Timur never claimed the title of khan — he lacked Chinggisid blood and knew it. His solution was to rule through puppet khans of the Chinggisid line, lending his conquests a dynastic legitimacy he could not personally possess. Suyurghatmish, a descendant of Chagatai, served precisely this function from 1370 until his death in 1388, his name appearing on coinage while Timur held all actual power.
This coin dates to the period of Timur's campaigns into Persia and the Caucasus, when maintaining the fiction of Chinggisid rule on the coinage was still politically necessary for governing conquered populations.
Timur never claimed the title of khan — he lacked Chinggisid blood and knew it. His solution was to rule through puppet khans of the Chinggisid line, lending his conquests a dynastic legitimacy he could not personally possess. Suyurghatmish, a descendant of Chagatai, served precisely this function from 1370 until his death in 1388, his name appearing on coinage while Timur held all actual power.
This coin dates to the period of Timur's campaigns into Persia and the Caucasus, when maintaining the fiction of Chinggisid rule on the coinage was still politically necessary for governing conquered populations.