[(1.)] “because it was very cold in that country.”—Timour was desirous of adding China to the rest of his conquests, and had even embarked on an expedition, placing himself at the head of a large army; but he fell ill of fever upon reaching Otrar, and died February 19, 1405.—Bruun.
(1A.) Other authorities state Timour’s death to have occurred the 17 Shabran, 807 (February 17, 1405).—Ed.
CHAPTER XXI.
[(1.)] “with whom I also remained.”—Pir Mohammed, son of Jehangir, the eldest son of Timour, died in 1375. Shah Rokh was the youngest of the two sons mentioned by Schiltberger. After the death, in 1410, of Khoulyl son of Miran Shah, the successor of Pir Mohammed who died in 1407, Shah Rokh annexed Transoxana and Samarkand to his possessions, and reigned until 1446. After saying that he had remained with this sovereign at Herat, Schiltberger adds that it was under Miran Shah he served; but he afterwards tells us that he only went over to the latter after Shah Kokh had vanquished Kara Youssouf, ruler of the Turkomans of the Black Sheep.—Bruun.
CHAPTER XXII.
[(1.)] “Scharabach.”—According to Bishop Aïvazoffsky, this plain of “Scharabach” is to be identified with the plain of Karabagh, near the town of Bajazid, in Asiatic Turkey. Neumann is of a different opinion, and points to the district of Karabagh, which extends to the east of Shirwan, as far as the junction of the Kour with the Araxes, anciently called Arzah by the Armenians. Whether the battle of “Scharabach” was fought in Georgia or in Turkey, there is every probability that Schiltberger was made a prisoner upon the occasion, as was also his “lord”. It would never otherwise have occurred to him to say, that he was turned over to Aboubekr after the execution of Miran Shah.—Bruun.
[(2.)] “so that Mirenschach also was put to death.”—Miran Shah actually succumbed in his struggle with Youssouf or Joseph (Dorn, Versuch. einer Gesch. d. Schirwan-Sch., VI, iv, 579). His eldest brother, Miszr Khodja (Weil, Gesch. der Chal., v, 46) had defended the city of Van against Timour in 1394, but contemporary authors do not say whether it was he who put Jehangir to death in 1375. Miszr Khodja may have caused the death of another son of Timour, whom Schiltberger has confounded with Jehangir. Perhaps that of Omar Sheykh, upon the nature of whose death authors are not agreed; Rehm (Tab. gen. des Timurides, v. iv) stating that he died in 1427 only, and Hammer (Hist. de l’E. O., ii, 37) alluding to his sudden death, as having taken place at about the time of the conquest of Van, by Timour, circa 1394.—Bruun.
CHAPTER XXIII.
[(1.)] “Achtum.”—The author says nothing of the neighbourhood of Nahitchevan, for which Neumann gives him credit, nor of that of Erzeroum, which Bishop Aïvazoffsky believes to be the site of the battle of “Achtum”, upon which occasion the Ilkhan Ahmed was defeated by Kara Youssouf. In the plain of “Achtum” we recognise the environs of Aktam, where Timour halted when returning from his last expedition against Toktamish (Dorn, Versuch. einer Gesch. d. Schirwan-Sch., 567; Price, Chron. Retros., iii, 206, who says of Acataem or Actem, that it is a station to the eastward of Moghaun). Neumann agrees with Hammer that Ahmed ben Oweïs was beheaded in 1410, and this is also the opinion of Weil (Gesch. der Chal., v, 141); but Dorn (ibid., 573) has it, that his conflict with Kara Youssouf did not take place until the year 815 = 1412.—Bruun.