In 786/1384-5 Tímúr invaded Mázandarán and Ádhar-báyján, wintered at Ray, continued his campaign in the spring of 1385, and, having reduced the Caspian provinces and the North of Persia as far as Sulṭániyya, returned to his capital Samarqand for the winter.

In 788/1386-7 Tímúr, seeing the distracted state of Persia, determined to effect its total subjugation, and set out on a three years' campaign against that country. He first marched against Malik 'Izzu'd-Dín, the ruler of Luristán, sacked Burújird and Khurramábád, and caused many of his opponents to be cast alive over precipices. He next marched on Tabríz, where Sulṭán Aḥmad Jalá'ir had col­lected an army to oppose him, but on his approach the latter, deeming discretion the better part of valour, retreated to Nakhjuwán, and, after a fierce battle, succeeded in making good his escape. Tímúr spent the summer at Tabríz, and despatched thence to Samarqand a selection of the most skilful artificers and craftsmen whom he could find in the conquered city. In the autumn he crossed the Araxes, pushed forward towards Nakhjuwán, and, having subdued the strong fortress of Qárs, proceeded to devastate Gurjistán (Georgia). Having captured Tiflís, and, indulged in a great hunting-expedition, in which the game slain was so abundant that most of it was left to rot on the ground, * he returned to winter quarters in Qará-Bagh.

In the spring of A.D. 1387 (A.H. 789) Tímúr renewed his campaign in Asia Minor, subdued the cities of Báyazíd, Erzeroum, Erzinján, Músh, Akhláṭ and Ván, and received the submission of Salmás and Urmiya, and in the autumn, in consequence of the refusal of the Muẓaffarí prince Zaynu'l-'Ábidín to appear before him, he marched against Fárs. On the way thither he entered Iṣfahán, and levied a heavy contribution on the people of that city. This pro­voked a riot, in which a good many of Tímúr's tax-collectors and agents were killed, and Tímúr took a terrible revenge, making a general massacre of the people, in which it is computed that 70,000 perished, whose heads were counted Tímúr's first entry into Shíráz and afterwards built up into minarets. This happened on Monday, Nov. 18, 1387. * Tímúr then continued his march to Shíráz, which sub­mitted to him in the following month (Dec. 1387), and it is on this occasion that the legendary interview between the great conqueror and the poet Ḥáfiẓ is supposed to have taken place. Dawlatsháh, who relates the anecdote, * with characteristic inaccuracy assigns this meeting to the year 795/1392-3, when Ḥáfiẓ had been dead for four years. The story, which is probably entirely apocryphal, is that Tímúr summoned Ḥáfiẓ to his presence and upbraided him for the well-known verse in which he says:

“If that unkindly Shíráz Turk would take my heart within her hand,
I'd give Bukhárá for the mole upon her cheek, or Samarqand.”

“With the blows of my lustrous sword,” exclaimed Tímúr, “have I subjugated most of the habitable globe, and laid waste thousands of towns and countries to embellish Samar-qand and Bukhárá, my native towns and the seats of my government; and you, miserable wretch that you are, would sell them both for the black mole of a Turk of Shíráz!” “Sire,” replied Ḥáfiẓ, with a deep obeisance, “it is through such prodigality that I have fallen on such evil days!” Tímúr is said to have been so much delighted by this quick rejoinder that he not only refrained from punishing the poet but gave him a handsome present. There is a variant of the story, which I have heard in Persia but not met with in any book, according to which Ḥáfiẓ replied, “They have misquoted me: what I really wrote was not

Bi-khál-i-hinduwash bakhsham Samarqand u Bukhárá-rá

but—

Bi-khál-i-hinduwash bakhsham du man qand u si khurmá-rá
I would give for the mole on her cheek two maunds of sugar and
three dates.”

No mention of any such meeting occurs in contemporary biographers of Tímúr, such as Sharafu'd-Dín 'Alí of Yazd, nor have I met with any trustworthy evidence in support of it.

To return to Tímúr's invasion of Fárs. Zaynu'l-'Ábidín, the Muẓaffarí prince, had fled to his cousin Sháh Manṣúr, governor of Shúshtar in the S.W. of Persia, who, violating alike the bonds of kinship and claims of hospitality, cast him into prison. Most of the other princes of the House of Muẓaffar, as well as the Atábeks of Luristán and other petty rulers, waited on Tímúr at Shíráz and tendered their submission. But, even in the moment of his triumph, news was brought to the conqueror by a messenger, who had accomplished the long journey from Samarqand to Shíráz in the incredibly short space of seventeen days, that a fresh revolt of the stiff-necked Túqátmish required the presence of Tímúr to defend his own realms. Thereupon, in February, 1388, he at once set out for Samarqand, bearing with him, as part of his spoils, the learned Sayyid-i-Sharíf-i-Jurjání, and appointing the Muẓaffarí princes Sháh Yaḥyá, Sulṭán Muḥammad, Sulṭán Aḥmad and Sulṭán Abú Isḥáq governors of Shíráz, Iṣfahán, Kirmán and Sírján respectively.

For the next four years and a half Tímúr was engaged in warfare against Túqátmish, the Mongols, the realm of Khwárazm or Khiva, and other northern peoples, and Persia enjoyed a brief rest from his attentions, though a rebellion which broke out in the summer of 1389 in Khu-rásán (apparently prompted by reports of his defeat at the hands of Túqátmish) was put down in the usual bloody and barbarous fashion by Míránsháh, especially at Ṭús, where some ten thousand persons were massacred, and their heads built up into pyramids or minarets.

On the last day of July, 1392, Tímúr, after some delay occasioned by a serious illness, once again crossed the Oxus on another of his devastating campaigns in the South. This, known as the “Five Years' Campaign” (Yúrish-i-panj-sála ) * included the Caspian provinces, Fárs (where he exterminated the princes of the Muẓaffarí dynasty, as already described at p. 169 supra), Armenia, Georgia, Mesopotamia, and South Russia. In Gurgán and Mázandarán he came in contact with certain heretical Sayyids, many of whom he slew, “delivering those regions from the mischievous influence of those misguided communists.” * Sharafu'd-Dín's account of their tenets is neither clear nor detailed, but it appears highly probable that they belonged to the heretical Ḥurúfí sect, whose founder, Faḍlu'lláh, appeared, preached his doctrines, and suffered death in Tímúr's reign, and was a native of Astarábád. We shall have more to say about him and his doctrine presently.

In the latter part of December, 1392, Tímúr, having received a visit from his wives and family, set out for South Persia, travelling by way of Dámghán, Samnán, Ray, Qazwín, Sulṭániyya, Kurdistán, and Burújird (which he reached on February 14, 1393), * and putting to death on his way many of the Lurs. He reached Dizful on March 2 and Shúshtar a day or two later, and thence set out for Shíráz. On his way thither he captured the strong fortress of Qal'a-i-Safíd and released the blinded captive prince Zaynu'l-'Ábidín, whom he treated with honour and promised vengeance on Sháh Manṣúr. Nor was this vengeance long delayed, for, as already narrated, Sháh Manṣúr was slain in battle a few days later, while most of the remaining princes of the House of Muẓaffar were put to death by Tímúr's order on May 22, 1393. “All the most skilful of the crafts­men and artisans of the provinces of Fárs and 'Iráq” were, according to Sharafu'd-Dín 'Alí of Yazd, transferred by Tímúr to Samarqand.*

On August 10 Tímúr, who was approaching Baghdád was visited by Shaykh Núru'd-Dín 'Abdu'r-Raḥmán of Isfará'in, who came as an ambassador from Sulṭán Aḥmad Jalá'ir to make his excuses for not waiting on Tímúr in person. His excuses were ill received by Tímúr, who nevertheless treated the Shaykh with the respect which, according to the Ẓafar-náma (p. 629), he habitually accorded to learned and pious men. Shortly afterwards he entered Baghdád and occupied the palace of Sulṭán Aḥmad, who fled before him. Some of Tímúr's amírs went in pursuit, overtook the fugitives near Karbalá, and captured much spoil and some of the wives and sons of Sulṭán Aḥmad, who, however, succeeded in making his escape. His son 'Alá'u'd-Dawla, together with his wives, a selection of the most skilful artisans of Baghdád, and the celebrated musician Khwája 'Abdu'l-Qádir, were sent to Samarqand by Tímúr, who also despatched an ambassador to Barqúq al-Maliku'ẓ-Ẓáhir, the ruler of Egypt, with a view to concluding a treaty of friendship and commercial intercourse with him.