Timur

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Abd-al-Razzaq Samarqandi 1: The Unwilling Envoy

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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.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 6: There and Back Again

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

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

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

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

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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 a visit with Timur's potentially problematic son.

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

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

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 2: Sacred Objects in the Imperial City

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In their journey to see Timur, Clavijo and the other envoys stop in at Constantinople where we visit artifacts and sacred objects.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1: Byzantine Entanglements

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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.

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The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 3: Timur the Conqueror

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Last episode we had a look at Schiltberger’s time among the Ottomans, and a tumultuous time it was, as he first sought escape, then rode with his long-time captors, if we can still call them that, on a series of military expeditions that culminated in the Battle of Angora. Bayezid’s sons are going to be struggling to put the pieces back together after that disaster, and, as you might guess from the fact that the Ottoman Empire would live to see World War 1, at least one of them would find some success in doing so. However, we’re not going to be following that today. We’ll continue with Schiltberger as he tells of his new circumstances, and of Timur the Conqueror.  

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The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 2: The Battle of Angora/Ankara

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Last episode, we left Schiltberger as he left Nicopolis and told of a long captivity to come with the Ottomans. Here that new Ottoman lord Bayezid was facing, in the figure of this Karaman, a brother-in-law, but more importantly the powerful leader of a Turcoman dynasty to rival the Ottomans, the Karamanids of southeast Anatolia. According to Schiltberger, Karaman had refused to be subject to him, being, as Karaman was, feeling slightly “Rains of Castmere-ish,” as great a lord as he. So Bayezid sets out with 150k men, and Karaman to meet him with 75k, or at least with large numbers of men.