Anuschteginids

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The Anuschteginiden ( DMG Anūšteginiden) were a Muslim dynasty who ruled both Khorezmia and its surroundings as well as all of Iran , Transoxania and today's Afghanistan at the beginning of the 13th century .

As the 4th dynasty, it bore the old title of " Khorezm-Shah " and resided, like the Mamunids , in the flourishing Gurganj . The Anuschteginids are often referred to when the "(great) Khorezm Shahs" are mentioned.

Ascent to the death of Tekisch

The dynasty of the Anushteginids was founded by Anusch-Tegin , a Turkish military slave ( Ġulām or Mamlūk ) who came from the mountainous north-west of present-day Afghanistan and who was (probably only nominal) in 1077 by the Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I (Malik-Šāh) ) Prefect (šiḥna) of Khoresmia, after he had previously held the high office of "keeper of the (royal) basin " (ṭašt-dār) .

However, it was only Anush-Tegin's successor in the office of Seljuk governor of Khorezm, the Turkish military slave Ekintschi ibn Qochqar, who took the traditional title of Khorezm Shah , before Anush-Tegin's son Qutb ad-Din Muhammad was finally able to assert himself as the new Khorezm Shah. During his 30-year reign, Qutb ad-Din Muhammad, as a loyal vassal of the Seljuks, managed to consolidate his power to such an extent that his son Ala ad-Din Atsiz could inherit his father's office and title without any problems in 1127 (or 1128) .

From around 1138 Ala ad-Din Atsiz repeatedly rebelled against the Seljuks. While ultimately all three of his attempts, the supremacy of the last great Seldschukensultans failed Sanjar shake off, but he managed as part of a company's accelerated expansion policy, the Ustyurt Plateau with the peninsula Mangyshlak and the region along the lower reaches of the Syrdarjas with the important city Dschand to conquer and thus to continuously expand the power of the Khorezm Shahs until his death on July 30, 1156.

Il-Arslan is crowned ruler. Illustration from the Jami 'at-tawarich of Rashīd ad-Dīn .

Atsiz's son and successor Il-Arslan was then able to rule independently of the declining Seljuks after the death of Sultan Sandjar in 1157, but had - like his father recently - the suzerainty of the Qara-Chitai, who were expelled from China and then moved to the west acknowledge after these sandjar inflicted a heavy defeat in the battle of Qatwan (Qaṭwān; September 1141) and thus subdued almost all of Turkestan including Khorezm. The sovereignty of the "infidel" Gür- Chans (Gür-Ḫān), which existed until 1210 , was relatively loose and was limited to annual tribute payments, so that Il-Arslan rose to become one of the most powerful rulers of the Islamic East despite his vassal status (he now called himself Sultan ) and both qarachanidisch ruled Transoxiana and in northern Khorasan could intervene.

Il-Arslan's eldest son Ala ad-Dunya wa-'d-Din Abu 'l-Muzaffar Tekish was only able to fight his brother Jalal ad-Dunya wa-'d-Din Sultan Shah Abu in 1172 with the help of the powerful Qara-Chitai 'l-Qasim Mahmud (Ǧalāl ad-Dunyā wa-ʼd-Dīn Sulṭān-Shāh Abū ʼl-Qāsim Maḥmūd) as the new Khorezm Shah, but this did not prevent him from attempting a little later (like his father in 1172) undertake to get rid of the sovereignty of the Gur-Chan, whereupon the Qara-Chitai temporarily supported the claim to the throne of Tekisch's brother Sultan-Shah, who had managed to bring part of Khorasan into his power after his escape from Khorezm. After several battles, however, Tekisch was able to conquer Nishapur (Nīšāpūr) in 1187 and, after the death of Sultan Shah in 1193, take over the entire Chorasan territory, especially the cities of Merw , Sarach (Saraḫs) and Tus (Ṭūs), which reunited the possessions of the Anuschteginids were.

Sultan Tekisch's mausoleum in Köneürgenç

In addition to some punitive expeditions against rebellious Qipchaqen princes in what is now Kazakhstan , the Khorezm Shah also undertook repeated campaigns to western Iran from 1192, where in 1194 Toghril III. (Toġrïl), the last Sultan of the (Iraqi) line of Großseldschuken defeated and killed, all jibal (Ǧibāl), with Rayy and Hamadan conquered (Hamadān) and then with the resurgent at the time Abbasid caliph ('Abbāsiden) - since 1180 Toggle Nasir li-Dini 'llah (an-Nāṣir li-Dīni ʼllāh) - got into conflict. Even too weak to be able to take action against the powerful Anushteginid sultan and his claims to power, the power-hungry caliph allied with the Ghurids (Ġūrids) ruling in today's Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India , who are the most dangerous rivals of the Khorezm Shahs for hegemony in the East of the Islamic world, and repeatedly incited them to take the field against Tekisch. Despite initial military successes, which the Ghurid Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad (Ġiyāṯ ad-Dīn Muḥammad) was able to record in the war against the Khorezm Shahs and their overlords, the Qara-Chitai, which began in 1198, however, in 1199 an-Nasir was initially forced To recognize Tekisch, the founder of the Khorezmian empire, as sultan of Persian Iraq , Khorasan and Turkistan.

Imperial expansion under Muhammad II.

A coin minted in Taloqan under the rule of Ala ad-Din Muhammad
The Anuschteginid Empire at the beginning of the 13th century

When Tekish died in 1200 and his son Ala ad-Dunya wa-'d-Din Abu 'l-Fath Muhammad (ʿAlāʾ ad-Dunyā wa-ʼd-Dīn Abū' l-Fatḥ Muḥammad) ascended the throne of the Khorezm Shahs, the rule over western Iran was lost again in a bloody popular uprising and Khorasan also fell temporarily to the Ghurids, who had been urged by an-Nasir to take military action. Although Muhammad II managed to retake Khorasan by 1203, the Ghurid sultan Muizz ad-Din Muhammad (Muʿizz ad-Dīn Muḥammad) even advanced as far as Gurganj in 1204 before he could be defeated with the help of the Qara-Chitai and Qarachanids. Since Muizz ad-Din Muhammad, the last equal opponent of the Anushteginids in the east of the Islamic world, was murdered in 1206 and his weak successors were unable to hold their empire together, Muhammad II finally succeeded in removing all non-Indian areas of the disintegrated Ghurid Empire by 1215 - Essentially today's Afghanistan with the important cities of Balch (Balḫ), Tirmidh (Tirmiḏ), Herat (Herāt) and Ghazna (Ġazna) - and also the last lines of the Ghurids in Firuzkuh (Fīrūzkūh) and Bamiyan (Bāmiyān) to be conquered fall. In addition, the Nasrid rulers of Sistan (Naṣriden von Sīstān) had to recognize the suzerainty of the Anushteginids.

The Ghurids were already so weakened in 1206 that the Khorezm Shah - as the most powerful ruler of the Islamic East - was able to go over to oppose the suzerainty of the Qarachanid rulers of Samarkand (Samarqand) together with Uthman Chan (ʿUṯmān ān ) To raise up "unbelieving" Qara-Chitai. In the battle of Taras (Tarās; probably 1210) the Muslim allies - aided by the simultaneous rebellion of the vassals of the Gur-Khan in East Turkistan and the seizure of power by the Naiman prince Kütchlüg (Küčlüg) - finally defeated an army of the Qara-Chitai, what the The reputation and fame of the Khorezm Shah, who has since been formally completely sovereign, was extremely beneficial and resulted in almost all of Transoxania being under the suzerainty of the Anushteginids ( Bukhara had already been conquered by Tekish). However, Muhammad II does not seem to have really been able to defend the Muslims of the region against Kütschlüg, who took power in the kingdom of the Qara-Chitai in 1211 and thus became the new main rival of the Khorezm Shah. In general, the suzerainty of the Sunni Anuschteginids seemed by no means more favorable than that of the non-Muslim Gur-Chans, which is why the Qarachanids rebelled against Muhammad II and again submitted to the Qara-Chitai. When a bloody uprising against the Khoresmians broke out in Samarkand in 1212, Muhammad II took the city and had his former ally Uthman Chan - like almost all Qarachanids - executed.

Sultan Muhammad's victories over the Ghurids, Qara-Chitai, Qipchaqen and Qarachanids enabled him to advance to central and western Iran: in 1205/6 the regional dynasty of the Bawandids (Bāvandids) ruling over Mazandaran (Māzandarān ) could only be subjugated and in 1210; a little later, Kirman (Kirmān), Makran and Hormuz were also incorporated into the Anuschteginidenreich , so that the suzerainty of the Khorezm Shah was recognized even in some coastal areas of Oman , as these were subordinate to the ruler of Hormuz. In 1217, Muhammad II recaptured all of Persian Iraq, with the Atabegs of Fars , the Salghurids (Salġurids), and the Atabegs of Azerbaijan , the Eldiguzids , also being subjugated. The conflict of interests in power politics that had existed since Tekisch's government between the Anuschteginids advancing west and the Caliph an-Nasir had meanwhile grown into a comprehensive legal battle and the scheming caliph missed every opportunity to provoke his opponent.

Muhammad II, at the height of his power, tried to conquer Baghdad in the autumn of 1217 in order to put an end to the rule of his arch enemy an-Nasir - whom he had already deposed in favor of a Shiite counter-caliph. At that time the Abbaside dispatched the well-known Sufi Sheikh Umar as-Suhrawardi , who tried in vain to dissuade the Khorezm Shah from his enterprise. However, the majority of Muhammad's army was destroyed in a violent snowstorm while attempting to cross the Zagros Mountains . Since first contacts with the Mongols were made at this time , the Khorezm Shah was finally forced to give up his project in Iraq and return to Transoxania via Khorasan.

Conquest of the empire by the Mongols

Jalal ad-Din (left) flees from Genghis Khan's army across the Indus (miniature from the end of the 16th century).

The heyday of the empire was short. Provoked by the attack on a trade caravan in Utrar (Uṭrār; 1218), the Mongols, united by Genghis-Khan , also conquered western Central Asia from 1219 , destroying flourishing metropolises such as Samarkand , Bukhara , Merw and Nischapur and cruelly murdering many people. The Khorezmian capital was also razed to the ground and Muhammad II - unable to effectively defend his huge empire against invaders from the east - had no choice but to take refuge on a small island in the Caspian Sea , where he lived in the winter of 1220 / Died in 1221. His famous son Jalal ad-Din continued the resistance from Azerbaijan after a three-year stay in India against the Mongols, who were advancing further and further west, but was initially defeated by the allied Rum Seljuks and Aiyubids in the battle of Yasi in August 1230 . Chemen (Yasï-Čemen near Erzincan ) was defeated and then murdered a year later by Kurdish robbers near Maiyafariqin (Maiyāfāriqīn) while fleeing the Mongols , which brought the Anushteginid dynasty and the rule of the Khorezm Shahs to an end.

The rapid rise of the Khorezm Shah to a great power was mainly due to the alliance of the dynasty with the tribal aristocracy of the Qipchaqen Confederation, from which the Anushteginids always chose their main consorts . The wars and raids of the nomadic Turks had, in part, devastating consequences for agriculture in Central Asia and Iran. In addition to the destruction caused by the war, much of the arable land was converted into grazing land for the herds of the Qipchaqs.

Sources and literature

  • ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn ʿAṭāʾ Malik Ǧuvainī : Taʾrīḫ-i ǧahān-gušāh , in the translation of John Andrew Boyle : The History of the World-Conqueror , Manchester 1958
  • Ibn al-Aṯīr : Al-Kāmil fi ʼt-taʾrīḫ , ed. By Carolus Johannes Tornberg : Chronicon quod perfectissimum inscribitur , Lugdunum Batavorum (Leiden) 1867–1874
  • Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Nasavī : Sīrat as-sulṭān Ǧalāl ad-Dīn Mengübirti , ed. By Hafez Ahmad Hamdi: History of Djalal el-Din Mankobirti - Shāh of Khwārazm , Cairo 1953
  • Minhāǧ ad-Dīn Abū ʿAmr ʿUṯmān Ǧūzǧānī : Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī , in the translation of Henry George Raverty: Tabakāt-i-Nāsirī - A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia, including Hindūstān, from AH 194. 810 AD] AH 658 [1260 AD], and the Irruption of the Infidel Mu gh als into Islām , London 1881–1899
  • Wilhelm Barthold : Turkestan - Down to the Mongol Invasion ( EJW Gibb Memorial Series ), London 1928, accessed November 15, 2019.
  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth : Article " KH w ĀRAZM- SH ĀHS", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam , New Edition (edited by PJ Bearman et al.), Leiden 1960–2004
  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth: Article “KHWARAZMSHAHS i. Descendants of the line of Anuštigin " , in: Encyclopaedia Iranica , Online Edition (April 20, 2009)
  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth: The new Islamic dynasties - A chronological and genealogical manual (pp. 178-180), Edinburgh 2004
  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth: Chapter "The Seljuqs and the Khwarazm Shahs - Part Three The eastern Seljuq sultanate (1118–57) and the rise and florescence of the Khwarazm Shahs of Anūshteginʼs line up to the appearance of the Mongols (1097–1219)", in: History of Civilizations of Central Asia , Vol. IV: The age of achievement: AD 750 to the end of the fifteenth century - Part One: The historical, social and economic setting (edited by Muhammad Seyfeydinovich Asimov and Clifford Edmund Bosworth) , Paris 1998
  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth: Chapter "The political and dynastic history of the Iranian world (AD 1000-1217)", in: The Cambridge History of Iran , Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol periods (edited by John Andrew Boyle), Cambridge 1968
  • John Andrew Boyle : Chapter "Dynastic and political history of the Īl- Kh āns", in: The Cambridge History of Iran , Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol periods , Cambridge 1968
  • Lutz Richter-Bernburg : essay "On the titulature of Ḫwārezm-Šāhe from the Anūštegīns dynasty", in: Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran , Vol. 9 (New Series), Berlin 1976
  • Bertold Spuler : Chapter "History of Central Asia since the emergence of the Turks", in: Handbuch der Orientalistik (Ed. Bertold Spuler), Dept. I, Vol. V: History of Central Asia (Ed. Karl Jettmar ), Leiden 1966

supporting documents

  1. ^ W. Bartold: Turkestan, p. 324
  2. ^ Erik Ohlander: Sufism in an Age of Transition: Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Rise of the Islamic Mystical Brotherhood Brill, Leiden, 2008. pp. 98-105.