Query: Timur was only ever a peasant.

Relevant passages:
Timurid dynasty <=SEP=> The Timurid dynasty , self-designated as Gurkani ( گورکانیان , Gūrkāniyān ) , was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from the warlord Timur ( also known as Tamerlane ) . The word `` Gurkani '' derived from `` gurkan '' , a Persianized form of the Mongolian word `` kuragan '' meaning `` son-in-law '' , as the Timurids being in-laws of the line of Genghis Khan , founder of the Mongol Empire . Members of the Timurid dynasty were strongly influenced by the Persian culture and had established two significant empires in history , the Timurid Empire ( 1370-1507 ) based in Persia and Central Asia and the Mughal Empire ( 1526-1857 ) based in the Indian subcontinent .

Timur <=SEP=> Timur ( تیمور Temūr , Chagatai : Temür , 9 April 1336 -- 18 February 1405 ) , historically known as Amir Timur and Tamerlane ( تيمور لنگ Temūr ( - i ) Lang , `` Timur the Lame '' ) , was a Turco-Mongol conqueror . As the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia he became the first ruler in the Timurid dynasty .   Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana on 9 April 1336 , Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370 . From that base he led military campaigns across Western , South and Central Asia , the Caucasus and southern Russia , and emerged as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria , the emerging Ottoman Empire , and the declining Delhi Sultanate . From these conquests he founded the Timurid Empire , but this empire fragmented shortly after his death .   Timur is considered the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe , and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Gunpowder Empires in the 1500s and 1600s . According to John Joseph Saunders , Timur 's background was Iranized and not steppe nomad .   Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan ( died 1227 ) . `` In his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights . He justified his Iranian , Mamluk , and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers . To legitimize his conquests , Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language , referred to himself as the `` Sword of Islam '' , and patronized educational and religious institutions . He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime .  `` Temur , a non-Chinggisid , tried to build a double legitimacy based on his role as both guardian and restorer of the Mongol Empire . ''  Timur also decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna , styling himself a ghazi . By the end of his reign , Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate , the Ilkhanate , and the Golden Horde , and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China .   Timur 's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia , Africa , and Europe , sizable parts of which his campaigns laid to waste . Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people , amounting to about 5 % of the world population at the time .   He was the grandfather of the renowned Timurid sultan , astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg , who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449 , and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur ( 1483-1530 ) , founder of the Mughal Empire , which ruled parts of South Asia for over three centuries , from 1526 until 1857 .  Timur is also recognized as a great patron of art and architecture , as he interacted with Muslim intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru .