Mas'ud ibn Muhammad

Ghiyath ad-Dunya wa-d-Din Abu l-Fath Masud ( DMG Ġiyāṯ ad-Dunyā wa-'d-Dīn Abū 'l-Fatḥ Masʿūd; born 1108/1109; died 1152 in Hamadan ) was from 1134 to his death Sultan of the Seljuks in western Persia and Iraq .

Life

Masud was one of five sons of Sultan Muhammad I (r. 1105-1118). Like his brothers, he was given tutors ( Atabegs ) who tried to fight for a share of power on behalf of their protégés. The heir to the throne, Mahmud (ruled 1118–1131 in Western Persia, Iraq) had to put down an uprising in Masud's name as early as 1120, but forgave his brother.

After Mahmud's early death in 1131, his son Dawud and Masud's brothers Toghril and Seljuk rivaled for the throne; a power struggle from which (among other things) the caliph al-Mustarschid also hoped to make a profit. Sultan Sanjar (ruled 1118–1153 / 7), the head of the family, intervened in favor of Toghril (ruled 1132–1135) and defeated Masud and Seljuk in 1132 near Dinawar . Masud and Dawud went to Baghdad, received political recognition from the caliph and resumed the power struggle. When the tide turned again after Masud's two initial successes and Toghril seemed to secure the throne, he fell ill and died in early 1134, so that Masud was generally recognized as sultan.

But soon there was jealousy among the emirs because of the preference for Qara-Sonqor (in Azerbaijan ; d. 1140), so that a group of conspirators formed with the significant participation of the caliph al-Mustarschid , which also counted on the participation of Prince Dawud (err. 1143/4) counted. Al-Mustarschid was defeated, captured and (allegedly on the advice of Sandjar) murdered (1135) during the advance on Hamadan at Daimargh. The act caused fear and new strife, so that Masud had to advance on Baghdad in 1136 and depose the new caliph ar-Raschid (al-Mustarschid's son, murdered in 1138).

Masud's position was constantly threatened by his own powerful emirs (including Mingubars, d. 1138 and Buzaba; d. 1147/8 in Fars ), who paid him hardly any taxes, rivaled one another and could quickly set up any prince against him. So had Zangi (d. 1146), the governor of Mosul and Aleppo a son of Mahmud II. Called Alp Arslan at his disposal. These emirs could only be fought down with difficulty and one after the other. It was not until 1147/8 that Masud was able to break her iron grip with two murders and appoint new emirs, defeating the rest (especially Buzaba in Fars). His nephew and proclaimed heir Muhammad II (reigned 1153–1160) remained an attraction for another revolt by all the emirs, but their troops were dispersed in front of Baghdad (1148/9).

The head of the dynasty, Sultan Sandjar, came to Rey in the winter of 1149/50 to settle the dispute between Masud and his emirs. In view of his own political problems, Sandschar's supremacy was no longer decisive.

Masud died in Hamadan in 1152 parallel to a revolt of his nephew Malik-Shah (r. 1152/3).

Remarks

1. ↑ See Cambridge History of Iran Volume 5, p. 133

literature

• JA Boyle (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Cambridge et al. a. 1968.
• Martijn Theodoor Houtsma: EJ Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. Volume 2.