Ruy González de Clavijo (died 2 April 1412) was a Castilian traveller and writer, who, in 1403-1406, served as the ambassador of King Henry III of Castile to the court of Timur (Tamerlane). He kept a diary of the journey which he published in Spanish in 1582; an English translation was first prepared in 1859 and entitled "Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the Court of Timour at Samarcand AD 1403-6." Clavijo's account provides numerous interesting insights on the court of Timur but, unfortunately, contains only several brief references to Georgia.
"The Georgians are fine handsome men, and their religion is the same as that of the Greeks, but they have a different language."
"At this time the king of Georgia rebelled, and entered the land of Aumian and of Asseron [Erzerum], in Armenia, marching towards the city of Tabreez [Tabriz], and burning the villages, causing great terror amongst the people. The lord sent one of his knights, named Omar Toban, with six thousand cavalry, to this frontier, and ordered the people of Tabreez to join him, who made up a body of fifteen thousand cavalry. They marched out of Tabreez, and took up a position on the plains of Alatoa. The [Georgian] king, when he knew this, attacked them in the night, and defeated them with great slaughter, and those who escaped, fled to Tabreez. The noise and terror amongst the Moors of that city were great, and they were ashamed that the Kafirs should have conquered the Mussulmans, for they call the Christians by the name of Kafirs, meaning a people without laws; and Mussulman means those of the chosen and good law. Others said that this would not have happened if their lord had any luck, but that the fortunate Timour Beg was now dead."
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