Tursko of Jan Długosz and Tulisseko (‘Tulisige’) of the ‘chinese annals’ or The history of the Yuan dynasty (Yuan shi) as a possible historical source of data about the Mongol raid of Poland in 1241

Only Jan Długosz in his Annales from the mid-15th century mention the battle between the Mongolian and Polish forces at Tursko in 1241. However, according to the beliefs prevailing in Polish historiography, this shortage of sources about it is to be compensated by Chinese sources. However, these researchers are satisfied, with the exception of Jerzy Maroń, by the general statement ‘chinese annals’, without trying to reach the original, and at most referring to the work of Joseph de Guignes from the second half of the 18th century.

The article presents the circumstances in which ‘chinese annals’ infiltrated the Polish historiography of the Mongol invasion in 1241, cite the original text and Polish translation of a Chinese source, referred to ‘Tuli-sseko’, and discuss attempts to identify this toponym, undertaken mainly by Russian researchers.

In summary, the authors state: “even if we are not as restrictive as J. Maroń, who believes that the battle of Turk ‘should disappear from the 1241 campaign’, then certainly ‘chinese annals’ should disappear from Polish historiography describing this battle . Occurring in Yuanshi, ‘Tūlǐsīgē’ is certainly not Tursko in Lesser Poland. However, it cannot be ruled out that The History of the Yuan Dynasty confirms the Mongol invasion of Poland in 1241, if we interpret the ethnonym ‘Bèilièer’ as Poles, not Bulgarians from Volga, which requires further research and the use of Persian sources to solve this problem”.