Dynasty of Mongol origin. The clan, however, did not belong to the Genghisids. Father Timur Taragai-bek, being an authoritative person, did not have large estates.
Timur was born in the village of Khoja Ilgar, near the city of Shakhrisyabz, in the first half of the 14th century. It was a time of crisis and collapse of the Chagataid state. There were many who wanted to take advantage of the current circumstances, seize someone else’s property, rob it, subjugate it. Timur became one of them. As a young man, he gathered a detachment of warriors (one might say a gang), with whom he began to raid his neighbors. After several successful enterprises, his small army increased in number, and Timur began to gradually subjugate Transoxiana. By 1370, most of the province was in his hands. Timur chose Samarkand as his capital. Then he undertook numerous campaigns of conquest in Iran, India, Syria, the Caucasus, and defeated Golden Horde and the Ottoman state in Asia Minor. As a result of many years of wars, a huge state was formed.
Not belonging to the Genghisids, Timur could not accept the title of khan; he was content with the title of gurgan (son-in-law, in this case son-in-law of the khan), to which he received the right by marrying the widow of Emir Hussein (his old friend-enemy) Sarai Mulk-khanum. She was the daughter of the last Chagataid khan of Transoxiana, Kazan. But in order to give his rule legitimacy, Timur elevated dummy khans, descendants of Genghis Khan’s son Ogedei, to the khan’s throne.
Timur died in Otrar during the start of his last campaign in China. Among his heirs there was no figure of comparable stature. Therefore, by the end of the 15th century, the Timurids lost their possessions.
Supreme rulers in Samarkand
Timur (Temur) 1370-1405
Khalil 1405-1409
Shahrukh 1405-1447
Ulug-bek 1447-1449
Abdal-Latif 1449-1450
Abdullah Mirza 1450-1451
Abu Said 1458-1469
The final collapse of the Timurid state.
Rulers in Transoxiana
Abu Said 1451-1469
Ahmad Mirza 1469-1494
Mahmud Mirza (from 1469 - in Badakhshan) 1494-1500
Umar Sheikh Mirza (in Fergana) 1469-1494
Umar Sheikh had a son, Babur, who somewhat later managed to conquer India and founded his Mughal dynasty there.
Rulers in Kabul and Ghazna
Pir Muhammad ibn Jahangir 1392-1407
Kaidu Bahadur ibn Timur 1407-1417
Suyurghatmish ibn Shahrukh 1418-1427
Masud ibn Suyurghatmish 1427-1441
Karachar ibn Masud 1441-1461
Ulug-bek-Mirza ibn Abu Said 1461-1502
Babur Muhammad Zahir ad-din ibn Umar-Shaykh 1504-1530
Kamran ibn Babur 1530-1545
Humayun Nasir ad-din ibn Babur 1545-1556
Babur and then his son Humayun conquered India and created a state there known in history as the Mughal Empire. .
Rulers in Khorasan
Babur (Abu-l-Qasim) 1449-1457
Mahmud ibn Babur 1457-1459
Abu Said 1459-1469
Yadigar Muhammad 1469-1470
Husayn Bayqara 1469-1506
Badi az-zaman 1506
Muzaffar Husayn 1506
The dynasty's possessions were conquered by the Shibanids.
Rulers in Western Iran and Iraq
Miran Shah 1404-1409
Khalil 1409-1411
Aylankar 1414-1415
Iraq and Azerbaijan are captured by the Kara Koyunlu state. Fars, Isfahan and Khuzistan were annexed to the domains of the supreme Timurid ruler Shahrukh.
Book materials used: Sychev N.V. Book of Dynasties. M., 2008. p. 572-574.
Read further:
Tamerlane(Timur) - 1336-1405, Central Asian statesman, commander, emir.
Central Asia(review of state entities and ruling dynasties).
Iran(state entities and ruling dynasties).
Timurids- a dynasty of Timur's descendants that ruled in Transoxiana, Iran and India.
In the year of Timur's death (1405), his son Shahrukh ruled Khorasan; of the grandchildren of Timur, Pir-Muhammad, son of Jehangir, ruled in Afghanistan, Omar and Abu-Bakr (sons of Miranshah) - in Azerbaijan and Baghdad, Pir-Muhammad, Rustem and Iskender (sons of Omar-Sheikh) - in Fars and Erak Persian; Miranshah's son, Khalil-Sultan, stood in Tashkent with an army gathered for a campaign against China.
Timur appointed Pir-Muhammad, son of Jehangir, as his heir; but he was not recognized. Khalil Sultan took possession of Transoxiana, but voluntarily recognized the supreme power of Shahrukh, who was proclaimed sultan in Herat (1405-1447).
The Timurids lost Baghdad already in 1405, Azerbaijan - in 1408 (victory of Kara-Yusuf, the leader of the Kara-Koyunlu; Shahrukh gradually brought the rest of the regions under his rule. Pir-Muhammad was defeated by Khalil-Sultan in 1406 and killed in 1407, after why Shahrukh occupied Afghanistan. In 1409, he conquered Transoxiana and appointed his son Ulugbek as ruler there, in 1414 he pacified the Iskender uprising and appointed his son Ibrahim (1414-1435; after him his son Abdallah, 1435-1445) as ruler of Fars.
Shahrukh made several campaigns against Azerbaijan and in 1436 subjugated this country; Jehan Shah (son of Kara-Yusuf) was appointed its ruler as Shahrukh's vassal. Shahrukh and his sons cared about raising the well-being of their possessions and patronized education (restoration of Merv in 1410; the observatory and astronomical tables of Ulugbek).
At the end of Shahrukh's reign, the unrest resumed, and after his death the state collapsed; Ulugbek was killed by his own son in 1449. Khorasan was taken over by Shahrukh's grandson, Abu-l-Qasim Babur (1450-1457), Maverannahr - by Miranshah's grandson, Abu-Seyid (1451-1469).
Jehan Shah, who broke away from the Timurids, captured Fars in 1452, Khorasan in 1458, but ceded this area to Abu Seid, who for a short time (1458-1468) restored the unity of the Timurid state. An attempt to take advantage of the death of Jehan Shah (1467) to conquer Aderbeijan was the reason for the death of Abu Seid: he was captured and killed by Uzun Hassan, the leader of the Ak-Koyunlu tribe.
Abu Seid's son, Ahmed (1469-1494), owned only Transoxiana; The Iranian possessions of the Timurids passed into the power of another descendant of Timur (through Omar Sheikh), Husayn Baykara (1469-1506), whose court (in Herat) remained one of the centers of education.
Ahmed and Hussein were the last strong rulers of the Timurid dynasty; The Timurid possessions were conquered by the nomadic Uzbeks, whose leader Sheibani captured Transoxiana in 1500, and Khorasan in 1507. Ahmed's nephew Babur, after several attempts to oust Sheibani Khan from Transoxiana, established himself in Kabul (1504), from where in 1511, after the death of Sheibani, he again conquered Transoxiana, but already in 1512 he finally cleared the country and subsequently founded the Mughal Empire in India.
Some members of the dynasty became famous as scientists and writers. Ulugbek was a great astronomer and mathematician; Husain Baykara (under the pseudonym Husaini) and Babur are famous poets.
When writing this article, material was used from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907).
Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurids
State of Timur and the Timurids (XIV - XV centuries). In the XIV century. In the conditions of contradictions within the Mongolian nomadic aristocracy, a strong power emerged, led by Timur. Its basis was the lands that were part of the Chagatai state.
Back in the 40s of the XIV century. The process of dividing the Chagatai ulus into two parts ended: Mogolistan (as the nomads of Semirechye and Kashgar called their lands) and the Chagatai state in Transoxiana. Both states were at enmity with each other. Timur strengthened himself in the Chagatai state, where he had previously been the leader of a military squad.
In 1370, Timur's army and entourage proclaimed him the sole ruler of the Chagatai state. Timur, pursuing the policy of unifying Transoxiana, at the same time began to carry out predatory campaigns one after another, using a cruel system of intimidation of the conquered peoples, which brought a lot of evil not only Central Asia, but also to peoples living outside its borders.
At the end of the 15th century. Timur's state split into two parts: Transoxiana with its center in Samarkand and the southern part with its center in Herat. The southern part included Khorezm, Khorasan and part of modern Afghanistan.
Having formed a huge empire, Timur distributed entire districts and regions with the rights of surgal * to his grandchildren, sons and distinguished beks. This empire was not strong; it rested on the cruelty and strength of Timur’s army.
* Under surgal at the end of the 14th and 15th centuries. meant the transfer of certain land into hereditary ownership and management with the right to partially and sometimes fully collect taxes and taxes from the population. Often, along with the land, administrative rights to the corresponding territory and its population were transferred.
After the death of Timur (1405), a struggle for power began in the country between his descendants - the Timurids. The former empire gradually disintegrated. Feudal fragmentation intensified in Central Asia.
The social structure of the empire is characterized by the presence of two antagonistic classes - feudal lords (khans, inakis, atalyks, beks, seids, Khojas, Akhuns) and feudally dependent peasants. Slaves also continued to exist. Central Asia was characterized by a close connection between feudal land ownership and water ownership. Along with agriculture, the construction and cleaning of the irrigation network fell heavily on the shoulders of the working peasants.
Under Timur, a fairly ramified apparatus of government was formed. The emir himself was a typical feudal despot ruler. Under the emir, there was a council consisting of representatives of the highest strata of society (Timur's relatives, representatives of the highest clergy, senior officials - wazirs, divan-begs, etc.). Under Timur, a strong military organization, built, like the Mongols, according to the decimal system: tens, hundreds, thousands, tumens (10 thousand). The sectoral management bodies were the wazirates: for the affairs of the civilian population, for the affairs of military personnel (sepoys); on external relations, financial affairs, etc. Regions, districts, cities, counties and villages were ruled by local rulers - beks, hakims, arbobs.
At the end of the 15th century. Nomadic tribes, the bulk of whom were called Uzbeks, rushed into the territory of the settled agricultural regions of Central Asia from the north. In the 16th century, taking advantage of the civil strife of the Timurids, Uzbek nomads seized Central Asian lands and formed a state here with its center in the city of Bukhara. It went down in history as the Bukhara Khanate.
Social system. The conquerors did not change the economic basis of the local society; they adopted the way of life that had developed here before their arrival. By this period, the severe consequences of the Mongol invasion had not yet been overcome in Central Asia, and the consequences of civil strife were also affecting them.
The population of the Khanate was engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, and crafts. It was not homogeneous ethnically and socially. The large landowners were the khan, members of his dynasty, local and foreign feudal nobility, and Sufi-dervish brotherhoods. The head of state was considered the supreme owner of state lands. He also owned mulk (privately owned) lands that could be alienated. The khan distributed land grants to his associates. Some of the land grants were exempt from taxes and duties. Landowners also included mosques, madrassas and other religious institutions.
Muslim feudal law (Sharia) did not contain rules that would regulate legal status serfs, but their actual situation was no different from the worst forms of serfdom. Peasants paid taxes on all types of property, on livestock, on cultivated land (kharaj), for the maintenance of troops, etc. Patriarchal slavery also continued to exist in the Khanate.
State system. The Bukhara Khanate was a monarchical state. The bearer of supreme power was the khan. The state and khan's treasuries were merged. The Khanate had its own coin.
Under the khan, there was a council consisting of representatives of tribes, the highest nobility and clergy, which had great influence on public life. The Uzbek feudal lords became the main social support of the khan. The person closest to the khan was the governor, the khan's brother or the senior representative of the most influential family. At the head of the khan's administration was the “close and first person”, who performed the functions of the chief administrator and commander of the troops of the khanate. Behind him were the divan-begi - the head of financial and diplomatic affairs, the butler, the head of the khan's office, officials, who were in charge of collecting taxes in cities, etc. At the head of the regions (vilayets) were the hakims and bey rulers. The vilayets were divided into tumens and amaldors, headed by their local rulers. The villages and auls were ruled by aksakals (elders) or mingbashi. Police functions were performed by mirshabs (“rulers of the night”). Muslim judges called executions. The chief judge was called casikalon. Nomadic tribes had their own judges, biys, who considered cases on the basis of adat (customary law).
The Timurids are a powerful Asian dynasty that ruled the territory of modern Iran and Iraq during the late Middle Ages.
The founder of the dynasty was the great commander Tamerlane, who in Europe was known as Timur. The Timurids ruled the so-called Timurid State, which lasted from 1370 to 1507.
Most people mistakenly believe that the Timurids were a barbarian tribe of nomads for whom war was the main craft. In fact, such information is nothing more than far-fetched.
History of the state
In 1370, Tamerlane created a state on the ruins of the Golden Horde - he became the first ruler and founder of the dynasty. Tamerlane chose the city of Samarkand, which is located on the territory of modern Uzbekistan and still bears this name, as the capital of the state.From the very beginning of its existence, the Timurid state has been active foreign policy, which manifests itself in wars of conquest against neighboring peoples. So, already in 1376, under the pressure of Tamerlane’s armies, Khorezm was captured.
In 1384, the regions of Zabulistan and Seistan (now the territory of Afghanistan) were annexed. Already in the early 90s of the 14th century, Tamerlane’s troops reached the borders of Baghdad. The power of the Timurid state increases so much that already in 1395 Tamerlane leads his army in war on the Golden Odra.
Three years later, Timur goes to war in India - in the Delhi Sultanate. The campaign was extremely successful for Tamerlane, because he managed to undermine the power of the sultanate and rob the rich city of Delhi. After the Timurid strike, the Delhi Sultanate was no longer able to achieve such strength.
In 1401, Tamerlane's troops captured large city Damascus. IN next year The Timurids go to war against the Turks and inflict a crushing defeat on the Turkish Sultan. The Turkish Sultan, as a tribute, gave Tamerlane the most ancient copy of the Koran, which has survived to this day. For Muslims, this artifact is a sacred relic.
The year 1405 was a big blow for the Timurid state, because the great commander and Sultan Tamerlane, on whose authority all the power and might of the state rested, died. After Tamerlane's death, a political crisis began in the country. In 1405, the grandson of the great commander sits on the throne, but he cannot hold the throne, so he gives power to his uncle, Shahrukh.
The capital of the country moves from Samarkand to Herat. After the death of Tamerlane, provinces such as Azerbaijan and Iraq were separated from the Timurid state, since they could not be held. Shahrukh ruled for a very long time - until 1447 and his reign was quite stable.
The Timurid state did not regain its former power, but did not lose it either. In 1447, Sultan Uglubek sits on the throne, who in 1449 is killed by his own son and takes his place on the throne. Civil strife began in the country, which led to a crisis. More and more territories gradually began to separate from the state.
Tamerlane's army photo
On beginning of XVI century, only the Transoxiana region remains from the Timurid state. In 1501, the capital of the Timurid state was captured by the Uzbeks. The last ruler of the Timurid dynasty, Babur, decided not to fight for the empire that was already in the dust, but went to war in other lands in order to find a new home for his people.
Already in 1504, Babur, together with a loyal army, captured Kabul. The young ruler did not want to stop there. His gaze fell on rich India. And from Kabul he began planning a campaign of conquest in India.
While plans for the invasion of India were just being prepared, Babur made several trips to the territory former state Timurids and won several victories there. However, he finally succeeded in retaining the throne in Central Asia, after which he devoted all his strength to the conquest of India.
Already in 1526, Babur founded a new powerful empire on the territory of India - the Mughal Empire.
Symbolism
The main symbol of the state is usually considered to be a blue flag with three silver circles. Other standards were also found in rarer sources. For example, flags with a golden crescent.
Timurid State
Tamerlane himself called his state Turan. It was not a strong state association, but only rested on the personal influence of Tamerlane and his powerful army. By shape government structure The Timurid state should be considered a monarchical state with a strong power of the ruler - the Sultan.
The Supreme State Council was entrusted with assisting the Sultan in state affairs. The Timurid state professed Islam and the highest law for the people - the principles of Sharia.
Timurid Army
At the dawn of the empire, Tamerlane’s army could field about 200 thousand soldiers. Warriors fought mainly on horseback - infantry was used extremely rarely. Before the start of Babur's reign, the Timurids practically did not use firearms. At the end of the 15th century, Babur purchased Ottoman Empire large quantities of firearms, from ordinary arquebuses to artillery pieces.
Subsequently, Babur begins to effectively use firearms in battle, which brings him victories in India.
Culture of the Timurid state
During the reign of Tamerlane, the so-called “Timurid Renaissance” began. The Timurids were patrons of the arts and science. By orders of the sultans, mosques and other rich architectural structures were built. Under Uglubek, an observatory was built, which should be considered the most significant in the Middle Ages.
Sciences such as history, astronomy, and mathematics are widely developed in the state. A special place in Timurid culture was given to art and poetry.
- A message was written on Tamerlane’s grave, which said that if anyone disturbs Tamerlane’s grave and ashes, a great and bloody war will immediately begin. The Soviet researchers who found the Sultan's grave only laughed when they read the message. The very next day - June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany began attacking Soviet Union. The war would claim more than 40 million lives over four years of fighting;
- There is evidence that Tamerlane used war elephants in his army. But the most amazing thing is that he attached small artillery pieces to the backs of the elephants. It is impossible to say for sure whether such weapons were in service with the Timurid army, but some sources talk about something similar.
The name of Timur is associated with a short-term rise in statehood in Central Asia. He managed to found a new state on the remains of the former Chagatai ulus, where the weak descendants of Genghis Khan ruled. The period of Timurid dominance in the region was accompanied, in addition to brutal wars, by the rise of science and art. In the 15th century, mathematicians of the empire, among whom was Emir Ulugbek, made a great contribution to the development of this science. At the court of the emirs from the family of Tamerlane's descendants lived outstanding scientists and poets, known today throughout the world.
Timur came from the Barlas tribe. He was born in 1336 in the family of Emir Taragai. In 1360, after the death of his father, he inherited power in the ulus. For the next ten years, he fought to establish his power in Transoxiana.
In 1370, Timur killed his former ally Emir Hussein and assembled a kurultai of the Mongol nobility. He was proclaimed emir and began to rule the territory of Transoxiana.
Timur's conquests
In 1371, Timur made his first campaign against Mogolistan, from where raids were carried out on his states. During the period 1371-1390, seven military campaigns were organized against Mogolistan, which resulted in the defeat of its ruler Kamar ad-Din, but the territory of this country was not conquered.
In 1381, the emir invaded Khorasan after being approached by the ruler of the Khorasan Serbedar state. Timur placed a garrison in the capital of the state, Sebzevar. In 1383, the Khorasans rebelled against Timur, who was brutally suppressed by the emir.
After this, Tamerlane continued the conquest of Western Asia: the territories of Afghanistan and Northern Iran were subjugated. In 1387, the conqueror's troops marched through Transcaucasia, and by 1393 they subjugated Iran.
In the 1380-1390s, Timur waged war against the Golden Horde and its khan Tokhtamysh. The emir supported Tokhtamysh in defiance of another contender - Urus Khan. In 1380, Tokhtamysh established himself on the throne of the Horde and soon opposed his former ally. The struggle between them ended with the victory of Timur in 1395 and the flight of Tokhtamysh from his khanate.
In 1398-1399, Tamerlane invaded India. He defeated the troops of the Delhi Sultanate and, having collected large booty, left Hindustan.
In 1400-1401, the emir subjugated part of Syria and Mesopotamia, Aleppo and Baghdad were taken. This led to conflict with the young state of the Ottoman Turks. In 1402, at the Battle of Ankara, Tamerlane defeated the Ottoman army and captured Sultan Bayezid. After this, the conqueror divided the Ottoman state among the sons of the Sultan in order to weaken the influence of the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia and the Levant.
After the Anatolian campaigns, Timur planned the conquest of China. At the end of 1404, his armies set out to conquer this eastern state. But in January 1405, during the campaign, the emir fell seriously ill and died. The military campaign was curtailed after Timur's death.
Organization of power in Timur's state
Formally, power in Timur's state belonged to the khans from the Genghisid family. In 1370-1388 Suyurgatmysh was Khan, in 1388 he was replaced by Sultan Mahmud, who died after 1401. The khans accompanied Timur on military campaigns; Sultan Mahmud commanded one of the flanks in the Battle of Ankara. Timur's coins were minted in the name of the khans, but there is no mention of Timur honoring them in the army.
Raising Timur's sons and grandchildren was a state matter. When a child was about to be born, his mother was called to the capital, where she was surrounded by care. After birth, the baby was taken away and entrusted to caregivers. The growing prince received a mentor who taught him the knowledge necessary for the ruler. All princes received the same education, because the choice of the heir to the throne of the state remained with Timur.
The struggle for power after the death of Timur and the reign of Shahrukh
According to Timur's will, Pir-Muhammad was to succeed him. But this prince did not receive support, and Timur’s grandson Khalil-Sultan was proclaimed ruler. Shahrukh, Timur's son, opposed him. In 1405, both claimants entered into an agreement under which Khalil Sultan retained power over Transoxiana.
The struggle between the two Timurids lasted four years, but in 1409 Shahrukh won and took Samarkand. Having won, the new ruler appointed his son Ulugbek as the ruler of Samarkand, and another son, Ibrahim, as the ruler of Balkh. Other Timurids Jehandir and Ahmed ruled Hisar and Fergana. Shahrukh himself ruled the empire from Herat. Under Shahrukh, the Timurids waged wars with Mogolistan and the young state of the Uzbeks.
Decline of the Timurid state
In 1447, after the death of Shahrukh, Ulugbek became the new emir of the Timurid state. At the beginning of his reign, he managed to repel the Uzbek attack on Transoxiana.
Already in 1449, his son Abdullatif, supported by the Sunni clergy, opposed Ulugbek. Ulugbek was defeated, surrendered and was killed.
Under subsequent Timurids, the territory of the state narrowed. Tamerlane's descendants spent a lot of energy on internecine wars. In the 1450-1460s, Timur's great-grandson Abu Seid rose to power. In wars with the rulers of neighboring states and other Timurids, he managed to subjugate Central Asia, part of Afghanistan and Eastern Iran.
Abu Seid died in 1469 during a campaign against Azerbaijan. After his death, other representatives of the clan established themselves in the lands united by him and continued civil strife. In the following decades, the Timurid territory began to shrink. Its western possessions were ceded Persian power Safavids.
In Central Asia, the Uzbeks attacked the Timurid possessions. In 1500, the Uzbek ruler Sheibani Khan, in the fight against the emir of Fergana Babur, took Samarkand and killed many of Timur’s descendants. Babur retreated to Kabul, where he founded a new state.
In 1510, after the death of Sheybani Khan in the fight against the Safavids, Babur recaptured Samarkand. Later, due to disagreements with his Persian allies, he had to leave the city. After this, Babur abandoned attempts to maintain power in Transoxiana, which became part of the Shaybanid state. Babur ruled in Kabul, and then, following the example of his ancestor, made a campaign to India. He managed to defeat the Delhi Sultanate and found a new state in Hindustan - the Mughal Empire.
Results of the Timurid era in Asia
Timur, thanks to his outstanding state and military talents, was able to create the strongest state of his time. He failed to establish the same reliable system of succession to power, and among his immediate heirs there were no people of the same talents.
The result of this was the rapid decline of the Timurid state. By the second half of the 15th century, their state, split into fiefs, ceased to be a serious force in the region. Gradually its territories were reduced until the Timurids were finally exterminated or deprived of power in Central Asia.