Tamerlane

Tamerlane: see Timur.

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Timur

 or Tamerlane or Tamburlaine

(born 1336, Kesh, near Samarkand, Transoxania—died Feb. 19, 1405, Otrar, near Chimkent) Turkic conqueror of Islamic faith whose conquests reached from India and Russia to the Mediterranean Sea. Timur took part in campaigns in Transoxania with Chagatai, a descendant of Genghis Khan. (Timur Lenk, or Tamerlane, means “Timur the Lame,” reflecting the battle wounds he received.) Through machinations and treachery he took over Transoxania and proclaimed himself the restorer of the Mongol empire. In the 1380s he began his conquest of Iran (Persia), taking Khorasan and eastern Iran in 1383–85 and western Iran as far as Mesopotamia and Georgia in 1386–94. He occupied Moscow for a year. When revolts broke out in Iran, he ruthlessly suppressed them, massacring the populations of whole cities. In 1398 he invaded India, leaving a trail of carnage. Next he marched on Damascus and Baghdad, deporting the artisans of the former to Samarkand and destroying all the monuments of the latter. In 1404 he prepared to march on China but died early in the march. Although Timur strove to make Samarkand the most splendid city in Asia, he himself preferred to be always on the move. His most lasting memorials are the architectural monuments of Samarkand and the dynasty he established, under which Samarkand became a centre of scholarship and science.

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Tamerlane, Tamburlaine

Turkic name Timur . ?1336--1405, Mongol conqueror of the area from Mongolia to the Mediterranean; ruler of Samarkand (1369--1405). He defeated the Turks at Angora (1402) and died while invading China

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Tamerlane

(1336–1405) Tartar; vanquished Persia and India. [Asian Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1061]

See : Conquerors

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Tamerlane

(1336–1405) Mongol conqueror, his name a corruption of Timur i Long (Timur the Lame). [Asian Hist.: Benét, 985]

See : Lameness

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Tamerlane

(also Timur; Timur-i-leng, Timur the Lame). Born 1336, in the village of Hodja-Il’gar; died Feb. 18, 1405, in Otrar. Middle Asian state figure and military leader; emir. Son of Taragai of the Barulas tribe, Turkic Mongols.

In 1361, Tamerlane entered the service of Toklug-Timur and was given control of Kashkadar’ia Vilayet. After concluding an alliance with the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Amir Hussayn, he embarked on a lengthy struggle against Toklug-Timur and his son Ilyas Khoja. In 1366, Tamerlane and Hussayn quelled an uprising of Sarbedars in Samarkand. The ensuing struggle for power between Tamerlane and Hussayn ended in victory for Tamerlane in 1370. He took the title of emir and began to rule Mavera-un-Nahr (Transoxania) on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan, supported by the nomadic nobility, the settled feudal lords, and especially the Islamic clergy. The capital of his empire was Samarkand.

In 1373 and 1374, Tamerlane subordinated southern Khwar-azm and in 1388 all of Khwarazm, destroying its capital Urgench. In the 1380’s and 1390’s he combined the unification of Middle Asia with predatory campaigns in Iran, Transcaucasia, and other regions; these campaigns were characterized by Tamerlane’s extraordinary cruelty to the inhabitants. As a result of three campaigns against Toktamysh (1389, 1391, and 1394–95), Tamerlane routed the Golden Horde and pillaged its capital, Sarai-Berke, as well as other cities. In 1398 he invaded India and seized Delhi. He defeated and captured the Turkish sultan Bayazid I in a battle at Ankara in 1402. Tamerlane embarked on a campaign in China in 1404, which was cut short by his death. At the end of his reign, Tamerlane’s empire included Mavera-un-Nahr, Khwarazm, Khorasan, Transcaucasia, Iran, and Punjab.

REFERENCE

Novosel’tsev, A. P. “Ob istoricheskoi otsenke Timura.’ Voprosy istorii, 1973, no. 2.