Umar Shaikh Mirza I

• 1. Introduction

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  The most important genealogical record of the Timurid dynasty could not make up its mind about Umar Shaikh Mirza. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, translated as The Glorifier of Genealogies, stated in one place that his brother Jahangir was the eldest of Timur's sons. The same document then listed Umar Shaikh's family first in its own genealogy, implying the opposite. That contradiction went unresolved.

  Born in 1356, Umar Shaikh was one of only four sons of Timur to survive infancy. He spent his adult life as a military commander and governor in service of his father's expanding empire. He died in February 1394, predeceasing Timur by over a decade. The circumstances of his death were recorded with far more precision than his birth order ever received.

• 2. Birth and Standing

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  Tolun Agha, Umar Shaikh's mother, was a concubine in Timur's household. Outside the disputed genealogy, two narrative accounts bearing the same title, Zafarnama, sided with Umar Shaikh on the seniority question. Nizam al-Din Shami authored one; Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi the other. Both placed him ahead of Jahangir.

  In 1376, Timur appointed Umar Shaikh governor of Fergana. Sources describe him as an accomplished warrior and skilled horseman who took part in many of his father's campaigns. That posting in Fergana would not remain undisturbed for long.

• 3. The Kondurcha Campaign

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  Tokhtamysh had been Timur's own mentee before rising to the position of Khan of the Golden Horde. By 1388, the relationship had collapsed into open war. Tokhtamysh chose a coordinated attack. He advanced through Bukhara in the west while his ally Qamar-ud-din Dughlat struck from Ferghana in the east. A rebellion in Khwarazm erupted at the same time.

  Timur sent Umar Shaikh against Dughlat while he marched toward Tokhtamysh himself. Dughlat was defeated quickly. Tokhtamysh fled Timur's advance. Timur turned his forces toward Khwarazm, where he crushed the rebellion with brutal force, leaving the region devastated. In the winter of that same year, Tokhtamysh attacked again. Umar Shaikh defeated him.

  In 1391, Timur launched a counteroffensive into Golden Horde territory, reaching the Volga region. The campaign ended at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. The army's formation assigned the left wing to Umar Shaikh. His brother Miran Shah held the right, their nephew Muhammad Sultan the centre, and Timur himself the rear. Umar Shaikh's contingent was separated from the main force early in the fighting and nearly overrun. The situation resolved when Tokhtamysh, under direct assault by Timur, abandoned the field. That withdrawal threw the Golden Horde into disarray. The Timurid army routed its opponents and cut down those who fled. The death toll was estimated at 100,000 men and women. Within two years, Timur's campaigns had shifted into Persia, and new territories awaited distribution among his sons.

• 4. Death and Burial

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  In 1393, Timur defeated the Persian Muzaffarid dynasty. The campaign ended with the capture and execution of its last ruler, Shah Mansur. Timur assigned the former dynastic territory of Fars to Umar Shaikh as his new governorship. His previous post in Fergana went to his son Iskandar Mirza.

  Umar Shaikh held Fars for less than a year. In 1394, while traveling to answer a summons from his father, he was shot in the neck by an arrow. The arrow came from the Tuz Khurmatu fortress, near Baghdad. Timur reportedly showed no emotion when he learned of his son's death. The governorship of Fars passed to Umar Shaikh's eldest son Pir Muhammad.

  His body was escorted by his wives and his younger son Iskandar to Kesh, the city now called Shahrisabz. There he was buried alongside his brother in the Tomb of Jahangir, part of the Dorussaodat mausoleum complex. Of the entire complex, that tomb is today the best-preserved section. His son Bayqara, born in 1393, the same year Umar Shaikh received Fars, would outlive his father by nearly thirty years.