Ulugh Beg - Death

Death

Ulugh's scientific expertise was not matched by his skills in governance. When he heard of the death of his father Shah Rukh, Ulugh Beg went to Balkh, where he heard that his Mirza Ala-ud-Daulah, son of Ulugh's brother Baysonqor, had claimed the emirship of the Timurid Empire in Herat. Consequently Ulugh Beg marched against Ala-ud-Daulah and met him in battle at Morgab. Having won this battle, Ulugh Beg advanced toward Herat and massacred its people in 1448, but Ala-ud-Daulah's brother Mirza Abul-Qasim Babur bin Baysonqor came to his aid, defeating Ulugh Beg. Ulugh Beg retreated to Balkh, where he found that its governor, his oldest son 'Abd al-Latif, had rebelled against him. Another civil war ensued. Within two years, he was beheaded by the order of his own eldest son while on his way to Mecca. Eventually, his reputation was rehabilitated by his relative, 'Abdullah (1450–1451), who placed Ulugh Beg's remains in the tomb of Timur in Samarkand, where they were found by archeologists in 1941.

The crater, Ulugh Beigh, on the Moon, was named after him by the German astronomer Johann Heinrich von Mädler on his 1830 map of the Moon.