Temr and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy Author(s): Beatrice Forbes Manz Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic

Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr., 1998), pp. 21-41 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25183464 . Accessed: 28/09/2011 05:21
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Temtir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy

BEATRICE

FORBES

MANZ

Editorial colloquium the School

note: This on "The

article,

like Professor

Dale's

which

follows

it, is based

on

a paper Society

of Oriental

of the Timurids", convened Asiatic by the Royal Legacy in 1991. of London, and African Studies, University

at the given and held at

Temiir promoter Islam. vast south. economic

has

been of

many

things culture,

to many restorer

people. of

He

was

nomad order

and

city-builder, for to the

Turk spread both to

and of the the and

Persian thing

the Mongol

and warrior scope, able

One areas The

he was power of Yet his they

to all: to

a conqueror the north was fame, Temiir's upon and

of unequalled the centres of of

subdue culture

of nomad history stress.

agrarian political a period

Islamic

successors too won

one

increasing over raises each

fragmentation of brilliant

as patrons career conquest,

cultural Why did last?

achievement he find

in Persian it necessary

and Turkic. to pile conquest

a number more

of questions. ambitious than

the

Having conceived dreams of dominion, where did he get the power and money to fulfill them? When he died, what legacy did Temiir leave to his successors and to the world
which they tried to control? Finally, what was this world of Turk and Persian, and where

did Temiir
There facing career the and

and the Timurids belong within

is an array historian legacy of of possible considering any answers them. We since

it?
questions, to confront activity of and a host the of choices of and pitfalls the have the

to these

difficulty

assessing our under

conqueror,

conquest

obscures

standing of what complicated

Timurids question making and

the battlefield. We have to consider also happened beyond between theMongol and the Islamic traditions within which relationship
their subjects legacy operated. and indulge In this essay I shall give ruminations my on own the set of problems answers involved in some

the the
in

to the

of Temiir's my choices.

The Temiir

late Mongol

world

shaped by two extraordinary institutions: the Islamic caliphate and the world empire of theMongols. These systems of rule shared much of Eurasia, each claiming universal validity. The Mongol Empire was in decline as a a centre, its lands disunited and often atwar. Despite its fragmenta political unit, without tion, the empire remained ideologically vigorous. The charisma of Chinggis Khan was still so strong that only those descended from him could legally use the sovereign tides which
JRAS, Series 3, 8, 1 (1998), pp. 21-41

and his successors lived in a world

22 Temur

and

the problem

of

conqueror's

legacy

bore

his

imprint

"khan"

and

"khaghan".

The

descendants

of his

sons,

Jochi,

Chaghadai,

Ogedei,
name of

and Tolui,
his testament.

still kept themselves

From the Russian

separate, disputing
Steppe to the T'ien

territories and power

Shan mountains

in the
nomads

formed the ruling class, believing firmly in their superiority. They

to the customs and traditions of the Mongol empire, to Mongol

remained intensely loyal

custom, the "yasa

dynastic

of Chinggis Khan", Temur was a product Islam. Like the Mongol

vigorous to Northern populations held The promoted combined each residual Islamic and expansive. India existed prestige, and well

to their military

lifestyle. of Mongol tradition but he belonged equally to the world of the Dar al-Islam had lost its central office, but remained empire,
central Islamic lands and the extended North from Africa, nature of Eastern and Turkestan substantial down Muslim caliphate, it across to Anatolia Despite remained systems of and an end law,

The

beyond. and Islam

shadowy

the Mamluk legitimation.

a crucial competed legitimation society. and

element in their and The of a

in political claims

and Mongolian systems a vigorous of at the the

to universal order. and

validity

and they

conflicting to create the parts, from that

political Islamic continuing they

Nonetheless the Mongol

complex intact of and the of state

empires all deeply

retained

vision but of

history shared whole

involving a world of

components changed

fourteenth the Mongol

century conquest.

caliphate

The

the western

part of the Mongol

norms, the settled

empire had converted

Islamic lands received

to Islam. Just as Mongols

imprint. Even

accepted
regions which

Islamic
had

a strong Mongol

not been within

Sultans, conscious of their

the Mongol
origins in

empire were
and steppe the

engaged with
the Turkmen and formulated

the Mongol
dynasties their

legacy. The Delhi

Iran were and political

the Ottomans,

the Mamluks,

of western

genealogical

claims with
was not the felt the

an eye toMongol
to the the tailoring the abstract. of and the steppe robe, less

traditions.1 The
Miniatures a wide feathers, adding nomads settled subjects the and

influence of the steppe in the Middle

album of illustrations clothing skins. of Middle coexisted If we we show nomads living Along these and headgear. look can at

East
in with

Hmited yurts

and wearing we tidy find and

variety felt and

turban

pictures something

imagining of

element

smell,

recreate

the presence The steppe

of Turco-Mongolian nomads and their

within had

Eastern for over

society. a century, and lived

less in opposition
extent of territory

than in symbiosis. What

over which people

is striking about the lateMongol

understood the same languages,

world
both

is the vast
actual and

symbolic. Throughout the military elite, Arabic

the ibility, Islamic rulers A and invoked huge

theMiddle

steppe Turkic was the language of and Persian the languages of literature and scholarship. Although East and the western
traditions bureaucratic a past as part retained practice of ideas of separation with and incompat Persian shared combined

Turco-Mongolian both; territory

Turco-Mongolian recorded in Arabic,

structures.

the Mongol

Empire,

Persian, Chinese, Mongolian.

been so closely interconnected

There
not

have been few times in history when

only economically, but also in culture and

the world
tradition.

has

1 Studia Islamica, XXXIII D. Ayalon, "The great Yasa of Chingiz Khan. A reexamination", (1971), rjp. 97-140, "Altun Han and Cingiz Han vol. 34 (1971), 151-80, vol. 36 (1972), 113-58, vol. 38 (1973), 107-56; U. Haarmann, Der Islam, LI, pp. 1?36; J. E. Woods, The Aqquyunlu, Clan, Confederation, Empire bei den agyptischen Mamluken", 1976), pp. 4-16; Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History and Politics at a South (Minneapolis and Chicago, Asian Sufi Center (Albany, 1992), pp. 38-59.

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

23

The
To understand using Temiir's the resources career,

logic of Temiir's
we must and see driven him by

campaigns
operating the within that two each interconnected presented. He

worlds,

of both,

challenges

achieved his spectacular successes through his ability to exploit both

populations and he was pushed to ever greater efforts by the need

settled and nomad

both of the

to dominate

worlds he sprang from. By birth and geographical

of these systems. He rose to power in Transoxiana,

origin, Temiir was placed in the middle

at the border of the settled and steppe

worlds,
Chinggis

and central to both. This had been part of the Chaghatayid

Khan's second son Chaghadai, but as a settled region,

khanate,
been

the portion of
ruled by agents

it had

of all four Chinggisid

parts. Eastern Turkestan khanate, Chaghatayid regions

houses.
and and the

In the 1330s, the Chaghatayid

Hi region under is now became Chaghatay eastern known khans, as

khanate divided
Moghulistan, while formed the more the Ulus or

into two
the eastern

remained

agricultural Chaghatay.

of Transoxiana

and what

Afghanistan

Here
rule

in 1347 tribal leaders deposed

through was a puppet a member khan. of the

the khan and took power

and ambitious tribal

themselves,

legitimating
connected to

their

Temiir

active

aristocracy

the

Chinggisid
strongest eventual

dynasty by historical
tribe position within by the Ulus constant

ties of service. His

Chaghatay, nor political was and

tribe was
Temiir through

the Barlas; this was not the

its chief ten He years achieved of manoeuvre his

effort

acuity

within

a fluid political situation. In 1370, Temiir gathered the tribal aristocracy behind him, unseated the leader of the Ulus Chaghatay, and took power. Like his predecessors he appointed a puppet khan from the Chinggisid house, using for himself simply the title
commander, took the amir. At the or same royal time, he married which a woman he from the Chaghatay prominendy dynasty in coinage and and title giiregen son-in-law, displayed

appointed was not Chaghatayid, but Ogedeyid. This correspondence.2 choice may have been a deliberate one. The Ogedeyids had originally been the Great The khan Temiir Khans
Mongol at the

and had been allied with

Empire. same time Thus could an Ogedeyid more

the Chaghatayids
khan universal does began control world of the was not claims. not mark of

in several power
totally unconnected

struggles within
to Transoxiana,

the
but

justify of

Temiir's over the Ulus

assumption Chaghatay. rivals within to dominate and

sovereignty He impose soon full

his

achievement which These the Mongol of the

of he also

a secure used

position to his to

a series over first empire.

campaigns the Ulus.

gradually

eliminate rising him

his ambition

demonstrated powers closest

the Mongol the whole

to

subdue murder

and

then

The

eastern

Chaghatayid

khan, IlyasKhwaja, and the seizure of power by tribal amirs allowed Temiir to campaign in Moghulistan without trespassing against Chinggisid prerogatives. A litde later he attacked Khorezm, previously part of the Golden Horde, but now largely independent under the - the cities of Kat and Khiva, he Kungrat Sufi dynasty.3 His justification here was Mongol within the Chaghatayid realm. claimed, belonged
2 "Zur Intitulatio timuridischer Urkunden", G. Herrmann, Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, II (1974), XVIII deutscher Orientalistentag, "The epigraphy of Timurid 19.72, p. 518; Linda Komaroff, Supplement coinage: some preliminary remarks", American Numismatic Society, Museum Notes, XXXI (1986), pp. 212?15. 3 The dates of Temur's early campaigns are given variably in the contemporary histories, due, apparently, to

24Temur

and

the problem

of

conqueror's

legacy

In 777/1376
golden

troubles in the Jochid Blue Horde,

to increase his prestige.

north of the Jaxartes, brought Temur

The defeated claimant to the throne,

opportunity

appealed to him for help. Temiir was glad to oblige, and in 778/1377 installed Tokhtamish as khan in Sighnaq. In addition to his Ogedeyid puppet successfully for him, khan, Temiir now had a protege from the senior Chinggisid house. Unfortunately not stop here but took over the throne of the Golden Horde in 1380, thus Tokhtamish did Tokhtamish,
becoming the most prestigious figure in the Mongol world.

Tokhtamish was reunifying the Ulus Jochi in the early 1380s, Temiir was engaged in conquering Iran.Here he was both subjugating the local Iranian dynasties and staking his claim to another Mongol territory, the Ilkhanid state.We find his pretensions mirrored in While
both actions and and to the rhetoric. After 1384 throne, reducing he took the dynasties of and Temiir, Khorasan reinstalled who was to as obedience, its governor to retain in a November pretender December Ilkhanid Mazandaran b. Taghay

Lughman

permitted

the Ilkhanid tide Padshah4 Temur's held

strong symbolic importance in the north and Temiir Ilkhans. Now Tokhtamish

army then took theMongol city of Sultaniyya, which as the site of burial and enthronement for the later in the south faced each other as two

great conquerors and restorers of theMongol empire. One was by birth a Chinggisid, by tide Khan of the senior Chinggisid Ulus. The other was from the minor aristocracy, but
with full use of the resources of a rich agricultural campaign he and urban by sent economy.5 to the to old enmity of the the Tokhtamish Golden Horde reacted against to Temur's the Ilkhans. Iranian reverting an emissary

In 786/1385

the Mamluks,

traditional allies of the Golden Horde, and the following winter he attacked Tabriz, which the Ulus Jochi had often claimed. When Tokhtamish again attacked through the Caucasus in early 789/1387,
Transoxiana. leaders had Temiir aided

Temiir
returned, Tokhtamish,

repulsed him. At
re-established and in the his late

this Tokhtamish
hold over Khorezm of autumn

turned east and raided

and Ferghana, set off whose against

792?3/1390

Tokhtamish,
This on

taking with him in his army several defectors from the Golden Horde.
caused River considerable near Samara, hardship Tokhtamish to Temur's was army, badly but when the in part armies because met of defeated,

campaign

the Kundurcha

further desertions from his army. Temiir

Horde and then returned to Samarqand.

celebrated his victory

By 1393 Tokhtamish

in the capital of the Golden

had retaken most of the

Ulus Jochi, and in 1394 he once more raided Azarbaijan. In Jumadi I, 797/February 1395 Temiir headed against him through the Caucasus. Tokhtamish's amirs again deserted him
at the critical moment, and he suffered a severe defeat on the Terek river. This time Temiir

in interpreting the animal cycle. See B. F. Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (Cambridge, difficulties 1989), p. 181, note 76. 4 cAli Yazdi, Zafarnama, ed. Muhammad Sharaf al-Din 'Abbasi (Tehran, i, 1336/1957) (hereafter ZNY); pp. 282?3; Nizam al-Din Shami, ed., F. Tauer, Histoire des conquetes de Tamerlan intitulee Zafarnama, par NizamuddTn Sami (Prague, i, 1937, ii (consisting of additions made by Hafiz-i Abru), i, pp. 96?7. 1956), (hereafter ZNS) though descended from Chinggis Khan's brother, was accepted as one of the Lughman's father Taghay Temiir, most legitimate of the Ilkhanid successors, since the house of Hiilegii was largely exhausted. Hafiz-i Abru, ed. F. Tauer, Cinq opuscules deHafiz-i Abru concemant I'histoire de I'Iran au temps de Tamerlan (Prague, 1959), p. 5. 5 and Temiir from 1385 to 1396 is relatively poorly chronicled in the The duel fought out between Tokhtarnish tradition may have skewed our histories of Temiir's reign, written by Persian authors. This historiographical it is interesting to compare the court histories to the short account of Temiir's reign written for his perception; holds a central place "Synoptic Account of the grandson Iskandar Sultan, in which his rivalry with Tokhtam'ish House of Timur", in Wheeler M.Thackston, ed. and trans., A Century of Princes (Cambridge, Mass., 1989), pp. 237-9.

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

25

was not content

-

simply to defeat his rival. He enthroned his own Jochid candidate in Sarai and then systematically pillaged both the nomad centres and the major trading cities of the
Akkarman, he died Astrakhan, in 1406-7.6 Sarai, Hajji Tarkhan and others. Tokhtamish retired to where

Horde Siberia

decisive victory over the Golden Horde did not satisfy his Mongol ambitions. after this, in 800/1398, he was apparendy already planning his campaign against the Shortly Chinese emperor, waiting only until he had dealt with the enemies closer to hand.7 On his Temiir's
way to India that year he welcomed a pretender from the dynasty of the Northern Yuan,

thus adding a Toluid client to his and gave him an honourable place in his following, collection of Chinggisids.8 In his formal correspondence Temiir continued throughout his life to present himself
Mamluk lands taken and by Ottoman usurpers

as the restorer of Chinggisid

campaigns and as the as a reimposition of the reassertion

rights. He
of rights legitimate of

even justified his Iranian,

Mongol control over Khan's of Chinggis

the house

son Chaghadai. potentially Temiir's

further espoused the cause of the Ogedeyid to the whole of the former Mongol empire.9 He crushing defeat of Tokhtamish
world Temiir ruler over had Iraq. but within by A now his other world, himself the the Dar solidly Christian

house,

thus laying claim serious rival within

the of situation Iran in and, 788/1386 was less

in 1396 destroyed his most

al-Islam, as

the Turco-Mongolian less satisfactory. as

established against

ruler

securely,

campaign

Georgians

established him as awarrior for the faith. In preparing and justifying his campaigns Temiir positioned himself as restorer and protector of the Islamic world just as he did for the one, justifying his campaigns in the name of the sharVa and of social order.10 Mongol
Nonetheless he shared the stage with three major powers, each of them also ruled by a

Turkic military elite, and claiming Islamic legitimation. The Delhi sultanate, closest to him geographically, and a traditional goal of Chaghatay
campaigns, posed he pillaged threat and brought to his interests. to submission Like Temiir, in 800-1/1398-9. the Mamluks The and other two powers used a greater the Ottomans

their furtherance
justification. The

of Islam to legitimate
Mamluks had from their

their rule, and they could do

inception posed as defenders

so with
of Islam

better
against

Turco-Mongolian
shadow having caliph. their The ulema

infidels. Where
fact declare that Temiir him an

Temiir
was a infidel.11

kept a puppet khan, the Mamluks

practising Temiir's Muslim relations did with not prevent

supported a
them from sultans

the Ottoman

were more
against Eastern 6

complex.
by

In 1395 Temiir
but then two under years Temiir's

had approached Yildirim

later Bayazid influence. turned The his

Bayazid
military

as a possible ally
energies which towards followed

Tokhtamish, Anatolia,

correspondence

V. V. Bartol'd, "Tokhtamish", (Saransk, Encyclopaedia of Islam, ist ed.; M. G. Safargaliev, Raspad ZolotoiOrdy i960), pp. 171-82. 7 ZNS, i, p. 170. 8 M. Thackston, Tome Three, Sources of trans., Wheeler ZNY, ii, pp. 33, 423, Khwandamir, Habibu's-siyar, Oriental Languages and Literatures, No. 24 (Cambridge, Mass.), 1994, i, p. 42. 9 A. Z. V. Togan, "Timurs Osteuropapolitik", Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandisehen Gesellschaft, CVIII (1958), and the symbolism of sovereignty", "Tamerlane Iranian Studies, XXI/1-2 pp. 295-6; B. A. F. Manz, (1988), inM. M. Mazzaoui "Timur's genealogy", and V. B. Moreen, eds., Intellectual Studies on pp. 109?14; J. E. Woods, Martin B. Dickson (Salt Lake City, Islam, Essays written inHonor of 1990), pp. 100-04. 10 ZNS, pp. 128, 176, 247, 286; 'Abd al-Husayn Nawa'I, Asnad wa makatibat-i tarikhi-i Iran (Tehran, 1977), pp.20, 11 70, 75, 77 Ahmad Ibn 'Arabshah, trans., J. H. Sanders, Tamerlane or Timur theGreat Amir (London, 1936), p. 299.

26Temiir

and

the problem

of

conqueror's

legacy

was

full of

recrimination. claimed army However of ghazawat Some was

While

Temiir

claimed of the

tide

to

this

region

as heir To with

to

the Mongols charge the his claims closer Temiir Hims same to to set and

the Ottomans that Temur's

it as representatives full of non-Muslims,

earlier

Seljukids.12 answered

Bayazid's exacdy army,

Temiir have than

reproach.13 the merit Anatolia. out against

many were

Christians indubitably chastisement

there may stronger was

been

in

Bayazid's and

Temur's, In the winter Syria,

his of

armies 1401-2

exemplary

necessary. Mamluk

his western

rivals.

He

first

attacked

taking

Aleppo,

Damascus.
near military In Ankara

After
in

this he proceeded
the summer the end he of Islamic of staged for the his his

against Yildirim
1402. Thus as well Temiir

Bayazid whom
established one.

he defeated decisively
himself as the supreme

power 1404, at

within the

world

as the Mongol campaign, or quriltay, Temiir

seven-year

returned to

in underline

triumph his

to past

Samarqand successes its Mongol arranged brought of all was

where and

a convocation, forthcoming had showing campaign, organized

designed China.

to prepare rulers, and

campaign dared off and to

against refer

China as his from

had vassal. India,

expelled Temur the booty

emperor

to Temur imported of his tent

elaborate back the Egypt, from size

entertainments, his Ottoman of his army,

elephants the variety

bazaars. The treated except

Most

impressive from spectacle who

in a magnificent and China Temur's

city. -

ambassadors to this

Castile, and were then

the Golden sent back

Horde, home

Moghulistan to report

were

all were

strength

the Chinese

detained

in disgrace.

still able to make much

set out eve to conquer of February

In the midst of all this satTemiir himself, too old and ill to hold his eyes fully open, but of the world revolve around him.14 In the beginning of winter he
China 18, 1405. but while wintering north of the Jaxartes in Otrar he died, on the

The The extent of Temur's

logic may

of Temur's seem excessive

realm to a modern but fitted his

campaigns

sensibility,

ambition within
realm efficient constructed, setded were was much exploitation we not

the two worlds he lived in, the Islamic and theMongolian.

more of keep modest settled and and was nomad that the determined societies. boundaries between by In a different considering contrasts and the

The

size of his
Temiir and the

consideration balance

must

in mind with

and Mongol

between Islamic.

nomad The Mongol

co-terminous

those

legacy was

strong within
and part

all the territories which

of Afghanistan, where

had belonged
most of the

to the empire,
population was

including
settled. On

Iran, Transoxiana

significant regions of primarily nomad population outside the most notably in the Turkmen regions of Azarbaijan and neighbouring Mongol world, as provinces. Finally, while we often consider the Jochids and Eastern Chaghatayids
representing khanates a tradition included stronger in nomadism of irrigated and weaker agriculture, in high setded notably culture, the their most

the other hand there were

important

regions

Ferghana

12 H. Inalcik, "Bayazid I", in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. 13 passim; Nava'i, Asnad, pp. 94, 99. Togan, "Timurs Osteuropapolitik", 14 de Clavijo, trans., G. Le Strange, Narrative of the Spanish Embassy Ruy Gonzalez Samarkand in the years 1403-1406 (London, 1928), p. 221.

to the Court

of Timur

at

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

27

valley between

and Khorezm. Mongol

The

boundary

between or between

steppe one

and Mongol

sown

is thus and

not

the

same

as that

and non-Mongol,

house

another.

While
and his

Temiir
realm

dominated

the world
with

as aMuslim
settled society.

and aMongol,
What allowed

he organized his army

him his success was his

as a nomad

familiar

ability to mobilize
which could largely the less he find installed pasture a

the resources of both nomad

regular where the administration the bulk of and the but

and settled peoples.

armies was were settled and eastern the and

The
and

territories in
nomads cases of and in many banks Iran,

garrison population with

areas where

Persian.

Khorezm, were Azarbaijan at the army

Ferghana

Valley along

Kashghar southern,

northern central

Jaxartes

River

incorporated, and Temiir estimates Chaghatay nomads, registered, tax base.16 East and horse, on the region Iraq.

with

successfully, If we look was

led, we range were but

understand from two

the

logic

of to

his a

policy.

The

army eight

altogether hundred soldiers. booty. army

enormous; The largely

hundred constant a horde units, army rulers

less

believable of

thousand.15 These This was were

the most were not

and of and were who

trusted

Temiir's by an

they

tribesmen in part paid,

supported in short of war

an army a settled

ordered Added and to

in decimal the central from

requiring outside

prisoners had siege he was

from Temiir As he

campaigns had passed particularly which the available

the Middle foot

contingents

submitted. engineers.17 collected a rolling

to him his

nomads, the way he

mountaineers, to intended of a new

and campaign This

through

dominions close changed to

troops, army, in

in areas soldiers

to attack. each

according

to the needs

campaign.

To support his troops Temiir used not only booty but also an expanding
agricultural to the land. He and his followers and made had full grown use of up in a nomad The society tribal sedentary its resources.

tax base of rich

which was of close the Ulus

population

chiefs

Chaghatay had collected

protection and his against commanders attack, were

taxes direcdy from their settled subjects, had used fortified cities as
and had probably with owned settled ways and because had an often A number no to some they collect Temiir reason ruinous of cities agricultural were many neither to treat able land.18 quickly taxes with Because to install their the On not of he an own settled the shy the familiar over At new the full

administrative Chaghatay peoples conquest about setded nor of using

structure personnel.19 required a new torture city to

territories same time he

respected them and but gently. they were

their

loyalty, collected money. harm

his men extract no

ransom rebelled and

uprisings

population for often

caused punitive

to Temiir's and further in charge

prestige extortions. of the

indeed Once he of

provided had his

a useful ransom, For destroy

justification Temiir this his

campaigns army army

left part the ravages

of his of his

behind

restoration in the same

agriculture.20 did not

reason tax base.

campaigning

repeatedly

area

lD Ibn 'Arabshah, p. 125; Mirza Muhammad Haydar Dughlat, A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia, being the Tarikh-i Rashidi ofMirza Muhammad Haydar, Dughlat, trans., E. Denison Ross, ed., N. Elias (London and New York, 1898), p. 53, ZNY, ii, p. 450. 16 Ibn 'Arabshah, p. 125. Some accounts of the period after Temur's death point to regular pay: Hafiz-i Abru, Majma1 al-tawarlkh, ms. Istanbul, Fatih 4371/1 (hereafter Majma*), ff. 3720-733, 419a. 17 Ibn 'Arabshah, pp. 117-18; Manz, Rise and Rule, pp. 90-106. 18 Manz, Rise and Rule, pp. 37-8. 19 Manz, Rise and Rule, pp. 109-18, 167-75. 20 Manz, Rise and Rule, p. 116.

28 Temiir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy It was

needed and

the agricultural
furthermore he

regions which
could control

provided
them with

Temiir
relative

with
ease.

the economic
The more fully

base he
nomad

lands were covered

gathered

less profitable. His campaigns in Eastern Turkestan and the Qipchaq steppe vast and difficult territories and caused hardship to his armies; the booty he
not have done much more than make up his losses in livestock. The enemy

may

was difficult
part because inconstant permission

to attack and local allies were

his armies The deserted people their who people him, had and

unreliable. Tokhtamish
for Temiir him them from too the men Tokhtamish's

had lost to Temiir

of Ulus army, Jochi when him proved given

in

allies. to

joined

gather

to move

to Temur's

territories,

deserted

and

pursued
Sarai the khan

their own ambitions. One

first defeat he had control. ones, over with Such

of them, Temiir Quduq,

and was after not inconstancy the steppe and his army. to define in a new his territorial region. his

had himself declared khan in

final to victory, the pushed out of the establishment than Temur's shows the

after Temur's

of Tokhtamish,

Temur's conducive offered were acreage

installed.21

permanent agricultural victory advantage It is not governors

Furthermore which Temur so much for a nomad began campaign

territories followers in

less already and

wealth familiar.

Tokhtamish, base

superior

prestige,

of a settled clear when during his

Temiir first

goals

since

he when

rarely he

appointed began to

Nonetheless,

consolidate
policies In the north

his gains in the middle

the and lands the on the he chose to of east

of his career, we
incorporate greatest route, and interest and

find a clear differentiation

those he wished were simply the rich to Temiir

in his

towards

to chastise. Ferghana early in his

regions eastern

valley

and Kashghar,

trade

these

he

had

incorporated

career. He

installed his son cUmar Shaykh as governor first inAndijan in 779/1377-8.22

he under to western

then in Kashghar
campaign provincial Khorasan, of

Later, when
sons members

about 777/1375, and he strengthened his hold over Iran in his

grandsons powerful and he had as governors. amirs begun in Andijan, to repair He now Khorezm, the ravages had or

794-6/1392-4,

appointed family

and

administrations Fars, central

Iran and Ghazna,

of his years of campaigning.23 Right

asserted an his power over instead on the over its central he left This region. areas. the administration; he put

after this he reconquered

Had region he in certainly intended ruins, to and keep

the Golden Horde

it he would no have for not

and
set up the to

provided

support decision

protege consolidate

throne. the

almost

indicated

a conscious

his hold

did was not to unite the steppe and setded regions, but to push out the frontier of the Ulus Chaghatay just beyond the edge of setded lands, taking Khorezm, Ferghana and the Jaxartes region from the Jochids and Chaghatayids. His new frontier was What Temiir
not a secure one, as we can see by the defection of Khorezm to the Golden Horde and the

attacks levelled atAndijan,

major journey populations cities north of the Jaxartes of Ashpara, transported

and as time went

and and Ferghana as far east

on Temiir
at Yangi as the Issyk

built a number of forts north of the

and Ashpara, Kul. He then manned those again these distant at ten days with the

forts from

from

his

conquered

territories,

particularly

21 i, pp. 392-6. Safargaliev, Raspad, pp. 144-58; ZNY, 22 ZNY, i, p. 196; ZNS, ii, p. 39. 23 i, p. 472; ZNS, ii, p. 170; also seeManz, Rise and Rule, p. 116 and note 48, p. 195. ZNY,

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

29

Issyk Kul region was theoretically assigned to princely the eastern practice Andijan and Kashghar seem to have marked steppe.24 The
administration. Temiir not had set out since figure to revive not the a image of the Mongol but achieved as the empire patron with and

governors, but in edge of Timurid

at the of centre,

himself

as khan,

he was in actual

Chinggisid, He

paramount

strength.

spectacularly

the khans, protector a supreme position

within Within
age,

the Mongol
conquering

world, but did not incorporate all of its territories into his realm. the Islamic world likewise, Temiir established himself as the greatest ruler of the
far beyond the territories he chose to keep, humbling rulers whose

territories had never fallen within Mongol

successful superiority dominion man, over and able all a rich to rivals collect within and maintain the world

power. Temiir
the he largest cared

thus lived and died a supremely

army and of his to put day, to assert a his large together

about,

treasury.

The
The death of a ruler was always

problem
a danger.

of succession
Temiir, who

to Temiir
had transformed the world he lived

in, left a terrifying void. The histories chronicling the events at his death give a vivid picture of the grief and confusion which overwhelmed his family and followers. Even
outside the ruling circle his death caused terror, and here the Sufi literature has preserved a

telling vignette for us. At this time the Naqshbandi

old. His family were preparing a feast to celebrate

Khwaja Ahrar had just turned one year

the shaving of his head, but on hearing

the news of Temiir's

Whereas in looking

death they emptied the cauldrons and fled to hide in the mountains.23
at Temiir's life and career we address the question of where he got

his will,
question from him

his power
is where was not

and his wealth,

all Temiir's rulership but

for the history of his successors

went. expectations, What Temiir's ideas and

the most

obvious
inherited had

achievements a set of

descendants possibilities.

Temiir

nominated
birth, could not

his grandson Pir Muhammad

character, and place, appointed and his him appointment

b. Jahangir as successor but he chose him for

just before created he died. a dilemma This was not a person heirs. who In the for Temiir's

fill Temiir's

following Temiir's death the people closest to him struggled first to uphold his testament, then to hold the realm together against all odds. After a little while they tried chaotic weeks
simply and to make complex both the best set for of possible succession deal for themselves. while for Disagreements the Timurid authority. a realm gradually declining from a deepened princes into fought a bitter among struggles, and dynasty

themselves

regional years

hegemony Temiir's

supreme ruled over

In the next

hundred

world
striking to their

power
upsurge.

into a local one, while

Scholars choice to have to attributed turn

in the cultural sphere they presided over an equally

this in part cultural character to the patronage of this character and change of Temiir's adapt and to successors, settled society. causes.

conscious I think

to Persian both the

It is time

re-examine

its primary

24 224-5. 23

V. V. Bartol'd, Fakhr al-Din

Ulugbek

i ego vremia, in Sochineniia, al-Wa'iz

ii/2, p. 70; ZNY,

ii, p. 451; Ibn 'Arabshah, pp. 47, 212-13, (Tehran,

'All b. Husayn

al-Kashifi, Rashahat

cayn al-hayat, ed. cAlIAshgar Mu'iniyan

2536), p. 39i

Temiir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy 30

The succeed career him, of a charismatic and also to modern conqueror historians like Temiir trying presents to understand difficulties that to succession. the men who

It is useful

to step back and examine

historians constitutes The more most static on whom we authority problem comes central basic rule

some of the pitfalls presented by the conventions

depend, and of and the also changes the by our own modern in succession. from of a period of involved

of the medieval
of what

understanding

in assessing from our of us, a own monopoly this was but

transition

conquest The

to one of one. states. enough provided constant him not

of a

expectations of well force beyond various

government. and

definition

government Patricia government collect perhaps mobilization major taxes the Crone

as the has had and one in not

possessor reminded to possess

is a modern the reach of

demanding

As A to

of pre-industrial force, of at least

to balance from outside

centres A

provide exception. the of

protection While of the The

threats.26 armies could

career to

conquest their around elements

separate conqueror army he

continued indeed might

exist,

interests coercion.

concentrate contain

the fully

implements

controlled

within
of then ideal. On military drama

his power, but no one of these had the strength to withstand

If, however army of unconsciously, conquest may be we the expect only government type of the active government

the collective might

to monopolise which force, fits our

the whole.

the other activity centred

hand,

we

may The the

be

in danger of

of overestimating conquest and

the

level

of

control

that

even

provides. on what

action could

ruler

most

successfully

us with a incorporation provides ? and control expansion military

high-level
contribute try to go

administrative
to this. The the

appointments.
of Temiir's campaigns and of his a

The
career we

conventions
present recognize into which of cities, the

of medieval
of events of

historiography
but when the fit information and others of do the we

histories story

a wealth

beyond

paucity events

offered not.

us. This There

is a story with for the room over the perfidy for

plot

a moral, destruction

some

is space and for less

exemplary of quarrels, know

illustrating called within hints, the ruler forth

the might their

conqueror, There events narrative society. is much are

subordinate rebellions of little them

rulers

which

punishment. or army. Such

or desertions only through to describe for the

dynasty often normal to manipulate

glossed sources.27

and we

in outside

or non of sufis -

There centres

is also which and

inclination difficult

functioning direcdy and a

The

power

are more

the networks play

of patronage role. Ifwe

economic

activity to look we

surrounding can see that

merchants, they did

ulema present

a less visible

remember

challenge.

The
power In 26

sources hint at the care Temiir

of local bureaucrats.28 at the succession to a

took to conciliate
we

religious figures and to limit the

may then the extent of

looking

dynastic

founder

exaggerate

Patricia Crone, Pre-Industrial Societies (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass., 1989), pp. 35-57. The sources report rebellions by Iranians straightforwardly, while disloyal behaviour by amirs and princes such behaviour after about 1389 is often disguised, or blamed on the evil influence of Persian advisors, from whom Pir Muhammad b. cUmar Shaykh's presumably could be expected. See for instance the accounts of Amiranshah's, 27 and Sultan Husayn's ii, pp. 48?50, 168, 228). Several rebellions by amirs under Temiir, (ZNY, disloyalty. in the later genealogy, mentioned the Mu*izz al-ansab, never appear in the histories. (Mucizz al-ansabft shajarat al Nationale ansab, ms. Paris, Bibliotheque 67, ff. 960-973.) 28 Manz, Rise and Rule, pp. 114-15; Jean Aubin, "Le khanat de Cagatai et le Khorassan Turcica, (1334-1380)", im Khanat Cagatay", Der Islam, LXVII/2 VIII/2 (1990), (1976), pp. 51-3; Jiirgen Paul, "Scheiche und Herrscher pp. 304-8.

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

31

change

in the

transition

from

conquest

to a state

based

on

relatively

unmoving

frontiers.

It

is easy in particular to overemphasize the decline in the level of control held by the ruler. After the death of the conqueror the histories still exalt the ruler, but now pay greater
attention vouchsafed disloyalty. with to dramas information The story within about being the other after royal family, of is how Did the power, these these bureaucracy, about are and quarrels, dealt powers, with.29 these society. We are and us exist centres all,

disagreements This presents

told,

a difficult

challenge

in interpretation.

other

dissensions,

with
about

equal force earlier, or have they increased? Are we

the relation we of ruler certain. influence nomad at work in dynasty. our perceptions This is to society, or has the hold of can be

simply being told different stories

the ruler actually loosened? There

is no way There generations

is another of a

of

the

first

and

subsequent and

conquest

the

enormously

compelling

influential writing
casabiyya, the zeal,

of Ibn Khaldun. His analysis of the nomad dynastic cycle, contrasting the
energy and fellow-feeling, of the founding generation with the softness,

luxury and dissension of subsequent generations fits neady (and not surprisingly) with the formulations of medieval Islamic historiography. The emphasis on the superiority of the
first, conquering, rather to Temiir him of all suggest the supposed. eventual winner of in the the succession struggle of Khorasan. some the time Timurid Beg after Temur's Shahrukh to maintain capital of and death was almost was to his youngest son the In of lead and the us his generation than by we also balance thus coincides with the modern function inclination of government. to of emphasize the and change histories, between our to In see control by at the domination succession between idealization balancer, do not Nonetheless we have The Shahrukh, realm 1409 his he as the natural start with The between direction. no have change nomad There is no change less complete, a

looking the

predisposition in the and focus setded to one

differences with an and ?

successors.

along

difference in this

dominator thinking of rule totally

reason from

that

there was may

significant been

generation gradual and

to another. than

change

more

less deliberate

governor father took there had over he

province and for and son

able the

reconstitute frontiers. instead own of

created Transoxiana installed

same but to his

Samarqand, returned as the

remaining of Herat. different seen personal Perso-Islamic Iwant as

his

Ulugh

as governor to Temiir,

capital and He strong is

Shahrukh period almost power.

is portrayed in Timurid

in contrast usually less centralized, history pious, the peace-loving, switch of from

initiator more to

a new

less militaristic, unable or unwilling

cultured. exercise

obsessively This successors,

then was

the Turco-Mongolian decline and and cultural

founder growth.30 of

to the more

the beginning reassess

territorial

to suggest

that we

this judgement

reconsider

the nature

the

legacy

Shahrukh
change, Shahrukh's power 29 my VI and

inherited from Temiir.

of this was acts was Let us the logical to move examine

Although
indeed the Timurid how this

Temur's
inevitable capital change

death indubitably brought

result to Herat, came about of his long own activity. of a centre

a major
One of Iranian As I

some

first

culture.

and what

it meant.

Itwas T.

I. Sultanov

of the Institute of Oriental

Studies

in St Petersburg

who

brought

this characteristic

to

attention. 30 Bartol'd, (Cambridge,

Ulugbek, pp. 45, 58, 96?8; H. R. Roemer, 1986), pp. 103-5.

"The Successors

of Timur",

in Cambridge History

of Iran,

Temiir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy 32

have suggested above, Temiir had created the borders of his realm to coincide with the

frontier between

the regions of primarily settled and those of primarily nomad economy. This resulted in the reimposition of the steppe border in the Jaxartes region. When Temiir incorporated the closer agricultural regions of the Eastern Chaghatayids and the Golden
while excluding included to and the the the the steppe, he made in as the the this frontier settled birthplace khans. scholars reign it was sphere. once more a political was centre of one, of with crucial the Ulus this region Transoxiana importance definitively realm, of of Transoxiana the

Horde,

Timurid realm

of Temiir, Temiir's and efforts

Chaghatay, through known.

the Chaghatayid craftsmen, his

to develop populations vulnerable

importation even

agricultural province,

are well to attack.

Nonetheless

during

a border

We

see this in Tokhtamish's

and Moghulistan moreover several years decision of emphasis of a that to

raid up to the Oxus,

proved themselves happened ready

when
to

the neighbouring
abandon of Temiir's Temiir. successes, We

powers
and

of

Khorezm remember required

should it had

this had repair

in the middle

the damage. the nomad which capital from Transoxiana support. taken One place. to Herat can equally need well held not then be it

Shahrukh's seen as the as a shift

to move from change

to settled had already

interpret a central

recognition

Transoxiana

place within the sphere defined by Temiir's campaigns, but it was not the geographic centre of the lands he had incorporated. Most of these lay to the south and west of his
homeland. not Since the central centre; probably chancellery the even dlwan more travelled of with the was in the court, Transoxiana a provincial of Transoxiana was likewise adminis was the its administrative What was essentially decline

Samarqand

tration.

instrumental

fact that Temiir

garrison troops

had removed many

throughout his new

of its indigenous
dominions. What

armies, which
remained there

he had setded as
were largely troops

from Syria, Khorasan

reason that Temiir's

and Azarbaijan, with

grandson Khalil Sultan,

little loyalty to the dynasty.

who first seized Samarqand,

It is partly for this

failed to keep it.

He
and after

found that he could hold power only as long as he could afford lavish disbursements,
his heterogeneous troops accession, to their location abandoned Ulugh homes.32 than Beg Thus him as soon the as the treasury and policies, access was empty.31 Temiir held bulk not and Shortly had a safer of the Shahrukh's to return central armies, Transoxiana allowed as a result and the prey to one scholars artisans Herat to the

imported and more Chaghatay defended,

of Temiir's giving closer

Samarqand throughout became

garrisoned quickly

Iranian raids

provinces. from its

When northern

actively eastern

neighbours. We find thatHerat remained as the primary centre of the Timurid Samarqand sank to the level of provincial capital.
Let us address next Despite Shahrukh forty years. the the succeeded The core question fact that of he Shahrukh's was the management youngest son, realm, elite stayed army of and and Temiir's not the administration. successor, of it for

realm while

army designated almost the amirs

and

in reconstituting of his at the army centre and of the

Temiir's ruling

in holding the same court

all of

the Ulus

Chaghatay

remained

the Timurid

and

administration

31 Sams al-Husn: eine Chronik vom Tode Timurs bis zum Jahre 1409 Taj al-Salmani, ed. and trans. H. R. Roemer, von Taj al-Salmanl (Wiesbaden, 1956) (hereafter Shams), pp. 121-2; Manz, Rise and Rule, pp. 131-7. 32 Woods, p. 115. "Genealogy",

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

33

through Shahrukh's reign, and indeed until the end of the Timurid period.33 Both amirs and Timurid princes remained involved in the oversight of provincial and financial his realm Shahrukh, like administration, working closely with Persian viziers. Within
Temur, Shahrukh, ruled through balance, histories though allow he balanced us to see more quiedy of and more the loosely. Under more the peace-time the workings administration

clearly, to discern
considerable Scholars who see have

individual personalities
to that the some it was of his these men, If we

and to follow
officials, along who with

controversies.
stayed in office most Shahrukh's of these

Shahrukh
for long

allowed
periods. wife, we served his son

prominence suggested controlled pattern

prominent however, had and

really the same

realm.34

look

at the and

careers

people which

of overlapping Shahrukh's

responsibilities eminent

informal cAlika

controls and

Temiir

so well.33

two most

amirs,

Firuzshah,

Baysunghur
diwan, power

all held responsibility within

was shared and limited by

the same sphere. Among

periodic demotions.36 It was

the Persian staff of his

not until the end of

Shahrukh's
central When Temur's however, we

long reign that his ill-health and the deaths of several major
look at the issue holdings the results of territorial first ceased expansion, to expand own we and actions. see then At a much began his death

amirs weakened

control. greater to shrink. Temiir change Here had from also, left a

time; one

Temur's can see

of Temur's

realm clearly intended

families son, of his four sons, Nonetheless

to resemble
and supreme in many

that of Chinggis
power ways was Temur's to go

Khan.

It was
a

divided
contrast

among
nobly to that

the
born of

to the family offers

of his most sharp

Jahangir.

realm

task to his heirs, with the conquest of China and Chinggis. Chinggis theMiddle East still to be completed. Although Temiir died inmid-campaign, the territory he left had amore complete and logical form. The lands within his dominions, culturally were and politically close to the Chaghatay elite, could be immediately exploited. Around these a buffer region, less profitable and more difficult to control, in which Temiir had
simply exacted recognition realm for Mongol both claims had one of suzerainty. interesting lay not to defend. succession it was important particularity. in the Azarbaijan, in Iran, also centre but The on centre under most symbolically important and crucial by the Temur's regions

had left an unfinished

legitimacy difficult to Mongol

the borders, of Ilkhanid and

in Azarbaijan rule, was strengthened into

Transoxiana, to Timurid Shahrukh.37

as the begun

Temiir, and

Strategically

as a pasture

land,

as a bulkhead

politically

volatile border

region between Mamluks,

Ottomans

and Timurids.

For this

al-ansab (Berlin, 1992), pp. 4, 120-71, 219. Shiro Ando, Timuridische Emire nach demMu'izz in Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 104; Bartol'd, Ulugbbek, p. 97. Ismail Aka gives greater H. R. Roemer credit to Shahrukh, though he also stresses the importance of his subordinates: Ismail Aka, Mirza ?ahruh ve zamani (1405-1447) (Ankara, 1994), p. 218. 3:> and the delegation of authority in Temiir's dominions", See B. A. F. Manz, "Administration Central Asiatic 34 (1976), pp. 191-207. Journal,XX/3 36 For the responsibilities of'Alika, in the dtwan seeMajma* f. 532b, cAbd al-Razzaq Firuzshah and Baysunghur Shafi? (Lahore, 1360?8/1941-9) (hereafter Samarqand!, Matla< al-sa'dayn wa Majma* al-bahrayn, ed. Muhammad Matla*), ii/2, pp. 656, 665, 690, 747, 752-5, 793, 837-42. For sharing of power in dtwan among viziers, and for Dastur al-wuzarac, ed. Sa*id Nafisi (Tehran, 1317/1938-9), dismissals, see Ghiyath al-Din Khwandamir, pp. 352-3, ed. Muhammad Farrukh (Mashhad, 1339/1960-1), 357-61; Ahmad b. Jalal al-Din Fasih Khwafi, Mujmal-ifaslhi, pp. 230, 235, 257, 259, 275, 292; and Matlac, ii/2, pp. 670, 673. 37 Manz, "Tamerlane and the symbolism of sovereignty", p. 113.

33

Temiir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy 34

reason Temur it was nor also extremely was able difficult to maintain to hold, direct and and despite consistent frequent rule campaigns, beyond neither

Shahrukh

Sultaniyya.38

Especially during the early part of his reign Shahrukh pursued an aggressive policy on his borders, leading expeditions in Azarbaijan himself, while delegating campaigns in the south to his son Ibrahim Sultan and in the northeast to Ulugh Beg. Shahrukh's policy, though
aggressive, The and But the end was of not expansionist. may undertook he could He have aimed been at due holding on to the legacy expansionism ruler, also who ask what sultans, opportunity to Shahrukh's only have his It made when he personality judged Unlike and for that Temiir ? he was had left. a canny

cautious one can

campaigns profitably had or new completed glory.

conditions Chinggis there was to

favourable. Khan no obvious his or

conquered. conquests, sense

early Ottoman for new

Temiir

opening

Shahrukh

expend

energies in defending his outer borders, crucial to the legitimacy of his realm, rather than
seeking When should new we see territories look neither at to conquer. the extent nor and administration but of Shahrukh's and realm an therefore, able attempt we to

a failure

a revolution,

a restoration

preserve what Temiir

father Temiir mogul but he was also but his had met, who leaves

had left. Shahrukh was

responding which to he a different had fund the one children

certainly a person quite different

challenge Temiir of was not not to the challenge like

from his
which

created. instead

quite thus

the financial the

a trust

a company,

discouraging

very

spirit which
were

had won
already defined.

him wealth.

He

did however

leave an enterprise whose

boundaries

The
When between we look Temiir at and cultural his and successors. to

issue of cultural
religious As we his policy, have actions we seen, and

loyalty
can also find called his significant on both continuity Islamic his death to and the them,

Temiir legitimate the

Turco-Mongolian competing considered attachment does not princes, a large

traditions choosing number

justify their

rule. After available show

legitimation The first

from concern

traditions was to

of

options. The fact

their to honour

continued his will was find openly as khan successor, in Fars, Pir a a

to Temur's mean sacred in His the that

legacy. they

that Temur's

successors The will

failed of

considered and

it unimportant. Temur's the grasping the relatives only power same wife

a dead attempted no one

sovereign to could

considered justification challenge.39 young and

and name

binding, of his

consistently which

testament, Sultan, from

standard in

grandson

Khalil of Temur's,

Samarqand,

enthroned designated

great-grandson thus claimed b.

as Temur's the some

adherence cUmar Shaykh,

to Temur's consulted

testament.40 with his

When advisors,

senior of them

prince

Muhammad

suggested

that he

Sultaniyya itself was often threatened and sometimes taken, but not allowed to remain long outside Timurid control. Majma\ ff. 493, 498, 502b, 52ib-22b, 553a~54a, 591a; Matla\ pt. 2, pp. 320-3, 899-902. 39 al-Din Natanzi, ed. Jean Aubin, Extraits duMuntakhab al-tavarikh For the will of a dead sovereign, see Mu'in "The 'Great i Mu'ini (hereafter Muntakhab), p. 222, and D. O. Morgan, (Anonym d'Iskandar) (Tehran, 1336/1957) Yasa of Chingiz Khan' and Mongol law in the Ilkhanate", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XLIX/i b. Fadl testament, Majma\ ff. 372a?b, 430b, 431b; Muhammad (1986), p. 171. For discussion of Temiir's Allah al-MusawI, Tarlkh-i Khayrat, ms. Istanbul, Turhan Hadica Sultan 224, f. 433b, 435b?37a. 40 f. 365a; Musawi, Tarlkh-i khayrat, ff. 436?73. Majma\

38

Beatrice ForbesManz 3 5 seek a patent of rule from the cAbbasid caliph in Egypt and abandon the Chinggis Khanid
yasa. Pir Muhammad, of Shahrukh, with some prescience, this choice chose instead to put will.41 his coinage and khutba in the name connecting to Temiir's

for seizing power through Temiir's will but further bolstered his prestige by emphasizing his position as Islamic monarch. The histories Shahrukh
for and visited

likewise
soon

claimed justification
he came

written piety he

him

after of

to power obligations.42 mausolea,

stress Even also

both more

his

connection conspicuously to contribute

to Temiir than his

and

his

observance shrines and

religious

father, to the

constructed

attempting

a cover

Kacba.43 Although
"Caliphate" repealed to refer the Mongolian

he could not directly

to his yasa, rule and in his reimposed

claim
the

the tide of caliph, he used

According sharVa as to the some sovereign sources law.

the term
he He even also

coinage.44

discontinued
written These adherence for him

the practice of ruling through a Chinggisid

downplay have the yasa, mention been taken of Temiir's as to evidence a fully own that Islamic khans.4d

puppet khan and the histories

was Temiir's of Islam is

actions to

Shahrukh state.46

abandoning use

and moving

Shahrukh's

irrefutable, but it has to be reconciled with

remained sharVa yasa.47 Mongolian active continued Shahrukh, heritage. under him and the indeed yarghu that court in force, then, In

the fact that the Turco-Mongolian

he sponsored and it. Taxes Shahrukh his and forbidden himself to we survived

heritage
under invoked the Turco the the the

promoted this again

Islam without he resembled

abandoning his father,

connection when

consider

society he ruled it is hard to see how he could have behaved differendy. After all, Shahrukh
and they world setded his were they and successors owed their position rulers, to Temiir's controlling reason the at for charisma, least and likewise nomadic well and to the fact In that the by armies. understood

Turco-Mongolian lived nomad in, this was

partially

a common we examine

holding

power,

alike. When

attitudes

of Temiir

Shahrukh

towards

the two traditions they inherited we

founder formulation Temiir, consider did not whose of a nomad pushes us conquest to differentiate. fits this mould, elements steppe, successors.

should try not to be influenced by Temiir's

Here again the to influence of the It is tempting and under the Mongol stress the

position as
element in to

dynasty.

Ibn Khaldun's

emphasize to

career

Shahrukh We must of

Islamic,

and himself He

Turco-Mongolian arise same out of the nomad as his

as a survival. but from

remember centres

that Temiir of Islam.

one

the oldest

lived

in the

two worlds

41 ff. 372a-b. Pir Muhammad, that this accorded with Temur's Majma\ according to the histories, believed to Shahrukh, and thus intended Pir Muhammad to look to Shahrukh wishes since Temiir had handed his mother as his superior. 42 Ibrahim Pasha 919, ff. 927a-b, Hafiz-i Abru, Majmu'a al-tawarlkh, ms. Istanbul, Damad 929a-b; Shams, see Nava'I, Asnad, pp. 141-2. pp. 15-16. For Shahrukh's invocation of Temur's will in correspondence 43 Aka, Mirza ?ahruh, pp. 178, 180-1; Matla\ ii/2, pp. 792, 834. 44 Komaroff, "Epigraphy", pp. 216-17. 43 M. Subtelny, "The Sunni revival under Shah-Rukh a study of the connection and its promoters: between Iran", Proceedings of the 27thMeeting ofHaneda Memorial Hall Symposium on ideology and higher learning in Timurid Central Asia and Iran, August 30, 1993 (Kyoto, i993(?)), pp. 14-23; Jalal al-Din Abu Muhammad al-Qayini, Nasa'ih i Shahrukh!, ms. Vienna, Nationalbibliotek, Cod. A.F. 112, ff. ib-2b; Majmac, f. 486b; Woods, "Genealogy", pp. 115-16. 46 pp. 115-16. Subtelny, "The Sunni revival", pp. 15-19; Woods, "Genealogy", 47 Bartol'd "Khalifa i Sultan", Sochineniia, VI (Moscow, f. 133b; Subtelny, "Sunni 1966), pp. 46?8; Mu'izz, revival", p. 20; Aka, Mirza ?ahruh, pp. 183-4; Matla\ p. 729 (the yasa is here referred to by another name, the tora.)

Temiir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy 36

The and sources on which as we rely for our In information reading and encourage evaluating us to perceive of Mongol the time, it

Islamic

traditions

incompatible.

the writings

is useful
contained

to remember
strands of

that both

the Islamic and the steppe nomad

and defensiveness against

tradition had long

influence. The

conscious

revivalism

outside

call to re-Islamification
and has continued

began long before

The nomads

the steppe invasions of the central Islamic lands

likewise constantly attempted to renew their

to the present.

purity, from the time of the T'ii Ch'iieh

modern period.48 Whether or not these

restoration of the seventh century well

two traditions were fundamentally

into the
by

compatible,

the time of Temiir

century, and whatever

the Mongols
tensions

of Iran and Central Asia had been Muslim

this caused were old and well worn, still

for almost a
important, but

neither
Chaghatayid and

fatal nor capable of remedy. After

khans served the under same new combination dynasties.49 To of

the downfall
Iranian grow and up within

of the Ilkhans and the western

Turco-Mongolian the elite meant commanders belonging to

troops

both worlds,
to both moreover groups of were

and engendered
and not using these

an active cultural loyalty to both. To rule required an appeal

traditions, to appeal and to two a balance fully between distinct range of and them. separate Rulers ethnic across a ideologies but to

Islamic

Turco-Mongolian

opposing

tendencies,

accommodate

a wide

attitudes

mixed

population. It was thus logical and necessary for Shahrukh to balance his ostentatious Islamization with public support for the other side of his heritage. What changed between Temiir and
his were successors used. was Under less the balance Shahrukh between the most the two traditions and than obvious the way change in which was in they the immediate

of dynastic legitimation. Temiir's unsatisfying. Within both worlds he was a figure formulation
whose Yet Khan, culture. career his he consciously legitimation imitated, made and him formal

legitimation had been elaborate but - an equal to Chinggis larger than life
patron within of Islam both and of Persian He traditions.

a grandiose a handmaiden

was not a Chinggisid,

in the name of his Mamluk of Islam enemies.

and he based his rule in settled lands. Likewise

and defeated his major rivals, the caliphate

though he campaigned
under the control

remained

Shahrukh
those aspects

adapted Temiir's
which relegated

legitimation
the dynasty

to his own needs,

to second place. He

downplaying
showed less

in particular
concern than

Temiir

for the restrictions which Chiggisid concepts of legality placed on genealogical and sovereign claims. Although Temiir had for most of his life carefully avoided using the titles less modest
as we have

Khan or Khaghan, Shahrukh and his successors were

themselves and retroactively for Temiir. Shahrukh

in their claims, both for

seen abandoned the

institution of puppet khan and ceased to use the title Guregen in official correspondence. This allowed him to adopt tides which Temiir had denied himself. He avoided official use of the tide Khan in his coinage and correspondence, but itwas routinely applied to him in

See for instance the Orkhon 1896), Inscriptions de I'Orkhon dechifrees (Helsingsfors, inscriptions: V. Thomsen, 114-17. Mahmud al-Kashghari echoes this concern for purity: Dtwan Lughat al-Turk: Mahmud Kasgart, in collaboration with James Kelly, Turkish Sources, vii Compendium of Turkic Dialects, ed. and trans. R. Dankoff pp. 97-106, 1982), pp. 83, 115, 124-5. (Cambridge, Mass., 49 amirs for instance in the armies of both the Kartids and the Muzaffarids. We find Mongol pp. 316, 325; ZNS (HA), ii, pp. 58-9, F. Tauer, Cinq opuscules, p. 32; Aubin, "Khanat", p. 50. See Shabankara'i,

48

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

37

contemporary histories, and sometimes to Temiir as well.30 By allowing his puppet khan the figment of sovereignty Temiir had denied himself also the Islamic and Iranian equivalents of this tide; Sultan and Padshah applied not to him but to his khan. Shahrukh's
abandonment son Ulugh Beg, khan had of the practice when in he imitation been.51 came allowed him to use after but sovereign Islamic death, he this put may Temur's the tides as well. not Shahrukh's have where kept the of a to power of Temiir It is possible Shahrukh's in coinage that or may

a puppet Khan's

name

formerly

in fact

represents

continuation

policy
khan

that Temiir was beginning

and minted at least a few

at the end of his life, when

coins, outside Samarqand,

he failed to replace his last

the title of khan was

in which

applied to him.52 It is under Shahrukh legitimation. Temiir

elaborated this part of his

that we

had invoked
legitimation.

of Timurid Chinggisid find the full development the Ilkhans as his predecessors and Shahrukh further
His literary patronage mirrored and continued the

Ilkhanid pattern and we find the Ilkhanid tide Padshah-i Islam applied now
major act of patronage was the preservation and continuation of Rashid

to him.53 His
al-Din's works,

both theJamic al-tawarxkh and the genealogy

his realm, his government was commonly

of the Chinggisid
referred to as

house.
Ilkhanid4

In the western
At the same

part of
time

Shahrukh elaborated
end of Temur's

the Chaghatayid
was more

connection,
completely

which
elaborated

though clearly in place by the

in the histories written for

reign,

Shahrukh and the governors

remarkable the role consistency that Temur's

he appointed. The histories written

the Qarachar four great Barlas branches played of as

during his reign show a

dynasty, Chinggis and and to to

in covering ancestor

the Chinggisid advisor

Chaghadai.55 What
"handmaiden" dynasty's We adapted preference been see in-law the the for aspects

Shahrukh
of Temur's

de-emphasized
legitimation

then was
house. the need

not
of

the Chinggisid
a puppet khan

but
and

the
the

relationship new relatively prestige during legitimation sober over his life,

to the Chinggisid expressed Turco-Mongolian believability. and his on

Temur's

tombstone,

where tradition

his to

descendants the Iranian as it had Khan as

genealogical immediate to the

Temur's tribe's connection

ancestry lineage

was

given

rendered

of Chinggis

30 Mujmal, iii, throughout; Majma1, throughout; Shams al-husn, pp. 17, 23. 31 Komaroff, "Epigraphy", pp. 210-13. 32 in the Timurid "The sovereign Woods, state", p. 121, note 75; see also Mansura Haider, "Genealogy", Turcica, VIII/2 (1976), p. 70, citing C.J. Rodgers, Catalogue of theCoins (Calcutta, 1894), pp. 140-1. 53 C. Melville, "Padshah-i Islam: the conversion of Sultan Mahmud Ghazan Khan", Pembroke Papers, 1 (1990), f. 2a;Majmuca, f. 3a. p. 171;Majma\ 34 Nava'i, Asnad, pp. 164-5, 180-1, 187, 215-16. 35 see John E. Woods, For a survey of early Timurid "The rise of Timurid historiography historiography", in his article, "Timur's genealogy", has (1987), pp. 81-108. John Woods, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, XLVI shown that the construction of Temiir's genealogy began under Temiir, and has suggested that later convincingly sources based themselves on lost works commissioned all the fullest elaborations by him (pp. 109-16). Nonetheless, of the myth which we now have date from works of Shahrukh's time. For the coverage of Chinggisids and Qarachar Barlas see Sharaf al-Din cAliYazdi, Muqaddima to the Zafarnama, ed. A. S. Urunbaev (Tashkent, 1972); ff. 1 ia?b; Mu'izz is a genealogy of both the four Chinggisid houses and the descendants of al-ansab, which Majma\ introduction ff. 81b?82a; Natanzi, Muntakhab, pp. 68?156; and for the lost work written for Ulugh Beg Qarachar, Persidskaia literatura, bio-bibliograficheskit during Shahrukh's reign, entided Tarlkh-i arbac ulus, see Iu. Bregel/Storey, work, trans., Thackston, 1972), ii, p. 777; Khwandamir, pp. 4, 42, 43, 76. The later anonymous Persian claims to be an abridgement of the Arbac ulus, is translated by Colonel Miles, The Shajarat al-atrak which of Shajrat ul Atrak, or Genealogical Tree of the Turks and Tatars (London, 1838). The Harvard University manuscript this work (Houghton Library P. 006), agrees in its outlines with the Miles translation. obzor (Moscow,

Temiir and theproblem of a conqueror's legacy 38

recorded in Rashid al-Din. Their common ancestors were then traced back to the mythical

ancestress of the Mongols Alan Goa, impregnated by a shaft of light. This light, in a new cAli b. Abu Talib.56 After his twist, was identified as the spirit of the Prophet's son-in-law, death Temiir could be direcdy connected with the highest figures in both worlds he had
aspired As evolve, to rule. time and passed, the understanding and coexistence of the with Turco-Mongolian Islamic tradition tradition took on continued different forms. to

its competition

Under
tensions disappear, questions

Temiir

and Shahrukh, we find the traditions invoked for dynastic legitimation,

primarily other in terms of and of sharVa and yasa. Though these in sphere concerns administration that of did theatres conflict taxation, became and in paramount: the cultural

and
not the

expressed later of land

distribution

language.

These
ruler, While

changes began in the period of Shahrukh but reached their peak under the last great
Sultan the Husayn act of of Bayqara. conquest the realm is often through considered grants of part land of the nomad of salary. tradition It is not so also surprising is the to

dismemberment

in lieu

find after Temiir without

followers land, iqta\ to

an increasing fiscal decentralization. Shahrukh managed to achieve power emptying the treasury of Khorasan, but he did have to offer payment to his
retain their loyalty. and accession The most effective greater became rewards administrative a widespread were tax-exempt independence means of reward grants than for of the the

soyurghals, From

hereditary

conferring on they

Shahrukh's

Timurids
liberally While recompense Persian-style of

and by the time of Sultan Husayn Bayqara

not on only the more on Chaghatay hand amirs, the than later Temiir, but on literati one Timurids they the period in which to an "Islamic" severely An revenue display than once of income tamgha, many a of "Islamic" and

(i 469-1506),
and ulema the developed find side a

soyurghalswere bestowed
as well. system fully articulated two Proponents the tax land base grants and for the systems of of its the same often hand the non source who For of

used also we

Turco-Mongolian a more struggle between prevail. to curtail

heavily

bureaucracy. and called for

Throughout taxation, a return elite,

administration

neither system, eroded

could

centralization the

hoping the

Turco-Mongolian over rulers. it could be local

which

government's had several

control Timurid time

administration. increase as a public

reform centralize

advantages and at

It could used

administration Husayn On

religious to institute

observance. such While sources by

Bayqara, the other increase various useful realm

desperate "Islamic" revenues canonical of revenue.

for money, tax from taxes, Tax on reforms land, most

tried more had they

a reform. they

a number

disadvantages. from levy of other on

might

decreased the

prohibiting a highly

notably also from

trade which powerful included

was

reforms income

alienated their own

the most this

people ulema

in the

depended

soyurghals;

as well

as amirs.

the whole continued

other. Under

of the Timurid to compete

these

and Islamic systems of taxation period, the Turco-Mongolian and no ruler could afford to espouse one fully at the expense of the
fiscal centralization and a secure tax base remained an

circumstances

impossibility.37
56 Woods, pp. 87-8. "Genealogy", 57 M. Subtelny, "Centralizing reform and its opponents pp. 123-51.

in the late Timurid

period",

Iranian Studies, XXI/i?2,

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

39

Temiir

and

his

successors

are

remembered

as

symbols

not

of

decline,

but

of

glory.

The

cultural revival which

dynasty, patronage. political legacy under The stability in these Sultan

began under Shahrukh

Husayn we allow Bayqara, must such who address success a mixed now in the one

reached its culmination

Herat is how ideological Turco-Mongolian into the a shining

at the end of the

centre which spheres. Iranian of cultural

turned

question could areas was

obstacles cultural and

prevented Temiir's but the

and

likewise

tensions which
ments.

proved a liability in the administrative destroyed military

among large

sphere here led to lasting achieve superiority contributed

of people,

The political fragmentation which

efflorescence. The distribution of wealth

to cultural
for

numbers

all competing

prestige
particularly ruled

and power,
remunerative

led to a rivalry
one

in patronage which
of the

made
and

the Timurid
other

period
who and

for practitioners

arts. Princes

governors of learning

as centres courts under Shahrukh maintained provinces regional At in Shiraz, and Samarqand. the end of the Khorezm culture Yazd, Husayn which Bayqara, attracted splendour. afford unable the greatest Major to support to maintain talents of the full control has over lived huge Khorasan, on

fifteenth presided

century, over symbol land a

Sultan court of

age. He

in memory incomes from their

as a

cultural could

government poets and

figures, artists,

enjoying

their positions.58

grants,

and did

so as a way

to assert

While
two

individuals competed with

they belonged to,

each other for prestige through cultural patronage

Iranian and Turco-Mongolian, also competed. Temiir

the

traditions

had set up his chancellery in two languages, Persian and Turkic in the Uighur script, with a set of scribes for each. He had also apparendy commissioned histories of his reign in Persian though only the Persian works have survived.09 The bilingualism of both the chancellery and of high literature continued through the life of the dynasty.60 After Temiir's death, during the early reign of Shahrukh, we find a revival of interest in old and Turkic,
Turkic Turkic works Mirror and for in the use Princes, of the Uighur script. Bilig, and There a are new manuscripts illustrated of the famous in the Kutadgu sumptuously

MVraj-nama

the Uighur
in the Arabic

alphabet.61 Though
script began enjoying

the fashion for Uighur

patronage during

script soon declined,

the reign of Shahrukh,

literary Turkic
and rose to its

apogee in the reign of Sultan Husayn.

became personally of adept in high Persian supervised the work they

The Timurid
they wrote At

princes and their Chaghatay

poetry, same gave time them practised they the the remained right

followers
and conscious

culture;

calligraphy

patronized. for it was

their Turco-Mongolian

heritage,

this which

to rule.

They

patronized works
Islamic literary and works,

in Chaghatay Turkic
culture. artists drew Along album

and developed
with paintings the

this language into a vehicle for high

miniatures and Central painted Asian for Persian

Persianate court

stylized of Chinese

inspiration.

The world histories which Timurid princes commissioned

the Mongolian and the Islamic traditions. These two

placed their dynasty within

traditions were combined but

both
not

58 M. Subtelny, "Socioeconomic bases of cultural patronage under the later Timurid", International Journal of Middle East Studies, XX (1988), pp. 479-505. 59 "Rise of Timurid historiography", Woods, pp. 82-3. 60 Mucizz, ff. 97b, 103a, iiob-iua, 127a, 133b, 138a, 142a, 152b, 154a, i59a-b. ii9b-i2oa, 61 Bombaci, Histoire de la literature turque, trans. Melikoff (Paris, 1968), pp. 109, 111?12; Esin, "Bakshi" in Arts of the Book, p. 288; Kutadgu Bilig, dated 845/1439, Nationalbibliotek, Austria, ms. NH 13; M-R, Seguy, The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet: Miraj nameh (New York, 1977).

40Temiir

and

the problem

of

conqueror's

legacy

amalgamated,

and

aspects

of

their

rivalry

remained

alive,

indeed

perhaps

sharpened

as the

dynasty continued. They

Nava'i, the ornament of

are cogendy expressed in the works of the bilingual poet

Sultan Husayn's court, who proclaimed the innate

cAli Shir
of

superiority

language and railed against Turks who adopted Iranian ways.62 Timurid cultural achievements, fuelled by decentralization, shone ever brighter as Timurid political fortunes declined. When the dynasty fell in 1507 Herat was still a brilliant
cultural new centre. Its calligraphers, and they found painters, a warm architects, welcome poets at courts and historians now the had Islamic to seek patrons, world.

the Turkic

throughout

These then

artists, stamped with the prestige of their service under Timurid monarchs, helped to set standards of excellence for the rising dynasties which presided over the
period the Uzbeks, Safavids, Mughals and Ottomans. In all of these, a ruling

succeeding

class of largely Turkic origin ruled over a setded society of different origins. All found a use for the symbols of prestige which the Timurids provided. Thus the fall of the Timurid
dynasty originally that Temiir sent out scholars, and successors artists Timurid had and literati to once almost more all the regions well that beyond Temiir the had areas influence controlled. stretched

conquered, and his

Conclusion
If we are to understand Temur's career and the nature of his legacy, we must step back

sufficiendy
standing indeed neither Mongolian what changed a

to survey both
change one, from Islamic was from but we

the world
Temiir must

he lived in and the difficulties we

the conqueror with to weak elements used. Temiir to his more care what this nor a stationary change switch

face in under
successors was. from This was was

it. The major

consider control

a decline to

absolute norms. The they

rulership of Temur's and his

Turco in place; choices

basic were

system successors

remained had many

the way

open before them, but one they did not have they could not choose which world
in but Mongol available universal between and his had, and by the Islamic very nature of their power, and of within Temur's provide to operate economies. and Mongol and the within The the composite literary emphasizing traditions, an and we used idealized unity nomad picture setded Islamic each, formal history, and

to live
of sources the

world

to us present pretensions them. When successors

of vision

conflicts

incompatibilities legitimation the world he to

try to analyze these sources

ambition a useful

and guide;

the dynastic they mirror

which
same

he and his descendants

productions which formed

justified themselves,
Temur's ambitions.

and are indeed to a certain extent

the

bilingual nomads who ruled by virtue of their Turco descent and military tradition, and supported their rule by exploiting setded Mongolian resources. In his conquests Temiir aimed to dominate the whole of both his worlds. In his Temiir
legitimation on the other hand the same universal pretensions constricted him, since by

and his followers were

birth he was excluded from eminence

their highest positions. He could not formally claim the pre he had actually won. The grandiosity of his campaigns, his patronage and his

62

Nava'i, Muhakamat

al-lughatayn,

trans. R. Devereux

(Leiden,

1966).

Beatrice

Forbes Manz

41

display of wealth
administration, The weight fact of

allowed him to practice moderation

and still to rank as the foremost did not of figure inherit the successors or the his

in formal legitimation
of his world. realm he intact had made. does not The

and territorial
undercut parameters the of

that Temiir's his legacy

importance

choices

expectation
remained

and legitimation which

central to the prestige of

he had set survived,

the dynasty. The

and the charisma he had won

of Temiir's policies and

components

ideology remained in place, but took on different forms under his successors. Shahrukh and
the later Timurids spectacular Temiir's could not approach allowed in the glory indeed of Temiir's required Chinggisid campaigns. them khans to as On claim his a the other hand formal and his Temiir's position. career success

higher

positioning

proteges

destruction
allow his

of the Golden Horde

descendants greater

did not end the prestige of Mongol

in their use of sovereign tides

tradition, but it did

than Temiir had

freedom

allowed himself. As the unity of the Mongol

took Temiir's Mongolian on different creation forms. of a dual

Empire receded deeper into history, allegiance to its legacy

over dynastic and created his ideologies use another of both field gave way to other and In concerns. Turco the last chancellery Perso-Islamic for competition.

Controversy

administrative

practice

had

years of the dynasty rivalry between Persian and Turk,

administrative literary language. and cultural spheres, legacy fuelling controversies and Temiir's as a conqueror

Islamic andMongol
over landholding, patron,

moved

into the
and and

taxation Mongol

grandiose

at once

remained problematic Muslim, indeed well beyond.

and compelling

to the end of the dynasty he founded,

and