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Dates: 1380 - 1430 (Dates are approximate. ) 

Johann Schiltberger was the German author of Reisebuch, which told of his travels and encounters with different cultures and peoples in Eastern Europe and Asia from the late fourteenth to early fifteenth centuries. Born into a noble family at Hollern (located in southern Germany today), Schiltberger began his travels eastwards when he joined the fight against the Ottoman Empire in Hungary. In 1396, he was wounded and captured at the Battle of Nicopolis, but then taken into the service of Bayezid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. After Bayezid’s defeat, he became the slave of the Mongol conquerer Timur and his sons, and then a Tatar prince called Chekre. During this time, he travelled to many lands throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East (including Egypt) and Russia (including Siberia). He escaped to return back home in 1427, working as a chamberlain to Duke Albert III until his death in 1430. TLM