(1.) “those from Venice likewise.”—In his admirable treatise on the
establishment of Italian commercial depôts in Egypt, Heyd (_d.
Ital. Handelscolon._, etc., in the _Zeitschrift f. d. gesammte
Staatswissenschaft_, xx, 54–138) confirms the statement that of the
several Italian Powers, the Venetians and Genoese were at that time
the most interested in trade with Alexandria. Their predecessors the
Pisans, who had taken an active part in the eastern trade, were forced
at the commencement of the 15th century to abandon their interests in
favour of the Florentines, and in great measure also of the Anconitans,
Neapolitans, and citizens of Gaeta; but the Catalans, equally with the
Italians, kept up extensive commercial relations with Egypt.—BRUUN.
(2.) “the king of Zipern.”—Allusion is made to the taking of Alexandria,
Oct. 10th, 1365, by Peter of Lusignan, king of Cyprus, and his allies
the Genoese, Venetians, and knights of Rhodes. De Lannoy (_Voy. et
Ambass._, 70) records that the allied forces landed near the old port,
the entrance to which was ever afterwards closed against all vessels
of Christian nationalities. Upon the approach of the Egyptians on the
above occasion, the Franks re-embarked after having pillaged the city
and carried off five thousand captives (Weil, _Gesch. der Chal._, iv,
512). This expedition, in which twenty-four Venetian, two Genoese,
ten Rhodian, five French, and several Cyprian vessels took part, was
completed in the space of a week, so that allowing the requisite time
for landing and re-embarking, the occupation of the city would most
probably have lasted three days, the period indicated by
Schiltberger.—BRUUN.
(3.) “took Alexandria, and remained in it three days.”—This tower
must have been either the pharos of Alexandria, or some tower on the
islet that had become united to the mainland by the sands of the
Nile; otherwise, De Lannoy, to whom we are indebted for a detailed
description of the port of Alexandria under a strategic point of view,
would not have failed to notice it. He simply mentions a long spit,
one mile wide, between the old and new ports which both reached to the
walls of the city. This islet is now occupied by one of its finest
quarters.
Makrizi describes the pharos at Alexandria (S. de Sacy, _Chrestom.
Arabe_, ii, 189) as having at the top a large mirror, around which
criers were seated. Upon perceiving the approach of an enemy through
the agency of this reflector, they gave warning to those in the
immediate neighbourhood by loud cries, and flags were displayed to
apprise others at a distance, so that people in all parts of the city
were immediately on the alert.
De Sacy (Abd-Allatif, 239) is of opinion that the large circles
employed in astronomical observations and which were placed on the
highest part of such lofty buildings as the pharos, may have led
Arabian writers, who usually delighted in the relation of all that was
marvellous, to represent that the mirror at the top of the Alexandria
lighthouse was placed there for better observing the departure of Greek
vessels from their ports. The tower described in the text was no doubt
designed for this purpose, because Ijas an Arabian author (Weil.
_l. c._, v, 358) relates, that in 1472 the sultan Kaïtbaï caused a new
lighthouse to be constructed near the old one; it communicated with the
city by means of a dyke, and was provided with a chapel, a mill, and a
bakehouse; also a platform from which strange vessels could be seen at
the distance of a day’s sail, so that time was afforded for preparing
the guns with which the tower was supplied, to resist their approach.
Schiltberger was right in saying that there was a temple in the tower,
because Abd-Allatif speaks of a mosque as being at the top of the
pharos at Alexandria.
Apart from the possibility of there having been a traitor amongst them
who ministered in that temple, the Egyptians may have invented the
tale narrated in this chapter, in extenuation of their negligence in
suffering themselves to be taken by surprise by the Crusaders.—BRUUN.