# Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World

Justin Marozzi

A powerful account of the life of Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405), the last master nomadic power, one of history’s most extreme tyrants, and the subject of Marlowe’s famous play. Marozzi travelled in the footsteps of the great Mogul Emperor of Samarkland to write this wonderful combination of history and travelogue.The name of the last great warlord conjures up images of mystery and romance: medieval warfare on desert plains; the clash of swords on snow-clad mountains; the charge of elephants across the steppes of Asia; the legendary opulence and cruelty of the illiterate, chess-playing nemesis of Asia. He ranks alongside Alexander as one of the world’s great conquerors, yet the details of his life are scarcely known in the West.He was not born to a distinguished family, nor did he find his apprenticeship easy – at one point his mobile army consisted only of himself, his wife, seven companions and four horses – but his dominion grew with astonishing rapidity. In the last two decades of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth, he blazed through Asia. Cities were razed to the ground, inhabitants tortured without mercy, sometimes enemies were buried alive – more commonly they were decapitated. On the ruins of Baghdad, Tamerlane had his princes erect a pyramid of 90,000 heads.During his lifetime he sought to foster a personal myth, exaggerating the difficulties of his youth, laying claim to supernatural powers and a connection to Genghis Khan. This myth was maintained after his death in legend, folklore, poetry, drama and even opera, nowhere more powerfully than in Marlowe’s play – he is now as much a literary construct as a historical figure. Justin Marozzi follows in his path and evokes his legacy in telling the tale of this fabulously cruel, magnificent and romantic warrior.

## TAMERLANE. Sword of Islam,Conqueror of the World. JUSTIN MAROZZI


## Dedication

This book is dedicated to my motherand to the memory of my father

## Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

A Note on Spelling and Terminology

1 Beginnings on the Steppe: 1336–1370

2 Marlowe’s ‘Scourge of God’: 1370–1379

3 ‘The Greatest and Mightiest of Kings’

4 Conquest in the West: 1379–1387

5 The Golden Horde and the Prodigal Son: 1387–1395

6 Samarkand, the ‘Pearl of the East’: 1396–1398

7 India: 1398–1399

8 ‘This Pilgrimage of Destruction’: 1399–1401

9 Bayazid the Thunderbolt: 1402

10 The Celestial Empire: 1403–1404

11 ‘How that Proud Tyrant was Broken & Borne to the House of Destruction, where he had his Constant Seat in the Lowest Pit of Hell’: 1404–1405

12 An Empire Dies, Another is Born

Appendix A: Chronology of Temur’s Life

Appendix B: Events in Europe in the Fourteenth Century

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Praise

By the Same Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

## A Note on Spelling and Terminology

A couple of years ago, Frances Wood observed in The Silk Road: ‘I think this is the most complicated book I have ever written when it comes to spelling place names.’ I know the feeling. Central Asia is a minefield. And it is not just place names.

The world’s most famous Mongol conqueror is a case in point. Take your pick from Genghis Khan, Chinghiz Khan, Chingiz Khan, or even Chinggis Khan. The lands he bequeathed his son became the Juchid empire. Others call it Jochid. Still others prefer Djöčid.

Scholars invariably favour the more obscure spellings, but I have tried to use terms familiar to the general reader. Central Asian names are complicated enough, it seems to me, without making things more difficult.

Tamerlane was in fact Temur (or Timur). The longer name by which we in the West know him was a corruption of Temur the Lame. He was a Chaghatay (or Čaghatay if you like your diacritic symbols), or a Turkicised Mongol, or a Turk; but I have followed a long line of Europeans who describe him as a Tatar.

Consistency in these matters is as elusive as peace and tranquillity were to Temur. As T.E. Lawrence so emphatically expressed it in Seven Pillars of Wisdom after a plea for clarity from his editor: ‘There are some “scientific systems” of transliteration, helpful to people who know enough Arabic not to need helping, but a wash-out for the world. I spell my names anyhow, to show what rot the systems are.’ In a less brazen way I have followed his example.