Teymour and the Rulers of Samarkand and Herat, and their Parentage

The Teymourian Empire

تیموریان
Ruler Reign (CE) Yrs Father Mother Persian Name فارسی
Teymour (Tamerlane) 1370–1405 35 Taraghaia Barlas tribal chief2 Tekina Khatun Timūr-e Lang تیمور لنگ
Khalil Sultan 1405–1409 4 Miran Shahgrandson of Teymour Sevin Beg Khanzada Khalīl Soltān خلیل سلطان
Shah Rukh 1405–1447 42 Teymour Taghay Tarkhan Agharaised by Teymour’s chief wife, Saray Mulk Khanum; moved the capital to Herat Shāh Rokh شاهرخ
Ulugh Beg 1447–1449 2 Shah Rukh Gawhar Shadthe astronomer-king3 Olugh Beyg الغ‌بیگ
Abd al-Latif 1449–1450 1 Ulugh Begkilled his own father Roqya Khatun Abdollatīf-e Olugh Beyg عبداللطیف بن الغ‌بیگ
Abu Sa’id Mirza 1451–1469 18 Muhammad ibn Miran Shahgreat-grandson of Teymour unknown Abū Sa’id Mirzā ابوسعید میرزا
Sultan Husayn Bayqara 1469–1506 37 Mansur ibn Bayqaradescended from Teymour via Umar Shaykh4 Firuza Begumgranddau. of Miran Shah Soltān Hosein Bayqarā سلطان حسین بایقرا
Badi al-Zaman Mirza 1506–1507 1 Sultan Husayn Bayqara Bega Sultan Begumlast Teymourian ruler of Herat5 Badī’ al-Zamān Mirzā بدیع‌الزمان میرزا
Notes on the evidence

1 After Teymour's death the empire fragmented repeatedly among competing princely branches; this table follows the main line of succession through Samarkand and, later, Herat rather than every simultaneous claimant.

2 Teymour was not a direct descendant of Genghis Khan and therefore never took the title “Khan” for most of his reign, ruling instead as “Amir” (commander) while marrying into the Chinggisid line and installing puppet khans to legitimize his rule. His campaigns included the sack of Delhi in 1398 and the capture of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I after the Battle of Ankara in 1402; he died in 1405 while marching to invade Ming China.

3 Ulugh Beg, Teymour's grandson, was one of history's great scientist-kings, building a monumental observatory at Samarkand and compiling a star catalogue of unmatched accuracy for its era. He was overthrown and beheaded on the order of his own son, Abd al-Latif, in 1449.

4 Sultan Husayn Bayqara's court at Herat, with the poet Jami and the painter Kamal ud-Din Behzad among its luminaries, is widely regarded as the high point of Teymourian art and literature, even as the dynasty's political power had long since fragmented among competing princely branches elsewhere.

5 Herat fell to the Uzbek conqueror Muhammad Shaybani in 1507, ending Teymourian rule in Iran and Central Asia. A separate descendant of Teymour, Babur, fled south and eventually founded the Mughal Empire in India in 1526 — the dynasty's most enduring legacy, though outside the scope of Iran's own history.