The parricide did not prosper long. Abū Sa`īd, a descendant of Tīmūr’s third son, Mīrān Shāh, seized the throne of Samarkand; and, though `Abd ul-Latīf proved himself the stronger in the field, his triumph was cut short by his assassination by one of Ulugh Beg’s trusted servants, A.H. 854 (1450). Abū Sa`īd claimed the succession, but was repulsed by one of Shāh Rukh’s grandsons named `Abdullah Mīrzā, who took possession of the oft-contested throne of Samarkand. Gathering a strong force of Uzbegs, he returned to the charge and deprived `Abdullah, his cousin, of his crown and life, A.H. 856 (1452).[418] The history of the following thirty years is a dreary record of struggles for supreme authority between Tīmūr’s descendants. At length, in A.H. 870 (1465), Abū Sa`īd had defeated every rival and found himself unquestioned master of Transoxiana, Northern Persia, and Afghanistān. Central Asia enjoyed, too, a brief respite from the stress of civil war under a prince of real military and administrative genius. Two years later, A.H. 872 (1467), his evil star tempted him to intervene in the affairs of Āzerbāyjān. He marched against a pretender named Hasan Beg with a powerful army, but was utterly defeated and handed over by his captor to the tender mercies of Prince Yādgār Mirza, son of Shāh Rukh’s consort, Gawhar Shād, whom Abū Sa`īd had put to death. The Mohammedan law is based on the Mosaic code, which prescribes blood for blood: and the once-powerful emperor was beheaded by the inexorable Yādgār.