The Mediterranean in the 14th century

Tamerlane

Politician, strategist and soldier, founder of the Timurid dynasty which governed in Central Asia and the east of Iran from 1370 until 1507. Although the year of his birth is traditionally cited as 1336, this is not a certainty. He was more likely born sometime between the end of the decade of the 1320’s and the beginning of the 1330’s.

Tamerlane belonged to a Turkish clan, Barlas, and was therefore an Islamic Mongol descended from Turkish  culture. Although he did not belong to the dynasty of Genghis Khan, he soon attained a position of power. Since only the descendants of Genghis could bear the title of “Khan,” he never assumed the royal title and always governed through a “puppet” Khan. One of his first     decisions upon assuming power was to make his capital   at Samarkand, a city which he fortified and beautified.

From 1370 until the end of his days Tamerlane carried on virtually unceasing military activity. He mounted campaigns in Central Asia, Persia, the Caucasus, Anatolia, etc., reaching Baghdad and Syria, where he levelled the city of Damascus. He died in Otrar in 1405, while leading his army to China with the intention of invading.

Despite the violence of his campaigns, Tamerlane maintained intense contacts with some of the empires of the epoch, such as China or the Christian empires. In this way he interchanged embassies with the governors of Constantinople, Venice, Henry IV of England, Charles IV of France, Martín I of Aragon and Catalonia… He also had the occasion to meet with Ibn Khaldun, when the sage of al-Andalus tried to mediate in order to prevent Tamerlane from razing Damascus.