Late Middle Ages · Central Asia · Politics

1443

Timurid Succession Crisis Deepens

1443

Political instability shook the Timurid court as rival princes fought over Herat and Samarkand, fracturing the dynasty that Timur had built with blood and Shah Rukh had maintained with patronage. The intellectual golden age continued despite the violence: painters illuminated manuscripts while soldiers fought in the streets. Within a decade, Ulugh Beg himself would be murdered by his own son, and the great observatories would fall silent.