Chapter XXVI

The author’s relation of his own lot, after Tchekre’s first defeat by Oulou Mohammed, is by no means clear, for it is not easy to determine whether he accompanied Tchekre on his flight, or followed the fortunes of Ydegou, upon his being made a prisoner. As to the ultimate fate of this king-maker, opinions are divided. Hammer (Gesch. d. G. H., 382) writes that in 1423 he was still the sovereign of an independent state on the shores of the Black Sea, and must have perished either in the war with Kadyr byrdy, son of Toktamish, or he may have been drowned in the Jaxartes. According to another source (Berezin, Yarlik Toktamysha, 61), he was killed by a Tatar of the Barin tribe, from whom his head was stolen by a friend, who, having presented it to Oulou Mohammed, received in recompense that prince’s daughter in marriage.

That Schiltberger and Ydegou both actually fell into the hands of Oulou Mohammed, seems more probable, because the author speaks of the latter as his master, “min herr Machmet”; but it is not easy to understand why he should have stated in another place (chap. 67), that after Tchekre’s escape he had for his master one of the old councillors of that prince, a certain “Manstzusch”, whose name at least reminds us of one of the chief princes of the Golden Horde (Hammer, Gesch. d. G. H., 391), the Manshuk killed in 1440 by Koutchouk Mohammed, Mohammed the Less, the vanquisher of Mohammed the Great.

When, at a later period, Tchekre again sought to dispute the throne with Mohammed, he probably entered into negotiations with this ex-councillor, who would have quitted the country for the express purpose upon the fall of the Pretender. In any case “Manstzusch” left Kiptchak a short time only before Schiltberger’s escape, because the latter was never separated from his master until after his return from Egypt, where he had assisted at the marriage of the daughter of Sultan Boursbaï—a sovereign who ascended the throne in 1422 only. If, as I have endeavoured to show, Schiltberger was at that time in “Manstzusch’s” service, it is very possible that the latter took him to Egypt, whither he may have been sent by Oulou Mohammed, perhaps to congratulate Boursbaï upon his accession, or for some other purpose.—Bruun.