Khorasan. from it by succeeded in occupying all Khorasân. But repose was not an enjoyment of those un- Recovers all quiet times. Before he could establish himself in his new conquest, he was attacked and defeated by his two elder brothers, Alâ-ed-doulet and Muhammed Mirza, the Kings of Driven Fârs and Irâk. He retired for some time to the strong fortress of Omad, whence he his brothers. took the field and defeated the governor, whom Muhammed Mirza had left in charge of Asterâbâd; but having been closely followed by that prince, and overtaken before he could gain the town, he found himself once more compelled to seek safety in flight, and was fortunate enough to escape back to his fastness. Muhammed Mirza did not long remain in Khorasân. Disgusted with some circumstances in the conduct of his brother, Alâ-ed-doulet, he withdrew to his own territories; whereupon Baber once Again remore issued from his retreat, drove Alâ-ed-doulet out of Khorasan, following him to covers it, Balkh, which he took, as well as all the low country up to Badakhshân, where the fugi- Alá-edtive prince sought refuge. He then returned back to Herât. Alâ-ed-doulet soon after fell into his hands. and takes doulet. puts to Muham Alâ-ed This success of Baber Mirza recalled his brother Muhammed into Khorasân, in an Defeats and evil hour. He met with a fatal discomfiture, was taken prisoner, and put to death by death his the command of Baber; who, at the same time, to free himself from all apprehensions brother, from his surviving brother, ordered the fire-pencil to be applied to the eyes of Alâ-ed- med. doulet. The operation, however, from accident, or the mercy of the operator, was im- Orders perfectly performed, and Alâ-ed-doulet did not lose his sight. Baber Mirza, for the doulet to be purpose of improving his victory to the utmost extent, now marched against Muham- blinded. med Mirza's kingdom of Fârs. He had made some progress in the conquest of it, when he was recalled into Khorasân by the alarming intelligence that Alâ-ed-doulet had escaped from custody, and was at the head of a numerous and increasing army. On his return to Khorasân, he found the revolt suppressed, and Alâ-ed-doulet expelled from his territories; but Jehân-Shah, the powerful chief of the Turkomâns of the Blacksheep, now descended from Tabrîz, and after occupying Persian Irâk, pursued his conquests, and in a few years subdued Fârs and the remaining territories of Muhammed Mirza. To regain these provinces, Baber Mirza led a formidable army into Persian Irâk and Azerbaejân; but had scarcely set his foot in the country, when he learned that Abusaîd Mirza had entered his dominions from the north. Enraged at this insult, he measured back his steps, followed Abusaîd across the Amu, and laid siege to Samarkand; but after lying before it forty days, he concluded a peace, which left the Amu or Oxus the boundary between the two countries. Baber then returned to Khorasân, and enjoyed several years of comparative peace. He was carried off in the 1457. year 1457, by a disease originating in his habitual excesses in wine.* Death of invades His death was the signal for Abusaîd Mirza again to attempt the conquest of Kho- Mirza. rasân. From this enterprize he was, however, recalled towards Balkh, by a revolt of Abusaîd the sons of Abdal-latîf Mirza, one of whom he slew, while the other, Muhammed Juki, Khorasan. took refuge in the deserts of Tartary, with Abdal-Khair, one of the Khans of the Uzbek principality of Tura, a part of the empire of Kipchâk that lies to the east of the * D'Herbelot, in voce Abusaîd; de Guignes, vol. V. p. 88. 1458. And conquers the country. Sultan raşân. Ural mountains, and who dwelt in summer towards the banks of the river Jaik, and in winter on the Sirr.* Abusaîd soon after returned into Khorasân, a great part of which he overran, and repressed the commotions excited by the restless Alâ-ed-doulet. But he was glad to retire before the formidable irruption of Jehân-Shah, the Turkoman chief, who entered Herât, which was cruelly plundered by his troops. When the first fury of the invasion was over, the Turkomans began to divide their forces. Abusaid, watching the opportunity, fell furiously on Jehân-Shah's son, near Murghûb, defeated the detachment under his command, and compelled his father to sue for a peace, and retreat from Khorasân. A treaty was concluded, by which it was agreed that the town of Semnân, which lies between Khorasân and Persian Irâk, should be the boundary between the territories of these two princes. In these times of confusion, Sultan Hussain Mirza, a prince of great talents, and who is often mentioned in the Memoirs of Baber, had fixed himself in the possession vades Kho- of Asterâbâd and Mazenderân. He was descended from Taimur Beg+ by his son Omersheikh Mirza. Not contented with the peaceable enjoyment of the rich provinces which he held, he had pushed on his plundering parties into Khorasân as far as Sebzewâr. Abusaîd having disengaged himself of the Turkomans, and defeated Alâed-doulet, who had once more invaded his territories on the side of Meshed, now marched to chastise Sultan Hussain Mirza. The contending armies met, Abusaîd was Driven from victorious, and, pursuing his advantage, entered his enemy's capital, Asterâbâd, in which he left one of his sons, Sultan Mahmûd Mirza. 1459. Asterâbâd. Muham invades Retires be But Abusaîd was not yet destined to enjoy repose. Muhammed Jûki, the son of med Juki Abdal-latîf, and grandson of Ulugh Beg Mirza, who, after his defeat, had fled, as has Samarkand. been mentioned, to Abdal-khair, the Khan of the Uzbeks,‡ had mean while returned, accompanied by his new allies, and was ravaging Abusaîd's territories beyond the Amu. 1460. Abusaîd once more hastened to Samarkand, and the predatory bands of his enemies, fore Abu on his approach, retired beyond the Sirr. From the prosecution of this war, Abusaîd said Mirza, was recalled by the unwelcome intelligence of the defeat of his son, Mahmûd Mirza, Sultan whom Sultan Hussain Mirza had driven from Asterâbâd. Not contented with this success, Sultan Hussain had advanced into the very heart of Khorasân, and had even laid siege to the capital, Herât. The return of Abusaîd speedily raised the siege. He drove the Sultan out of his territories, and, following him into his own, stripped him of all that he held in Jorjân and Mâzenderân. Hussain Mirza recovers Asterâbâd. Again dispossessed by Abusaid, siegesShah This success enabled Abusaîd to turn his undivided force to complete the destrucWho be- tion of Muhammed Jûki. He besieged that prince in Shahrokhîa, a strong and popurokhia, and lous city on the Sirr, and, after a siege of one year, took the place and his rival. Being finally disengaged of this enemy, he now returned across the Amu, where Sul takes Mu hammed Jûki. tan Hussain Mirza had availed himself of his absence to enter Khorasân. That active Abulghazi Khan's Gen. History of the Turks, &c. vol. I. p. 289, Lond. 1730, 8vo. + He was the son of Mansûr, the son of Baikar, the son of Omer Sheikh, the son of Taimur Beg. See D'Herbelot, art. Taimur. Abdal-khair's wife was sister of Muhammed Jûki's father. Gen. History of Turks, vol. I. p. 212. § Abulgazi Khan says of four months. Vol. I. p. 215. prince was once more compelled to fly, and sought shelter in Khwârizm. Abusaîd, 1463. being now delivered from all his enemies, gave his attention, for some time, to the extension of his territories on the side of Sistân and India, by means of his generals, and to the settling of his extensive dominions. He soon after went to Merv, where he gave a splendid feast, which lasted five months, to celebrate the circumcision of the 1465. princes his sons. It was on this occasion that his son, Omersheikh Mirza, Baber's father, received the government of Ferghâna, as is mentioned in the Memoirs. Hassan Ali Abusaîd, who to Azerbae While Abusaid was yet at Merv, Hassan Ali, the son of Jehân Shah, the prince of 1466. the Turkomans of the Black Sheep, arrived from Irâk, where, by one of those reverses solicits the so frequent in the East, his father had been defeated and slain by the celebrated Uzun assistance of Hassan, the Beg of the Turkomans of the White Sheep. Hassan Ali now solicited the protection and assistance of Abusaîd, who gladly undertook to restore him to his paternal dominions. The expedition which followed is famous in eastern history, and is often alluded to by Baber, under the name of "the disaster of Irâk." Abusaîd 1467. Mirza advanced into Azerbaejân with a powerful army, subduing the country in his marches incourse. He sent two detachments to take possession the one of the Persian Irâk, the jân, other of Fârs. As he pushed on towards Aderbîl and Tabrîz, among the hills of Azerbaejân, Uzun Hassan, alarmed at his progress, sent repeated embassies to sue for peace; but in vain, as Abusaîd, to all his offers, annexed the condition that the Turkoman should appear in his presence, and humble himself before the descendant of Taimur Beg. To this Uzun Hassan refused to submit, and, reduced to despair, betook himself to the hills and fastnesses in which the country abounds, and employed himself indefatigably in harassing and cutting off the supplies of the enemy, whom he prudently avoided meeting in the field. What the sword could not achieve was completed by famine. The large but tumultuary army of Abusaîd began to suffer from the pressure of want, and no sooner suffered than it began to fall away. The various chieftains and The disas tribes of which it was composed gradually withdrew each to his own country. The army fell to pieces. Abusaîd was compelled to seek safety in flight, was pursued, taken prisoner, and soon after beheaded. Of his mighty army few returned to their 1468. homes. The greater part were taken prisoners, or slaughtered in the course of their headed. long retreat.* ter of Iråk. Abusaîd be med Mirza, markand The dominions of Abusaîd, who was by far the most powerful prince of his time, His sons. extended, at the period of his death, from Azerbaejân to the borders of India, and from Mekrân to the deserts of Tartary. Of his sons, Sultan Ahmed Mirza, who was the Sultan Aheldest, retained possession of Samarkand and Bokhâra, the government of which he king of Sahad held in the lifetime of his father. Another of them, Sultan Mahmûd Mirza, held and Bokha. the government of Asterâbâd, from whence, after the "disaster of Irâk," he marched ra. to take possession of Herât; but the inhabitants preferring the government of Sultan mud MirHussain Mirza, called him in; and Sultan Mahmûd Mirza, expelled from Khorasan, za, king of and forced to cross the Amu, took refuge in Samarkand, with his brother, Sultan Kundez, See De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, vol. V. p. 93, Tarikh-e-Khâfi Khan, Baber's Memoirs, and D'Herbelot, Art. Abusaîd. Sultan Mah Hissar, and Badakhshân. h 1 Ahmed Mirza, having lost Asterâbâd in his attempt to gain Khorasân. In the course of a few months, he fled privately from his brother's protection, and by means of Kamber Ali Beg, a Moghul nobleman of great influence, who was at that time the governor of Hissâr, gained possession of all the country, from the straits of Kalugha, or Derbend, to the Belût mountains, and from the hills of Asfera to the mountains of Hindûkûsh, an extensive tract of country, that included Hissâr, Chegâniân, Termiz, Kûndez, BaUlugh Beg dakshân, and Khutlân. Another of Abusaîd's sons, Ulugh Beg Mirza, retained posMirza, king session of Kâbul and Ghazni, which he had governed in his father's lifetime. Another, and Ghazni. Omer-Sheikh Mirza, the father of the illustrious Baber, and the fourth son of Abu of Kâbul Omar Sheikh saîd, continued to reign in Ferghâna. Sultan Murâd Mirza, another of Abusaîd Mirza's sons, who had held the government of Germsîr and Kandahâr, had advanced, at the king of period of his father's death, to occupy Kermân. He was forced to retreat by the ensuing Ferghâna. Sultan Mu- events, and found that he could not maintain himself even in Kandahâr. He repaired rad Mirza. to the court of Sultan Hussain Mirza, by whom he was sent to Samarkand, to his brother, Sultan Ahmed Mirza; but he soon after returned to Herât, after which he is little mentioned. It is needless to detail the fortunes of the other sons, as they had no influence on the history of Baber. Sultan Mirza oc cupies Khorasan. Drives Mirza from 1469. * Sultan Hussain Mirza was no sooner relieved of his formidable enemy, by the death of Abusaîd, than he once more entered Khorasân, invited, as has been already mentioned, by the wishes and affections of the inhabitants. He quickly drove from Asterâbâd, Yadgar Mirza, a soǹ of Muhammed Mirza, the late sovereign of Irâk and Fârs, who had been selected by Uzun Hassan and the Turkomans to fill the throne of Asterâbâd. Khorasan, and compelled him to take refuge in Tebriz, at the court of his patron. Next year, however, Yadgar Mirza returned, supported by a formidable body of Turkomans, penetrated into Khorasân, and took Herât, which Sultan Hussain, unable to resist the first impulse of the enemy, was glad to abandon. The Sultan retired to Balkh, but it was only to watch the favourable moment for returning; and he had no sooner learned, by a secret correspondence which he maintained with some of the chief officers about Yadgar Mirza's person, that that young prince had given himself up to all the enjoyments of a luxurious capital, than, returning by forced marches, he came upon him by surprize, while overpowered with wine, in the Bagh-e-zaghan,† near Herât, took him prisoner, dispersed his troops, and put him to death. Surprises and puts him to death near Reigns in Reign of Sheikh Mirza in The remaining years of the reign of Sultan Hussain Mirza were little disturbed, except by the rebellion of his sons, and, towards its close, by the invasion of Sheibâni Khan. But these events will be best explained by Baber himself in his Memoirs, where copious details will be found regarding the family, dominions, and court of this monarch.‡ Sultan Omer Sheikh Mirza, the sovereign of Ferghâna, and the father of Baber, has by some writers been supposed to have had his capital at Samarkand, and by others The seventh volume of the Rozet-es-Sefa, the Garden of Purity, or rather Pleasure Garden, by Mir Khâwend Shah, contains a very detailed account of all the incidents of Sultân Hussain Mirza's reign. to have extended his dominions even into India.* His dominions, however, never extended beyond the narrow limits of Ferghâna and Uratippa, unless for a short time, when he received Tâshkend and Seirâm from his eldest brother, Sultan Ahmed, and gained Shahrokhîa by stratagem. These acquisitions he soon lost, having given them up to his father-in-law, Sultan Mahmûd Khan, in return for assistance afforded him in his wars; and at his death, which happened in 1494, he only retained possession of Ferghâna, Uratippa having just been taken from him by his brother, Sultan Ahmed Mirza of Samarkand. He was a restless, profuse, good-humoured man, who left his dominions in considerable disorder to his eldest son, the illustrious Baber, then only twelve years of age. Mâweral Baber. It is from this event that Baber commences his Memoirs. At that period, his uncle, State of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, was still king of Samarkand and Bokhâra. Another of his uncles, naher at the Sultan Mahmûd Mirza, was the sovereign of Hissâr, Termiz, Kundez, Badakhshân, accession of and Khutlân. A third uncle, Ulugh Beg Mirza, was king of Kâbul and Ghazni ; while Sultan Hussain Mirza Baikra, a descendant of the great Taimur, and the most powerful prince of his age, was king of Khorasan. To the west and north of Ferghâna, Sultan Mahmûd Khan, a Moghul prince, Baber's maternal uncle, and the eldest son of Yunis Khan, so often alluded to by Baber, held the fertile provinces of Tâshkend and Shahrokhîa, along the Sirr or Jaxartes, as well as the chief power over the Moghuls of the desert as far as Moghulistan, where Sultan Ahmed Khan, his younger brother, appears to have governed a separate division of the same tribe. Three daughters of Yunis Khan, the sisters of these two princes, had been married to the three brothers, the kings of Samarkand, Hissâr, and Ferghâna; and the relations of affinity arising from these marriages are often alluded to by Baber. of Sheibâni To prevent the necessity of hereafter interrupting the narrative, it may be proper, Account of in addition to these remarks, to observe, that Sheibâni Khan, a name which occurs in the family every page of the earlier part of the following history, was still in the deserts of Tar- Khan. tary. He was descended from Chengiz Khan, by his eldest son, Tushi or Jûji Khan, the sovereign of Kipchâk. Batu, the eldest son of Tûshi, having returned from his The elder expedition into the north of Europe, bestowed + on one of his younger brothers, Sheibâni Sheibani. Khan, a large party of Moghuls and Tûrks, who fed their flocks in the champaign between the Ural hills and the Sea of Arâl, and along the river Jaik or Yaik, which flows into the Caspian; and he became the founder of the Khanate of Tûra, which, in process of time, extended its conquests considerably into Siberia. One of his descendants, Uzbek Khan, was so much beloved by his tribes, ‡ that they are said to have as- Uzbek sumed his name, and hence the origin of the Uzbek nations. Abdulkhair Khan, the Khan. Catrou, Hist. du Moghul, p. 46, supposes that he possessed all Mâwerálnaher, that Samarkand was his capital, and that his power extended even to India. In this last supposition he has been followed by a respectable living author, Langles, who, in the article Babour, in the Biographie Univ. Anc. et Mod. vol. II. Par. 1811, supposes that his territories extended to Samarkand and the Indus, and that Baber, on his father's death, was declared king of Western Tartary and Khorasân; ideas the more extraordinary, as he had access to a copy of the Memoirs of Baber in the royal library at Paris. See Art. Abdoulrayhm, vol. I. of the same valuable work. + De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, vol. II. 431. Abulgazi's Gen. Hist. vol. I. p. 207. See D'Herbelot, Art. Uzbek. |