Timur-Leng definition

Timur-Leng





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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Tamerlane \Ta*mer*lane"\ (t[a^]*m[~e]r*l[=a]n"), prop. n.
     A Tatar conquerer, also called {Timur} or {Timour}
     (t[=e]*m[^o]r") or {Timur Bey}, also {Timur-Leng} or
     {Timur-i-Leng} ('Timur the Lame'), which was corrupted to
     Tamerlane. He was born in Central Asia, 1333, a member of the
     Barslas, a Turkish Mongol tribe which had converted to Islam.


     He died 1405. Though he claimed descent from Jenghiz Khan, it
     is believed that he was in fact descended from a follower of
     the Khan. By 1370, Tamerlane, a renowned warrior, began
     consolidating his power among the various nomadic tribes of
     Central Asia by conquering the entire region. He became a
     ruler about 1370 of a realm whose capital was Samarkand;
     conquered Persia, Central Asia, and in 1398 a great part of
     India, including Delhi; waged war with the Turkish Sultan
     Bajazet I. (Beyazid), whom he defeated at Ankara in 1402 and
     took prisoner; and died while preparing to invade China. By
     the end of his life in 1405, after 35 years of campaigns and
     wars that left hundreds of thousands dead and enslaved, he
     had successfully defeated Ottoman Turks, Hindus, The Golden
     Horde, and other peoples and controlled an empire stretching
     from the Aegean to the River Ganges and threatened the
     trembling Kingdoms of Europe and the Eastern Roman Empire. He
     is the {Tamerlaine} of the plays.
     [Century Dict. 1906 + PJC]
  
           Just at the moment when the Sultan (Bajazet) seemed to
           have attained the pinnacle of his ambition, when his
           authority was unquestioningly obeyed over the greater
           part of the Byzantine Empire in Europe and Asia, when
           the Christian states were regarding him with terror as
           the scourge of the world, another and greater scourge
           came to quell him, and at one stroke all the vast
           fabric of empire which Bayezid (Beyazid or
           B[=a]yez[imac]d) had so triumphantly erected was
           shattered to the ground. This terrible conquerer was
           Tim[=u]r the Tatar, or as we call him, "Tamerlane".
           Tim[=u]r was of Turkish race, and was born near
           Samarkand in 1333. He was consequently an old man of 70
           when he came to encounter B[=a]yez[imac]d in 1402. It
           had taken him many years to establish his authority
           over a portion of the numerous divisions into which the
           immense empire of Chingiz Khan had fallen after the
           death of that stupendous conqueror. Tim[=u]r was but a
           petty chief among many others: but at last he won his
           way and became ruler of Samarkand and the whole
           province of Transoxiana, or 'Beyond the River'
           (M[=a]-war[=a]-n-nahr) as the Arabs called the country
           north of the Oxus. Once fairly established in this
           province, Tim[=u]r began to overrun the surrounding
           lands, and during thirty years his ruthless armies
           spread over the provinces of Asia, from Dehli to
           Damascus, and from the Sea of Aral to the Persian Gulf.
           The subdivision of the Moslem Empire into numerous
           petty kingdoms rendered it powerless to meet the
           overwhelming hordes which Tim[=u]r brought down from
           Central Asia. One and all, the kings and princes of
           Persia and Syria succumbed, and Tim[=u]r carried his
           banners triumphantly as far as the frontier of Egypt,
           where the brave Mamluk Sultans still dared to defy him.
           He had so far left B[=a]yez[imac]d unmolested; partly
           because he was too powerful to be rashly provoked, and
           partly because Tim[=u]r respected the Sultan's valorous
           deeds against the Christians: for Tim[=u]r, though a
           wholesale butcher, was very conscientious in matters of
           religion, and held that B[=a]yez[imac]d's fighting for
           the Faith rightly covered a multitude of sins. --Poole,
                                                    Story of
                                                    Turkey, p. 63
     [Century Dict. 1906]
  
     Note: Timour (t[imac]*m[=oo]r"), Timur, or TAMERLANE, was the
           second of the great conquerers whom central Asia sent
           forth in the middle ages, and was born at Kesh, about
           40 miles southeast of Samarkand, April 9, 1336. His
           father was a Turkish chieftain and his mother claimed
           descent from the great Genghis-Khan. When he became
           tribal chieftain, Timour helped the Amir Hussein to
           drive out the Kalmucks. Turkestan was thereupon divided
           between them, but soon war broke out between the two
           chiefs, and the death of Hussein in battle made Timour
           master of all Turkestan. He now began his career of
           conquest, overcoming the Getes, Khiva and Khorassin,
           after storming Herat. His ever-widening circle of
           possessions soon embraced Persia, Mesopotamia, Georgia,
           and the Mongol state, Kiptchak. He threatened Moscow,
           burned Azoo, captured Delhi, overran Syria, and stormed
           Bagdad, which had revolted. At last, July 20, 1402,
           Timour met the Sultan Bajazet of the Ottoman Turks, on
           the plains of Ankara, 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 his army of 200,000
           across the Jaxartes on the ice, and pushed rapidly on
           for 300 miles, when his death, Feb. 18, 1405, saved the
           independence of China. Though notorious for his acts of
           cruelty -- he may have slaughtered 80,000 in Delhi --
           he was a patron of the arts. 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. A number of writings said to have
           been written by Timour have been preserved in Persian,
           one of which, the Institutions, has been translated
           into English. --The Student's Cyclopedia, 1897.
           [PJC]
  
     Note: There is a story about an incident when an
           archaeologist opened Timur's tomb at the Gur-Amir
           mausoleum in Samarkand, which was erected in 1404.
           Timur and several of his descendants, including Ulugh
           Beg, are interred in that magnificent structure in the
           south-western side of Samarkand. In the mausoleum,
           mosaics made out of light- and dark-blue glazed bricks
           decorate the walls and the drum, and the tiled
           geometrical designs of the cupola shine brightly in the
           sun. Restoration work was started in 1967; the exterior
           cupola and glazed decorations were restored before
           that, in the 1950s. The mausoleum holds tombstones made
           of marble and onyx, the tombstone of Timur is carved
           from a slab of nephrite. The burials proper are placed
           in a crypt under the mausoleum.
           In 1941, a distinguished Soviet scientist, M.
           Gerasimov, received permission to exhume Tamerlane's
           body. On June 22, 1941, working in the Samarkand crypt,
           he opened the sarcophagus to study the body and found
           the inscription: "Whoever opens this will be defeated
           by an enemy more fearsome than I." Hours later, Hitler
           invaded Russia. Five weeks after the great Emir was
           reinterred in 1942, the Germans surrendered at
           Stalingrad.
           Examination of the remains in Timur's tomb confirmed
           that the body was tall, as was reported in the
           histories, and had been wounded in the leg and arm.
           The actual inscription on the tomb has been reported
           variously:
           "He whomsoever shall disturb the earthly resting place
           of Timur-i-Lenk (Tamerlane), then his country shall
           suffer such terrible retribution as the Hand of Allah
           shall visit upon it."
           "When I rise, the World will Tremble".
           [PJC]
  
                 Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Samarkand
                 Let he who doubt Our power and munificence look
                 upon Our buildings
                 Amir Timur, 1379 AD
                 Timur, better known in the West as Tamerlane from
                 his nickname Timur-i-leng or "Timur the Lame",
                 was the last of the great nomadic warriors to
                 sweep out of Central Asia and shake the world. As
                 befits a man styled "World Conqueror", we know a
                 lot about him -- and not all of it good. In 1336,
                 at Shakhrisabz in present-day Uzbekistan, the
                 wife of a minor chief of the Mongol Barlas clan
                 gave birth to a son with blood-filled palms, a
                 sure omen that the infant was predestined to
                 cause the death of many. He was given an
                 appropriate name -- Timur means "iron" in Turkish
                 -- and raised in the Turkic-Islamic tradition of
                 the surrounding steppe as a rider, archer and
                 swordsman.
                 Even by the harsh standards of the Mongol hordes,
                 Timur excelled. Before he was twenty years old he
                 had attracted a band of followers with whom he
                 ranged across the steppe raiding caravans and
                 rustling horses. In 1360 his skills as a
                 commander were rewarded when he was recognised as
                 chief of the Barlas clan. Over the next ten years
                 he steadily extended his influence over
                 Transoxiana -- the region between the Oxus and
                 Jaxartes Rivers centred on present-day Uzbekistan
                 -- acquiring wounds to his right arm and leg in
                 the process, and hence his nickname. In 1370 he
                 conquered Turkistan, the last surviving Mongol
                 Khanate, and declared himself Amir or
                 "Commander". He made the Silk Road city of
                 Samarkand his capital, and then embarked on a
                 series of military conquests that rocked Asia and
                 Europe to their very foundations.
                 For 35 years Timur's forces ranged far and wide,
                 repeatedly sweeping across Central Asia, Iran,
                 Turkey and northern India. In 1405 Timur was
                 preparing his greatest expedition ever, aimed at
                 conquering China, when he was struck down by
                 fever. Despite the best efforts of his doctors,
                 to the sound of massive thunderclaps and "foaming
                 like a camel dragged backwards by the rein",
                 Timur finally succumbed. The Ming Emperor must
                 have breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief when he
                 eventually heard the news.
                 Historians estimate that Timur, who personally
                 led his forces as far afield as Moscow and Delhi,
                 may have been responsible for the death of as
                 many as 15 million people. Yet he made little
                 attempt to consolidate his conquests, preferring
                 to mount regular, devastating attacks against his
                 neighbours before returning to his native
                 Transoxiana. As a consequence, the dynasty he
                 established proved to be short-lived, though in
                 1526 Timur's great, great, great grandson Babur
                 restored the family fortunes by conquering Delhi
                 and founding the resplendent Mogul Empire.
                 Timur must have been an enigma to his
                 contemporaries. Brutal and utterly ruthless, he
                 was nevertheless a man of culture. He is said to
                 have been illiterate, but fluent in Turkish and
                 Persian. Sources speak of his sharp wit and
                 hunger for knowledge. When not out and about
                 slaughtering his neighbours, he indulged in
                 passionate debate with scholars of history,
                 medicine and astronomy. He enjoyed playing chess.
                 Above all, he seems to have loved his capital,
                 Samarkand, and he spent much time between
                 campaigns embellishing this previously
                 undistinguished city. To help in this great
                 enterprise, he plundered cities like Damascus,
                 Baghdad, Isfahan and Delhi not just for the loot,
                 but for their skilled artisans, who were brought
                 back to make Samarkand a city worthy of the
                 "World Conqueror". As a consequence the warlike
                 Timur's most lasting and unlikely legacy remains
                 the unsurpassed architectural jewel of Central
                 Asia.
                 With Timur's death Transoxiana began a long
                 period of decline, culminating in gradual Russian
                 conquest during the 19th century. Samarkand had
                 long been inaccessible to outsiders because of
                 the xenophobia and religious bigotry of the
                 ruling amirs. This situation was compounded in
                 1920, when the Red Army seized control of the
                 region and began a process of Sovietisation. In
                 1924 Samarkand was included within the frontiers
                 of the new Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, and a
                 curtain of silence fell across the region with
                 Westerners, in particular, being rigorously
                 excluded.
                 Only in the 1980s did the veil begin to rise, and
                 then within a few short years the former USSR
                 disintegrated, resulting in the birth of
                 independent Uzbekistan in 1991. Although ruled by
                 a suspicious and innately cautious former Soviet
                 aparatchik, Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan is today
                 slowly opening to foreign tourism. It should do
                 well. The cities of Bukhara and Khiva, together
                 with Timur's capital at Samarkand, are truly
                 magnificent. In places, it's as though time stood
                 still. It didn't of course. The Soviets worked
                 long and hard to restore what remained of Timurid
                 Samarkand, and Uzbekistan stands to benefit
                 greatly as a result. Moreover, the process
                 continues apace, both in spiritual terms -- Timur
                 is now an Uzbek national hero -- and at a more
                 mundane level. Everywhere the chip of
                 stonemasons' hammers is to be heard, and a whole
                 new generation of skilled craftsmen is being
                 trained to restore the architectural legacy of
                 the "Iron Limper".
                 The historic heart of Samarkand is the Registan,
                 an open square dominated by three great madrassa,
                 or Islamic colleges. George Curzon, later to
                 become Viceroy of India, visited in 1899 and was
                 moved enough to describe the Registan as "the
                 noblest public square in the world". He
                 continues: "No European spectacle can be
                 adequately compared to it, in our inability to
                 point to an open space in any western city that
                 is commanded on three of its four sides by Gothic
                 cathedrals of the finest order". The architecture
                 is distinctively Timurid, being characterised by
                 an extraordinarily lavish use of colour,
                 especially emerald, azure, deep blue and gold.
                 The great domes are fluted, the vast porticoes
                 richly decorated with corkscrew columns and
                 intricately-patterned glazed tiles.
                 Astonishingly, the façade of the Shir Dor
                 Madrassa on the east side of the square is
                 decorated with half-tiger, half-lion creatures
                 stalking deer, whilst a blazing sun with a human
                 face rises behind the beast of prey's back. In
                 Islam, such representational art is generally
                 forbidden, and it is wonderful that these clearly
                 heretical images have survived through the long
                 centuries since they were created.
                 Samarkand -- let alone Uzbekistan -- has too many
                 Timurid gems to describe in one short article,
                 but after the Registan, the monumental Bibi
                 Khanum Mosque is perhaps the most extraordinary
                 sight in the city. Built for Timur's chief wife,
                 Saray Mulk Khanum, this magnificent building was
                 financed by the plunder brought back from Delhi
                 in 1398; it is said that 95 elephants were used
                 in hauling marble for the mosque. On Bibi
                 Khanum's completion a chronicler was moved to
                 write: "Its dome would have been unique had it
                 not been for the heavens, and unique would have
                 been its portal had it not been for the Milky
                 Way". Even so, historians have shown that in his
                 plans for the Bibi Khanum, Timur's vision
                 exceeded the architectural possibilities of the
                 time. Quite simply, the lofty iwan (portico) and
                 the towering minarets were too ambitious for the
                 technology of the time -- especially in a land
                 prone to violent earthquakes. By all accounts,
                 parts of the giant mosque began to collapse
                 within months of its consecration. Today all
                 three massive azure domes have been restored, and
                 work still continues, though this time with
                 ferro-concrete supports hidden behind the
                 elaborate glazed tilework, on the lofty iwan and
                 minarets. When the restoration is complete in
                 around 2002, Uzbekistan will have yet another
                 architectural marvel to draw visitors.
                 Finally and fittingly we turn to the Gur-i Amir,
                 or "Tomb of the Ruler", Timur's own last resting
                 place. This fabulous structure, which was
                 completed in 1404, is dominated by the octagonal
                 mausoleum and its peerless fluted dome, azure in
                 colour, with 64 separate ribs. Within lie the
                 remains not only of Timur, but also of various
                 members of his family, including his grandson the
                 scholar-king Ulugh Beg. Timur's tomb is protected
                 by a single slab of jade, said to be the largest
                 in the world. Brought back by Ulugh Beg from
                 Mongolia in 1425, it was broken in half in the
                 18th century by the Persian ruler Nadir Shah, who
                 tried to remove it from the chamber. Carved into
                 the jade is an inscription in Arabic: "When I
                 rise, the World will Tremble".
                 Coincidence, no doubt, but on the night of June
                 22, 1941, the Russian Scientist M. Gerasimov
                 began his exhumation of Timur's remains. Within
                 hours Hitler's armies crashed across the Soviet
                 frontier signalling the beginning of the Nazi
                 invasion. Gerasimov's investigations showed that
                 Timur had been a tall man for his race and time,
                 lame, as recorded, in his right leg, and with a
                 wound to his right arm. Surprisingly, red hair
                 still clung to the skull from which Gerasimov
                 reconstructed a bronze bust. Eventually Timur's
                 remains were reinterred with full Muslim burial
                 rites, giving truth to the message thundered in
                 Arabic script three metres high from the
                 cylindrical drum of the great conqueror's
                 mausoleum: "Only God is Immortal".
                                                    --Andrew
                                                    Forbes/CPA
           (Text copyright 2001.)
           (from http://www.cpamedia.com/articles/20010215/)
           [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Timur \Timur\, Timur-leng \Timur-leng\prop. n.
     See {Tamerlane}.
  
     Syn: Tamerlane, Timour.
          [PJC]

















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