Timurid Empire

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Expansion of the empire at Timur's death in 1405. From William R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas, 1923

The Timurid Empire was the empire conquered and ruled by the Timurids , which existed from 1370 to 1507 in the area of ​​today's states Afghanistan , Iran and Uzbekistan . The founder and most famous ruler was Timur . The capital was initially Samarkand , later Herat .

Timur

The founder and namesake of the dynasty was Timur (actually Temür, called "Timur-i Lang", Timur; 1336–1405) who, in alliance with various rulers, defeated the Mongols in 1365 and then conquered Transoxania . Generally recognized as ruler in Transoxania in 1370, he ruled in the name of two Chagatai khans , who were completely disempowered (until 1402/03).

After Timur subjugated the Chagatai Khanate and Khorezmia , the conquest of the south of Khorasan , central and western Persia and Iraq began in 1380 , eliminating local dynasties such as the Kartids , Sarbadars , Muzaffarids and Jalairids . He defeated the Golden Horde in 1394–1395 , the Egyptian Mamluks in 1400 and the Ottomans in 1402 ( Battle of Ankara ) and thereby secured the empire against powerful opponents for some time. The Sultanate of Delhi was also considerably weakened by the conquest of Delhi in 1398.

While Timur's campaigns led to considerable destruction, the capital Samarkand was magnificently expanded and, through the promotion of art and culture, became an important cultural center in Central Asia. Timur's administrative activities did not correspond to the extent of his conquests and destruction in the neighboring countries. In several states and areas he contented himself with the appointment of a ruler he liked or with the recognition of his supremacy.

Economic considerations and planning cannot be discerned, apart from the care for some Transoxan cities or the occasional restoration of destroyed irrigation systems. Even the feeling for the necessity of a long-term oriented administration does not seem to have been particularly pronounced with him. As a substitute for such measures, he used the fear of terror that the subjects had to reckon with in the event of a rebellion. Nevertheless, one records an administration in Iran and Transoxania, occupied by Timur's sons and grandchildren or also deserving military leaders. It was unevenly measured and organized. So there were large and small governorships, hereditary or only temporary, tax-exempt or not. The organization also left wide-ranging possibilities for intervention open to the ruler, e.g. B. by subordinate to the governors only small contingents of the troops raised.

With Timur's demise, the weakness of his system of rule became immediately apparent: although he had appointed a successor, several princes could lay claim to the throne simply because the rule was private and not subject to any political organization supported by the population. The Timurids were never able to eliminate this shortcoming of ruthless family quarrels.

Shah Ruch and Ulugh Beg

Timur Lenk's son Shah Ruch , although initially assessed as too peaceful, pious and humble, was able to prevail in Khorasan from 1405 and in May 1409 against Chalil Sultan ibn Miran Shah (* 1384).

Shah Ruch improved the organization in his empire to prevent it from falling apart. He made Herat his capital and mainly looked after Persia. He had to deal with Timur's old opponents, the Qara Qoyunlu , who were defeated by Miran Shah at Tabriz in 1408 and who had conquered Baghdad from the Jalairids two years later . They eventually recognized his supremacy, but remained restless nonetheless. Shah Ruch repeatedly transferred the unreliable Timurid princes from one governor post to the next. Nevertheless, there were rebellions , for example in Fars and Kirman . Shah Ruch died in 1447 on a campaign against one of his insubordinate grandchildren.

Shah Ruch's reign is regarded as successful and predominantly peaceful: Art and culture flourished, as did architecture, painting and calligraphy, poetry, mathematics and astronomy, law and theology. Extensive diplomatic and economic contacts to Egypt, India, Ming China and the Golden Horde were established. Unlike his father and son Ulugh Beg, Shah Ruch showed no inclination towards Mongolian tradition and preferred Islamic jurisprudence .

The old capital Samarkand was left by Shah Ruch to his son Muhammad Taragai alias Ulugh Beg , who ruled there as a more or less independent sovereign who finally fell out with his son Abd al-Latif , which led to his overthrow and murder in the autumn of 1449 .

Abu l-Qasim Babur and Abu Sa'id

With the overthrow of Ulugh Beg and the murder of Abd al-Latif in May 1450, the problematic internal situation of the Timurid Empire became apparent again: several aspirants to the throne faced each other within a few years. In Bukhara, Abu Sa'id b. Muhammad b. Miran Shah (ruled 1451–1469) was proclaimed ruler and was able to assert himself in Transoxania with the help of the Uzbek ruler Abu'l-Chair . Abu l-Qasim Babur ibn Baisonqur ibn Shah Ruch (ruled 1447-1457) now ruled in Herat . After an advance on Balkh and a counterattack on Samarkand in 1454, both agreed on a common border on the Amu Darya .

Already in autumn 1452 Abu l-Qasim Babur had lost the west and the south of Persia to the Qara Qoyunlu . After his death in 1457, turmoil broke out, which Abu Sa'id tried to exploit. First, however, the Qara Qoyunlu prince Jahan Shah defeated the Timurid prince Ibrahim, who ruled in Khorasan, and occupied Herat in June 1458, which he had to give up again. Abu Sa'id conquered Herat the following year and relocated his seat of government there. The Timuridenprinz Husain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara , one in Khorezm living grandson Umar shaykhs , besieged Herat in 1461, when Abu Sa'id was visiting in Transoxiana. The regular attacks by the Uzbek chans Abu'l-Chair were just as unpleasant , especially when he supported the rebellious Prince Uwais in 1454/55 .

The rule of Abu Sai'd is valued favorably because the ruler managed to assert himself for some time. He was close to the dervishes , especially Ubaidullah Ahrar (d. 1490), who became his most important adviser and, among other things, induced him to abolish trade and business tax. His vizier Qutb ad-Din Simnani took care of agriculture, but this interest seems to have been sparked only by peasant rebellions. Abu Said's mainstay was a Turkmen tribe, but he also tied people of different origins to himself by giving away (non-hereditary) fiefs in large numbers.

In the spring of 1468, Abu Sa'id moved to Azerbaijan after the Jahan Shah was killed in a conflict with other Turkmen, the Aq Qoyunlu Uzun Hasans . Abu Sa'id found allies among the Turkmen princes, but the campaign was so violent that it was cut off and his army perished in a harsh winter. He was captured, handed over to an opposing Timurid prince and executed (February 1469).

Husain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara and Sultan Ahmad ibn Abi Said

The Timurid prince Husain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara (d. 1506)

In Herat (ie in Khorasan) after Abu Sa'id's death Husain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara (short: Husain Baiqara, ruled 1470–1506) came to power. He occupied Herat in March 1469 and, after an initial failure, rejected the interference of the Aq Qoyunlu prince Uzun Hasan (r. 1453-1478), who had put the Timurid Yadgar Muhammad on the Herater throne in 1470. After that, both sides were keen on good neighborly relations. Towards the end of his life he had problems with his sons: They rose and in 1499 the eldest besieged Herat. The simultaneous rise of the Uzbeks and Safavids around 1500 worried Husain and he tried to postpone the confrontation as long as possible.

Husain's rule is regarded as peaceful and is considered to be the climax of the artistic and cultural development of the Timurid period, for which the name Mir Ali Scher Nava'i (d. 1501) stands - a state official and poet, whose relationship with the ruler was not unclouded. Other well-known names are the poet Jami and the miniature painter Behzad .

Samarkand (ie Transoxania) fell to Abu Said's son Sultan Ahmad (ruled 1469–1494) and then to his brother Mahmud (ruled 1494/95). Sultan Ahmad was unable to evade the interference of the Chagatai chan Yunus (r. 1462–1487). Yunus supported Sultan Ahmad's brother Umar Shaykh (the father of Babur ), who had settled in the Fergana Valley and married one of his daughters.

The end

After Sultan Ahmad's death in 1494 there were disputes over the throne, which led to several changes of power in Samarkand and were exploited by Muhammad Shaibani : in 1500 he conquered the city. The Timurid prince Babur managed only briefly in 1500/01 to recapture Samarkand in one stroke. Husain in Herat died in May 1506, before the confrontation with Muhammad Shaibani . Neither Husain's sons nor Babur were up to the new conqueror, so that the Timurid rule came to an end in Herat the following year.

Babur went to Afghanistan and India, conquered the Sultanate of Delhi in 1526 and founded the Empire of the Mughals .

Economy, culture and art

A miniature painting by Behzad
The Registan Square in Samarkand
Gauhar-Schad's mausoleum from 1432 (left) in front of that Nawa'is (center) and the minarets of the madrasa of Husain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara (right), built in 1492/93

Timur is considered to be more cruel and more destructive than the Mongol princes, but his behavior was not sustainable, because among his descendants there was no conversion from arable land to pasture land; nor did the Timurids show any contempt for agriculture - on the contrary. After the restoration of public order, the economic prerequisites for a reconstruction of the destruction, the repair of the irrigation systems and the general development of the areas were preserved. Soon every part of the prince tried to make his court and his domain flourish.

Nevertheless, the population in the 15th century was burdened by the insecurity of their living conditions; Not least because of the succession disputes, there were constant troop movements, requisitions and reprisals. The taxes in kind, trade and trade taxes were often reduced and abolished (and if there was no other way simply renamed), but that only showed their existence and also that these reliefs were not permanent. The insecure living conditions resulted in a decline in the population density in Khorasan, which is evidenced by an increase in the administrative units.

Under the Timurids there was a considerable cultural boom in Central Asia and Khorasan. The Turkic Congolian traditions mingled with the Iranian-Islamic culture, especially because of their literary interest. Literature arose in Persian and Chagatan , the two linguae francae of the Timurid elite, as well as in Arabic , the traditional language of the Islamic world. The official court, administrative and scholarly language of the Timurids was Persian.

Among the poets of the Eastern Turkish language, Sakkākī (court poet Chalil Sultans and Ulugh Begs), Lutfī (d. 1463) and above all Mir Ali Scher Nawa'i (d. 1501) should be mentioned. For the poets of the Persian language see: Persian literature . Particularly noteworthy here is Dschami (died 1492). The Turkish-speaking authors usually also have Persian works to show, so that there is no question of competition. Apart from the language, there are practically no differences in the choice of topic and form, apart from a stronger preference for topics from folk literature in Turkish. Popular topics were the romantic epic and heroic epic, as well as love poetry. There is also an increase in mystical poetry (Nimat Allah-i Vali, d. 1431 and Qasim al-Anwar, d. 1433/4). This was due to the emergence of religious orders in times of need.

The beginnings of the cultural and artistic flowering are also justified with the deportation of hundreds of artists from all conquered countries; Likewise, the craftsmen and other useful persons were sorted out and deported from the conquered cities, not to mention the extorted money. Not least because of this, the visual arts of the Timurid period still show influences from several cultures, even if the Persian taste (e.g. Herat manuscripts from Shah Ruch's time, Behzad's miniatures) was overall predominant and was then inherited from the Uzbek period. An example of the many influences are Central Asian copies of Chinese motifs in painting (flying kites, Lohans with dogs, cranes) and the Chinese style in the ceramic decor of Nisa and Samarkand. The demon scenes and nomadic images in the Siyah-Kalam miniatures of the 15th century, on the other hand, have no Chinese or Islamic models, but differ from them in terms of basic idea and style and rather refer to the northern peoples (e.g. Qara-Chitai ). The Timurid prince Bāisonqur , son of Shah Ruch and brother Ulugh Begs, played a prominent role as a calligrapher and patron .

The dominant feature of the preserved cultural assets is the architecture in cities such as Herat, Mashhad and Samarkand. In Samarkand z. B. the palace mosque Bibi-Chanum , the madrasas on Registan Square and the grave street of Shah-i Sinda . For Herat, the Musalla complex should be mentioned. The client was primarily the court, in Herat initially Gauhar-Schad and her son Bāisonqur, and later also the statesman and poet Mir Ali Scher Nava'i.

During the Timurid period, there was urban planning with the most important buildings in the fortified city center, with suburbs, developed main roads (albeit chaotic residential areas) and an expensive water supply (canals, water pipes, underground reservoirs). Specialized craft guilds were at work during the construction work. A characteristic of the buildings of the Timurid period is a tendency to display magnificence, which was reflected in the elaborate surface decoration, specifically the use of glazed tiles and bricks that contained up to seven colors. There was a rich wall painting, of which only modest remains have survived. Domes and minarets, many vaults and an increased number of rooms, very high arches and facades, as well as some new structural details (e.g. portals with stalactites) were common. Horticulture had geometric shapes, included water features, parks and forests, and later provided the inspiration for the Mughal gardens in India.

In addition to architecture, poetry and painting, science also flourished. Among other things, the "astronomer prince" Ulugh Beg, the son of Shah Ruch, was known, who placed science above faith (cf. the heyday of Islam ) and was therefore overthrown or murdered with significant involvement of the clergy. Ulugh Beg's observatory with its gigantic sextant (40 m in diameter) for the compilation of the star position tables was excavated in 1908 and has since been reconstructed.

literature

  • Ralph Kauz: Politics and trade between Ming and Timurids. China, Iran and Central Asia in the late Middle Ages . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89500-388-3 ( Iran - Turan 7), (also: Munich, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 2002), ( review by N. Purnaqcheband ).
  • Tilman Nagel : Timur the Conqueror and the Islamic World in the Late Middle Ages . Beck, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-37171-X .
  • Hans Robert Roemer: Persia on the way into modern times, Iranian history from 1350-1750 . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1989.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Marion Linska, Andrea Handl and Gabriele Rasuly-Paleczek, p. 66
  2. cf. Baysonqor , Bāysonḡor in Encyclopædia Iranica