Sunday, May 3, 2009

Primary Text: Tamburlaine at war

There is no controversy over at least one issue: Tamburlaine was a brutal, intense warlord. The first painting here displays this in its depiction of a grotesque tower of skulls. It is the end of the Battle of Herat, and defeated bodies lie strewn across the field, each missing its head. Tamburlaine has constructed these heads - full, fresh heads, not sterilized skulls, with skin and hair, dripping blood, reeking of death - partly as a tribute to his ruthless military prowess, partly as a warning against challenging him in battle, and perhaps even partly as a celebration of death, of the undoing of life, at the hands of Tamburlaine, the Antichrist. The banners and the trumpeter near the tower give an aire of pomp and celebration, and the soldiers in the scene don't look like the shells of men after war to which we have become accustomed to see, but more like soldiers standing at parade rest, waiting to view their leader. Such is Tamburlaine, allegory of ruthless Islamic military.
This second painting is somewhat bizarre. It seems to depict a battle that never happened; in fact, it has no caption nor an attribute at the bottom. On the right side, the east side, there is an army of distinct Ottoman qualities: they ride highly decorated horses, or even camels. Their faces are round, dark, and have thin mustaches or beards. On the left, western side is a much smaller, more non-descript force. They have bland, white faces. They are clearly losing. They are nearly all in retreat, and many are already slain. This is a worst case scenario, the unspoken fear of England. A battle between the thinly-stretched, imperialized military of England against the massive Islamic front would be catastrophic. In fact, the only two English soldiers that dare attack are already overwhelmed. The bottom is surrounded by enemy soldiers, clearly outnumbered, while the top charges against multiple lines of the enemy; he doesn't stand a chance. Neither did the army of England against the army of Islam. This was their greatest fear as a sovereign nation: defeat at the hands of the heathen, or worse, Antichrist armies, as embodied by Tamburlaine.
Thus this attack on a mountain stronghold is representative of the sort of obstacle England would face. The Islamic army was a massive stronghold atop a mountain. There are very few soldiers below in the offense, but above wait scores of reserves. There are even enough soldiers such that the leader (let's assume it's Tamburlaine), sitting atop his horse, has a servant to do nothing but hold an umbrella over his head. Below pace lions, waiting to dine upon fallen bodies - a subtle link perhaps to the days of Christians persecution as the hands of the Romans. Against Christianity finds itself posed against an overwhelming militaristic force, one that it cannot beat in a battle of might. Instead, England can only hope for a sort of spiritual warfare, where they will be aided by the divine intervention of their one true God against the Islamic Antichrist Tamburlaine.

Bibliography (in order of appearance):

The Tower of Skulls raised after the Battle of Herat. 1552. From a manuscript of the Zafar-nama of Sharaf al-din Yazdi, British Museum, London. Tamburlaine The Conqueror. By Hilda Hookham. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1962.64.

Bihzad. Battle scene. 1442. From a manuscript illustrating poems of Nizami, British Museum, London. Tamburlaine The Conqueror. By Hilda Hookham. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1962. 33.

Bihzad. Attack on mountain strongholds. 1467. From a manuscript of the Zafar-nama of Sharaf al-din Yazdi, B. Quaritch. Tamburlaine The Conqueror. By Hilda Hookham. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1962. 224.

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