Personality of Amir Temur in world historiography

Studies devoted to the era of Amir Temur, expanding from century to century, formed a special branch in world historical literature.

Publications of the English historian Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) of the author of the universally recognized work on the history of the Roman Empire. In this work, Gibbon made excursions into the history of the West European and Eastern Middle Ages, paying attention to the personality of Amir Temur. In particular, he wrote that “living in memory and respect for posterity” was the desire of his noble soul ... His covenants (obviously, referring to “Temur’s Provisions”) remained unfamiliar to Europe ”. Gibbon was impressed by "the rise of Amir Temur from a simple title to dominion over Asia."

Amir Temur also appears in the capital “General History” of Friedrich Schlosser (1776-1861). In his work, imbued with the spirit of democracy and moral enlightenment, Amir Temur is described as the largest personality, combining “tactical and strategic knowledge”. According to Schlosser, Amir Temur "gave his new state" Regulations and laws". The well-known author of Universal History, Georg Weber, emphasized that having “the great talents of a commander, ruler and legislator”, Amir Temur was not deprived of a love of knowledge, he patronized scientists and artists and in a calm mood was a fair judge. From this angle, Weber comes to the conclusion that Amir Temur “both as a man and as a ruler stood above Bayazed (the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire)”, who only thought about conquests and neglected the government, giving everything up greedy, depraved and greedy judges.

In the first half of the 19th century, the French orientalist M. Sharmois, who served in St. Petersburg, prepared and published an extensive work detailing the Amir Temur’s campaign against Tokhtamysh in 1391. Sharmoua relied on a circle of sources of the question (except for the then-unknown composition of Nizam ad-Din Shami), translated into French by him and accompanied by their brief review. The work of Charmois even after has not lost its significance in the study of the history of the campaign of 1391.Many Russian scientists, including T. M. Granovsky (1813–1855), professor at Moscow University, were also interested in the personality of Amir Temur.

He correctly noticed Amir Temur’s characteristic, as one of the great figures in world history, “an insatiable thirst for activity”, but just as wrongly believed that Amir Temur, allegedly, “did not have a definite and clearly conscious political goal”, which did not correspond to his real facts biographies. In the historical literature, the very detailed work of the historian M.I. Ivanin, which aimed at special consideration on the basis of sources and manuals of the basics of general art of Amir Temur (organization of the rear and the army, tactics, strategy and the course of military operations), is highlighted for their time.In historiographic terms, first of all, it should be noted the works of V.V. Bartold, replete with information about Amir Temur and his time.

The conclusion of V.V. Bartold that Amir Temur “externally honored theologians ..., did not intervene in the management of the property of the clergy, was concerned about the observance by his subjects of the precepts of religion ... But the military and civilian management was determined almost exclusively by laws. ” V.V. Bartold emphasized that Amir Temur also appeared “as the representative of the idea of the state order, necessary for the benefit of the population (Central Asia) and impossible when there are a number of hostile minor owners”. V.V. Bartold repeatedly noted that Amir Temur was “a zealous builder; they erected magnificent buildings with magnificent gardens, restored cities and settlements, arranged and corrected irrigation systems; in the words of the official history (Sharaf al-Din Yazdi), he did not allow plots of land where culture was possible at all to be lost. ”In historiographical terms, publications about Amir Temur, the historian-orientalist A. Yu. Yakubovsky (1886-1953), are important. He noted such qualities of Amir Temur as personal courage, generosity, the ability to understand people and choose his assistants, to act as a leader.

The historiographic standpoint also distinguishes the opinion of the famous orientalist A. E. Snesarev (1865-1937) who, as early as 1921, in one of his works on Central Asia strongly opposed the simplified and vulgar approach of many European researchers to contrast the great and illustrious commanders of the West (Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar and others) Asian "crushers of peoples." Original point N.I. Conrad is that the spirit of Iskander (Alexander of Macedon) and the Kushan king Kanishka manifested itself in Amir Temur. “I did not make a reservation, wrote N.I. Konrad, the spirit of Iskander and Kanishka, "as a local expression of that truly universal idea, which first took shape in this central zone of the Old World for the first time in the age of its antiquity and ascended with particular force in its Middle Ages. It was difficult to understand whether Temur understood it or didn’t understand it, but the fact that he grew up where this great idea was born could not affect his ideals. ”In the journal Voprosy istorii, under the heading “Against the Idealization of Temur,” a lengthy article was published, written by A. No Novoseltsev, a specialist on feudalism in the Trans-Caucasus, Iran, and Russia. As for foreign scientific literature, interest in the personality of Amir Temur and his deeds arose from European scientists over 400 years ago. In 1553, the work of the Italian scientist Perondino, The Greatness of Tamerlane of Scythia, was published in Florence. Perhaps this is the first scientific study of European scientists about Amir Temur. Among the summarizing works, it should be noted the monographs of French scientists R. Grousse “The Vanquisher of the World” (Paris, 1953) and “Empire of the Steppes” (Paris, 1980); L. Kerena “Tamerlane” (Neuchâtel, 1978; supplemented edition: Paris, 1980); L with Roux "Tamerlane" (Paris, 1991); English researchers E. Ross “Tamerlan and Bayazed in 1402” (London, 1940), H. Hookham “Ta-merlan the conqueror” (London, 1962; now this book has been translated into Russian by G. A. Khidoyadov and published in Tash kent in 1996); American scientists L. Komarova "Golden Disk. Metal products from Temurid Iran ”(Costa Mesa and New York, 1992), F. Mants“ The rise and reign of Tamerlane ”(Cambridge, 1990); Canadian researcher L. Golombek “Temurid architecture of Iran and Turan” (in 2 volumes, Princeton, 1988); Romanian scientist Alexandrescu Derga "Campaign of Temur in Anatolia in 1402" (Bucharest, 1942) and many others. Other A large and important place in the science of that era was occupied by recent studies of French scientists. Thanks to the activities of L. Keren and F. Bressand, the special and only magazine in the world La Timuride is published in Paris. Mentally looking around the path followed by the historiography of Amir Temur, it can be stated that in world historical literature over time there has been an evolution from the initial, long-existing narrow, one-sided and single-line interpretations of the personality of Amir Temur to a gradual and deeper , its wide and multifaceted understanding.The above examples of “Temur” historiography confirm what was said. Modern authors, who dedicate their works to the history of Amir Temur and his era, express various views on one or another aspect of the problem under study. However, at the same time, there is already a clear desire in science for the most complete and comprehensive coverage of all aspects and features of Amir Temur’s ebullient and multifaceted activity as one of the brightest characters in world history.