View source for Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza

{{One source|date=August 2008}}
{{Campaignbox Second Timurid Succession Crisis}}
{{Infobox royalty
|image           = 
| alt = Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza
|name = Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza
|title =
|caption         = 
|succession      = 
|reign           = 
|predecessor     = 
|successor       =
|birth_date      = 1422
|birth_place     = 
|death_date      = {{death year and age|1457|1422}}
|death_place     = [[Mashhad]], [[Timurid Empire]] <small>(present-day [[Iran]])</small><ref>Vasilii Vladimirovitch Barthold, ''Four Studies on the History of Central Asia, Vol. 3'' (1962), p. 21</ref> 
|place of burial =
|spouse          = Daulat Sultan Begum<br>Begi Jan Agha<br>Kanizak Begi Agha
|issue = [[Mirza Shah Mahmud|Sultan Mahmud]]<br>unnamed daughter
|full name       = 
|house           = [[Timurid dynasty|House of Timur]]
|father          = [[Baysunghur|Baysunghur Mirza]]
|mother          = Gawhar Nasab Agha [[Khwarezm|Khwarizmi]]
|religion        = [[Islam]]
}}
'''Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza''' ([[Chagatai language|Chagatai]]/{{lang-fa|ابوالقاسم بابر میرزا بن بایسنقر بیگ}}), was a [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] ruler in [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]] (1449–1457). He was the son of [[Baysunghur|Ghiyath-ud-din Baysunghur ibn Shah Rukh Mirza]], and thus a great-grandson of [[Amir Timur]].

Babur was one of the many people involved in the succession struggle that took place during Shah Rukh's last years. Together with Khalil Sultan (a great-great-grandson of [[Timur]]), he plundered the baggage-train of the army and then made his way to Khurasan. Meanwhile, [[Ulugh Beg]] also invaded Khurasan in 1448 in an attempt to defeat [[Ala al-Dawla Mirza]], who held [[Herat]]. Ulugh Beg defeated him at [[Tarnab]] and took [[Mashhad]], while his son [[Abdal-Latif Mirza]] conquered Herat. Ala al-Dawla Mirza fled to south-western [[Afghanistan]]. However, Ulugh Beg felt [[Transoxiana]], where he had already ruled for decades, to be more important, and soon left the area. On the way back, Babur sent a force that inflicted heavy losses on his army.

With a [[power vacuum]] now in Khurasan, Babur quickly seized control. Mashad and Herat fell to him in 1449. Ala al-Dawla Mirza occasionally raided the area but was not a significant factor. Together with Ulugh Beg and [[Sultan Muhammad (Timurid)|Sultan Muhammad]] (who gained control of central [[Safavid dynasty|Persia]]), Babur became one of the three important Timurid rulers. This balance of power was soon upset by Sultan Muhammad, who invaded Khurasan. The campaign started out badly for Babur, with a defeat at Mashad in March 1450 convinced him to cede parts of his territory. However, Babur soon recovered and took Sultan Muhammad prisoner, and then executed him. He then marched to [[Shiraz, Iran|Shiraz]] to take control of Sultan Muhammad's lands.

At this point [[Jahan Shah]] of the [[Black Sheep Turkmen]] ended his loyalty to the Timurids. He quickly put [[Qum]] and [[Saveh]] to siege. Babur began to march against him but was forced to return to Herat, due to the overwhelming superiority of the Black Sheep's armies and a plot hatched against him by Ala al-Dawla Mirza. Most of Persia was taken from the Timurids by 1452, with the exception of [[Abarquh]], which was conquered by the Black Sheep in 1453. While [[Kerman|Kirman]] was temporarily conquered some time later and a few attempts were made to seize [[Ray, Iran|Ray]], Persia as a whole was never retaken by the Timurids.

In 1454 Babur invaded Transoxiana, then under the control of [[Abu Sa'id Mirza]] in retaliation for the latter's seizure of [[Balkh]]. He quickly laid siege to [[Samarkand]]. The conflict between the two soon ended, however, with the [[Oxus River]] agreed to as the border. This remained in effect until Babur's death in 1457. He was succeeded by his son [[Mirza Shah Mahmud|Mahmud]].

==Personal life==
Babur had three consorts:<ref>John E Woods, ''The Timurid Dynasty'' (1990), p. 46</ref>
*Daulat Sultan Begum, daughter of Abu Sa'id Darughe, mother of Sultan Mahmud Mirza;
*Begi Jan Agha, daughter of Khudaidad;
*Kanizak Begi Agha, mother of a daughter;

==References==
<references />
*Peter Jackson (1986). ''The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume Six: The Timurid and Safavid Periods''. {{ISBN|0-521-20094-6}}

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{{Succession box| before = [[Ulugh Beg]]| title = [[Timurid Empire]] (in Herat) | years =1449–1457 | after = [[Mirza Shah Mahmud]]}}
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[[Category:1422 births]]
[[Category:1457 deaths]]
[[Category:Timurid monarchs]]
[[Category:Herat]]
[[Category:People from Herat]]