, or Timur Bec, the great conqueror of the East, was born in 1335, in the village
, or Timur Bec, the great conqueror of
the East, was born in 1335, in the village of Kesch, belonging to the ancient Sogdiana. His name of Tamerlane
is derived by some writers from Timur Lenc 9 or Timur the
lame, as he had some defect in his feet. His origin is uncertain, some reporting him to be the son of a shepherd,
and others of the royal blood. He raised himself, however, by his personal courage and talents. He was distinguished early by these qualities; and, having acquired
some followers devoted to his fortunes, his first conquest
was that of Balk, the capital of Khorasan, on the frontiers
of Persia. He then made himself master of the whole province of Candahar, and returning to subdue the people
beyond the Oxus, took Bagdad. He now determined to
undertake the conquest of India; but his soldiers, fatigued
by their former efforts, refused at first to follow him. On
this occasion he employed a pretended prophet to exhort
them in the name of heaven; and having made them
ashamed of their reluctance, and filled them with a strong
enthusiasm, led them on to greater victories. Delhi fell
before him, aiifl he became possessed of the immense treasures of the Mogul empire. Returning from his Indian
exploits, he entered Syria and took Damascus: and Bagclad having attempted to revolt, he made a terrible example, by putting many thousands of the inhabitants to the
sword, and delivering the city to pillage. Bajazet, emperor of the Turks, now attracted his notice, and to him
he sent an embassy, requiring him to do justice to some
Mahometan princes whom he had deposed, and to abandon
the siege of Constantinople. This haughty message being
as haughtily answered, war was commenced between them.
Tamerlane marched towards Bajazet, whom, in 1402, he
engaged, conquered, and took prisoner, in the plains of
Ancyra near Phrygia. The battle lasted three days. The
Turkish writers say, that after this event, Tamerlane asked
JBajazet what he would have done to him, if he had been
victorious. “I would have shut you up,
” said Bajazet,
“in an iron cage.
” Upon which he was himself condemned to the same punishment. Some writers, however,
boast of the generosity and magnanimity of the conqueror.
Be this as it may, he certainly carried his victories to a
wonderful extent: while he was engaged in the war with
Bajazet, he vanquished Egypt, and seized the immense
treasures of Grand Cairo, nor could any thing in the East
withstand him. He died about three years after his victory, on the first of April, 1405, in the seventy-first year
of his age, and the thirty-sixth of his reign. When he
found death approaching, he called the princes together,
appointed his grandson to be his heir, and died, professing
his implicit faith in the Koran, and repeating the sacred
words of the Mahometans, “There is no God but God,
and Mahomet is his prophet.
”