Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World

The legend in its early forms: the arrival in Rome of a patriarch from the east, the chronicles of Otto of Freising, and that famous "letter." 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: Otto of Freising, Chronicon, ed. G.H. Pertz, MGH SSRG (Hanover: Hahn, 1867), VII, 33, (pp. 334-35), translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1962). Accessed at Fordham University Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Prester John: The Legend and its Sources, compiled and translated by Keagan Brewer. Taylor & Francis, 2019. Baring-Gould, Sabine. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. Roberts Brothers, 1867. Heng, Geraldine. The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ramon Llull sat down one night to write a love song, but instead he experienced a religious vision that would totally change the direction of his life. 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: Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader, edited by Anthony Bonner. Princeton University Press, 1993. Other Middle Ages: Witnesses at the Margins of Medieval Society, edited by Michael Goodich. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Timurid ambassador's time in India comes to an end, and he heads for home. 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: India in the Fifteenth Century: Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India. Edited by Richard Henry Major. Hakluyt Society, 1857. Alam, Muzaffar and Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 1400–1800. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shah Rukh's ambassador to the Indian city of Qaliqut arrives at the heart of the Vijayanagara Empire, finding much to admire but also war, a usurper, and uncertainties about his own status. We visit Hampi, the centre of that late-medieval power, and we talk about elephants. 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: India in the Fifteenth Century: Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India. Edited by Richard Henry Major. Hakluyt Society, 1857. Alam, Muzaffar and Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 1400–1800. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Caine, William Sproston. Picturesque India: A Handbook for European Travellers. G. Routledge, 1891. Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Ray, Aniruddha. "The Rise and Fall of Vijayanagar – an Alternative Hypothesis to "Hindu Nationalism" Thesis," in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 64, 2003. Sewell, Robert. A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1900. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's 1442, and Shah Rukh, the son of Timur, is sending an ambassador for Qaliqut / Kozhikode on the Indian coast. That ambassador, Abd-al-Razzāq, sails from Hormuz and experiences delays, sickness, death, and disappointment. Making matters worse, he never actually wanted to go. 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: India in the Fifteenth Century: Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India. Edited by Richard Henry Major. Hakluyt Society, 1857. Alam, Muzaffar and Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 1400–1800. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Clavijo and his Castilian fellow travellers continue the journey toward Timur, cutting across northern Iran and dealing with sickness and heat. On the upside, there will be melons and a great deal of wine. There will also be visit with Timur's potentially problematic son. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In search of Timur, the Castilian ambassadors leave Constantinople and travel east over the Black Sea and into the mountains beyond. 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. King, Charles. The Black Sea: A History. Oxford University Press, 2005. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In their journey to see Timur, Clavijo and the other envoys stop in at Constantinople where we visit artifacts and sacred objects. 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, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, 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. Lee, A.D. From Rome to Byzantium AD 363 to 565. Edinburgh University Press, 2013. Majesca, George P. Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks, 1984. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Norwich, John Julius. The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean. Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2007. Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. Penguin, 2003.  Stephenson, Paul. The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography. Oxford University Press, 2016. Zarinebaf, Fariba. Mediterranean Encounters: Trade and Pluralism in Early Modern Galata. University of California Press, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a quick break from the Clavijo storyline for some Halloween material. Specifically, this is a story from the Icelandic Eyrbyggja, the Saga of the People of Eyri. In it, a stranger comes to Froda, blood rains down, and the dead rise up. 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, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Gisli Sursson's Saga and the Saga of the People of Eyri, translated by Judy Quinn & Martin S. Regal. Penguin, 2003. Joynes, Andrew. Medieval Ghost Stories: An Anthology of Miracles, Marvels, and Prodigies. Boydell, 2006. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1403, Henry III of Castile sent ambassadors to Timur (Tamerlane), among them a man named Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. In this episode, we cover the context and depart from port near Cadiz, travel the length of the Mediterranean, and visit Lesbos where we spend time with the ruling family and their involvements in Byzantine imperial politics. 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, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, 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. Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2009. 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 Johnson Brummett. BRILL, 2009. Wright, Christopher. The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World 1355-1462. BRILL, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the conclusion the Ahmad ibn Fadlan series, ibn Fadlan encounters the Rusiyyah, recounts the famous Viking funeral, and is disgusted by a communal wash basin. I also talk about the text itself. 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, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017. Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005. Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014. Frye, R.N. and Blake, R.P. "Notes on the Risala of Ibn Fadlan," in The Turks in the Early Islamic World, edited by C. Edmund Bosworth. Routledge, 2017. Hansen, Valerie. The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. Simon and Schuster, 2020. Korpela, Jukka Jari. Slaves from the North: Finns and Karelians in the East European Slave Trade, 900 - 1600. BRILL, 2018. Kratchkovsky, I.Y. Among Arabic Manuscripts: Memories of Libraries and Men. BRILL, 2016. Mako, Gerald. The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011. Montgomery, James E. "Ibn Fadlan’s ‘Mission to the Volga’: An Extraordinary Narrative by a Not-so-extraordinary Writer," an interview with ArabLit.  Peacock, A.C.S. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press, 2015. Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1973. Wladyslaw, Duczko. Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. BRILL, 2004.  Wilson, Joe. Black Banner and White Nights: The 10th-Century Travel Account of Ibn Fadlan. James Madison University, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 10th century traveller, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, settles in among the Bulgars, develops a distaste for their fish-oil based food, and is terrified by events in the sky. 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, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017. Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005. Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014. Hansen, Valerie. The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. Simon and Schuster, 2020. Korpela, Jukka Jari. Slaves from the North: Finns and Karelians in the East European Slave Trade, 900 - 1600. BRILL, 2018. Mako, Gerald. The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011. Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1973. Wilson, Joe. Black Banner and White Nights: The 10th-Century Travel Account of Ibn Fadlan. James Madison University, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices