author
Johannes Schiltberger
b. 1380
Captured as a Bavarian teenager at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, he spent decades in Ottoman and Timurid service before making his way home. His travel book preserves a rare firsthand view of war, captivity, and long journeys across eastern Europe and Asia in the late Middle Ages.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born around 1380 in Bavaria, Johann (also called Johannes or Hans) Schiltberger was a German traveler and writer from a noble family, probably from the area near Munich and Freising. As a young man he joined the crusading army that fought the Ottomans and was captured at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396.
Schiltberger then spent many years in captivity and service, first under the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and later in the wider world shaped by Timur and his successors. According to the surviving accounts about his life and work, these years took him across parts of eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Asia, giving him experiences far beyond the world of his Bavarian upbringing.
He is remembered for his Reisebuch, or "Travel Book," a lively medieval account of the places, rulers, peoples, and customs he encountered. Even when some details are colored by the limits of memory and medieval storytelling, the book remains an important source for readers interested in travel, captivity, and cross-cultural contact in the early fifteenth century.