Chronicles of al-Sūdān (Taʾrīḫ al-Sūdān)
Timbuktu (Tombouctou, Tin Bukt)
Title
Parade and warning for an attempted assault
Short description
The city governor attempts to assault the city but he is killed with a musket before even entering it, and his head is paraded through the city with a shouted warning.
Text on source
وادرك ان تنبكت منذ يحي ولد بردم اتى بمن معه من اتباعه والزغرانيّين اهل يُرْوَ لقتال القائد المصطفى التركيّ فوصلوا تنبكت يوم الخميس الحادي والعشرين من ذى الحِجّة الحرام مكمّل عام تسعة وتسعين وتسعماية وقيل انّه حلف بدخول القصبة من باب كَبََرَ والخروج من باب السوق وهو من احمق الناس واجهله فلمّا قرب تحت برج القصبة ضرب بالرصاص فمات عشية ذلك اليوم وقطع راسه وطِيف به في خشبة في المدينة ساعتئذ وينادي المنادي معه يا اهل تنبكت هذا راس منذ متاع بلدكم ومن لم يقعد عند روحه هكذا يفعل به [ص. ١٤٧]
English translation
It so happened that on Thursday 21 Ḏū al-Ḥijja 999/10 October 1591 the Timbuktu-mondyo Yaḥya W. Burdam had arrived with his followers and with the Joghorani of Yurwa to fight Qāʾid al-Musṭafā al-Turkī. People say that he swore to enter the fort from the Kabara gate and exit from the market gate. Now Yaḥya was one of the most stupid and foolish of men, and when he approached the tower of the fort he was hit by musket fire [raṣāṣ] and died the same evening. His head was cut off and carried round the city on a pole with a crier [munādī] accompanying it, shouting: "People of Timbuktu! This is the head of the mondyo of your city. Whoever does not keep out of trouble, will end up like this".
Folios/Pages
197
Date
1591 10 10
Observations on the events description
The person who shouts the warning has a specific role called munādī, lit. "caller".
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
No other participants in this event description.
How to quote
Pintimalli A., "Parade and warning for an attempted assault" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 10 07.doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.139
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
