“Missio Asophiensis et Taganrokensis” (“the Azov and Taganrog mission”) by J. Milan (1700) as an unknown source on the Kalmyks-Derbets. part 1: history of the manuscript and its author

The paper aims to introduce into scholarly circulation and analyse a little-known Latin manuscript by the Jesuit missionary Johannes (Jan) Milan. It is entitled as “Missio Asophiensis et Taganrokensis” (“The Azov and Taganrog Mission”), dated 1700 and kept at the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague. The manuscript represents a unique source on the history, ethnography and language of the Kalmyk-Derbets of the early 18th century, as it contains records of the colloquial phrases pronounced by informants from the horde of Solom-Tseren and Menko-Temir, a group that remained outside the purview of travelers who were interested in the Kalmyks primarily as a political entity. The first part of the study provides a source-critical description of the manuscript, presents information about the author and reconstructs the circumstances surrounding the creation of the manuscript. In addition, the appendix to the paper presents the Latin text and Russian translation of the chapter “De eorum religione et ritibus” (“On their religion and rites”), which contains the missionary’s notes on clergy and life-cycle rituals. The publication of this material lays the groundwork for a further analysis of religious beliefs, calendrical concepts, and linguistic features of the Derbets, to be presented in the second part of the study.

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