VATICAN PROJECT · SECTION 02
Written sources, archival documents and visual artefacts identified in foreign collections
Materials identified in the National Library of Spain
A catalogue of sources on the Golden Horde and the post-Horde historical space.
Collection: National Library of Spain (Biblioteca Nacional de España, BNE).
Researcher who identified the materials: To be confirmed.
Research trip dates: To be confirmed.
Scholarly overview of the collection
The catalogue of the National Library of Spain contains a valuable body of material relevant to the study of the Golden Horde and the post-Horde historical space. Its core consists less of official documents issued by the Horde itself than of early European descriptive, travel and cartographic sources in which the Tatar world is presented as a distinct political and geographical region. Particularly significant is Antonio Possevino’s Moscouia et alia opera (1595), which includes Marcin Broniowski’s Tartariae descriptio, described in the catalogue as previously unpublished, together with the map Chersonesus Tauricae. Equally important is the second volume of Ramusio’s Delle Nauigationi et viaggi (1606), which specifically lists a “history of Tatar affairs”, descriptions of Tartaria, a journey to Tana and a description of Sarmatia. This group also includes the manuscript compilation Viajes varios, containing Juan da Luca’s account of a journey to Circassia, Tartaria and Comuquia, a valuable testimony concerning the Caucasian and Caspian part of the post-Horde world. The cartographic material is no less significant: a manuscript map of the borders between Muscovy and the Ottoman state depicts Moldavia, Yedisan, Chersonesus, Crimea and the area from the Sea of Azov to the Caspian Sea. Pierre Duval’s atlas of 1672 includes separate sheets entitled Tartaria and Crimea, while Jan Luyts’s Introductio ad Geographiam novam et veterem (1692) contains maps of the Black Sea, the Caucasus and Tartaria. Taken together, these materials establish the BNE collections as an important source both for the history of Western European perceptions of the Golden Horde and for textual and cartographic representations of the wider Horde and post-Horde historical space, particularly its Crimean, Black Sea and Caucasian regions. (Iberoamérica Digital)
14 records. Original source titles, shelfmarks and links have been retained.
↔ Scroll the table horizontally to view the remaining columns.
| No. | Source title | Date | Type | Full details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antonij Posseuini Societatis Iesu, Moscouia et alia opera… including Martini Broniovii … Tartariae descriptio and the map Chersonesus Tauricae | 1595 | Printed book |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: GMG/333; bdh0000000109 Scholarly commentary: One of the most valuable sources in the collection: the catalogue explicitly records the inclusion of Marcin Broniowski’s previously unpublished Tartariae descriptio and the map Chersonesus Tauricae; its subject headings include “Tártaros – Historia”. It is important as an early European text on the Tatar lands and Crimea. |
| 2 | Deserta sive campestria turcica et tartarica / Martinus Broniorius de Biezdziedza | 17th century?; the manuscript states Anno 1579 | Manuscript |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: MSS/10610; bdh0000141489 Scholarly commentary: A valuable manuscript: the catalogue explicitly assigns it to the subject heading “Tártaros – Historia” and records a dedication to King Stephen Báthory and a map drawn in pen. It is one of the documents in the BNE collections most closely related to the research topic. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 3 | Delle Nauigationi et viaggi, vol. II / Giovanni Battista Ramusio | 1606 | Printed book |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: GMG/645; bdh0000000655 Scholarly commentary: The catalogue states that the volume includes “Historia delle cose de’Tartari … descritta da M. Marco Polo”, as well as various descriptions of Tartaria and viaggio della Tana. For the history of the Golden Horde, it is a key work in the European textual tradition concerning the Tatar world and routes in the northern Black Sea region. Iberoamérica Digital |
| 4 | Viajes varios | Between 1624 and 1702 | Manuscript compilation |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: Mss/3165; bdh0000015215 Scholarly commentary: The compilation includes the text “Breve relación … en las partes de Çercasia, Tartaria y Comuquí …, 1624”. It provides evidence on the Caucasus and the neighbouring Tatar lands in the early modern period and is particularly useful for studying post-Horde geography and European perceptions of the region. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 5 | Istores des parties dorient / Hayton de Gorigos | 1307 | Illuminated manuscript |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: Mss/2452; bdh0000048668 Scholarly commentary: A medieval manuscript whose subject headings explicitly include “Tártaros – Historia”; the catalogue also classifies it as manuscritos iluminados. The source is particularly important for analysing early Latin and French representations of the Mongol-Tatar East and as a visual object. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 6 | Embajada a Tarmolán / [Ruy González de Clavijo] | 15th century | Manuscript |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: Mss/9218; bdh0000096056 Scholarly commentary: Although not a source on the Golden Horde in the narrow sense, this is an important text on the Turco-Mongol East and Samarkand. It should be included in a broader comparative corpus if the article addresses European representations of post-Mongol Eurasia as well as the Horde itself. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 7 | Relacion verdadera … del Rey de Polonia, contra el Gran Can, y multitud de Barbaros | 1652 | Printed book / relaciones de sucesos |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: bdh0000255049 Scholarly commentary: The catalogue explicitly associates the text with the subject heading “Tártaros de Crimea”. This material concerns the Crimean Tatars rather than the Golden Horde, which makes it important for a section examining the long survival of the Horde’s legacy in Eastern Europe. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 8 | [Mapa de las fronteras entre Moscú y el estado Otomano] | Between 1750 and 1800? | Manuscript map |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: MR/42/415; bdh0000063483 Scholarly commentary: The catalogue description states that the map covers Moldavia, Yedisan, Chersonesus, Crimea, the area from Azov to the Caspian Sea, and the borders between the Russian and Ottoman empires and Poland. For the article, it is a valuable visual source on the post-Horde geography of the northern Black Sea region. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 9 | Le Monde ou La Géographie Universelle… | 1672 | Atlas |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: To be confirmed. Note in the original table: the record details were not fully displayed in the quick view. Scholarly commentary: The record lists individual map sheets entitled “Tartaria. Mapas generales. 1672” and “Crimea (Península). Mapas generales. 1672”. For the article, this is a useful source on European cartographic representations of Tartaria and Crimea as interconnected but distinct spaces. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 10 | Atlas / Frederick de Wit | c. 1688 | Atlas |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: To be confirmed. Note in the original table: the record details were not fully displayed in the quick view. Scholarly commentary: The catalogue records the map sheet “Tartaria. Mapas generales. ca. 1688”. It is particularly suitable for a comparative study of Western European cartographic representations of Tartary in the late seventeenth century. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 11 | [Introductio ad Geographiam novam et veterem] / Jan Luyts | 1692? | Printed cartographic compilation |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: GMm/1224; bdh0000000563 Scholarly commentary: The compilation contains maps of Mar Negro, Cáucaso and Tartaria. This is particularly valuable for the research topic because it allows the Horde and post-Horde historical space to be analysed in connection with the Black Sea and the Caucasus. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 12 | Atlas Geographus or, a compleat System of Geography… / Herman Moll | 1712 (Asian volume) | Atlas |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: To be confirmed. Note in the original table: the record details were not fully displayed in the quick view. Scholarly commentary: For volume III, the catalogue lists the maps “Escitia y Tartaria” and “Tartaria”, dated 1712. The source is important for analysing the persistence of the category Tartaria in eighteenth-century Western European knowledge. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 13 | Tartaros en China / Martino Martini | 1665 | Printed book |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: U/3859; bdh0000095883 Scholarly commentary: It is useful not as a direct source on the Horde, but as evidence of the persistence of the category “tártaros” in seventeenth-century European scholarly and missionary literature. It may be used in a historiographical or terminological section. (Iberoamérica Digital) |
| 14 | De la republique des Turcs… / Guillaume Postel | 1560 | Printed book |
More detailsShelfmark / identifier: 3/24154; bdh0000238170 Scholarly commentary: The catalogue records a dedicated section on the “origine, loy, et coustume des Tartares…” within the book; its subject headings include “Tártaros – Historia” and “Tártaros – Usos y costumbres”. It is suitable for analysing European intellectual frameworks used to describe the Tatars. (Iberoamérica Digital) |