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Post by keaganjoelbrewer on Oct 16, 2008 13:32:39 GMT 3
I have a paper to write on whether or not Timur can be considered a 'hero'. It's for a course I'm doing called medieval heroes and heroines. =) Can anyone tell me anything about the sources for Timur's life? There are a few things I've found already: - Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo... a Spanish travel writer who visited Timur's court. I have the text and manuscript, so I'm fine there. - Timur's memoirs (!) I do not know where to find these but have heard them mentioned a couple of times. It's pretty amazing that he even wrote memoirs in the first place ;D - Timur's letters to western European rulers. I do not know where to find these. If anyone knows where the manuscripts are too that would be awesome. Apparently he sent some letters in his own hand to the King of France... but they were in Persian, kinda funny - Surely there are other sources?? Anyone know a good secondary source that summarises the primary ones? Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Oct 16, 2008 23:55:13 GMT 3
Hmm the label "hero" in an academic work looks a bit strange to me And I find it even stranger to see it as the name of a course Anyway I have a very badly-made Turkish translation of Tuzukât-i Tîmûr, something like Codes of Temür (that is his real name, Tîmûr is the Persian version), written by one of his men named Sharaf al-Dîn 'Alî: www.ilknokta.com/V2/Pg/MetaDetail/Number/11972.htm This work largely deals with the social and military hierarchy of the Timurid court, but it has some interesting anecdotes from his life. Other than that, and other than the report of de Clavijo, I know one important source, the work of Ibn 'Arabshâh, a Syrian historian who was, if I am not wrong, captured during Temür's Syrian campaign and forced to serve Temür. However, this historian was very biased towards Temür and his work has too many negative remarks on him. There are of course dozens and dozens of other Islamic works about him, but I ain't no expert on the Timurid period
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Post by keaganjoelbrewer on Oct 17, 2008 3:02:23 GMT 3
Thanks Ihsan!
Re: the hero thing.. it's not just brown-nosing. We analyse the idea of the hero in all sorts of medieval epics and so on (Nibelungenlied, Chretien de Troyes, etc), and then real people that have been seen as heroes and why (eg. Saladin). It's a very good course actually.
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Post by ALTAR on Oct 17, 2008 12:07:15 GMT 3
Ibn-i Arabshah isnot accepted an objective and reliable source because of the reasons that My Ulu Qaghan mentioned. And Keegan, Why dont you think to analize fake heroes(lived only myths, legends etc.) like King Arthur ?
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Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Oct 17, 2008 14:09:01 GMT 3
Thanks Ihsan! Re: the hero thing.. it's not just brown-nosing. We analyse the idea of the hero in all sorts of medieval epics and so on (Nibelungenlied, Chretien de Troyes, etc), and then real people that have been seen as heroes and why (eg. Saladin). It's a very good course actually. Ah I see
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Post by keaganjoelbrewer on Oct 18, 2008 3:15:41 GMT 3
And Keegan, Why dont you think to analize fake heroes(lived only myths, legends etc.) like King Arthur ? Well that's exactly what we've been doing. The first half of our course was looking at mythological heroes like King Arthur and Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied and all those sorts of things. I did I disagreeignment on the Knight in the Panther's Skin, an epic from Georgia which is absolutely beautiful. The second half of our course is comparing this idea of the mythological hero to people that actually existed who have been called heroes, like Saladin, Joan of Arc, etc. For this part I'm doing my essay on Temu:r. =)
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Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Oct 18, 2008 11:20:16 GMT 3
Nice topic indeed
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Post by keaganjoelbrewer on Oct 18, 2008 15:48:52 GMT 3
Did you guys know that Temu:r apparently invented his own version of chess?
It's known as 'Tamerlane Chess'. The board is twice as big as normal chess, with twice as many pieces.
Me and my buddies from uni are going to give it a go later on after our exams. I will let you know how it goes hehe =)
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Post by Temüjin on Oct 18, 2008 21:10:20 GMT 3
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Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Oct 18, 2008 21:23:14 GMT 3
I didn't know that Keep us informed ;D Ah yes, forgot him. Btw, Abû Zayd 'Abda'r-Raḥman bin Muḥammad bin Khaldûn أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون (shortly known as Ibn Khaldûn), a contemporary of Temür, also gives info about him as far as I know, because they met in person.
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Post by keaganjoelbrewer on Oct 20, 2008 0:17:45 GMT 3
Thanks for the info everyone =)
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