Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/662

632 PERSIA [MODERN ,05-3506. The Tinmrides and Turkmans (1405-1499). Timur died in 1405, when in the seventieth year of his age Timur. and about to enter upon a new war, an invasion of China. Besides exercising sovereignty over Transoxiana and those vast regions more or less absorbed in Asiatic Russia of the 19th century, inclusive of the Caucasus, Astrakhan, and the lower Volga, and overrunning Meso potamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Afghanistan, and India, he had at this time left his indelible mark upon the chief cities and provinces of Persia. Khurasan and Mazandaran had submitted to him in 1381, Adarbaijan had shortly after followed their example, and Ispahan was seized in 1387. If the chroniclers are to be trusted, the occupation of this place was accompanied by the slaughter of 70,000 inhabitants, a number in excess of its whole population as officially estimated in 1868. From Ispahan he passed on to Shir.iz, and thence returned in triumph to his own capital of Samarkand. Five years later his cruel hand was stretched out to subdue a formidable resistance in Mazandaran, and later still he was again at Shiraz, having effected the subjugation of Luristan and other provinces in the west. It may be said that from north to south, or from Astrabad to Hormuz, the whole country had been brought within his dominion. Timur s The third son of Timur, Miran Shah, had ruled over success- p ar O f Persia in his father s lifetime ; but he was said to be insane, and his incapacity for government had caused the loss of Baghdad and revolt in other provinces. His claim to succession had been put aside by Timur in favour of Pir Muhammad, the son of a deceased son, but Khalil Shah, a son of the discarded prince, entered the lists against the nominee and Avon the day. The reign of this chief, however, was not of any duration. His lavish waste of time and treasure upon a fascinating mistress named Shadu 1-Mulk, the " delight of the kingdom," soon brought about his ruin and deposition, and in 1408 he gave way to Shah Rukh, who, with the exception of Miran ShAh, was the only surviving son of Timur. In fact the uncle and nephew changed places, the one quitting his government of Khurasan to take possession of the Central- Asian throne, the other consenting to become governor of the vacated Persian province and abandon the cares of the empire at Samarkand. In the following year Khalil Sh&h died ; and the story goes that on his death Shadu 1- Mulk stabbed herself and was buried in the same tomb with her royal lover at Rhe, one of the towns which his grandfather had passed through and partly destroyed. Shah Rukh, the fourth son of Timur, reigned for thirty- eight years, and appears to have been a brave, generous, and enlightened monarch. He removed his capital from Samarkand to Herat, of which place he rebuilt the citadel, restoring and improving the town. Merv also profited from his attention to its material interests. Sir John Malcolm speaks of the splendour of his court and of his encourage ment of men of science and learning. He sent an embassy to China ; and an English version of the travels to India of one of his emissaries, Abdu r-Razzak, is to be found in the volumes of the Hakluyt Society. As regards his Persian possessions, he had some trouble in the north-west, where the Turkmans of Asia Minor, known as the Kara Koiyiin, 1 or "Black Sheep," led by Kara Yiisuf 2 and his sons Iskandar and Jahan Shah, had advanced upon Tabriz, the capital of Adarbaijan, a province in which they had supplanted the settlers of Halaku, called, after him, Ilkhani. The distance from Herat supposing that city to represent 1 They were commonly called Kara Koiyun-lii and the " White Sheep" Turkmans Ak Koiyiin-lii, the affix "lii " signifying possession, i.e., possession of a standard bearing the image of a black or white sheep. a According to Erskine, this chief killed Miran Shah, whose dwelling- place was Tabriz. the centre of imperial power -was favourable to intrigue and revolt in these parts. On the death of Slu ih Rukh in 1446 he was succeeded by his son Ulugh Bey, whose taste for scientific pursuits and active patronage of scientific men are practically demonstrated in the astronomical tables bearing his name, quoted by European writers when determining the latitude of places in Persia. He was, moreover, himself a poet and patron of polite literature, and built a college as well as an observatory at Samarkand. On the other hand, there is no evidence to show that he did much to consolidate his grandfather s conquests south of the Caspian. Ulugh Bey was put to death by his son Abdu 1-Latif, who, six months later, was in his turn slain by his own soldiers. Babar not the illustrious founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, but an elder member of the same house next obtained possession of the sovereign power, and established himself in the govern ment of Khurasan and the neighbouring countries. He did not, however, achieve any special reputation, and died after a short rule, from habitual indulgence in intemperate habits, an abuse which he had vainly striven to check by the registry of a solemn vow. After him Abu Sa id, grandson of Miran Shah, and once governor of Fars, became a candidate for empire, and was to a great extent successful. This prince allied himself with the Uzbek Tatars, seized upon Bukhara, entered Khurasan, and waged war upon the Turkman tribe aforesaid, which, since the invasion of Adarbaijan, had, under Jahan Shah, over run Irak, Fars, and Karman, and pillaged Herat. But he was eventually taken prisoner by Uzun Hasan, and killed in 1468. It is difficult to assign dates to the few events recorded in Persian history for the eighteen years following the death of Abdu 1-Latif ; and, were it not for the happy intervention of chance European missions, the same diffi culty would be felt in dealing with the period after the death of Abu Sa id up to the accession of Isma il Sufi in 1499. Nor can the chain of events within the range of Persia proper be connected with certainty for the period specified by the aid of native annals or histories. Sultan Ahmad, eldest son of Abu Sa id, reigned in Bukhara ; his brother, Umar Shaikh, in Farghana ; but the son of the latter, the great Babar, was driven by the Uzbeks to Kabul (Cabul) and India. More to the purpose is it that Sultan Husain Mirza, great-grandson of Umar Shaikh, Husain son of Timur, reigned in Herat from 1487 to 1506. His Mirza. siege and capture of the fort of that city are incident ally told in Babar s Commentaries, where he is described as an old and experienced soldier. He was a patron of learned men, and as such his reign is remarkable for many brilliant names inscribed as visitors to his court. Among others are those of the historians Mirkhund and Khun- damir, and the poets Jam! and Hatifi. But at no time could the control exercised by this scion of a far-famed stock have extended over central and western Persia. The nearest approach to a sovereignty in those parts on the death of Abu Sa id is that of Uzun Hasan just mentioned, who achieved his greatness by individual prowess and the force of circumstances. He was the leader of the Ak Koiyun, or " White Sheep " Turkmans, and conqueror of the "Black Sheep," whose chief, Jahan Shah, he defeated and slew. Between the two tribes there had long been a deadly feud. Both Avere composed of Uxun settlers in Asia Minor, the " Black Sheep " having con- l. Iasan - solidated their power at Van, the " White " at Diarbekir. Sir John Malcolm states that at the death of ^oii Sa id, Sultan Husain Mirza "made himself master of the empire," and, a little later, that " Uzun Hasan, after he had made himself master of Persia, turned his arms in the direction of Turkey " ; but the reader is left to infer