Bertrando de Mignanelli explained
| Bertrando de Mignanelli |
| Birth Date: | 1370 |
| Birth Place: | Siena, Republic of Siena |
| Death Date: | 1455 or 1460 |
| Occupation: | merchant |
| Nationality: | Republic of Siena |
| Notableworks: | Vita Tamerlani [Life of Tamerlane] (1416) |
| Relatives: | father Leonard de Mignanelli[1] |
Bertrando de Mignanelli or Beltramo Mignanelli di Siena[2] [3] (1370 – 1455[4] or 1460)[5] was an adventurous and multilingual[6] Italian merchant who lived in Damascus at the beginning of the 15th century[7] and wrote the only Latin language primary source about Tamerlane's conquest of Damascus.[8]
Life
Bertrando's father Leonard de Mignanelli was a member of the nobility of Siena.[1] At a very young age Mignanelli left Siena and traveled extensively around the Middle East before settling in Damascus and starting his successful trading business.[9]
In some sources he is mentioned as a Catholic priest.[10] Although he was a committed Christian his work does not contain much religious bias.[11]
Works
He personally knew Sultan Barquq and spoke Arabic.[12] After he returned to Italy in 1416 he wrote a biography of Barquq and valuable testimony of Timur's capture of the Mamluk region of Syria in 1400—1401. He wrote his works based on what he had heard about the conquest because he fled to Jerusalem during the siege of Damascus and spent the winter of 1400/1401 there.[13] [7] After he heard that Damascus had been destroyed, he joined the retreating Mamluk Egyptian army commanded by Faraj ibn Barquq and went to Cairo and Alexandria with a servant.[13]
In his works he also mentions the Battle of Kosovo because he makes a parallel between the conduct of Stefan Lazarević during the Battle of Angora and his father Prince Lazar of Serbia during the Battle of Kosovo.[14] Like many other early Western sources, Mignanelli believed that the Christian Serbian army was victorious.[15] In his 1416 work Mignanelli asserted that the Ottoman sultan Murad I was killed by Prince Lazar himself.[14]
Mignanelli died in 1460.[8]
Further reading
- A New Latin Source on Tamerlane's Conquest of Damascus (1400/1401) (B. de Mignanelli's "Vita Tamerlani" 1416): Translated into English with and Introduction and Commentary . Walter J. . Fischel . Oriens . 9 . 2 . 1956 . 201–232 . 1579274.
- Ascensus Barcoch (I), a Latin Biography of the Mamlūk Sultan Barqūq of Egypt (d. 1399) Written by B. de Mignanelli in 1416: Rendered into English with an Introduction and a Commentary . Walter J. . Fischel . Arabica . 6 . Fasc. 1 . 1956 . 57–74 . 4055394.
- Ascensus Barcoch (II), a Latin Biography of the Mamlūk Sultan Barqūq of Egypt (d. 1399) Written by B. de Mignanelli in 1416: Rendered into English with an Introduction and a Commentary . Walter J. . Fischel . Arabica . 6 . Fasc. 2 . 1956 . 152–172 . 4055491.
Notes and References
- Book: Evariste Lévi-Provençal. Arabica. 13 September 2013. 1959. E. J. Brill.. 60. born in Siena, Italy, the son of Leonard de Mignanelli, a member of nobility.
- Book: Felicitas Schmieder. Europa und die Fremden. 11 September 2013. 1994. Thorbecke. 978-3-7995-5716-0.
- Book: Manuel Braun. Cornelia Herberichs. Gewalt im Mittelalter: Realitäten, Imaginationen. 11 September 2013. 2005. Wilhelm Fink Verlag. 978-3-7705-3881-2. 178.
- Book: Walter Joseph Fischel. Ibn Khaldūn in Egypt: His Public Functions and His Historical Research, 1382-1406; a Study in Islamic Historiography. registration. 11 September 2013. 1967. University of California Press. 107. Bertrando de Mignanelli (d. 1455).
- Web site: Mamluk Primary Bibliography. Library of the University of Chicago. 10 September 2013.
- Book: Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. 13 September 2013. 1976. Longmans, Green. 210. Beltramo Mignanelli, an adventurous and multilingual Sienese who died at the ripe age of 85 in 1455.
- Book: Rika Gyselen. Maria Szuppe. Matériaux Pour L'histoire Économique Du Monde Iranien. 10 September 2013. 1999. Association pour l'Avancement des Etudes Iraniennes. 978-2-910640-06-4.
- Book: Walter Joseph Fischel. Ibn Khaldūn in Egypt: His Public Functions and His Historical Research, 1382-1406; a Study in Islamic Historiography. registration. 10 September 2013. 1967. University of California Press. 201. The only extensive Latin account of Tamerlane's deeds in Damascus stem from the pen of Bertrando de Mignanelli .
- Book: The Journal of European Economic History. 13 September 2013. 1976. Banco di Roma.. 562. ... who, as a young man, came to Damascus and engaged in commercial activities....
- Book: Amir Temur in world history. 10 September 2013. 1996. United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization. 87. If the above mentioned sources are famous enough, but the work of the Italian Catholic priest Bertrando de Mignanelli «Vitae Tamer- lani» (Life of Tamerlan) proved to be quite unknown to our scholars..
- Book: Anne Wolff. How Many Miles to Babylon?: Travels and Adventures to Egypt and Beyond, 1300 to 1640. 11 September 2013. 1 January 2003. Liverpool University Press. 978-0-85323-668-9. 26. Although it was composed by a devout Christian, there was remarkably little religious bias. .
- Book: D. Donald Sidney Richards. Chase F. Robinson. Texts, documents, and artefacts [electronic resource]
Islamic studies in honour of D.S. Richards]
. 11 September 2013. 1 January 2003. BRILL. 978-90-04-12864-4. 258.
- Book: Evariste Lévi-Provençal. Arabica. 13 September 2013. 1959. E. J. Brill.. 61. When Tamerlane, during his second campaign in Syria, laid siege to Damascus in I400, de Mignanelli was in Jerusalem spending the winter there (I400-1401). There he heard of the destruction of Damascus by Tamerlane and joining the....
- Book: Sima M. Ćirković
. Sima M. Ćirković. Sima M. Ćirković. Kosovska bitka u istoriografiji: Redakcioni odbor Sima Ćirković (urednik izdanja) [... et al.].]. 11 September 2013. 1990. Zmaj. 78.
- Book: Реферати и саопштења - Научни састанак слависта у Вукове дане. 11 September 2013. 1989. Међународни славистички центар. 152. Бројни западни хроничари и ина западна сведочанства говоре о победи Хришћана (Мезијер, Мињанели, писмо фирентинске...).
