Pedro Tafur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pedro Tafur (or Pero Tafur) (ca. 1410—ca. 1487) was a Spanish traveler and writer. Born in Córdoba, Tafur traveled across three continents during the years 1436 to 1439. During the voyage, he participated in various battles, visited shrines, and rendered diplomatic services for Juan II of Castile.
He visited the Moroccan coast, southern France, the Holy Land, Egypt, Rhodes, Cyprus, Tenedos, Trebizond, and Constantinople. He also visited the Sinai Peninsula, where he met Niccolò Da Conti, who shared with Tafur information about southeastern Asia. Before returning to Spain, Tafur crossed central Europe and Italy.
Between 1453 and 1454, he wrote a book called Andanças e viajes de Pero Tafur por diversas partes del mundo avidos (unpublished until 1874, when it was published by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada). It is one of the few books written by a Spanish traveler during the medieval period (that of Ruy González de Clavijo is another example). Tafur dedicated his book to a member of the Guzmán family, the same family to which Saint Dominic belonged. He thus provides biographical information regarding this saint.
He provides valuable details concerning the Baths of Zeuxippus, the Hagia Sophia, the Holy doors in Rome, and the Obelisks in Rome.
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Online text of Tafur’s travels
- (Spanish) Viaje de Pedro Tafur por el imperio germánico en los años 1438 y 1439. Las hermandades de Castilla en tiempo de Enrique IV Bienvenido Oliver y Esteller. Edición digital a partir de Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, tomo 14 (mayo 1889), pp. 379-389. Centro Virtual Cervantes
- (Spanish) Las memorias de Pedro Tafur, Franco Meregalli
- (Spanish) Espacios sagrados y espacios míticos La retórica del viaje en las Andanças de Pero Tafur, María José Rodilla
[edit] Sources
- Pero Tafur, Travels and Adventures 1435-1439, Routledge, 2004.
- LÓPEZ ESTRADA, Francisco: Libros de viajeros hispánicos medievales Madrid, Ediciones Laberinto, 2002. ISBN 8484830667.
- RAMÍREZ DE ARELLANO, Rafael: Estudios biográficos: Pero Tafur. Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia.41: 278-98.
- VIVES GATELL, José: Andanças e viajes de un higaldo español (Pero Tafur, 1436-1439),con una descripción de Roma. Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia 19 (1949): 127-207.
- CARTELLIERI, Otto: Pero Tafur, ein spanischer Weltreisender des 15. Jahrhunderts, in: Festschrift Alexander Cartellieri zu seinem sechzigsten Geburtstag dargebracht von Freunden und Schülern, Weimar 1927.
- STEHLIN, Karl & THOMMEN, Rudolf: Aus der Reisebeschreibung des Pero Tafur, 1438 und 1439.
