The Timurid Emirate was a polity begun by Timur who was initially an amir within the Chagatai Khanate.
[1]
After taking power at Balkh in 1370 Timur maintained a nominal allegiance to the Chagatai khan while effectively ruling as an independent state.
[2]
Timur’s brutal conquests over Persia and the sub-continent created a large empire covering about 5,500,000 square kilometers with a population of perhaps 49 million in 1400 CE.
[3]
In his desire to create a great empire, during his conquests Timur "rounded up craftspeople in all fields and sent them off to his capital at Samarkand. ... He assembled the most highly skilled manpower from many countries and traditions, an astonishingly rich assemblage of masters in virtually every field of the arts and crafts."
[4]
Timurid government was a complex Persian-model professional bureaucracy which functionally distinguished between civilian and military branches of government.
[5]
The ruler was assisted by a vizier
[4]
who often stayed in his post after the previous Timurid amir had died.
[6]
The non-sedentary origin and culture of the rulers might be reflected in the departments of the Timurid diwan which were "concerned primarily with financial and bureaucratic matters, including chancery correspondence."
[5]
In the regions "Timur was notably lax at establishing effective and loyal governments ... conquered lands had their own governing bodies ... he was content to leave them be."
[4]
However, (presumably closer to the center of the polity in Central Asia) there was governor or mayor called darugha
[7]
who owed his authority directly to the Timurid amir.
[8]
Timur’s descendants divided some of the Timurid territories into provinces, including Samarkand and Bukhara.
[9]
Uzbek nomads eventually conquered the feuding provinces of the Timurid Empire.
[9]
[1]: (Wise Bauer 2013, 558) Wise Bauer, S. 2013. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. W. W. Norton & Company.
[2]: (Khan 2003, 33) A Khan. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[3]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) Collin McEverdy. Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd.
[4]: (Starr 2013) Frederick S. Starr. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[5]: (Subtelny 2007, 68) Maria Subtelny. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
[6]: (Subtelny 2007, 69) Maria Subtelny. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
[7]: (Marozzi 2004, 141) J Marozzi. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[8]: (Marozzi 2004, 205) J Marozzi. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[9]: (Khan 2003, 35) A Khan. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
| alliance with [---] |
| Turko-Islamic |
| Shaybanid Kingdom |
| 8,500,000 km2 |
| continuity |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: Mughal Empire (in_mughal_emp) [continuity] |
| nominal | |
| unitary state | |
| confederated state |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| present |
| absent |
| Year Range | Timurid Empire (uz_timurid_emp) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1370 CE 1394 CE) | Sogdiana |
| (1394 CE 1470 CE) | Southern Mesopotamia Susiana Sogdiana |
| (1470 CE 1526 CE) | Sogdiana |
Samarkand was Timur’s capital. [1] Shah Rukh (r.1404-1447 CE) moved the capital to Herat. [2]
[1]: (Wise Bauer 2013, 558) Wise Bauer, S. 2013. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. W. W. Norton & Company.
[2]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
Samarkand was Timur’s capital. [1] Shah Rukh (r.1404-1447 CE) moved the capital to Herat. [2]
[1]: (Wise Bauer 2013, 558) Wise Bauer, S. 2013. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. W. W. Norton & Company.
[2]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
"Timur was officially installed as ruler at Balkh in 1370."
[1]
Uzbek nomads eventually conquered the feuding provinces within the Chagatai khanate/Timurid Empire.
[2]
"1501-2 marked a political watershed ... In that year, Muhammad Shaybani Khan (1500-10), the founder of the new dynasty of the Shaybanids, definitively conquered Samarkand. Northern Tukharistan, however, still belonged to the Timurids..."
[3]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[3]: (Davidovich and Dani 1998, 411) Davidovich, E. A. Dani, A. H. 1998. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4. UNESCO.
Core region was Afghanistan
Did not take the title of "Khan" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: "he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power." [1]
[1]: (Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
Did not take the title of "Khan" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: "he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power." [1]
[1]: (Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
Did not take the title of "Khan" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: "he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power." [1]
[1]: (Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
"Chagatai Turkish evolved as the language of the court and literature." [1] "Persian was the language of the bureaucratic administration and chancery correspondence" [2] The military administration, however, was "staffed by Turkic secretaries". [2]
[1]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[2]: (Subtelny 2007, 69) Subtelny, Maria. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
"Chagatai Turkish evolved as the language of the court and literature." [1] "Persian was the language of the bureaucratic administration and chancery correspondence" [2] The military administration, however, was "staffed by Turkic secretaries". [2]
[1]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[2]: (Subtelny 2007, 69) Subtelny, Maria. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
Inhabitants.
Samarkand 1400 CE: 150,000 according to Clavijo.
[1]
Apogee of Herat was in the twelfth century: "al Qazwini wrote ... there were twelve thousand shops in the markets, six thousand hot baths and 659 colledges. The population was 444,000."
[2]
In the 1330s CE Ibn Battutah reported Herat was "the largest inhabited city in Khorasan".
[3]
Tabriz, rich trade city, c1400 CE: "The city walls measured twenty-five thousand paces (compared with nine thousand in Herat and ten thousand in Samarkand), encompassing a vast population in the region of 1.25 million, based on the two hundred thousand households recorded by Clavijo." However, these figures are considered an exaggeration. Marco Polo described a cosmopolitan city which contained Armenians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Georgians and Persians. According to Rashid ad-Din it was a city of high culture with "philosophers, astronomers, scholars, historians - of all religions, of all sects". Other peoples included Indians, Kashmiris, Chinese, Uighurs, Arabs, Franks, Turks and Tibetans.
[4]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 210) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 109) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[3]: (Marozzi 2004, 109-110) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[4]: (Marozzi 2004, 140) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
in squared kilometers
Estimated using Google area calculator and a map.
[1]
People.
1400 CE
[1]
Iraq: 1.0m
Iran: 3.5m
Caucasia: 1.0m
Russian Turkestan: 3.4m
North Pakistan and Delhi region of India (Upper Indus and Upper Ganges): 40.0m. Estimate reasoning: 94.0m for whole of the Indian Subcontinent. If 60% population of India c500 BCE was in the Ganges Basin (67% under the Guptas) and "The next fifteen hundred years consolidated without significantly altering this pattern"
[2]
then about 56.0m should be within the Ganges Basin. Timur held only about 50% of the Ganges Basin so for this territory we could estimate 28.0m. Of the 38.0 remaining for the rest of the sub-continent it is likely the Indus Basin contains the majority. If 60% of remaining is in the Indus Basin then we could say 23.0m for the whole Indus Basin. Timur held the north of the Indus Basin so for this territory we could estimate 12.0m.
[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) McEverdy, Collins. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd.
[2]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 182) McEverdy, Collins. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd.
levels.
Timur "Although he came from a conventional Sunni tradition, his Sufi credentials were bolstered through his patronage of the Naqshbandi order, centred in Bukhara, and his cultivation of the Sufi shaykhs of Mawarannahr and Khorasan, who enjoyed a prominent position in his court"
[1]
However, "Temur could just as easily pose as protector of the Shi’a tradition.
[1]
"The five daily prayers were a regular feature of life at Temur’s court. Wherever he campaigned, with him went the imams and the royal mosque, a sumptuously appointed pavilion made of the finest silk."
[2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 93) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 94) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
levels.
1. Sultan
2. Diwan-i tovachi"dealt with military affairs and was controlled by the Barlas tribe"
[1]
2. Tarkhan"The most senior officers were granted the ultimate title of tarkhan, a position harking back to the days of Genghis Khan. This conferred on them a number of important privileges, among which the most valuable was the permanent exemption from taxes. Unlike any other soldier in Temur’s armies, the tarkhan was entitled to keep everything he plundered. Everyone else had to make over a share of the spoils to the emperor. The Tarkhan was also immune from criminal prosecution. Only after he had committed the same crime nine times was he answerable to justice. Perhaps the ultimate prize was his access to Temur at all times."
[2]
2. Amir of a tumanTuman was 10,000 men.
[3]
3. Binbashi of a binlik1000 troops.
[3]
4. Yuzbashi of a yuzlikTen onliks in a yuzlik.
[3]
5. Onbashi of an onlik"The smallest unit of men was ten soldiers, an onlik, led by an onbashi."
[3]
6. Individual soldier
[1]: (Subtelny 2007, 68) Subtelny, Maria. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[3]: (Marozzi 2004, 99) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
levels.
1. Amir/Emperor/Sultan
Timur "ruled in the name of the Chagatai Khanate" as an amir.
[1]
Did not take the title of "Khan" because he was not in the family of Genghis Khan: "he maintained the charade that he was a governor under the Chagatai khan, when in reality he was the supreme power."
[2]
2. Ichki (or muqarrab)In the royal household this official "did not have defined duties but who was in constant attendance on the ruler and served him in an advisory capacity."
[3]
_Central government_
Timurid government functionally distinguished between civilian and military branches of government.
[3]
2. Vizier.
[4]
"Often inheriting their positions or having served in the administrations of previous rulers, the Persian secretaries (navisandagan-i Tajik) who staffed it and who held the title of vazir, exhibited remarkable professional continuity."
[5]
3. Diwan-i a’la
[3]
"The requirements of ruling over a sedentary population in the agrarian oases of Central Asia and Iran, however, necessitated the adoption of the traditional Perso-Islamic administrative system of the diwan, which was concerned primarily with financial and bureaucratic matters, including chancery correspondence."
[3]
4. Scribe in Department inferred
5.
6. Imperial doorkeepers armed with maces.
[6]
_Regional government_
2. Governor or mayor called darugha.
[7]
"The authority of the darughas and the diwans, the princes and amirs, all dependent directly on the emperor."
[8]
Timur’s descendants divided the territories into provinces, which included Samarkand and Bukhara.
[9]
"Timur was notably lax at establishing effective and loyal governments in the conquered lands. ... conquered lands had their own governing bodies, and ... he was content to leave them be."
[4]
"appanage system [created] a new class of rich and autonomous grandees who were largely beyond the control of the central government."
[4]
3. Head of provincial diwans"the personnel of city councils might become part of Timurid provincial diwans"
[10]
4.
4. personnel of city councils? - where do they go?
[1]: (Wise Bauer 2013, 558) Wise Bauer, S. 2013. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. W. W. Norton & Company.
[2]: (Khan 2003, 33) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[3]: (Subtelny 2007, 68) Subtelny, Maria. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
[4]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[5]: (Subtelny 2007, 69) Subtelny, Maria. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
[6]: (Marozzi 2004, 212) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[7]: (Marozzi 2004, 141) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[8]: (Marozzi 2004, 205) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[9]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[10]: (Manz 2007, 151) Manz, Beatrice Forbes. 2007. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
"The office of s.adr seems to have originated with the Kartid dynasty, and involved supervision of ranks and offices within the religious classes; officially at least, Timurid s.adrs oversaw salaries, appointments, and ranks of all religious offices..."
[1]
[1]: (Manz 2007, 213) Manz, Beatrice Forbes. 2007. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Professional soldiers.
[1]
However: "Timur’s bureaucrats therefore resorted to the old trick of handing out vast tracts of land to relatives and favorites on the sole condition that the recipients make regular payments to the treasury."
[2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 1-2) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
There were ulama religious scholars [1] but these do not count as specialist lawyers. Were there any law specialists whose only job was the paperwork or processing of law cases?
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
Navai built caravansereis. [1] General reference for Seljuk? - Safavid? time period: "The bāzār was usually, though not always, divided into a number of sūqs (markets) in which different crafts and occupations had separate quarters. At night, after members of the crafts and shopkeepers had shut their premises and retired to their homes, the gates of the bāzārs were locked and barred." [2] Grand Bazaar of Isfahan first built in the Seljuk period.
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Lambton 2011) Lambton, Ann K S. 2011. CITIES iii. Administration and Social Organization. Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii
"Abu Said (1424-1469) proved serious and competent, winning popular support by attending to the restoration of irrigation and agriculture." [1] Spanish ambassador Clavijo observed irrigation water channels outside Kesh. [2]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 25) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
Very well established in previous eras. Some may have survived the Mongol conquests and the knowledge to maintain them may have survived.
Mathematics and astronomy encouraged by Ulugh Beg. [1] Treatises on medicine. [2]
[1]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
Nuradin Jami (1414-1492 CE): "Leader of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi order in Timurid Herat, poet, and author of complex mystical allegories". [1] "Bahaudin al-Din Naqshband Bukhari (1318-1389 CE): "Founder of a major Sufi order who helped bring about a reunion between Sufism, traditionalist Islam, and the state." [1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
In the 11th century and after "the genre of writing treatises on statecraft in Persian develops, such treatises usually containing advice on the organizing of armies and on the art of war." [1] On government, e.g. Counsels for Shahrukh by Al-Qayini "a prominent Hanafite jurist, traditionalist, and preacher in Timurid Herat." [2]
[1]: (Bosworth 2011) Bosworth, C E. 2011. ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol period. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-ii
[2]: (Subtelny 2007, 109) Subtelny, Maria. 2007. Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. BRILL.
e.g. astronomical: Ulughbeg’s "compendium of data, called the Zij or collection of astronomical tables, was clearly a collaborative work involving especially Kashi. In nearly three hundred pages of charts and quantitative data, it fixed with precise figures the locations of 992 stars. The star catalog included in the Zij was more comprehensive than any previous catalog, and far more precise." [1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
Kamoliddin Bihzad (1450-1537 CE): "Herat-based Timurid artist who was supported by the official and poet Navai."
[1]
Nizam al-Din Alisher Harawi (1441-1501 CE) or Navai: "poet who singlehandedly elevated his native Turkic language, Chaghatay, to the same high level as Persian."
[1]
Nuradin Jami (1414-1492 CE): "Leader of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi order in Timurid Herat, poet, and author of complex mystical allegories".
[1]
Ulugh Beg wrote poetry.
[2]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
[2]: (Khan 2003, 35) Khan, A. 2003. A Historical Atlas of Uzbekistan. The Rosen Publishing Group.
No data. The preceding Ilkhanate Mongols issued paper currency similar to the Chinese model of that era.
Few gold, mostly silver (tanka), copper (dangi) in Transoxania. [1] "The unit of account throughout the Timurid period was the dinar kebeki (kebeki dinar) ... The physical coin, the tanka, was valued against the kebeki dinar." [1]
[1]: (Album 2001, xiv) Album, Stephen. 2001. Iran After the Mongol Invasion, Volume 10. Ashmolean Museum.
found no mention yet of single currency system. as trade center would have had many foreign visitors who would have bought and used coinage if there were no single currency system.
"Such was the importance accorded government business that if any envoy riding a tiring mount came upon other riders with fresher horses, these were required on pain of death to dismount and hand over their animals to the messenger and his entourage." [1]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 103) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
defensive walls around cities are mentioned below, but not explicitly stating whether natural geographic considerations came into the designing of city defenses
Samarkand: "massive earthen ramparts with a circumference of five miles, surrounded by a deep ditch, that Temur had reconstructed after the devestation wrought by Genghis." [1] Qarshi, built by Kebek, was about 40 hectares in area "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents. This layout is typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards." [2] Inferred present. 4.5 meter thick wall, in the region of Central Asia where walls (e.g. Samarkand) were usually built out of earth rather than stone.
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 223) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden.
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate, was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents." [1] Trenches dug on the battlefield to combat war elephants at Delhi 1398 CE. [2]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 266) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
Tatar composite bow "fired a heavier arrow with a shorter range." [1] "each man carrying a bow with thirty arrows in his quiver." [2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 183) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
"The bark of white poplar ... was highly prized as a covering for shields." [1] "The Tatar foot-soldier carried a bow, an axe, a dagger, a sabre and a small round shield, wooden with an iron rim" [2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 67) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
"The Tatar foot-soldier carried a bow, an axe, a dagger, a sabre and a small round shield, wooden with an iron rim" [1] "Many of the early Persian miniatures, particularly those under Mongol influence of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, seldom illustrate shields. When they do the shields would seem to be of stout hide - small, circular, and convex, with applied metal bosses. By the late fourteenth century many more shields are represented and often clearly depict concentric rings of cane woven with silk thread into a light but firm convex defence, usually fitted with a central steel boss. Several colours of silk thread were used and remarkable geometric patterns produced. They were lined with fabric and had a leather cushion behind the central boss, over which was braced a plaited leather grip, the ends of which were secured to four iron rings riveted through to four ornamental washers." [2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
Used on horses. Up to late fifteenth century "scale horse armour which had changed little from those found at Dura Europos." [1] "The miniatures of the Timurids and Safavids show us a fully developed system of bardings completely armouring the horse and made up of many specialized pieces of scale armor." [2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
[2]: (Brown 1936, 447) Brown, Frank Edward. 1936. The house in Block E4, Block F3: the Roman baths; discoveries in the Temple of Artemisnanaia; arms and armor. Yale University Press.
"In 1393 we hear of Persian soldiers dressed in mail (zirih baktah), with helmets and cuirasses of velvet-covered iron plates - a form of brigandine is suggested". [1] "In the late-fourteenth- and early-fifteenth-century miniatures, plate armour for the limbs makes its reappearance in the form of tubular vambraces, consisting of two hinged plates tapered towards the wrist, the lower one extended into a point to protect the elbow." [1]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
"In the late-fourteenth- and early-fifteenth-century miniatures, plate armour for the limbs makes its reappearance in the form of tubular vambraces, consisting of two hinged plates tapered towards the wrist, the lower one extended into a point to protect the elbow." [1] "The legs - always vulnerable parts of a horseman’s anatomy - were protected with separate knee-plates of ‘pot-lid’ form, set in mail or mounted upon fabric which extended up the thigh (rānāpanō). Usually, boots were worn below these; but sometimes a tubular greave of two plates opening upon hinges encased the shins and calves. These are clearly represented in a miniature painted at Shiraz, c.1433—4, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford." [1] Shoulder armour. [2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
[2]: (Nicolle 1990, 37) Nicolle, David. 1990. The Age of Tamerlane. Osprey Publishing.
"leather shield" [1] "In 1393 we hear of Persian soldiers dressed in mail (zirih baktah), with helmets and cuirasses of velvet-covered iron plates - a form of brigandine is suggested - and their horses protected by a kind of cuirass made of quilted silk." [2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 183) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
"One of the earliest illustrated Persian manuscripts to survive dates from the early fourteenth century. This is Rashidu’d Din’s History, of the World, produced at Tabriz between 1306 and 1312. The warriors wear long coats of lamellar armour barred in alternating colours, every other row bearing scroll patterns which could well be a convention to represent rows of lacquered hide lamellae with engraved ornament." [1] "Early-fourteenth-century miniatures depict warriors generally wearing lamellar armour, with aventails of mail attached to their simple helmets of low, rounded, conical form." [1] "Lamellar armour continued to be represented in miniatures into the second half of the fifteenth century, and this is well shown in a manuscript in the F. Cleveland Morgan collection at Montreal (Fig. 19E)." [1] Cuirasses. [2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 3) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
Metal helmets. [1] The Tatar foot-soldier "sported a tall hat made of fur, felt or sheepskin." [2] "The richer soldiers had helmets, single-edged sabres and coats of mail for themselves and their horses." [2] Illustration in Rashidu’d Din’s "History of the World": "helmets are rounded, with a central ornamental spike, and frequently have a turned-up peak or reinforce over the brow. Nape guards are of mail, leather or fabric, as are probably the deep collars of the lamellar coats." [3] "A helmet of rounded conical form, formerly in the collection of Count Krasinski of Poland, dating from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries, retained many features in common with that on the Tāq-i-Bōstān relief. ... This form of helmet is distinctly Persian in origin." [3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1990, 40) Nicolle, David. 1990. The Age of Tamerlane. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[3]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
"The richer soldiers had helmets, single-edged sabres and coats of mail for themselves and their horses." [1] Lamellar coats "remained popular in Persia, particularly in the north and east, for a very long time, while the alternative - mail - still persisted, it would seem, in central and southern areas." [2] "In 1393 we hear of Persian soldiers dressed in mail (zirih baktah)". [2]
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London.
[2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.