Foreign masons build Timur's great mosque at Samarkand
Editorial contextBack from India, Timur ordered a congregational mosque for Samarkand. Yazdi says the foundations were laid at an astrologically chosen moment and that the work was done by masons brought from foreign countries, 200 from Azerbaijan, Persia and India inside alone. On the next page he adds 500 men cutting stone in the mountains, 95 elephants hauling blocks, and a finished hall of 480 hewn-stone pillars, a carved marble roof, four minarets and brass doors. Earlier (p. 67) he records that Timur kept the captured masons of Delhi for this very building.
The masons, brought from foreign countrys, as mention'd before, gave the greatest proofs of their art and skill, as well in the solidity and beauty of the angles, as in the strength of the foundations of this noble edifice. In the inside of the mosque were employ'd two hundred masons from Azerbijana, Persia and India:
About Timur and craftsmen from Azerbaijan, Persia and India
Keep in mind
Written by Timur's dynasty's historian about twenty years later; the figures are the court's.
Samarkand, 'the head of Tartary' on the maps
Editorial contextDescribing the Mogores (Mughals), who he says now rule Sind and have made many wars on Cambay, Cruz says the head of their kingdom is 'the great Samarkand', which the maps of his day label 'the head of Tartary'. He then uses Josephus to make these people Scythians descended from Japheth, son of Noah, through Magog. This is book learning, not observation: it shows 'Tartary' working as a map label in the 1560s.
The head of their kingdom is called the great Samarkand, which on the maps is called the head of Tartary. These are counted among the Scythians, as Josephus testifies in the first book of the Antiquities, who according to him descend from Japheth son of Noah through Magog.
Working translation
Original wording
Ha cabeça de seu reyno se chama ho grã Samarcam, q̃ nos Mappas se chama cabeça de Tartaria: estes sam cõtados antre os Scythas, como testefica Josepho no liuro primeiro das antiguidades, os quaes segũdo elle descendem de Japha filho de Noe por Magog.
About Mogores (Mughals), counted by Cruz among the Scythians
Keep in mind
Cruz is repeating maps and Josephus; he never went near Samarkand.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this blackletter print is garbled); long s normalized, the Tironian sign for 'and' given as 'e', a few contractions (de, per, pro, terra) expanded, other abbreviation marks kept as printed.
A tent city with streets, butchers and bath-houses
Editorial contextWhen Timur called his army together for his festivals, some twenty thousand men pitched their tents in their assigned places without confusion. Clavijo describes the result as a moving town: streets of stalls selling cooked sheep, fruit, barley and bread, and even tents for hot baths with boilers. Compare Rubruck's description of Batu's ordu 150 years earlier (W043).
In this horde there are always butchers and cooks who sell cooked sheep, and others who sell fruit and barley, and bakers who sell bread. Every division of the horde is provided with all that the troops require, and they are arranged in streets. There are even baths and bath men in the horde
About Timur's horde
Continue in this sourceClavijo's embassy to Timur at Samarkand1403 to 1406 · 13 passagesSamarkand: Timur's capital in ruins
Editorial contextRelying on the Indian traveller Mir Izzatullah and other reports, Fraser says Samarkand had been almost deserted until Shah Murad of Bukhara repopulated it. It had a mud wall and citadel but stone public buildings, and Timur's tomb still stood under a tall dome whose gold covering Shah Murad had removed.
This venerable city, often the seat of empire, once the favourite capital of the great Timoor, is now little better than a mass of ruins … In this place may yet be seen the Mausoleum of the Ameer Timoor ; it is a large building with a very lofty dome, which once was covered with gold ; but that was taken off by Shah Muraud.
About Emirate of Bukhara; Timur
Keep in mind
Second-hand; Fraser never reached Samarkand.
Samarkand, 'a delicious place'
Editorial contextYelü Chucai calls Samarkand 'Sün-sz'-kan', explains that the name means 'fat' because the land is so fertile, and describes gold and copper coins without holes. For miles around the city he saw orchards, flower gardens, aqueducts, springs and pools, melons as big as a horse's head, grape wine, and white cotton clothes, since white was lucky there and black the colour of mourning.
Around the city, to an extent of several tens of li, there are everywhere orchards, groves, flower gardens, aqueducts, running springs, square basins, and round ponds, in uninterrupted succession ; indeed, Sün-sz'-kan is a delicious place ! The water-melons there are as large as a horse's head.
About Khwarazmian subjects in Samarkand, reached by Chinggis Khan's army
Keep in mind
An abridged text; Yelü Chucai lived in Samarkand for a time after its capture.
The craftsmen of Damascus marched off to Samarkand
Editorial contextWhen Timur took Damascus in 1401, Ibn Arabshah says he carried off its learned men and craftsmen, 'everyone skilled in any art': weavers, tailors, stone-cutters, carpenters, cap-makers, farriers, tent-makers, painters and decorators, bow-makers and falconers. They were shared out among the army commanders, who were ordered to deliver them to Samarkand. Ibn Arabshah, then a boy, was himself taken from Damascus to Samarkand.
He took from Damascus the men of learning and the craftsmen, everyone skilled and outstanding in any art: weavers and tailors, stone-cutters and carpenters, cap-makers and farriers, tent-makers, painters and bow-makers, and falconers; in short, the people of every craft whatever … He divided these groups among the heads of the army and ordered them to deliver them to Samarkand.
Working translation
Original wording
واخذ من دمشق ارباب الفضل واهل الصنائع وكل ماهر في فن من الفنون بارع من النساجين والخياطين والحجارين والنجارين والاقباعية والبياطرة والخيميه والنقاشين والقواسين والبازداريه وفي الجملة اهل اي فن كان … وفرق هؤلاء الطوائف على رؤوس الجند وامرهم ان يوصلوهم الى سمرقند
About Timur's army and the craftsmen of Damascus
Keep in mind
Ibn Arabshah was among the captives, but wrote some thirty years later and with deep hostility to Timur.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
'Were the name Moghul written in gold'
Editorial contextAfter his defeat by the Uzbek Shaybani Khan, Babur complains bitterly that the Mongol troops sent to help him did not fight but turned on his own men, unhorsing and stripping them, and he says this was their usual practice. He sums up with a couplet that shows how sharply a Timurid Turk could separate himself from the Mongols, though he was one by descent.
If the Moghul race were a race of angels, it is a bad race ; And were the name Moghul written in gold, it would be odious.
About Chaghatai Mongols (Moghuls)
Keep in mind
Written in anger after a defeat; a partisan judgement.
The Zagatays: Tartars who stayed and gave their name
Editorial contextClavijo explains Timur's people. An 'emperor of Tartary' divided his lands among four sons, and Zagatay (Chagatai) received Samarkand; when the locals killed him, his followers who stayed were called Zagatays. Timur descends from these 'Zagatay Tartars', and many Samarkand people now call themselves Zagatays to share in the famous name. Markham's note corrects the details of the story.
Timour Beg, and the other Zagatays who follow him, are descended from these Zagatay Tartars; and many people of the land of Samarcand have now taken this name of Zagatay, that they may share in the great name which the Zagatays have now attained.
About Zagatays (Chagatai Mongols and Turks of Timur's realm)
Keep in mind
Local tradition as told to the envoys; Markham notes that Chagatai was not killed by his subjects.
Samarkand after the conquest: a quarter of its people left
Editorial contextSamarkand, taken by the Mongols in 1220, was laid out along canals that carried river water down every street to every house. The diarist says it had held over 100,000 families before the Sultan of Khwarazm fell but only a quarter remained, that Muslim landowners could not dispose of their fields and had to manage them jointly with Khitan, Chinese and Tangut (Ho si) men, and that Chinese workmen lived everywhere. Changchun lodged in the Sultan's new palace on a mound about a hundred feet high, which the governor (probably Yelu Chucai, says Bretschneider) had left because robbers made that quarter unsafe.
the city of Samarkand had a population of more than a hundred thousand families, but after the occupation only the fourth part remained behind. Most of the fields and gardens belong to the Mohammedans, but they are not allowed to dispose of them. They are obliged to manage their properties in conjunction with K'i-tan (i.e., Karakhitai), Chinese, and men from Ho si. Chinese workmen are living everywhere.
About Muslim townspeople under Mongol rule, with Khitan, Chinese and Tangut overseers
Keep in mind
The population figures are what the diarist was told. Bretschneider notes it cannot be proved that the city Chinggis took in 1220 stood on the site of modern Samarkand rather than the Afrasiab ruins to the north.
Timur's tomb, stripped of its gold
Editorial contextIzzet Ullah visited the Gur-i Amir, the tomb of Timur (Tamerlane), whose court history calls his army 'the Tartars'. He saw the great dome, the famous dark green stone slab and the inscribed plate, and was told the gilding had been stripped off by the Bukharan ruler Shah Murad. The poor attendants asked him whether any descendants of Timur still lived in India who might help them.
the seat of the sepulchre of Amir Timur ; a lofty building with an immense cupola : within it is a remarkable slab of a brilliant green stone, and above it is a plate with an inscription, with the name of Timur engraved on it. Formerly the dome was gilt, but Shah Murad Be stripped off the gilding, and took it away ;
About Uzbeks of Bukhara; tomb of Timur
Keep in mind
The story of the stripped gilding is what he was told.
Craftsmen carried off to build Samarkand
Editorial contextClavijo explains how Timur filled Samarkand: he brought captives from every land he conquered, above all skilled workers. Silk weavers, bow-makers, glass and pottery makers came from Damascus; archers, masons and silversmiths from Turkey. So many arrived, some 150,000 of many nations, that many lived under trees and in caves outside the city. The page before says the villages around the city were peopled with captives too.
From Damascus he brought weavers of silk, and men who made bows, glass, and earthenware, so that, of those articles, Samarcand produces the best in the world. From Turkey he brought archers, masons, and silversmiths. He also brought men skilled in making engines of war
About Captives from Damascus, Turkey and elsewhere, under Timur
Keep in mind
Clavijo saw the crowded city; where the craftsmen came from and the figure of 150,000 were told to him.
Samarkand's marble and Timur's jasper tomb
Editorial contextMeyendorff was told that Samarkand's mosques and squares were finer than Bukhara's, built of white marble from nearby quarries, with fronts of glazed tiles, and that Timur's tomb of jasper still stood though Ulugh Beg's observatory had vanished. He adds that each new Khan of Bukhara was raised three times on a bluish stone called the Kok-tash.
The mosques and squares are handsomer than those at Bokhara, they are all built of white marble of which there are quarries at a trifling distance from this ancient residence of Timour. The fronts of the houses are covered with varnished tiles like those of Bokhara … The tomb of Timour, built of Jasper is still to be seen at Samercand, but the Observatory of Olong-Bey no longer exists
About Emirate of Bukhara; Timur and his descendants
Keep in mind
Second-hand; the embassy did not visit Samarkand. Most of Samarkand's great buildings are actually of fired brick faced with tile, so 'all built of white marble' is an exaggeration.
Samarkand's colleges, once haunted by lions and wolves
Editorial contextTimur's old capital had shrunk. Izzet Ullah found it defended only by a mud wall and an earth citadel, Ulugh Beg's observatory reduced to a mound of rubbish, and the great 'Madressa Khanum' (the Bibi Khanum complex) in ruins. He says that before Shah Murad repopulated it, the city had been so run down that lions and wolves haunted the colleges.
Samarkand is defended by a mud wall, as well as a citadel of earth… There are many large colleges in the city ; the largest is the Madressa Khanum, but it is now in ruins… Before the reign of Shah Murad Be, Samarkand was in an entirely dilapidated condition, and the colleges were haunted by lions and wolves.
About Uzbeks of the Emirate of Bukhara
Keep in mind
The ruins he saw; the lions and wolves are local report.
Forty stone pillars and a house of Chinese porcelain
Editorial contextIn the Garden of the Plain, Babur describes the Chehel Sutun (Forty Pillars), a two-storey hall built entirely on carved stone columns, twisted and fluted, and a throne cut from a single huge stone brought from far away. Nearby stood a pavilion whose walls were covered in Chinese porcelain, for which, he was told, someone had been sent to China.
In this garden, there is another state pavilion, the walls of which are overlaid with porcelain of China, whence it is called the Chinese House. It is said that a person was sent to Khita, for the purpose of bringing it.
About Timurids (Ulugh Beg)
Keep in mind
That the porcelain was fetched from China is what Babur was told.
Samarkand, 'once the metropolis of all Tartary', now in ruins
Editorial contextGuagnini calls Samarkand a very large city that was once the capital of all Tartary but now lies disfigured by ruins, with many traces of antiquity, and the burial place of Tamerlane, 'that king of the Tartars' who, he repeats, carried the captured Ottoman sultan Bayezid round Asia in a cage bound with golden chains. For modern readers interested in 'lost Tartarian cities', this is a sixteenth-century writer naming a real capital and explaining its ruins by Timur's fallen empire.
Going eastward beyond Turkmenia, Samarkand is a very large city, which was once the metropolis of all Tartary but now lies disfigured by ruins, together with many traces of antiquity. In it is buried Tamerlane, that king of the Tartars, who once carried the Turkish emperor Bayezid … captive, bound in golden chains, in a cage like a bird through all Asia.
Working translation
Original wording
Sarmacandia Orientem versus procedendo, ultra Turcomaniam, urbs est amplissima, quae olim totius Tartariae Metropolis extitit, nunc vero ruinis deformis iacet, una cum multis antiquitatis vestigijs. In ea sepultus est Tamerlanes ille Tartarorum Rex, qui olim Turcarum Imperatorem Baiazetem … captivum aureis catenis vinctum, in cavea velut avem per totam Aziam circumvehebat.
About Tartars (Tamerlane's realm)
Keep in mind
Guagnini never went there. Samarkand in the 1570s was a living Shaybanid (Uzbek) city, and the iron-cage story of Bayezid is a famous legend.
Timur's stone mosque, built by stonecutters from India
Editorial contextBabur, who took Samarkand more than once, describes the buildings of his ancestor Timur: a four-storey palace, the Gok-serai, in the citadel, and a grand mosque of stone near the Iron Gate, whose Qur'an inscription could be read almost a kos away. He notes that the stonecutters were brought from Hindustan. Erskine's footnote adds that the historian Sharaf al-Din counted 200 masons from Azerbaijan, Fars and India.
There are many other magnificent edifices. One of these is the grand mosque, which is situated near the Iron-gate, within the walls of the city, and is built of stone. A number of stone-cutters were brought from Hindustan to work on it.
About Timurids (Timur and his successors)
Continue in this sourceThe memoirs of Babur, Timurid prince and founder of Mughal India1466 to 1533 · 16 passagesSamarkand, Timur's capital, shrunk to a provincial town
Editorial contextBurnes could not safely visit Samarkand, so he describes it from report: once Timur's capital, now a town of 8000 to 10,000 people, with gardens and fields where streets and mosques had been. Three colleges survived, including Ulugh Beg's with enamelled bricks, and Timur's tomb under a lofty dome decorated with agate. Its possession still made a Bukhara king legitimate.
The city has now declined from its grandeur to a provincial town of 8000, or at most 10,000, inhabitants, and gardens and fields occupy the place of its streets and mosques; but it is still regarded with high veneration by the people.
About Uzbeks (heirs of the Timurids)
Keep in mind
Burnes did not see Samarkand; this is hearsay from Bukhara.
The best drinker is called Bahadur
Editorial contextAt Timur's feasts, cup-bearers made guests drain full cups in one pull, and refusing was an insult to the lord. The heaviest drinker earned the title bahadur, 'valiant'. Timur even sent the envoys a jug of wine beforehand so they would arrive in a jovial mood. The food was roast horse, sheep and rice.
They call the man who drinks the most wine Bahadur, which is as much as to say "a valorous man" ; and he who does not drink, is made to do so, although he does not wish it.
About Timur's court (Zagatays)
Keep in mind
Markham's footnote on the same page adds a Victorian moral comment of his own.
A golden tree with jewel fruit inside a tent
Editorial contextAt a feast given by Timur's chief wife, the envoys were shown a tent containing a golden oak as tall as a man, with a trunk as thick as a leg, fruit of rubies, emeralds, turquoises, sapphires and pearls, and enamelled golden birds pecking at it. It echoes the silver tree Rubruck saw at Karakorum (W043), and Rockhill's note to Rubruck mentions Clavijo's tree.
there was a golden tree, made to resemble an oak ; with the trunk as big as a man's leg, from which many branches spread out in all directions, with leaves like those of an oak ; and it was as high as a man … The fruit of this tree consisted of rubies, emeralds, turquoises, sapphires, and wonderfully large pearls
About Timur's chief wife Cano (Saray Mulk Khanum) and her court
Continue in this sourceClavijo's embassy to Timur at Samarkand1403 to 1406 · 13 passagesThe veiled bride and the child who unveils her
Editorial contextVisiting his uncle in Samarkand at the age of five, Babur found the new bride still veiled 'according to the custom of the Turks', and was told to take the veil off. The translators' note explains the custom: a Turki bride stayed veiled for a time after marriage until a child of the family pulled the veil off and ran, which was thought to bring the child luck in marriage.
she still kept her face covered with a veil, according to the custom of the Turks. He directed me, and I took off her veil.
About Timurid Turks
Keep in mind
The explanation of the custom is in the translators' footnote.
Samarkand: every trade in its own bazaar
Editorial contextBabur calls Samarkand 'a wonderfully elegant city'. Its markets were arranged so each trade had its own bazaar, its bakers and cooks were excellent, and it made the best paper in the world and a crimson velvet exported everywhere. He also measured the city walls himself at 10,600 paces round.
Samarkand is a wonderfully elegant city. One of its distinguishing peculiarities is, that each trade has its own bazar ; so that different trades are not mixed together in the same place. The established customs and regulations are good. The bakers' shops are excellent, and the cooks are skilful. The best paper in the world comes from Samarkand.
About Timurid Samarkand
Continue in this sourceThe memoirs of Babur, Timurid prince and founder of Mughal India1466 to 1533 · 16 passagesThe Uzbek turning charge
Editorial contextDescribing how he lost the battle, Babur explains the Uzbek method: they always tried to turn the enemy's flank (the tulghama), and charged front and rear together, shooting arrows at full gallop, chiefs and common men mixed together, retreating just as fast if driven back. Babur escaped by swimming his armoured horse across the Kohik river.
In battle, the great reliance of the Uzbeks is on the Tulghmeh (or turning the enemy's flank). They never engage without using the Tulghmeh. Another of their practices is to advance and charge in front and rear, discharging their arrows at full gallop, pell-mell, chiefs and common soldiers, and, if repulsed, they in like manner retire full gallop.
About Uzbeks of Shaybani Khan
Continue in this sourceThe memoirs of Babur, Timurid prince and founder of Mughal India1466 to 1533 · 16 passagesSamarkand: an earth-walled city a little bigger than Seville
Editorial contextClavijo compares Samarkand to his own Seville: an earthen wall, a city a little larger, but with suburbs and gardens stretching for leagues and more people outside the walls than within. Timur's palaces stood among the gardens. Elsewhere he watches Timur drive a vaulted market street through the city in twenty days, pulling down houses in its path.
The city of Samarcand is situated in a plain, and surrounded by an earthen wall. It is a little larger than the city of Seville, but, outside the city, there are a great number of houses, joined together in many parts, so as to form suburbs.
About Timur's capital
Continue in this sourceClavijo's embassy to Timur at Samarkand1403 to 1406 · 13 passagesA great khan at Samarkand, heir of Tamerlane
Editorial contextPerry reports that the lands between Siberia and the Caspian hold many hordes of Tartars, each with its own chief, but many recognise one principal khan at Samarkand said to descend from Tamerlane. He adds that their religion is close to Islam, except that they eat horse meat, which the Turks and Crimean Tartars refuse. By 1700 Samarkand had no such overlord; this is hearsay.
Many of them acknowledge one principal Cham as their Chief, who has his Residence at Samarcand, … and derives his Pedigree, as 'tis said, from the Great Tamerlane.
About Bukharans, Mongols, Kalmyks and other 'Hordes of Tartars'
Keep in mind
Hearsay; Perry never went east of the Volga steppe.
