Shirvanshahs
Shirvanshahs | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
861–1538 | |||||||||
Capital | Shamakhi (initially) Baku (later) | ||||||||
Common languages | Persian (court, literature, dynastic) Arabic (initially dynastic) | ||||||||
Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||
Government | Governorship, later monarchy | ||||||||
• 861–? | Haytham ibn Khalid (first) | ||||||||
• 1535–1538 | Shahrukh (last) | ||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages and the Early modern period | ||||||||
• Established | 861 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1538 | ||||||||
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The Shirvanshahs (Arabic/Persian: شروانشاه) were the rulers of Shirvan (in present-day Azerbaijan) from 861 to 1538. The first ruling line were the Yazidids, an originally Arab and later Persianized dynasty, who became known as the Kasranids (also referred to as the Khaqanids). The second ruling line were the Darbandi, distant relatives of the Yazidids/Kasranids.
The Shirvanshahs ruled from 861 to 1538, one of the most enduring dynasties of the Islamic world. At times they were independent, often they had to recognize the overlordship of neighbouring empires. The dynasty is known for its patronage of culture, such as during the 12th-century, when their realm served as the focal point for Persian literature, attracting distinguished poets such as Khaqani, Nizami Ganjavi, Falaki Shirvani, etc. In 1382, the Shirvanshah throne was taken by Ibrahim I (r. 1382–1417), thus marking the start of the Darbandi line.
The Shirvanshah realm flourished in the 15th century, during the long reigns of
Background
The territory that made up
The title Shirvanshah most likely dates back to the period before the rise of
The majority of known information about the early Shirvanshahs is recorded in the Arabic-language Jamiʿ al-Duwal (lit. 'The Compendium of Nations') of the 17th-century Ottoman historian Munejjim-bashi (died 1702), who used the now lost Arabic Ta'rikh Bab al-Abwab ('History of Darband') as source material. This book was comprehensively analyzed and translated by the Russian orientalist Vladimir Minorsky.[4]
History
First line (861–1382)
The first line of the Shirvanshahs were the
The Arab
Starting with the Shirvanshah Manuchihr I (r. 1027–1034), their names became almost completely Persian instead of Arabic, such as Manuchihr, Qubad and Faridun. The family now preferred to use names from national Iranian history and also claimed to be descended from pre-Islamic, Sasanian-era figures such as Bahram Gur (r. 420–438) or Khosrow I Anushirvan (r. 531–579). The allure of a Sasanian heritage now outweighed memories of ancestry from the Banu Shayban. This process is comparable to how the originally Arab Rawadid dynasty in Azerbaijan became Kurdish due to the Kurdish environment they lived in.[3][4]
Records regularly mention battles between the Shirvanshahs and the "infidel" inhabitants of the central Caucasus, including the Alans, the people of Sarir, and the Christian Georgians and Abkhazians. In 1030, Manuchihr I was defeated near Baku by invading Rus, who then advanced into Arran. There they sacked the city of Baylaqan and then left for the Byzantine Empire. Not long afterwards, the eastern part of the Southern Caucasus became vulnerable to Oghuz raids through northern Iran. Because of his fear of the Oghuz, the Shirvanshah Qubad (r. 1043–1049) had in 1045 to surround his capital of Shamakhi/Yazidiya with iron gates and a robust stone wall.[4]
In 1066/67, Shirvan was attacked twice by the Turkic commander Qarategin, who ravaged the environment of Baku and Maskat. The Shirvanshah
Another Seljuk invasion of Shirvan took place during the reign of Mahmud II (r. 1118–1131), which the Georgians capitalized on by attacking Shamakhi and Darband. In the mid 12th-century, Shirvan was more or less a Georgian protectorate. For some time, Shakki, Qabala and Muqan was under direct control by the Bagrationi kings of Georgia, who even occasionally used the title of Shirvanshah. The Shirvanshah and Bagrationi family also agreed to make political marriages to become allies. Due to these developments, the Shirvanshahs shifted their focus towards the Caspian Sea, several times enlarging their borders as far as Darband.[4]
Later on, the names and family ties of the Shirvanshahs become exceedingly convoluted and uncertain in sources, with Munejjim-bashi providing an incomplete record of them, starting with
In 1225, the Shirvanshah Garshasp I (r. after 1203 – 1233/34) was ordered by the Khwarazmshah Jalal al-Din Mangburni (r. 1220–1231) to pay a tribute identical to the one the Fariburz I had paid Malik-Shah I.[17][4] The Shirvanshahs soon became subjects of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), whose rulers they mentioned on their coins. The title of Shirvanshah was not shown on their coins, but the name of the ruling Shirvanshah remained. The Shirvanshahs were later under the suzerainty of the Ilkhanate (1256–1335), a period in which no coins from Shirvan have been found. The Shirvanshahs were also sometimes under the rule of the Golden Horde.[4][18]
Following the collapse of the Ilkhanate, the Shirvanshah kingdom was once again to able to rule autonomously, under the rule of Kayqubad I and then later his son Kavus I. However, during the reign of the latter, the Shirvanshah kingdom came under the rule of the Jalayirid Sultanate (1335–1432). Kavus I died in 1372/73 and was succeeded by his son Hushang, who was killed by his subjects in 1382, thus marking the end of the Yazidi/Kasranid line.[18]
Second line (1382–1538)
The Shirvanshah throne was subsequently taken over by
By 1500, the
Although the Safavids and Shirvanshahs had a hostile relationship, Ismail I allowed them to continue their rule in Shirvan, albeit as vassals of
Culture
Shirvan was originally part of
Tati was amongst the Iranian languages that survived the
During the 12th century, Shirvan served as the focal point for
The Shirvanshahs and portions of Shirvan may have followed the
Military
Information about the military of the Shirvanshahs is sparse. Like Armenian and Georgian principalities, they mostly made use of mercenaries. When Shamakhi was besieged by the Shaddadid ruler Abu'l-Aswar Shavur ibn Fadl (r. 1022–1067) in 1063, fifty cavalry soldiers of the Shirvanshah were killed, described as being composed of "Lakzian stalwarts and *Diduwanian (?) noblemen". The Shirvanshahs also had a regular army, as well as naulatiya levies who served in the garrison of Mihyariya, rotating every month. The ghulams (slave-soldiers) most likely served as the royal guard of the Shirvanshah.[39]
Notes
- ^ However, Layzan served as a district of Shirvan in the medieval Islamic period, and supposedly even before that, under the Sasanian Empire (224–651).[1]
References
- ^ Barthold & Bosworth 1997b, p. 487.
- ^ Bosworth 2011b.
- ^ a b c d e Barthold & Bosworth 1997a, p. 488.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Bosworth 2011a.
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 2.
- ^ Vacca 2017, p. 7.
- ^ Madelung 1975, p. 243.
- ^ Ter-Ghewondyan 1976, p. 27.
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 22.
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 26.
- ^ Bosworth 1996, p. 141.
- ^ Curtis & Stewart 2009, p. 16.
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 85.
- ^ Kouymjian 1969, p. 187.
- ^ Soucek & Suny 1988.
- ^ Bosworth 1996, p. 144.
- ^ Kouymjian 1969, pp. 152–153.
- ^ a b c d e f Barthold & Bosworth 1997a, p. 489.
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 130.
- ^ Babayan 2009, pp. 3–5.
- ^ Savory & Karamustafa 1998, pp. 628–636.
- ^ Savory 1985, p. 868.
- ^ Mitchell 2009, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Mitchell 2009, p. 23.
- ^ a b c Floor 2008, p. 284.
- ^ a b Lornejad & Doostzadeh 2012, p. 144.
- ^ Tonoyan 2019, p. 367 (see note 2).
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 14.
- ^ Lornejad & Doostzadeh 2012, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Lornejad & Doostzadeh 2012, p. 153.
- ^ Tonoyan 2019, pp. 368–369.
- ^ a b Riahi 2008.
- ^ Gould 2016, p. 25.
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 136.
- ^ Amanat 2019, p. 37.
- ^ Gould 2022, p. 7.
- ^ Lornejad & Doostzadeh 2012, p. 13.
- ^ Lornejad & Doostzadeh 2012, p. 167 (note 573).
- ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 121.
Sources
- ISBN 978-90-04-38728-7.
- Babayan, Kathryn (2009). "Jonayd". In ISBN 978-1-934283-14-1.
- ISBN 978-90-04-10422-8.
- Barthold, W. & Bosworth, C.E. (1997b). "S̲h̲īrwān". In ISBN 978-90-04-10422-8.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1996). The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10714-5.
- Bosworth, C. E. (2011a). "Šervānšāhs". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- Bosworth, C. E. (2011b). "Šervān". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- ISBN 978-1845116910.
- ISBN 978-1933823232.
- .
- Gould, Rebecca Ruth (2022). The Persian Prison Poem. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1474484015.
- Kouymjian, Dickran (1969). A Numismatic History of Southeastern Caucasia and Adharbayjan based on the Islamic Coinage of the 5th/11th to the 7th/13th Centuries. Columbia University.
- Lornejad, Siavash; Doostzadeh, Ali (2012). Arakelova, Victoria; Asatrian, Garnik (eds.). On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi (PDF). Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies.
- ISBN 0-521-20093-8.
- Minorsky, Vladimir (1958). A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries. W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd.
- Mitchell, Colin P. (2009). The Practice of Politics in Safavid Iran: Power, Religion and Rhetoric. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857715883.
- Riahi, Mohammad Amin (2008). "Nozhat al-majāles". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- Savory, R. M. (1985). "ʿAlī Mīrzā". In ISBN 978-0-71009-097-3.
- Savory, R. M.; Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (1998). "Esmāʿīl I Ṣafawī". In ISBN 978-1-56859-055-4.
- Soucek, S.; Suny, R. G. (1988). "Baku". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- OCLC 490638192.
- Tonoyan, Artyom (2019). "On the Caucasian Persian (Tat) Lexical Substratum in the Baku Dialect of Azerbaijani. Preliminary Notes". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 169 (2): 367–378. S2CID 211660063.
- Vacca, Alison (2017). ISBN 978-1107188518.
Further reading
- Akopyan, Alexander; Vardanyan, Aram (2009). "A donative dirham of the Shirwānshāh Muhammad ibn Ahmad (AH 370-81) struck in Barda'a in AH 373 (982/3)". Numismatic Chronicle: 261–267.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1973). "The Heritage of Rulership in Early Islamic Iran and the Search for Dynastic Connections with the Past". Iran. 11. Taylor & Francis: 51–62. JSTOR 4300484.
- ISBN 978-9004259577.
- Cagman, Fílíz; Tanindi, Zeren (2011). "Selections from Jalayirid Books In the Libraries of Istanbul" (PDF). Muqarnas. 28: 243, Fig.24. JSTOR 23350289.
- Gould, Rebecca Ruth (2019). "Dissidence from a Distance: Iranian Politics as Viewed from Colonial Daghestan". In Green, Nile (ed.). The Persianate World: The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca. University of California Press. pp. 259–278.