(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.
(2.) “Salonikch.”—Schiltberger may have touched at Salonica when upon
his voyage to Egypt, referred to in chap, xxvi, note 4—performed, in
all probability, on board of an Italian vessel from Caffa, upon which
occasion he passed the island of Imbros, described in chap. 58. There
is no evidence whatever that he went to Salonica after his return from
Asia to Constantinople, nor is it at all probable that he stopped there
when being carried away into slavery after the battle of Nicopolis,
notwithstanding that the town belonged to the Turks and not to the
Greeks (Zinkeisen, _Gesch. d. O. R._, i, 287). Bajazet would scarcely
have selected so circuitous a route for sending captives to Broussa.
There are good reasons for surmising that the voyage was performed in
a Venetian vessel which touched at Salonica. This town, given up in
1403 by Souleiman, son of Bajazet, to the Greeks, was by them sold, in
1423, to the Venetians, who would undoubtedly have taken all necessary
measures for putting it into a state of defence and supplying it with
provisions, including salted fish from the Sea of Azoff. Another reason
for the supposition that Schiltberger’s journey into Egypt could not
have taken place earlier than 1423, is to be found in the fact that,
from Egypt he passed over into Arabia, on a pilgrimage to the holy
places of the Mahomedans, having, as it would seem, turned Mussulman
through compulsion; and if he has avoided all reference to the journey,
it was out of a natural desire not to be reminded of the painful
circumstance of his apostacy.—BRUUN.
(3.) “from whose grave oil flows.”—Hammer observes that Schiltberger
confirms the story told of St. Demetrius, and not of St. Theodora,
as erroneously related in Anagnosta’s _De Thessalonicensi excidio
narratio_, the fact being, that the tomb of St. Theodora was close
to that of St. Demetrius, from whose foot flowed the oil which was
collected annually, and distributed to all believers (_Pout. Rouss.
loud._, 47). Professor Grigorovitch tells us that the well is still
shewn beneath the floor of the church, but he was unable to certify
that the miracle continued to be operated!—BRUUN.
(4.) “Asia.”—Fallmerayer and Hammer maintain that Schiltberger was
mistaken in saying that the city in which was the tomb of St. John,
was called Asia, the correct name being Ephesus, known to the Turks
as Aisulugh, and as Ἅγιος Θεολόγος to the Byzantines, who
thus styled St. John. The author’s learned countrymen might, however,
have admitted in his justification the evidence of Codinus (_Urb. nom.
imm._, 316), to the effect that the ancient name of the eparchiate of
Ephesus was Ἀσία ἡ Ἔφεσος. Schiltberger may have learnt the
ancient name from the monks, who would have employed it in those
days.—BRUUN.
(4A.) The church at Ephesus, erected over the tomb of St. John the
Evangelist, was enlarged by Justinian, and afterwards turned into a
mosque (Ibn Batouta). Here, also, as at the grave of St. Demetrius at
Salonica, the mortal remains were invested with miraculous powders,
for a peculiar kind of dust, in substance like flour, and compared by
St. George of Tours to manna, worked its way out of the sepulchre, and
being taken about, effected many marvellous cures (Baillet, _Vie des
Saints_, viii, 624).—ED.
(5.) “Saint Nicholas was bishop there.”—St. Nicholas, the patron of
Russia, was bishop of Myra in Lycia, which the author confounds with
Ismir, the Turkish name for Smyrna. De Lannoy (_Voy. et Ambass._, 4)
commits a similar error in quoting Lisemiere, together with Feule la
vielle for Fogliavecchia, and Porspic for porto di Spiga.
Smyrna, a possession of the knights of Rhodes, was taken by Timour
towards the close of the year 1402 (Hammer, _Hist. de l’E. O._, ii,
116), upon which occasion Schiltberger must have visited it, without,
however, having been afforded the opportunity of seeing the picturesque
valley where Fellows, in 1838 (_Travels and Researches in Asia Minor_,
etc.), discovered the imposing ruins of Myra, or Demir, so called by
the Turks. It is recorded that in 1087, the relics of St. Nicholas
were removed to Bari, and the church in which they were originally
laid having fallen to ruins, a small chapel was erected on the site.
The restoration of the sacred edifice, completed in 1874 at a cost of
10,000 roubles, was commenced on the initiative of M. Mouravieff.—BRUUN.
(6.) “Maganasa”.—Magnesia was styled “ad Sipylum”, to distinguish it
from Magnesia “ad Mæandrum”, the remains of which have been discovered
near a village called Aïneh-bazar, distant sixteen miles from Ephesus.
The former, the Manissa of the Turks, near the Hermus at the foot of
Mount Sipylus, has ever been a city noted for its extent, commerce, and
population.—BRUUN.
(7.) “Donguslu”.—Denizly, a densely populated town in the time of Hadjy
Khalpha, was no longer included in the district of Saroukhan, but was
added to that of Koutahieh. Near this place, pleasantly situated in
a rich and well-watered plain, are the ruins of Laodicea, one of the
Seven Churches to which St. John addressed his Revelations.—BRUUN.
(8.) “Wegureisari.”—This town, which occupies the site of the ancient
Gangra, is the principal in the district. In the days of Hadjy Khalpha,
it contained a fortress and an imperial residence, which must have been
in existence in Schiltberger’s time, and accounts for his addition of
the word saraï—palace—to Kiankary, and thus converting the name to
“Wegureisari”.—BRUUN.
(9.) “In this country Saint Basil was bishop.”—It was generally
believed that the remains of St. Basil, interred at Cæsarea, were
never disturbed; the Abbey of St. Philibert at Tournes in Burgundy,
the cities of Bruges, St. Armand in Flanders, and Rome, each claim the
possession, but how they came by them is not satisfactorily explained
(Baillet, _Vie des Saints_, iv, 710).—ED.
(10.) “Kureson.”—Near this city, commonly called Kerasous, Keresoun,
situated between Samsoun and Trebizond, are still to be seen the ruins
of ancient Κερασοῦς or Parthenium. There was at one time, on the coast
near Trebizond, another even more ancient Kerasous, that of Xenophon,
of which a lovely valley still retains the name, being known as
Kerasoun-derè; but of the city itself, there are no traces.—BRUUN.