ON THE
WRITINGS OF GIOVAN MARIA ANGIOLELLO AND OF A MERCHANT WHO WENT THROUGH THE WHOLE OF PERSIA; IN WHICH ARE NARRATED THE LIFE AND DEEDS OF USSUN CASSANO.
DISCOURSE OF MESSER GIOVAN BATTISTA RAMUSIO.
INTRODUCTION.
Everyone who considers the various changes brought by the course of events to human affairs, will, on reflection, be filled with wonder; but I think that those who read ancient history have greater reason to be so, seeing many republics and many great and powerful kingdoms, so to speak, collapse without, in certain cases, leaving even a name, or any memorial behind. The same course of events has caused many races to leave their native countries, and, like proud and rapid rivers, invade those of others, chasing away the ancient inhabitants, and, not content with that, even change their names. So it happens that, nowadays, there are many races whose origin is not known, of which miserable Italy is an example, as, after the ruin of the Roman empire, a multitude of strange and barbarous nations entered from the North, ousted the inhabitants, changed the vulgar tongue, the names of the provinces, rivers, and mountains, moved the towns from their proper sites, and built them up afterwards at a distance from the spots where they first stood. This has not happened to Italy alone, but also to the province of Gallia, which, on its occupation by the fierce nation of the Franks, lost its name as well as its inhabitants. The same happened to Britain, now called England; to Pannonia, which is now Hungary; and to many other countries which it would be tedious to enumerate. But I cannot hold my peace about poor, afflicted Greece, celebrated by all classic writers, which was anciently the home of science and the example of humanity, but now fallen low indeed, being subjected to the empire of the Turks, and inhabited only by barbarous and unlettered tribes. This same calamity has fallen also on the whole of Asia, since (as one reads in the books of M. Marco Polo and the Armenian), great hordes of Tartars issued from the regions of Cathay and overran the countries, and, having settled in their new abodes, changed the names of the provinces to others familiar to the conquerors. Thus Margiana, Bactriana, and Sodiana, provinces near the Caspian Sea, being taken by Zacatai, brother of the Great Can, were called instead the country of Zacatai, from the province of Turquestan, which is beyond the rivers Jaxartes and Oxus.
There came another great multitude of people, who settled themselves in Asia Minor,—that is, in Bithynia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and Paphagonia, and called it Turkey. At the same time, Hoccota Can[340] having made himself master of the provinces of Media, Parthia, and Persia, now named Azemia;[341] his successors gave them different names; and even in our times the Sophi, who was the son of a daughter of Ussun Cassano, King of Persia, had these provinces named after him. As there have come into my hands some carefully composed writings, in which are narrated the life and acts of the above-mentioned Ussun Cassano, or Assambei,[342] which are synonymous, and of Sheikh Ismail, who is the Sophi, I thought them suitable to follow the books of M. Marco Polo, and of the Armenian. Moreover, they treat of the same matter, and though agreeing, are different versions, so I think they will greatly amuse my readers. I find that the first author, who speaks of the life of Ussun Cassano, was named Giovan Maria Angiolello, who relates in his history that he served Mustafà, son of Mahomet II, Grand Turk, and that he was in the action[343] with the same Grand Turk, in which he was routed on the islands in the bed of the river Euphrates by the army of Ussun Cassano. The name of the second author is not known; but it is evident that he was of a cultivated intellect, and that in the course of his business he went through almost the whole of Persia. To these two authors we have added two Travels, one of the Illustrious M. Josapha Barbaro, and the other of the Illustrious M. Ambrosio Contarini, Venetian gentlemen, who treat of the same matters; so that of the affairs of Persia of late times, we have a history, if not continuous, at least leaving little to be desired. I wish that fortune had been favourable enough to allow me to get into my hands the Travels of the Illustrious M. Caterino Zeno, knight, who was the first ambassador who went into that region to the monarch Ussun Cassano; but, although printed, it has been lost, owing to the length of time that has elapsed. And truly the above-mentioned M. Caterino was one of the rare and worthy gentlemen who existed at that time in this most excellent Republic. Therefore, in the year 1471 he was elected ambassador to the King Ussun Cassano, to incite him to attack the Turk, with whom the Republic was then engaged in the fiercest war. He, moved by the love he bore to his country, like a good citizen, not considering the length or danger of the journey, accepted the charge cheerfully, and went the more willingly as he hoped to be a more fitting instrument for good than anyone else. Since Caloianni,[344] Emperor of Trebizond, having given one of his daughters, named Despinacaton,[345] in marriage to Ussun Cassano, King of Persia, married another of them called Valenza to the Duke of the Archipelago, named the Lord Nicolo Crespo, by whom the duke had four daughters and a son, Francesco, who succeeded his father, and whose descendant, Giacomo Crespo, the twenty-first Duke of Naxo, is still living. The daughters were all honourably married at Venice: one named Firunza was mother of the Queen of Cyprus and of the most Illustrious M. Giorgio Cornaro, knight, and his brother, the Procurator, from whom are descended many reverend Cardinals. Another named Lucretia was married to the noble M. Jacomo Prioli, who was the father of M. Nicolo Prioli, the Procurator. Valenza, the third, was the wife of the noble M. Gio. Loredano, and Violante, the fourth, was the wife of the above-mentioned M. Catharin Zeno. Now this Despinacaton, though she was in Persia and at a distance, continually kept up the remembrance of her relatives, her affection for her sister Valenza, wife of the Duke of the Archipelago, and her nieces at Venice. For this reason, this gentleman went readily and was not deceived in his opinion, as, after many hardships and dangers, when he arrived at Tauris in the presence of Ussun Cassano and Despinacaton his wife, he was recognised by her as her nephew, and had great honours and favours paid him; and by the influence he acquired with that monarch he was able to perform many things for his Republic, described in his book, which, as we have said above, we have not been able to get into our hands. King Ussun Cassano, to do greater honour to the noble M. Catharin, chose him for his ambassador to the Christian princes, to incite them against the Turk, and principally to the Kings of Poland and Hungary; but, when he came to them and found them at war with each other, he passed on to others. At this time, the most Illustrious Government hearing of the departure of M. Catharino, elected in his place M. Josapha Barbaro, and after him M. Ambrosio Contarini, whose travels, on his return journey to Venice, by the Caspian Sea, the river Volga, and the country of Tartars, I think will greatly amuse his readers from their novelty and the account of the various accidents that befel him from day to day.