GONZLEZ DE CLAVIJO, RUY

born , Madrid, Spain died April 2, 1412, Madrid Spanish diplomat who traveled to the court of Timur (Tamerlane) at Samarkand, in Turkistan, and wrote a valuable account of his visit. A chamberlain to King Henry III of Castile, Gonzlez was a member of Henry's second embassy to Timur. Departing from El Puerto de Santa Mara, near Cdiz, on May 22, 1403, he sailed via Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the eastern Black Sea city of Trebizond and then proceeded overland through Iran and on to southern Turkistan. At Samarkand the embassy was favourably received. Gonzlez returned to Spain in 1406. His Embajada a Tamor Ln (Embassy to Tamerlane), containing a vivid description of Samarkand, exists in two manuscripts at the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.