Igor de Rachewiltz (April 11, 1929 – July 30, 2016)[1][2] was an Italian historian and philologist specializing in Mongol studies.
Igor de Rachewiltz was born in Rome, the son of Bruno Guido and Antonina Perosio, and brother of Boris de Rachewiltz.[3] The de Rachewiltz family was of noble roots. His grandmother was a Tatar from Kazan in central Russia who claimed lineage from the Golden Horde.[4] In 1947, he read Michael Prawdin's Tschingis-Chan und seine Erben ("Genghis Khan and his Heritage") and became interested in learning the Mongolian language. He graduated with a law degree from a university in Rome and pursued Oriental studies in Naples.
In the early 1950s, de Rachewiltz went to Australia on scholarship. He earned his PhD in Chinese history from Australian National University, Canberra in 1961. His dissertation was on Genghis Khan's secretary, 13th-century Khitan scholar Yelü Chucai.[5] He married Ines Adelaide Brasch in 1956; they had one daughter.[6]
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 (1966–67). He published a translation of the Secret History of the Mongols 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 and Henri Serruys after their deaths. He was a visiting professor at the Sapienza University of Rome three times (1996, 1999, 2001). In 2004, he published his translation of the Secret History with Brill Publishers; it was selected by Choice as Outstanding Academic Title (2005) and is now in its second edition. In 2007 he donated his personal library of around 6000 volumes to the Scheut Memorial Library Archived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine at KU Leuven.
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 and Mongolia 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.[7]
Igor de Rachewiltz died on July 30, 2016. He was 87.[2]
^The International Who's Who 1996-97 (Europa Publications, 1996: ISBN 1-85743-021-2), p. 392.
^ ab"Igor De Rachewiltz Obituary". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
^Walravens, Hartmut. In Memoriam: Igor de Rachewiltz (1929–2016), in Monumenta Serica – Journal of Oriental Studies, 65/2017, 2, p. 445–451.
^Franceschini, Ivan (30 July 2017). "An Interview with Igor de Rachewiltz – A Discovery of Asia".
^Rachewiltz, Igor de (1960). Sino-Mongol culture contacts in the XIII century : a study on Yeh-lu Ch'u-ts'ai (PhD thesis). doi:10.25911/5d6f9d9de46c3.
^International Who's Who 2000, Vol. 63 (Europa, 1999: ISBN 1-85743-050-6), p. 390.
^de Rachewiltz, Igor (2015). The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century.
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Grousset, assess it positively in this regard as well, others, such as IgordeRachewiltz, believe that the value of the source lies primarily in its "faithful...
the Mongols : a Mongolian epic chronicle of the thirteenth century. IgordeRachewiltz. Leiden. 2006. ISBN 90-04-15363-2. OCLC 173262183.{{cite book}}: CS1...
ISBN 978-1-61228-907-6. deRachewiltz, Igor. "F. Wood's Did Marco Polo Go To China? A Critical Appraisal by I. deRachewiltz". The Australian National...
consider Hunnish as unclassifiable. Italian historian and philologist IgordeRachewiltz noted a significant distinction of the Chuvash language from other...
these and Chuvash another. Rachewiltz, Igorde. Introduction to Altaic philology: Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu / by IgordeRachewiltz and Volker Rybatzki; with...
conventionalized then and most often dated between 1224 and 1225. However, IgordeRachewiltz argues that it is unlikely that the stele was erected at the place...
ISBN 0-446-52546-4 Peter Jackson, Mongols and the West (Longman, 2005). IgordeRachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (Stanford University Press, 1971)...
J. De Mongoolse prins Nayan. pp. 9–11. Pelliot, P. (1963) Notes on Marco Polo, Vol. I, Imprimerie Nationale, Paris, pp. 354–355 IgordeRachewiltz, In...
component in Mongolian vocabulary. Italian historian and philologist IgordeRachewiltz noted a significant distinction of the Chuvash language from other...
1958 deRachewiltz, Igor, In the Service of the Khan: Eminent personalities of the early Mongol–Yuan period (1200–1300), Wiesbaden, 1992 deRachewiltz, Igor...
nobles claimed descent from Toghrul. Marie Therese Gousset, p.42 IgordeRachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (Stanford University Press, 1971)...
Western Europe, Oxford: OUP, 2015, chap. 6, p. 289-230.[page needed] IgordeRachewiltz – Turks in China under the Mongols, in: China Among Equals: The Middle...
part of a larger language family). Italian historian and philologist IgordeRachewiltz noted a significant distinction of the Chuvash language from other...
Early Mongols: Language, Culture and History: Studies in Honor of IgordeRachewiltz on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Bloomington, Indiana University...
[Yuan chao bi shi]. Brill's Inner Asian Library vol. 7. Translated by IgordeRachewiltz. Leiden, South Holland; Boston, MA: Brill. 2004. ISBN 90-04-13159-0...
Thirteenth Century. Inner Asian library. Vol. 1–2. Translated by IgordeRachewiltz with a historical and philological commentary. Leiden, South Holland:...
and ᠬ(q), making the stele somewhat difficult to read. According to IgordeRachewiltz (2010), the inscription reads (with letters in parentheses being unclear):...
Asians, Cuan-bo Bai people and Yi people from the Kingdom of Dali. IgordeRachewiltz (1993). In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early...
Khongorzul and Govi's Epic. Natsagdorj's international colleague IgordeRachewiltz noted that he risked the ire of the communist government, who appointed...
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Genghiz Khan's Mongols invade Russia, p. 84. ISBN 1-84176-233-4. IgordeRachewiltz (1993). In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early...
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