Travels to Tana and Persia : $b A narrative of Italian travels in Persia, in the 15th and 16th centuriesBarbaro, Giosofat
History
Travels to Tana and Persia : $b A narrative of Italian travels in Persia, in the 15th and 16th centuries
Barbaro, Giosofat
Iran -- Description and travel; Voyages and travels
Having hitherto declared that that apꝑteigneth vnto those regions,
partely by heresaye, but most by that I haue seene; nowe, retoʳneng to
Thauris, I shall showe what I did wᵗʰ the King Assambei, whan, at his
departing from Thauris, he bruted that he wolde go against Ottomanno,
though by divers tokens that I ꝑceaued, I beliued it not. He had in all
as ferrefooʳthe[134] as I coulde esteeme betwene xx and xxiiijᵐˡ good
horsemen: and the rest that came for the furnyture of the campe were
about vjᵐˡ men. As for women, children, and serūnts, I shall neede to
saie no more, bicause I haue sufficiently spoken of them before. Whan we
had travailed vij daies we torned on the right hande towards GIORGIANA,
in the confynes of the sea Maggiore, into the wᶜʰ cuntrey we entred.
For the king mynded to spooyle it, and therefore sent his skowtes afore
aftre their maner: being about vᵐˡ horses: which cleered the waie, the
best they coulde, by felling and burneng the woodes; for their passaige
laye through mightie mountaignes and very great woodes. So that we might
see the fyre aferre of, and thereby knowe what waie to keepe. And thus
was the waie readie made twoo daies ioʳney into Giorgiana, wheare we
arryved at Tifilis, the which being habandoned (as the rest of all the
hither parte of that region was) we tooke wᵗhout resistance. And passing
from thens we came to Gory and to certein other places thereabouts;
which were all putt to sacke, as the like was doon to a great parte
of that region. At leingth, the King Assambei fell to composic̃on wᵗʰ
the King PANCRATIO, King of Giorgiana, and wᵗʰ Giurgura, who confyneth
wᵗʰ the same king that they shulde give him xvjᵐˡ ducates, and that he
shulde leave all the cuntrey to them except Tefilis. Wherevpon the King
PANCRATIO and GIURGURA, myndeng to paie this mooney, sent vnto Assambei
iiij balasses, reasonable good, but neither so great nor so faire as
those that arr wonte to be shewed on Saint Markes aulter in Venice. So
that whan the King Assambei had receaued these iiij balasses, he sent
for me to praise and to valewe them. But first, er I came at him, those
ambassadoʳˢ of the said King Pancratio and of Giurgura (that had brought
the balasses) sent to me, praieng me to valewe them well, considering
they also were Christen men. Whan I was come to the king, he caused
these balasses to be delivered unto me, and as I looked substancially
on one of them, the King ASSAMBEI demaunded of me what it was woʳthe:
wherevnto, answering that I thought him woʳthe iiijᵐˡ ducates, he fell
on a lawghing, saieng, O they arr very deere in thy cuntrey. I woll no
balasses, but I woll haue mooney. As the voice went there were at that
tyme caried awaie out of those cuntreys betwene iiij and vᵐˡ p̄sons:
and the places which we overranne were on the lyfte hande towardes the
region of Giurgura. Cotathis,[135] belonging to the King Pancratio, is
a litle towne standing on a litle hyll, wᵗʰ a ryver vnder it:[136] over
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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