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4THE HISTORICAL SUGNIFICANCE OF THE TRIP TO SAMARKAND OF SPANISH
AMBASSADOR DE CLAVIJO
KHOJAEV MEHROVAR PARDALIEVICH
Docent of the Department of History of the ancient world, middle ages and archeology, Tajik National University, Republic of Tajikistan
Abstract: At present, historians are increasingly paying attention to travelogues written by different people in different centuries. Because the author of the travelogues is a witness of lasting connections with his own age, and their travelogues provide answers to questions that historical treatises do not say anything about, or inform about in passing. By paying attention to this, there will be more opportunities to reflect the issues of political, social, economic and cultural history of the states and the people living in that territory in different historical periods. However, it is fair to mention that there are still many historical travelogues that have not been properly discussed due to various factors and remain unknown to a wide range of researchers. Undoubtedly, the introduction of valuable historical materials of these travelogues will open new pages in the study of the history of Khorasan and Maverannahr in different historical periods.
The historical information of Clavijo's treatise should be used more as an applied-comparative and additional source to explain some of the unclear issues of the history of Khorasan and Maverannahr at the end of the XIV century and the beginning of the XV century. The criticality of the research topic is concluded in the fact that the materials obtained from Clavijo's treatise «Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406» and their comparison with other materials from historical sources close to the time of its creation reflect the recent historical situation XIV century and the beginning of the XV century complete Maverannahr and Khorasan and give qualitatively new features to the explanation of its historical information.
Keywords: Clavijo, diary, Samarkand, Timur, Maverannahr, Spain, Khorasan, Sreznevsky, Le Strange, Masoud Rajabnia, Mirokova, source.
The travel notes of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, telling about the journey of the Spanish embassy to Samarkand to the court of Timur in 1403-1406, have come to us in two copies stored in the National Library of Madrid. The manuscript closest, according to experts, to the time of the author's life dates back to the first half of the 15th century; it consists of 154 sheets, written on both sides; the text on the pages is arranged in two columns. Some sheets are badly damaged, there are many gaps in the text, and there is no beginning or end. The second manuscript, dating from the end of the XV century, is much better preserved: it only lacks the title, beginning and colophon, which is why it was used for the first printed edition of Clavijo's diary. The publisher Argote de Molina made a title page, a short annotation introduced at the beginning and repeated at the end, and published the diary of the Spanish ambassador in 1582 in Seville, calling it «History of the great Tamorlane», with a dedication to Senor Antonio Perez, adviser and secretary of state of the Spanish king Philip II (1556-1598). Clavijo's work was created approximately half a century before the start of Spanish printing, and its publication was carried out only a century and a half later, the time of the highest power of Spain, when Mexico and Peru had already been conquered, when the Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez Balboa penetrated South America through the Isthmus of Panama, when Spanish influence reigned supreme in Europe. The publication of Clavijo's work was intended to illustrate the far-sighted policy of the Spanish kings, back at the very beginning of the XVcentury who captured the Canary Islands (1402), which became the prologue to discoveries in the New World, and sent embassies to the East - to Asia Minor and even to Samarkand. The XV century was a time of intense trade exchanges between East and West, carried out
through the Mediterranean and Black Seas, Western Asia, the Caucasus, Iran, and Central Asia. Not only Western European merchants were interested in this exchange, but also the ruling feudal elite in the countries of Western and Central Asia, since transit trade made it possible to replenish the treasury through duties.
The XIV-XV centuries were a time of intense diplomatic and commercial exchanges between East and West, carried out through the Mediterranean and Black Seas, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Central Asia, leading to China. Not only Western European merchants were interested in this exchange, but also the ruling feudal elite in the countries of Western and Central Asia, including the Turks, who traditionally played an intermediary role in China's trade with Western countries. At the turn of XIV-XV century's news began to reach Europe about the power of the ruler of Central Asia, Timur (13361405), who also subjugated vast expanses of the Middle East and Northern India to his power. In 1396 Timur returned to Samarkand after a «five-year campaign». He was seized by a thirst to conquer the entire Old World. He told his associates that «one ruler is enough to rule this world (jahon)». [4, p.5-8] To implement this idea, in 1397-1398, he was going to make a trip to China. However, this plan was thwarted by events in Hindu, where the Afghan tribes unexpectedly captured the valley of the Sind River. On the verge of the XIV-XV centuries in the history of the Balkan Peninsula is characterized by the rapid growth of the military power of the Ottoman Empire. The first major clash between the Turks and the peoples of Europe took place in 1389 on the Kosovo field in Serbia.
In the year 1400 the princes of Europe sympathetically were much bestirred, fearing the imminent fall of Constantinople and the extinction of the Eastern Empire. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I was already in possession of almost the whole of what subsequently became Turkey in Europe. The Emperor Manuel still was lord of Constantinople, but beyond the city walls possessed a mere strip of territory along the north coast of the Sea of Marmora, and extending to the Black Sea, a strip some fifty miles in length but under thirty in breadth. Four years before (September 1396) an immense composite crusading army under the leadership of the Count of Nevers (a cousin of king Charles VI of France) had marched against the Turks to the support of king Sigismund of Hungary. But the Christians had been completely routed by Sultan Bayezid at Nicopolis on the lower Danube, an immense number of them had been killed, a lesser number made prisoners (who later had to be ransomed at heavy cost), and Europe in terror, the Emperor Manuel now shut up in Constantinople, all were waiting to learn what the Sultan next would do. From the year 1400 to 1402 the Emperor Manuel passed his days seeking in vain for help, voyaging through Italy and France, also coming over to England where he was entertained by Henry IV of Lancaster, but no aid was forthcoming. After these two years spent in disappointment Manuel had finally to make his way back to the East, landing first in Greece whence, impotently, he watched the events that were going forward in his capital every day falling further into the power of Bayezid camped at its gates.[13, p. 2]
During the last, «seven-year campaign» (1399-1404) to the west, Timur began a decisive struggle with the Turkish sultan Bayezid I and the Egyptian sultan Nasiriddin Faraj, who concluded an agreement between themselves. To this end, Timur made a trip to Syria and captured the city of Aleppo, Damascus and Baghdad (1401). During Timur's stay in Asia Minor, he exchanged embassies with Sultan Bayezid. However, the latter ignored Timur's message.
Meanwhile, Bayezid, having mastered the territory of Erzinjan and Maltia in Asia Minor, makes a direct challenge to the formidable Timur. In the fight against Turkey, Timur could only rely on the help of European countries that had a significant fleet. That is why, on the eve of the decisive battle between Timur and Sultan Bayezid I near Ankara, which took place on July 28, 1402, the embassies of European states reached Timur's headquarters in Asia Minor, hoping to fight against Turkey with the support of Timur. First of all, Western diplomats themselves showed great interest in the fight against Turks. [7, 14-19]
For example, Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos in Constantinople, John VII, together with the head of the Republic of Genoa on the outskirts of Pera, through the mediation of the Emperor of Trebizond, encouraged Timur to oppose Bayezid, in return promising help in the war and payment of taxes previously paid to the Turks. During his stay in the Balkans, Timur carried on diplomatic correspondence with the rulers of the more distant states of Western Europe, for example, with the French king Charles VI (1382-1422) from the Valois dynasty and the English king Henry IV of Lancaster (1399-1413). [9, p.55-58]
Judging by the correspondence, the four European states and Timur had one common enemy - the mighty Ottoman Empire. The originals and copies of these letters have survived in the libraries of many countries of Western Europe and India. The prominent French orientalist of the early XIX century, Sylvester de Sacy, took up the study of this correspondence between Timur and Charles VI. King Henry III of Spain (1390-1407), after Timur's victory over the Turks and the capture of Bayezid, sent a representative embassy headed by Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo with gifts and a letter to Samarkand, to Timur's court in the hope of extracting certain benefits from this for his country.
To return to the events of the year 1402, we learn from Clavijo that at Eastertide Henry III, who was anxious for authentic news, had despatched two envoys into the Levant to report on what was going forward, and so it came about that during the summer they, having reached the Aegean and landing, presented themselves before Timur in his camp outside Angora, where they were graciously received. After the great victory of the 20th July Timur set out to march in his leisurely fashion back to Samarkand, intending to sojourn that winter season in the plains of Qarabagh that are in eastern Georgia. However before leaving Angora Timur saw fit to despatch a return embassy to Spain with many rich gifts for king Henry, 3 his envoys being shown the way westward by the Spaniards now on their homeward journey: and this led in due course to the famous embassy of Clavijo and his fellow ambassadors. These profited by the companionship of the Tartar envoy and followed Timur, hoping to come up with him in Georgia, but being delayed by winter weather ultimately had to seek him in Samarqand. The Spanish ambassadors were three in number, the king's Chamberlain Clavijo, the friar Alfonso Paez and an officer of the royal guard named Gomez de Salazar. They bore with them many royal gifts from their king for Timur, among the rest a mew of gerfalcons for which Spain at that time was celebrated. The embassy travelled with many attendants: some of whom as will be related left their bones in Persia, where too Gomez de Salazar succumbed to the hardships of travel dying at Nishapur on the outward journey.
Clavijo set out to travel to Samarkand somewhat over a century after Marco Polo had shown in his famous book how Central Asia could be come to. From Spain to Samarqand the journey ran over seventy degrees of longitude going nearly due west, never far from the fortieth parallel of latitude. Journeying diligently but in a leisurely fashion the embassy reached Samarqand from Cadiz in a little under fifteen months, having many delays and a stoppage of five months in Constantinople. The reason for Clavijo's arrival in Samarkand was the celebration on the occasion of Timur's victory, arranged by him at his headquarters in the Balkans, where he received many ambassadors sent to him with an expression of humility, he also graciously received the envoys of Spain. Releasing them to their homeland, Timur richly endowed them and sent with them his ambassador named Muhammad al-Kazi to Spain. This was one of Timur's several contacts with European emissaries. Others Timur initiated himself—with the objective of finding alliances against the Ottomans—including exchanges with Charles VI of France, Henry IV of England, the Genoese, and the Venetians.
In Samarkand city the ambassadors visited the Mosques and the so-named Cross Palace where they were shown Timur's bedroom. Although he was too feeble to sit his horse and had to be carried abroad in his litter, Timur was perpetually out seeing to the buildings in progress. He presided at all the feasts, ate enormous meals of roast horse, and sat drinking wine from dawn to dark, often continuing all
night at his potations, as on more than one occasion mentioned. Justice was dispensed out of hand, and Clavijo records that with the Tartars it was considered more honourable to be hanged than to be beheaded, thus contrary, as he notes, to the usage of Spain. The fourteen great elephants that Timur had brought back from his Indian campaign of the year 1399 performed tricks at the festivals, and the appearance of an elephant, since none had presumably been seen in Spain, is minutely described. In short the ambassadors were very nobly entertained and Timur's administration in peace and war is shrewdly set forth with commentary by the observant envoy. The result of all this feasting was that in the late autumn Timur fell ill, and his intimate attendants thought he was about to die. It proved a premature alarm for he got better again, but not to involve the foreign ambassadors in the turmoils of a disputed succession, the Spaniards with the Egyptians were urged to depart in peace, and not to wait for any farewell audience of his Highness, who (the attendant lords said) could or would not again see them. This was disappointing to their dignity, and Clavijo for one vigorously protected at the supposed affront, complaining above all that no letter in reply to that of his master the king of Castile was forthcoming from Timur. All remonstrance, however, proved unavailing, they had to yield to pressure, and in company with the Egyptian ambassador, and others from Turkey, Clavijo and his companion set forth homeward bound from Samarkand in the last days of November 1404.
According to Clavijo's description, «it was that on Monday the 8th of September we ambassadors left that garden, the place where we had been lodged, and were carried in to the city of Samarqand after crossing the plain. This on all hands is occupied by private gardens and houses between which are streets and squares where goods of all kinds were on sale. By the hour of tierce (at nine in the morning) we were come to a great orchard, with a palace therein, where Timur was in residence, and this, as will be understood, lay some distance without the city. As soon as we had arrived they caused us to alight at a certain house that was built outside the palace, and here two of the lords of the court came forward to us saying that we were to give up into their hands such gifts or offerings as we were bringing for presentation to his Highness, seeing that they would arrange and dispose these objects suitably, having them borne by the hands of attendants who would later bring them in and lay them before Timur. As soon as we had given up our gifts into their hands these lords departed: but not before they had likewise said the same to the ambassador of the Sultan of Egypt who was with us, and he too therefore now gave up into their hands the present he had brought. As soon as our offerings had thus been despatched, other attendants took charge of us holding each ambassador under his arm-pit, and led us forward entering the orchard by a wide and very high gateway, most beautifully ornamented with tile-work in gold and blue. Before this gateway were stationed the imperial door-keepers on guard armed with maces, so that none improperly might dare approach near the gate, although without there had now assembled a very great crowd of folk to see us. On entering what first we noticed was six great elephants, each bearing on its back a small castle of wood-work carrying two standards: and in these castles were their attendants who made the elephants play tricks for our entertainment as we passed by. And thus we went forward and soon came to the men charged with our offerings and gifts which same they were displaying very suitably and bearing aloft in their arms. We ambassadors now passed on standing in front of the bearers of our gifts, and they here made us wait a while, sending on messengers to report that we had come. Then to meet each of us there came forward two of those lords who were in attendance, and they took us as aforesaid under the arms thus to lead us in. Of our company was that Tartar envoy whom Timur had sent (from Angora) to the King of Castile, but at his present appearance his friends laughed much for he was dressed by us in the manner and fashion of a gentleman of Spain. Thus they brought us all forward till we came to where a certain great lord of the court, a very old man, was seated on a raised dais, he being indeed a nephew of Timur, the son of his sister, and we all made him our obeisances. [13, p.115]
Clavijo further reports that the envoys from Spain were lifted up, «then passing on we came before another dais where we found seated several young princes, the grandsons of his Highness, to whom we likewise paid our respects, and at this point they demanded of us the Letter which we were bringing from our lord the King of Spain to Timur, which being passed over one of these princes received it in his hands who they said was (Khalil Sultan) the son of Prince Miran Shah, the eldest son of Timur (whom we had seen at Sultaniyah). Those young princes, who were three in number, now got up and forthwith carried away our Letter, bearing it to his Highness and we were told to follow after them. Then coming to the presence beyond, we found Timur and he was seated under what might be called a portal, which same was before the entrance of a most beautiful palace that appeared in the background. He was sitting on the ground, but upon a raised dais before which there was a fountain that threw up a column of water into the air backwards, and in the basin of the fountain there were floating red apples. His Highness had taken his place on what appeared to be small mattresses stuffed thick and covered with embroidered silk cloth, and he was leaning on his elbow against some round cushions that were heaped up behind him. He was dressed in a cloak of plain silk without any embroidery, and he wore on his head a tall white hat on the crown of which was displayed a balas ruby, the same being further ornamented with pearls and precious stones. As soon as we came in sight of his Highness we made him our reverence, bowing and putting the right knee to the ground and crossing our arms over the breast. Then we advanced a step and again bowed, and a third time we did the same, but this occasion kneeling on the ground and remaining in that posture. Then Timur gave command that we should rise to come nearer before him, and the various lords who up to this point had been holding us under the arms now left us for they dared not advance any nearer to his Highness. There were three nobles here whom we especially noticed standing in Timur's presence in waiting on him, for these were his Highness' chief chamberlains, and their names, as we found later, were Shah Melik Mirza, Burunday Mirza and Nur-ad-Din Mirza. These three now came forward, and taking each of us ambassadors by the arm advanced with us to come to stand immediately before the place where Timur sat, and here again they made us kneel. His Highness however commanded us to arise and stand close up to him that he might the better see us, for his sight was no longer good, indeed, he was so infirm and old that his eyelids were falling over his eyes and he could barely raise them to see. We remark that his Highness never gave us his hand to kiss, for that is not their custom, no one with them should kiss the hand of any great lord which to do would here be deemed unseemly. Timur now enquired of us for the health of the King our Master saying: «How is it with my son your King? How goes it with him? Is his health good?» We suitably answered and then proceeded to set out the message of our embassy at length, his Highness listening carefully to all that we had to say. When we had finished Timur turned and proceeded to converse with certain of the great lords who were seated on the ground at his feet: as they afterwards told one of these personages here present was the son of Toktamish the late Khan of Tartary, while another was the descendant of that (Chagatay) Khan who had formerly ruled over the province of Samarqand, while others were princes of the blood or grandees all of the family of his Highness» [13, p. 77-98].
Clavijo emphased that turning to them therefore Timur said: «See now these Ambassadors whom my son the King of Spain has sent to me. He indeed is the greatest of all the kings of the Franks who reign in that farther quarter of the earth where his people are a great and famous nation. I will send back a message of good will to my son this King of Spain. Indeed it had been enough that he should have sent me his Ambassadors with a Letter merely and no offerings or gifts. It suffices me to know that he is well in health and state, and no gift from him do I ever require. Those lords now conducting us began by placing us in a seat below that of one who it appeared was the ambassador of Chays Khan, the emperor of Cathay. Now this ambassador had lately come to Timur to demand of him the tribute, said to be due to his master, and which Timur year by year had formerly paid. His Highness at this
moment noticed that we, the Spanish ambassadors, were being given a seat below that of this envoy from the Chinese Emperor, whereupon he sent word ordering that we should be put above, and that other envoy below. Then no sooner had we been thus seated than one of those lords came forward, as from Timur, and addressing that envoy from Cathay publicly proclaimed that his Highness had sent him to inform this Chinaman that the ambassadors of the King of Spain, the good friend of Timur and his son, must indeed take place above him who was the envoy of a robber and a bad man the enemy of Timur, and that he his envoy must sit below us: and if only God were willing, he Timur would before long see to and dispose matters so that never again would any Chinaman dare come with such an embassy as this man had brought. Thus it came about that later at all times during the feasts and festivities to which his Highness invited us, he always gave command that we should have the upper place. Further on the present occasion, no sooner had his Highness thus disposed as to how we were to be seated, than he ordered our dragoman to interpret and explain to us the injunction given in our behalf. This Emperor of China, as we have said, is called Chays Khan, a title which signifies Emperor of Nine Empires, but the Tartars call him Tanguz, a name given in mockery, for this with them is as who would say the Pig Emperor. He is however the Emperor ruling an immense realm, and of old Timur had been forced to pay him tribute: though now as we learnt he is no longer willing, and will pay nothing to that Emperor. [13, p.116-117]
Clavijo then describes the process of the meal itself. Clavijo writes «And the amount of meat that was placed before us was a wonder to behold. Further the custom, as aforesaid, is that no sooner had any dish been served to us and done with than it was passed back to our servants to be carried away by them: and so ample was this store thus provided for our later consumption that had our servants cared to carry it all home it might have lasted us for the space of at least half a year. As soon as these boiled and roast meats had been eaten they next brought in stews of mutton, and balls of forced meat with many side dishes of diverse sorts. Following we were served with a quantity of fruit, such as melons and peaches and grapes; and with the same they now brought in, for us to drink from, many bowls and goblets of gold and silver that contained mares' milk sweetened with sugar, an excellent beverage that they have custom to use during the summer season» [13, p.118].
The ambassador reports that on «On the following Monday which was the 15th of September Timur left that palace of the Plane Tree Garden going on to yet another, a place of great beauty, where before its entrance gate was a high portal very finely built of brick ornamented with tiles wrought variously in gold and blue. On this Monday he ordered a great feast to be made to which all three of us ambassadors were invited, together with a numerous company, men and women, of those who were his Highness's relatives: besides others. The garden where this festival took place is very large and it is planted with many fruit-bearing trees with others that are to give shade, and throughout are led avenues and raised paths that are bordered by palings along which the guests might pass on their way. Throughout the garden many tents had been pitched with pavilions of coloured tapestries for shade, and the silk hangings were of diverse patterns, some being quaintly embroidered and others plain in design. In the centre of this garden there was built a very fine palace the ground plan of which was a cross. The interior was all most richly furnished with hangings on the walls, and within there was a chamber with three arched alcoves6 which were sleeping places each with a raised dais, the walls and flooring being of coloured tiles. Entering this chamber the largest of the three alcoves was the one facing you, and here stood a screen made of silver and gilt: this being of the height of a man, and broad as to measure three outstretched arms. In front of this screen was a bed composed of small mattresses some covered with kincob (gold brocade) some with silk stuff worked with gold thread, one mattress being placed above the other on the floor; and this was his Highness's couch. The walls here about were all hidden being covered by silk hangings of a rose coloured stuff, that was ornamented with spangles of silver plate gilt, each spangle set with an emerald or pearl or other precious stone. Above these wall hangings
were strips of silk dependant, and of the width each of a palm across, these coming down to join the hangings below, and ornamented not unlike these last. To the same were attached many coloured silk tassels, and in the draught that blew these waved about here and there after a very pleasant fashion to see. At the entrance of this the chief alcove we are describing, there was a fine archway that was closed by a hanging, made after the same fashion as the rest, and this curtain was fixed from a cross pole like the wood of a lance. From this curtain or hanging depended silken cords with great tassels coming down to the ground. The two remaining alcoves were adorned with hangings after a fashion similar to the one just described, and everywhere the floor was covered with carpets and reed mattings». [13, p.119-120]
The contact of the envoys of Spain with Timur was short-lived. It lasted from September 8 to November 1, 1404. The envoys came to bow to Timur so that he would let them go back home. Timur, through his intermediary, informed the envoys that they were free and let them forgive him for not being able to talk to them that day, as he had to see his grandson Pir-Mukhamadd to India.
But, in fact, as many researchers write, Timur was fully engaged in preparing a campaign in China, as noted above, to punish its emperor, who considered Timur his vassal and demanded tribute. All Clavijo's attempts to see Timur and receive from him a letter in response to the message of King Henry III of Castile were unsuccessful. Clavijo and members of the embassy left Samarkand back to Spain on Friday, November 21, 1404. The Spanish were joined by the envoy of the Sultan of Babylon, the brother of a large Turkish lord named Alaman Olgan, one man from Sivas, another from the city of Altobosco and another from the city of Smyrna. The envoys were on the road leading to Bukhara. Rui Gonzalez de Clavijo was an unusually observant person.
In his Diary, he left an accurate description of the city of Samarkand, which has not lost its scientific significance in our time. Clavijo describes Timur's Samarkand in this way: «The city of Samarkand lies on a plain and is surrounded by an earthen rampart and very deep ditches. It is a little larger than the city of Seville that is inside (the city wall), and outside the city many houses were built adjoining (to it) from different sides as a suburb. The whole city is surrounded by orchards and vineyards, which in some places stretch for a league and a half and in others for two. And the city is among them. Between these gardens lie streets and squares, very populated, where many people live and where bread, meat and much more are sold. So, what is behind the rampart is more populated (than the city itself). In these country gardens there are many large and famous buildings, the lord himself has palaces and main cellars there. In addition, noble citizens have their own houses and premises in these gardens. And there are so many of these gardens and vineyards around the city that when you drive up to it, it seems that you are approaching a whole forest of tall trees and in the middle of it (stands) the city itself. And through the city and gardens many irrigation canals have been laid; in these gardens (also) many melons and cotton are grown. And the melons in this land are plentiful and excellent» [16, p. 107-111]. There are so many of them in the villages that they are dried and stored like figs from year to year. And they are preserved in this way: cut across in large pieces, remove the crust and put in the sun, and when they dry, they collect everything, put it in bags and store it like that for years. Outside the city are plains, where there are many villages in which the king settled people from other lands he conquered. This land is abundant in everything - both in bread and wine and meat, fruits and food; the rams there are very large and with large fat tails, and there are those whose tail (weighs) twenty pounds, as much as one person can hold in his hand. And there are so many of these rams and they are so cheap that when the lord was there with all his army, a pair of them cost one ducat. Other goods are (also) very cheap, and for one mer, equal to half a real, they gave one and a half fangs of barley. Bread is so cheap that (cheaper) cannot be, and rice is incredibly abundant. So abundant and rich is this city and its lands, which is simply amazing. And for this wealth, he was named Samarkand, and his real name is Simeskint, which means a rich village, so simes means they
have a big one, and kint (kant) - a village, and hence the name Samarkand came from. The wealth of this land is not only in the abundance of food, but also in silk fabrics, satin, damask, sendal, taffeta, tersenal, which are produced here a lot (also) in fur and silk linings, in ointments, spices and in gold and azure colors and other items. Therefore, the lord really wanted to glorify this city and, when he conquered some lands, he brought people from everywhere to inhabit the city and (surrounding) lands, especially he, gathered masters in various crafts. From Damascus he sent as many craftsmen as he could find: weavers of all kinds, archery craftsmen and gunsmiths, those who work glass and clay, and these (masters) are considered the best in the world. And from Turkey, he brought crossbowmen and other craftsmen that he could find: masons, goldsmiths, as many of them were found, and he brought so many of them that you can find any craftsmen and craftsmen in the city. In addition, he brought craftsmen for (throwing) machines and scorers and those who weave ropes for these devices. They sowed hemp and flax, which had never been in this land before. And so many different people (Timurbek) gathered from all (sides) to this city, both men and women, that they say there were more than one hundred and fifty thousand people. Among these people were different peoples - Turks, Arabs, Moors and others, Armenian and Greek Catholics, Christians and Jacobites, and those who perform the rite of baptism with fire on their faces, that is, Christians who have special ideas about faith ... In addition, this city is rich in various goods that flow into it from different countries: from Rushia (Rus) and Tartalia come leather and linen, from China - silk fabrics, which are better everything is made in this country, especially atlases, which are said to be the best in the world, and the most valuable are those without patterns [13, p. 78-159].
According to Clavijo, Timur also took an active part in the construction of the tomb of his grandson Muhammad Sultan, who died in 1404 in Turkey. In the notes of Clavijo, this building is known as the «house with a mosque». In conclusion, we note that the Spanish ambassadors, like other envoys that left Samarkand on Friday, November 21, 1404, returned to Spain and on March 24, 1406 came to the king with a report. On the eve of Clavijo's departure from Samarkand, Timur was in perfect health. At that time, he was actively preparing for the implementation of a grandiose plan he had long conceived - a campaign against China and the punishment of its emperor, who considered Maverannahr and the state of Timur as his taxable possession, which greatly offended the honor of Timur. Six days after the departure of the embassy, on Thursday, November 27, 1404, Timur set out from Samarkand in the direction of the Syr Darya and the Otrar crossing, through which the road to China was opened. Summing up the study of Timur's relationship with the rulers of European states, it should be emphasized once again that the Balkan crisis of 1402 and Timur's participation in its resolution occupies an important place in the history of world diplomacy. In this war, victory turned out to be on the side of Western European diplomats, who managed to push two bloodthirsty world leaders of that time against each other and thereby saved the peoples of Europe and European culture from the impending threat of Islamization.
Many researchers who wrote about the exploits of Timur, for some reason, refrained from highlighting such an important problem. Diplomatic correspondence between Timur and the rulers of the states of Western Europe has also reached our time. These documents remained unstudied by historians of the 40-90s of the XX century. The defeat of Boyezid I near Ankara brought the interests of Western European governments very close to Timur's court. An example of this was the arrival of the envoy of King Henry III of Spain, Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, to Samarkand to the court of Timur.
Clavijo wrote the narrative of the famous Embassy shortly after 1406, so that the manuscript was made public, by copyists, rather more than half a century before the invention of printing. Many copies doubtless were then made, for the book became popular, and one of these copies fortunately is preserved in the National Library at Madrid.
Information about the author of the «Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406» is insignificant: partly it is drawn from Clavijo's work itself, and partly from later Spanish writings. Clavijo's year of birth is not known; he was chamberlain to King Henry III of Castile and Leon. It is also known that upon returning to Spain, about a month later, Clavijo appeared before King Henry III, apparently with a report on the embassy. The name of the author of the «Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406» was mentioned among those who were present when the will of Henry III was drawn up in Toledo. After the death of the king (1407), Clavijo retired from government affairs and began building a family crypt in the chapel of the monastery of St. Francis in Madrid, where he was buried in 1412.
LITERATURE
1. Coleccion de Cronicas y Memorias de los Reyes catolicos.V.3. Madrid, 1779.-p.45-58.
2. Embajada a Tamorlan. Estudio y edicion de un manuscrite del sigio XV par F. Lopez Estrada. Madrid, 1943.-p.28-66.
3. Giyasiddin Ali. Diary of Timur's campaign in India. - M., 1958. - p.187
4. Khojaev M.P. Relations between the Timurid Empire and the West on the edge of the XIV-XV centuries.//Bulletin of the National University of Tajikistan.- No.6. 2023.-pp.5-15.
5. Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the Court of Timour at Samarkand A.D. 1403-1406. Translated for the First Time with Notes, a Preface, and an Introductory Notes about Life of Timour Beg by C R. Markham. L., 1859.-pp.69-94.
6. Petrushevsky I.P. The states of Azerbaijan in the 15th century // Collection of articles on the history of Azerbaijan. Issue. 1. Baku, 1949.- p. 197.
7. Portada de Historia del Gran Tamorlan, Sevilla, 1582.- pp.14-19.
8. Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo. The diary of travel to Timur's yard to Samarkand in 1403 - 1406. The original text with translation and notes compiled by I.I. Sreznevsky. St. Petersburg: Printing House of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1881. -455 p.
9. Rui Gonzalez de Clavijo. Claviho's travelogue. Translated into Persian by Masoud Rajabniya. With the correction of Ehsan Yorshotir. - The third edition. Tehran, 1366 H. (1987). -387 p.
10. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. The diary of travel to Timur's yard to Samarkand in (1403-1406). Translation from Old Spanish. Translation, preface and commentary by J.S. Mirokova. -Moscow: Nauka, 1990. -211 p.
11. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. Travel agenda to Samarkand. Translated by I. Yusufi. Dushanbe: Er-Graf, 2016. -288 p.
12. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406. Guy Le Strange, tr.- London: Routledge, 1928.-280 p.
13. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406.- Translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone. Hardinge Simpole, 2009.-420 p.
14. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. La embajada a Tamorlan. Francisco Lopez Estrada, ed. Madrid: Castalia, 1999.
15. Sreznevsky I.I. Readings Journey across three seas Athanasius Nikitin in 1466-1472 - St. Petersburg, 1857.- p. 23.
16. The Spanish Embassy to Samarkand 1403-1406, by Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. Original Spanish Text with Russian Translation and Notes by I.Steznevsky. St.Petersbourg, 1881. Reprinted with a Foreword by I.Dujcev.L.,1971. - 455 p.
