Abd-al-Razzaq Samarqandi 2: City of Victory

Chariot and Temple at Hampi - Wikimedia

Shah Rukh's ambassador to the Indian city of Qaliqut arrives at the heart of the Vijayanagara Empire, finding much to admire but also war, a usurper, and uncertainties about his own status. We visit Hampi, the centre of that late-medieval power, and we talk about elephants.

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.

• Caine, William Sproston. Picturesque India: A Handbook for European Travellers. G. Routledge, 1891.

• Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

• Ray, Aniruddha. "The Rise and Fall of Vijayanagar – an Alternative Hypothesis to "Hindu Nationalism" Thesis," in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 64, 2003.

• Sewell, Robert. A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1900.

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Abd-al-Razzaq Samarqandi 1: The Unwilling Envoy

Qāliqūṭ / Calicut as depicted in Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg’s atlas Civitates orbis terrarum, 1572

It's 1442, and Shah Rukh, the son of Timur, is sending an ambassador to Qaliqut / Kozhikode on the Indian coast. That ambassador, Abd-al-Razzāq, sails from Hormuz and experiences delays, sickness, death, and disappointment. Making matters worse, he never actually wanted to go.

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.

• Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

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Medieval Lives 1: al-Ghazāl

Abd al-Rahman III Receiving the Ambassador at the Court of Cordoba, Dionisio Baixeras Verdaguer (note that the emir in this story is Abd al-Rahman II)

This is a story about Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakam al-Bakrī al-Jayyānī, known also as al-Ghazāl (the Gazelle). It's the story of a 9th century poet on an embassy from the Emirate of Córdoba to a Viking ruler.

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

Sources:

• Allen, W.E.D. "The Poet and the Spae-Wife: An Attempt to Reconstruct Al-Ghazal’s Embassy to the Vikings," Saga Book, Vol. 15, No. 3 (1960).

• Hermes, Nizar F. The [European] Other in Medieval Arabic Literature and Culture: Ninth-Twelfth Century AD. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

• Pons-Sanchez, Sara M. "Whom did al-Ghazal meet? An Exchange of Embassies Between the Arabs From al-Andalus and the Vikings," Saga Book, Vol. 28 (2004).

• "A Hispano-Muslim Embassy to the Vikings in 845: An Account of al-Ghazal’s Journey to the North" at ballandalus.wordpress.com.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 6: There and Back Again

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.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 5: A Season of Feasting at Samarkand

Stanisław Chlebowski - Timur and his captive Bayezid

Our travellers from early 15th century Spain arrive at the outskirts of Samarkand and meet with their host Timur.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 4: Sickness & Heat, Melons & Meat

Miran Shah - Brooklyn Museum

Clavijo and his Castilian fellow travellers continue the journey toward Timur, cutting across northern Iran and dealing with sickness and heat. On the upside, there will be melons and a great deal of wine. There will also be visit with Timur's potentially problematic son.

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.

• 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.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 3: Of the Water and the Mountains

1559 map of the Black Sea by Portuguese cartographer Diego Homem

In search of Timur, the Castilian ambassadors leave Constantinople and travel east over the Black Sea and into the mountains beyond.

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.

• King, Charles. The Black Sea: A History. Oxford University Press, 2005.

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

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1: Byzantine Entanglements

Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, as imagined in a 19th century engraving. Wikimedia

In 1403, Henry III of Castile sent ambassadors to Timur (Tamerlane), among them a man named Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. In this episode, we cover the context and depart from port near Cadiz, travel the length of the Mediterranean, and visit Lesbos where we spend time with the ruling family and their involvements in Byzantine imperial politics.

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.

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

• Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

• 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 Johnson Brummett. BRILL, 2009.

• Wright, Christopher. The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World 1355-1462. BRILL, 2014.

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Eustace the Black Monk

Eustace’s death at the 1217 Battle of Sandwich as depicted by Matthew Paris in the Chronica Majora

This is the story of a monk, a sorcerer, a pirate, a woodland outlaw, and a master of disguise. His name is Eustace.

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:

• Burgess, Glyn S. Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustace the Monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn. D.S. Brewer, 1997.

• Davis, Alex. Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 2020.

• Ohlgren, Thomas H. Medieval Outlaws: Twelve Tales in Modern English Translation. Parlor Press, 2005.

• Seal, Graham. Outlaw Heroes in Myth and History. Anthem Press, 2011.

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Sir John Mandeville 5: Mongols, Mountains, and Myths

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - British Library Add. Ms 24189

Finishing up with Mandeville's travels, we visit the palace of the Mongol khan, the fortress paradise of the Old Man of the Mountain, and a land that never sees the sun.

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:

• Sir John Mandeville: The Book of Marvels and Travels, translated by Anthony Bale. Oxford University Press, 2012.

• The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, translated by Charles Moseley. Penguin, 2005.

• The Book of John Mandeville, edited by Tamarah Kohanski and C. David Benson. Medieval Institute Publications, 2007. 

• Friedman, John Block. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse University Press, 2000.

• Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

• Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410. Routledge, 2018.

• Metlitzki, Dorothee. The Matter of Araby in Medieval England. Yale University Press, 2005.

• Tzanaki, Rosemary. Mandeville's Medieval Audiences: A Study on the Reception of the Book of Sir John Mandeville (1371-1550). Taylor & Francis, 2017.

• Verner, Lisa. The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages. Routledge, 2005.

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