Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy. Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo was sent as an ambassador from Henry III of Castile to the court of Timour (Tamerlane) at Samarkand in 1403. This 1859 book contains a translated account of his journey, from Cadiz to Constantinople, across the Black Sea and then overland from Trebizond to Samarkand. It describes in detail court life in Timour’s capital, and tells of the return of the embassy to Spain in 1406. It also provides an introductory note on the text and a brief life of Timour.