Igor de Rachewiltz (April 11, 1929 – July 30, 2016)
was an Italian
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
and
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
specializing in
Mongol studies.
Igor de Rachewiltz was born in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, the son of Bruno Guido and Antonina Perosio, and brother of
Boris de Rachewiltz. The de Rachewiltz family was of noble roots. His grandmother was a
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different from
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
in central
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
who claimed lineage from the
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
. In 1947, he read
Michael Prawdin
Michael Prawdin was the pseudonym of Michael Charol (20 January 1894 – 23 December 1970), a Russian-German historical writer.
Born in present-day Ukraine, Charol came to Germany after the Russian Revolution.Richard Breitman, 'Hitler and Genghis ...
's book ''Tschingis-Chan und seine Erben'' (
Genghis Khan
''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan''
, birth_name = Temüjin
, successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan
, spouse =
, issue =
, house = Borjigin
, ...
and his Heritage) and became interested in learning the
Mongolian language
Mongolian is the official language of Mongolia and both the most widely spoken and best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residen ...
. He graduated with a law degree from a university in Rome and pursued
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...
in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. In the early 1950s, de Rachewiltz went to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
on scholarship. He earned his
PhD in Chinese history from
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
,
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
in 1961. His dissertation was on Genghis Khan's secretary, 13th-century Chinese scholar
Yelü Chucai
Yelü Chucai (; mn, Urtu Saqaltu "Longbeard", written in Chinese characters as "", July 24, 1190 – June 20, 1244), courtesy name Jinqing (), was a Khitan statesman from the imperial clan of the Liao dynasty, who became a vigorous adviser and ...
. He married Ines Adelaide Brasch in 1956; they had one daughter.
Starting in 1965 he became a fellow at the Department of Far Eastern History, Australian National University (1965–67). He made a research trip to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
(1966–67). He published a translation of ''
The Secret History of the Mongols
''The Secret History of the Mongols'' (Middle Mongol: ''Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan''; Traditional Mongolian: , Khalkha Mongolian: , ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal fam ...
'' in eleven volumes of ''Papers on Far Eastern History'' (1971–1985). He became a senior Fellow of the Division of Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University (1967–94), a research-only fellowship. He completed projects by prominent Mongolists
Antoine Mostaert
Antoine Mostaert (Dutch: Antoon; 10 August 1881 – 1971) was a Belgian Roman Catholic missionary in China.
Life
Born in Bruges; studied Latin and Greek during his Secondary education. He joined the CICM Missionaries, and was ordained pries ...
and Henri Serruys after their deaths. He was a
visiting professor
In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...
at the
University of Rome three times (1996, 1999, 2001). In 2004, he published his translation of the ''Secret History'' with
Brill
Brill may refer to:
Places
* Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands
* Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England
* Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK
* Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...
; it was selected by ''
Choice
A choice is the range of different things from which a being can choose. The arrival at a choice may incorporate motivators and models. For example, a traveler might choose a route for a journey based on the preference of arriving at a giv ...
'' as Outstanding Academic Title (2005) and is now in its second edition. In 2007 he donated his personal library of around 6000 volumes to th
Scheut Memorial Library at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
. Late in his life, de Rachewiltz was an emeritus Fellow in the Pacific and Asian History Division of the Australian National University. His research interests included the political and cultural history of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, East-West political and cultural contacts, and Sino-Mongolian philology generally. In 2015, de Rachewiltz published an open access version of his previous translation, ''The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century,'' that is a full translation but omits the extensive footnotes of his previous translations.
Igor de Rachewiltz died on July 30, 2016. He was 87.
References
Bibliography
*(trans.)
The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century' (11 December 2015).
*(ed. and trans.) ''The Secret History of the Mongols'', Inner Asian Library, 7:1–2, 2004; 2nd ed., 2006.
*“The Identification of Geographical Names in The Secret History of the Mongols,” ''Sino Asiatica: Papers dedicated to Professor Liu Ts’un-yan on the occasion of his eighty-fifth birthday'', Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, 2002.
*“The Name of the Mongols in Asia and Europe : A Reappraisal,” Conférence internationale permanente des études altaiques : Chantilly, 20–24 juin 1994, 1997.
*''The Mongolian Tanjur Version of the Bodhicaryāvatāra'', Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996.
*(with M. Wang, C.C. Hsiao and S. Rivers) ''Repertory of Proper Names in Yüan Literary Sources''. SMC Publishing Inc., Taipei, 1988–1996.
*(commentaries; ed. with Anthony Schönbaum) ''Le material mongol Houa I I iu de Houng-ou (1389)'' by Antoine Mostaert, 1977–1995.
*(with H.L. Chan, C.C. Hsiao and P.W. Geier, with the assistance of M. Wang) ''In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yüan Period (1200–1300)'', Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1993.
*(with Ssanang Ssetsen, Chungtaidschi, and
John Krueger
John Richard Krueger (March 14,1927 – February 7, 2018) was a professor at Indiana University, specialized in studies of Chuvash and Yakut, and Mongolian languages. His approximately 20 books are the standard works, each held in about one ...
) ''
Erdeni-yin tobci''
recious Summary: a Mongolian Chronicle of 1662 Australian National University: Faculty of Asian Studies, 1990–1991.
*''The Third Chapter of Chos-kyi od-zer's Translation of the Bodhicaryavatara: A Tentative Reconstruction'', Instituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1988.
*“The Preclassical Mongolian Version of the Hsiao-ching,” ''Zentralasiatische Studien'' 16 (1982): 7–109.
*I''ndex to The Secret History of the Mongols'', Indiana University Publications Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 121, 1972.
*''Prester John and Europe’s Discovery of East Asia'', Australian National University Press, 1972.
*''Papal Envoys to the Great Khans'', Stanford University Press, 1971.
*“Personnel and Personalities in North China in the Early Mongol Period,” ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'' 9 (1966): 1–2.
**De Rachewiltz, Igor. 1966. “Personnel and Personalities in North China in the Early Mongol Period”. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 9 (1/2). BRILL: 88–144. doi:10.2307/3596174. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3596174
*“The Hsi-yu lu by Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai,” ''Monumenta Serica'' 21 (1962): 1–128.
*“Buddhist Idealist and Confucian Statesman,” ''Confucian Personalities'', Stanford University Press, 1962.
Sources
"Igor de Rachewiltz" Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs is a constituent of the College of Asia and the Pacific, but was formerly part of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU, which was founded in 1946 as part of the Institute of Advanced ...
(RSPAS), Australian National University (ANU)
"Igor de Rachewiltz" Ferdinand Verbiest Institute,
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
"Igor de Rachewiltz memorial page with many downloadable works" Monumenta altaica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachewiltz, Igor De
1929 births
2016 deaths
Mongolists
Australian National University alumni