Character of
Genghis
Khan
Batus territories
in
Europe. v
A. D. 1313.
The dynasty
called the
White Horde.
pomp, and a noble monument was afterwards erected over his
grave : trees being planted by those who visited the spot, it
became one of the finest sepulchres in the world.1
In addition to great prudence, a penetrating judgment, and
unconquerable resolution, Genghis Khan possessed temperance,
patience, and a degree of fortitude which was proof against
all difficulties ; and being gifted with natural eloquence to persuade
as well as to command, he had all the qualities requisite
for a great conqueror. But, on the other hand, he was bloody
and cruel ; and even when this propensity was not indulged,
he was disposed to treat his enemies with insolence and rigour.
Notwithstanding the dying advice of Genghis Khan, his territories,
which extended westward from China to the river
Euphrates, were, like those of Alexander, after a little time,
divided amongst his generals. Of these the two principal ruled
over the Chinese and the Mongols. Another had Turân,
while the fourth and fifth possessed Persia and a part of Europe.
It appears that during the lifetime of Genghis Khan, his
grandson Batu carried his arms across the frontiers of Germany,
and having conquered some of the Sclavonian, Turkish,
and Finnish tribes, he made the princes of Russia his vassals.
To the territories thus acquired, the principal portion of which
was situated between the rivers Don and Wolga, he gave the
name of Kaptshak, or Kiptshak. The chiefs Becke, Meugku
Timur, Talabugha, and Toktay, continued to occupy the seat
of government in the Crimea, which was afterwards known as
the Golden Camp ; and Hungary, Poland, and even Germany,
suffered from their ravages. The last of these princes, who
made himself remarkable by the abandonment of the Arabian
creed for that of Sabaism, was succeeded by the Uzbek, Mamay,
and the third successor of the latter was Toktamish Khan, the
founder of the dynasty of the White Horde. He carried
Moscow by storm, and ravaged Russia. He also renewed the
treaties with the Genoese and Venetians, and was proceeding to
restore the ancient power of the Kiptshak, when Taïmür engaged
in battle and destroyed his forces on thé banks of the Kama.
1 Histoire du Grand Genghis Can, If Empereur des Anciens Moguls et
Tartars, &c., par Sherif-ed-din, traduite par Pétis de la Croix ; Paris, 1710.
Some Tartar chiefs afterwards gained the ascendant, and The Crimea,
maintained themselves in the Crimea, on the Ya'ik, and at sett]ements 0f
Great Serai, one of them assuming the title of Khan of the
Golden Horde. In the contests which followed, the Russian
princes began gradually to gain power, and the war, which
proved to be the last with the Golden Horde, was brought to
a close, by the defeat of the great Khan at Oka on the Don,
near Azov. The khanat of Astracan was afterwards subjected,
and two centuries later that of the Crimea was added by the
Empress Catherine to her territories: thus, in 1774, the once-
powerful kingdom of Kiptshak became a Russian province.
Persia fell to Hulaku, another grandson of the great con- HuiaW and
queror; and the son of Hulaku extended his authority over govern Persia,
the Seljukian princes of Anadoli. Ghazan, one .of the successors
of the latter, threw off his allegiance to the great khan
of Tartary, and he and his subjects embraced the Muslim
faith. This, however, was of short duration, for during the
reign of Aljapta Khan, the eighth from Hulaku, Persia ceased
to be a state, being then divided among several petty dynasties*
one of which possessed Baghdad, another ’Irak, and a third
Shiraz; and thus it continued till there appeared on the
theatre of the world a conqueror who eclipsed the warlike
achievements of his ancestor Genghis Khan.
This was Taimur-Bec, or Tai'mur-Lenk (the lame), the
Tamerlane of Europeans, under whom the tide of conquest
flowed towards that part of the world, which comes more particularly
within the scope of the present work.
This prince, called by Eastern writers the fortunate, the Taimiir
axis of the faith, and the conqueror of the world, was of Ge^gLis
Mongol origin, being descended in the female line fromKhin-
Genghis Khan.1 He quitted Turkistan in his twenty-fifth
year to share in the contests consequent on the division of the
Persian empire into separate kingdoms. Having declared war
against the emir Husein, chief of Khorasan, in Consequence
of the treachery of this prince, who had previously been his
dearest friend, and whose sister he had married, Ta'imur cap-a.d. 1365.
i Preface to Sherif-ed-din A li’s History of Timur Bee, by Mons. Petis de
la Croix.