Ibn Battuta leaves the steppe kingdom of Uzbeg Khan with the retinue
of Uzbeg's wife the khatun Bayalan, a Byzantine princess pp. 152-159.
We set out . . . in the company of the khatun Bayalun and under her protection. The
sultan [Uzbeg] escorted her one stage then returned, he and the queen [the khatun
Taytughli] and the heir to the throne; the other khatuns accompanied her [the khatun
Bayalan] for a second stage and then returned. The amir Baydara with five thousand troops
travelled with her, and her own troops numbered about five hundred horsemen, two hundred
of whom were her attendant slaves and Greeks, and the remainder Turks. She had with her
also about two hundred maidens, most of whom were Greeks, and about four hundred carts and
about two thousand draught and riding horses, as well as three hundred oxen and two
hundred camels. She had also ten Greek youths and the same number of Indians, whose
leader-in-chief was called Sunbul the Indian; the leader of the Greeks was a man of
conspicuous bravery called Michael, but the Turks gave him the name of Lu'lu' [Pearl]. She
left most of her maidens and her baggage at the sultan's camp, since she had set out only
to pay a visit [to her father the emperor].
The khatun is met at the border of her father's territory
The Greeks had heard that this khatun was returning to her country, and there came to
this fortress [at the Byzantine border] to meet her the Greek Kifali [Greek kephale,
meaning chief] Nicolas, with a large army and a large hospitality-gift, accompanied by the
princesses and nurses from the palace of her father, the king of Constantinople. From
Mahtuli to Constantinople is a journey of twenty-two days, sixteen to the canal [unclear,
perhaps the Danube?], and six thence to Constantinople. From this [border] fortress one
travels on horses and mules only, and the waggons are left behind there on account of the
rough ground and the mountains. Kifali had brought many mules, six of which the khatun
sent to me. She also commended to the care of the governor of the fortress those of my
companions and of my slaves whom I had left behind with the waggons and baggage, and he
assigned them a house.
The commander Baydara returned [to Uzbeg Khan] with his troops, and none travelled on
with the khatun but her own people. She left her mosque behind at the fort and the
practice of calling to prayer was abolished. As part of her hospitality-gifts she was
given intoxicating liquors, which she drank, and swine, and I was told by one of her suite
that she ate them. No one remained with her who prayed except one Turk, who used to pray
with us. Sentiments formerly hidden were revealed because of our entry into the land of
the infidels, but the khatun charged the amir Kifali to treat us honourably, and on one
occasion he beat one of his guards because he had laughed at our prayer.
Nearer Constantinople the khatun is greeted by her brother
Then her brother, whose name was Kifali Qaras, arrived with five thousand horsemen,
fully accoutred in armour. When they prepared to meet the princess, her brother, dressed
in white, rode a grey horse, having over his head a parasol ornamented with jewels. On his
right hand he had five princes and the same number on his left hand, all dressed in white
also, and with parasols embroidered in gold over their heads. In front of him were a
hundred foot soldiers and a hundred horsemen, who wore long coats of mail over themselves
and their horses, each one of them leading a saddled and armoured horse carrying the arms
of a horseman, consisting of a jewelled helmet, a breastplate, a bow, and a sword, and
each man had in his hand a lance with a pennant at its head. Most of these lances were
covered with plaques of gold and silver. These led horses are the riding horses of the
sultan's son.
His horsemen were divided into squadrons, two hundred horsemen in each squadron. Over
them was a commander, who had in front of him ten of the horsemen, fully accoutred in
armour, each leading a horse, and behind him ten coloured standards, carried by ten of the
horsemen, and ten kettledrums slung over the shoulders of ten of the horsemen, with whom
were six others sounding trumpets and bugles and fifes.
The khatun rode out with her guards, maidens, slave boys and servants, these numbering
about five hundred, all wearing silken garments, embroidered with gold and encrusted with
precious stones. She herself was wearing a garment of gold brocade, encrusted with jewels,
with a crown set with precious stones on her head, and her horse was covered with a
saddle-cloth of silk embroidered in gold. On its legs were bracelets of gold and round its
neck necklaces set with precious stones, and her saddle frame was covered with gold
ornamented with jewels.
Their meeting took place in a flat piece of ground about a mile distant from the town.
Her brother dismounted to her, because he was younger than her, and kissed her stirrup and
she kissed his head. The commanders and princes also dismounted and they all kissed her
stirrup, after which she set out with her brother.
The procession reaches Constantinople
We encamped at a distance of ten miles from Constantinople, and on the following day
the population, men, women and children, came out riding or on foot, in their richest
apparel. At dawn the drums, trumpets and fifes were sounded; the troops mounted, and the
Emperor with his wife, the mother of this khatun, came out, accompanied by the high
officials of state and the courtiers. Over the king's head there was a canopy, carried by
a number of horsemen and men on foot, who had in their hands long staves, each surmounted
by something resembling a ball of leather, with which they hoisted the canopy. In the
centre of this canopy was a sort of pavilion which was supported by horsemen [carrying]
staves. When the Emperor approached, the troops became entangled with one another and
there was much dust. I was unable to make my way amongst them, so I kept with the khatun's
baggage and party, fearing for my life. I was told that when the princess approached her
parents she dismounted and kissed the ground before them, and then kissed the two hoofs of
their horses, the principal members of her party doing the same.
Our entry into Constantinople the Great was made about noon or a little later, and they
rang their bells until the very skies shook with the mingling of their sounds. When we
reached the fist gate of the king's palace we found there about a hundred men, with an
officer on a platform, and I heard them saying "Sarakinu, Sarakinu,"
["Saracen, Saracen"] which means Muslims. They would not let us enter, and when
those who were with the khatun said that we belonged to their party, they answered
"They cannot enter except by permission," so we stayed at the gate. One of the
khatun's party sent a messenger to tell her of this while she was still with her father.
She told him about us and he gave orders that we should enter, and assigned us a house
near the khatun's house. He wrote also on our behalf an order that we should not be abused
wheresoever we went in the city, and this order was proclaimed in the bazaars.
We stayed indoors three days, receiving from the khatun gifts of flour, bread, sheep,
chickens, butter, fruit, fish, money and beds, and on the fourth day we had audience of
the sultan.
Ibn Batutta meets the Byzantine emperor
The Emperor of Constantinople is called Takfur [actually Andronicus III], son of the
Emperor Jirgis ["George," but actually Andronicus II]. His father, the Emperor
George, was still alive, but had become an ascetic and monk, devoting himself to religious
exercises in the churches, and had resigned the sovereignty to his son. We shall speak of
him later.
On the fourth day after our arrival in Constantinople, the khatun sent the slave Sunbul
the Indian to me, and he took my hand and led me into the palace. We passed through four
gateways, each of which had archways in which were footsoldiers with their weapons, their
officer being on a carpeted platform. When we reached the fifth gateway the slave Sunbul
left me, and going inside returned with four Greek youths, who searched me to see that I
had no knife on my person. The officer said to me: "This is a custon of theirs; every
person who enters the king's presence, be he noble or private citizen, foreigner or
native, must be searched." The same practice is observed also in India. After they
had searched me the man in charge of the gate rose and took me by the hand and opened the
gate. Four of the men surrounded me, two of them holding my sleeves and two behind me, and
brought me into a large hall, the walls of which were of mosaic work, in which there were
pictures of creatures, both animate and inanimate. In the centre there was a stream of
water, with trees on either side of it, and men were standing to right and left, silent,
not one of them speaking.
In the midst of the hall three men were standing to whom those four men delivered me.
These took hold of my garments as the others had done, and on a signal from another man
led me forward. One of them was a Jew, and he said to me in Arabic "Do not be afraid;
this is their custom that they use with one who enters. I am the interpreter, and I come
from Syria." So I asked him how I should salute the Emperor, and he told me to say
"As-salam alaykum."
After this I reached a great pavilion, where the Emperor was seated on his throne, with
his wife, the mother of the khatun, before him. At the foot of the throne were the khatun
and her brothers, to the right of it six men and to the left of it four, and behind it
four, every one of them armed. The Emperor signed to me, before I had saluted and reached
him, to sit down for a moment, in order that my apprehension might be calmed. After doing
so I approached him and saluted him, and he signed to me to sit down, but I did not do so.
He questioned me about Jerusalem, the Sacred Rock, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the
cradle of Jesus, and Bethlehem, and about the city of Abraham [Hebron], then about
Damascus, Cairo, Iraq, and Anatolia, and I answered all his questions about these, the Jew
interpreting between us. He was pleased with my replies and said to his sons "Treat
this man with honour and ensure his safety." Then he bestowed upon me a robe of
honour and assigned me a horse with saddle and bridle, and an umbrella of the kind which
the king has carried above his head, that being a sign of protection. I requested him to
designate someone to ride in the city with me every day, that I might see its marvellous
and rare sights and tell of them in my own country, and he appointed a man as I had asked.
They have a custom that anyone who wears the king's robe of honour and rides his horse is
paraded round with trumpets, fifes and drums, so that the people may see him. They do this
mostly with the Turks who come from the territories of Sultan Uzbeg, so that the people
may not molest them, and I was paraded in this fashion through the bazaars.
Ibn Battuta describes Constantinople pp. 159-164.
The city is enormous in size, and in two parts separated by a great river [the Golden
Horn], in which there is a rising and ebbing tide. In former times there was a stone
bridge over it, but it fell into ruins and the crossing is now made in boats. The part of
the city on the eastern bank of the river is called Istambul, and contains the residence
of the Emperor, the nobles and the rest of the population. Its bazaars and streets are
spacious and paved with flagstones; each bazaar has gates which are closed upon it at
night, and the majority of the artisans and sellers in them are women. The city lies at
the foot of a hill which projects about nine miles into the sea, its breadth being the
same or greater. On the top of the hill there is a small citadel and the Emperor's palace.
Round this hill runs the city-wall, which is very strong and cannot be taken by assault
from the sea front. Within its circuit there are about thirteen inhabited villages. The
principal church is in the midst of this part of the city.
The second part, on the western bank of the river, is called Galata, and is reserved to
the Frankish Christians who dwell there. They are of different kinds, including Genoese,
Venetians, Romans [other Italians?] and people of France; they are subject to the
authority of the king of Constantinople, who sets over them one of their own number of
whom they approve, and him they call the Comes [count]. They are bound to pay a tax every
year to the king of Constantinople, but often they revolt against him and he makes war on
them until the Pope makes peace between them. They are all men of commerce and their
harbour is one of the largest in the world; I saw there about a hundred galleys and other
large ships, and the small ships were too many to be counted. The bazaars in this part of
the town are good but filthy, and a small and very dirty river runs through them. Their
churches too are filthy and mean.
Hagia Sophia
Of the great church I can only describe the exterior, for I did not see its interior.
It is called by them Aya Sufiya [Hagia Sophia], and the story goes that it was built by
Asaph, the son of Berechiah, who was Solomon's cousin. It is one of the greatest churches
of the Greeks, and is encircled by a wall so that it looks as if it were a town. It has
thirteen gates and a sacred enclosure, which is about a mile long and closed by a great
gate. No one is prevented from entering this enclosure, and indeed I went into it with the
king's father; it resembles an audience-hall paved with marble, and is traversed by a
stream which issues from the church. Outside the gate of this hall are platforms and
shops, mostly of wood, where their judges and the recorders of their bureaux sit. At the
gate of the church there are porticoes where the keepers sit who sweep its paths, light
its lamps and close its gates.
They allow none to enter it until he prostrates himself to the huge cross there, which
they claim to be a relic of the wood upon which the pseudo-Jesus was crucified. This is
over the gate of the church, set in a golden case whose height is about ten cubits, across
which a similar golden case is placed to form a cross. This gate is covered with plaques
of silver and gold and its two rings are of pure gold.
I was told that the number of monks and priests in this church runs into thousands, and
that some of them are descendants of the apostles, and that inside it is another church
exclusively for women, containing more than a thousand virgins and a still greater number
of aged women who devote themselves to religious practices. It is the custom of the king,
the nobles and the rest of the people to come every morning to visit this church. The Pope
comes to visit it once a year [sic]. When he is four days' journey from the town the king
goes out to meet him, and dismounts before him and when he enters the city walks on foot
in front of him. During his stay in Constantinople the king comes to salute him every
morning and evening.
On Christian communities of religious
A monastery is the Christian equivalent of a religious house or convent among the
Muslims, and there are a great many such monasteries at Constantinople. Among them is the
monastery which King George [Andronicos II] built outside Istambul and opposite Galata,
and two monasteries outside the principal church, to the right as one enters it. These two
monasteries are inside a garden traversed by a stream of water; one of them is for men and
the other for women. In each there is a church and they are surrounded by the cells of men
and women who have devoted themselves to religious exercises. Each monastery possesses
pious endowments for the clothing and maintenance of the devotees. Inside every monastery
there is a small convent designed for the ascetic retreat of the king who built it, for
most of these kings, on reaching the age of sixty or seventy, build a monastery and put on
garments of hair, investing their sons with the sovereignty and occupying themselves with
religious exercises for the rest of their lives. They display great magnificence in
building these monasteries, and construct them of marble and mosaic-work.
I entered a monastery with the Greek whom the king had given me as a guide. Inside it
was a church containing about five hundred virgins wearing hair-garments; their heads were
shaved and covered with felt bonnets. They were exceedingly beautiful and showed the
traces of their austerities. A youth sitting on a pulpit was reading the gospel to them in
the most beautiful voice I have ever heard; round him were eight other youths on pulpits
with their priest, and when the first youth had finished reading another began. The Greek
said to me, "These girls are kings' daughters who have given themselves to the
service of this church, and likewise the boys who are reading [are kings' sons]."
I entered with him also into churches in which there were the daughters of ministers,
governors, and the principal men of the city, and others where there were aged women and
widows, and others where there were monks, each church containing a hundred men or so.
Most of the population of the city are monks, ascetics, and priests, and its churches are
not to be counted for multitude. The inhabitants of the city, soldiers and civilians,
small and great, carry over their heads huge parasols, both in winter and summer, and the
women wear large turbans.
The former emperor now a monk
I was out one day with my Greek guide, when we met the former king George [Andronicos
II] who had become a monk. He was walking on foot, wearing haircloth garments and a bonnet
of felt, and he had a long white beard and a fine face, which bore traces of his
austerities. Behind and before him was a body of monks, and he had a staff in his hand and
a rosary on his neck. When the Greek saw him he dismounted and said to me, "Dismount,
for this is the king's father." When my guide saluted him the king asked him about
me, then stopped and sent for me. He took my hand and said to the Greek (who knew the
Arabic tongue), "Say to this Saracen (meaning Muslim), 'I clasp the hand which has
entered Jerusalem and the foot which has walked within the Dome of the Rock and the great
church of the Holy Sepulchre and Bethlehem,'" and he laid his hand upon my feet and
passed it over his face. I was astonished at their good opinion of one who, though not of
their religion, had entered these places. Then he took my hand and as I walked with him
asked me about Jerusalem and the Christians who were there, and questioned me at length.
I entered with him the sacred enclosure of the church which we have described above.
When he approached the principal gate, a party of priests and monks came out to salute
him, for he is one of their chief men in monasticism, and on seeing them he let go my
hand. I said to him "I should like to enter the church with you." Then he said
to the interpreter, "Say to him, 'He who enters it must needs prostrate himself
before the great cross, for this is a rule which the ancients laid down and which cannot
be contravened.'" So I left him and he entered alone and I did not see him again.
After leaving the king I entered the bazaar of the scribes, where I was noticed by the
judge, who sent one of his assistants to ask the Greek about me. On learning that I was a
Muslim scholar he sent for me and I went up to him. He was an old man with a fine face and
hair, wearing the black garments of a monk, and had about ten scribes in front of him
writing. He rose to meet me, his companions rising also, and [he] said, "You are the
king's guest and we are bound to honour you." He then asked me about Jerusalem,
Syria, and Egypt, and spoke with me for a long time. A great crowd gathered round him, and
he said, "You must come to my house that I may entertain you." After that I went
away, but I did not see him again.
The khatun declines to return to her husband Uzbeg Khan
When it became clear to the Turks who were in the khatun's company that she professed
her father's religion and wished to stay with him, they asked her for leave to return to
their country. She made them rich presents and sent them an amir called Saruja with five
hundred horsemen to escort them to their country. She sent for me, and gave me three
hundred of their gold dinars, called barbara, which are not good money, and a thousand
Venetian silver pieces, together with some robes and pieces of cloth and two horses, which
were a gift from her father, and commended me to Saruja. I bade her farewell and left,
having spent a month and six days in their town.
