Ruy González de Clavijo

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Ruy González de Clavijo

Ruy González de Clavijo († April 2, 1412 in Madrid ) was a Spanish diplomat and author. On behalf of Henry III. , King of Castile and León , Clavijo traveled to Central Asia (then Transoxania , now Uzbekistan ) from 1403 to 1406 and spent three months at the court of Timur in Samarkand . The aim of his trip was to establish an alliance between the European powers and the Timurid Empire against the Ottomans . While the Europeans had suffered several defeats in the Turkish Wars, the armies of Timur were able to prevail against the Ottomans in the Battle of Angora (today's Ankara ), so that it seemed to the king of Castile to win Timur as an ally.

Clavijo's journey began on May 21, 1403 near Cádiz . By sea he first went to Constantinople and from there on over the Bosphorus through the Black Sea to Trebizond . From there it went overland through Armenia , past Mount Ararat , through Azerbaijan to Tabriz and south of the Caspian Sea through Persia (now Iran ) to Tehran . The further way led him through Khorasan to the Oxus (today Amudarja ) and finally over Schahr-i Sabs to Samarkand. The Spanish group around Clavijo arrived there on August 31, 1404, but had to wait a week before being admitted to Timur on September 8. Clavijo spent about three months at his court, and on November 22, 1404 he started his return journey. Timur himself died about two months later.

After his return to Castile on March 24, 1406, Clavijo served as chamberlain at the court of King Henry III. He is also said to have been a witness to the king's will. After Heinrich's death, Clavijo retired to his hometown of Madrid.

The diary of his trip to Asia was first published in 1582 under the title Embajada a Tamor Lán ( German : Ambassador to Timur Lenk ) by Gonzalo Argote de Molina and is an important source for the history of Central Asia during the Timurid period. The second edition was made in 1782 by Antonio de Sancha by Eugenio Llaguno y Amírola. Clements Markham translated this edition and published the Clavijo Reports in English for the first time in 1859.

literature

  • Sir Clements Markham (Ed.): Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, AD 1403-6. Translated, for the First Time, with Notes, a Preface and an Introductory Life of Timour Beg (= Works issued by the Hakluyt Society 26), Hakluyt Society , London 1859 ( digitalisat ) (also reprint: Asian Educational Services, New Delhi 2001, ISBN 81-2061583-2 ).
  • Uta Lindgren (Ed.): Clavijo's Journey to Samarkand 1403–1406. Translated from Old Castilian and provided with an introduction and explanations (= algorism, studies on the history of mathematics and natural sciences 10), Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-89241-009-7 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ digitized version .
  2. ↑ Historia del Gran Tamerlán e itinerario y enarración del viage, y relación de la embaxada que Ruy González de Clavijo le hizo, por mandado del muy poderoso Señor Rey Don Enrique el Tercero de Castilla; y un breve discurso fecho por Gonzalo Argote de Molina para mayor inteligencia deste libro , Madrid 1782 ( digitized ).
personal data
SURNAME González de Clavijo, Ruy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish diplomat, author of a contemporary report on the Timurid Empire
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1412
Place of death Madrid