document_title: Timur

question_text: who was the sultan of delhi when timir invaded

question_tokens: who was the sultan of delhi when timir invaded

text: Timur

text: Ancestry

text:
Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared in common with Genghis Khan.[17] Tuminai's great-great grandson Karachar Noyan (1165–1242/54) was a minister for the Emperor and was eventually transferred to assist his second son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana.[18][19]
Though there are not many mentions of Karachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire.[20] These histories also state that Genghis Khan later "established the bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Karachar.[21] Through his descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans.

text: The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403 Jean, Archbishop of Sultaniyya claimed that she was of lowly origins.[22] The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later say that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas.[23] Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr.[24] Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan.[25] The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', believed to be referring to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara.[26]

text: Early life

text: Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan) some 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate.[27] His father, Taraghai, was a minor noble of the Barlas,[27] a Mongolian tribe[28][29] that had been turkified in many aspects.[30][31][32] Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to be especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonalbly wealthy and influential.[33] This is shown by Timur returning to his birthplace following the death of Taraghai in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate.[34] He is described by Arabshah as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas.[25] In addition to this the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's.[35]

text: According to Gérard Chaliand, Timur was a Muslim,[36] and he saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir.[36] Though not a Borjigid or a descendent of Genghis Khan,[37] he clearly sought to invoke the legacy of Genghis Khan's conquests during his lifetime.[38]

text: His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chaghatay language, Timur's mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir).

text: Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that he was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year.[39]

text: At the age of eight or nine, Timur and his mother and brothers were carried as prisoners to Samarkand by an invading Mongol army. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle.[39]:116 Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in Khorasan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans.[11]:31

text: Timur was a Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school of Sufism, which was influential in Transoxiana.[40] However, his chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir.[41][42][43] Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Alid" stance. Despite this, Timur was noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious ground as well.[44] In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal.[44]

text: Personality

text: Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligent – not only intuitively but also intellectually.[9]:16 In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages[11]:9 (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic).[45] More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the law and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims.[11] Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse:

text:
For the black mole on thy cheek
I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara.

text: Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts.[46][47]

text: Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (راستی رستی, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus").[45]

text: Military leader

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region.[36] He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan[48] at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench.

text: Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force.[48]

text: Rise to power

text: It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet.[11]:40

text: Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures.[11]:41–2 Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe.[11]

text: One day Aksak Temür spoke thusly:

text: "Khan Züdei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince.[49][50]

text: Legitimization of Timur's rule

text: Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi".[51]

text: As a result, Timur never used the title of khan because the name khan could only be used by those who come from the same lineage as Genghis Khan himself. Timur instead used the title of amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania.[39]:106

text: To reinforce his position in the Mongol Empire, Timur managed to acquire the royal title of son-in-law when he married a princess of Chinggisid descent.[9]:14

text: Likewise, Timur could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God.[51] Since Timur had a successful career as a conqueror, it was easy to justify his rule as ordained and favored by God since no ordinary man could be a possessor of such good fortune that resistance would be seen as opposing the will of God. Moreover, the Islamic notion that military and political success was the result of Allah's favor had long been successfully exploited by earlier rulers. Therefore, Timur's assertions would not have seemed unbelievable to fellow Islamic people.

text: Period of expansion

text: Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq.

text: One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow.[52]

text: In 1395, Tamerlane reached the frontier of Principality of Ryazan, took Elets and advancing towards Moscow came near the banks of the Don River. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: “O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!” Suddenly, Tamerlane's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Tamerlane on August 26, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established.[53]

text: Conquest of Persia

text: After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shahrukh Mirza ordered its reconstruction.[54] Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah.

text: Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption.

text: Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000.[55] An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each.[56] This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated.[55] This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah.

text: Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur’s envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got some dangerous help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans.

text: Tokhtamysh–Timur war

text: In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south.[57]

text: In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391.

text: In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur.

text: Ismailis

text: In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of underground tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations.[58] The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there.[58]

text: Campaign against the Tughlaq Dynasty

text:
In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq Dynasty. He was opposed by Ahirs and faced some reversals from the Jats, but the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop him.[59][60]
After crossing the Indus river on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants.[61] Then he advanced and captured Multan by October.[62]

text: Timur crossed the Indus River at Attock (now in Pakistan) on 24 September 1398. His invasion did not go unopposed and he encountered resistance from the Governor of Meerut during the march to Delhi. Timur was still able to continue his approach to Delhi, arriving in 1398, to fight the armies of Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, which had already been weakened by a succession struggle within the royal family.

text: Capture of Delhi (1398)

text: The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal[63] had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks.[11]:267 As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives.[16]

text: The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, arguably surpassing the likes of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan because of the harsh conditions of the journey and the achievement of taking down one of the richest cities at the time. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century.[11]:269–274

text: Campaigns in the Levant

text: Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkmen rulers, they took refuge behind him.

text: In 1400, Timur invaded Christian Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated.[64]

text: Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo[65][66] and Damascus.[67][68][69][70] The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur cited the killing of Hasan ibn Ali by the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I and the killing of Husayn ibn Ali by Yazid I as the reason for his massacre of the inhabitants of Damascus.

text: Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives.[71]

text: In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy.

text: After the Ankara victory, Timur's army ravaged Western Anatolia, with Muslim writers complaining that the Timurid army acted more like a horde of savages than that of a civilized conqueror.[citation needed] But Timur did besiege and take the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers.[72][73][74][75]

text: Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not.

text: While Timur invaded Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia from Anatolia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China.[76]

text: He ruled over an empire that, in modern times, extends from southeastern Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, through Central Asia encompassing part of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and even approached Kashgar in China. The conquests of Timur are claimed to have caused the deaths of up to 17 million people, an assertion impossible to verify.[77]

text: Of Timur's four sons, two (Jahangir and Umar Shaikh) predeceased him. His third son, Miran Shah, died soon after Timur, leaving the youngest son, Shah Rukh. Although his designated successor was his grandson Pir Muhammad b. Jahangir, Timur was ultimately succeeded in power by his son Shah Rukh. His most illustrious descendant Babur founded the Islamic Mughal Empire and ruled over most of Afghanistan and North India. Babur's descendants Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, expanded the Mughal Empire to most of the Indian subcontinent.

text: Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years.

text: Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty

text: By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained.[79] Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better.[79]

text: Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand.[80]

text: Death

text: Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on February 17, 1405,[81] before ever reaching the Chinese border.[82] After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released[79] by his grandson Khalil Sultan.

text: Timur was buried in Gur-i Amir, his mausoleum in Samarkand.

text: Succession

text: Just before his death, Timur designated his grandson Pir Muhammad ibn Jahangir as his successor. However, his other descendants did not abide by this wish, and spent the next fifteen years engaged in violent infighting. His son Shahrukh Mirza and grandson Khalil Sultan struggled for control until Shahrukh won.

text: Exchanges with Europe

text: Timur had numerous epistolary and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts.

text: In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son".

text: According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo.

text: The French archives preserve:

text:
A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian.[83]
A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna.[84]

text: A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403.[85]

text: Legacy

text: Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. He was responsible for the effective destruction of the Nestorian Christian Church of the East in much of Asia. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not.[86] The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi.

text: Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity.[87] In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language.[88]

text: Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle.[89]

text: Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was ironically seen as an ally.

text: Timur has now been officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood.

text: Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement,[90][better source needed] composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II:[citation needed]

text: The Sharif of the Hijaz suffers due to the divisive sectarian schisms of his faith, And lo! that young Tatar (Timur) has boldly re-envisioned magnanimous victories of overwhelming conquest.

text: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.

text: Historical sources

text: The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636.

text: As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles".[citation needed]

text: Malfuzat-i Timuri

text: The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications.[16][91] The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story.[91]

text: European views

text: Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe.[92] His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century.

text: European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality.[93]:341

text: When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkish Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land.[93]:341–44

text: Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war.[93]:348–49

text: In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote:[94]

text: [M. Petis de la Croix] tells us, that there are calumnies and impostures, which have been published by authors of romances, and Turkish writers who were his enemies, and envious at his glory: among whom is Ahmed Bin Arabschah...As Timur-Bec had conquered the Turks and Arabians of Syria, and had even taken the Sultan Bajazet prisoner, it is no wonder that he has been misrepresented by the historians of those nations, who, in despite of truth, and against the dignity of history, have fallen into great excesses on this subject.

text: Exhumation and alleged curse

text: Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologist Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. It was determined that Timur was a tall and broad-chested man with strong cheek bones. At 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters), Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp.[95][96] Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that Timur's facial characteristics displayed Mongoloid features with some Caucasoid admixture. Oshanin also concluded that Timur's cranium showed predominately the characteristics of a South Siberian Mongoloid type.[96]

text: It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I."[97] In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion of all time, upon the Soviet Union.[98] Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.[99]

text: In the arts

text:
Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe
Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English)
Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 play Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet by Jacques Pradon.
Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur
Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Mysliveček that also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur
Tamerlane: first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809–1849).
Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf in the opera Turandot (1924) by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.
Tamerlane (1928): historical novel by Harold Lamb.
Timour appears in the story Lord of Samarkand by Robert E. Howard.
Tamerlan: novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano in Spanish[100]
Tamburlaine: Shadow of God: a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher, broadcast 2008, is a fictitious account of an encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez.

text: Gallery

text:
Geometric courtyard surrounding the tomb showing the Iwan, and dome.

View of the Registan.

Timurid Mosque in Herat.

Goharshad Mosque, Timurid architecture

Green Mosque (Balkh) is a Timurid mosque that inspired Shah Jahan.

Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, a prime example of Timurid architecture.

text: Consorts

text: Timur had forty-three consorts:

text:
Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi;
Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan;
Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan;
Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz;
Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri;
Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha;
Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir;
Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah;
Tukal Khanum (m. 1395), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan;
Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I;
Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah ibn Timur;
Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shahrukh Mirza ibn Timur;
Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat;
Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady;
Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady;
Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza;
Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy;

text:
His other wives and concubines included:
Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha.

text: Descendants of Timur

text: Sons of Timur

text:
Jahangir Mirza ibn Timur – with Turmish Agha;
Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha;
Miran Shah ibn Timur – with Mengli Agha;
Shahrukh Mirza ibn Timur – with Toghay Turkhan Agha.

text: Daughters of Timur

text:
Aka Begi, married to Mohammad Bey, son of Amir Musa – with Turmish Agha;
unknown, married to Solyman Mirza – mother unknown;
unknown, married to Cumaleza Mirza – mother unknown;
Sultan Bakht Begum, married firstly Mohammed Mireke, married secondly, 1389/90, Soliman Shah – with Oljay Turkhan Agha.

text: Sons of Jahangir

text:
Muhammad Sultan bin Jahangir Mirza
Pir Muhammad bin Jahangir Mirza

text: Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I

text:
Pir Muhammad ibn Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Iskandar ibn Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Rustam ibn Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Bayqarah ibn Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Mansur ibn Bayqarah
Husayn ibn Mansur bin Bayqarah
Badi' al-Zaman
Muhammed Mu'min
Muzaffar Hussein
Ibrahim Hussein

text: Sons of Miran Shah

text:
Khalil Sultan ibn Miran Shah
Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah
Muhammad ibn Miran Shah
Abu Sa'id Mirza
Umar Shaikh Mirza II
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur
the Mughals
Jahangir Mirza II

text: Sons of Shahrukh Mirza

text:
Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg
Abdul-Latif
Ghiyath-al-Din Baysonqor
Ala-ud-Daulah Mirza ibn Baysonqor
Ibrahim Mirza
Sultan Muhammad ibn Baysonqor
Yadigar Muhammad
Mirza Abul-Qasim Babur ibn Baysonqor
Sultan Ibrahim Mirza
Abdullah Mirza
Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan
Mirza Mohammed Juki


document_title: Zulu people

question_text: when did the zulu arrive in south africa

root

text: Zulu people

text: Origins[edit]

text: The Zulu were originally a major clan in what is today Northern KwaZulu-Natal, founded ca. 1709 by Zulu kaMalandela. In the Nguni languages, iZulu means heaven, or weather.[3] At that time, the area was occupied by many large Nguni communities and clans (also called isizwe=nation, people or isibongo=clan or family name). Nguni communities had migrated down Africa's east coast over centuries, as part of the Bantu migrations probably arriving in what is now South Africa in about the 9th century.[citation needed]

tag: p

text: Kingdom[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: The Zulu formed a powerful state in 1818[4] under the leader Shaka. Shaka, as the Zulu King, gained a large amount of power over the tribe. As commander in the army of the powerful Mthethwa Empire, he became leader of his mentor Dingiswayo's paramouncy and united what was once a confederation of tribes into an imposing empire under Zulu hegemony.

text: Conflict with the British[edit]

text: On 11 December 1878, agents of the British delivered an ultimatum to 11 chiefs representing Cetshwayo. The terms forced upon Cetshwayo required him to disband his army and accept British authority. Cetshwayo refused, and war followed January 12, 1879. During the war, the Zulus defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January. The British managed to get the upper hand after the Battle at Rorke's Drift, and subsequently win the war with the Zulu being defeated at the Battle of Ulundi on 4 July.

text: Absorption into Natal[edit]

text: After Cetshwayo's capture a month following his defeat, the British divided the Zulu Empire into 13 "kinglets". The sub-kingdoms fought amongst each other until 1883 when Cetshwayo was reinstated as king over Zululand. This still did not stop the fighting and the Zulu monarch was forced to flee his realm by Zibhebhu, one of the 13 kinglets, supported by Boer mercenaries. Cetshwayo died in February 1884, killed by Zibhebhu's regime, leaving his son, the 15-year-old Dinuzulu, to inherit the throne. In-fighting between the Zulu continued for years, until Zululand was absorbed fully into the British colony of Natal.

text: Apartheid years[edit]

text: KwaZulu homeland[edit]

text: Under apartheid, the homeland of KwaZulu (Kwa meaning place of) was created for Zulu people. In 1970, the Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act provided that all Zulus would become citizens of KwaZulu, losing their South African citizenship. KwaZulu consisted of a large number of disconnected pieces of land, in what is now KwaZulu-Natal. Hundreds of thousands of Zulu people living on privately owned "black spots" outside of KwaZulu were dispossessed and forcibly moved to bantustans – worse land previously reserved for whites contiguous to existing areas of KwaZulu – in the name of "consolidation." By 1993, approximately 5.2 million Zulu people lived in KwaZulu, and approximately 2 million lived in the rest of South Africa. The Chief Minister of KwaZulu, from its creation in 1970 (as Zululand) was Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. In 1994, KwaZulu was joined with the province of Natal, to form modern KwaZulu-Natal.

text: Inkatha YeSizwe[edit]

text: Inkatha YeSizwe means "the crown of the nation". In 1975, Buthelezi revived the Inkatha YaKwaZulu, predecessor of the Inkatha Freedom Party. This organization was nominally a protest movement against apartheid, but held more conservative views than the ANC. For example, Inkatha was opposed to the armed struggle, and to sanctions against South Africa. Inkatha was initially on good terms with the ANC, but the two organizations came into increasing conflict beginning in 1976 in the aftermath of the Soweto Uprising.

text: Modern Zulu population[edit]

text: The modern Zulu population is fairly evenly distributed in both urban and rural areas. Although KwaZulu-Natal is still their heartland, large numbers have been attracted to the relative economic prosperity of Gauteng province. Indeed, Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in the province, followed by Sotho.

text: Language[edit]

text: The language of the Zulu people is "isiZulu", a Bantu language; more specifically, part of the Nguni subgroup. Zulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, where it is an official language. More than half of the South African population are able to understand it, with over 9 million first-language and over 15 million second-language speakers.[5] Many Zulu people also speak Afrikaans, English, Portuguese, Xitsonga, Sesotho and others from among South Africa's 11 official languages.

text: Clothing[edit]

text: Zulus wear a variety of attire, both traditional for ceremonial or culturally celebratory occasions, and modern westernized clothing for everyday use. The women dress differently depending on whether they are single, engaged, or married. The men wore a leather belt with two strips of hide hanging down front and back.

text: Religion and beliefs[edit]

text: Most Zulu people state their beliefs to be Christian. Some of the most common churches to which they belong are African Initiated Churches, especially the Zion Christian Church, [Nazareth Baptist Church] and United African Apostolic Church, although membership of major European Churches, such as the Dutch Reformed, Anglican and Catholic Churches are also common. Nevertheless, many lZulus retain their traditional pre-Christian belief system of ancestor worship in parallel with their Christianity.

text: Zulu religion includes belief in a creator God (uNkulunkulu) who is above interacting in day-to-day human life, although this belief appears to have originated from efforts by early Christian missionaries to frame the idea of the Christian God in Zulu terms.[6] Traditionally, the more strongly held Zulu belief was in ancestor spirits (amaThongo or amaDlozi), who had the power to intervene in people's lives, for good or ill.[7] This belief continues to be widespread among the modern Zulu population.[8]

text: Traditionally, the Zulu recognize several elements to be present in a human being: the physical body (inyama yomzimba or umzimba); the breath or life force (umoya womphefumulo or umoya); and the "shadow," prestige, or personality (isithunzi). Once the umoya leaves the body, the isithunzi may live on as an ancestral spirit (idlozi) only if certain conditions were met in life.[9][10] Behaving with ubuntu, or showing respect and generosity towards others, enhances one's moral standing or prestige in the community, one's isithunzi.[11] By contrast, acting in a negative way towards others can reduce the isithunzi, and it is possible for the isithunzi to fade away completely.[12]

text: In order to appeal to the spirit world, a diviner (sangoma) must invoke the ancestors through divination processes to determine the problem. Then, a herbalist (inyanga) prepares a mixture (muthi) to be consumed in order to influence the ancestors. As such, diviners and herbalists play an important part in the daily lives of the Zulu people. However, a distinction is made between white muthi (umuthi omhlope), which has positive effects, such as healing or the prevention or reversal of misfortune, and black muthi (umuthi omnyama), which can bring illness or death to others, or ill-gotten wealth to the user.[8] Users of black muthi are considered witches, and shunned by the society.

text: Christianity had difficulty gaining a foothold among the Zulu people, and when it did it was in a syncretic fashion. Isaiah Shembe, considered the Zulu Messiah, presented a form of Christianity (the Nazareth Baptist Church) which incorporated traditional customs.[13]

text: Notable Zulus[edit]


document_title: List of Kill Bill characters

question_text: who played the black mamba in kill bill

question_tokens: who played the black mamba in kill bill

text: List of Kill Bill characters

text: Deadly Viper Assassination Squad[edit]

text: The Bride [edit]

text: Beatrix Kiddo, a.k.a. The Bride (portrayed by Uma Thurman), is the protagonist of the film. She abandons her life as a hired assassin for the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DVAS) upon realizing she is pregnant with Bill's child, denying him the right of fatherhood to preserve her unborn's future. This action provokes the attacks on her and her loved ones and the ensuing revenge, which is the entire basis of the film. Her code name while working for DVAS was Black Mamba.

text: Bill [edit]

text: Bill (portrayed by David Carradine) is the main antagonist of the film. He is the founder and leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, to which The Bride formerly belonged, and also her former lover. Because the code names of the members all refer to venomous snakes, Bill's code name is Snake Charmer. He and the four remaining Deadly Vipers attempt to kill The Bride after she learns she is carrying Bill's child and leaves him without warning. Some time after the massacre, the squad has disbanded. When Bill finds out The Bride isn't dead but instead is getting married, he and other Deadly Viper members descend on her at her rehearsal wedding. He then sends former Squad member and mistress Elle Driver to the hospital to kill her, but Bill changes his mind and tells Elle to abort the mission, saying that killing a helpless person would demean the name of the Assassination Squad. When Sofie Fatale is in care within a Tokyo hospital, Bill visits her, telling her that The Bride's daughter is alive, and under his care.

text: The Bride, after killing Vernita Green and Budd, and blinding Elle, travels to Bill's villa, finding out while holding a pistol that her daughter is alive, and called B.B. After an evening with Bill and B.B., The Bride kills Bill with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, which as the name suggests, explodes his heart inside his body when he takes five steps.

text: O-Ren Ishii [edit]

text: O-Ren Ishii, a.k.a. Cottonmouth (portrayed by Lucy Liu), is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese-American woman. O-Ren experienced her first encounter of death when at the age of nine, while hiding underneath a bed, she witnessed both her parents being brutally murdered under the orders of a Yakuza boss (who turned out to be a pedophile) and his associates. An anime flashback showed her father in a U.S. Army uniform wearing the rank of sergeant major fighting the assassins. Though he was apparently a skilled martial artist who took down two of the boss's men, he was eventually overwhelmed and killed, along with his wife whom the crime boss personally murdered by impaling her with the same sword used to execute her husband. The house was later destroyed in a fire to cover up the act but young O-Ren escaped and although she was left physically unharmed, she was left psychologically and emotionally scarred for life, swearing revenge against the crime boss responsible. After going through intense training, two years later and at the age of eleven, she succeeded in getting her revenge against the crime boss by exploiting his lust for children and killing him but not before asking if he remembered her or if she looked like someone he'd killed. Once she'd murdered the crime boss, O-Ren killed his two bodyguards and escaped, later becoming an expert assassin, proficient in marksmanship and sword fighting, rising through the ranks to become one of the world's top female assassins at the age of twenty. Though once a member of the Deadly Vipers, she eventually became the head of the Tokyo Yakuza, with Bill's help, and possessed her own bodyguard army, the Crazy 88. O-Ren is fiercely proud of her heritage, going so far as to decapitate her own subordinate when he vented his frustration over being led by "a Chinese Jap-American half breed bitch", subsequently informing the rest of her subordinates that she will accept open debate about any other topic but discussion of her heritage as a negative will be met with immediate decapitation.

text: The Showdown at House of Blue Leaves is the chapter in which O-Ren Ishii visits a Japanese club together with various Crazy 88 members, her lawyer and friend Sofie Fatale, and personal teenage bodyguard, Gogo Yubari. While sitting in a room apart from the other guests, O-Ren hears a sound outside the room and throws a dart in that direction. She orders Gogo to take a look; however, Gogo finds nothing. Later, Sofie Fatale is captured by The Bride and taken to the main hall of the restaurant, where The Bride calls O-Ren, who appears with her bodyguards, The Bride reveals herself to O-Ren, cutting off Sofie's arm, horrifying the other guests who flee the restaurant, The Bride kills countless Crazy 88s and Gogo, finally meeting O-Ren in a garden scene atop the club. During the battle, O-Ren mocks The Bride as a "silly Caucasian girl who likes to play with samurai swords." After resuming their fight, O-Ren receives a wound and apologizes for her earlier remark, The Bride accepts and eventually kills O-Ren by lopping off the top of O-Ren's head. It is hinted that O-Ren and The Bride may have had a genuine friendship in the past; she and The Bride share an inside joke ("trix are for kids"), based on The Bride's true name, and O-Ren is the only member of the Deadly Vipers besides Bill towards whom The Bride shows any remorse. O-Ren utters with her dying breath "That really was a Hattori Hanzo sword", having been close enough to both see the symbol of Hattori Hanzo and feel the blade.

text: Vernita Green [edit]

text: Vernita Green, a.k.a. Copperhead (portrayed by Vivica A. Fox), is a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who took part in the massacre at the Two Pines Wedding Chapel. She is second on The Bride's "Death List Five". Four years after the massacre, she is depicted living a normal life under the alias of Jeannie Bell. She is trained in hand-to-hand combat and knife fighting, and it is hinted that she and The Bride share a mutual, professional respect for each other. At the start of the first movie, they engage in a vicious fight, destroying Vernita's living room in the process. However, the fight is interrupted when Green's four-year-old daughter, Nikki, arrives home from school in the middle of the fight, and they stop fighting because The Bride does not wish to kill Vernita in front of her child. Green sends Nikki to her room and she talks with The Bride over coffee, apologizing for betraying her and asking for mercy on behalf of her daughter and family, The Bride coldly refuses and they agree to meet in the middle of the night to have a knife fight. However, Vernita betrays her promise, and shoots at The Bride with a handgun concealed within a box of Kaboom cereal. She misses, and The Bride throws a knife into Vernita's heart, killing her instantly. Nikki unintentionally witnesses her mother's death, for which The Bride apologizes. Before leaving, The Bride then adds that, when Nikki grows up, if she ever wants to avenge her mother's death she'll be waiting for her.

text: Vernita Green's alias (Jeannie Bell) is a direct reference[citation needed] to the actress and former Playboy Playmate Jeanne Bell who starred in the 1974 blaxploitation film T.N.T. Jackson (writer/director Tarantino is a noted fan of cult 1970s cinema).

text: Elle Driver [edit]

text: Elle Driver, a.k.a. California Mountain Snake (portrayed by Daryl Hannah), is another swordswoman who is loyal to Bill. Elle and The Bride despise each other immensely, and it is implied that their mutual hatred came to be before the events of the film. Elle is jealous of The Bride's status as Bill's lover, implying that Elle herself also had some kind of sexual relationship with him. Despite this, Elle does grudgingly respect The Bride, describing her as "the greatest warrior [she] had ever met" and also believing that she deserved better than to have supposedly met her end at the hands of someone like Budd.

text: Like Bill and The Bride, Elle was trained by Pai Mei. When she showed disrespect to Pai Mei by calling him a "miserable, old fool", he responded by plucking out her right eye as punishment, which is why she is shown to wear an eyepatch over it. In retaliation, Elle murdered Pai Mei by poisoning his meal of fish-heads. When Bill learns that The Bride survived the attempt on her life, he orders Elle to kill her at the hospital where she was lying comatose. Disguised as a nurse, Elle nearly injects The Bride with a deadly poison when Bill calls her to abort the mission. Though Elle wanted to kill The Bride while she was incapacitated, she abides by Bill's wishes.

text: When Budd (Sidewinder) captures The Bride, he calls Elle to offer her The Bride's Hanzo sword. Elle agrees to pay $1 million for the sword, on the condition that Budd makes The Bride "suffer until her last breath". Budd buries The Bride alive, but she eventually escapes and lies in wait near Budd's trailer. Elle pays Budd for the sword with a suitcase containing $1 million but when Budd opens the case, a concealed black mamba bites Budd. While he struggles for life, she tortures him by reading useful information about black mambas and the anti-venom needed to counteract the venom. As he succumbs to its venom, Elle reveals both her disgust for Budd and regret for not having the chance to face The Bride herself. Elle calls Bill and frames The Bride for Budd's death, also taking credit for Budd's live burial of The Bride and tells Bill the grave's location. When Elle is about to leave the trailer, The Bride ambushes her. The two women engage in an improvised weapons fight which evolves into a sword fight, with The Bride having to use Budd's Hanzo sword (thought to have been long-ago pawned, by Budd's statement to Bill). During the fight, Elle reveals that she killed Pai Mei; enraged, The Bride snatches out Elle's remaining eye. The Bride leaves Elle, now completely blind, thrashing wildly on the floor of the trailer with the black mamba still loose inside. Her fate is unknown, as evidenced by the question mark over her name during the ending credits (other deceased characters were shown with a red strike line over their names). Although her fate is left ambiguous, Tarantino has commented that a potential third Kill Bill movie would focus on the revenge of Vernita's daughter Nikki against The Bride, and that Nikki would be trained by Elle and Sofie. Apparently, Sofie would inherit all of O-Ren and Bill's money.[1]

text: Budd [edit]

text: Budd, a.k.a. Sidewinder (portrayed by Michael Madsen), is Bill's degenerate younger brother who was recognized by Bill as 'the only man [he] ever loved', an epigraph etched onto Budd's sword. He was the only other male Deadly Viper Squad member and, since the assassination squad's disbandment, adopted a redneck-like lifestyle. Living in a mobile home where he steadily became an alcoholic, Budd makes ends meet by working as a bouncer at a local strip club. When told by Bill that Beatrix was coming to kill him, Budd philosophically stated "That woman deserves her revenge. And we deserve to die. But then again, so does she." (When Budd makes this statement in Volume 1, the last sentence is not included; the full statement is spoken in Volume 2). Budd once owned a Hattori Hanzo katana and told Bill, who told Elle, that he had sold it for $250 in El Paso, Texas. He actually lied because The Bride later found the sword in a golf bag in the bedroom of Budd's trailer. During Bill and Budd's discourse, Bill mentions an unpleasant event between the two of them that led to their falling out, but the details of this event are never explicitly mentioned.

text: When The Bride finally does find Budd, he is prepared for her sneak attack, shooting her with rock salt from a double-barreled shotgun (making him the only Deadly Viper to single-handedly defeat The Bride) and buries her alive (later described as a 'Texas funeral'). Before closing the casket, he tells The Bride that her live burial is retribution for breaking Bill's heart. Returning to his trailer, Budd gives The Bride's priceless Hattori Hanzo sword to Elle in return for $1 million in cash; he is then repeatedly bitten in the face by a black mamba concealed in the suitcase (poetically The Bride's Deadly Viper codename) containing the cash. She takes advantage of the situation in torturing Budd slowly by reading useful information about Black Mamba poison and the effects of it if not injected with anti-venom. As he dies in agony minutes later, Elle tells Budd that she feels regret because she never had a chance to take The Bride on herself and that she had to die at the hands of a "bushwackin' scrub" like him.

text: Associates of O-Ren Ishii[edit]

text: In the quest for revenge, The Bride's first target is O-Ren Ishii who, during the intervening four years, has risen to become a major leader of the Tokyo organized crime world. But before The Bride battles and defeats her, she must first confront and bring down her associates one by one.

text: Sofie Fatale[edit]

text: Sofie Fatale (portrayed by Julie Dreyfus) is O-Ren Ishii's lawyer, second-in-command, and best friend.[2][3] Sofie Fatale is of mixed Japanese/French descent and serves as an interpreter and is seen speaking English, Japanese and French fluently.[4] Although she is referred to as a protege of Bill's, she does not display any martial arts skills during her appearances.

text: Sofie Fatale is present at the "House of Blue Leaves" when The Bride arrives to kill O-Ren Ishii, The Bride is riding her motorbike through Tokyo, stalking Sofie's Nissan Fairlady Z when she is seen at a stop light using her phone; her left-handedness, and later, the phone's "Auld Lang Syne" ringtone, are recognized by The Bride. She remembers that Sofie was present during the El Paso massacre, and while she did not assist in beating The Bride, she did answer her ringing phone, while callously ignoring the injured Bride and the rest of the carnage, The Bride captures Sofie at the House of Blue Leaves and brings her to O-Ren Ishii, The Bride then cuts off Sofie's left arm (the arm she holds her phone with) as a means of both exacting revenge on her and showing Ishii her intentions for a duel.[5]

text: Later, The Bride interrogates Sofie to learn the location of the rest of the members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, threatening to further dismember her when she refuses to speak. She then sends her rolling down a hill to a hospital for medical attention so she can live on and tell Bill what has happened and that The Bride is still alive.[6][7] Although her fate is left ambiguous, Tarantino has commented that a potential third Kill Bill movie would focus on the revenge of Vernita's daughter Nikki against The Bride, and that Nikki would be trained by Elle and Sofie. Apparently, Sofie would inherit all of O-Ren and Bill's money.[1]

text: Crazy 88[edit]

text: The Crazy 88 are a masked Yakuza gang under O-Ren's control who were originally employed to help her take control of the Tokyo underworld. It includes members of both sexes and a wide age range. Most of them fight using katanas except for three members. One is shown with a pair of throwing axes and another is seen briefly wielding a meteor hammer. Johnny Mo, the clan's leader (under O-Ren), uses dual shortswords which, when each is sheathed in the other's handle, can be used as a fighting staff, The Bride manages to fend off the entire gang, killing, mortally wounding, and dismembering many. After the fight, any surviving member was taken into custody after leaving the nightclub. Their arrest by Japanese police and hospitalization before being locked up in prison is not shown. One of the last of the Crazy 88 members The Bride faces before O-Ren is a very timid teenage boy whose katana she cuts into several pieces with her own, after which he surrenders immediately. She spanks him with the flat of her blade and orders him to leave criminal life and crime business by the words "Go home to your mother".

text: Aside from Johnny Mo, only one member of the Crazy 88 is identified and named. Miki is apparently O-Ren Ishii's bodyguard, aside from Gogo. He is the first member to attack The Bride although he's quickly killed when The Bride impales his chest with her sword. Quentin Tarantino appears as one of the members whose throat is slit after The Bride dismembers the eye of one of the gangsters.

text: The Crazy 88 allegedly does not actually have eighty-eight members. Bill says that they adopted the name because it "sounded cool". There are only 40 actors credited to the Crazy 88.[8]

text: Metaphors are used to create the Crazy 88. Eight (八, hachi, ya) is considered a lucky number in some Eastern cultures[by whom?] - it suggests growing prosperous, because the letter (八) broadens gradually. Eight (や, ya) was also seen as holy in ancient times.[citation needed] Another metaphor is that there are 88 keys on a standard piano. The gang are dressed in black and white like the piano keys.

text: There are two different versions of the fight scene with the Crazy 88. The original version was released as a Japanese Unrated Limited Edition DVD in Japan and U.S. which has the fight in full color. Tarantino was forced to tone down the violence of the whole fight scene by omitting a few scenes and adding a black and white effect to the finished product for the film's release.

text: Johnny Mo[edit]

text: Johnny Mo (portrayed by Gordon Liu, who also portrays Pai Mei in Volume 2) is the leader of O-Ren's personal army, the Crazy 88. Johnny Mo is most prominently featured in the "House of Blue Leaves" scene. After The Bride kills Gogo Yubari and O-Ren Ishii's six bodyguards, Johnny Mo, armed with a pair of shōtō, arrives with an army of Crazy 88s. He is a more proficient fighter than the rest of the gang, nearly tipping the scales in their favor and holding his own against The Bride for several minutes alone while fighting her on top of a balcony railing. She eventually chops off his legs and he falls into a bloodied fountain pool from the second floor balcony and is presumed dead thereafter.

text: Gogo Yubari[edit]

text: Gogo Yubari (portrayed by Chiaki Kuriyama) is a young associate of O-Ren Ishii. Gogo is the sociopathic and ultraviolent seventeen-year-old schoolgirl who takes a sadistic delight in killing. Her fighting style is a combination of wushu techniques using chain whip and rope dart or meteor hammer. She is O-Ren's top assassin and personal bodyguard. Gogo's disturbed mind and vicious penchant for killing is displayed when she offers herself to a drunken man in a bar and then disembowels him, asking him, "Do you still wish to penetrate me?... Or is it I who has penetrated you?"

text: Later on, she takes on Beatrix Kiddo when the latter has already slaughtered several of O-Ren Ishii's immediate guards at the House of Blue Leaves. Although The Bride gives her the opportunity to walk away, Gogo refuses and takes her on with a large meteor hammer, almost overcoming The Bride by strangling her savagely with the chain. Eventually Kiddo distracts Gogo by driving a broken chair leg studded with nails into her foot, then kills her by driving the nails into the side of her head.

text: Gogo Yubari resembles the character that Chiaki Kuriyama previously portrayed in the 2000 Japanese film, Battle Royale,[9] Takako Chigusa.

text: Other characters[edit]

text: B.B.[edit]

text: B.B. (portrayed by Perla Haney-Jardine) is the four-year-old daughter of The Bride and Bill who was in utero during the massacre at the Two Pines chapel. Upon first coming out of her coma, The Bride believes her unborn child was killed in the attack and promises to avenge her death. The audience does not learn that she is alive until the last line of Vol. 1, and The Bride does not find out until the final act of Vol. 2. B.B. was named (probably in homage to her parents, Beatrix and Bill) and raised by Bill, who in Vol. 2 openly admitted to her the terrible crime he had committed against The Bride.

text: Buck[edit]

text: Buck (portrayed by Michael Bowen) is a male nurse at the hospital where The Bride laid comatose for four years. During this period, he regularly took sexual advantage of The Bride, raping her unconscious body and later also prostituting her to other male clients. After she first awakens, The Bride attacks Buck and interrogates him on the whereabouts of Bill. Suddenly, she begins recalling Buck's prior assaults on her (including his infamous line, "My name's Buck and I'm here to fuck!") and, in a fit of rage, slams his head with a door, killing him with an intracranial hemorrhage. The Bride then steals Buck's clothes and escapes from the hospital in his truck, the "Pussy Wagon" (censored to "Party Wagon" for network broadcast). She uses the truck during her scenes in the United States during Volume 1, but in Volume 2 says that it has broken down and she has thus acquired another vehicle.

text: Earl McGraw[edit]

text: Earl McGraw (portrayed by Michael Parks) is a Texas Ranger who investigates the murders at the wedding chapel, and the first person to realize that The Bride has managed to survive the attack. This is the second appearance of McGraw in a Tarantino film, as he had previously been a character in From Dusk till Dawn (in which he was killed by Tarantino himself starring as Richie Gecko); he would later appear in both features that make up Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse.

text: Esteban Vihaio[edit]

text: Esteban Vihaio (portrayed by Michael Parks) is an eighty-year-old Mexican pimp based in the border city of Ciudad Acuña who, as a friend of Bill and Budd's mother, was seen by Bill as a father figure. His prostitutes' illegitimate children are recruited into an organized crime gang called the Acuña Boys. When The Bride visits him she notes, perhaps with irony, that after everything she has done to get to Bill, it is this "retired gentleman of leisure" who will be the key to helping her find Bill. He tells her of Bill's whereabouts, noting that it is what Bill would have wanted. He also compliments The Bride on her beauty saying that she would have been his "number one lady" when he ran his business, causing The Bride to smile slightly and be flattered at the praise. He also notes that if he were in Bill's situation when Bill tracked The Bride down, he would have only mutilated her face instead of trying to kill her — revealing his apparent discipline of choice for his prostitutes.

text: Hattori Hanzō[edit]

text: Hattori Hanzō (Japanese: 服部半蔵, portrayed by Sonny Chiba) is the finest swordsmith in the world; however, he has not created a new sword in 28 years since taking a blood oath before God to never again make instruments of death. He became the owner of a sushi shop in Okinawa.

text: Hanzō initially met The Bride (Uma Thurman) when she was under the guise of an American tourist visiting Okinawa. He initially refused to make a sword for her, or even give her one he had previously made, but was convinced to make one for her after The Bride tells Hanzo that the vermin is a former student of his and he owes a rather large obligation. Hanzo writes in the dew of a window pane that one of the "vermin" The Bride wanted to kill was Hanzo's former student Bill. The mere knowledge that the "vermin" is Bill was sufficient to make Hanzō violate his blood oath, and he made the sword so deadly that the "vermin" (especially Bill) could be killed with it. The swordmaster stated that while he believed in his oath to God, he also agreed on a philosophical level with what The Bride was trying to do; possibly feeling sympathy for what and how she had suffered. The swordmaster agreed to allow The Bride to stay in his home while he made the sword, and advised her to practice her fighting skills while she waited for the sword's completion. The Bride shows Hattori respect when during the presentation of the sword she wears clothing appropriate to the occasion, and thanked him in Japanese. According to Hanzō, it is the finest and sharpest sword he has ever made, and says to The Bride, "If, on your journey, should you encounter God, God will be cut." When The Bride later tells Bill that the mere mention of his name was sufficient to convince Hanzō to make her a sword, Bill wryly states "[T]hat'd do it".

text: Quentin Tarantino stated in the supplementary material on the Kill Bill DVD that the character was named in tribute to Sonny Chiba's prior role as Hattori Hanzō (the real-life historical 16th-century Iga Ninja) in Shadow Warriors (Kage no Gundan). The context is that Chiba played multiple generations of the character; even when the character actually died, the next installment would shift to covering his descendant, also named "Hattori Hanzō" after his famous predecessor. The implication is that the "Hattori Hanzō" seen in Kill Bill is the descendant of the Hanzō lineage in the present day. Tarantino went so far as to call him Hattori Hanzō the XIV. Chiba's daughter, Japanese actress Juri Manase, appeared as one of the Crazy 88.[citation needed]

text: Karen Kim[edit]

text: Karen Kim (portrayed by Helen Kim) is an assassin sent to kill The Bride while she was still a Deadly Viper. She narrowly misses hitting The Bride with shotgun fire. Before the shootout can worsen, Karen is convinced to leave in peace when The Bride proves that she is pregnant, to which Karen says 'Congratulations', and then leaves.

text: Larry Gomez[edit]

text: Larry Gomez (portrayed by Larry Bishop) is the owner of a car wash and a strip club, the My Oh My Club, where Budd works as a bouncer. He is seen doing cocaine with one of the dancers before Budd strolls into work 20 minutes late. An argument ensues over the fact that "there is nobody there to bounce". He almost fires Budd but reduces the number of hour Budd will be permitted to work and tells him to come back when he calls him.

text: Nikkia "Nikki" Bell[edit]

text: Nikkia "Nikki" Bell (portrayed by Ambrosia Kelley) is a young girl and the four-year-old daughter to Vernita Green and Dr. Lawrence Bell. She makes an appearance in Vol. 1 when she unknowingly interrupts a battle between her mother and The Bride in the living room. Vernita explains that the family dog made the mess, to conceal her past from Nikki. Nikki accidentally witnesses her mother's death at the hands of The Bride, who was unaware that Nikki was present until she turned around and saw her, The Bride tells her that her mother had it coming. However, with sympathy, The Bride tells Nikki if she still feels "raw" about it, she will be waiting for her in the future. Quentin Tarantino has commented that any potential Kill Bill sequel will focus on her revenge against The Bride.

text: Pai Mei[edit]

text: Pai Mei (Chinese: 白眉; pinyin: Bái Méi; literally White Eyebrow) was played by veteran Chinese actor Gordon Liu (who previously played Johnny Mo in Volume 1). As depicted in the film, Pai Mei was a powerful, very old practitioner of the Bak Mei style of kung fu. Pai Mei was the former teacher and master of Bill and also taught Beatrix Kiddo and Elle Driver of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. He is described as a wise and knowledgeable White Lotus priest, but also as racist, xenophobic (towards the Japanese and Americans), and a misogynist. He only agreed to take on The Bride as a student after having a martials arts duel (offscreen) with Bill. Beatrix ultimately wins his approval for her perseverance under his torturous training regimen.

text: Pai Mei was able to perform the lethal Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, the deadliest blow in all of martial arts; Pai Mei hits the victim with his finger tips at five different pressure points on the victim's body, which causes the heart to explode once the victim has walked away.[10] Pai Mei refuses to teach this maneuver but, as is later revealed, makes an exception for Beatrix, who has earned his respect. She uses it to kill Bill.

text: Elle, Pai Mei's last student, is responsible for his death. During a training session, Elle insults Pai Mei as a "miserable old fool". As punishment for her insolence, Pai Mei plucks out Elle's right eye, leading her to wear her signature eye patch. In retribution, Elle poisoned fish heads that Pai Mei eats. Before dying, Pai Mei calls her a treacherous dog for her actions, warning her that her day will come. His prediction comes true years later when Beatrix takes out Elle's left eye and leaves her in Budd's trailer, blind.

text: In the first version of the script, Gordon Liu's character speaks Cantonese while Quentin Tarantino dubs his voice in English, but this had a bad outcome. This idea was ultimately discarded, and Mei's dialogue was left undubbed.[11]

text: Rufus[edit]

text: The organ player at the Two Pines chapel, Rufus, is a former professional blues musician who died in the massacre. Rufus states that he has played with Rufus Thomas and numerous other well-known R&B acts: "I was a Drell. I was a Drifter. I was a Coaster. I was part of The Gang. I was a Bar-Kay...If they come through Texas, I done played with them." The character was portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson, who had starred in two previous Tarantino films, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown; and two later ones, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. He also performed the narration in two scenes in Inglourious Basterds.

text: Tommy Plympton[edit]

text: Tommy Plympton (portrayed by Christopher Allen Nelson) is The Bride's fiancé who is among those murdered at Two Pines. He is the proprietor of a record shop and employed The Bride, who used the assumed name Arlene Machiavelli when she met him.