The Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger, a Native of Bavaria, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1396-1427Schiltberger, Johannes
History
The Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger, a Native of Bavaria, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1396-1427
Schiltberger, Johannes
Timur, 1336-1405 -- Early works to 1800; Turkey -- History -- Bayezid I, 1389-1403; Voyages and travels -- Early works to 1800
Taking into consideration these several facts, is it not possible,
that the White Tatars of Schiltberger are to be identified with
those of the White Horde of Eastern writers; the Blue, as they were
sometimes alluded to by Russian annalists, perhaps because of their
encampments on the shores of the Blue Sea, the Lake Aral? This Horde,
as the patrimony of the elder branch of the house of Jujy, whose
chief town was Ssaganak, near the upper Syr Darya, was dependent to
a certain extent on the Golden Horde, ruled over by the descendants
of Batou, the second son of Jujy. But this state of dependence was
not of long duration, for towards the close of the 14th century, the
famous Toktamish, a prince of the elder branch, succeeded in annexing
the whole of the Golden Horde to his possessions, after having, with
the assistance of Timour, rid himself of his uncle Ourous Khan.
Having quarrelled with his protector, this ambitious man was under
the necessity of courting the friendship of Bajazet, who was only too
pleased to secure another ally against the threatening domination of
the ruler of Jagatai; there is, therefore, nothing surprising in the
fact of the sultan sending a certain number of Christian captives to
Toktamish, were it only to console him for the unfortunate termination
to his war with Timour in 1395. At all events, the partisans of
Toktamish, who effected their escape under the leadership of Timour
Tash, upon the defeat of the former near the banks of the Terek, were
received by the sultan with open arms. Savelieff (_Mon. Joud._, 314)
gives it as his opinion, that Timour Tash who held the Crimea under the
suzerainty of Toktamish, was himself a member of the Jujy family; in
which case the sovereign of Sebaste might well have given his daughter
in marriage to him, without contracting a misalliance, and the very
nature of this alliance, may have incited Timour Tash to treat his
benefactor with ingratitude in laying siege to Sebaste, his whole
household being in his suite, after the custom of the country. Having
necessarily become reconciled with the sultan, he might easily have
treated him with treachery at the battle of Angora, by passing over to
the ranks of his countrymen; in such a case they would have obtained a
victory, in consequence of defection amongst the Tatars in the service
of Bajazet, as we are informed by Arabian authors, and not, as Persian
and Turkish historians have imagined, through defection among “the Turk
princes of Asia Minor”.
It is, nevertheless, no easy matter to reconcile this hypothesis
with the statement made by Clavijo (_Hakluyt Soc. Publ._, 75). After
alluding to the capture of Sebaste by Timour, the Spanish envoy
continues:—“Before he arrived there, he met with a race called the
White Tartars, who always wander over the plain; and he fought and
conquered them, and took their lord prisoner; and took away as many as
fifty thousand men and women with him. He then marched to Damascus,”
etc., etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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