Karakhanids
A Turkish ruling dynasty is known under the term Karachaniden (also Qarachaniden , Qara eineāniden or Karakhaniden) , who converted to Islam around 960 and ruled Central Asia in the 11th and 12th centuries . It existed in the Fergana Valley until 1213. The name "Kara-Chaniden" goes back to W. W. Grigorev (1816–1881) and is borrowed from the title of the most senior prince (قراخان, Qarāḫān = "Black Chān ").
Rise, Hierarchy and Islamization
Little is known and much discussed about the origin of the dynasty . A connection to the ancient Turkish Ashina clan is conceivable, but the prevailing view attributes the rulers to a branch of the Karluken or points to a close connection between the tribal confederation of the Karluken and the Yaghma group. The Karluken Confederation was supposedly divided into nine groups of different origins, with the Tschigil and Tuchsi z. B. Remnants of older Turkish groups. The Yaghma, a group originally assigned to the Toquz-Oghuzen , which in the 10th century was spread over various areas of Turkestan analogous to the Karluken , were closely related to the Karluken.
The center of power - "Kara Ordu" - of the ruled steppe regions between Lake Balkhash in the west and the Tarim Basin in the east was Balasagun , a town with Sogdian- Turkish residents near Tokmok in the Kyrgyz Tschüi Valley. From here a major khan ruled directly over the eastern part of the empire, while the western possessions, which initially included Kashgar and Talas, were subordinate to a subordinate khan. A complicated hierarchy, which knew even more ranks and sub-rulers, secured all male family members their share of power. With the death of a superior prince, the lower ones moved up. The titles distributed here included, for example, typical compositions from Arslan (= "lion", the totem of the Tschigil) or Bughra (= "male camel") and Khan, Ilek (Ilig) or Tegin .
As ruler of the western part around Kashgar and Talas, a certain Satuq (d. 955) carried the title "Bughra-Khan". According to the tradition of Baghdad historiography reproduced by Munedschimbaschi (d. 1702) , it was he who converted to Islam as the first of his sex in the middle of the 10th century. After his conversion, Satuq is said to have received a fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) that allowed him to murder his still pagan father. When he replaced it, he pushed forward with the Islamization of his people. A clergyman from Nishapur named Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Sufyan al-Kalamati is said to have played a role in this; he died in 961 at the Khan's court. As relations with Transoxania improved , Satuq and his relatives, soon all Muslims, had grown in power.
Establishment of an empire in Transoxania
In 992 Satuq's grandson Harun Bughra-Khan occupied Bukhara, among others, with the consent of the nobility and clergy, and drove out the Persian Samanids . The residents of Bukhara asked their legal scholars if they should fight and received an interesting answer: “When the people of the Khan quarrel (with the Samanids) over religion, it is compulsory to fight against them. And when it comes to worldly matters, it is forbidden for Muslims to be killed. The way of life of this tribe is beautiful and their faith is the right one, and it is better to stay out of the quarrel. ”But the Khan fell ill in Bukhara and died that same year on the way back to East Turkestan, whereupon Transoxania fell again to the Samanids .
It was not until October 23, 999 that the Karakhanide Arslan-Ilek Nasr, partial ruler of Ösgön in the Fergana Valley (ruled 996-1013), occupied Bukhara again without encountering any resistance. The Samanid Emir Abd al-Malik II and his family were captured and deported to Ösgön. A Samanid prince named Ismail escaped, but his struggle to restore the empire (until 1005) was in vain. The Qarakhanids again conquered Samarkand and all of Transoxania up to the Amu Darya , on which they agreed in 1001 as the imperial border with Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998-1030), another powerful opponent of the Samanids. A Karakhanid-Ghaznavid marriage alliance was also concluded, but did not last long.
Feudal disputes and division of the empire
Who headed the Qarakhanids after the death of Bughra Khan Harun is not certain. Nasr from Ösgön and Bukhara, his brother Ahmad Toghan-Khan from Kashgar and Yusuf Qadir-Khan (a cousin of the two) from Chotan appear as partial rulers . In 1011/12 Arslan-Ilek Nasr took action against Toghan-Khan, but died the following year. In 1017 Toghan-Khan had to repel an invasion of eastern nomads who came from the "Kitai area" and who allegedly attacked Kashgaria with 100,000 tents (i.e. families). Perhaps it was an attack by the Liao emperors of China: Yelü Lung-hsiü (ruled 982-1031) was very active at the time. Similarly, the Liao court tried to contact Mahmud of Ghazna.
In 1020/21 Bukhara rose with the help of the Turkmen leader Israil ibn Seljuk, when Arslan-Khan Mansur and Qadir-Khan Yusuf were on a campaign to Khorasan . Yusuf's brother Ali Tegin (approx. 1020-1034), who opposed the Great Khan Mansur and made himself the new ruler of Transoxania (i.e. Bukharas and Samarkands), relied on Israil ibn Seljuk. In agreement with Yusuf Qadir-Khan, who became the new Great Khan in 1026, Mahmud of Ghazna Ali Tegin attacked and occupied Samarkand in 1025. Ali Tegin was able to get his land back the following year. Mahmud of Ghazna also had concerns about Israil ibn Seljuk's power and so he deported him to India and, in exchange for this "assistance", took Northern Bactria (today: Tajikistan ).
Finally, Ali Tegin made himself independent. This led to the (new) division of the Karakhanid possessions into an eastern and western empire, of which the former comprised the areas on the central reaches of the Syr Darya and sometimes the Seven Rivers , Kashgaria and Ferghana, while the latter included Transoxania and now and then also Ferghana. Ali Tegin died in 1034 and soon after his death a son of Arslan-Ilek Nasr came to power in Transoxania, so that from then on the descendants of Ali b. Musa (the so-called "Aliden") ruled, while the Eastern Empire was ruled by the line of Harun (also: Hasan) Bughra-Khan.
The western empire
With the death of the bustling Ali Tegin, the Seljuks left the services of his sons and went over to the Khorezm Shahs from the Altuntaschid dynasty . There they could in the face of internal conflicts not stay, so they emigrated to Khorasan, which they, in the 1040 battle of dandanaqan , the Ghaznavids snatched. This was the hour of birth of the powerful Seljuq Empire , which was soon to bring the western empire of the Qarakhanids into distress.
Initially, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Nasr (ruled approx. 1052-1068) claimed Transoxania. He had fought for the throne there since the end of the 1030s from the sons of Ali Tegin, in whose captivity he had been for some time. From 1040 he described himself on his coins as "the pillar of power, the crown of the religious community, the sword of the Caliph of God, Tamgatch-Bughra-Khan"; added the title "King of the East and China". He profited from the conflict between the two Eastern rulers Sulaiman and Muhammad, d. H. the sons of Yusuf Qadir-Khan. In 1044/45 he suppressed an uprising of the urban population of Bukhara that had been triggered by the Shiites . By the end of the 1050s he also incorporated the Ferghana Valley into his domain. He renounced an active foreign policy and finally abdicated under internal and external pressure.
In the ensuing fratricidal war, Ibrahim's son Shams al-Mulk Nasr (ruled 1068-1080) was victorious. In 1072 he fought off the second Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan (ruled 1063-1072), who died on this campaign, but confessed himself two years later (1074) as a vassal of his son and successor, Malik Shah I. He also had to be in the Ferghana Valley Left to relatives in the Eastern Empire. The Khan traditionally lived in a tent city near Bukhara, surrounded by his army, but nevertheless acted as a builder. To the south of Bukhara, Shams al-Mulk had a palace complex with gardens and menagerie built called Shamsabad. On the way to Samarkand, a caravanserai named Rabat-i Malik (see below, under “Art and Culture”) with an underground water reservoir was built in 1078/79.
Under Nasr's nephew Ahmad ibn Chidr (r. 1080 / 1–1089 / 95), conflicts with the ʿUlamā ' broke out again in the cities that the Seljuks used to attack. Sultan Malik Shah I returned in 1089, occupied Bukhara, Samarkand and Ösgön, captured Ahmad and soon afterwards reinstated him as his vassal when Ahmad's revolting troops called the eastern Qarakhanids for help. Ahmad then sought the support of the urban poor and sects, which provided the nobility and clergy with the pretext to eliminate him. He was convicted of a heretic in 1095 and strangled. Another Seljuq invasion followed in 1097.
The next significant Seljuk vassal was Arslan Khan Muhammad ibn Sulaiman (ruled 1102–1130). Under him, among other things, the Kalyan minaret (see below, under "Art and Culture") was built in 1127 and the citadel of Bukhara was rebuilt. His army included 12,000 Mamluks , which apparently made him too independent for the Seljuk Sultan Sandschar (ruled 1097–1157). In 1130 Sanjar temporarily occupied Samarkand and deported the Khan to Churasan . In Bukhara, the Seljuq had already installed the Burhanid Ulama dynasty .
After a while, Mahmud ibn Muhammad came to power as ruler of Transoxania and was defeated by the Kara Kitai near Khujand in 1137 . The Kara-Kitai were a group of the Kitan people who had moved to the west after the fall of the Chinese Liao dynasty around 1125 and now created a new empire on the Tschüi. Mahmud called his overlord and uncle Sandschar to help, but in 1141 he was also defeated by the Kara-Kitai in the Katwan steppe (near Samarkand) - the Muslims left 30,000 dead. As a result, Mahmud lost the throne of Samarkand, but later succeeded Sandjar as Sultan of Churasan for a few years (until 1162). The other Qarakhanids ruled as vassals of the Kara-Kitai until all of Transoxania came under the rule of the Khorezm Shahs in 1210 . Their sultan Muhammad ibn Tekisch (ruled 1200-1220) finally put an end to the western Qarakhanids by taking Samarkand and (his son-in-law) Uthman ibn Ibrahim (ruled 1204-1212) to be executed. The latter had previously wanted to return under the suzerainty of the Kara-Kitai and organized a bloody popular uprising against the Khoresmians in Samarkand.
In the Ferghana Valley, the last representatives of the Karakhanid dynasty could only hold their own a little longer than the line in Samarkand.
The Eastern Empire
After the death of Yusuf Qadir-Khan (1032) the Eastern Empire was divided between two sons: Abu Shuja Sulayman Arslan-Khan got Balasaghun, Kashgar and Chotan; the other son, Muhammad Bughra-Khan, received Talas (i.e. today's Taraz in Kazakhstan ) and eventually ousted his brother around 1056. After further partitions, the Eastern Empire was probably only reunited at the end of the century, in the hands of Harun Bughra-Khan (ruled 1075–1103). Similar to his Western colleague Ahmad ibn Chidr, the Khan submitted to Talas in 1089 after a Seljuk advance, but the supremacy of the Seljuks was not so oppressive here. Around 1102 an Eastern Khan, taking advantage of the disputes in Transoxania, penetrated again as far as Tirmidh .
As the residence of the Eastern rulers, Balasaghun became a center of Turkish-Islamic culture. Harun Bughra-Khan was apparently dedicated to the famous "Kutadgu Bilig" by Yusuf Chass Hajib Balasaghuni around 1069/70, a prince mirror from Balasaghun, in which it says:
“The common people are improper, without law or rule when one has to do with them. Still, nothing can be done without it. So speak to him well, but do not make yourself a companion! ”“ All they know is the satiety of the stomach. There is no other concern for her than her throat. "
The fall of the Eastern Empire came when Khan Ibrahim II, who ruled in Balasaghun, brought the Kara Kitai into the country around 1128 in order to be able to fight rebellious Karluken and Qangli. The Kara-Kitai under their kahn Yelü Dashi (耶律大石 Yēlǜ Dàshí; ruled approx. 1125–1144) occupied his country and the Karakhanids only remained vassal status in Kashgar until they were overthrown there in 1211 by the Naiman Prince Kütschlüg.
Arts and Culture
The Qarakhanid period was a cultural boom despite repeated feudal disputes. Suggestions were taken from earlier cultures as well as exchanged (via trade along the Silk Road ) with distant countries.
Most of the cabaret, ceramics have survived the centuries, as well as wood carvings in Khiva, some fabrics and metals. Central Asian ceramics from that time were three- to multi-colored and mostly had geometric patterns, but also abstract figurative representations. Writings or miniatures have not been preserved. The extremely diverse coinage of the Karakhanids is often characterized by a particularly sophisticated and appealing calligraphy.
Some buildings are still preserved today; the best known is certainly the Kalyan minaret in Bukhara (1127). The buildings were made of brick and wood. The builders endeavored to create an elaborate displacement and ornamental structure of simple bricks in a wall, wood carvings and the use of stucco inside. Glazed bricks were also used in later times.
Dirham of the Great Khan Ali ibn al-Hasan of 424 H. (1032/33)
Rabat-i Malik
Kalyan Minaret (Bukhara)
Burana Tower (Balasagun)
Karachaniden Mausoleums (Ösgön)
Aischa Bibi mausoleum (near Taras )
Babaji Chatun mausoleum (near Taras)
Qarakhanid rulers
Some khans have been left out because of their insignificance. Contradicting names are inevitable due to the complicated ranking.
The heads of the dynasty until the division
- Bilge Kül Qadir Qan Arslan Qara Qagan (also: Ilmalm) approx. 840
- Bazir Arslan Qara Qagan ca.860
- two unknown successors around 890
- Ogulcaq Qadir Qan Bugra Qara Qagan (son of Bilge Kül Qadir) approx. 893–904f.
- Abd al-Karim Satuq Bugra Qara Qagan (son or nephew of Ogulcaq Qadir) approx. 927–955
- Sam's ad-Daula Musa Baytas (son of Satuq) 955-9 ??
- Sulayman Arslan Khan (son of Satuq) 958–970 (?)
- Sihab ad-Din Abu Musa Harun (al-Hasan) b. Sulayman Qilic Bugra Qagan (Satuq's grandson) 982-993
- Abu'l-Hasan Ali Arslan Qara Qagan (son of Musa, grandson of Satuq) 993-I.998
- Nasir al-Haqq wa Saif ad-Daula Abu Nasr Ahmad Arslan Qara Qagan (son of Ali) 998-1017, since 998 in Kashgar
- Abu Muzaffar Mansur b. Ali Arslan Ilek (son of Ali) 1017-1024 / 5
- Toghan Khan Muhammad (son of Harun) 1024/5 f.
- Nasir ad-Din Yusuf Qadir Qan (son of Harun) 1024/5-XII.1032, around 1008 in Chotan
Ruler in Transoxania (Bukhara, Samarkand)
- Abu'l-Hasan Nasr b. Ali Arslan Ilek (short: Arslan Ilek Nasr; son of Alis) 999-1013, previously in Ösgön
- Abu Muzaffar Mansur b. Ali Arslan Ilek (son of Ali) 1013-1020 / 4
- Baha 'ad-Daula Ali Tegin (brother of Yusuf, son of Harun) 1020 / 4–1034
- Abu Ali al- Husayn Cagra Tegin b. Harun (son of Harun) 1034-1042
- Abu Muzaffar Ibrahim Tamgatch Khan (also: Buri Tegin) (son of Nasr, lineage of Ali b. Musa Baytas) 1041 / 2–1068, ab.
- Shams al-Mulk Abu l-Hasan Nasr ibn Ibrahim 1068-1080, vassal of the Seljuks
- Ahmad b. Chidr b. Ibrahim 1080 / 1–1089, vassal of the Seljuks
- Mahmud (1095/7), the Eastern Karakhanid Kadir Khan Dschibra'il b. Umar (d. VII.1102) and other vassals of the Seljuks
- Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. Da'ud b. Ibrahim 1102–1130, vassal of the Seljuks
- Hasan (Hasan-Tegin) b. Ali 1130–1132, vassal of the Seljuks
- Jalal ad-Din Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Sulaiman 1132–1141, vassal of the Seljuks
- Rukn ad-Din Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. Sulaiman 1141–1156, vassal of the Kara Kitai
- Ali b. Hasan 1156–1161, vassal of the Kara Kitai
- Rukn ad-Din Mas'ud b. Hasan 1161–1171, vassal of the Kara Kitai
- Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad b. Mas'ud 1171–1178, vassal of the Kara Kitai
- Ibrahim b. Husain 1178–1204 (in Samarkand, previously in the Fergana Valley), vassal of the Kara-Kitai
- Uthman b. Ibrahim 1204–1212, vassal of the Kara Kitai and then of the Khorezm Shah
Rulers in the east (Balasagun, Kashgar) after the division
- Saraf ad-Daula Abu Suga Sulayman Arslan Qan (son of Yusuf) 1032-1055, deposed
- Muhammad Bugra Qan (son of Yusuf) 1055-1057, since 1032 in Talas
- Ibrahim (son of Muhammad) 1057-1059
- Mahmud Tugril Khan (son of Yusuf) 1059-1074
- Umar Tugril Qara Tegin 1074/5 (son of Mahmud)
- Harun Bugra Qan b. Sulayman (Umar's cousin) 1075-1103
- Ahmad Nur al-Dawla (son of Harun) 1103–1128
- Ibrahim (son of Ahmad) 1128 ff., Called the Kara-Kitai into the country
- ... in Kashgar until Muhammad's end of 1211
literature
- Denis Sinor (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. Volume 1: From earliest times to the rise of the Mongols. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1990, ISBN 0-521-24304-1 .
- Lazar Israelowitsch Albaum, Burchard Brentjes : Lords of the steppe. On the history and culture of Central Asian peoples in Islamic times. 3. Edition. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-326-00144-4 .
- René Grousset : The steppe peoples. Attila - Genghis Khan - Tamerlane. Magnus-Verlag, Essen 1975.
- Gavin Hambly (Ed.): Central Asia (= Fischer-Weltgeschichte. Vol. 16). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag., Frankfurt am Main 1966.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Sinor: The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. 1990, pp. 354-357.
- ^ A b See MS Asimov, CE Bosworth: History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume 4. P. 124 f.
- ^ MS Asimov, CE Bosworth: History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume 4. P. 126 f., P. 143
- ↑ a b c d Svat Soucek: A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-65169-7 , p. 317.