سفرنامه کلاویخو

by Ruy González de Clavijo (نویسنده), مسعود رجب نيا (مترجم)

Travelogue To Iran On Safavid Dynasty

Unknown Binding

About the author

Ruy González de Clavijo was a Castilian traveller and writer. In 1403-05 Clavijo was the ambassador of Henry III of Castile to the court of Timur, founder and ruler of the Timurid Empire. A diary of the journey, perhaps based on detailed notes kept while traveling, was later published in Spanish in 1582 (Embajada a Tamorlán) and in English in 1859 (Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the Court of Timour at Samarcand AD 1403-6).

Clavijo, a nobleman of Madrid and chamberlain to the king, set sail from Cadiz on 21 May 1403 in the company of Timur's ambassador, Muhammed al-Kazi, a Dominican friar, Alfonso Páez de Santa María, one of the king's guards, Gómez de Salazar, and other unnamed Castilians. Clavijo sailed through the Mediterranean, passing Majorca, Sicily and Rhodes to Constantinople. Using modern names for the countries through which he passed, Clavijo sailed along the Black Sea coast of Turkey to Trabzon and then overland through Armenia, Iran and Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan. He visited Tehran, Persia, in 1404. The original intention was to meet with Timur at his winter pasturage in what is now modern Georgia, but due to foul weather conditions and a shipwreck, the embassy was forced to return to Constantinople and spend the winter of 1403-1404 there.

After setting sail from Constantinople across the Black Sea, the entourage spent the following months following in the wake of Timur's army, but were unable to catch up to the rapidly moving, mounted horde. It is for this reason that the Castilian delegation continued all the way to Timur's capital at Samarkand, in modern Uzbekistan, arriving there on 8 September 1404, occasioning the most detailed contemporary description of Timur's court by a westerner.

Clavijo's long-sought first audience with Timur was in "a great orchard with a palace therein", the paradise garden of Iranian tradition, where Clavijo gave detailed descriptions of the trained and painted elephants he saw, and the tent-pavilions of jewel- and pearl-encrusted silks with tassels and banners that fluttered in the wind. The embassy spent several months in Samarkand, during which time the Castilians attended celebrations for Timur's recent victory at Ankarain July 1402, over the Turkish sultan, Bayezid I, whom he captured, relieving Western fears of Ottoman expansion in Hungary and spurring the desire for diplomatic connections on the part of Charles VI of France as well as Henry of Castile. Unable to procure a letter from Timur for their king, Henry, due to Timur's ill health (Timur's final illness), the Castilians were forced to depart Samarkand on 21 November 1404, due to Timur's impending death.

Reviews

[Ali Asghar · Rating 3 out of 5]

کلاویخو سفیر اسپانیا در دوران تیمور بوده که از شمال غربی تا شمال شرقی ایران رو پیموده
ماکو، سلطانیه، خوی، نیشابور، سمرقند و . . . از جمله شهر هایی هستند که روایت دقیقی از اون ها در کتاب میخونید.
خفقان دوران تیمور، نوع وسیاست حکومتش و زندگی مردم در اون دوره به خوبی توی این سفرنامه شرح داده شده.

[Nazila · Rating 5 out of 5]

از آن دست سفرنامه‌هایی است که باید خواند، مملو است از اطلاعات دست اول درباره‌ی دوره‌ی تیموری سفری است پر مخاطره به خصوص وقتی در سرزمین عثمانی به سر می‌برد به واقع حکومتی خان‌خانی است هر کس برای خود داعیه‌ای دارد. همه دزد سر گردنه اند! در ایران امنیت بیش‌تر است مسیر از دریای مدیترانه است به طرف قسطنطنیه که هنوز در دست مسیحیان است و تیمور باعث به تأخیر افتادن این امر شد. برای همین شاه اسپانیا تصمیم می‌گیرد با تیمور دیدار کند منتها این دیدار مصادف است با آخرین سال حکومت تیمور ، بازگشت کلاویخو هم‌زمان است با درگیری جانشینان تیمور