Ulugh Beg was born on March 22, 1394 in Sultâniye, Azerbaijan. His father was Shâhruh, the younger son of Timur, and his mother was Gevher Shad. The title Ulug Beg is the equivalent of the Timurid term “emîr-i kebîr”.
Ulugh Beg, who studied traditional religious sciences, logic, astronomy and mathematics at the palace between 1394-1405, was married to Öge Begüm, the daughter of Muhammad Sultan, by Timur in 1404. In 1409, Ulugh Beg was given the administration of the Maveraunnehir region by his father Shahrukh. Ulugh Beg, who was introduced to administration at a young age, ruled for thirty-eight years in the vast geography stretching from the Ceyhun River to Soganak and then to Asparay.
However, unlike a standard ruler, Ulugh Beg devoted most of his time to scientific activities, so he was dependent on and assisted by his father in state affairs. Like other rulers, he used Shahrukh's name on khutbas and coins. During Ulugh Beg's reign, Samarkand experienced the heyday of sciences, art and literature. Although his affiliation is not known, Sufism and especially Naqshbandism spread in this region during his reign.
After Shahrukh's death in 1447, a fight for the throne broke out. Upon the death of his father, Ulugh Beg left Samarkand to his younger son Abdulaziz and moved to Khorasan. But he could only capture Balkh. In 1448, he entered the city of Herat with the support of his eldest son Abdullatif. Although he did not harm the city, he thought that the outskirts were collaborating with the enemy and looted them. Meanwhile, upon the news that Abulhayr Khan attacked
Samarkand, Ulugh Beg left Abdullatif in Herat and left.
When Ulugh Beg came to power, he did not give the share he should have given to Abdullatif from the treasury, and the fact that he stated that he entered Herat not with Abdullatif, but with his younger son Abdulaziz in the conquest report caused a resentment between father and son. Taking advantage of Ulugh Beg's departure from Herat, Abdullatif gathered an army behind his father and fought him several times on the banks of the Ceyhun River, but he was
not successful.
After this incident, Ulugh Beg, who learned that his son was following him on the road to Samarkand, fought with Abdullatif, but this time he was defeated and had to retreat. Meanwhile, Abu Said Mirza Khan, who had grown up with Ulugh Beg, attacked Samarkand. Abdullatif, on the other hand, captured Termez and Kash and marched on Samarkand. In September-October 1449, he defeated his father in Dimashq, outside Samarkand. Ulugh Beg wanted to return to Samarkand, but his own commander did not open the castle gates. As a
result, he had to surrender to his son Abdullatif.
A court presided over by Abbas, an Iranian-born and pro-Abdullatif figure, sentenced him and his younger son Abdulaziz to death. Upon this, Ulugh Beg gave up his claim to the sovereignty and agreed to live under the rule of his son and asked his son's permission to go on pilgrimage. Upon the permission granted, Ulugh Beg left Samarkand, but when the commanders warned his son Abdullatif that this permission was inconvenient, Ulugh Beg was assassinated when he was two days away from Samarkand. Two days later, the younger son Abdulaziz was killed in another assassination. Ulugh Beg was buried in Samarkand and his reign lasted two years and eight months. Among the main reasons why his reign was so short was that he gave his son the governorship of Balkh despite his request for Herat, and that he did not distribute the taxes collected from the people to his surroundings, but spent these taxes on scientific research, libraries and observatories. For this reason, those around him incited
Abdullatif against his father and they left Ulugh Beg and joined his son's side.
Ulugh Beg, besides mathematics, astronomy and poetry, had an important knowledge and knowledge in reading the Holy Quran. He invited the greatest scholars of his time and exchanged information and knowledge. The most famous ones were Kadizade-i Rumi and Ali Kuşçu. In addition to mathematics and astronomy, he also left important works in the field of architecture. Between 1417-1420, he built two large madrasas, one in Bukhara and one in Samarkand, and supported them with foundations. In addition, he built two palaces in Samarkand's Registan (square) full of khankahs, baths and gardens that have not survived to this day. In the madrasah he established in Samarkand, he attended classes and occasionally taught himself. However, this madrasah lost its importance after Ulug Beg's death. He was very impressed by the Meraga Observatory, which he saw at a young age, and had the Samarkand Observatory, the second largest observatory during his reign, built. This observatory, which was active for thirty years until Ulug Beg's death, held a very important place in the world of science until the discovery of the telescope with the astronomical tables created. He also worked in the field of geometry and created the tangent and sine tables.
REFERENCES
YAVUZ UNAT, "ULUĞ BEY", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ulug-bey (09.08.2024).
W. Barthold, Uluğ Bey ve Zamanı
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