As the victories of the invincible Timour in India, Azerbaijan, and Syria, were related to him by his new comrades, so has Schiltberger recorded them, with some fresh details on the horrible atrocities committed.
Upon the death of Timour, at Otrar, in 1405, our author passed into the hands of his son, Shah Rokh, probably taking part in the expeditions of that monarch into Mazanderan and the Armenian provinces, Samarkand, and the territories about the Oxus, spending his winters in the plain of Karabagh, where good pasturage was to be found; but after the defeat of Kara Youssouf, Chief of the Turkomans of the Black Sheep, he remained in the contingent left by Shah Rokh, at the disposal of his brother, Miran Shah. This amir was afterwards himself overthrown by Kara Youssouf, and Schiltberger became subject to Aboubekr, a son of Shah Rokh, under whom he served for some time, first at Kars[6] and then at Erivan, where he had frequent opportunities for again enjoying the society of his friends and co-religionists, the Armeno-Catholics, and perfecting himself in their language.
From Erivan, Schiltberger was dispatched with four other Christians as part escort to the Tatar prince, Tchekre, recalled to assume the supreme power in the Golden Horde. Traversing the provinces on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, and passing through Derbent into Great Tatary, they reached a place that we find named “Origens”, and which Professor Bruun is at some pains to prove was no other than Anjak, at one time a port on the Caspian, near Astrahan. Some curious details are given on the succession to the Khanate of the Golden Horde, which serve to authenticate historical accounts, as will be found on reference to the Notes thereon; and we also read of the warlike qualities of the Tatars of the Horde, of their hardy mode of living, eating meat raw and drinking the blood of their horses, a custom of war mentioned by Marco Polo.
We now come to what may be considered to be about the most interesting portion of the travels before us, viz.: the expedition to Siberia for the purpose of conquest. The customs, religion, food, mode of travelling, and clothing of its inhabitants, are so circumstantially laid before the reader, that it cannot be doubted Schiltberger saw with his own eyes all he recounts; he would never otherwise have observed that there were many wild beasts in the country, the names of which he could not tell, because they did not exist in Germany; nor would he have concluded the chapter in which he speaks of these things, by saying: “All this I have seen, and was there with the above-named king’s son, Zeggra.”