The New Student's Reference Work/Timur

Timur or Tamerlane was the second of the great conquerors whom central Asia sent forth in the middle ages, and was born at Kesh, about 40 miles southeast of Samarkand, April 9, 1333. His father was a Turkish chieftain and his mother claimed descent from the great Genghis Khan. When he became tribal chieftain, Timur helped Emir Hussein to drive out the Kalmucks. Turkestan was divided between them, but war broke out between the chiefs, and the death of Hussein in battle made Timur master of all Turkestan. He now began his career of conquest, overcoming the Getes, and Khorassan, after storming Herat. His ever-widening circle of possessions soon embraced Persia, Mesopotamia, Georgia and the Mongol state of Kiptchak. He threatened Moscow, burned Azov, captured Delhi, overran Syria, and stormed Baghdad, which had revolted. At last, July 20, 1402, Timur met Sultan Bajazet on the plains of Angora, captured him and routed his army, thus becoming master of the Turkish Empire. He took but a short rest at his capital, Samarkand, and in his eagerness to conquer China led 200,000 men across the Jaxartes on the ice, and pushed rapidly on for 300 miles, when his death, Feb. 18, 1405, saved the independence of China. In his reign of 35 years this chief of a small tribe, dependent on the Kalmucks, became the ruler of the vast territory stretching from Moscow to the Ganges. He was an able administrator, had traits of statesmanship, and patronized science and art. A number of writings said to have been written by Timur have been preserved in Persian, one of which, the Institutions, has been translated into English. Timur is made the hero of Marlowe's Tamburlaine, the first play in which blank verse appeared on the stage. The name of Tamerlane means Timur the Lame.