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Timurid Testimonials

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Part One TIMUR'S ACCOUNT of HIS INVASION of INDIA and SACK of DELHI (1398 - 1399 A.D.) About the year 800 A.H. ( 1398 A.D. ), there arose in my heart the desire to lead an expedition against the infidels and to become a Champion of the Faith, for it had reached my ears that the slayer of infidels is a Champion and that, if he is slain, he becomes a martyr ... In this matter I sought an omen from the Koran, and the verse to which I opened was this: 'O Prophet, make war upon infidels and unbelievers, and treat them with severity'. My officers told me that the inhabitants of Hindustan were infidels and unbelievers. In obedience to the mandate of Almighty God, I determined to make an expedition against them. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...  After spending fifteen days at Delhi, passing my time in pleasure and enjoyment, and in holding royal courts and giving great feasts, I reflected that I had come to Hindustan to war against infidels, a...
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Scourge of God

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Timur-the-Lame Central Asia was the source of some of history's worst psychopathic gangsters. Atilla the Hun and Genghis Khan are bywords of the genre. To these mass-murderers must be added Timur the Lame (or Tambourlane as he was more commonly called after Christopher Marlowe's English play in the late sixteenth century). The Persian historian of the Timurids, Sharaf ad-Din 'Ali bYazdi, writes that "in the year of Mouse of Mongols on the 25th month Sha'ban, on Tuesday (the 8th of April in 1336) Tequina khatun and amir Taragai gave birth to Timur in the villyat of Kesh  (the modern town of Shahrisabz in Uzbekistan) ."  The Arab biographer of Timur, Ahmed Ibn 'Arabshah, presents various origin stories: Timur and his father were from the tribe of the shepherds, who had not belief and intelligence (Timur's father was a plain servant, Timur's father was a poor shoemaker) OR Timur's father was one of the pillars of Sultan Hussein's state (Timur...
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Legacy of the Big Book

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  "The dedication page of the Codex Amiatinus , written in Northumberland c.700-16, offers the huge book as a gift from the ends of the earth [extremis de finibus] . In the fifth line the name of the donor 'Petrus Langobardorum' has been falsely inserted over an erasure: the original and rightful name, just decipherable underneath, is ' Ceolfridus Anglorum ', for the book was intended as a gift to the pope from Ceolfrith, abbot of Wearmonth and Jarrow (690-716 AD), who died on the journey to Rome, before the volume could be presented." "The Codex Amiatinus  is illustrated with this vast frontispiece ... Its caption declares that it shows the Old Testament prophet Ezra ['When the sacred books had been consumed in the fires of war, Ezra repaired the damage'] ... The picture shows an author writing out a manuscript on his lap in front of a classical book cupboard with nine books laid out on the shelves." 'Portrait of Ezra from Codex Amiatin...
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