
Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 6: There and Back Again
02/08/21 • 47 min
The Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo story reaches its conclusion, and so does that of Timur aka Tamerlane.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.
I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.
Sources:
- Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859.
- Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005.
- Ahmad ibn 'Arabshah. Tamerlane or Timur the Great Amir, translated by J. H. Sanders. Luzac & Co., 1936.
- Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- Manz, Beatrice Forbes. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- Marozzi, Justin. Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization. Penguin, 2019.
- Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "Late Medieval Ambassadors And The Practice Of Cross-Cultural Encounters 1250–1450," in The ‘Book’ of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700, edited by Palmira Brummett.
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The Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo story reaches its conclusion, and so does that of Timur aka Tamerlane.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.
I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.
Sources:
- Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859.
- Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005.
- Ahmad ibn 'Arabshah. Tamerlane or Timur the Great Amir, translated by J. H. Sanders. Luzac & Co., 1936.
- Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- Manz, Beatrice Forbes. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- Marozzi, Justin. Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization. Penguin, 2019.
- Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "Late Medieval Ambassadors And The Practice Of Cross-Cultural Encounters 1250–1450," in The ‘Book’ of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700, edited by Palmira Brummett.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode

Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 5: A Season of Feasting at Samarkand
Our travellers from early 15th century Spain arrive at the outskirts of Samarkand and meet with their host Timur.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.
I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.
Sources:
- Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859.
- Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005.
- Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- Manz, Beatrice Forbes. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "Late Medieval Ambassadors And The Practice Of Cross-Cultural Encounters 1250–1450," in The ‘Book’ of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700, edited by Palmira Brummett.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Next Episode

Medieval Lives 1: al-Ghazāl
This is a story about Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakam al-Bakrī al-Jayyānī, known also as al-Ghazāl (the Gazelle). It's the story of a 9th century poet on an embassy from the Emirate of Córdoba to a Viking ruler.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.
I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.
Sources:
- Allen, W.E.D. "The Poet and the Spae-Wife: An Attempt to Reconstruct Al-Ghazal’s Embassy to the Vikings," Saga Book, Vol. 15, No. 3 (1960).
- Hermes, Nizar F. The [European] Other in Medieval Arabic Literature and Culture: Ninth-Twelfth Century AD. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
- Pons-Sanchez, Sara M. "Whom did al-Ghazal meet? An Exchange of Embassies Between the Arabs From al-Andalus and the Vikings," Saga Book, Vol. 28 (2004).
- "A Hispano-Muslim Embassy to the Vikings in 845: An Account of al-Ghazal’s Journey to the North" at ballandalus.wordpress.com.
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