I Have Composed Likewise, The Life Of My
Brother Nicolo Zeno, With An Account Of His Discoveries; And A History Of
The Life And Acts Of Zichmni, A Prince As Worthy Of Immortal Fame As Any
That Ever Lived, Having Been Famous For His Valour, Enterprising Spirit,
And Humanity.
[1] Or Icarus, for the language in Forster is ambiguous, and does not
clearly fix this important historical fact!
- E.
[2] The expression is here so equivocal as to leave in doubt whether the
killed and wounded were Icarians or Frislanders, or part of
both. - E.
[3] Neome seems to be the isle or Stromoe, one of the Faro Islands; as it
is in fact to the southward of Iceland, and only three days sail from
the Orkneys, the Faras-islands, or Frisland of this author. - Forst.
CHAP. XVI.
Travels of John Schildtberger into Tartary, in 1394[1].
John Schildtberger, a native of Munich in Bavaria, went with the army of
King Sigismund of Hungary, against the Turks in 1394. In 1395, being taken
prisoner, he was sent by Bajazet, whose name he always writes Weyasit,
into Asia. In the great battle, in which Bajazet was defeated, and taken
captive by Timur, Schildtberger was again made prisoner, and accompanied
that conqueror in all his expeditions, till his death in 1405, at Otrar or
Farab, though Schildtberger says that he died in his capital of Samarcand.
After the death of Timur, he entered into the service of Shah-Rokh, and was
left by that prince among the auxiliary troops, which assisted his brother
Miran-Shah against Kara-Joseph, a Turkomanian emir of the black-weather
tribe. Miran-shah having been made prisoner and beheaded by Kara-Joseph,
Schildtberger followed the standards of Abubekr, the son of Miran-shah.
At this time, there lived in the court of Abubekr, a prince named Zegra, a
son of the khan of Great Tartary, to whom Ideku[2] sent word that he would
resign to him the sovereignty of Kiptschak. Zegra accordingly set out for
Great Tartary, accompanied by Schildtberger, and four others. Their route
lay through Strana[3], which produces good silk; then through Gursey,
Gurghia, or Georgia, which is inhabited by Christians; after this, through
the country of, Lahinsham[4], where silk is cultivated; and through
Schurban, or Shirvan, where the silk is produced from which the silk
stuffs of Damascus and Kaffer[5] are made. They next passed through
Bursa[6], which is situated in Turkey, and from whence the fine silk, of
which velvet is manufactured, is sent to Venice and Lucca: This is an
unhealthy country. Their route next lay through Temur-capit, Demir-Kapi
or, Derbent, which signifies, in the Tartarian language, the Iron-gate, and
which separates Persia from Tartary. They then went through a town of great
strength, called Origens[7], situated in the middle of the Edil. After
this, their way was through the mountainous country of Setzalet, in which
there are many Christians, who have a bishop and some Carthusian monks, who
perform the service in the Tartarian language, that the common people may
understand what is sung and read.
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