His son, Sultan Ahmed, was permitted to mount the throne of Samarkand. He was known to be of moderate abilities and a yielding nature; and revolts against his authority were frequent. The southern provinces threw off their allegiance, and were never reconquered during Sultan Ahmed’s lifetime. His brother `Omar Shaykh successfully withstood him on the extreme east, and he had the greatest difficulty in bringing back Turkestān to obedience. His reign was, however, more peaceful than might have been anticipated in times so stormy. If Sultan Ahmed was given to alternate fits of drunkenness and devotion, he was at least devoid of the lust of conquest which proved so fatal to his predecessors. Transoxiana enjoyed comparative repose during his twenty-seven years’ reign, and its capital was adorned with public edifices which rivalled those of Ulugh Beg in beauty and grandeur. He slept with his fathers in A.H. 899 (1493); whereon his brother, Sultan Mohammad, seized the throne, and basely slaughtered his five youthful nephews. This infamous cruelty and his own debauched life roused the ire of his nobles, whom good Sultan Ahmed had raised to a comparatively high standard of civilisation. He died after a reign of six months (1494), probably by violent means. The succession was, as usual, disputed by his children, Mas`ūd, Sultan `Ali, and Baysunkur, the latter of whom, a youth of eighteen, was elevated to supreme authority by a powerful faction; for by this time a new factor had been introduced into Central Asian politics. The Uzbeg chieftains and the ecclesiastics, who had been restrained by the strong arm of Tīmūr and his descendants, gained the mastery under the feeble Sultan Ahmed. Baysunkur’s youth and inexperience rendered him unable to hold the balance true between the contending parties. His lukewarmness made him disliked by all; and his brother, Sultan `Ali, was invited from Karshī to supplant him. Baysunkur sought refuge in flight, but was soon afterwards restored, while his rival, Sultan `Ali, escaped to Bokhārā. Here he organised resistance so effectually that Baysunkur was foiled in an attempt to capture Bokhārā, and driven back to his capital. Sultan `Ali now turned the tables effectually on his brother. He advanced on Samarkand at the head of overwhelming forces, while Mas`ūd pressed forward from the south to assist him; and the famous Bāber Mīrzā, grandson of Abū Sa`īd, raised the standard of revolt in Kokand.[419]