Latest / Tamerlane: The Conqueror Who Tried to Rebuild the Mongol Legacy — Fexingo History / Tamerlane's Diplomatic Web: The Letters That Shook Kings
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- Lucas: We've talked a lot about Tamerlane's battles, his sieges, his city-building. But there's a whole other side to how he operated — and it didn't involve a single sword. I'm talking about his letters. Luna: His letters? You mean actual correspondence? Lucas: Exactly. Tamerlane was almost certainly illiterate — at least in the traditional sense — but he ran one of the most sophisticated chancelleries of the medieval world. His scribes produced letters in Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and even Mongolian, and he sent them to rulers across Eurasia. Kings, sultans, emperors — they all got a message from the Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction. Luna: So what did he say? Was it mostly threats? Lucas: Threats, yes — but also flattery, theology, business proposals. Take the letter he sent to King Charles VI of France in 1402. Tamerlane had just crushed the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I at Ankara, and he wanted to present himself as a friend of Christendom. So his scribes wrote to Charles proposing a trade alliance — saying they should work together against the Ottoman Turks. Charles was intrigued enough that he actually sent an envoy, though the mission never reached Samarkand. Luna: Wait — the same guy who piled up skulls in Delhi was writing to the king of France about free trade? Lucas: Exactly. That's the duality. He could be utterly ruthless in war, but in diplomacy he was calculating and patient. The letter to Charles VI is full of flowery Islamic greetings and references to God, but the subtext is clear: 'I just destroyed your enemy. Let's be friends.' It's a masterpiece of realpolitik wrapped in religious language. Lucas: And then there's his correspondence with the Mamluk sultan Barquq. That was a different tone entirely. Barquq had been backing Tamerlane's rivals in Iraq and Syria, so the letters started polite but quickly turned into open threats. In one exchange, Tamerlane warned Barquq that 'the sword is sharper than the pen' — a line that Ibn Arabshah, his hostile biographer, gleefully reports. Luna: Did Barquq take it seriously? Lucas: He did, but he also tried to match Tamerlane's rhetoric. Barquq's letters were equally bombastic — calling himself 'the shadow of God on earth' and reminding Tamerlane that the Mamluks had stopped the Mongols before. But in the end, only one of them could back up the words. Tamerlane's invasion of Syria in 1400 was the real reply. Luna: So it wasn't just showmanship. The letters were part of a larger strategy. Lucas: Absolutely. And that brings us to the other end of the world — China. Tamerlane sent multiple embassies to the Ming court, and the letters that survive are fascinatingly diplomatic. He addressed the Yongle Emperor as 'my son' — which in steppe diplomacy was a claim of superiority, not affection. But he also offered trade and proposed a joint campaign against the Mongols. The Ming were not fooled. They saw the threat beneath the courtesy. Luna: So the letters were like reconnaissance — testing the waters. Lucas: Exactly. And they also served as propaganda. Copies of these letters were circulated within the Timurid court and read aloud in Samarkand. Tamerlane wanted his own people to see that he was a global figure — corresponding with kings, feared from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. It was a way of building his legend at home while probing his enemies abroad. Lucas: And you know, for someone who couldn't read or write, Tamerlane had an incredible instinct for the power of words. He surrounded himself with the best scribes and scholars — men like Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi, who later wrote the Zafarnama, the official biography. These men knew exactly how to craft a letter that would intimidate or flatter, depending on the target. Luna: It's almost like his armies fought on paper too. Lucas: That's a great way to put it. And if you've been enjoying these deep dives into Tamerlane's world — whether it's the battles, the architecture, or the diplomacy — I just want to mention that keeping this show ad-free and independent is possible because of listeners like you. A couple of dollars a month at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo genuinely makes a difference. It's what lets us keep doing episodes like this one. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to support something you care about. And we really appreciate it. Lucas: So back to those letters. One of the most remarkable things is that some of them survive in archives — not just in copies, but the actual physical letters, with seals and flourishes. There's a letter from Tamerlane to the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, intercepted by the Mamluks, that ended up in Cairo. It's written in exquisite Persian, with gold leaf. Even in his threats, he wanted to look grand. Luna: Do we know what it said? Lucas: We have excerpts. Tamerlane basically tells Bayezid that he is the instrument of God's wrath, and that resistance is futile. But it's couched in the language of Islamic brotherhood — 'my brother, you have strayed from the path, and I am sent to correct you.' It's paternalistic and menacing at the same time. Lucas: And then there's the letter he sent to the Timurid prince Muhammad Sultan, his grandson, who was leading a campaign. That was a very different kind of letter — full of tactical advice, reminding the prince to keep his troops disciplined, to reward loyalty, to inspire fear. It's almost like a field manual from a general who had learned from every campaign. Luna: So he was just as meticulous in his letters as he was in his battles. Lucas: Precisely. Every word was chosen for effect. And the scribes themselves were often prisoners of war — captured scholars from Damascus or Baghdad who knew the classical traditions. Tamerlane forced them to work in his chancellery, which meant that his diplomatic style was a hybrid of Persian courtly elegance, Mongol bluntness, and Islamic piety. Luna: That must have been confusing for the recipients — all those layers. Lucas: It was deliberate. The letters were meant to be studied. They were part of the psychological warfare. When the Mamluk sultan got a letter that began with 'From the Sahib-i Qiran, the Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction, the Shadow of God on Earth,' he knew exactly what game Tamerlane was playing. Lucas: And there's one more thing I find fascinating. Tamerlane's letters often included genealogies — tracing his lineage back to Genghis Khan, and even further, to biblical figures like Noah. This was pure fiction, but it was a powerful claim. By writing it down and sending it to foreign courts, he was making it official. Luna: So he was writing his own history, in real time. Lucas: Exactly. The letters were a form of self-mythology. And they worked. Many of his contemporaries — and later historians — took these claims seriously. The legend of Tamerlane was built not just by swords, but by scribes.