The Timurids and the Black Sea Nagy Pienaru At the middle of the penultimate decade of the 14th century, a new player emerged on the political scene of the powers fighting both on land and sea for the domination of sections of the Black Sea coast: the state of Timur Lenk (1370–1405), founded in Central Asia. The diachrony of the direct and multilev- el involvement of the Timurids in the Black Sea consists of two distinct stages: the ascension, during the lifetime of the founder of the Timurid Empire, and the progressive decline, during the reign of Shah Rukh (1409–1447). 1 Timur Lenk and the Black Sea The expansion towards the West promoted by the Tatar conqueror didn’t in- volve the control of a segment of the Black Sea coast, but the political suprem- acy over the Golden Horde, the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, as a preliminary stage of his ambitious project to become an Islamic world power through the conquest of China. The establishment of Timurid domination over the South-eastern corner of the Black Sea, in the area of modern Azerbaijan, took place in time. After tak- ing almost full control of Persia, following the campaign known as “the three- year expedition” (1386–1388)1 in the Persian literary sources, Timur pursued his enemy, Ahmed Celayir (1382–1410), entered in Azerbaijan and peacefully oc- cupied Tabriz, a commercial centre that was no longer the main trade hub between the East and the West and supplier of the Black Sea ports. A year before, during the winter of 1385/1386, Timur’s rival, Tokhtamysh (1380–1405), prob- ably aware of the intentions concerning Azerbaijan of the ruler of Samarkand, led a raid against Tabriz through the Pass of Derbent—the single accessible pass from the Eastern Black Sea—and Shirvan. Although the inhabitants of the city paid the ransom tax (mal-i aman), the khan from the Northern Black 1 Histoire des Conquêtes de Tamerlan intitulée Zafarnāma par Nizāmuddin Sami. Avec des ad- ditions empruntées au Zubdatu-t-Tawarih-i-Baysunguri de Hafiz-i Abru, I. Texte persan du Zafarnāma, ed. F. Tauer, (Prague, 1937), pp. 99–101. (Henceforth Zafarnāma). © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004422445_007 114 Pienaru Sea ignored the agreement, pillaged and destroyed the city, retreating with his rich spoils shortly before the first arrival of Timur Lenk in the area.2 Arriving as a liberator and protector, Timur introduced the Timurid ad- ministration in Azerbaijan. This new province became the cornerstone of the Timurid policy in the Black Sea. This position was determined by Azerbaijan’s strategic position, as a base for an invasion in three major directions: to the North, towards the shortest route into the Golden Horde; to the West, towards Asia Minor; to the Southwest, allowing a quick intervention into Syria, the main province of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. The conquest of Azerbaijan solved a vital problem for the movement of the steppe raiders: forage for the horses. Unlike the arid high plateau of Persia, the warm climate and green pastures of the Karabakh region allowed the encampment of the Timurid troops dur- ing winter. The control over the posts next to the winter and summer pastures (in Karabakh and Aladağ)—essential for the survival of the nomad Turkoman herders—made the Kara Koyunlu confederation the most stable and persever- ant adversary of the Timurid presence in Azerbaijan. The presence and closeness of the link between Persia and Azerbaijan dur- ing the Timurid era can be observed from the epistolary correspondence be- tween the two rival princes, Miran Shah and Shah Rukh, who were fighting for the throne in Samarkand after the death of Timur Lenk. In the letter sent by Shah Rukh, ruler of Khorasan, to Miran Shah, ruler of Azerbaijan—written by the chronicler Tacü’s-Selmani, a witness of the Timurid infighting—there is the phrase: “Azerbaijan is the light of the eyes of the country of Iran”.3 The same chronicler also remarked the economic dimension of the Western region of the Timurid state by stating that “the countries and regions that include Baylakan <a district in Eastern Azerbaijan, North of Aras river>, Berdaa <the island between the rivers Kür and Terter>, Gürcistan, Ermenyye and Tiflis up to the border of Trebizond (Trabzon) are the most prosperous territories on the face of the earth”.4 Azerbaijan became a support point of the Timurid military system. The basic mechanism of this system is punctually revealed by a privilege—an order issued by prince Mehemmed Sultan Bahadur, who governed the province in Timur’s name (Timur Kürgen Sözümüz), on 3 September 1401/24 muharrem 2 The chronicler Aziz b. Erdeșir-i Esterâbâdî, Bezm u Rezm (Eğlence ve savaș), ed. M. Öztürk, (Ankara, 1990), p. 27 indicates the date of the attack on Tabriz as being the beginning of the month of zilhicce 787, i.e. the first decade of January 1386. According to Tokhtamysh’s order, 10,000 of the city’s inhabitants were killed, Muslim children were taken into slavery and no soul was left alive. The same source dates Timur’s arrival 9 months after this massacre. 3 Tacü’s-Selmânî, Tarihnâme, ed. Ismail Aka, (Ankara, 1988), p. 41. 4 Ibid. p. 42..