Timurid Empire

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Ghiyath al-Din Naqqash 2: AM Feasting & Other Diplomatic Concerns

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17th-century painting by anonymous artist - (Wikimedia)

A story of medieval travel and diplomacy, the 15th-century story of Ghiyath al-Din and the other Timurid envoys, and their visit to Yongle's Beijing on behalf of Timur's son Shah Rukh.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • "Report to Mirza Baysunghur on the Timurid Legation to the Ming Court at Peking," in A Century of Princes: Sources on Timurid History and Art, selected and translated by W. M. Thackston. Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1989.

  • Ford, Graeme. "The Uses of Persian in Imperial China: The Translation Practices of the Great Ming," in The Persianate World, edited by Nile Green. University of California Press, 2019.

  • Hecker, Felicia J. “A Fifteenth-Century Chinese Diplomat in Herat,” in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 3, no. 1 (1993): 85–98.

  • Lipman, Jonathan N. Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China. University of Washington Press, 2011.

  • Park, Hyunhee. Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  • Rossabi, Morris. A History of China. Wiley, 2013.

  • Rossabi, Morris. "Two Ming Envoys to Inner Asia," in T’oung Pao 62, no. 1/3 (1976): 1–34.

  • Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. Perpetual Happiness. University of Washington Press, 2011.

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Ghiyath al-Din Naqqash 1: A Timurid Painter in Ming China

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The Yongle Emperor

In the early 15th century, Shah Rukh, the son of Timur, sent an embassy east to the target of his father's last military campaign, Ming China. Making that journey from Timurid Herat to the home of the Yongle Emperor (with stops along the way at Samarkand, Tashkent, Hami, Ganzhou, and finally Khanbaliq) was a chronicler and painter named Ghiyāth al-Dīn. His story is one of medieval diplomacy and travel.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • "Report to Mirza Baysunghur on the Timurid Legation to the Ming Court at Peking," in A Century of Princes: Sources on Timurid History and Art, selected and translated by W. M. Thackston. Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1989.

  • Ford, Graeme. "The Uses of Persian in Imperial China: The Translation Practices of the Great Ming," in The Persianate World, edited by Nile Green. University of California Press, 2019.

  • Lipman, Jonathan N. Familiar Strangers A History of Muslims in Northwest China. University of Washington Press, 2011.

  • Park, Hyunhee. Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  • Rossabi, Morris. A History of China. Wiley, 2013.

  • Rossabi, Morris. "Two Ming Envoys to Inner Asia," in T’oung Pao 62, no. 1/3 (1976): 1–34.

  • Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. Perpetual Happiness. University of Washington Press, 2011.

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Abd-al-Razzāq Samarqandī 3: To Home, to Herat

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1550 map of the Arabian Sea and surrounding lands - Wikimedia

1550 map of the Arabian Sea and surrounding lands - Wikimedia

The Timurid ambassador's time in India comes to an end, and he heads for home.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • India in the Fifteenth Century: Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India. Edited by Richard Henry Major. Hakluyt Society, 1857.

  • Alam, Muzaffar and Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 1400–1800. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 6: There and Back Again

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Vasily Vereshchagin - The Apotheosis of War

Vasily Vereshchagin - The Apotheosis of War

The Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo story reaches its conclusion, and so does that of Timur aka Tamerlane.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.

Sources:

  • Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859.

  • Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005.

  • Ahmad ibn 'Arabshah. Tamerlane or Timur the Great Amir, translated by J. H. Sanders. Luzac & Co., 1936.

  • Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999.

  • Manz, Beatrice Forbes. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

  • Marozzi, Justin. Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization. Penguin, 2019.

  • Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "Late Medieval Ambassadors And The Practice Of Cross-Cultural Encounters 1250–1450," in The ‘Book’ of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700, edited by Palmira Brummett.