The Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger, a Native of Bavaria, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1396-1427 — John Shaqi
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
of the sea-board, so he would also, by the help of God the Almighty,
become the powerful lord and king of the sea. Samson consists of
two cities opposite to each other, and their walls are distant, one
from the other, an arrow’s flight. In one of these cities there are
Christians, and at that time the Italians of Genoa(1) possessed it. In
the other are Infidels to whom the country belongs. At that time the
lord of the city and country was a duke called Schuffmanes, son of [the
duke of] Middle Pulgrey, the chief city of which country is Ternowa,(2)
and who at that time had three hundred fortified towns, cities, and
castles. This country was conquered by Weyasit who took the duke and
his son. The father died in prison, and the son became converted to
the faith of the Infidels, so that his life might be spared. Weyasit
conquered Samson and the country, and conquered Zyenick; and the city
and the country he gave to him for his lifetime, in place of his
fatherland.
9.—How the Infidels remain in the fields with their cattle, in winter
and summer.
It is the custom among the Infidels for some lords to lead a wandering
life with their cattle, and when they come to a country that has good
pasturage, they rent it of the lord of the country for a time. There
was a Turkish lord called Otman, who wandered about with his cattle,
and in the summer came to a country called Tamast, and the capital of
the country is also so called. He asked the king of Tamast, who was
called Wurchanadin,(1) that he would lend him a pasturage where he
and his cattle might feed during the summer. The king lent him such
a pasturage, to which he went with his dependants and cattle, and
remained there the summer; and in autumn he broke up and returned to
his country, without the king’s permission and knowledge; and when the
king heard of this he became very angry, and took one thousand men with
him and went to the pasturage that Otman had occupied, and encamped
there, and sent four thousand horsemen after Otman, and ordered that
they should bring back Otman alive, with all his belongings. And when
Otman heard that the king had sent after him, he hid himself in a
mountain, so that those who rode after him could not find him; and they
encamped on a meadow in front of the mountain where Otman was with his
people, and remained there that night without troubling themselves
about him. And when the day dawned, Otman took one thousand of his best
horsemen to look at the winds, and when he saw that they were not on
their guard, and were without care, he rode towards them and suddenly
took them by surprise, so that they could not defend themselves, and
many of them were killed; the others took to flight. The king was told
how Otman had annihilated his expedition, but he would not believe it,
and thought that fun was being made of him, until some of them came
running to him. Even then he would not believe it, and sent one hundred
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