Tamerlane's female court sensory and power from the perspective of RuyGonzález de Clavijo (1403-1406)

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Laura Carbó

Ruy González de Clavijo starred, together with a team of ambassadors, the second mission sent by Henry III of Castile to Tamerlan in 1403, whose round trip itinerary spans three years. Clavijo's meticulous account includes the timurid protocol deployment, which often has the women of the court as protagonists. The ambassadors' approach to the women's world was eminently sensory: the five senses came to the aid of the travel story, with visual, tactile, auditory, tasteful, olfactory experiences that allowed the narrator to communicate the experiences occurred in the presence of women. In addressing to "sensory" we mean both the material world and the sensory experience itself. The historical study will focus on the representations of medieval objects (clothing, meals, setting, organization of spaces, buildings) and the consideration of its users, simultaneously addressing both the intellectual and material substrates of medieval culture. This study of the feminine spaces allows showing a relationship between culture, materiality and power in a temporal and spatial arc reduced to the itinerary of the embassy.

Keywords
Embassy to Tamerlan; 15th century; Senses; Materiality; Power

Article Details

How to Cite
Carbó, Laura. “Tamerlane’s female court: sensory and power from the perspective of RuyGonzález de Clavijo (1403-1406)”. Mirabilia: electronic journal of antiquity and middle ages, no. 29, pp. 144-75, https://raco.cat/index.php/Mirabilia/article/view/360926.