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| 1381 |
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| Kadi Burhaneddin, the vizier of the principality of Eretna in northeastern Anatolia, usurped the sultanate. He ruled forcefully until 1398, when his territories were annexed by the Ottomans. The principality was established around 1335 by Eretna (d. 1352), who succeeded the Mongol Timur-Tash (d. 1328) as the Ilkhanid representative in Rum, and then declared himself sultan. | 1 |
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| 1381–1405 |
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| TIMUR-I LANG'S CONQUESTS AND RULE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. The central Asian military adventurer (See 1398–99) led a number of great expeditions in the Middle East, where he conquered Iran and parts of Iraq, defeated the Ottomans in Anatolia, and briefly occupied Syria. His remarkable military accomplishments, which resulted in death and destruction on a vast scale, were not accompanied by institutional arrangements to ensure that the empire would survive him intact (See 1402–13). He created a new state that his descendants ruled in a shrunken form for another century. | 2 |
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| 1390 |
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| Death of Hafiz, perhaps the greatest of Persian classical poets. His lyric verses combine imagination, delicacy, and masterful use of language and have won him undying admiration. | 3 |
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| 1394 |
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| Death of Fadlallah Astarabadi, founder of the populist Islamic movement of the Hurufiyya. He taught that through interpretation of the alphabet and the numerical value of letters, it was possible to gain hidden spiritual knowledge that would bring salvation. | 4 |
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| 1405–47 |
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| SHAH RUKH, RULER OF THE TIMURID STATE. He extended his rule from Khurasan into parts of western Iran and Azerbaijan, areas that his successors were unable to hold. A relatively peaceful ruler, he brought the area some stability after the havoc wreaked by his father, Timur. He and his wife, Jawhar Shad, were keen patrons of the arts, erecting some magnificent buildings in Herat and Mashhad that were adorned with the exquisite mosaic tilework for which the Timurid period became famous. | 5 |
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| 1405–1506 |
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| THE TIMURID STATE IN HERAT. After Timur's death in 1405 his successors, the Timurids, maintained a state in Iran that lasted until 1506. They were able to hold on to eastern Iran, but soon lost control of western Iran, Iraq, and eastern Anatolia, territories that came to be dominated by the Qara-Qoyunlu and Aq-Qoyunlu Turkoman states. Timur's son Shah Rukh moved the capital from Samarqand to Herat, although Transoxania remained part of the Timurid realm. | 6 |
| Following Turko-Mongol political traditions, the Timurids distributed the rule of cities and provinces to princes and powerful officers. This kind of assignment, known as suyurghal, was a variation on the older iqta’ system applied by the Seljuks, but with more extensive powers. It resulted in political fragmentation, endless military competition for power, and an inability to maintain a strong central government in Herat. | 7 |
| The Timurid period is renowned for the flourishing of the arts, especially painting, calligraphy, and architecture, under the patronage of the royal family. | 8 |
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| 1405–1508 |
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| RISE AND ASCENDANCY OF THE AQ-QOYUNLU. The Aq-Qoyunlu (White Sheep) Turkoman confederation emerged as a political force in the area of Diyarbakr during the 14th century, but began to expand its territory only from the early 15th century. During the rule of Qara Uthman (1403–35), the Aq-Qoyunlu acquired additional areas, including the cities of Erzurum and Mardin, which gave them control of important trade routes. Their state reached its height under Uzun Hasan (1452–78), who defeated the Qara-Qoyunlu (Black Sheep) and occupied Iraq, Azerbaijan, and western Iran. After his death, intermittent wars over succession plagued the Aq-Qoyunlu. Their end came when the Safavids took their capital Tabriz (1501) and then Diyarbakr, Baghdad, and the rest of Iraq (1507–08). | 9 |
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| 1410–67 |
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| ASCENDANCY OF THE QARA-QOYUNLU. The Qara-Qoyunlu Turkoman confederation steadily established itself as the dominant power in Azerbaijan, western Iran, Iraq, and parts of eastern Anatolia. The origins of the Qara-Qoyunlu ruling family, the Baharlu, or Barani, remain obscure, but from the mid-14th century they began to play an important political role as clients and allies of the Jalayirids, who dominated Iraq and Azerbaijan. Their territorial center was in the area of Lake Van in eastern Anatolia. In 1410, under the leadership of Qara Yusuf, they defeated the Jalayirids and brought their rule to an end. They then took Baghdad, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. Their state reached the peak of its power under Jahan Shah, who ruled as sultan from the capital of Tabriz until his defeat in 1467 by the rival Turkoman confederation of the Aq-Qoyunlu. Jahan Shah issued coins bearing Shi’ite as well as Sunni inscriptions, but he may not have been a Shi’ite himself, as has often been assumed. | 10 |
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| 1420–34 |
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| Shah Rukh mounted three campaigns against the Qara-Qoyunlu in western Iran that succeeded in containing their attempts at expansion into the area. Shah Rukh also maintained a long-standing alliance with their chief rivals, the Aq-Qoyunlu. | 11 |
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| 1435 |
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| Death of Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi, an Azerbaijani scholar and musician whose works contain a comprehensive inventory of instrumental and vocal forms, as well as an extensive catalogue of instruments. Compositions attributed to him became popular in the Ottoman Empire and are performed to this day. | 12 |
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| 1458 |
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| The Qara-Qoyunlu briefly occupied the Timurid capital of Herat, in what proved to be an overextension of their power during a period of Timurid struggle over succession. | 13 |
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| 1460 |
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| Death of Shaykh Junayd, who began the transformation of the Safavid Sufi order into a political movement. Forced out of the leadership of the order by his uncle Ja'far, he spent the years 1447–59 in exile in northern Syria and eastern Anatolia. There he built a devoted following among the Turkoman tribesmen, who saw him as something of a divine figure. He also entered into an alliance with the Aq-Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, who gave him his sister in marriage. As part of the growing militancy of his movement, he even took on the cause of holy war against the Christians in Georgia. His son Haydar followed this militant policy. | 14 |
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