Jalal ad-Din (Khorezm Shah)

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Jalal ad-Din (left) flees from Genghis Khan's army across the Indus (miniature from the end of the 16th century).
Jalal ad-Din Mengübirti ( Jaloliddin Manguberdi ) on an Uzbek 25 So'm coin.

Jalal ad-Dunja wa-d-Din Abu l-Musaffar Mengübirti ( Arabic جلال الدنيا والدين أبو المظفر منكبرتي; DMG Ǧalāl ad-Dunyā wa-ʼd-Dīn Abū ʼl-Muẓaffar Mengübirtī; † August 1231 ) was the last Khorezm Shah from the Anushteginid dynasty . He called himself Sultan ( as-sulṭān al-muʿaẓẓam or as-sulṭān al-aʿẓam ). The meaning of the name Mengübirti is not entirely certain. Peter Jackson suggests the translation "The one with a thousand men", which would be an equivalent of the Persian Hazārmard .

Life

In 1220 the great empire of the Anushteginid Khorezm Shahs collapsed under the blows of the Mongols and Shah Muhammad II died on the run. Determined to save his father's inheritance, Muhammad's eldest son and successor Jalal ad-Din tried to stop the Mongol invasion after all and - after he had fled from Khorezm and overpowered a Mongolian guard post in North Khorasan - put a new army in Ghazna (approx. 60,000 men). In fact, he succeeded in defeating an army of Genghis Khan near Parvān in 1221 , so that the great khan was compelled to personally move south with his main force. Left in the lurch by half of his troops, Sultan Jalal ad-Din had no choice but to flee towards India , but the Mongols were able to catch up with him on the banks of the Indus , whereupon a mighty battle broke out (autumn 1221). Jalal ad-Din's army was defeated, but the sultan at least managed to save his own life by drifting through the Indus with his horse and thus escaping to northwestern India, where he spent the next two years (1222-23) spent in exile . In doing so, he soon managed to gather a small army around himself, with which he fought several times against local Indian princes (especially in the salt mountains ) and thus created a small empire in Punjab and Sindh . But since he was still wanted by Mongolian troops, negotiations with Iltutmish , the Sultan of Delhi , were unsuccessful and he received the news that his (last surviving) brother Ghijath ad-Din Pir-Shah had meanwhile become ruler of Persian Iraq Jalal ad-Din decided to leave India again and moved with his army to western Iran in early 1224 .

After making the rulers of Kirman (the Qutlughchanids ) and Fars (the Salghurids ) his vassals, overthrowing Ghijath ad-Din and thus creating a new empire, Sultan Jalal ad-Din invaded the territory via Khusistan in the spring of 1225 of the Abbasid caliphate and even threatened Baghdad (like his father once did) before he withdrew again to overthrow the Eldigusids and conquer all of Azerbaijan that same year . Tabriz has served as his capital ever since.

In order to be able to raise the enormous financial resources devoured by the fight against the Mongols, he tried to bring the richest state in the Middle East, Georgia , under his control. At Garrisi in Armenia there was a battle in 1225 in which the Georgian army suffered a heavy defeat. About 30,000 men are said to have faced 120,000 choristers. The way to Tbilisi was open to Jalal ad-Din. But since uprisings broke out in Azerbaijan, Jalal ad-Din could not use his victory immediately. After suppressing the uprisings, he advanced to Tbilisi after several victorious skirmishes. Queen Rusudan had left the city on the advice of the princes and withdrew to western Georgia via the Lichi Mountains . On March 9, 1226, Tbilisi fell into the hands of the Choresmians, who plundered the city and made rich booty. 100,000 residents are said to have fallen victim to the massacres.

When Jalal ad-Din began a war against the Aiyubid Ahlat , he suffered defeat. The Georgians used this to retake Tbilisi in 1227. The Khorezmian Sultan hurriedly went to Georgia with his army. Since the Georgian troops in Tbilisi were too weak to defend the city, they set fire to Tbilisi and withdrew.

In 1228 Jalal ad-Din suffered several defeats against the Mongols. Therefore he tried an alliance with the Caliph of Baghdad and the Sultan of Ahlat. But the sultan had raged so much in wars against his Islamic co-religionists that they were more willing to cooperate with Christian Georgia.

In 1228/29 the Choresmiern succeeded in occupying the Derbent passes . When they camped in two parts of the army on the way back on Lake Sevan , the Georgian army succeeded in destroying the western part of the army by a surprise attack at night, whereupon the eastern part withdrew in an orderly manner.

In response, Jalal ad-Din began a new campaign against Georgia in 1229. Queen Rusudan tried to pull together all available troops, reinforced by Kyptschaks , Ossetian contingents and hill tribe warriors. Both armies collided at Bolnissi . After a long struggle, the decision was made in favor of the Choresmians when the Kipchaks overflowed to them. Then Jalal ad-Din besieged the fortresses Gagi and Kvarin . Since the siege lasted more than three months, he contented himself with a ransom and in the fall of 1229 left Georgia forever.

On April 14, 1230 he conquered the Aiyubid Ahlat, which he had not succeeded in 1226 and 1229. But he was not up to the coalition of Ayyubids and Rum Seljuks .

On August 10, 1230 Jalal ad-Din was defeated by Kai Kobad I in the battle of Yassı Çemen in Erzincan and was forced to evacuate Ahlat and retreat to Diyarbakır . To make matters worse , the Mongols under Chormagan now also became active and inflicted a defeat on him in the winter of 1230/31 and began to conquer his possessions in Azerbaijan. On August 17, 1231 he suffered a definitive defeat: while fleeing, he was murdered in a Kurdish village. The reasons are not entirely clear, probably out of revenge or an argument over prey.

His followers devastated Seljuk territory in al Jazeera and Syria for years . They called themselves Chwarezmiya . The Aiyubid Sultan of Egypt, as-Salih Ayyub , hired her several times and with her help with weapons was able to defeat his uncle as-Salih Ismail and in 1244 even snatch Jerusalem from the Crusaders . The Chwarezmiya also served as mercenaries of the Mamluk sultans of Egypt before they were finally defeated by Mansur Ibrahim years later.

Sources and literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b These figures from medieval chroniclers are probably clearly exaggerated.
personal data
SURNAME Jalal ad-Din
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jalal ad-Din Manguberdi; جلال الدین منکبرنی; Jalāl ad-Dīn Menguberdī; Jalal ad-Din Mankburny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION last ruler of the Khorezm Shahs
DATE OF BIRTH before 1220
DATE OF DEATH after August 17, 1231