Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo

Ruy González de Clavijo (? - April 2, 1412), Castilian traveler and writer.

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 on May 21, 1403 in the company of Timur's ambassador, Muhammed Al-Kazi, a Dominican friar, Alonso Páez de Santa María, one of the king's guards, Gómez de Salazar, and other unnamed Castilians. Clavijo sailed from Cadiz, then through the Mediterranean, passing Majorca, Sicily and Rhodes to Constantinople. Using modern names for the countries through which he passed, Clavijo passed along the Black Sea coast of Turkey to Trabzon and then overland through Armenia, Azerbaijan, 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 Samarqand, in modern Uzbekistan, arriving there on September 8, 1404, leaving the most detailed description of Timur's court by a westerner. The embassy spent several months in Samarqand, during which time the Castilians attended celebrations for Timur's recent victory over the Turkish sultan, Bayazid I, near Ankara in July of 1402. Unable to procure a letter from Timur for their king, Henry III, due to Timur's ill health (Timur's final illness), the Castilians were forced to depart Samarqand on 21 November of 1404 due to Timur's impending death.

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZVkMAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=clavijo Full text of the "Embassy", trans. C.R. Markham.]
* [http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/tamerlane.htm Excerpt, from González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406, trans. Guy le Strange (New York and London, 1928).]
* [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12593175330140403087846/ "Vida y hazañas del Gran Tamorlán, con la descripción de las tierras de su imperio y señorío", by Ruy González de Clavijo (modern Spanish)]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/clavijo/cltxt1.html Excerpt, from González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406, trans. Guy le Strange (New York and London, 1928).]

Further reading

Ruy González de Clavijo. "La embajada a Tamorlán". ed. de Francisco López Estrada. (Madrid: Castalia, 1999).

Ruy González de Clavijo. "Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406". Trans. Guy LeStrange. (London: Routledge, 1928).