TIMITR, called also TIMUR-BEG and TIMUILLENG, from his lameness, and vulgarly known among western writers as TAMERLANE, was the second of the great conquerors whom Central Asia sent forth in the middle ages, and was b. at Sebz, 40 m. from Samar kand, April 8,1336. His biographers make him the fifth in descent from Karatchar Nuyan, the relative and counselor of Genghis Khan (q.v.), and the ninth from Tanana Khan, the direct ancestor in the male line of his renowned predecessor. The royal line of Jagatai (see TURKISTAN) had so utterly degenerated that the real power was in the hands of a number of independent chiefs of Mongol blood, each of whom, choosing prominent city of the kingdom, there set up his standard and lorded it over the sur rounding district. One of these chiefs, Hadji Berlas, the uncle of Timur, bad estab lished himself at Kesh, and here the future conqueror passed the first 24 years of his life in peaceful obscurity, devoting himself to the national amusements of hunting and equestrianism. But a formidable inroad (1360) of the Kalmucks of Jettah, who speedily subjugated Turkestan, expelling those chiefs who refused submission, effectually called forth Timur's hitherto untried energies. Declining to accompany his uncle in his flight, he boldly advanced with a small retinue to meet the invader, who was so charmed with his eloquence and address that he at once confirmed him in the government of Kesh, and appointed him one of the principal ministers of his son, the new monarch of Turkistan. But neither chiefs nor people of the conquered country could long endure the tyranny of a race more cruel and barbarous than themselves, and the exiles and fugitives having been collected by the Ameir Husseyne, and joined by a powerful force under Timur, the Kalmucks were ultimately expelled in 1365, and Turkestan divided between its two liberators, who ruled together in the utmost harmony for some time; but war having arisen between them, Husseyne was defeated and slain, and Timur, by unanimous con sent of the chiefs, was hailed as supreme lord of Turkestan. It was in the war with the Kalmucks that Timur received the wound in the thigh which rendered him lame for the rest of his life. He did not, however, either then or afterward, assume the rank of a. sovereign, but elevating one of the royal race to the throne, reserved for himself the real authority and the title of emir. Having thus, in the space of ten years, risen, by dint of superior ability, to absolute authority over a numerous and warlike people, he proceeded to avenge his nation's wrongs on the Kalmucks of Jettah and Mogulistan; then turned 'westward to punish the pedatory tribes of Khaurezm, who had plundered Bokhara; and spent the interval between these campaigns in supporting Toktemesh Khan, one of the claimants to the throne of Keptchak, ultimately (1376) placing him in undisputed posses sion. With the view of restoring its former limits to the empire of Jagatai, he sum moned the prince of Herat and the other chiefs of Northern Khorassan to attend a " kouriltai;" and on their refusal, immediately attacked and reduced them to submission, levying a moderate contribution as a penalty. But soon after (1383) the people of Herat again rebelled, murdered the envoys whom he sent to remonstrate; and 2,000 of the gar rison, built up with an alternate layer of brick and mortar into the form of a pyramid, were left by Timur as a horribly singular and effective reminder of the consequences of rebellion. Seistan was next reduced, the Afghans of Suliman Koh chastized, and Timur returned, as was his wont, to spend the winter in the bosom of his family, at ono or other of his numerous palaces near Samarkand. In the following year he commenced his career of aggression by the invasion of Mazanderan; and by the close of 1387 the whole of the districts west of the Tigris, from Tiflis to Shiraz, were subdued; those chiefs who voluntarily submitted being mostly confirmed in their governments, while the inhab itants of Ispahan—who, after a pretended submission, suddenly rose upon the Tartar garrison and massacred 3,000 of them—were almost completely exterminated. Mean while, Toktemesh Khan, of Keptchak, took advantage of his absence to invade Timur's territories on the Amu-Daria; on which Timur returned home, and, after driving the invaders out, pursued them to the head of the Tobol, then west across the Ural moun tains and river, and though long baffled by the Arab tactics of his opponents, finally brought them to bay on the banks of the Bielaya (a tributary of the Kama), June 18, 1391, and almost wholly annihilated them. Resuming in 1392 his conquering march westward, he crossed the Tigris, subdued the numerous and warlike principalities to the east of the Euphrates, then advanced northward, through the gates of Derbend, to the Volga, and again routed Toktemesh (who had ventured to resume hostilities) on the banks of the Terek (1395), turned west as far as the Dnieper, and then north to Moscow, returning by Astrakhra and the Caucasus, leaving death and desolation in his track. In
1398 Timur campaigned in Hindustan, entering by the passes of the Hindu Koh, near Cabul, and routing seriatim the numerous armies collected to oppose him, till the num ber of prisoners became so great, that four days before the great battle before Delhi between Timur and the Indian emperor, the former, as a precautionary measure, ordered the murder, in cold blood, of all the males (said to be 100,000 in number), and then, after totally routing his opponents, took the capital. After a further advance to the Ganges, and more military successes, Timur retraced his steps to Samarkand, where the immense spoils of the expedition were expended in the adornment of the capital. Timur returned to Western Asia in the following year, and attacked the Egyptian empire in Syria, to avenge the murder of his ambassador, and the aid which the Mamaluke sultan had given to his enemies. Timur was as usual completely successful in the field; and the capture of Aleppo, Hama, Hems, Baalbek, and Damascus, equally proved his skill in the attack of fortified places. His mode of attack was to undermine the fortifications on all sides, then to fire the mines with wood steeped in naphtha, and on the destruction of the walls and battlements, which uniformly resulted, to charge in overwhelming force through the breaches. Similar conduct to that of the Mamluk sultan on the part of sultan Bajazet I., drew from Timur repeated remon strances, which the other, in the overweening confidence springing from uninterupted success, treated with contempt and answered with insult; but the advance of the Tartars to his frontiers soon opened his eyes to the greatness of his error, and with a powerful army he hastened to oppose them. The two hosts met at Angora (July 20, 1402), and after a long and obstinate contest, in which, although, the generalship of Bajazet and the steadiness of 20,000 Servian auxiliaries long balanced the superiority of Timur's troops, the Turks were totally routed, and Bajazet captured. The conquest of the whole of Asia Minor speedily followed; the Byzantine emperor did submission to the victor, as did also the Turkish ruler of Thrace; and the knights of St. John were expelled from Smyrna. The unfortunate Bajazet died after a few months' captivity, though uniformly treated with the greatest consideration; and about the same time Timur commenced his return= receiving on the way a most satisfactory embassy from the Egyptian sultan, who was now glad to come to where he passed the winter, and resuming his march in the following year Mery and Balkh, reached Samar 'mind in 1404. Here lie resumed preparations for the long projected invasion of China, continued the embellishment of the capital, and celebrated his great successes by the most gorgeous festivities. All things being now ready, he started with a large army for the Sihun, marched down that river to Otrar, where, being detained by the severity of the weather, he was attacked by an ague-fever, and died after a week's illness, Feb. 17, 1405. Timur holds a high position as a mere conqueror: his antagonists were mostly warlike and disciplined, and seldom much inferior in number; yet, from the savage horsemen of the Siberian steppes to the mail-clad warriors of Servia, all were alike forced to bow before the invincible prowess of the Mongol conqueror. The charge of cruelty brought against him is completely established by the massacre in India, but opposite to this might belplaced numerous instances of a lenity and forgiveness almost incredible in a "bar barian." He did much to promote the arts and sciences throughout his dominions, but the speedy dissolution of his empire deprived his labors of any permanent utility. The principal authority for the life of Timur is Sherif-ed-Diu-Ali's History (in Persian), translated into French by Petis de la Croix, under the title of Histoire de connu sur is nom du grand Tamerlan (4 vols., Par. 1722). Several writings exist in Per sian, attributed to Timur, but are of doubtful authenticity. Among these are the tutions (with an English translation and a valuable index, Oxford, 1783); and the Com mentaries of Timur, translated from a MS. of maj. Davy by maj. Stewart, late professor of oriental languages in the East India company's college. See also a translation of the narrative of Clavijo, envoy of Henry III. of Castile to Timur, by C. R. Markham (Hak luyt society, 1860).