1393: The Muzaffarids, by Timur

ExecutedToday.com ^ | May 22, 2021 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On this date in 1393 — or 10 Rajab 795 on the Islamic lunar calendar — the feared conquerer Timur (or Tamerlane) disposed of the squabbling ruling dynasty he had recently overturned, the Muzaffarids.

The House of Muzaffar came to prominence under the Mongol Ikhanate that stretched itslef from Persia to the Mediterranean in the 13th century.

As the Ilkhanate broke up in 1335, a guy like Yazd governor Mubariz al-Din Muhammad ibn Muzaffar could bloodily carve out a state of his own.*

Renowned for his cruelties, Mubariz al-Din ended his life blinded by his heir, Shah Shuja (or Shah Shujaa).

And in this generation, the House Muzaffar rapidly became a house divided, with brothers and cousins vying with each other (and with neighboring princelings). They were easy pickings for the rising Timurid Empire and its eponymous founder.

Exploiting a letter** sent by the aging Shuja (after a lifetime warring with his fellow Muzaffarids) recommending Shuja’s son to Timur’s protection, Timur rolled in and set up his own puppet Muzaffar. (It wasn’t the recommended son. C’est la vie.)

No sooner had Timur decamped for his next conquest than yet another of the Muzaffar clan — a brother of Timur’s puppet by the name of Shah Mansur† — revolted and set himself up as king.

It didn’t work, but Edward Gibbon was moved to pay tribute to Mansur’s intrepidity as he surveyed the Timurid annexations...

[SES1066]

Timur (1336-1405), aka Timur 'the Lame', aka Tamerlane, is a very close match to the military leadership of Alexander and Genghis Khan. His Timurid Empire was probably the last time that Afghanistan was totally at peace as part of a polity that stretched from the Mediterranean to China's borders and into northern India.

That being said, he was also, along with his collateral ancestor, Genghis Khan, a believer in massacres and decimation of enemies. The death toll of his 35 years of conquests is estimated to have been about 17 million or about 5% of the contemporary world population! The Mongol conquest of the 1200s by Genghis and his successors had already 'reaped' a death toll of 40-60 million or about 11% of THAT contemporary world population!

In comparison, the 'virgin field' Black Death Plague of 1330-55 killed 75-200 million in a swath from China to the Mediterranean thence into Europe and North Africa. European death rates varied from a third to two-thirds by the records. So, from early 1200, it appears that the world population actually DECREASED for 2 centuries due to these conquerors and fleas!