on his grandmother, taking both her and the corpse hostage. His reasons for this are uncertain, with it being possible that he was attempting to preempt Ala al-Dawla and advance his own claims to the throne. Alternatively, this may have been part of a pre-arranged plan to support the claims of his father Ulugh Beg, who was by this point Shah Rukh's last surviving son. Ala al-Dawla, who had been biding his time in Herat, declared himself sultan upon learning of the situation, and distributed his grandfather's treasury among the troops. The prince's soldiers then launched an attack against his renegade cousin, freeing the dowager empress and rescuing his grandfather's body, which he had buried in the Gawhar Shad Mausoleum in Herat. Over the following few months, the various regions of the Timurid Empire were parcelled off by Shah Rukh's descendants, with the respective princes opting to remain cautious and defensive. During this time, Ala al-Dawla was in an enviable position, holding the wealthy region of Khorasan, which included his grandfather's former capital of Herat. In addition to this, he commanded the allegiance of most of Shah Rukh's nobles, as well as enjoying the favour of the influential dowager empress Gawhar Shad. The hiatus ended in May when Ulugh Beg, who was ruling from Samarqand, took Abu Bakr, son of Muhammad Juki captive and stationed his own troops in Balkh, which had formerly been the latter's territory. When Ulugh Beg heard that Ala al-Dawla had gathered his army in a move to block him, his amir's advised him to make peace with his nephew. Ala al-Dawla, who had just learned that his brother Abul-Qasim Babur was making raids near Herat, agreed to the proposal, allowing Ulugh Beg to keep much of Abu Bakr's former territories. As Ala al-Dawla marched to Mashhad to confront his brother's forces, the amirs of both princes urged them to make an alliance, pointing out that Ulugh Beg was aiming for total conquest over his rivals. They agreed to a border at Khabushan and returned to their respective capitals. In the winter of that year, Ala al-Dawla became embroiled in a quarrel with Abdal-Latif, who had been stationed in Balkh as his father's governor. Ala al-Dawla launched a campaign against his cousin and plundered the region. Ulugh Beg used this as a pretext to attack and together with Abdal-Latif, he launched an invasion against his nephew