TRAVELLERS IN ASIA MINOR
Centuries: 13th,
15th,
17th,
19th.
Travellers: Barbaro,
Laborde,
La Broquière,
Oldenburg,
Rubrouck,
Spon,
Steuart,
Wheler.
THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Wilbrand von Oldenburg (before 1180–1233).
Travels in 1211–1212 in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Itinerary: Gastis (Baghras, Bakras Kalesi), Alexandretta (İskenderun), Portella (Sarıseki), Canamella (Yılankale), Manistere (Mamistra, Eski Misis), Tursolt (Tarsus), Adana, Sis (Kozan), Naversa (Anazarbus, Anavarza), Adamodana (Amuda, Hemite Kalesi) and Cure (Kızkalesi), from where he embarks for Cyprus. Wikipedia:
English,
French.
Latin: Allatius (1653);
• Laurent (1859).
French: La mission en Cilicie de Wilbrand von Oldenburg (Marc Delpech and Jean-Claude Voisin, in Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph, No. 56, 1999–2003).
Guillaume de Rubrouck (c. 1220–c. 1290).
Travels in 1253–1256 with Bartolomeo da Cremona from Acre to Karakorum and back. In Constantinople from 13 April to 7 May 1253, he then sails across the Black Sea to Soldaia (Sudak) in Crimea, and travels by land to Karakorum, where he arrives on 5 April 1254. On his return, he enters Anatolia from the east in February 1255, stops in Camath (Kemah), Sebaste (Sivas), Caesarea (Kaiseri), Yconium (Konya), Curca (Kızkalesi) and Sis (Kozan), then sails in June from Aiiax (Yumurtalık) to Cyprus. Wikipedia:
English,
French.
Latin: Hakluyt (1599; incomplete);
• Michel-Wright (1839);
• Van den Wyngaert (1929).
English: The journal of friar William de Rubruquis (Richard Hakluyt, 1599; incomplete);
• The journal of friar William de Rubruquis (Hakluyt’s translation, completed by Samuel Purchas, 1625);
• The journey of William of Rubruk to the eastern parts (William Woodville Rockhill, 1900);
• The mission of friar William of Rubruk (Peter Jackson, 1990).
French: Voyage de frère Guillaume de Rubruquis en Tartarie (Pierre Bergeron, 1634;
from the English; see also 1735,
1830 and
1888);
• Guillaume de Rubrouck, ambassadeur de Saint Louis en Orient : récit de son voyage (Louis de Backer, 1877);
• Itinéraire de Guillaume de Rubruk (Albert t’Serstevens, in Les précurseurs de Marco Polo, 1959);
• Voyage dans l’empire mongol (Claude Cappler and René Cappler, 1985).
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Bertrandon de La Broquière (c. 1400–1459).
Travels in Anatolia in 1432, on his way back to Burgundy after visiting Palestine and Syria. Itinerary: Antioche (Antakya), Ayas (Yumurtalık), Misse (Eski Misis), Adéna (Adana), Therso (Tarsus), Araclie (Ereğli), Quhongue (Konya), Achsaray (Akşehir), Carassar (Afyonkarahisar), Cotthay (Kütahya), Burse (Bursa), Nicomédie (İzmit), Constantinople, where he stays from December 1432 to 23 January 1433, Salubria (Silivri), Chorleu (Çorlu), Pirgasy (Lüleburgaz) and Adrianople (Edirne). Wikipedia:
English,
French.
French: Voyage d’outremer (modernised by Pierre Jean-Baptiste Legrand d’Aussy, 1804);
• Le voyage d’outremer (edited by Charles Schefer, 1892);
• Le voyage d’Orient (modernised by Hélène Basso, 2010).
English: The travels of Bertrandon de la Brocquière (Thomas Johnes, 1807;
slightly revised by Thomas Wright in 1848);
• The voyage d’outremer (Galen R. Kline, 1988).
Turkish: Denizaşırı seyahati (İlhan Arda, 2000).
Giosafat Barbaro (1413–1494).
Travels from Venice to Tana (Azov) in 1436–1452, and to Persia in 1473–1479. Itinerary from February to April 1474: Curcho (Kızkalesi), Seleucha (Silifke), Tarsus, Adena (Adana), Orphe (Şanlıurfa), Merdin (Mardin), Asancheph (Hasankeyf), Sairt (Siirt), Chesan (Hizan), Vastan (Gevaş), Choy (Khoy) and Thauris (Tabriz). Wikipedia:
English,
French.
Italian: Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India et in Costantinopoli (1543; see also
1545,
1553 and
1574).
Latin: Itineraria ad Tanaim et in Persiam (Pietro Bizzari, 1601; see also
1671).
English: Travels to Tana and Persia (William Thomas, 1551, edited and published by Henry Stanley of Alderley in 1873).
Turkish: Anadolu’ya ve İran’a seyahat (Tufan Gündüz, 2009).
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Jacob Spon (1647–1685) and George Wheler (1651–1724).
Travel together in 1675 in Italy, Dalmatia, Asia Minor and Greece.
French: Voyage d’Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant, vol. 1 (1678;
see also 1679).
NINETEENTH CENTURY
Léon de Laborde (1807–1869).
Travels in 1826–1828 in Asia Minor with his father Alexandre de Laborde, Becker and Hall. Plates published in 1838. Text added in 1861.
French: Voyage de l’Asie mineure (1861, dated 1838).
John Robert Steuart (1780–1848).
Travels in Lydia and Phrygia from March to June 1837. Itinerary: Smyrna (İzmir), Manessia (Manisa), Thyatira (Akhisar), Sardis, Philadelphia (Alaşehir), Koula (Kula), Ghiordiz (Gördes), Sirghé (Sirge), Blaundus, Ushak (Uşak), Cadi (Gediz), Kutaya (Kütahya), the vicinity of Doganlú (Gökbahçe, Kümbet, Yazılı), Sidy Ghazy (Seyitgazi), Dorylaeum (Eskişehir), Brussa (Bursa), Constantinople.
English: A description of some ancient monuments, with inscriptions, still existing in Lydia and Phrygia, several of which are supposed to be tombs of early kings (1842).
Created on 25 July 2023. Updated on 18 October 2023.
