When, at a later period, Tchekre again sought to dispute the throne with Mohammed, he probably entered into negotiations with this ex-councillor, who would have quitted the country for the express purpose upon the fall of the Pretender. In any case “Manstzusch” left Kiptchak a short time only before Schiltberger’s escape, because the latter was never separated from his master until after his return from Egypt, where he had assisted at the marriage of the daughter of Sultan Boursbaï—a sovereign who ascended the throne in 1422 only. If, as I have endeavoured to show, Schiltberger was at that time in “Manstzusch’s” service, it is very possible that the latter took him to Egypt, whither he may have been sent by Oulou Mohammed, perhaps to congratulate Boursbaï upon his accession, or for some other purpose.—Bruun.
CHAPTER XXVII.
[(1.)] “Sadurmelickh.”—Sadra, in Arabic, is the feminine of Sadyr—first, foremost. Melyka is queen, and here we have Sadra Melyka, the first of queens; the queen who is prudent above all others. But Sadry is a woman’s name in Persia, and amongst Tatars, and malachya signifies literally, in Persian, an angel, so that the heroine in question may have been one distinguished for her exceptional qualities—Sadry, the angel.—Ed.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
[(1.)] “kocken.”—The koggen was a vessel with rounded bow and stern, perhaps similar to the γαῦλος alluded to by Epicharmus and Herodotus. The kind of vessel actually in question is mentioned in a statute of Genoa, dated 15th February 1340, entitled De securitatibus super factis naviganti. “Et de navibus, Cochis, galeis et aliis lignis navigabilibusque vendentur in callegam accipiunt, tot asperos qui valeant perperos tres auri ad sagium Constantinopolim....” Cogge, the Anglo-Saxon word for cock-boat, is a name that occurs in Morte Arthure.
“Then he covers his cogge, and caches one ankere.”
In the time of Richard II, a coggo was a vessel employed in the transport of troops, and coggle is a name still given to small fishing-boats on the coast of Yorkshire and in the rivers Muse and Humber (Campe, Wörterbuch; Jal., Gloss. Naut.; Smyth, Sailor’s Word-book).—Ed.
[(2.)] “Bassaw.”—This is the Slave name for the city of Kronstadt in Transylvania, the chief city in Burzelland. It is situated near the river Burtzel or Burzel, a name given, according to some geographers (Vosgien, Dict. Géog., i, 157), to the territory through which it flows. This name may, however, owe its origin to Bortz, a Coman chief, who is mentioned in a Brief of Pope Gregory IX., dated 1227, addressed to the archbishop of Gran: “Nuper siquidem per litteras tuas nobis transmissas accepimus quod I. Ch. d. ac d. n. super gentem Cumanorum clementer respiciens, eis salvationis ostium aperuit his diebus. Aliqui enim nobiles gentis illius cum omnibus suis per te ad baptismi gratiam pervenerunt, et quidem princeps Bortz nomine de terra illorum cum omnibus sibi subditis per ministerium tuum fidem desiderat suspicere Christianam.” (Theiner, Vet. Mon. Hist. Hung., i, 86.) This prince did certainly seek a refuge in Transylvania, as did many of his countrymen, upon the irruption of the Mongols into Kiptchak. We have it upon the authority of Mussulman writers, that among the eleven Coman tribes settled in this country, were the Bourtch-oglon; evidently subject to the princes Bourtchevitch mentioned in Russian annals (Berezin, Nashestvye Mongolov, ix, 240).—Bruun.
CHAPTER XXIX.
[(1.)] “Kallacercka.”—The author does not here allude either to Galata, as Jirecek (Gesch. d. Bulgaren, 324) supposes, or to Callatis, as believed by Fallmerayer, but rather to the castle of Kaliakra, the ruins of which are still visible on the headland of that name. It is the Τιριστρία ἄκρα of the ancients, marked Caliacra in the charts of the 14th century, and known as Γαλιάγρα in the Acta Patriarch. Constant., i, 52, 272. Evliya Effendi (Travels, etc., 70–72) having been shipwrecked near the coast of Kilghra, when on his voyage from Balaklava to Constantinople, in 1643, was hospitably entertained by the dervishes of the monastery, near the castle which was then in existence. In 1406, this territory belonged to Mirtcha (Jirecek, 346); but ten years later he ceded his possessions south of the Danube to his suzerain lord, the Sultan Mahomet I.—Bruun.