Beatrice Forbes Manz is an American historian of the Middle East and Central Asia who specializes in nomads and the Timurid dynasty. She currently works as a professor of history at Tufts University. [1] Her 1989 book The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane is considered one of the most authoritative accounts of the career of the conqueror Timur. [2] [3]
She received a bachelor's from Harvard University in 1970 and a master's in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Michigan in 1974, then returned to Harvard for a doctorate in Inner Asian and Altaic studies which she received in 1983. [1] She is a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society [4] and, as of 2014 [update] , president of the American Institute of Iranian Studies. [5]
She is the child of William H. Forbes and the well-known endocrinologist Anne Pappenheimer Forbes. [6]
Her publications include:
Beatrice Manz speaks English, French, German, Russian, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic.
The Battle of Ankara or Angora was fought on 20 July 1402 at the Çubuk plain near Ankara, between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and the emir of the Timurid Empire, Timur. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to the Ottoman Interregnum.
The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, as well as parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India and Turkey. The empire was culturally hybrid, combining Turko-Mongolian and Persianate influences, with the last members of the dynasty being "regarded as ideal Perso-Islamic rulers".
The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these khanates eventually assimilated into the Turkic populations that they conquered and ruled over, thus becoming known as Turco-Mongols. These elites gradually adopted Islam, as well as Turkic languages, while retaining Mongol political and legal institutions.
Muhammad ibn Khvandshah ibn Mahmud, more commonly known as Mirkhvand, was a Persian historian active during the reign of the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara. He is principally known for his universal history, the Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ, which he wrote under the patronage of the high-ranking functionary Ali-Shir Nava'i. According to the German orientalist Bertold Spuler, the Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ is the greatest universal history in Persian regarding the Islamic world.
Khalilullah I, also known as Sultan-Khalil (سلطان-خلیل), was the Shirvanshah from 1418 to 1465. He was the son and successor of Ibrahim I. He was succeeded by his son Farrukh Yasar.
The Ḥabīb al-siyar fī akhbār afrād al-bashar is a universal history by the Persian historian Khvandamir.
Timur or Tamerlane was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history, as well as one of the most brutal and deadly. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun, Hafez, and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance.
The siege of Balkh was a key success in Timur's rise to power, and established him as the ruler of the western Chagatai Khanate in Transoxiana.
The Marashiyan or Marashis were an Iranian Sayyid Twelver Shiʿite dynasty of Mazandarani origin, ruling in Mazandaran from 1359 to 1596. The dynasty was founded by Mir-i Buzurg, a Sayyid native to Dabudasht. Their capitals were Amol, Sari, and Vatashan.
Sali Noyan also known as Sali Bahadur or Sali the Brave, was an important Mongol general of Möngke Khan, Khagan of the Mongol Empire. He was instrumental in the 13th century CE, in keeping control over most of Afghanistan where a permanent garrison of Mongol troops was quartered in the Kunduz-Baghlan area, and in 1253 fell under the jurisdiction of Sali Noyan. In 1252-3 Sali Noyan of the Tatar clan was sent to the Indian borderlands at the head of fresh troops, and was given authority over the Mongols later known as Qara'unas. Sali himself was subordinate to Möngke's brother Hulagu Khan.
Iskandar-i Shaykhi, was an Iranian ispahbad from the Afrasiyab dynasty, who ruled Amul as a Timurid vassal from 1393 to 1403. He was the youngest son of Kiya Afrasiyab, who had initially established his rule in eastern Mazandaran from 1349 to 1359, but was defeated and killed by the local shaykh Mir-i Buzurg, who established his own dynasty—the Mar'ashis—in the region. Together with some supporters and two nephews of his father, Iskandar initially took refuge in Larijan, but later left for Herat, where entered into the service of the Kartid ruler Ghiyath al-Din II.
The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies is an interdisciplinary education and research organization founded in 2001, devoted to the regional study of the Eastern Mediterranean within the greater Middle East. The Center is part of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, at Tufts University. Its aim is the study and understanding the heritage of the Eastern Mediterranean and the challenges it faces in the twenty-first century, being at the crossroads between the academic and policy world.
The siege of Tbilisi was the successful siege of the city of Tbilisi, capital of the Kingdom of Georgia, by the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, which ended on 22 November 1386. The official history of his reign, Zafarnama, represents this invasion in Georgia as a jihad.
The Timurid conquests and invasions started in the seventh decade of the 14th century with Timur's control over Chagatai Khanate and ended at the start of the 15th century with the death of Timur. Due to the sheer scale of Timur's wars, and the fact that he was generally undefeated in battle, he has been regarded as one of the most successful military commanders of all time. These wars resulted in the supremacy of Timur over Central Asia, Persia, the Caucasus, the Levant, and parts of South Asia and Eastern Europe, and also the formation of the short-lived Timurid Empire. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time.
Muhammad Sultan Mirza was a member of the Timurid dynasty and a grandson of its founder, the Central Asian conqueror Timur. As Timur's favourite grandson, Muhammad Sultan served as one of his principal military commanders, helping lead forces in successful campaigns against the Golden Horde, Persian kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire. Described by the historian Arabshah as "a manifest prodigy in his noble nature and vigour", Muhammad Sultan was eventually appointed by Timur as heir-apparent to the empire. His premature death in 1403 greatly affected his grandfather.
Malikat Agha was a Mongol princess as well as one of the wives of Shah Rukh, ruler of the Timurid Empire.
Anne Pappenheimer Forbes (1911–1992) was an American endocrinologist. A graduate of Radcliffe College and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, she was an associate of Fuller Albright, who was the endocrinology chief at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Forbes was one of the first women to reach the rank of clinical professor at Harvard Medical School.
Sayyid Zayn al-Abidin Junabadi was an Iranian bureaucrat, active in the diwan under the Timurid rulers Timur and Shah Rukh. A member of the provincial elite, he was a landlord in his native town of Junabad in Quhistan. He died in 1425/6; he was survived by his son Imad al-Din Mahmud Junabadi, who also served in the diwan.
Khwaja Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad Hafiz Razi was an Iranian statesman and military commander who served the Timurid Empire in the early 15th-century.
Yesunte Möngke or, Yesunte Möngke Barlas was a Mongol military commander, and son of Qarachar Barlas (1166–1256) who was founder of Barlas and brother of Ichil who was ancestor of Timur, the founder of Timurid empire, Yesunte was the great-grandfather of Hajji Barlas the Barlas Mongol leader.