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SUCCESSOR OF THE TIMURID EMPIRE
Murodjon Koraboev
Oriental University
Senior Lecturer of the Department of History
murodjonqoraboyev715@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15735007
Abstract
This article explores the political, military, cultural, and scientific
contributions of Shahrukh Mirza, a prominent figure of the Timurid dynasty. It
discusses his early life, involvement in Amir Timur’s campaigns, his accession to
the throne, achievements in governance, foreign policy initiatives, and patronage
of arts and sciences based on reliable historical sources. The article also
provides insight into his death and the succession struggles that followed. It
serves as a valuable historical and political resource for understanding the
Timurid statehood.
Keywords
: Shahrukh Mirza, Timurid Empire, politics, construction, science,
diplomacy, Khorasan, Transoxiana, international relations, succession struggle
Mirza Shahrukh was born on August 20, 1377, in Samarkand, the capital of
Amir Timur's empire. The fourth and youngest son of Amir Timur. He spent his
youth in Samarkand, where he received both secular and religious education.
During his five-year campaigns to Dashti Kipchak in 1390-1391 and to the
southwestern countries in 1392, Amir Timur appointed Shahrukh as the ruler of
the country[3, p. 169]. 17-year-old Shahrukh began participating in combat
operations. Amir Timur appointed him to the Manglay and Juvongar units of the
army, and later returned him to Samarkand and entrusted him with governing
the capital. In 1396, Amir Timur granted Shahrukh the land of Khorasan and
sent him, along with the corresponding army and tribes, to his domain.
Shahrukh directly participated in the seven-year campaign of Amir Timur, in
particular, in military operations in the Middle East, commanded the vanguard,
manglay, and juvanğar units of the army, and demonstrated personal courage
and skill in battles. The inhabitants of the besieged cities often appealed to
Shahrukh with peace proposals, and he did not withhold his help. In some cases,
Amir Timur entrusted Shahrukh with guarding the captured part of the army.
According to Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi's "Zafarnama," in the later years of Amir
Timur's life, he paid special attention to Shahrukh's statehood qualities. For
example, during his campaign to China, he entrusted Shahrukh with the great
responsibility of ensuring the security of the state, in particular, the
administration of military regions, and left him in Khorasan. Sahibkiran built a
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new city on the site of the city of Banokat, which was completely destroyed
during the Mongol invasion in 1391-92, settled the population from the
surrounding lands there, and gave it to Shahrukh as a suyrog, and this city
became famous under the name Shahrukhiya.
After the death of Amir Timur, in March 1405, Shahrukh officially ascended
to the throne of Khorasan as the ruler of the Timurid Empire[5, p. 47] and
ordered a khutbah to be read in his own name and a coin to be minted. In the
first years of Shahrukh's reign, strong fragmentation arose in the Timurid
empire, and a struggle for monopoly began in various parts of the empire. In
Mawarannahr, Khalil Sultan seized the throne of Samarkand, Kara Yusuf took
control of Azerbaijan and Persian Iraq, and Sultan Ahmad took control of the
Iraqi Arab territories. In Iran, the Timurid princes quarreled with each other,
and uprisings broke out in Mazandaran, Balkh, Ghur, and other regions. Due to
his profound talent, skill, intellect, and policies, Shahrukh succeeded in
suppressing the conflicts, uprisings, and protests for autocracy within the
empire one after another. During his reign, Shahrukh strived to preserve the
territorial breadth, military potential, and strong economic position of the
Timurid empire. In 1409, he conquered Transoxiana and began to rule Khorasan
and Transoxiana.
In 1429, Shahrukh launched a campaign against Amir Iskandar ibn Qara
Yusuf, who had become a dangerous force in Azerbaijan, gathering troops from
almost the entire territory of his empire. A fierce battle ensued between the two
sides in the Salmos Desert[5, 503 b], where Shahrukh appointed his sons Mirza
Baysunghur as the vanguard of the army, Ibrahim Sultan as the commander of
the vanguard, and Muhammad Juki remained in his own part of the Ghul. After a
fierce battle, Shahrukh's army achieved victory. Shahrukh sent troops to Sistan
and Badakhshan, putting an end to the uprisings there. From 1405, Shahrukh
sent a large army against the emirs of Dashti Kipchak, who conquered Khorezm
for 7 years, and, having won, included Khorezm in the Timurid Empire and
appointed the commander Amir Shahmalik to govern the province. Shahrukh
resolved many disputes through peaceful means, widely using the services of
prominent statesmen and sheikhs. In general, during Shahrukh's reign,
territories from Mongolia in the east to Egypt and Rum in the west, from the
central part of India in the south to the borders of Dashti Kipchak in the north
were part of the Timurid empire.
He governed the kingdom according to the suyurgal system and granted the
country's territory as suyurgal to his sons, grandchildren, relatives, and loyal
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amirs who had served him. According to the historian Hafizi Abru's work
"Zubdat at-tavorix," in 1443 Shahrukh sent an envoy to the Egyptian king,
requesting permission to put a covering on the Kaaba's house. Based on this, in
1444-1445, he commissioned the preparation of a Kaaba veil and sent it to
Mecca through Sheikh Nuriddin Muhammad al-Murshidi and Mawlana
Shamsiddin Muhammad Abhari, who returned after covering it with the holy
Kaaba house. Shahrukh constantly monitored daily affairs in the royal court,
devoted great importance to council and consultation in decision-making, and
issued just judgments taking into account the opinions of the majority. Also, he
organized conversations with the participation of mature scholars on religious
and secular issues in the divan, debates on jurisprudence, medicine, astronomy,
geography, linguistics, and other fields of science, and he himself actively
participated in them. Great opportunities for constructive activity arose in the
territory of Shahrukh's empire. Urban development, crafts, trade, agriculture,
science, and culture developed rapidly.
Shahrukh paid great attention to construction work, in particular, the
improvement of cities and the development of irrigation systems, and issued a
high decree to restore the cities of Herat in 1405[6, 318 p] and Balkh in 1407,
which were destroyed during the invasion of Amir Timur. The city of Merv,
destroyed during Genghis Khan's campaign, was rebuilt in 1220, and water was
brought to it by digging a canal from the Murghab River. The irrigation system
has been improved, new lands have been developed, and sown areas have been
expanded. Crafts and trade flourished in the cities, and numerous cultural and
spiritual institutions - madrasas, mosques, and khanqahs - were built. Shahrukh
paid special attention to the development of science. Science flourished in Herat,
Samarkand, Bukhara, Mashhad, Shiraz, and other cities. In Mawarannahr, Mirzo
Ulugbek built an observatory, the exact sciences developed, the Naqshbandi
teachings were formed in the form of written heritage, and a number of works
were written in this direction. Great attention was paid to historiography in the
cities of Herat and Shiraz. Several major works on the history of Amir Timur and
the Timurids were created. In the Timurid Empire, the art of calligraphy and
miniature painting flourished. Mirza Baysunghur in Herat and Ibrahim Sultan in
Shiraz made a great contribution to the development of these spheres.
During Shahrukh's reign, the influence of the Timurid Empire on the
international stage increased, and Shahrukh paid great attention to diplomatic
relations between the states. Historical sources of the Timurid era record that
ambassadors from China, India, Egypt, Syria, Rome, Europe, and Dashti Kipchak
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came to him, and that Shahrukh also sent his ambassadors, and a complete diary
was written about two embassies. The memoirs of the trip to China in 1419-
1422, the diary of Ghiyasuddin Naqqash, who took a direct part in it, and the
details of the trip of the ambassadors to South India in 1442-1444 are reflected
in the travelogue of Abdurazzaq Samarkandi, who led it. In Shahrukh's letters
sent through ambassadors, special emphasis was placed on ensuring the
security of trade routes and developing international trade. Trade and
diplomatic caravans regularly traveled along the Great Silk Road. In his
international policy, Shahrukh considered ensuring peace and friendly relations
between states as a priority. As a result of Shahrukh's great attention to
constructive work in state policy, a unique awakening (renaissance) occurred in
the development of science and culture, which in the second half of the 15th
century, during the reign of Alisher Navoi, laid the foundation for the high
development of science in Khorasan.
Shortly after the suppression of the Sultan Muhammad uprising, the
weakened Shahrukh died in March 1447 in a village near Ray[2, p. 100]. Despite
the initial attempts to conceal this, the news of the ruler's death spread quickly.
Disorder arose in the military unit, and it was impossible to take Shahrukh's
div to the capital for burial. Only on the third day after his death did the div,
accompanied by his wife Gavhar Shodbegim and Shahrukh's grandson Abdulatif,
depart eastward. However, Abdulatif takes both his grandmother and the div
as hostages. Another grandson, Alouddavla, defeated his cousin's troops and
freed Gavhar Shodbegim. After this, Shahrukh was buried in the mausoleum of
Gavhar Shad in Herat. The following year, when Mirza Ulugbek captured the city,
he ordered his father's div to be buried in Gur-e-Amir in Samarkand along with
Timur's div.
The succession struggle between Shahrukh's family lasted several years.
Initially, in the struggle between Ulugbek and Alauddavla, Ulugbek emerged
victorious. However, after Ulugbek's assassination in 1449, control over the
Timurid empire in subsequent internal wars passed to the descendants of
Miranshah and Umarshaykh[4, p. 350].
List of references used:
1. Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi. Zafarnama. Tashkent - Shark, 1997.
2. Jackson, Peter; Lockhart, Lawrence. The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge
University Press, 1986
3. Nizamuddin Shami. Zafarnama. Tashkent - Uzbekistan, 1996.
4. Asimov, Mukhammed Sajfiddinovich; Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Bosworth, Clifford
Edmund. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1992
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5. Abdurazzoq Samarqandiy. Matlai sa'dayn and majmai bahrayn. Tashkent -
Uzbekistan, 2008.
6. Khondamir. Habib us-siyar. Tashkent - Uzbekistan, 2013
