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Bayezid's Cage: A Re-examination of a Venerable Academic Controversy1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2011

MARCUS MILWRIGHT  and
EVANTHIA BABOULA
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Abstract

This article discusses a story that has enjoyed a long life in scholarly literature, drama, and the visual arts: the alleged caging of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I Yildirim (r. 1389–1402) by the Central Asian conqueror, Temür (r. 1370–1405). Attention is focused on the evolution of scholarly discourse on the existence (or otherwise) of the cage. The period from the late seventeenth to the first half of the twentieth century is looked at in particular detail. The debate around the captivity of Bayezid is only fully understood when it is located within a larger historical framework, namely the changing political relationships between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the nineteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , July 2011 , pp. 239 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2011

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Footnotes

1

The authors would like to thank Dimitris Kastritsis for sharing his expertise in early Ottoman historiography and for translating a passage from the chronicle of Ashikpashazade. Robert Irwin kindly commented upon a draft of this article and also permitted us to read the typescript of a lecture concerning European views on Oriental despotism. We are also indebted to Filiz Tütüncü Çağlar for making a summary translation of an article by the Turkish scholar, Fuad Köprülü.

References

2 On the story of Lucius, and his importance in English theology, see Felicity Heal, “What can King Lucius do for you? The Reformation and the Early British Church”, English Historical Review, CXX.487 (June, 2005), pp. 593–614. The quote from Bede appears on p. 595 (Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People I.4).

3 Heal, “King Lucius”, p. 614. Citing Von Harnack, A., “Der Brief des britischen Königs Lucius an den Papst Eleutherus”, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, I (1904), pp. 909–916Google Scholar.

4 For a description of this battle, see Gibbons, Herbert, The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire: A History of the Osmanlis up to the Death of Bayezid I (1300–1403) (Oxford, 1916), pp. 249–254Google Scholar. On this conflict and the wider military engagement between Bayezid and Temür, see Alexandrescu-Dersca, Marie-Mathilde, La campagne de Timur en Anatolie, Publicatiunile Institutului de Turcologie 1 (Bucharest, 1942)Google Scholar.

5 On the Ottoman civil war, see Kastritsis, Dimitris, The Sons of Bayezid: Empire Building and Representation in the Ottoman Civil War of 1402–1413, The Ottoman Empire and its Heritage 38 (Leiden and Boston, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the immediate aftermath of the battle of Ankara, see pp. 44–78.

6 For an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources dealing with the life of Temür, see: Bernardini, Michele, “The historiography concerning Timur-i Lang. A bibliographical survey”, in Italo-Uzbek Scientific Cooperation in Archaeology and Islamic Studies: An Overview, (ed.) Pagani, Samuela (Rome, 2003), pp. 137–196Google Scholar.

7 Schiltberger, Johannes, The Bondage and Travels of Johannes Schiltberger, a Native of Bavaria, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1396–1427, trans. Telfer, J. Buchan with notes by Bruun, P. (London, 1879), pp. 20–21Google Scholar (cap. 12–13); Boucicault, Histoire du Marêschal de Boucicault, (ed.) Guillaume de Voys (La Haye, 1711), pp. 107–109; Le Roulx, J. Delaville, La France en Orient au XIVe Siècle: Expéditions du Maréchal Boucicaut (Paris, 1886), p. 394Google Scholar.

8 di Clavijo, Ruy González, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, trans. Le Strange, Guy (London, 1928), pp. 24, 129–137Google Scholar. On the last years of Bayezid's siege of Constantinople, see: Dionysios Hadjopoulos, “Le premier siège de Constantinople par les Ottomans de 1394 à 1402” (PhD dissertation, University of Montreal, 1980), pp. 184–207.

9 This material has been analysed in a paper by Evanthia Baboula entitled “Greek sources on the life of Tamerlane”, delivered at the Byzantine Studies conference at the University of Toronto in 2007. This paper is being prepared for publication.

10 Chronicon Tarvisinum = Chronica composita ab eloquentissimo viro ser Andrea de Redusiis de Quero cancellario communis Tarvisii, cols. 741–866 in: Ludovico Muratori (ed.), Rerum Italicarum scriptores, vol. 19 (Milan, 1731), see cols. 800–801; Poggio Bracciolini, De varietate fortunae (ed.) and commentary by Outi Merisalo, Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemian Toimituksia. Annales Academicae Scientiarum Fennicae. Series B, no. 265 (Helsinki, 1993), book 1, ll.643–644 (p. 108). The Vitae Pontificum of Bartolomeo Platini (Sacchi), first published in Venice in 1479, mentions that Bayezid was led in chains but does not refer to a cage. See The Lives of the Popes from the Time of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Reign of Sixtus IV, trans. Paul Rycaut (London, 1685), p. 335. Another early source detailing the captivity and mistreatment of the Ottoman sultan (but without mention of the cage) is: Annales estenses = Chronica nova illustris et magnifici Domini Nicolai Marchionis Estensis & c., cols. 905–1096 in Muratori, (ed.) Rerum Italicarum scriptores XVIII (Milan, 1731). See col. 974.

11 Cosmographie Pii Papae in Asiae et Europae eleganti descriptione (Paris, 1509).

12 The two relevant sections appear in “Asia” cap. 30 (“Regem omnium potentissimum Pazaitem [Bayezid] Turcorum dominum cum pari equitum numero et magnis peditum copiis fineis suos tutantem apud Armenos prelio superatum ducentis millibus hominum interfectis vivum caepit, caueque in modum fere inclusum per omnem Asiam circumtulit egregium et admirandum humanarum rerum spectaculum”) and “Europe” cap. 4 (“Pazaitem cathena vinctum prandens quasi canem sub mensa sua comedere iussit, ascensurus equum eo tanquam scabello usus est”). See: Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius, Opera quae extant omnia (Basel, 1571), pp. 313, 394–396Google Scholar. The readings given above diverge somewhat from the 1571 edition. See Merisalo, “Introduzione: Il De varietate fortunae”, in Bracciolini, Fortunae, p. 194.

13 Spandouginos, Theodore, La genealogie du grant Turc a present regnant (Paris, 1519)Google Scholar, chapter 5 (unpaginated text). He writes: “et tint cestuy Aldrin tout le temps de sa Vie enchaisne de chaisnes dor: & a chascune fois quil vouloit monter a cheval ou en son chariot – le faisoit conduyre devant luy / & en duy mettant le pied sur lespaulle sailloit”.

14 On the history of the text, see: Nicol's, Donald introduction in Theodore Spandounes, On the Origins of the Ottoman Empire, trans. Nicol, Donald (Cambridge, 1997), pp. xvii–xviiiGoogle Scholar. His two revisions were completed in 1531 and 1538. Printed editions of the 1538 recension were published in Lucca (1550) and Florence (1551).

15 According to Donald Nicol's translation in: Spandounes, On the Origins of the Ottoman Empire, pp. 23–24.

16 The Czech text was first published in Litomyasl in 1565 under the title, Historya neb Kronyka Turecka od Michala Konstantina z Ostrowicze. For an English translation, see Konstantin Mikhailović (Constantine of Ostrovica), Memoirs of a Janissary, trans. Benjamin Stolz with historical notes by Svat Soucek, Michigan Slavic Translations 3 (Ann Arbor, 1975). The relevant passage appears on p. 53. Temür's reaction to the sultan's suicide is recorded thus: “The Great Khan, seeing such an evil deed as this, that he had poisoned himself, said in their language: ‘Yaban kaltil gendizina kimisstur’, which means ‘A crazy man, that he should take his own life. I meant to let him go back home honorably, and I am sorry that he put an end to himself so vilely’. Then the Great Khan let all his men go, and having respectfully dispatched Despina, had her accompanied all the way back to Brusa, to her land. Thus ended the Turkish war with the Tartars”.

17 For the account of Jean of Sultaniyya, see H. Moranvillé, “Mémoire sur Tamerlan et sa cour, par un Dominicain, en 1403”, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes LV.5 (September-October 1894), pp. 433–464 (esp. pp. 458–459). On Stefan Lazarević, see: Lebensbeschreibung des Despoten Stefan Lazarević con Konstantin dem Philosophen, (ed.) Maximilian Braun, Slavo-Orientalia. Monographienreihe über die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen der slavischen und orientalischen Welt 1 (Wiesbaden and ‘S-Gravenhage: Otto Harrassowitz and Mouton and Co., 1956), pp. 16–21.

18 For a brief summary of the writings on Turkish history by the last generation of Byzantine historians, see SirRunciman, Steven, “Byzantine historians and the Ottoman Turks”, in Historians of the Middle East, (eds.) Lewis, Bernard and Holt, Peter (London and New York, 1962), pp. 271–276Google Scholar. On the discussion of Temür with a particular emphasis on the writings of Chalcocondylas, see Nicoloudis, Nicolaos, “Byzantine historians on the wars of Timur (Tamerlane) in Central Asia and the Middle East”, Journal of Oriental and African Studies VIII (Athens, 1996), pp. 83–94Google Scholar.

19 On the study of Islamic history in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe, see Vernon Parry, “Renaissance historical literature in relation to the Near and Middle East (with special reference to Paolo Giovio)”, in Lewis and Holt, (eds.), Historians of the Middle East, pp. 277–289; Linda Klinger, “The Portrait Collection of Paolo Giovio”, 2 vols. (PhD dissertation, Princeton University, 1991); Meserve, Margaret, “From Samarkand to Scythia: Reinventions of Asia in Renaissance geography and political thought”, in Pius II, ‘el-più expeditivo pontifice’: Selected Studies on Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405–1464), (eds.) von Martels, Zweder and Vanderjagt, Arjo (Leiden and Boston, 2003), pp. 13–39Google Scholar; Bisaha, Nancy, Creating East and West: Renaissance Humanists and the Ottoman Turks (Philadelphia, 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 For references to these works, see: Denny, Walter, “Images of Turks in the European imagination”, in Denny, Walter et al. ., Court and Conquest: Ottoman Origins and the Design of Handel's Tamerlano at the Glimmerglass Opera (Kent, OH., 1999), pp. 3–18Google Scholar (esp. pp. 6–9); Milwright, Marcus, “So despicable a vessel: Representations of Tamerlane in printed books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries”, Muqarnas, XXIII (2006), pp. 337–338 n. 3Google Scholar.

21 Robert Irwin, “Oriental despotism in eighteenth-century European literature” (unpublished typescript). On this theme, see also: Curtis, Michael, Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India (Cambridge and New York, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On Rowe's play, see: Donald Clark, “The source and characterization of Nicholas Rowe's Tamerlane”, Modern Language Notes LXV.3 (March 1950), pp. 145–152.

22 Milwright, “So despicable a vessel”, p. 317.

23 Lactantius, , De mortibus persecutorum, edited and translated Creed, J. L. (Oxford, 1984), 5.2–4Google Scholar; Giovanni Boccaccio, De casibus virorum illustribus 8.2. For an illustration of the relief at Naqsh-i Rustam, see: Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurielius to Muhammad (London, 1971), p. 19 no.11.

24 For Lydgate's discussion of the fate of Emperor Valerian, see Lydgate's Fall of Princes, (ed.) H. Bergen, 4 volumes (Washington, DC., 1923–27), iii, pp. 835–837. The visual representations of the humiliations of both Valerian and Bayezid will be presented by MM in a forthcoming paper.

25 Illustrated in Hattaway, Michael (ed.), A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture (Oxford, 2002), p. 369CrossRefGoogle Scholar pl.2.

26 For example, see Shaw, Stanford, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Volume 1: Empire of the Gazis. The Rise of the Ottoman Empire, 1280–1808 (London and New York, 1976), p. 35CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Imber, Colin, The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1481 (Istanbul, 1990), pp. 54–55Google Scholar; idem, The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power (Basingstoke, 2002), p. 17; Manz, Beatrice, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane, Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization (Cambridge and New York, 1989), p. 73Google Scholar.

27 Marozzi, Justin, Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World (Cambridge, MA. and New York, 2004), pp. 335–337Google Scholar. The question of the cage is also dealt with in Balfour, Patrick John (Lord Kinross), The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire (London, 1977), p. 76Google Scholar.

28 Edward Pococke (d. 1691) should perhaps be credited as the first true Orientalist to concern himself with the caging of Bayezid, though his comments in the supplement to his history of Barhebraeus are not extensive. See: Pococke, Edward (ed.), Supplementum historiae dynastiarum in quo historiae orientalis series a Gregorii Abu'l-Faragii (Oxford, 1663), p. 45 no.4Google Scholar. On the history of European and North American Orientalist scholarship, see Irwin, Robert, For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and their Enemies (London, 2006, reprinted 2007)Google Scholar.

29 The two editions of Ahmad b. Muhammad ibn ‘Arabshah's text are Ahmedis Arabsiadae: Vitae et rerum gestarum Timuri, qui vulgo Tamerlaini dicitur historia, (ed.) Jacobus Golius (Leiden, 1636); L'histoire du grand Tamerlan, trans. Pierre Vattier (Paris, 1658).

30 d'Herbelot, Barthélemy, Bibliothèque orientale ou dictionaire universel (Paris, 1697), pp. 175–176Google Scholar (Baiazid), pp. 877–888 (Timour).

31 D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque orientale, p. 176: “. . .mais ayant terminé la conversation par une demande qu'il lui fit sur le traitement qu'il auroit reçu de lui en cas qu'il fût tombé dans la même disgrace; ce Sultan, qui étoit d'un naturel farouche, lui répondit qu'il auroit enfermé dans la cage de fer, et fait porter en cet état dans toutes les provinces de son Empire. Le vainqueur surpris d'une réponse si brutale de son prisonnier, prit même temps la resolution de lui faire le même traitement qu'il auroit reçu de lui, s'il etoit tombé entre ses mains. . .”

32 Leuclavius, Johannes, Annales sultanorum Othmanidarum (Frankfurt, 1588), pp. 24–25Google Scholar. His Greek sources are listed in the last page of the index (unpaginated). He gives the following list: ‘‘Chronica diuersa manuscripta, Graeca, Latina, Germanica’, Emanuel Musicius Atheniensis, Georgius Hustius Illyricus, Georgius Pachymerius, Nicephorus Gregoras, Nicetas Choniates, Nicolaus Nicolaides Delphinas, Nicolaus Sophianus, ‘Origines vrbis Constantinopolitanae liber m.s’., Petrus Bizarus, Philippus Callimachus, ‘Praetor Graeciae, manuscr’., Thomas Spanduginus Cantacuzenus, Zonaras, Zosimus Comes, Zygomalas Protonotarius Graecus”.

33 Boissard, Jean-Jacques, Vitae et icones sultanorum Turcicorum (Frankfurt, 1596), f. 13rGoogle Scholar; Knolles, Richard, The Generall Historie of the Turkes (London, 1603), pp. 220–221Google Scholar.

34 Yazdi, Sharaf al-Din ‘Ali, Histoire de Timur-bec, connu sous le nom du grand Tamerlan, empereur des Mogols et Tartares, trans. de la Croix, Alexandre Pétis, 4 vols. (Paris, 1722)Google Scholar. The English translation of the French edition was made by John Darby under the title, The History of Timur-Bec, known by the Name of Tamerlain the Great, Emperor of the Moguls and Tartars (London, 1723).

35 Yazdi, Histoire de Timur-bec, iv, p. 65 (chapter LX).

36 Pétis de la Croix's introduction in Yazdi, Histoire de Timur-bec, i, pp. xvii-xviii. “Comme Timur-Bec avoit vaincu des Turcs & les Arabes de Syrie, qu'il avoit pris même le Sultan Bajazet, il ne faut pas s'étonner qu'il ait été maltraité par les Historiens de ces Nations, lesquels au mépris de la verité, & contre la dignité de l'histoire, sont tombez sur ce sujet dans de grand excés. On voit par la lecture de Condemir, & de quantité d'autres Historiens, que tout ce qu'ils ont écrit de l'origine & des avantures de Timur-Bec, sont des fables, que leur animosité contre ce Prince leur a fait inventer. Ainsi pour détruire entierement la fable, nous nous attacherons au nom de Timur-Bec, & laisserons celui de Tamerlan qu'elle avoit adopté”.

37 Cantemir, Demetrie (Kantemir), The History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire. Part One: Containing the Growth of the Ottoman Empire from the Reign of Othman the Founder, to the Reign of Mahomet IV. That is, from the year 1300, to the Siege of Vienna, in 1683, trans. Tindall, N. (London, 1734–35)Google Scholar. On the reign of Bayezid, see Part One, pp. 46–57. Cantemir's discussion of the cage appears on p. 55.

38 Pétis de la Croix's introduction in Yazdi, Histoire de Timur-bec, i, p. xvii note (a). “Ce sont ces Historiens passionez qui ont inventé la Fable de la cage de fer, dans laquelle ils disent que le Vainqueur fit mettre Bajazet & il ont été suivis par plusieurs Européens: mais on en voit la fausseté dans notre auteur, qui est contemporain, & qui rapporte au contraire, que Timur-Bec traita toujours Bajazet comme son égal, & qu'il lui fit rendre tous les honneurs qui sont dús aux plus grands Rois”. Elsewhere Pétis de la Croix notes his awareness of the French translation (by Pierre Vattier) of Ibn ‘Arabshah. He also remarks that he became aware of Clavijo's work only after he had completed his translation.

39 Muhammad b. Khvand Shah b. Mahmud (Mirkhvand), Chronological Retrospect or Memoirs of the principal Events of Mahommedan History, from the Death of the Arabian Legislator, to the Accession of the Emperor Akbar, and the Establishment of the Moghul Empire in Hindustaun, trans. David Price, 3 vols. (London, 1811–21). The relevant events appear in vol.iii.1, pp. 393–423.

40 Mirkhvand, Chronological Retrospect, iii.1, p. 394. Shahrukh granted land to Sayyid Ahmad Tarkhan in 810/1407–08. See Manz, Rise and Rule, p. 140.

41 For the relevant events in a modern edition, see Mirkhvand, , Tārīkh-i rawẓat al-Ṣafā (ed.) Hidayat, Riza Quli Khan and Kiyanfar, Jamshid (Tehran, 2001), ix, pp. 5026–5039Google Scholar.

42 Khvandamir, Ghiyath al-Din ibn Humam al-Din, The Habeeb-os-seear: Being the History of the World from the earliest Times to the Year of the Hejira 930 A.D. (Bombay, 1857)Google Scholar.

43 According to translation in Voltaire, An Essay on universal History and the Manners and Spirit of Nations from the Reign of Charlemagne, to the Age of Lewis XIV, trans. Mr Nugent (Edinburgh, 1782), pp. 87–88. For the French text, see Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations et sur les principaux faits de l'histoire depuis Charlemagne jusqu'à Louis XIII, tome 1, (ed.) René Pomeau (Paris, 1963), pp. 805–806.

44 Gibbon, Edward, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (ed.) Bury, J. B., second edition (London, 1902), vii, pp. 60–65Google Scholar.

45 Morgan, David, “Edward Gibbon and the East”, Iran, XXXIII (1995), pp. 85–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also Minuti, Rolando, “Gibbon and the Asiatic barbarians: Notes on the French sources of The Decline and Fall”, in Edward Gibbon, Bicentenary Essays, (ed.) Womersley, David, Studies on Voltaire in the Eighteenth Century CCCLV (Oxford, 1997), pp. 21–44Google Scholar.

46 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vii, p. 60.

47 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vii, p. 64.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 Irwin, “Oriental despotism”; Curtis, Orientalism and Islam, pp. 72–102.

51 White, John (trans.), A Specimen of the civil and military Institutes of Timour, or Tamerlane (Oxford, 1780)Google Scholar. An improved English translation was made by Major William Davy (1783) and a French translation was completed by Louis Langlès (1787). For a critical assessment of the Institutes, see Csiky, Gergely, “The Tuzukat-i Timuri as a source for military history”, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungarium, LIX.4 (2006), pp. 439–491CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vii, p. 4 n. 8.

53 von Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches. Erster Band: Von der Gründung des osmanischen Reiches bis zur Eroberung Constantinopels, 1300–1453 (Pest, 1827), pp. 317–323Google Scholar. Von Hammer also later translated parts of the Seyāhatnāme of Evliya Çelebi (d. 1682), including the section in which the author repeats the story of the conversation that led to the caging of Bayezid by Temür. See Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa in the seventeenth Century by Evliya Efendi, trans. Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (London, 1846), i, p. 29.

54 Writing earlier in the century the Marquis de Salaberry d'Irumberry put forward the claim that the reference to the cage in Ibn ‘Arabshah's text was an interpolation by his Turkish editor and translator, Nazmi-zade. See Histoire de l'empire Ottoman, depuis sa fondation jusqu'à la paix de Yassi, en 1792, 4 vols. (Paris, 1813), iv, pp. 200–201. Cited in Gibbons, Foundation of the Ottoman Empire, p. 255 n. 1.

55 Von Hammer, Geschichte, p. 320.

56 Weil, Gustav, Geschichte des Abbasidenchalifats in Egypten, Vol. II (= Geschichte der Chalifen Vol. V) (Stuttgart, 1862), p. 96Google Scholar.

57 Gibbons, Foundation of the Ottoman Empire, p. 255 n. 1.

58 Lane, Edward, Arabic-English Lexicon, derived from the best and most copious Eastern sources (London, 1863–93Google Scholar, reprinted Cambridge, 1984), book 1, p. 2551; Dozy, Reinhart, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes (Leiden, 1881), ii, p. 391Google Scholar. Lane's Lexicon made extensive use of the monumental eighteenth-century dictionary of classical Arabic, Tāj al-‘Arūs, first published in Cairo in 1888/89–90.

59 For the biography of Ibn ‘Arabshah and his relations with other fifteenth-century scholars, see McChesney, Robert, “A note on the life and works of Ibn ‘Arabshah”, in Pfeiffer, Judith and Quinn, Sholeh (eds.), History and Historiography of Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East: Studies in Honor of John E. Woods (Wiesbaden, 2006), pp. 205–249Google Scholar. Also Pedersen, J., “Ibn ‘Arabshah”, Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition (Leiden, 1960–2002), ii, p. 711Google Scholar.

60 ibn Taghribirdi, Abu al-Mahasin, Abû ’l-Mahâsin ibn Taghrî Birdî's Annals entitled, al-Nujûm az-Zâhira fî Mulûk Misr wal-Kâhira (Vol. VI, part I, No. 1), (ed.) Popper, William, University of California Publications in Semitic Philology VI.1 (Berkeley, 1915), pp. 83–84Google Scholar. Translated by William Popper as History of Egypt, 1382–1469. Part II, 1399–1411 A.D. Translated from the Arabic Annals of Abû l-Mahâsin ibn Taghrî Birdî, University of California Publications in Semitic Philology XIV (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1954), pp. 61–62.

61 Discussions of the cage also appear in histories of the Ottoman sultanate and of the Byzantine empire during this period, but none advances new primary source material. For example, see: Pears, Edwin, The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks (London, 1903), pp. 144–145Google Scholar; Gibbons, Foundation of the Ottoman Empire, pp. 254–256 and notes.

62 For the reference to the qafes made for Bayezid, see: Nöldeke, Theodor, “Auszüge aus Neşri's Geschichte des osmânischen Hauses”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XV (1861), p. 367Google Scholar.

63 Babinger, Franz (ed.), Die frühosmanischen Jahrbücher des Urudsch, Quellenwerke des islamischen Schrifttums 2 (Hannover, 1925), pp. 35–36Google Scholar; Martinovitch, N., “La cage du Sultan Bayazid”, Journal Asiatique CCXI.1 (July-September 1927), pp. 135–137Google Scholar. He translates the relevant section of ‘Uruj's chronicle on p. 137. A version of the same story appears (without an attribution to a specific author) in Keene, Henry and Beale, Thomas, An Oriental Biographical Dictionary (London, 1894, reprinted New York, 1965), p. 99Google Scholar (“Baiazid I”).

64 Köprülü, Mehmet Fuad, “Yildirim Beyazıd'ın esareti ve ıntıhari hakkinda”, Belleten. Türk Tarıh Kurumu, I.2 (1937), pp. 591–603Google Scholar (on the cage, see pp. 591–598); idem, “Yildirim Bayezıd'ın ıntıhari mes'elesı”, Belleten. Türk Tarıh Kurumu, VII (1943), pp. 591–599.

65 Köprülü, “Yildirim Beyazıd'ın esareti”, p. 592.

66 Ibid., pp. 592–595.

67 Köprülü, “Yildirim Beyazıd'ın esareti”, p. 593. Dimitris Kastritsis kindly provided a translation of the relevant passage in Ashikpashazade's chronicle. Significantly, the Turkish author claims to derive his information from a first-hand source, a soldier in Bayezid's elite guards. It reads: “Question: Oh dervish, since you yourself were not at that battle [i.e. Ankara] from whom are you transmitting this story? Answer: There was a naib in Bursa named Koca Naib, who was one of Bayezid Khan's solaks [elite guards] and was with him when he was taken prisoner. He was also with him in Aksehir when he passed away. I asked him ‘how did Timur keep Bayezid?’ and he answered, ‘he had a litter [taht-i revan)] constructed, like a cage [qafes] suspended between two horses. Whenever they travelled, [Timur] had [Bayezid] transported [in the litter] in front of him, and when they camped he had him placed in front of his own tent’. This Koja Naib I am talking about went to Sultan Mehmed, who gave him the command of the castle of Amasya, and when he got old Sultan Murad brought him to Bursa and gave him a naibship. I have not transmitted most of his story, for that would make my account too long”. For the original Ottoman Turkish, see Giese, Friedrich (ed.), Die altosmanische Chronik des Asikpasazade auf Grund mehrerer neuentdeckter Handschriften (Leipzig, 1929), p. 71Google Scholar.

68 Köprülü, “Yildirim Beyazıd'ın esareti”, pp. 597–598.

69 See “Appendice IV: La cage de fer”, in Alexandrescu-Dersca, Campagne de Timur, pp. 120–122.

70 Bernardini, Michele, “‘Tamerlano e Bayezid in gabbia’. Fortuna di un tema storico orientale nell'arte e nel teatro del Settecento”, in La Conoscenza dell'Asia e dell'Africa in Italia nei secoli XVII e XIX, a c, vol. III.2, (eds.) Marazzi, U. and Gallotta, A. (Naples, 1989), pp. 729–760Google Scholar. See also idem, “Tamerlano protagonista orientale del Settocento europeo”, in Mappe della Letteratura Europea e Mediterranea, (ed.) Gian Mario Anselmi, Dal Barrocco all'Ottocento 2 (Milan, 2000), pp. 227–248; idem, “Tamerlano, i Genovesi e il favoloso Axalla”, in Europa e Islam tra i Secoli XIV e XVI, (eds.) M. Bernadini, E. Garcia, A. Cerbo and C. Borrelli, Collana “Matteo Ripa” 17 (Naples, 2002), pp. 391–426.

71 ‘Arabshah, Ibn, Tamerlane, or Timur the great Amir, trans. Sanders, John (London, 1936, reprinted Lahore, 1976)Google Scholar; Lamb, Harold, Tamerlane, the Earth Shaker (New York, 1928)Google Scholar; Hookham, Hilda, Tamburlaine the Conqueror (London, 1964)Google Scholar.

72 Knobler, Adam, “Timur the (Terrible/Tartar) trope: A case of repositioning in popular literature and history”, Medieval Encounters VII.1 (2001), pp. 101–112CrossRefGoogle Scholar (esp. pp. 101–104).

73 Ellis-Fermor, Una, “Sources of the play”, in Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great, in two Parts, (ed.) Ellis-Fermor, Una (London, 1930), pp. 17–61Google Scholar. Other investigations of the sources employed by Marlowe in the writing of Tamburlaine the Great include Seaton, Ethel, “Fresh sources for Marlowe”, The Review of English Studies, V.20 (October 1929), pp. 385–401Google Scholar; Chew, Samuel, The Crescent and the Rose: Islam and England during the Renaissance (Oxford, 1937), pp. 469–470Google Scholar.

74 Manz, Beatrice, “Tamerlane's career and its uses”, Journal of World History, XIII.1 (2002), p. 12 n. 26Google Scholar; Milwright, “So despicable a vessel”, p. 338 n. 15.

75 For the Byzantine perspectives on the life of Temür, see Nicoloudis, “Byzantine historians”; Baboula, “Greek sources”. For Critovoulos, see History of Mehmed the Conqueror by Kritovoulos, trans. Charles Riggs (Princeton, NJ., 1954). On the battle of Ankara and the capture of Bayezid, see Part I.78 (pp. 30–31).

76 Ducas, Michael, Istoria = Ducas. Istoria Turco-Bizantina (1341–1462), (ed.) Grecu, Vasile. Scriptores Byzantini 1 (Bucharest, 1958), pp. 29–435Google Scholar (the quoted passage is 16.8–9). For an English translation, see: Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, trans. Harry Magoulias (Detroit, 1975), pp. 95–96.

77 Ducas, Istoria, 16.12.

78 Ibid., 17.7

79 Chalcocondylas, Laonicus, Laonici Chalcocondylae. Historiarum demonstrationes, (ed.) Darkó, E., vol. I (Budapest, 1922), pp. 149–150Google Scholar. For the Greek text with parallel English translation, see: A Translation and Commentary of the “Demonstrations of Histories” (Books I-III), translated and edited by Nicolaos Nicoloudis, Historical Monographs XVI (Athens, 1996). The conflict between Bayezid and Temür appears in Book III (pp. 319–327).

80 Phrantzes, Georgios, Chronicon minus = Georgios Sphrantzes. Memorii, 1401–77, (ed.) Grecu, Vasile. Scriptores Byzantini 5 (Bucharest, 1966), pp. 2–146Google Scholar (the quoted passage is in cap. 1). For an English translation, see The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: A Chronicle of George Sphrantzes, 1401–77, trans. Marios Philippides (Amherst, 1980), pp. 1–2.

81 Kastritsis, Dimitris, trans., The Tales of Sultan Mehmed, Son of Bayezid Khan [Aḥvāl-ı Sultān Mehemmed bin Bāyezīd Ḫān], Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures 78 (Cambridge, MA., 2007), p. 1Google Scholar. On the date of the text, see also idem, The Sons of Bayezid: Empire Building and Representation in the Ottoman Civil War of 1402–1413 (Leiden, 2007), pp. 28–33.

82 On the biography of Makarios Melissenos, see: Philippides, “Introduction”, in Phrantzes, The Fall of the Byzantine Empire, pp. 8–10.

83 For another example of a Greek chronicle conspicuously influenced by Italian historical writing, see Philippides, Marios (translated and edited), Byzantium, Europe, and the early Ottoman Sultans, 1373–1513. An anonymous Greek Chronicle of the seventeenth Century (Codex Barberinus Graecus 111), Late Byzantine and Ottoman Studies IV (New Rochelle, NY., 1990)Google Scholar. For Bayezid's capture, humiliation, and death in captivity, see II.31–36 (pp. 31–32). While the text includes the European inventions of Bayezid being bound in golden chains and that he was forced to be Temür's footstool, no mention is made of a cage.

84 Melissenos, Makarios (Pseudo-Phrantzes) Chronicon maius = Georgios Sphrantzes. Memorii, 1401–77, (ed.) Grecu, Vasile, Scriptores Byzantini 5 (Bucharest, 1966), pp. 150–448Google Scholar (the quoted section is on p. 224).

85 Ibn ‘Arabshah, Tamerlane, p. 188 (chapter 26).

86 Ibn Taghribiri, al-Nujūm, vi, pp. 83–84.

87 Ibn ‘Arabshah, Tamerlane, pp. 183–184 (with additions from the Arabic). For the Arabic text, see: Ibn ‘Arabshah, Ajāib al-maqdūr fī nawā’ib Tīmūr, (ed.) ‘Ali Muhammad ‘Amr (Cairo, 1399/1989), p. 200.

88 See note 58.

89 In this context it is relevant to note that Golius’ edition of the Kitāb al-‘ajā‘ib al-maqdūr fī akhbār Tīmūr must have been fairly well known among Arabists as it was commonly employed as a text for the teaching of Arabic. See Irwin, Lust of Knowing, p. 103.

90 See note 29.

91 Vattier, L'Histoire, vi, p. 196.

92 The transformative role of punctuation in this case brings to mind the examples discussed by Truss, Lynne in Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to English Punctuation (London, 2003)Google Scholar.

93 On these themes, see Battenhouse, Roy, Marlowe's Tamburlaine: A Study in Renaissance moral Philosophy (Nashville, 1941)Google Scholar. Also Milwright, “So despicable a vessel”, pp. 333–335.