Leaving this place we came to another, where a wonderfully grand tent, all
of red cloth, was pitched, the gift of the Cathayans. At this place
likewise, we were introduced into the presence; and always on these
occasions we were offered beer and wine to drink, and boiled flesh to eat
when we were inclined. In this tent there was a lofty gallery made of
boards, on which the imperial throne was placed, most exquisitely carved in
ivory, and richly decorated with gold and precious stones; and, if we
rightly remember, there were several steps by which to ascend the throne.
This throne was round above. There were benches all around, where the
ladies sat on the left hand, upon stools, and no one sat aloft on the right
hand, but the dukes sat below on benches, in the middle of the tent. Others
sat behind them, and every day there came great numbers of ladies to the
court. These three tents which we have mentioned, were of wonderful
magnitude; and the wives of the emperor had other tents, sufficiently large
and beautiful, made of white felt. At this place, the emperor took leave of
his mother, who went to one part of the land, and he to another, to
distribute justice. About this time, a concubine belonging to the emperor
was detected, who had poisoned his father, at the time when the Tartar army
was in Hungary, and owing to which incident, they had been ordered to
return. She, and a considerable number of her accomplices, were tried and
put to death. Soon afterwards, Jeroslaus, the great duke of Soldal[1] in
Russia, being invited, as if to do him honour, by the emperor's mother, to
receive meat and drink from her hand, grew sick immediately after returning
to his lodging, and died in seven days illness, his whole body becoming
strangely of a blue colour; and it was currently reported that he had been
poisoned, that the Tartars might freely and totally possess his land.