Atabegs from Yazd

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Atabegs of Yazd (Iran)
Yazd
Yazd

The Atabegs of Yazd ( Persian اتابكان يزد, DMG Atābakān-i Yazd) were a local Muslim dynasty, which - following the Dailamite Kakuyids - ruled the central Iranian city ​​of Yazd from around 1141 until their final deposition by the Muzaffarids in 1319 . Most of the time they had to recognize the sovereignty of the Greater Seljuks and (later) the Mongolian Il-Chane .

From the foundation of the dynasty to the Mongol storm

Panorama of the city of Yazd.

The - judging by the names of the rulers, of Persian descent - was founded by Sam b. Wardanruz that of Sultan Sanjar (reg. 1097-1157) to atabeg (tutorial) of the two daughters of the last Kakuyidenherrschers Garschasp II. (Reg. From 1095) was named after it in the (of Sanjar against the 1141 Qara-Khitai out ) The Battle of Qatwan had fallen without leaving a male heir. Sam married one of the daughters of Garschasp II and ruled Yazd (under the honorary name Rukn ad-Din) until he was deposed and replaced as Atabeg by his younger brother Langar at the age of 90. In the sources he is described as a righteous but incompetent ruler who, especially in his last years, was barely able to do anything against gangs of robbers and troublemakers. He died in 1193/94. After he had succeeded his brother Sam on the throne during his lifetime (probably around 1188), Izz ad-Din Langar, who temporarily served the Greater Seljuks as governor in Isfahan and Shiraz , restored order in Yazd and immediately started an extensive one Construction program which, in addition to the construction of fortresses, mosques, baths and caravanserais, also included gardens, canals and the flourishing (because well-watered) village of Izzabad (ʿIzzābād) at the gates of Yazd. Langar ruled for almost twenty years and finally lived to see the end of the Seldschukenherrschaft in Persia before he died 1207/08 and him as atabeg of Yazd his son Muhyi d-Din Wardanruz heir whose character than that of a hermit and Bafqi dervish is described .

With Wardanruz's government, which lasted until 1218/19 and is only rarely mentioned in the sources, a time in the history of the dynasty that is difficult to reconstruct begins, since the relevant historiography is partly contradictory and incomplete. Probably the Atabegs of Yazd had to recognize the supremacy of the powerful Khorezm Shahs from the Anushteginid dynasty at the beginning of the 13th century , until their empire collapsed around 1220 under the blows of Gengiz Khan . Hamdallah Mustaufi (Ḥamdallāh Mustaufī, the author of the Taʾrīḫ-i guzīda ) and Nasawi report in this context, for example, of a son of Atabeg Sam named Ala ad-Daula Ata-Chan (ʿAlāʾ ad-Daula Ata-Ḫān), who perished, when he fought at the battle of Isfahan in 1228 at the side of the last Anushteginid Jalal ad-Din (r. 1220–1231) against the Mongols invading Iran , but this person cannot be classified into the ranks of the Atabegs any more than one certain Muizz ad-Din Kai-Kawus b. Langar (Muʿizz ad-Dīn Kai-Kāvūs b. Langar).

After Wardanruz's death, the rule in Yazd seems to have passed to Qutb ad-Din Abu Mansur Isfahsalar, another son of Langar, who is said to be a passionate hunter and polo player on the one hand and (just like his father) a great one on the other The building owner is highlighted, who built a bazaar and a polo field, new villages, canals and mausoleums as well as a pilgrimage center at the Qadamgah ( i.e. footprint) of the eighth Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Rida near Mashhad . Isfahsalar was also on good terms with his neighbor Baraq Hajjib (ruled 1222-1235), the new ruler of Kirman and founder of the Qara-Chitai dynasty of the Qutlughchaniden (1222-1307), tried. His son Mahmud-Shah, who followed him as Atabeg in 1229, married Baraq's daughter Yaqut-Terken, after he had previously killed Terken-Chatun - who later became regent Qutlugh-Terken (1257-1282) - by Sultan Jalal ad-Din's brother Ghiyath ad- Din Pir-Shah, but then ceded it to Baraq Hajjib under pressure. Mahmud Shah, however, did not succeed in staying on an equal footing with the Qutlughchanids, and allegedly behaved as embarrassed “like a child to his father” in Baraqa's presence after trying unsuccessfully to enrich himself with Yaqut-Terken's dowry . A few years later, a son of Baraq (named Rukn ad-Din) even used Yazd to gain dominion over Kirman from here.

The supremacy of the Mongols and the end of the dynasty

When Mahmud Shah died in 1241/42 (or at least 1239/40), his son Salghur Shah took power and hurried to give gifts to the Mongolian Grand Khan Ögedei , whose armies then also subjugated the remotest corners of Iran. Sending back a corresponding certificate and robe of honor, Ögedei then confirmed him as the new ruler of Yazd and so the Atabegs (just like the Qutlughchanids) ruled from then on as vassals of the Mongols, who - in contrast to most other urban centers of Persia - spared Yazd. Salghur Shah's son (Togha or) Toghan Shah, ruling from 1252, was consequently forced to send troops to help the Mongols in 1256 to conquer Alamut and other Ismaili fortresses in northern Persia. Under his government , which lasted for twenty years, new gardens, wind towers and canals were built in Yazd and Marco Polo , who visited Yazd in Togha (n) Shah's death in 1272, describes the city as an elegant trading center and increases the local production of a special type of silk ( Yazdi silk). Togha (n) Shah's successor was initially his son Ala ad-Daula, whose sister Terken-Chatun, as the widow of the Salghurid Saad II, rose to become regent of Fars in 1260 before her second husband Seljuq-Shah murdered her at a banquet around 1263 . Since Ala ad-Daula became seriously ill as a result of a flash flood that was partially destructive to the Yazd and died in 1275, his brother Yusuf-Shah (the last) became Atabeg. At this time, that is, under Ala ad-Daula and Yusuf-Shah - the only two Atabegs of Yazd in whose names minted coins were found - the Muzaffarids entered the service of the Atabegs and became their governors in Maibudh (Maibuḏ), one Small town near Yazd.

According to the sources, Yusuf-Shah initially also sent presents to the Il-Chan Ghazan (r. 1295–1304), but angered his emirs by refusing to give them too. The open rebellion against the supremacy of the Mongols finally came about when Ghazan sent one of his emirs, Yasudor, to Yazd to summon the Atabeg (for the confirmation of his governor's post) and to collect the tribute payments for three years: Yusuf- Shah refused to obey and not only denied the emir and his troops access to the city, but even attacked their camps. Yasudor was killed, like most of his companions, and his wife and sons were taken prisoner by Yusuf Shah. Reacting to the uprising of his vassal, Ghazan now had Muhammad Idaji, another emir, advance from Isafahan to Yazd with 30,000 horsemen, so that Yusuf-Shah was forced to flee (taking Yasudor's wife and children with him) to Sistan in the east . Later the atabeg was probably captured in Khorasan and brought to Tabriz before Ghazan , where he was initially pardoned, but ultimately executed because he had refused to accompany the Il-Khan on his campaign to Syria .

As for Yazd, Muhammad Idaji took the city, sparing the population, in 1297 and placed it under the direct control of the Il-Khanate; Instead of the atabeg , a Darugha (Dārūġa) appointed by Ghazan took over . Two of Yusuf-Shah's sons (Ala ad-Daula and Salghur-Shah) died under disgraceful circumstances in Yazd, a third named Hajji-Shah was appointed governor of the city in 1315 as the last representative of his family, but was again in 1318 by rivals overturned. The rule of the dynasty ended shortly before Yazd fell to the Muzaffarids in 1319, who initially ruled as governors of the Il-Chane and then made themselves independent. Descendants of the Atabegs are mentioned (by Muʿīn ad-Dīn Naṭanzī) at the beginning of the 15th century, but as dervishes and farmers, i.e. as simple subjects.

Ruler list

  • Rukn ad-Din Sam b. Wardanruz (Rukn ad-Dīn Sām b. Vardānrūz), approx. 1141–1188
  • Izz ad-Din Langar b. Wardanruz (ʿIzz ad-Dīn Langar b. Vardānrūz), approx. 1188–1207
    • Muhyi d-Din Wardanruz b. Langar (Muḥyī d-Dīn Vardānrūz b. Langar), 1207–1219
    • Qutb ad-Din Abu Mansur Isfahsalar b. Langar (Quṭb ad-Dīn Abū Manṣūr Isfahsālār b. Langar), 1219–1229
      • Mahmud Shah b. Abi Mansur Isfahsalar ( Maḥmūd-Šāh b. Abī Manṣūr Isfahsālār), 1229–1241
        • Salghur Shah b. Mahmud Shah ( Salġur-Šāh b. Maḥmūd-Šāh), 1241–1252
          • Togha (n) Shah b. Salghur-Shah ( Ṭoġa (n) -Šāh b. Salġur-Šāh), 1252–1272
            • Ala ad-Daula b. Togha (n) Shah (ʿAlāʾ ad-Daula b. Ṭoġa (n) -Šāh), 1272–1275
            • Yusuf Shah b. Togha (n) Shah ( Yūsuf-Šāh b. Ṭoġa (n) -Šāh), 1275–1297
              • Hajji Shah b. Yusuf-Shah ( Ḥāǧǧī-Šāh b. Yūsuf-Šāh), approx. 1315-1318

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ sometimes there is also the term Āl-i Vardānrūz
  2. ↑ The title Atabeg is of Turkish origin, but was also adopted by dynasties with a different ethnic background (such as the Hazaraspids )
  3. ↑ Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Nasavī: Sīrat as-sulṭān Ǧalāl ad-Dīn Mengübirti , ed. Hafez Ahmad Hamdi: History of Djalal el-Din Mankobirti - Shāh of Khwārazm , Cairo 1953, p. 236
  4. ↑ Muhyi d-Din, a grandson of the Atabeg of Yazd, was then married to the daughter of Baraq and Qutlugh-Terken, named Maryam-Terken, who founded the village of Muriabad (Murīābād) and had water canals, a bazaar and a Friday mosque built there.
  5. ↑ In order to take revenge for this, Ala ad-Daula and his troops later took part in Hülegü's campaign against Shiraz, which resulted in Seljuq Shah's execution in 1264.

Sources and literature

  • Ǧaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Ḥasan Ǧaʿfarī: Taʾrīḫ-i Yazd. ed. Ī. Afšār, Tehran 1964.
  • Aḥmad b. Ḥusain b. ʿAlī Kātib: Taʾrīḫ-i ǧadīd-i Yazd. ed. Ī. Afšār, Tehran 1966.
  • Muḥammad Mufīd Mustaufī Bāfqī: Ǧāmiʿ -i mufīdī. ed. Ī. Afšār, Tehran 1963.
  • Muʿīn ad-Dīn Naṭanzī: Muntaḫab at-tawārīḫ-i Muʿīnī. ed. J. Aubin, Tehran 1957.