Mu'iz-ud-din Umar Shaikh Mirza (1356 – February 1394) ( fa, عمر شیخ میرزا) was a member of the
Timurid dynasty
The Timurid dynasty ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( chg, , translit=Küregen, fa, , translit=Gūrkāniyān), was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol originB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, O ...
and a son of its founder, the
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n conqueror
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
. Known for being a skilled soldier, Umar Shaikh was one of Timur's military commanders and also served as a regional governor. He died in 1394, predeceasing his father by over a decade.
Birth and early career
Umar Shaikh Mirza was one of four sons of Timur who survived infancy. His mother Tolun Agha was a concubine.
There is some disagreement regarding whether Umar Shaikh or his brother
Jahangir Mirza was the eldest of Timur's sons. The ''Mu'izz al-Ansab'' (The Glorifier of Genealogies), the most important source regarding the structure of the Timurid royal family during this period, is contradictory on this point. It states that Jahangir was the eldest, but the family of Umar Shaikh is presented first in the genealogy itself, implying that he was born first. Narrative sources, such as the ''
Zafarnama Zafarnama ( fa, ظفرنامه, lit. ''Book of Victory'') is the title of a number of Persian and Turkish literary works
Zafarnama may also refer to:
* ''Zafar-Namah'' or ''Timur-Namah'' of Hatefi, by a Persian epic poet dedicated to Timur
* ''Zaf ...
'' by
Nizam al-Din Shami, and
Yazdi's book of the same name support the notion that Umar Shaikh was older.
Umar Shaikh proved himself an accomplished warrior and a skilled horseman, taking part in many of his father's campaigns. In 1376, Timur appointed him governor of
Ferghana
Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km fr ...
.
War against Tokhtamysh
In 1388, war broke out between Timur and his former mentee, the Khan of the
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
,
Tokhtamysh
Tokhtamysh ( kz, Тоқтамыс, tt-Cyrl, Тухтамыш, translit=Tuqtamış, fa, توقتمش),The spelling of Tokhtamysh varies, but the most common spelling is Tokhtamysh. Tokhtamısh, Toqtamysh, ''Toqtamış'', ''Toqtamıs'', ''Toktamy ...
. By this point, Tokhtamysh and Timur had already engaged each other several times.
Timur's lands were attacked on two fronts; Tokhtamysh launched his assault from
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
while his ally
Qamar-ud-din Dughlat did so from Ferghana. At the same time, a rebellion erupted in the province of
Khwarazm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...
. Umar Shaikh was sent against Dughlat, while Timur himself marched towards Tokhtamysh. Dughlat was quickly defeated by the prince, prompting Tokhtamysh to flee from Timur's advance. Timur at this point diverted his attention to Khwarezm and brutally suppressed the rebellion, resulting in the devastation of the region.
Tokhtamysh once more attempted to attack in the winter of that year but was again defeated, this time by Umar Shaikh. Timur chased the Khan out of his lands and in 1391 launched a counteroffensive against him. This culminated in the
Battle of the Kondurcha River
The Battle of the Kondurcha River was the first major battle of the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. It took place at the Kondurcha River, in the Bulgar Ulus of the Golden Horde, in what today is Samara Oblast in Russia. Tokhtamysh's cavalry tried to e ...
, which took place in the Golden Horde territory of
Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...
. Umar Shaikh led the left wing of the army, his brother
Miran Shah
Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah ( fa, میران شاہ), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire.
During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initi ...
the right, their nephew
Muhammad Sultan
Muhammad Sultan was 5th son of Abdurashid Khan and became Khan of Yarkent Khanate from 1592-1609 after the death of his elder brother Abdul Karim Khan. He was the ruler who arranged Jesuit Bento de Goes' Caravan, sent by the third Mughal empero ...
the centre and Timur himself the rear. While initially indecisive, the battle seemed to turn in the Khan's favour when Umar Shaikh's contingent was detached from the main army and nearly overwhelmed. However, this was averted when Tokhtamysh himself was forced to abandon the field while under attack by Timur, leading to confusion and panic among his troops. The Golden Horde's army was routed and forced to flee, the soldiers being chased and cut down by the Timurids. The death toll of the battle was estimated to have been 100,000 men and women.
Death
In 1393, Timur defeated the Persian
Muzaffarid dynasty with the capture and execution of its final monarch,
Shah Mansur
Shah Mansur, also named Shah Mansoor or Shahmansoor, is a town and Union Council of Swabi District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a coun ...
. Timur bestowed the kingdom's former territory of
Fars on Umar Shaikh to administer as governor. The prince's earlier post of Ferghana was given to his son
Iskandar Mirza
Sahibzada Iskander Ali Mirza ( bn, ইস্কান্দার আলী মির্জা; ur, ; 13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969), , was a Pakistani Bengali general officer and civil servant who was the first President of Pakista ...
.
However, Umar Shaikh was not able to hold this position for long. In 1394, whilst answering summons from his father, Umar Shaikh was killed after being shot in the neck by an arrow fired from the
Tuz Khurmatu
Tuz Khurmatu ( ar, طوزخورماتو, tr, Tuzhurmatu, ku, دووزخورماتوو, translit=Duz Xurmatû, also spelled as Tuz Khurma and Tuz Khormato) is the central city of Tooz District in Saladin Governorate, Iraq, located 55 miles (88 ...
fortress, near the city of
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. Timur reportedly did not show any emotion upon learning of his son's death.
Umar Shaikh's governorship was given to his eldest son
Pir Muhammad, while his body was escorted by his wives and his younger son Iskandar to the city of Kesh (modern day
Shahrisabz
Shakhrisabz ( uz, Шаҳрисабз ; tg, Шаҳрисабз; fa, شهر سبز, shahr-e sabz: "city of green" / "verdant city"; russian: Шахрисабз) is a district-level city in Qashqadaryo Region in southern Uzbekistan. The Economic Co ...
). Here, he was buried alongside
his brother in the Tomb of Jahangir, part of the Dorussaodat mausoleum complex. Presently, the tomb is the best surviving part of the structure.
Wives and concubines
*
Malikat Agha: daughter of the
Khan of
Moghulistan
Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Teng ...
,
Khizr Khoja
Khizr Khwaja Khan (d. 1399, also known as Khizr Khoja) was the son of Tughlugh Timur and Khan of Moghulistan during the Chagatai Khanate, reigning from 1390 to 1399 AD.
Reign as Khan of Moghulistan
Khizr Khoja took the throne of Moghulistan aft ...
. Later remarried to his brother
Shah Rukh
Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447.
He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynas ...
.
*Qutlugh Tarkhan Agha Mughal
*Sultan Agha
*Beg Malik Agha: daughter of Khwaja Yusuf Apardi
*Bakht Sultan: daughter of Yasaur
Jalayir
Jalair ( mn, Жалайр; ; ), also Djalair, Yyalair, Jalayir, is one of the Darliqin Mongol tribes according to Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's ''Jami' al-tawarikh''. They lived along the Shilka River in modern Zabaykalsky Krai of Russia.History of Mo ...
*Tuglugh Sultan Jalayir: later remarried to his nephew
Pir Muhammad
*Mihr Khush
*Qutlugh Tarkhan
*Takish Khatun
*A daughter of Haji Beg Jauni Qurbani
*Sivinch Qutlugh Agha: daughter of Mu’ayyad Arlat by Timur's sister Shirin Beg Agha
Issue
By Malikat Agha
*
Pir Muhammad (1379 – 1409)
*
Iskandar
Iskandar, Iskander, Askander, Eskinder, or Scandar ( ar, إسكندر ( fa, اسکندر ''Eskandar'' or سکندر ''Skandar''), is a variant of the given name Alexander in cultures such as Iran (Persia), Arabia and others throughout the Middle Ea ...
(1384 – 1415);
*Ahmad (1385 – 1425)
*
Bayqara (1393 – 1423)
*Isfandiyar
By Qutlugh Tarkhan Agha Mughal
*
Rustam
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place = Kabulistan
, death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...
(1381 – 1424/5)
By Tuglugh Sultan Jalayir
*Sayyid Ahmad (b.1390)
By Sultan Agha
*Muhammad
*Nasab Sultan;
By Bakht Sultan
*Bistam
*Zubayda Sultan: married Yadgar Shah Arlat
By Mihr Khush
*Ali
*Umar
*Sa'adat Sultan: married
Sultan Mahmud,
Khan of
Moghulistan
Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Teng ...
By Takish Khatun
*Dastan
By Beg Malik Agha
*Baba Biki
By Qutlugh Tarkhan
*Jahan Sultan Agha: married Taghay Bugha
Barlas
The Barlas ( mn, Barulās, script=Latn;Grupper, S. M. ‘A Barulas Family Narrative in the Yuan Shih: Some Neglected Prosopographical and Institutional Sources on Timurid Origins.’ Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 8 (1992–94): 11–97 Chagatay/ ...
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Timurid dynasty
1356 births
1394 deaths
Generals of the Timurid Empire
Governors of the Timurid Empire