http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/famous-medieval-people/
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0608051h.html
Tamerlane
He was born Timur Leng in 1336 in Shahr-i-Sabz, south of Samarkand, the son of a Turk commander. As a young man, he injured himself in a sheep-raiding accident, and "'as unable to bend his right knee or raise his right arm ever again. This earned him the nickname Timur the Lame, which became Tamerlane. Mongol power in Transoxiana had been significantly reduced from the days of Genghis Kan, as various factions sought to assert leadership. Tamerlane claimed he was Genghis's descendant, but there is no evidence to support this, although apparently two of his four wives were related to Genghis. In 1361, Tamerlane became chieftain of the Timurid tribe. With Amir Husayn, his brother-in-law, Tamerlane began defending the Timurids against the dominating Chingisid tribe. Within a decade he defeated the Chingsids, and later Husayn's army itself. Tamerlane named himself sole ruler of Transoxiana in 1369. He saw himself as having been selected by God to lead, having been born during the conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.
After seizing power in Central Asia, Tamerlane assaulted western Iran and eastern Anatolia for the next three decades, leading armies of upwards of 300,000. He began attacking Persia in the 1380s, burying 2,000 Persians alive during a raid in Isfizar, an assault he would later blame on his associates.
From 1392 to 1397 his armies engaged in the Five Years' Campaign against the Golden Horde in Russia. In 1395, his armies finally crossed the Caucasus and devastated the Horde's forces, conquering and forcing merchant caravans to alter their route in order to pay tolls to Tamerlane's army.
In 1398-1399, Tamerlane attacked India swiftly conquered Delhi after 100,000 captives slaughtered. In battle on the banks of the Indus River against an army on elephants, his soldiers placed straw on their camels' backs, then set the straw on fire. The camels ran in alarm, and the elephants retreated, trampling many Indian soldiers in the process.
Tamerlane turned west and conquered Damascus in 1400-1401, moving toward an assault on the Byzantine Empire. In 1402, Turkish Anatolia fell to Tamerlane. He forced many of the Anatolian soldiers to join his army, ultimately capturing the Anatolian leader Beyezid, who died after eight months of torture.
In his old age, Tamerlane began plans for an invasion of China. He became sick after excessive eating and drinking at a celebration before the incursion; after three days of heavy drinking, he died from a fever on February 18, 1405.
Despite his physical handicaps (or perhaps because of them), Tamerlane was an exceptional field leader, governing from horseback. Though his armies numbered in the hundreds of thousands, he kept his soldiers in units of 10. As a political leader, he did not establish government in the lands he conquered, though he would make Samarkand his capital. During his reign, Tamerlane beautified Samarkand, imported captured artisans from Syria and India to design buildings. He would generously reward good workenrs, but on one occasion, Tamerlane had two artisans hanged for building a mosque porch he did not like.
Tamcrlane's bravado was legendary. Before assaulting Damascus, he announced, "I am the scourage of God appointed to chastise you, since no one knows the remedy for your iniquity except me:. You are wicked, but I am more wicked than you, so be silent!“
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