.
32
58
were more practiced and subtle-and abuses of the yam had gotten
worse. The framersof the 1357 yarlaghno longer had to remindanyone that clerics did not serve in the armyor the postal stations,and
they had learned to speak of poshlina33-customarytaxes-a more
succinct yet less restrictivetermthan "plow" or "seal" (tamga), giving access, with the implicitsanctionof Russian history,to any traditional Russian taxes.34And theyhad to proscribean even longer list
ofmalpractices:rovingMongols, hankeringafterthe cooperativehospitalityof the steppe and the unrestrainedhostilitiesof the glorious
days of the Conquest, were still aftervehicles and food-and drink
and "requests" and "gifts" as well.
In the development-ofMongol taxationin Russia, poshlina appears
as a final,comprehensivetermused fora categoryof taxationthathad
earlierincluded korm,and then "plow" (popluzhnoe)and tamga. It is
the culminatingexpressionforthe whole range of traditional(sedentary) taxes in Russia. That this was the nature of poshlina is further
and decisivelyillustratedby the language of theyarligh of Birdibek,
whichpromisesthe MetropolitanAlexei immunityfromMongol exaction of eitherdan' or poshlina, but permitsAlexei to exact whatever
poshlina is due the church fromits properties:
Whatevertribute(dan') theremaybe, or custom(poshlina),theyshall
not take [such]fromthem;nor vehicle[s],nor comestibles,nor food,nor
levies,nor honoring[pocestija](?), theyshall not give [such].
Or whateverchurch[possessions]:homes,lands,waters,gardens,vineyards,mills,theyshall not take them[away]fromthem,nor do any violetlceupon them....
And Thou, AleksejtheMetropolitan
. .. whateverThou doest through
customary[law] (poshlina)35
unto churchhouses,lands, waters,gardens,
vineyards,or unto churchpeople, thatis up to Thee.36
33 One other strongpoint against Schurmann's equation of qubchuzr and poshlina is
that qubchiur is an expression fromChinggis' own time, while poshlina occurs much
later. Dan', of course, is an ancient term,and is used earlywith referenceto Chinggis'
practices,as we would expect the Russian equivalentof qubchiur to be.
34 These included, besides dan', certain fees and fines,and a varietyof commercial
charges,according to G. Vernadsky,A HistoryofRussia, ii, Kievan Russia (New Haven,
1948), pp. 190-192.
35 See Schurmann,p. 349.
36 Quoted by Schurmann,pp. 347-348 and 346, n. 97, fromPriselkov,pp. 6o-6i.
"Tribute" is "dan'," and "custom," or "customary(law)" are "ePoshlina."
59
In order to have developed out of "plow" and 'seal" taxes, and to

have servedas a basis forboth Birdibek's taxationand Alexei's, poshlina must have stood fortraditionalRussian sedentarytaxes.
Finally, do not poshlina and qalan mean, as well as intend, the
same thing?Poshlina,derivingfromthepast tense of Russian "to go,"
can verywell connote the traditionaland the pre-Mongol (and thus,
in application to taxation,the sedentary).Then thinkhow the "Mongols" (who, in Russia, were mostly Turkic-speaking) might have
translated poshlina into Turkic, or rather, how they might have
phrased in their own language the demand that the Russian would
translateas "Poshlina"; thinkof the phrase used by another Turkic
interpreterof tax traditionsto an ignorantconqueror:
A personcame fromGermiyanand said, "Sell [therightto collect]the
b2j37to me." . . . OsmanGazi asked,"What is a baj?7"That personsaid, "I
willcollecta silverpiece fromeveryonecomingto thebazar." Osman Gazi
asked,"Do thesebazarpeople owe you a debtthatyou shouldgeta silver
them]?"That personsaid, "eMyKhan,thisis thelaw,theyhave
piece [from
it in all countries;the sovereignsreceiveit." Osman Gazi asked, "Was it
establishedit?" This person
decreedby God or havetherulersthemselves
said, "It's thelaw, myKhan, it has comedown[tous]fromofold (ezelden
qalm>tzr)."38
Russia's traditional,pre-Mongol taxes, using this vocabulary,would
"qalan."
become "ezeldenqalan vergiler" "ezeldenqalanlar"-39
Accordingly,imperialMongol taxationin the conquered sedentary
areas, down to the stage of developmentinto a triune,land tax-commercialtoll-tributesystemof taxationin China and Persia, was funda37 The baj in later Ottoman times was a market due, as is prefigured(perhaps
anachronistically)in Aslkpa?azade's story.See Gibb and Bowen,Islamic Societyand the
West(London, 1950), I:2, p. 7,n. 5; cf. Nasiruddin Tasi/Minorsky, Iranica, p. 73, for
baj as a "bad" tax.
38 Asikpa?azade, Tevarih-iAl-i Osman, Ali Bey ed. (Istanbul, 1332 h./1913-1914),
p. '9 (emphasis mine): "Germiyandanbir ki?i geldi. Eyder, 'Bu bazarin baclnl bana
satin' der ... Osman Gazi eyder,'Bac nedir?' 0 ki?i eyder,'Bazara herki?ikim gelse ben
andan akce alirim,' dedi. Osman Gazi eyder, 'Senin bu bazar ehlinde alimin ml var ki
akce alirsin?' 0 ki?i eyder, 'Hanim, bu tiiredir,cemi vilayetlerdevardirkim padisah
olanlar alir.' Osman Gazi eyder,'Tanri ml buyurdu,yoksa beylerkendilerimi ettiler?'
der. Bu ki?i eyder,'Tiuredirhanim,ezeldenkalmzstir'der."
39 Qalanlar, "qalans," are evidenced in Persian translationin Rashiduddin's qalanat
(Jahn ed., p. 304)-see above p. 53, n. 26.
60
(appliedboth to nomadsand
mentallyclassifiedinto nomadic-style
sedentarycategoriesas follows:
settledpeople) and traditional
Ilkhanate:
GoldenHorde:
Chinese(P'eng) :40
JNomadic
Sedentary
Persian qubchiir
qalan
Russian dan'
poshlina
qalan
Turkic yasaq
ch'ai-fa("steppe") ch'ai-fa("Han")
In consequenceofthisrevisionqubchiir
appearsas themaincategory
as sedentarytaxationin
of nomadictaxation:withqalan identified
documentsof theWest
bothoriginand application,all the tarkhlin
to the effectthatthe
and the Chinese accountsbecometestimony
own
summarized
their
nomadic
taxationunderthe
Mongolsoriginally
singletermqubchuir.
11
Afterdifferentiating
betweensedentaryand nomadictaxation,let us
of the latterform.In
considerfurthersome of the characteristics
beyondthatderiving
doingso it will help us to look at information
ofnon-Mongol
fromimperialMongoltimesand evenat descriptions
nomadicpractices.The sourcesfromtheperiodofMongolempireare
few,terse,and obscure;later and fullerstudiesof the nomadsof
Mongoliaand ofsimilarnomadscan illuminatetheearlieraccounts.
thesituationoftheMongolsunderChinggisand hishouse
Moreover,
ofMongolnomadicpracticesbasedonly
wasunique,and descriptions
that
on materials
from periodareliabletoconfusethespecialwiththe
withthenormal.A generalconsiderageneraland theextraordinary
tionofnomadictaxationmaytherefore
Mongol
helpus to understand
nomadic taxation.
Modernstudiesofnomadicpeoplesin CentralAsia and theMiddle

East distinguish
a varietyof"regular"taxesbutseemto showa commonoccasionaltaxation.Barth,studyingtheBasseritribein Persia,
foundthat"each oulad [clan]pays a regularannual tax in clarified
a nomadicMonbutter"to thechief,41
whileVreeland,investigating
in a templedistrict,
observedit to be responsiblefor
gol community
40 See below, p. 67-68 and note 55; P'eng speaks of "ch'ai-fa
of the steppe"
&
and "ch'ai-fa of the land of the Han."
41 FredrikBarth,Nomads of SouthPersia (2nd printing;Oslo: 1964), p. 74.
61
regular payments in support of temple services,42just as Hudson's

Kazaks reported that everyone,rich and poor, was expected to give
one sheep in ten each year to support the mullah.43"Regular" taxation among these nomads thus appears in the formof particular expedients, but not of a general practice. Occasional taxation,on the
other hand, is general. Barth states of the Basseri that "the ruling
chiefhas the recognizedrightto impose irregulartaxes on the tribesmen,usually in the formofa tax ofone sheep in a hundred (sad-o-yek)
or sometimes even as much as three sheep in a hundred (sad-oseh),"44 and Vreeland reportsa similarrightofboth the banners and
the templesin Mongolia.45 And among the Kazaks, says Hudson, "the
collection of tribute, or taxes (albm)
. . .
took the form, not of regu-
larized imposts, but of occasional demands."46 These reports,then,

suggest that occasional taxationis a standard nomadic practice, and
that regular taxation,though a common expedient, is not. Is this in
factthe case? And if so, why?
Nomadism imposes upon the nomad peculiar (as we sedentaryobserverswould put it) conditionsforthe creationofthe nomadic wealth
thatis the object of taxation.The nomadismof CentralAsia and (to a
considerable extent) of the Middle East depends upon extensivepastoralism.Gleaning, bunting,and even agriculturemay be practiced,
but only to supplement pastoralism. And the productive pursuit of
pastoralismby the nomad requires that adequate pastures be accessible to him and his herds. This adequacy is determinedmore by the
extent of the pastures than by their richness. The nomads under
considerationhere inhabit regions with littlerainfalland hence with
only seasonal grass and limited sources of water. They inhabit them
successfullyby occupying them thinly,dispersing their people in
small groups whose herds will not bear too heavilyupon the exiguous
resources,and by using movementto obtain access to enough pasture,
42
H. H. Vreeland, Mongol Community

and KinshiPStructure(3rd ed.: New Haven,
1962), pp. 112-114. Vreeland (p. 14) also mentions regular taxes (gail) paid to the
bannerorganizationby the nomads assigned to it ratherthan to the temples,but he does

not discuss these in detail.
43 A. E. Hudson, Kazak Social Structure(New Haven, 1938), p. 64.
44 Barth, loc. cit.
45 Vreeland, pp. 14 and 114.
46 Hudson, loc cit.
62
makinga large, poor territorythe equivalent of a smaller,richerone.

Dispersal and movementare the keys to the nomad's pastoral success.
And the movementof these dispersed people and herds has certain
requirements.They must be free to move where there is grass and
water to be found, and when necessary. They cannot move in other
directionsand at other timeswithoutjeopardizing theirherds. Furthermore,the essentialdecisions concerningthe directionand timeof
be made by the individual herdowner.
movementcan only effectively
Owing to the dispersal characteristicof his society, it is only the
individual ownerwho has both the necessaryknowledgeof the conditionofhis animals and of thelocal terrain,and the requiredauthority,
as herd owner, to make the decisions upon which the survivalor loss
of these herds-and nomadism-depend. Thus dispersal and movement, and their enabling concomitants of individual freedom,responsibilityand initiativein movementare essentials of nomadism,
and necessary conditions for the creation and maintenance of nomadic wealth.
Another simple yet importantconsideration is the nature of nomadic wealth, which is animal and human. Taxation of this wealth
Animals
must takeits characteristicsinto account ifit is to be effective.
takenas tax mustbe cared foror consumed, since theyare mortaland
perishable. Men who are to be taxed in animals or services must be
reached and persuaded, in one way or the other, since they are reluctant and elusive. Properly, it should be convincinglyargued to
them that taxation is needed for the service and enhancement of
argumentto make,since the nomad
nomadismitself.This is a difficult
is required by his ecology to be economicallyvirtuallyself-sufficient
and compelled by dispersion to be economical both in social and (as
we shall see) political arrangements,and thus admits few demands
beyond the personal and immediatelyfamilialupon his concern and
his wealth. These demands are feltonly in those areas in which selfis not attainedor is not fullyattainable,as, forinstance,in
sufficiency
"external affairs"-in relationswith other men or with God. In such
areas communalaction, specialization,hierarchicalorganization,and,
consequently, economic logistic support may be needed, and even
admittedand accepted.
Let us consider, forinstance, the nomad in his relationshipto his
neighbors. The nomad decides for himselfwhen and with whom to
63
move, and where to move, within certain limits upon his range of
movementset fromwithoutby the strengthofhis nomadic competitors
foruse of pasture, or, more economicallyforall concerned, by some
mutuallyrecognized authorityor adjudicators. The making of these
arrangements,involvingas theydo the difficultand dangerous business of contact with suspicious and elusive strangers,is entrustedby
thenomad to specialists-chiefs-as is theprovisionofthe supporting
functionsof diplomacy,hospitality,and communications.To permit
the specialists their expenditures of wealth in these functions,the
nomad will provide taxation. These services support nomadism and
are thereforeworthyof support. If diplomacy and arbitrationfail to
contain the Malthusian desperation or the heroic exuberance of nomadic neighbors,or the hostilityof adjacent sedentarypeoples, the
nomad will require not only specialists,but special organizationand
mobilizationto enable his defense (or, if he himselfbe desperate or
exuberant,his attack). The ecologically "normal" condition of arbitratedanarchyamong tinypastoral groups on a commonrange cannot
be maintainedagainst attacks that threatento reduce the extent,and
thus the precarious adequacy both of the commonrange and of some
individuals' herds. The threatenedherdsmen,recoiling fromattack
into the midst-and pastures-of their "kinsmen,"will seek theiraid
against the enemy,and their "kinsmen," facingboth the enemy and
the injurious crowdingof theirfriendswith theirflocksinto the nowdiminishedcommon range, will be glad to give it (as, conversely,the
"kin" of the aggressorswill support their effortsto gain new range
and herds-at someone else's expense). To deal with such emergencies the nomad needs and will accept the exigenciesofleadership and
command, the maintenance of a communicationsand "intelligence"
network,militaryservice-and taxes.
This briefdescriptionof the objects and objectivesof nomadic taxation has implied restraintsupon nomadic taxationwhich should now
be specifiedmore exactly. To begin with, the "taxable base" of nomadic wealthhas a fixedminimumsize. Under nomadic conditionsthe
herd mustreach a certainnumberof animalsin orderto be viable; ifreduced below thisnumber,naturaland consumptiveattritionoverbalanThe nomad,whosewayoflifedepends upon
ces naturalreproduction.47
47 Barth (p. i6) says that the Basseri consider sixtysheep the minimumviable herd,
and there are indications that some similar limit affectsthe Central Asian nomads.
64
maintenanceof adequate herd size, is well aware of thislimit,whether

he is a tax-payeror a tax-collector,and he will not allow or attempt
taxation that would transgressit. Herds of a size approaching the
viable minimumare not subject to tax. And the otherformof wealth,
manpower, is similarlyexempted when the requirementof service
would threatena family'snomadic capacities-its abilityto moveor to
manage its flocks.
Beyond these fixed limits on taxation furthervariable restraints
obtain. There is a constantpressure to reduce or limit taxationeven
upon viable herds because, owing to the vagaries of climate,disease,
and aggression,even a normallyviable herd may quite commonlybe
subjected to unusual attrition.The herdsmanwants as large a margin
of herd size as possible as a bufferagainst catastrophe,and any taxation cuts into this margin. The collectors of taxes (who are themselves ordinarilyself-sufficient)
also have reason to keep taxes low: the
taxpayers,if they feel themselvespressed, can and will resist or flee
the collector; the self-sufficient,
mobile nomad can be taxed only if
willing, except at the cost of a difficultand perhaps ultimatelyunproductive pursuit and capture (effortsof which authoritiesamong
the nomads are oftenincapable).48 If high taxes are wanted,thenomad
taxpayermustbe persuaded to want themtoo; ordinarily,he will only
Vreeland's table ofMongol animalwealthshowsherds averagingfifty
sheep in thelowest
animal-owningcategory (p. 31). Such limitswere recognized earlier as well. In early
Islamic timesthe beduin paid taxes (zakat) only on fiveor more camels, thirtyor more
cattle, and fortyor more sheep (T. W. Juynboll,Handbuch des IslamischenGesetzes
[Leiden and Leipzig, 1g9o], p. 1oo and n. 2), and Nasiruddin Tdsi (Iranica, p. 71),
speaking in the thirteenthcenturyof the taxationof earlier (pre-Mongol) days, says:
"In old timesalso nothingwas collected fromthe animals,but later fromeach (class of)
animal capable of reproductionand grazingin the open (sahra) one out of one hundred
was levied, while fromsmallernumbersmoney (zar) was collected in the same proportion. This (levy) is called mari'i. (Still) later, one out of fifty
was levied."
48 "My papers gave us the rightto olagha-in Manchu wula, in the modern Mongol
vernacularula. This is one of the 'servicesand taxes' due froma Mongol tribesmanto
his chief and to the banner organization.In the service of the banner, or of official
travellersaccreditedto thebanner,horses or camels are commandeeredwithoutpay ...
at one place two of our soldiers triedto seize a horse froma Mongol who showed good
Mongol spirit;he cuffedone soldier on the ear, kicked the otherin the rear,jumped on
the horse and rode offinto the sands beforetheycould shoot" Owen Lattimore,Mongol
Journeys(New York, 1941), pp. 12-13.
65
be willing to pay for services that are clearly essential and likewise
beyond his own individual means.
Nomads, then,are ordinarilyreluctantto pay taxes-like most taxpayers. But beyond this common human negative reaction, nomads
hold a positive antipathy toward taxation. For one thing, taxation
resultsfromthe need to make up fordeficienciesin the nomadic way
of lifeitself.It is symbolicof failuresto achieve the nomadic ideals of
self-sufficiency,
mutual aid, and cooperation,and it is symptomaticof
the inadequacy of normalnomadic practices,such as the symbiosisof
rich and poor, to withstand the pressures upon nomadism. In this
sense taxation is not only undesirable, but improper to nomadism,
since it provides thingsthe nomads should not need. Furthermore,it
provides thingshe should not have. Nomads must consider that taxationnot only takeshis wealth,but puts it to dangerous uses. Taxation
supports chiefs,with theirproclivityforcommand and leadership in
disregardof the nomad's need of autonomous movement;it supports
organization,which hampers dispersal and hinders movement.It requires and facilitatescontrol of the shepherds, and therebyjeopardizes the sheep-and nomadism.
The peril that organization and authorityentail fornomadism is
especiallyapparentin the case ofnomadic organizationforwar,which
has been brieflyconsidered above. Mobilizationdemands the concentrationand the hierarchicaldirectionof the nomads' manpowerand
of the logistic "tail"-the camps and herds-that supportthem;militaryoperationsrequiremovementwhich,thoughunable to ignore the
pastoralnecessitiesupon which logisticsurvivaldepends, at least must
compromisebetween these necessities and strategicand tactical exigencies. Thus, militarystrengthand success are obtained at the expense of ecological balance; the mobilized nomads may win victories,
but maylose theirherds in doing so. Since the nomad's main purpose
(almost always) is to protect or promote his pastoral way of life, he
cannotput up withmobilizationforlong, and as soon as themenace is
overor the objectivegained, must tryto resumehis dispersed,autonomous pastoralism. The nomad's dislike of taxation is thus part of a
larger antipathy to any social cohesion or political authoritythat
might,throughorganizationand control,menace nomadism.49
49 I assume in this discussion a fundamentalattachmentof the nomad to nomadism.
There is evidence forthis attachmentin the reversionsto nomadismof "sedentarized"
66
beNomadictaxationis thusessentially
limitedand extraordinary
cause it threatensnomadismand suggestsits inadequacy.Taxation
it requires
withherdmovement;
reducesherdsize and mayinterfere
and authority.
The needfortaxationand the
and enablesorganization
attaina balance in the nomad's
servicesit supportsmusttherefore
before
ofecologicalnecessity
againsttheconsideration
understanding
the nomadcan be persuadedto pay. Only on specialoccasionscan
this need acquire the gravityenablingit to outweighthe constant
withas largea reserve
nomadicconcerntoshoreup hisself-sufficiency
as possibleagainstdisasteror depredation,and to rejectwherever
and controls.When no such need is felt,the
possible,organization
nomadwill counterany demandby drawingupon his considerable
And as taxationappears genabilityto refuseor avoid payment.60
inefficient,
and even
so also it seemsunnecessary,
erallyundesirable,
and thenaself-sufficient,
improper.Successfulnomadsare virtually
consumption
tureoftheirwealthmakesit suitableonlyforimmediate
notforcollectionand storageagainstpossibleneed,
or redistribution,
And taxationforconexceptby special,unnomadicarrangement.
is notbeing
suggeststhatself-sufficiency
sumptionor redistribution
achieved,that nomadismis not working;taxationinvolvingmore
fixedestabto provideforregularassemblies,
elaboratearrangements
lishments,and permanentorganizationand authority-allof them
goingbeyondand to some extentagainstnomadism-impliesthat
fornomads,and
nomadismis notenough.Such ideas areunthinkable
and illat
best
awkward
in
that
is
of
them
a
taxation
the suggestion
as
assortedonlyrendersthattaxationharderto accept. Antithetic
nomads (e.g. the Qashqa'i in Iran), and in the nomad's scorn forthe peasant and the
e"civilized";thereis reason forit in thefavorableeconomic,social and political condition
of the"full" nomad by comparisonwiththepeasant. It has, however,alwaysbeen a prefforpersons of sedentarybackgroundto comprehend.
erence thatis difficult
50L. Krader,in Social OrganizationoftheMongol-Turkic
Pastoral Nomads (The Hague,
1963), p. 146, remarksin the course ofa discussionofKalmuk societythatwhileabsolute
fealtyof subject to ruler was an ideal, it was one much infringedupon by the actual
practice of decampingto attainindependence or tojoin anothergroup. V. A. RiasanovLaw oftheMongol Tribes(Harbin, 1929) mentionslegislationagainst
sky,in Customary
decamping in the Mongol-UyratRegulation of 1640 (p. 96), the Khalka Djirom (pp.
113-114), and the Mongol Code of 1815 (p. 132).
67
nomadictaxationcannotbecomeordinaryor
well as antipathetic,
normal.
51
III
Let us now tryto see how farearlyMongoltaxationis informed

by
thisnomadicconcernforlimitand occasionin a taxationthatis generallyantipathetic.
The earliestdescriptions
of the taxationof the
eenomadic
sector" of the Mongolempireare those of the Chinese
observers
P'eng Ta-ya J17%and Hsi! T'ing *-, written
in 1236,
and, fromthe sameperiod,of the SecretHistory.
Limitand occasion
are alludedto in themall. P'eng Ta-ya,writingin 1236,statesthat
"[the Mongols']collectingof taxesis calledch'ai-faAR. They rely
on horsesformilk;theyrequiresheepforfood.In all casestheycollect
themon thebasis of size of thepeople's herds.It is like the 'provisioningof the ruler' (shang-kung
_Et) of the Chinesesystem."52
The phrase"on thebasisofsizeof. . . herds"refers,
thoughobscurely, to thematteroflimitand proportion:collectionis somehowrelatedto herdsize,buthow?Numeroustextsin latersourcesattestto
a conventional
Mongoltax rateofone in ten-a tithe.MarcoPolo's
statements
thattheOng Khan,beforeChinggis,waspaid onebeastin
tenby theTatars,53
and thatin KinsaitheGreatKhan derived(inter
alia) one-tenth of the yield of flocks and soil54 are typical of late
examplesof these. P'eng's "on the basis of" probablymeans "in

proportion
to" and refersto Mongolcollectionsoftaxesat fixedrates
butin amountsvaryingdirectly
withthesize oftheherdstaxed.The
testimony
of Hsi! T'ing, withits emphasison theliabilityof "high
and low," seemsto coincidewithsuch an interpretation:
51Notice, in this regard, that of the examples of "regular" nomadic taxationgiven
above, both Hudson's Kazaks and Vreeland's Mongols are paying for non-nomadicor
supra-nomadiccauses: the maintenanceof a mullah or of the Buddhist hierarchyand
ceremonial,and the support of the Manchu tributeand banner administration.
52 Quoted by Schurmann,pp. 312-313, fromthe Hei-ta shih-liieh'
Kuohsiiehwen-k'u,ed., vol. 25 (Peiping, 1936), pp. 75-78.
53 Marco Polo, The Travels ofMarco Polo, R. Latham, trans. (Penguin Books, 1958),
p. 62.
54 Ibid., p. 200. Compare this with the statementof the Russian chroniclerthat the
Mongols took a tenth"of everything"(Vernadsky,The Mongols and Russia, p. 216,
quoting the Novgorodskaia
Pervaia letopis',A. N. Nasonov ed., [Moscow and Leningrad,
1950], p. 286).
68
In thedesertarea which[I,] T'ing, traversed,

fromtheTatar ruler,the
pretendedqueen,crownprincesand princesses,and [royal]relativesdown,
all havetheirdomains,Theirpeople all giveforthoxenand horses,vehicles
and weapons,laborers,mutton,and mare'smilkas ch'ai-fa.Withoutdoubt,
in thesteppewhichtheTatarshavesplitup [intodomains]and administer,
everyonegivesforthch'ai-fa.Nobleand mean,thereis notone whomaybe
exempted.There is anothermatter,namelythateach givesforthch'ai-fa
for the requirementswithinthe postal relay [system]of each domain.
Again,it is the same withhighand low. This, thus,is the ch'ai-faof the
steppe.55
But P'eng's ambiguous phrasing may result not simply fromimpression but fromhis attemptto include the idea of limit as well as
that of proportion. "On the basis of size of . . . herds" may intend
eewithdue regard forherd size." For the Mongols, like othernomads,
had always to consider herd viabilityin any matter affectingherd
size. We see thisconcernin Ogodei Qa'an's orderon tax reformin the
SecretHistory:
WeitersprachOgodai Chan: "Das von meinemVaterTschinggisChan
unterSorgenbegriindeteReich willich nichtSorgenhalten.Ich willihm
Freudegeben,in demich es seinenFuss aufden Boden,seineHand aufdie
Erde setzen lasse. Wo ich auf dem Throne meineskaiserlichenVaters
sitze,bestimmeich, um das Volk keineNot leidenzu lassen,dass manfur
aus dieserBevolkerung
in jedem Jahrevon der Herde
die Suppe [sh1ilen]56
loc cit.
Quoted by Schurmann,p. 313, fromthe Hei-ta shih-luieh,
Shiilenhere clearlymeans more thanjust "soup," althoughelsewherein the Secret
History,as noted by Ahmet Temir, its Turkish translator(in Mogllaran Gizli Tarihi
[Ankara,1948], p. 2o2, n. 2), it is used in this simple sense. A varietyof possible connotationsfor shiulenin the larger sense is found in the meanings of this and related
termsin Buryat,Tiirki, and Chaghatayusage, whichprobablyderivedfromtheimperial
Mongol term,since neitherKashghari (see Besim Atalay, Divaniu Ligat-it-TfirkTerciimesi,Index [Ankara,1943]) nor theOrkhoninscriptions(see Talat Tekin, A Grammar
of OrkhonTurkic[Bloomington,(Indiana), 1968]) employedit. Among the nineteenthcenturyBuryatMongols, the siilengewas a clan or villageleader responsibleforhospitality,maintenanceof a common table, and leadership of common sacrifices(L. Krader,
Social Organizationof theMongol-TurkicPastoral Nomads [The Hague, 1963], p. 8i,
frommaterialsof A. P. Shchapov in "Buriatskaia Ulusnaia Rodovaia Obshchina," Izv: 3-4 [1874]). In
OtdeleniiaImp. Russ. Geog. Obshchestva,
vestiia Vostochno-Sibirskogo
ChaghatayTurkic we have sholen,"food prepared for the commonpeople," sholenchi,
and shilen,"public festivities";and in TiArki,sholle,"food prepared for the
e"cook,"1
commonpeople," shilen,"cooked militaryrations," and shilenchi,"officerin charge of
Thus we have shiilenimplirations" (Radloff,IV, 1037 and 1077 [mytransliterations]).
cated in public and cult feasting,perhaps in poor-relief("food for common [poor?]
55
56
69
ein zweijihrigesSchafgebensoll. Aus hundertSchafensoll man ein Schaf

herausnehmen
und an die Armenund Bediirftigen
innerhalbdes eigenen
Stammesgeben.Weiter,wenndie Brilder(Prinzen),das ganze Heer und
Leibwachen,sich versammeln,
wie konnenda die Getrankefuralle diese
aus dem Volke beigetriebenwerden?Man soll dafiiraus den einzelnen
Tausendschaften
derverschiedenen
GebieteStutenaussuchenund melken,
danachMelkermitihrerWartungbetrauen.Danach sollenbei standigem
Wechseldie Lagerordnerals Stutenpfleger
dienen.... Weiter,wenndie
Kurierereiten,lassen wirsie bei der Bevolkerung
entlangreiten.
Das gibt
bei den reitendenKuriernVerzogerung
und auch furdas VolkBelastigungen. JetztwollenWir durchwegfolgendeBestimmungen
einfiihren:Aus
den einzelnenTausendschaften
der verschiedenen
GebietePostleuteund
Pferdeburschen
zu stellenund an den einzelnenStationenPoststelleneinzurichten,
so dass mandie KuriereohnedringendenZwangnichtmehrbei
der Bev6lkerung
entlangleitet,sondernilberdie Poststellenreitenlasst.
Das warewohlam besten.57
of a hundredsheep as the taxablemiminum

Ogodei's specification
insured,witha comfortable
margin,thathumanexactionswouldnot
compoundnaturalattrition.58
taxrate,
Combinedwiththeone-tenth
people"), and in logistics (cf. in this regard the synonymousand analogous Ottoman
chorba-chorbaji).
Fuad Koprulu (in TurkEdebiyatiTarihi [Istanbul,1926], p. 83) triedto
synthesizeseveral of these meaningsin the definition"public sacrificialfeast," and to
extend theirapplication by claimingas synonymsof shiilenthe Persianjashn, "feast,"
and Turkic toy,"feast." Kopriilu's shilen-jashn-toy identificationseems convincing.
but his definitionmisleading.Juvayniuses jashn and Rashiduddin toyforthebanquets of
the Chinggisids,and shiilenhas survivedin Persian as shilan, "royal table or entertainment" (F. Steingass, Persian-EnglishDictionary[London, 1892], p. 776). "Royal (or
princely)feast"would thus seem theproper definitionfromthe Persian evidence. and it
seemsappropriateto the SecretHistorytextat hand, since Ogodei is tryingto alleviatethe
The furthersenses, in laterBuryatand Turkic
public burden ofprincelyentertainment.
usage and in Kopriilu's definition,of religiousritualand public service,emergedas the
e"royal"aspect of the termfaded with the Mongol empire; thislet the religious characaffairsappear moreprominently,and gave greaterweight
teristicsofall familio-political
to the needs and interestsof the "public" as against its authorities.Finally,in Khalkha
Mongolia,amid religiouschange, dynasticdecline, and generalilliteracy,shiilenlost all
these larger senses; today shol is again only "soup" (F. Lessing, Mongolian-English
Dictionary[Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 1960], p. 708).
57 SecretHistory,section 279, E. Haenisch's translationin Die GeheimeGeschichte
der
Mongolen(Leipzig, 1948), pp. 144-145. The Mongolian text is in HistoireSecretedes
Mongols,P. Pelliot ed. (Paris, 1949), p. ii8; Pelliot's translationin the same book goes
only throughsection 185.
58 Juvaynialso speaksof theherd-limits
recognizedby taxation:animalleviesareexacted at a rate of one per hundred; herds of less than one hundred head are exempt:
Juvaymi/Boyle,
II, p. 6oo.
70
the recognition
of herdminimameantthatnomadictaxationcould
not (in principle)operateso as to impoverish
thetaxpayer:a titheon
a herdof loo sheep wouldleave the ownergo sheep-still a viable
herd-but would renderhim immunefromfurther
exactionsuntil
naturalincreasehad againbroughttheherdup to loo head.
And it shouldbe notedthatOgodei's strictures
againsthaphazard
exactionsfrom,and unnecessary
burdensupon the Mongolsshowa
further
dimensionoftheconcernwithlimitand proportion.
The taxgatherermust considernot only capacityto pay but proprietyin
exaction,out ofregardforthenomad'spoliticalmobility."High and
low" alikemustpay, in proportionto theirmeans,and theburden
mustbe evenlydistributed,
notjust forefficiency,
butforequity.Limit
and proportionare requirednot only to protectthe ability,but to
fosterthatwillingness
topaywithout
whichnomadictaxationis hardly feasible.
topay.
Scrupulousmethodsalonecannotengenderthiswillingness
find
into
To
itsorigins-itsoccasions-wemustinquire
theoccasional
natureof Mongoltaxation.That Mongoltaxationwas in largepart
as intendedby Hudson,
occasionalin the samesenseofirregularity
Barth,and Vreelandcan certainly
be shown.We have alreadyseen
thattheMongolsdividedtheirimperialtaxationin generalinto the
twocategoriesofqalainand qubchu2r
(or theirequivalents),
intending,
respectively,
sedentaryand nomadictaxation.And qubchuir,
which
becamethegeneraltermfornomadictaxation,specifically
designated
an irregular,
or occasionallevy.The Secret
recountstheoccaHistory
sion on whichChinggisraiseda qubchuir
to rehabilitate
the impoverishedand fugitive
Ong Khan,in a mannerprefiguring
theinstitutionalizedpoor-taxofOgodei's reform
.. . .nachdemer [Ong Khan]an den Stadtender Ui'ut und Tang'ut
v%orbeigezogen
und sich dabeihatteso ernahren
miussen,
dass sie Ziegen
undmiteinander
unddenKamelenBlutabzapften,
molken
erschien
fingen
nunin grosser
NotamSee Guse'ur.... UnddanachzogihmTschinggis
ChanvonderKeluren-Quelle
undmitRiucksicht
auspersonlich
entgegen,
dassjenerso verhungert
(larauf,
undabgemagert
ankam,
liesserfurOngchaneineSteuerumlage
machen[qub-cr-i
qubciju]und nahmihnin sein
ihn.
Gehegehereinundverpflegte
59 SecretHistory,section 151 (Haenisch trans.,pp. 50-51; the textis givenby Pelliot,
pp. 45-46).
71
And we have also the languageof Ogodei's reformto supportthe

of qubchlzr
as an occasionallevy: the irregular(and
interpretation
of drinkfromthe people by the princes
improper)requisitioning
seemsto be an essentialconIrregularity
employsthetermqubchi-.60
notationofqubch1dr.6'
But themeaningof"occasional"mustbe morethantheirregular,
is
withits connotations,
ifqubchiur,
mustvergeon theextraordinary
to stand (as it did fortheMongols)fornomadictaxationin general,
Suchenlargedmeanas wellas irregularities.
includingitsregularities
closelythepurposesofMongoltaxaingcan be foundifwe scrutinize
tion.The reformof Ogodei and the discussionby P'eng and Hsiu
quotedabovefroniour earliestsourcesshowthreepurposesofearly
and supportofpublicgathMongoltaxation:provisionofhospitality
ofthepoor.
ofthepostalrelays;andrehabilitation
erings;maintenance
of the
providesa good illustration
The case of public gatherings
factthat"occasional"need not (thoughit is apt to) mean "irreguand unscheduledprocedures.Someoccalar," or involveintermittent
sions (annual holidays,periodicreligiousceremoniesand the like)
The shiilen
are ofregularoccurrence
and requireregularprovisions.62
forwhichOgodei made taxprovisionwas obviouslyan occasion,alofthese
thoughit was supportedby regulartaxation.The regularity
annual-of
taxesmayhavecorrespondedto theregularity-perhaps
of the tax to one lambper familyper
theshiilen,but thelimitation
yearwas intendedto limitindividualliability(one per family)and to
ofthisliabilityratherthanrepeatedpayrequireproperdistribution
mentsby themostaccessiblefamilies.This tax derivedits rationale
and characterfromits purposes,whichwereoccasional,ratherthan
fromits methods.
The postal relaysprovidedthe communications
requiredby the
also a facility
developedto meetthe
Mongolempire,but constituted
fortheguidanceofmovement.
generalnomadicneed forinformation
SecretHistory,section 279 (Pelliot text,p. 1 i8).
M. Roublev, in "Le Tribut aux Mongols d'apres les Testaments et Accords des
Princes Russes," Cahiersdu Monde Russe et Sovietique,VII: 4 (1966), p. 528, suggests
that the Russian tributeto the Golden Horde may have been irregularlyremitted.
62 The "regular" taxationmost thoroughlydiscussed by Vreeland (pp. 1 1 1-1 13) is of
alba) fromthepeople to supplyregularly
just thissort: collections(called, interestingly,
scheduled templeservices.
60
61
72
The collectionand transmissionofinformationis a matterin which all

nomads will willinglyengage, although they usually do so as individuals (as indicated in Ogodei's statement),receiving,feeding,and
rehorsingthe bearersofnews who pass theirway. The maintenanceof
communicationsin this way is clearly an occasional matterin all the
usual senses of "occasional": it is of irregularoccurrence,depending
on the coincidence of the courier's route withthe nomad's movement,
and it is inspired by the special importanceof informationto the nomad-the coming of a messenger is an occasion. With the development of Chinggis' enterpriseand the increase in the flowof couriers
that accompanied it, the informationservice became more burdensome, and also more important.As more couriers were dispatched,
and as theynaturallytookroutesalong which theywould findnomads
and their hospitality,the cost to these nomads increased-to the
point whereOg6dei feltimpelled to alleviate the individualburden by
distributingthese costs among the whole people. This systematization
ofcommunicationsby the establishmentof a publicly-supportedpostal service did away with most of its irregularcharacter.But its occasional nature remained and even increased, owing to the increased
emphasis on the occasion that was required to induce the nomads to
accept regularpayments,service,and organization.The postal relays,
stationsof men, animals, and provisionsat fixedpoints,in exact antithesis to the requirementsof nomadism, required special arrangements to mediate between the moving supplies and the stationary
posts they supported; the nomads had thus to take into account, as
they planned their pastoral movement,their ecologically irrelevant
obligationsto theyam. This potentiallydangerous intrusionupon the
nomad's freedomofmovementcould be justifiedin part by showingit
to produce more equitable results than the old, haphazard way. But
morepersuasive stillwas the recommendationofefficiency-thecouriers will no longer be delayed-and implicit in this, of enhanced
service for that matterof special importanceto all the Mongols: the
enterpriseof Chinggis Khan. Participationin this enterprise,so approximateto the nomads' mythicand epic ideals, was an occasion of
such consequence as to permita revolutionin themanner,ifnot in the
nature,of nomadic communications.We thus see in the development
of Mongol communicationsthe occasion in its varyingrelationshipto
nomadic needs and desires,as well as inbothirregularand regularforms.
73
The Mongols' provision forrehabilitationof the poor exhibits the

occasion as emergency.Povertyis a commonyet extraordinarysituation in nomadism.63Nomadismdepends upon a certainlevel ofanimal
solvency,and is disabled by subsidence below that level. Povertyis
thus not a nomadic condition (although it is the condition of many
nomads) but a nomadic emergency-and emergenciesare among the
few thingsthat persuade nomads to disregardpastoral dictates. The
impoverishednomad is faced with a hard choice among unpleasant
alternatives:dangerous raiding to restorehis flocks,demeaning subjection to richerneighborsin returnforsupport, or becoming one of
the despicable peasantry. And his circumstancesmay forceanother
choice upon his more fortunateneighbors. The poor are objects of
Mongol pity for having lost their capacity to practice the good life,
and ofMongol concern fortheirinabilityto contributeto it. The poor
have no flocks and no horses, no self-sufficiency,
and no military
potential. They are either a burden upon the "full" nomads, or a
danger to them,as theybecome peasants and seek eitherto recapture
(fromnomads) the means to renew nomadism,or endeavor to protect
(fromnomads) theirnew lands and products. The "full" nomads, in
theirsympathyand self-interest,
thereforetryto cope with the challenge of nomadic poverty.Their usual effortsare individual, not collective,as is the case in most nomadic activity.Some of the poor are
taken into the camps of the "efull"nomads as dependents, or servants64;the more able join new familiesby marriage,65or make a new
start toward pastoral independence through a "share-herding" arrangementwitha large herd owner.66At times,however,theincidence
The dynamicsof impoverishmentand "denomadization" are described by Barth,
pp. 108-iog; the incidence is considered in Chapter ix. The consequences of "denomadization" in the Central Asian regions where sedentarizationis not an important
option, are grim: consider the storyin the SecretHistory,sections 14-16 (Pelliot trans.,
63
p. 123).
64
SecretHistory,loc. cit.
The suspicions ofAlan-qo'a's older sons concerningtheparentageof theirbrothers
born aftertheirfather'sdeath suggest-whether or not one accepts Alan-qo'a's explanation-one kind of opportunityforadvancement.See the SecretHistory,sections 17-21
(Pelliot trans.,pp. 123-124).
66 On share-herding,see Vreeland, pp. 92 and 103-104;
and Barth,pp. 13-14, and
(for the dangers involvedin it) p. 103. Vreeland's discussion of the share-herdingof
horses (p. 104) nicely complementsthe descriptionby William of Rubruck of Batu's
65
74
ofpoverty
mayoverwhelm
theresourcesofnomadindividualism,
and
at times(butmorerarely)thenomadsmaydisposeofpublicfacilities
fortreatingpoverty.Chinggisand his heirs,we may imagine,did
muchdamageto nomadismwiththeirorganizingand campaigning;
had thecapacityto repairmuchofthisdamage.67
theycertainly
And
the factthatOg6dei,at least,triedto do so musthave helpedrecommendboththedynastyand organization
to thenomads.
Here again, the indirectrelationship-contrary
to the nomadic
norm-betweenthesourceand thedestination
ofwealthinvolvedin
its redistribution
requiredmediationand thusmeantinterference
in
nomadism,
but thiswas doublyoffset
bytheimportance
of Chinggis'
enterprise
and thegravity
whichanythreatto it wouldassumeto the
Mongols.Nomadicpovertytherefore
also createsan occasion-one to
whichthe impoverished
nomadmust tryto rise and to whichhis
neighbors-andhis society,ifany-has theobligation,
ifnot always
thesocialability,to respond.
Finally,we shouldobservethatoccasionaltaxationmaybe notonly
orregular,butincessant.This waswhatdismayedthesedenirregular
and thiswas,too,an important
element
tarypayersofMongoltaxes;68
ofMongolpower,as Juvayniremarks:
arrangementforsupplyinghis camp with mares' milk (in Missionto Asia, Christopher
Dawson ed. [New York: Harper Torchbooks, 19661,p. 99).
67 Public supportforthepoor as introducedby Ogodei was practicedby the Mongols
in Persia at least until Ghazan's time: "[Before the reign of Ghazan Khan, 1295-1304]
the customaryand traditionaltaxes ('adat wa rusum) [upon the Mongol army]were
still in effect:each year they exacted a qitpchuir
of horses, sheep, cattle, felt,hides (?
farwat)and otherthingsfromthewhole armyforthepeople of the orduiand the soldiers
who were poor" Rashiduddin/Jahn,p. 300. Emphasis mine.
68 Who were taxed,wheneveran occasion arose: "The hazkim
used to collect 2 qubUirs
per year fromthe people, and in some places 20 or 30." Quoted by Schurmann,pp.
385 and 384, n. i8o, fromRashiduddin/Jahn,p. 243. Anothercryfromtheheartagainst
qubchuirwas voiced by Pfur-iBaha in his satirical"encomium" to the vezir'Ala' uddin
Juvayni(V. Minorsky,"Puir-iBaha and his Poems," Charisteria[J. Rypka] [Prague,
1956] and again in Iranica, op. cit.) It is much more likely that this characteristicof
qubchiur,ratherthan its poll-tax and therefore
jizye-likeaspect (as Schurmannasserts,
pp. 375-376), thatdisturbedNasiruddinTuisi (Iranica, p. 73); he would have been free,
giventhe Mongol government'ssectarianindifference
at thattime,to state the comparison betweenjizyeand qubchfir
had he wanted to,but to complainabout the frequencyof
taxationwould have approached Pse majeste.
75
What armyin the whole worldcan equal the Mongol army?In timeof
action,whenattackingand assaulting,theyare like trainedwildbeastsout
aftergame,and in thedaysofpeace and securitytheyare likesheep,yieldand ading milk,and wool,and manyotherusefulthings.In misfortune
versity
theyare freefromdissentionand opposition.It is an armyafterthe
fashionofa peasantry,
beingliableto all mannerofcontributions
(mu'an)
and renderingwithoutcomplaintwhateveris enjoinedupon it, whether
occasionaltaxes ('avarizat),themaintenance(ikhrajiit)of travelqiupchiur,
lers or the upkeep of post stations(yam) with the provisionof mounts
(iMilgh)and food ('ul1if2at)
therefor....
Even when theyare actually
engagedin fighting,
thereis exacted fromthemas much of the various
taxesas is expedient,whileany servicewhiclhtheyused to perform
when
presentdevolvesupon theirwivesand thoseofthemthatremainbehind.f9
Chinggis had played upon the nomad's longing for company and
community,on his acquisitive urge and his heroic hopes-the products of social tenuousness and political inefficiency-andhad enticed
him into a novel society that improvedupon and largely supplanted
(instead of merelysupplementing)thatof nomadic pastoralism-into
a Quest that redefinedand idealized the nomad's purpose. And this
Quest was an occasion, although not occasional. It established an
emergencyon a permanentfooting.And so, as the occasion of organization gained epic dimensions, occasional taxation became incessant, and as the nomads' purpose gained a new magnitude, their
taxation became urgent, exigent, and yet acceptable. It is no bad
measure of Chinggis' abilityand accomplishmentthat he could sway
the Mongols-nomads-from reluctance to pay taxes at all to a willingness to pay themendlessly.
Early Mongol taxation thus displays the same characteristicsas
does pastoral nomadic taxation in general. The texts specifylimits
and, togetherwith tax terminology('avdrfi,qubchuir), occasionalness.
And in this context of limit and occasion, the incessant and dutiful
paymentsof the Mongols are certainlyextraordinary.This has been
difficultto understand. The circumstancesgiving rise to this extraordinarytaxationwere themselvesso extraordinaryas to induce the
illiteratenomads to have them recorded and thus preserved,out of
their more normal and thus unrecorded context, and this has led
manyto consider these circumstancesand this taxationas normaland
typical.Moreover,scholarsofsedentarybackgroundhave usually such
69 JuvaynI/Boyle,I, pp.
30-31. Some diacriticalmarkingsadded.
76
a sense of the regularity,inevitability,and common excessiveness of

taxes as rendersincomprehensibleto themoccasional, avoidable, and
voluntary taxation. But without such an understanding, the later
historyof Mongol taxationand the relationshipbetween the taxes of
the Mongols and of other nomads, is itselfincomprehensible.
IV
The exceptional characterof nomadic taxationforcedthe transformation of later Mongol imperial taxationjust as it had shaped its early
development. The invasions of Russia and the Middle East ended,
respectively,by 1242 and 1260; China was conquered by 1279. With
the conclusion of campaigning came to an end the emergencythat
Chinggis and his heirs had so long sustained, and which had for so
long persuaded the Mongols to pay theiroccasional taxes on almost
incessant occasions. The Mongols had compacted with Chinggis to
obey his commandsin timeofwar and had fullyhonored theirundertaking.But now that theywere at peace, theirbargain with Chinggis
and his heirs demanded only that theyrespect the "interests" of the
Chinggisids70-respect their larger grazing and camping privileges,
theiradjudicatoryand diplomatic effortsin the public interest,their
name and reputation.
70 Jfindthissense of contrastin theMongols' wartimeand peacetimeundertakingsto
Chinggis in Arthur Waley's translationof the Chinese-languageversion of the Secret
History:"If in timeofbattlewe disobeyyour ordersor in timeofpeace we act contrary
to yourinterests,part us fromour wivesand possessions and cast us out into thewilderoftheMongolsand OtherPieces[London, 1963], p. 245). Another
ness" (The SecretHistory
translationof this version,by Wei Kwei-sun (The SecretHistoryof theMongol Dynasty
[Aligarh,1957], pp. 87-88), uses similarlanguage. Although I am not qualifiedto engage in Chinese or Mongolian textualcriticism,I would point out that thereappears to
version
be some confusionover thispassage in theMongolian-text-in-Chinese-characters
of the SecretHistory.As worked out by Haenisch, it has the Mongols promise to obey
ordersin war and not to "violate youralliance" ("deinen Bund verletzen")in peacetime
thantheChinese version,thatthe
(p. 33). This suggests,perhaps even moresignificantly
most the Mongols will promise Chinggis in peacetime is to refrainfromdecamping!
Pelliot,however,findsappositionin his reconstructedMongoliantextwheretheChinese
versionand IHaenisch'sshow contrast:"On the day of battle,if we disobeyyour orders
.... In timesof peace, if we break your decisions.... (Au jour de la bataille, si nous
contrevenonsa tes ordres. . . . En temps de paix, si nous avons brise tes avis. . ..
(p. 156).
77
The Chinggisidshowevernaturallydesired to enjoy the power and

pomp of theirforebears,and those who ruled over primarilynomadic
domains, as did the princes of Mongolia, Chaghatay and the Golden
Horde, had to try to persuade the Mongols to keep paying for it.
Accordingly,they put forwarda new rationale for taxation: the organizationof state itself,theyargued, deserved and required tax support as had the now completed Mongol enterprise. The idea was
probablyof Chinese origin.The thoughtthatmeans ratherthan ends
justifytaxationis unnomadic but unexceptionableforsedentarycivilizations. And the language used to convey the new theoryderived
who had earlierspoken
fromthe Chinese: the Mongol administrators,
simply of "taking" or at most of qubchuir,now began to use the
Chinese termforMongol taxes-ch'ai-fa,-in Mongolian translation:
alba qubciri.7'
From the middle of the thirteenthcentury this new terminology
begins to appear in the bilingual Sino-Mongoliantarkhiandocuments.
We have already seen that the term ch'ai-fa was employed in the
descriptionsofP'eng and Hsii in theapproximatesense of"taxation."
However, the term is a composite one with a fullersense that the
Mongol tax authoritiesfoundinstructiveas theirambitions(and their
understandingof Chinese words and thoughts) increased. Ch'ai, according to Schurmann,"seems to have the connotationof something
done by the government,"and it is translatedin this sense by Pelliot
as "official,"and by Schurmann,notingthe factthatthe governments
involved in his examples are always non-Chinese, as "imperial." Fa
means simplylevy or requisition. Together they produce "livraison
officielle"(Pelliot) and "imperial levy, or tribute" (Schurmann).72
Now the Mongols were familiarwith levies, but not with government
or empire.Therefore,to develop such concepts, in the hope thatthey
would make a case forcontinued taxation,the Mongol administrators
sought a Mongolian term that would qualify taxation with the ap71 Schurmann,pp. 324-325. Schurmannconsiders the alba of alba qubcirito be "the
permanent,customarytributeor servicewhicheach subjectregularlyrendered" (p. 310)
and the equivalentof qalan and dan'. His thesis,apart fromconfusionover qalan and
between nomadic and sedentarytaxation,fails to explain why this
the differentiation
"basic tribute"is not even mentionedin the SecretHistory,and cannot takeadvantageof
the intendedidentityof alba qubciriand ch'ai-fa.
72 Schurmann,pp. 319-320 and 324-325.
78
theyfound"alba:
and institution;
ofobligation
propriate
connotations
service."
ofChinggisKhan,
or conscription
intotheenterprise
Byenlistment
theMongolsundertooklargeobligations:"in timeofbattlewe shall
obeyyourorders,"to paraphrasethecompactwithChinggis,and as
forbattle,
Chinggis'timeswerealwaystimesofbattleorofpreparation
theMongols(and others)whohad made thecompacthad to engage
thediscipline,and thecampaigning
thatthese
in theregimentation,
havesumbattlesrequired.Alba,itwouldseemtome,mustordinarily
and "service"wouldseemto me a fruitful
marizedtheseobligations,
On theone hand "service"connoteswell
and expressivetranslation.
hard
the
dedicationthatwe knowChinggiselicited
the
and
both
work
and on theother,it impliesthatthereis someone
fromhis followers,
or something
to serve.It couldbe considered,as it is by Schurmann,
betweensubjectand lord,"73
thatalba designates"the relationship
thatthe Mongols'traditionheld that
but it shouldbe remembered
beforeChinggistheyhad been "a lordlesspeople"74and thatthis
termdoes not appear in the SecretHistory.
apparentlyfundamental
neologism,
Rather,I wouldsuggestthatalba wasa thirteenth-century
denominatingthe obligationof the Mongol to the enterpriseof
to that
Chinggis(alba: service),describingtheMongol'srelationship
enterprise(albatu: serviceobligated;serviceman),and adjectivally
as institution-TheService-a suggestion
suggestingthe enterprise
ofalba: "crown,social;75
thatlurksin theusualadjectivaltranslations
public."76Byputting"service"to theMongols
official,
governmental,
as an explicitrequirement
withthe clear implicationthatthereis
some respublica to be served,rather
something,some institution,
thanrelyingupon thetacitexpectationofservicebased precariously
theMongolstateson personalrelationships
and tribalistic
traditions,
menhoped to obtaina continuity
ofMongoldedicationto theenterpriseas The Service,a continuingentitydespitethe otherchanges
73 Schurmann,p. 327.
p. 2i; Marco Polo, p. 62. These statements,which must reflect

Mongol tradition,are suggestiveof the evanescentcharacterof the nomadicstate,and of
nomadic acceptance of the idea of anarchyand classlessness.
75 Schurmann,p. 327, citingJ. S. Kowalewski,Dictionnairemongol-rzlsse-franfais, I
(Kazan, 1844), p. 83a.
76 F. Lessing. Mongolian-English
Dictionary(Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 1960), p. 28.
74 Juvayni/Boyle,I,
79
and confusionsof ends, personalities,and loyaltiesin the enterprise.

Thus, at the very moment that the conquests are ending and the
rivalriesof the Chinggisids beginning to get out of hand, the term
alba is firstused to modifyqubciri77and the Mongols are asked to pay
taxes,notjust as part of,but to the enterprise,to The Service as well
as in service-to the state ratherthan on occasion.
The Ilkhans in Persia had to cope not onlywithdecreasingMongol
interestin organizationand taxation,but with declining Mongol effectiveness.Nomadic mobility,the great asset of the Mongol field
armies,had become a liabilityof the Mongol occupation of Persia. For
nomads not only can, but mustmove,and theirmovementshiftedthe
logistic base frombeneath the occupying army.
The Ilkhans had to dispose of theirforcesto protecttheirfrontiers
and increasinglytheirown persons-in accordance, thatis, withstrategic and political needs.78The herds and herdsmenthat supported
the armyhad, however,to findand move about in ecologicallysuitable
regions-fewer in Persia than on the Eurasian steppe. Nomadic taxation, adapted to the supply and maintenanceby a moving nomadic
establishmentofan accompanyingarmythatcan conformto its movement,could not bridge thewider gap thus opened betweenthe guards
and garrisonsand their nomadic suppliers. The distances were too
great, the supplies too perishable, the intermediariestoo human.
Moreover,the revenues provided by the nomads were of the wrong
sort. Ruling Mongols and administeringPersians required cash, not
milk. Nomadic taxation was no more suited to mediate between income in kind and expenditurein cash than betweenfixedconsumers
and mobile producers.
Ghazan thereforeabandoned reliance upon the "nomadic sector"
and upon nomadic taxation,and sought to encourage the sedentary
sector in the expectationof gaining more and bettersupport fromit.
The separation,fortax purposes, betweenthe nomadic and sedentary
77 I thoughtat one point to interpretalba in alba qub'iri as a substantive,yielding
betweentaxationon goods and on serv"service and levy" or some such differentiation
ices. However,Kuo-yi Pao (in Studieson theSecretHistoryoftheMongols[Bloomington:
Indiana UniversityUralic and Altaic Series, vol. 58; 1965], pp. 63 and 66) shows that
qubci-,as used in sections 223 and 224 of the SecretHistory(Pelliot text,pp. 86-87)
described the tax collection of services-in fact,of people-as well as goods. Alba as
substantivewould consequentlybe redundant.
78 See above, pp. 52-54, for the details of Ghazan's militaryreform.
80
(qalian) sectorswas abolished and the formernomadic sector,including pastoral nomads, "settled" or urbanized "nomads," and the
farmersor agriculturalslaves attached to nomadic establishments,was
made liable to the standard Ilkhanid taxation that had formerlyapplied in full only to the sedentarysector. Farmers paid kharaj and
qubchuir,pastoral nomads paid qubchufr,
and townspeople and the
rich paid tamgha.79The effectof this measure upon the nomads was
surelyto reduce theirtaxes, since theirqubchfir
would now have been
established by the budget of a favorablydisposed governmentrather
than by the needs of the importunatearmies; Ghazan undoubtedly
expected political creditforthis measure. He probablyalso expected
political advantage, since conversion of the nomad's qubchfirinto a
governmentaltax instead of a revenue of and for the nomadic sector
would have reduced theincomesand independence ofpotentialrivals.
Neither the modificationof the old taxation nor the creation of a
new systemsucceeded. Neither took into account the importanceof
occasion in nomadic taxation,or, forthatmatter,in nomadic political
and social affairs.In Mongolia and on the Central Asian steppe, the
proponents of alba qubcirior alban yasiiq80 were demanding the continued support of the stateby the nomads, but were unable to interest
the nomads in providingthis support. Now that the campaigns were
over, the nomads no longer needed the state, and insofaras it interferedwith theirpastoralism,theyno longer even wanted it. And the
Chinggisids,who were concerned only to preserve the advantageous
statusquo, were not themen to rediscoverto the nomads those special
79 The coverageof Ghazan's reformedtaxation is found in Rashiduddin/Jahn,pp.
264-265 (quoted by Schurmann,pp. 382-383).
80 The termalban yasaq is found in use in the Chaghatayregion in the complaintto
Tiglhluq Timu-r,quoted above, pp. 54-55; and in the Crimeankhanate,a successor-state
to the Golden Horde, the termyasaq alban (cf. musammasaligh, "named impost" used
in apposition in the same text) is foundin the fifteenth
century;see Schurmann,p. 355
and n. 1 i8. Here alban maywell have the substantialmeaningof "tax" or "tribute" that
it was eventually to acquire. It should be noted that the materials upon which the
elucidationof the meaningofalba(n) depends date notjust fromafterthe conquests,as
does the termalba(n) itself,but fromafterthe collapse of Mongol empire; see Schurmann, pp. 326-327. Schurmann derives his understandingof alba(n) fromB. Vladimirtsov'sanalysis ofMongolian societyof the fourteenththroughseventeenthcenturies
(Le re'gimesocial des Mongols [Paris, 1948], pp. 204 and 211); and fromphilological
materialsfromManchu China and nineteenth-century
Russia.
81
nomadic intereststhat the state could serve. In the face of the evervital nomadic antipathyto organization,this purposeless state traditionbecame less and less able to resist the impulses to tribalismand
anarchy.Conditionsno longerrequiredthe nomads to obey the orders
of the Chinggisids,but only to respect their "interests," which the
Mongols and many Turks have done in large measure almost to the
present day. Simultaneously,however,they could and did begin to
avoid or evade statedemands8"and to undertakenew,moreresponsive
and less exigentpolitical allegiances. While the language of taxation
came to suggest obligation to, and compulsion by the state, the taxpayers were paying more and more lip-serviceand fewerand fewer
taxes. The period in which the termalba(n) is most fullydeveloped
and best known in all its obligatoryand coercive senses, is also the
period in which Mongol power is only a dream once more, because
crownand state have not been accepted by the nomads as occasioning
taxation.
We can see the developmentof this gap between theoryand practice in the later historyof the Mongols in Persia, where the nomads
were not asked to continue but to abandon old traditionsinappropriate to new circumstances.Ghazan's taxreformand his re-establishmentofthearmyupon an iqta' base did not simplyreduce the nomads'
taxes. It likewise reduced their role in Persian militaryaffairsand
81 Decamping was a commonMongol practicebeforeand duringChinggis' time.The
SecretHistorymentionsseveral incidentsof decamping: the move of Qorilartai-margan
(sectiong; Pelliot trans.,p. 122); theabandonmentof Ho'aliin and thefamilyofChinggis
by the restof theircamping-group(sections70-72; Pelliot trans.,pp. 133-134); and the
breakawayof ChinggisfromJamuqa (sections 1 18-12o; Pelliot trans.,pp. 153-154); and
Chinggishimselflegislatedagainst it: "No man of any thousand,or hundred,or ten in
which he hath been counted shall depart to anotherplace; ifhe doth he shall be killed
and also the head [chief]who received him" (Gregory Abu'l-Faraj Bar Hebraeus,
Chronography,
E. A. Wallis Budge trans.,I [London, 1932], p. 355). V. A. Riasanovsky,
in CustomaryLaw, p. 59, quotes another versionof the same regulationfromMaqrizi.
Decamping is harder to discernafterChinggis' timein such detail as is foundin the
SecretHistorybecause the later chroniclerswere concernedwithlargerevents (and were
not nomads themselves,in most cases). But large scale defectionswere noticed, as for
instance the movementof the Tegiuderis(Nikfldarisin Rashiduddin) to Sistan (C. M.
D'Ohsson, Histoiredes Mongols,III [The Hague and Amsterdam,1834] pp. 516-517);
the flightof the fUyrats
under Tuqay Gurgan to Syria (Rashiduddin/Jahn,pp. 97-98);
or the immigrationof Baba Kawun's tiimento Iran fromthe Golden Horde (D'Ohsson,
oP. cit.,IV [1835], p. 572). For some modernexamples, see Barth,p. ii6.
82
their commitmentto the government.When the nomads had been

relieved of the logistic responsibilityfor theirkin in the forces,they
and discipline required by the
were also freedfromthe self-restraint
organizationof support. And when thisresponsibilitywas transferred
to the peasantrythroughiqt(a', the nomads' interestin the armyand
governmentof Persia fell in proportion to this considerable "sedentarization" of the armyand government:the affairsof peasants and
theirmastersare not proper concerns of nomads. Consequently the
nomads could now begin to obey once more the demands ofa narrower
and more purely ecological self-interest.
Duty no longer discouraged
them froman anarchic pursuit of pastoral self-sufficiency
through
self-help.Commitmentno longer restrainedthem fromthe tribalism
that supported this pursuit. And self-interest
now began to turn the
tribesagainst the government.For while Ghazan and his successors
had reduced the part and interestof the nomads in government,they
had not lessened the burdens or pressures of governmentupon them.
Their taxes had been reduced in volume,perhaps, but maintainedand
probablyincreased in regularityand thus in impropriety.And their
liberties and privileges-their rights-were infringedupon as the
governmenttried to revivethe peasantryand renew the strengthand
productivityof the "sedentary sector": more farmland meant less
pasture, and increased peasant securitymeant diminishednomad opportunity.Thus the Mongols in Persia not only came to have no occasion to continue supportingthe state,but foundoccasion-and, with
the recrudescence of tribalism,the means-to oppose it, with the
result notjust of Chinggisid decline, as in the steppe regions,but of
the fall of Mongol governmentin Persia.
Thus the later Mongol state (in its various manifestations)could
never get round the obstacle posed by the occasional and extraordinarycharacterof nomadic taxationto the reconciliationofrelianceon
nomadic power with the need for revenue. The effortsto do so involved either the disregard or the dismissal of the nomads, and the
nomads, in theirstubbornness,could not be disregarded,nor,in their
strength,be dismissed. They were more successful,in their turn,in
ignoringor overturningthe state.
83
In summary,Mongol taxation, in the beginning of the khanate of

Chinggis,was simplythe occasional taxationcommonlyfoundamong
pastoral nomads, authorizedby Mongol enthusiasmforChinggis' enterprise,and intensifiedby the exigencies this entreprisegenerated.
These taxes were collectivelycalled qubchuir.As Chinggis' enterprise
met with success, qubchuircame to be extended to conquered as well
as convertedpeoples, both nomadic and sedentary.In these circumstances qubchuirwas oftentranslatedusing termssuggestingimposition rather than contribution (yasiaq, "ordered [tax]"; dan', ["tax
which must be] given") and impositionby state authority(ch'ai-fa
"officiallevy"). In sedentaryregions, traditionaltaxation continued
to be exacted in addition to qubchuir.These taxes were sometimes
referredto by traditional,specificnames (e.g., the Russian "plow"
tax), and sometimeswere designatedcollectivelyby termsreferringto
the traditionupon which they were based (poshlina, "custom[ary
tax]"; qalain, "[tax] remaining[frompast practice]").
In the later period of Mongol empire, qubclhurtaxation had to be
transformedbecause, as an occasional tax, it could no longerjustifiablybe required regularlyof nomads afterthe conclusion of the ocor justly be exacted
casion-proliferating conquests-nor efficiently
froma peasantrywhose agriculturecould only sustain regular,proportionateand seasonable charges. The Mongol authoritiestherefore
tried to make the nomads' qubchuirregular, substitutingreason of
state foroccasion and therebyadopting a sedentaryprinciple of taxation (chiai-fa, "officiallevy": alba qubsiri, "officialqubchunr"),and
wherepossible theytriedto renderthe taxationof the nomadic sector
unimportant,placing reliance instead on a rationalizedand reordered
taxation borne largely by a revitalizedpeasantry. These efforts,improperin principleand in attitudeby nomadiclights,failedto gain the
acceptance of the nomads and contributedto the decline or destruction of Mongol government.
In conclusion, the elucidation of Mongol tax practices enables a
betterunderstandingof Mongol society and history.This taxation,
fittedas it was to the purposes and necessities of Mongol society,in
some ways betterpreserves the shape of that society forus than do
other more overtly "historical" materials, such as the chronicles,
84
whichpresentMongol historyas Chinggisiddestiny,and viewMongol

society as the imperial order that Chinggis created and that his descendants wanted to perpetuate; or such as the Great Yiasia, which
reflectsMongol societyand thoughtbent to thewill ofChinggisKhan.
The Chinggisids and their reporterscan assert that "whatever the
Emperor and the chiefsdesire, and howevermuch they desire, that
they receive from their subjects' property; and their persons they
dispose of in all respects according to their own good pleasure."82
But upon closer inspectionit appears thateven the Mongols' taxation
was essentiallyoccasional, providingforservicesand functionsbeyond
and apart fromthose of the ordinarynomadic processes, and requiring the inspiration of emergencyor opportunity,respect for ecological limit and equitable proportion to wealth. Rather than arbitraryand inordinate,it was, as applied to, and judged by nomads,
sensible and serviceable,weighing lightlyand intelligiblyupon the
nomad in his ordinarypastoral round, yet enabling him, when inspired, to devote his entireresources to the translationof vision into
action.
Even imperialMongol society,to which this taxationwas adapted,
was thereforeno ponderous permanentpyramid of clans and tribes
cemented togetherby chieflyauthority,but, like other nomadic societies, a temporaryand dismountablestructuresuch as is ordinarily
stored, along with the blueprintsforassembly,in bits and pieces in
the nomad's mind. It can be put up, in any of a varietyof patterns,
wheneverneeded, and can be held up by cooperative effortfor as
long as its utilityoutweighs the dangers it raises by inhibitingthe
individualismand restrictingthe movementvital to nomadism. The
physical strengthof Mongol society and empire, like that of other
nomadic societies,derivedfromvoluntaryparticipationand self-discipline generatedand generalizedby extraordinarycircumstances.But
since thatsociety (like the others)was describedin genealogical terms
for mental convenience and hierarchicallyordered out of common
militarynecessity, and since it provided the Mongols with mental
comfortas well as physicalpower,it gained intellectualforcefromthe
order of genealogical and militarythoughtand the persuasivenessof
desire. This force,unlike its physical strength,could be manipulated
82 John of Plano
Carpini, HistoryoftheMongols(in MissiontoAsia), p. 28.
85
to the advantage of the rich, the clever, and the literate. But their
effortsshould not convince us that the schemes of classes and clans
thattheyconstructedto theirown advantage are more than representationsofa momentaryconditionin the economic,social, and political
fluxofnomadism.Their accounts describe a social and political order
of the nomadic ecological
ofa rigidityincompatiblewiththe flexibility
order, and of a capacity incommensuratewith the nomads' meagre
historicalachievements.Occasional societyand an occasional political
organizationcohere betterwith the nomads' occasional taxationand
occasional history.

Mongol and Nomadic Taxation

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Harvard-Yenching Institute

Mongol and Nomadic Taxation

MONGOL AND NOMADIC TAXATION

The dominationof the Scythiansover Asia lasted twenty-eight

HE broadest and most thoroughstudy of Mongol taxation to

of the Thirteenth Century."' This work (despite its title)

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

Schurmannrefersto a considerablebody of these documents,and quotes from:

1) a Mongolian patent (also available in Chinese) of Mangala b. Qubilai, lord of

An-hsi, dated 1276, fromN. N. Poppe, Kvadratnaja Pis'mennost'(Moscow-Leningrad,1941), p. 59ff.(Schurmann,

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

Schurmann thereforeposits the followingequivalences:'

Tribute(permanent) Levy (extraordinary)

But the analogy is forced: it requires reversalof the word order of

N. N. Berezin,KhanskijeJarlyki,2 (Kazan, 1851), p. 50 (which I do not have available):

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

To understandwhat qaltn was, it is useful firstto read a general

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

uddin Tisi, all of whom discuss Mongol taxationin detail, make no

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

QalUn not only referredto mrzland therebyto pre-Mongoltaxation,

amongthemin grantscallediqp Z',23 andwerein consequenceto"come

See below, p. 75.

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

While Ghazan was surelyconcernedabove all else forthe serviceability

Ghazan's reformis summarizedin A. K. S. Lambton's Landlord and Peasant in

Persia(Oxford, 1953), pp. 83-87 and 89-92.

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

perhaps, or lesser charges such as

Quoted by Schurmann,p. 333 and n. 6i, fromRashiduddin/Jahn,p. i8o.

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

lishment (injui, here), they counted as "Mongols": "In imposing

30 Qalan is considered as sedentarytaxation not only by Barthold (see preceding

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

service(voina).82 Here we see (as we do notin the

(since 1229) postal service (yam) was provided for; militaryservice

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

In order to have developed out of "plow" and 'seal" taxes, and to

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

Modernstudiesofnomadicpeoplesin CentralAsia and theMiddle

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

regular payments in support of temple services,42just as Hudson's

took the form, not of regu-

larized imposts, but of occasional demands."46 These reports,then,

H. H. Vreeland, Mongol Community

bannerorganizationby the nomads assigned to it ratherthan to the temples,but he does

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

makinga large, poor territorythe equivalent of a smaller,richerone.

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

maintenanceof adequate herd size, is well aware of thislimit,whether

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION

Let us now tryto see how farearlyMongoltaxationis informed

examplesof these. P'eng's "on the basis of" probablymeans "in

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

In thedesertarea which[I,] T'ing, traversed,

MONGOL AND NOMAD TAXATION