Ruy González de Clavijo was a knight of Madrid and one of three envoys sent by King Henry III of Castile to Timur, known in Europe as Tamerlane. They sailed from the Bay of Cadiz in May 1403, wintered at Constantinople, crossed Armenia, Persia and Khorasan, and spent the autumn of 1404 at Samarkand, where they attended Timur's feasts and toured his new buildings. The book is a day-by-day account of what they saw and what they were told.
The three envoys reach this port on the Bay of Cadiz on 21 May 1403 and board their ship the next day. An envoy of Timur who is returning home sails with them.
224 October 1403 to 20 March 1404
Constantinople
Istanbul, Turkey
The envoys land at Pera, the Genoese suburb, on 24 October 1403. They try to sail on in November but are wrecked near the mouth of the Black Sea, so they spend the winter at Pera and leave again on 20 March 1404.
311 to 27 April 1404
Trebizond
Trabzon, Turkey
The sea voyage ends here on 11 April 1404. From Trebizond the envoys go on by land, over the mountains to Erzincan and Erzurum.
429 May 1404
Calmarin
probably Surmari, now the village of Sürmeli on the Aras river in Iğdır province, Turkey · rough position
In Armenia, in sight of Mount Ararat, the envoys reach a strong city that locals call the first built after the Flood. The people tell them an 'Emperor of Tartary' sacked and burned it eight years before.
The first city after the Flood, sacked by the 'Emperor of Tartary'
Editorial contextIn Armenia the envoys reached Calmarin, a strong city in sight of Mount Ararat, which locals said was the first city built after Noah's flood. Its people told them that eight years earlier an 'Emperor of Tartary' had besieged it, broken the terms of surrender, and sacked and burned it. A few days later Clavijo passed Cusacana, 'half destroyed', which he says Toktamish, Emperor of Tartary, had ruined.
This city of Calmarin was the first city that was built in the world, after the flood, and it was built by the lineage of Noah. The people of the city said that, eight years ago, Tetani, Emperor of Tartary, besieged
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
About Golden Horde army ('Tetani, Emperor of Tartary')
Keep in mind
The Noah origin is local legend; the siege story continues on the next page.
55 to 8 June 1404
Khoy
Khoy, Iran
The envoys enter Persia. Here they find an envoy of the Sultan of Egypt who is taking presents to Timur, among them a giraffe, which Clavijo describes with wonder. The two embassies later ride on together to Samarkand.
611 to 20 June 1404
Tabriz
The envoys rest for nine days in this large, rich trading city before taking the road east.
The envoys rest at Tehran, which Clavijo calls a large and pleasant town without walls. Soon after leaving they pass the ruins of the old city of Rayy.
Outside the town the envoys see two towers built of mud and human heads, and two more that have fallen. They are told these are the heads of 'white Tartars' killed by Timur's army.
Editorial contextOutside Damghan the envoys saw towers of mud and human heads. They were told these were the heads of 'white Tartars', nomads from between Turkey and Syria whom Timur had deported to Damghan; when they tried to ride home, plundering as they went, his army killed them, and Timur ordered every white Tartar found to be put to death. Locals said lights burned on the towers at night.
These towers, which are made of heads, are built of the heads of a race of people called "white Tartars," natives of a country between Turkey and Syria. … The people of the city say, that they often see lights burning on the top of these towers in the night.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
The towers were seen; the story, the figure of 60,000 dead and the lights at night were told to the envoys.
1026 to 27 July 1404
Nishapur
Nishapur, Iran
One of the three envoys, Gómez de Salazar, is carried into the city too ill to ride, and dies here. The others ride on the next day, pressed forward by Timur's officers.
1130 July 1404
Mashhad
Mashhad, Iran
The envoys visit the great shrine of the imam here, then go on by Tus and across a desert in Khorasan.
122 August 1404
Tent camp in Khorasan
a river valley east of Mashhad, probably on the Tejen river near Sarakhs, on today's border of Iran and Turkmenistan · rough position
After two days and nights in the desert the envoys reach a river valley full of the tents of the Zagatays, Timur's own people. Clavijo notes that they have no other homes, and move with the seasons to sow corn, cotton and melons by the rivers.
Editorial contextAmong the Zagatay tents of Khorasan, Clavijo notes that these people have no other homes. In summer they camp by rivers and sow corn, cotton and melons, in winter they move to warm districts, and Timur and his army wander the same way. On the next page he describes their food of sour milk boiled with bits of dough, cooked over dung fires.
The people of these tents have no other dwelling place, and they wander over the plains, during both winter and summer. In summer they go to the banks of the rivers, and sow their corn, cotton, and melons … The lord, with all his host, wanders in the same way over the plains, winter and summer.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
Three days after passing Balkh the envoys cross the great river Oxus, today the Amu Darya, on a bridge of boats built for Timur's army. The same afternoon they reach the city of Termez on the far bank.
1428 to 29 August 1404
Kesh
Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan
At Timur's birthplace the envoys tour great palaces of brick and glazed tile, still being built. Clavijo sees a lion and sun over a doorway and doubts that Timur began the work. Here he also sets down what he was told of Timur's rise and of how his people came to be called Zagatays.
Timur's palace at Kesh: glazed tiles, and a doubt about who began it
Editorial contextAt Kesh (Shahrisabz), Timur's birthplace, the envoys toured palaces said to have been under construction for twenty years: brick arches covered in glazed tiles, a court paved with white stone around a great pool, and a gateway in gold and blue tiles. Clavijo noticed the lion-and-sun device over the door and argued that an earlier lord of Samarkand must have begun it, since Timur's own device was three circles. A rare case of a medieval visitor questioning a building's attribution.
On the top of this doorway there was the figure of a lion and a sun, which are the arms of the lord of Samarcand ; and, though they say that Timour Beg ordered these palaces to be built, I believe that the former lord of Samarcand gave the order
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
The Zagatays: Tartars who stayed and gave their name
Editorial contextClavijo explains Timur's people. An 'emperor of Tartary' divided his lands among four sons, and Zagatay (Chagatai) received Samarkand; when the locals killed him, his followers who stayed were called Zagatays. Timur descends from these 'Zagatay Tartars', and many Samarkand people now call themselves Zagatays to share in the famous name. Markham's note corrects the details of the story.
Timour Beg, and the other Zagatays who follow him, are descended from these Zagatay Tartars; and many people of the land of Samarcand have now taken this name of Zagatay, that they may share in the great name which the Zagatays have now attained.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
About Zagatays (Chagatai Mongols and Turks of Timur's realm)
Keep in mind
Local tradition as told to the envoys; Markham notes that Chagatai was not killed by his subjects.
1531 August to 21 November 1404
Samarkand
The envoys reach a garden outside the city on 31 August, and Timur receives them on 8 September 1404. For about two months they attend his feasts in gardens and a great tent camp outside the city, and Clavijo describes the city and its people. They leave on 21 November without a farewell audience.
Samarkand: an earth-walled city a little bigger than Seville
Editorial contextClavijo compares Samarkand to his own Seville: an earthen wall, a city a little larger, but with suburbs and gardens stretching for leagues and more people outside the walls than within. Timur's palaces stood among the gardens. Elsewhere he watches Timur drive a vaulted market street through the city in twenty days, pulling down houses in its path.
The city of Samarcand is situated in a plain, and surrounded by an earthen wall. It is a little larger than the city of Seville, but, outside the city, there are a great number of houses, joined together in many parts, so as to form suburbs.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
A tent palace on thirty-six poles and five hundred cords
Editorial contextOutside Samarkand Timur held his feasts in a vast camp. Clavijo measured the great pavilion by eye: square, three lances high, a hundred paces across, raised on twelve painted poles each as thick as a man's chest, with cart-wheel winches to lift them, porticoes on twenty-four more poles, and silk hangings inside. It shows that the tent tradition of the steppe survived as palace architecture beside Timur's brick buildings.
there was a great and lofty pavilion, which was like a tent, only square, and three lances high. It was a hundred paces broad, and had four corners, and the ceiling was round, like a vault. It was pitched against twelve poles, each as large round as a man, measured round the chest.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
Editorial contextClavijo explains how Timur filled Samarkand: he brought captives from every land he conquered, above all skilled workers. Silk weavers, bow-makers, glass and pottery makers came from Damascus; archers, masons and silversmiths from Turkey. So many arrived, some 150,000 of many nations, that many lived under trees and in caves outside the city. The page before says the villages around the city were peopled with captives too.
From Damascus he brought weavers of silk, and men who made bows, glass, and earthenware, so that, of those articles, Samarcand produces the best in the world. From Turkey he brought archers, masons, and silversmiths. He also brought men skilled in making engines of war
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
A tent city with streets, butchers and bath-houses
Editorial contextWhen Timur called his army together for his festivals, some twenty thousand men pitched their tents in their assigned places without confusion. Clavijo describes the result as a moving town: streets of stalls selling cooked sheep, fruit, barley and bread, and even tents for hot baths with boilers. Compare Rubruck's description of Batu's ordu 150 years earlier (W043).
In this horde there are always butchers and cooks who sell cooked sheep, and others who sell fruit and barley, and bakers who sell bread. Every division of the horde is provided with all that the troops require, and they are arranged in streets. There are even baths and bath men in the horde
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
Editorial contextAt a feast given by Timur's chief wife, the envoys were shown a tent containing a golden oak as tall as a man, with a trunk as thick as a leg, fruit of rubies, emeralds, turquoises, sapphires and pearls, and enamelled golden birds pecking at it. It echoes the silver tree Rubruck saw at Karakorum (W043), and Rockhill's note to Rubruck mentions Clavijo's tree.
there was a golden tree, made to resemble an oak ; with the trunk as big as a man's leg, from which many branches spread out in all directions, with leaves like those of an oak ; and it was as high as a man … The fruit of this tree consisted of rubies, emeralds, turquoises, sapphires, and wonderfully large pearls
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
Editorial contextAt Timur's feasts, cup-bearers made guests drain full cups in one pull, and refusing was an insult to the lord. The heaviest drinker earned the title bahadur, 'valiant'. Timur even sent the envoys a jug of wine beforehand so they would arrive in a jovial mood. The food was roast horse, sheep and rice.
They call the man who drinks the most wine Bahadur, which is as much as to say "a valorous man" ; and he who does not drink, is made to do so, although he does not wish it.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
Editorial contextClavijo repeats what he heard at Samarkand: fifteen days toward China lived a land of women who met men once a year, kept their daughters and sent their sons to the fathers. He adds that they were Greek Christians, once subjects of the emperor of Cathay, now of Timur, and descended from the Amazons of Troy. A classic legend attached to a real direction on the map.
These women are subject to Timour Beg ; they used to be under the emperor of Cathay, and they are Christians of the Greek Church. They are of the lineage of the Amazons who were at Troy, when it was destroyed by the Greeks.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
Women in helmets: how Timur beat the Emperor of Tartary
Editorial contextClavijo tells how Tokhtamysh, 'emperor of Tartary', raided Tabriz and was chased home by Timur. Finding the ford guarded, Timur marched upstream for three days, then had the camp women put on helmets to look like soldiers while the men doubled back, crossed at night and routed the Tartar camp. The next page tells how Tokhtamysh's servant Edigu then became the new lord of Tartary with a horde of 200,000 horsemen.
on the third night Timour Beg ordered the women to put helmets on their heads, that they might look like men ; and all the men rode on, with two horses a piece, leaving the royal encampment, the women who looked like men, the servants, and the prisoners.
Ruy González de Clavijo (translated by Clements R. Markham, 1859)
The envoys go home by way of Bukhara, Tabriz, Trebizond, Constantinople and Genoa. They are held at Tabriz for almost six months in 1405 by the unrest after Timur's death. They land in Spain in March 1406 and report to King Henry here later that month.
The road ends here
How sure is the line? The outward route is well fixed because the book dates most halts, but the positions of Calmarin and of the tent camp in Khorasan are rough, and the return journey is shown only as a single line home. The line joins the stops. It is not the exact road.
What is still uncertain (14 notes)
Calmarin: Le Strange's 1928 translation identifies it with medieval Surmari (Surmalu, today Sürmeli) on the south bank of the Aras. Markham's 1859 note guessed Etchmiadzin, with a question mark. The point shown is rough. The date, 29 May 1404, is in the text.
The Calmarin story is dated 'about 1395' in the atlas because locals said the sack was eight years earlier. Le Strange's note says Timur himself stormed Surmari in 1387, so who sacked it and when is open. The stop only reports what Clavijo was told. The same passage also mentions Cusacana, passed on 9 June after Khoy, which is not given its own stop.
The Zagatay tent camp (page 112) is the one reached on 2 August 1404, two days past Mashhad. The 1859 edition does not name the river. Le Strange says it is the Tejen near Sarakhs, so the point is placed there as a rough position. The 1859 edition misprints this date and the one before it.
The account of the Zagatays (page 129) is told in the Kesh pages of the book, just before the envoys leave Kesh, so it is placed at Kesh. The atlas labels it Samarkand because it is about the people of Samarkand. Either stop can be defended.
The Tokhtamysh story (page 176) is told in the chapter on the city of Samarkand, where Clavijo says he will relate it 'in this place' after describing the city. It is therefore placed at Samarkand. The book does not say who told it to him. The battle itself was fought far away, north of the Caucasus.
The Amazon legend (page 175) is in the same Samarkand chapter. The land it describes lies well beyond the route.
The Egyptian envoy: the text calls him the envoy of the 'Sultan of Babylon', which the editors read as Cairo. The envoys found him at Khoy. The text says the two parties travelled in company from mid July, after leaving Timur's son-in-law near Tehran. Le Strange's introduction says they travelled together all the way from Khoy.
Sultaniyeh: the 1859 edition prints the arrival as 'Thursday, the 22nd of June', a misprint. The days of the week before and after it give Thursday 26 June 1404.
Gómez de Salazar: the text says he was carried into Nishapur on 26 July 1404 and ended his days there. It does not give the day of his death, and the others left on 27 July.
The embarkation: Markham has the envoys get under way on Tuesday 22 May 1403. Le Strange has them cross the bay to the ship at Cadiz on 22 May and set sail on Wednesday 23 May.
The return: the text says the envoys landed at Sanlúcar on Sunday 1 March 1406 and reached the king at Alcalá de Henares on Monday 24 March 1406. Those days of the week do not fit those dates, and Le Strange corrects them to 7 and 22 March. Only the month is given at the stop.
Miran Shah is called Timur's eldest son in the text. Modern accounts make him the third son, so the stop says only 'son'.
Erzincan, Erzurum, Rayy, Tus, Andkhoy and Balkh are known halts left off the stop list to keep it within sixteen. The return journey is one line from Samarkand to Spain and does not trace the real road back.
Checked against the full text of Markham's 1859 translation and Le Strange's 1928 translation. The Encyclopaedia Iranica article could not be opened during the check.