There is no evidence that Schiltberger set foot in Shistova, but the name had doubtlessly become familiar to him, both before and after his capture, at a time that he was totally unacquainted with the language of the people amongst whom he had fallen. If the incidents of his eventful career were indeed dictated from memory, his statement that the Infidels knew Nicopolis as “Schiltaw”, for Shvishtov, Shishtovo, may be accounted for, by the accidental confusion of names.—ED.
(4.) “Werterwaywod.”—Schiltberger evidently alludes here to John Mirca (John Mirtcha), prince or voyevoda of Walachia, called John, by Mme. de Lusson (Engel, _Gesch. d. U. R._, iv, 160: iii, 5), and Marcus, by the Byzantines (L. Chalco, 77). He was the son of the voyevoda, J. Radul, and having succeeded his elder brother, J. Dan, added the Dobroudja to his domains after the short reign of Ivanko or Iuanchus, “filius bonæ memoriæ magnifici domini Dobrdize”, as he is styled in the treaty concluded with the Genoese in 1387 (_Not. et Extr._, etc., xi, 65; and _Mem. de l’Inst. de France_, vii, 292–334). There is no difficulty in recognising the Bulgarian despot, Dobrotitch, in the person of the father, who, after the death of Alexander, declared his independance in the Dobroudja, whence, in all probability, its name. (Bruun, _Journ. du Minis. de l’Instruc. Pub._, St. Petersburg, Sept. 1877.)—BRUUN.
(5.) “he had come a great distance with six thousand men.”—The force commanded by the Comte de Nevers, son of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, consisted of 1000 knights, 1000 soldiers, and 6000 mercenaries. The Count was supported by the flower of the French nobility. Aschbach (_Gesch. K. Sigmund’s_, i, 98) places the total at 10,000 men.—ED.
(6.) “Duke of Iriseh, known as the despot.”—Stephen, prince of Servia, is here designated the despot of “Iriseh”, because Servia at that time was also known as Rascia. Thus—“ipsum regnum Rasciæ—regno Hungariæ; ab antiquo subjectum”, etc. (Engel, _Gesch. d. U. R._, iii, 370). Windeck, the contemporary biographer of Sigismund (Aschbach, _Gesch. K. Sigmund’s_, i, 234), likewise states, that the king advanced “gegen Sirfien und Raizen, und bedingte mit dem Tischbot”, that is to say, the despot. As the Turks are in the habit of preceding with an I, all foreign names commencing with a consonant, so may Schiltberger’s comrades, as Magyars, have converted Rascia into Iriseh.—BRUUN.