Bertrandon de la Broquière
[1] The book of his travels, Le Voyage d'Outre-Mer, is a detailed and lively account of the political situations and practical customs of the various regions he visited.
The last mention of Bertrandon in contemporary records dates from 1455, when Philip coaxed him to compose some memoirs of his expedition to the east.
One of the manuscripts of the Voyage records that Bertrandon died at Lille on 9 May 1459 and was buried in the collegiate church of Saint-Pierre.
There he and ten companions made preparations to cross the desert, despite the heat and the brigands, to visit the Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai.
Though Bertandon fell ill and had to turn back to Gaza, he does record the sighting of several exotic desert animals in his Voyage.
In Gaza he was nursed back to health by some Arabs, whom he admits in his Voyage were not as bad as often portrayed in Europe.
[5] In Beirut he decided to return to Europe by land, though pilgrims of the time usually took a boat back to Italy.
On the condition that he wear the Turkish costume, so as not to endanger his fellow travellers, he was permitted to accompany the caravan.
In the caravan Bertrandon met and befriended a mameluke, who taught him aspects of Turkish culture, cuisine and military custom.
He records a low opinion of the Emperor John VIII, describing him as an impotent tributary of the Ottoman sultan.
[4] Bertrandon left Constantinople on 23 January 1433 in the company of Benedict Folco of Forlì, the ambassador of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, heading to the court of the Ottoman sultan Murad II at Adrianople, where they arrived late in February.
[6] Murad, he writes, could conquer Europe with his resources, but he includes a copy of the report of the Venetian John Torcello in his Voyage, to buttress his claim that the Westerners are better armed.
It took Bertrandon five days to get to Vienna from Buda, and there he was cordially welcomed by Duke Albert V of Austria, cousin of Philip the Good.
He gave him a copy of the Koran and a life of Mohammed translated into Latin by the chaplain of the Venetian consul at Damascus.
The duke gave the Koran and the vita to bishop John Germain, the chancellor of the Order of the Golden Fleece, but kept the robes.
