Qarachar Noyan
Qarachar Noyan[note 1] (c.1166 – 1243/44 or 1255/56), also spelt Karachar, was a Mongol military commander under Genghis Khan as well as a paternal ancestor of Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire.
Though there is little mention of him in early sources, where he is only described as a military official, the link Qarachar provided between the old Mongol Empire and the Timurid dynasty was paramount to the latter's foundational history.
His role and that of his relations were thus heavily expanded and potentially mythologised by Timurid court historians, who portrayed him as a hereditary supreme commander and administrator endowed with a unique intimacy with the ruling clan.
[2] Later Timurid historians, such as Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi in his Zafarnama and Hafiz-i Abru in his Majma and Zubdat, greatly elaborated on the origins of the dynasty, including on the life and background of Qarachar.
In continuation of a covenant made between their respective great-grandfathers Qachuli and Qabul,[note 2] he commended this son to Qarachar's care, who was also entrusted with the administration and armies to manage on his behalf.
[12][note 3] Yazdi records that Qarachar subsequently occupied a prominent position in the Chagatai court, performing the actual duties of ruling while the Khan revelled and hunted.
The Mu'izz al-Ansab, a genealogical work from the reign of Shah Rukh,[14] also adds that he carried out legal decisions based on the laws set out by Genghis Khan (the Yassa).
[16][4] The first historian to question the narratives presented by Timurid histories was Constantine d'Ohsson in 1834, who stated that they were falsified, with the character of Qarachar being an invention due to an apparent lack of mention in the works of Rashid-al-Din Hamadani.
Togan also states that the general importance of the Barlas among the Chagatai tribes was proved by the influential marriages made by Timur and his sisters prior to the former's ascension.
[24][25][15] John E. Woods extensively discussed the matter of Timur's ancestry, including Qarachar, and stated his belief that the conqueror had manipulated his genealogy for political means.
[26] This view was made clear in Nizam al-din Ali Shami's version of the Zafarnama, which portrays that Timur "revived the house of Chagatai" by enthroning his puppet-Khan, thus vindicating the trust Genghis Khan had placed in Qarachar.
She posits that the Kheshig role is not explicitly acknowledged in Timurid sources because it was a "submerged" institution, finding little mention in post-Mongol Persian works, which instead prefer circumlocutions.
