In order not to favor one Turkic tribe over another and to avoid inflaming the Turk-Persian enmity, he recruited his army from the "third force", a policy that had been implemented in its baby-steps since the reign of Tahmasp Ithe Circassian, Georgian and to a lesser extent Armenian ghulms (slaves) which (after conversion to Islam) were trained for the military or some branch of the civil or military administration. [96] She was done in by intrigues by the vizier Mirza Salman Jaberi (who was a holdover from Ismail II's reign) and Mohammad's chief wife Khayr al-Nisa Begum, known as Mahd-i Uly. They also placed jewels on their arms, such as on daggers and swords. There were no particular place assigned for the administration of justice. Blow; chapter: "English adventurers at the servise of Shah Abbas.". Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double the size of that of Ismil;[48] furthermore, the Ottomans had the advantage of artillery, which the Safavid army lacked. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking clans from Asia Minor and Azerbaijan and were known as Qizilbash "Red Heads" because of their distinct red headgear. In 1559 Bayezid arrived in Iran where Tahmasp gave him a warm welcome. [205] But the creation of this large standing army, that, for the first time in Safavid history, was serving directly under the Shah, significantly reduced their influence, and perhaps any possibilities for the type of civil unrest that had caused havoc during the reign of the previous shahs. For most of the last decade of Ismail's reign, the domestic affairs of the empire were overseen by the Tajik vizier Mirza Shah Hossein until his assassination in 1523. In the east Murshid Quli Khan, of the Ustajlu tribe, managed to snatch Abbas away from the Shamlus. The Ilkhanid ruler ljait converted to Twelver Shiism in the 13th century. [89] Ismail had been imprisoned at Qahqaha since 1556 by his father on charges of plotting a coup, but his selection was ensured when 30,000 Qizilbash supporters demonstrated outside the prison. SAFAVID ISFAHAN, FR. More importantly, for the first time in Iranian history, a substantial infantry corps of musketeers (, Artillery Corps: with the help of Westerners, he also formed an artillery corps of 12 000 men, although this was the weakest element in his army. In the midst of these foreign perils, rebellion broke out in Khorasan fomented by (or on behalf of) Mohammad's son, Abbas. Georgian, Circassian and Armenian were also spoken, since these were the mother-tongues of many of the ghulams, as well as of a high proportion of the women of the harem. Thirdly there was horsemanship. And in spite of being transported for more than thirty days, they were fresh when they reached Isfahan After melons the finest fruits were grapes and dates, and the best dates were grown in Jahrom. Savory, "Safavid Persia" in: Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton, Peter Malcolm Holt, Bernard Lewis, F. Daftary, "Intellectual Traditions in Islam", I.B.Tauris, 2001. p. 147: "But the origins of the family of Shaykh Safi al-Din go back not to Hijaz but to Kurdistan, from where, seven generations before him, Firuz Shah Zarin-kulah had migrated to Adharbayjan". It would seemthat the poet and miniaturist Sadeqi Afshar (15331610), whose mother tongue was not Azerbaijani Turkish, but Chaghatay (although he was born in Tabriz), was the first to refer to speakers of Qizilbashi (motakallemin-e Qizilbash), but he, and one century later Abdol-Jamil Nasiri, were the exception to this general rule of calling the language "Turki". GIMME SOME TRUTH. But in spite of a weak economy, a civil war and foreign wars on two fronts, Tahmsp managed to retain his crown and maintain the territorial integrity of the empire (although much reduced from Ismail's time). As the scale and frequency of Ottoman military successes declined, however, the proportion of slaves on the Ottoman market supplied by the Tatars increased. Blow, David. It became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th century. Having started with just the possession of Azerbaijan, Shirvan, southern Dagestan (with its important city of Derbent), and Armenia in 1501,[60] Erzincan and Erzurum fell into his power in 1502,[61] Hamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Diyarbakir, Najaf, and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, and Herat, as well as other parts of Khorasan, in 1510. Also, there were the quazi-religious fraternities called futuvva, which were run by local dervishes. What was the basis of their military strength?, Discuss the religious and political issues that separated the Ottoman Turks and the Safavid Turks, two neighboring Islamic states, in the sixteenth century., By what steps did Shah Abbas achieve a strong and unified Safavid . Murder was punishable by death, and the penalty for bodily injuries was invariably the bastinado. Rml and Kopek Sultn Ustajlu (who had been Ismail's last wakl) established themselves as co-regents of the young shah. Richard Wilson, When Golden Time Convents: Twelfth Night and Shakespeare's Eastern Promise, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFMunsh1978 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSstn (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFJavakhishvili1970 (. As a result of the Mongol conquest and the relative religious tolerance of the Ilkhanids, Shii dynasties were re-established in Iran, Sarbedaran in Khorasan being the most important. V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shh Isml I". The 'Amili (Shiite scholars of what is know South Lebanon) operating through the Court-based religious posts, were forced to master the Persian language; their students translated their instructions into Persian. But it was Shah Safi, under influence by his Prime Minister, Saru Taqi, that initiated the program of trying to increase the royal revenues by buying land from the governors and putting in place local commissioners. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the Kurdish dignitary, Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah. Traditional architecture evolved in its patterns and methods leaving its impact on the architecture of the following periods. 21920. Later, during the Safavid and especially Qajar period, the Shii Ulema's power increased and they were able to exercise a role, independent of or compatible with the government. And the Naqsh-e Jahan Square ("Examplar of the World"). His primary job was to appoint and supervise all the officials of the household and to be their contact with the Shah. In 1501, the Safavid Shahs declared independence when the Ottomans outlawed Shi'a Islam in their territory. VI, Cambridge University Press 1986, p. 339: "Further evidence of a desire to follow in the line of Turkmen rulers is Ismail's assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", "Iranian identity iii. The Persians schools of thought were the true heirs of the great Islamic thinkers of the golden age of Islam, whereas in the Ottoman empire there was an intellectual stagnation, as far as the traditions of Islamic philosophy were concerned. The highest level in the government was that of the Prime Minister, or Grand Vizier (Etemad-e Dowlat), who was always chosen from among doctors of law. "[184], Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, commonly referenced to using the title Allamah, was a highly influential scholar during the 17th century (Safavid era). Much of the early art was devoted to celebrating the glories of the earlier Iranian kingdom, and thus, by implication, making legitimate the Safavids as that kingdom's current heirs. According to Encyclopdia Iranica, for Tahmsp, the problem circled around the military tribal elite of the empire, the Qezelb, who believed that physical proximity to and control of a member of the immediate Safavid family guaranteed spiritual advantages, political fortune, and material advancement. The standing army created by Abbas consisted of: (1) 10,00015,000 cavalry ghulm regiments solely composed of ethnic Caucasians, armed with muskets in addition to the usual weapons (then the largest cavalry in the world[115]); (2) a corps of musketeers, tufangchiyn, mainly Iranians, originally foot soldiers but eventually mounted, and (3) a corps of artillerymen, tpchiyn. Af first, Kopek Sultn's Ustajlu tribe suffered the heaviest, and he himself was killed in a battle. However, the Ottomans led more than twice as many troops as the Safavid army, and it said that the difference in troop strength made the difference between victory and defeat. After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Ya'qub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. In response, a Ghilzai Afghan chieftain named Mirwais Hotak revolted and killed Gurgin Khan, the Safavid governor of the region, along with his army. The series of campaigns that Tahmsp subsequently waged after realising this in the wider Caucasus between 1540 and 1554 were meant to uphold the morale and the fighting efficiency of the Qizilbash military,[169] but they brought home large numbers (over 70,000)[170] of Christian Georgian, Circassian and Armenian slaves as its main objective, and would be the basis of this third force; the new (Caucasian) layer in society. Throughout the Ottomans expansion, they rapidly improved their military . [181], It achieved its greatest influence in the late Safavid and early post-Safavid era, when it dominated Twelver Shii Islam. [146] Overland trade grew notably however, as Iran was able to further develop its overland trade with North and Central Europe during the second half of the seventeenth century. As a result, Iran was cut off from overseas links to East Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and South Asia. [117][118], Abbas also greatly increased the number of cannons at his disposal, permitting him to field 500 in a single battle. Isfahan bears the most prominent samples of the Safavid architecture, all constructed in the years after Shah Abbas I permanently moved the capital there in 1598: the Imperial Mosque, Masjid-e Shah, completed in 1630, the Imam Mosque (Masjid-e Imami) the Lutfallah Mosque and the Royal Palace. John R. Perry, "Turkic-Iranian contacts", establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, a war with Iran that would last until 1590, Abbas I's Kakhetian and Kartlian campaigns, conquered the Hotaki's last stronghold in Kandahar, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Al-Hikma al-mutaaliya fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, "Chronicling a Dynasty on the Make: New Light on the Early afavids in ayt Tabrz's, "Islamic Culture and Literature in Iran and Central Asia in the early modern period", "The emergence of the Safavids as a mystical order and their subsequent rise to power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", "BARDA and BARDA-DRI v. Military slavery in Islamic Iran", "GEORGIA vii. It was certainly not an oligarchy, nor was it an aristocracy. [39] From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region,[40] thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Buyids to establish a national state officially known as Iran.[41]. Shah Abbas: the ruthless king who became an Iranian legend, p. 165. He expanded commercial links with the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. [195] Abbas himself was able to speak Georgian as well. Blow, D; Shah Abbas: The ruthless king who became an Iranian legend; pp. Ismil followed the line of Iranian and Turkmen rulers prior to his assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", previously held by Uzun Hasan and many other Iranian kings. It lasted from March to October 1722 and resulted in the city's fall and the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. This wide-ranging book blends history, literature, politics and autobiography to challenge the conformist culture of our times. [223] The Persians were also active in the Aceh Sultanate, the Brunei Sultanate, the Demak Sultanate, and Dai Viet. To promote Shi'ism the Safavids brought in scholars from Shi'ite countries to form a new religious elite. The arguably most renowned historian from this time was Iskandar Beg Munshi. [15], An Iranian dynasty rooted in the Sufi Safavid order[32] founded by Kurdish sheikhs,[33] it heavily intermarried with Turkoman,[34] Georgian,[35] Circassian,[36][37] and Pontic Greek[38] dignitaries and was Turkish-speaking and Turkified. [191] In addition to these, there were separate officials appointed for the caretaking of royal banquets and for entertainment. Numbers of Red Heads, Safavid followers because of their red headgear increased. Contacts with the Pope, Poland and Moscow were no more fruitful. Although every one of the Gunpowder Empires had this as a strength, the Safavid Empire is particularly notable due to the powerful artillery, firearms, and cannons that they produced. William L. Cleveland and Martin P. Bunton. The Safavid dynasty (/sfvd, s-/; Persian: , pronounced [dudmne sfvi]) was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. AN ILLUMINATED CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL THE CALLIGRAPHY BY MIR 'ALI, SHAYBANID BU. R Savory, "Ebn Bazzaz" in. The carpets of Ardabil were commissioned to commemorate the Safavid dynasty. [102] More seriously the Ottomans ended the Peace of Amasya and commenced a war with Iran that would last until 1590 by invading Iran's territories of Georgia and Shirvan. Unlike Usulis, Akhbari did and do not follow marjas who practice ijtihad. In the 16th century, the Turcophone Safavid family of Ardabil in Azerbaijan, probably of Turkicized Iranian, origin, conquered Iran and established Turkic, the language of the court and the military, as a high-status vernacular and a widespread contact language, influencing spoken Persian, while written Persian, the language of high literature and civil administration, remained virtually unaffected in status and content. Turkic) origins. A major problem faced by Ismail I after the establishment of the Safavid state was how to bridge the gap between the two major ethnic groups in that state: the Qizilbash ("Redhead") Turcomans, the "men of sword" of classical Islamic society whose military prowess had brought him to power, and the Persian elements, the "men of the pen", who filled the ranks of the bureaucracy and the religious establishment in the Safavid state as they had done for centuries under previous rulers of Iran, be they Arabs, Mongols, or Turkmens. V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shh Isml I", establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, "The emergence of the Safavids as a mystical order and their subsequent rise to power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors", "Georgians in the Safavid administration", Artistic and cultural history of the Safavids from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736 and 1750 to 1773) and, at their height, they controlled all of what is now Iran, Republic of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Armenia, eastern Georgia, parts of the North Caucasus including Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. "IRAN ix. They often dyed their feet and hands with henna. [134] For his part, Abbas declared that he "preferred the dust from the shoe soles of the lowest Christian to the highest Ottoman personage. Safavid military history had three phases. [210][211] According to contemporary historians, though, the landlord always had the worst of the bargain with the farmer in the crop-sharing agreements. [192], The only field within medicine where some progress were made was pharmacology, with the compilement of the "Tibb-e Shifai" in 1556. Mulla Sadra has become the dominant philosopher of the Islamic East, and his approach to the nature of philosophy has been exceptionally influential up to this day. In the gravest crisis of Tahmsp's reign, Ottoman forces in 155354 captured Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan, destroyed palaces, villas and gardens, and threatened Ardabil. From this time the state began to take on a more Persian character. [77] It was a heavy price in terms of territory and prestige lost, but it allowed the empire to last, something that seemed improbable during the first years of Tahmsp's reign. The Ottoman Empire came into power in 1301. [224][225][226], In the long term, however, the seaborne trade route was of less significance to the Persians than was the traditional Silk Road. Cambridge University Press. When Tahmsp died in 984/1576, Iran was calm domestically, with secure borders and no imminent threat from either the Uzbeks or the Ottomans. In 161416 during the OttomanSafavid War (16031618), Abbas suppressed a rebellion led by his formerly most loyal Georgian subjects Luarsab II and Teimuraz I (also known as Tahmuras Khan) in the Kingdom of Kakheti. THE ULTIMATE MIXES. Lack of investment in ship building and the navy provided the Europeans with the opportunity to monopolize this trading route. An important feature of the Safavid society was the alliance that emerged between the ulama (the religious class) and the merchant community. In 700/1301, Safi al-Din assumed the leadership of the Zahediyeh, a significant Sufi order in Gilan, from his spiritual master and father-in-law Zahed Gilani.Due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi al-Din, the order was later known . As non-Turcoman converts to Islam, these Circassian and Georgian olmns (also written as ghulams) were completely unrestrained by clan loyalties and kinship obligations, which was an attractive feature for a ruler like Tahmsp whose childhood and upbringing had been deeply affected by Qizilbash tribal politics. According to historian Roger Savory, "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. [65] The Chaldiran battle also holds historical significance as the start of over 300 years of frequent and harsh warfare fueled by geo-politics and ideological differences between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavids (as well as successive Iranian states) mainly regarding territories in Eastern Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Mesopotamia. Though that language might generally be identified as Middle Azerbaijanian, it is not yet possible to define exactly the limits of this language, both in linguistic and territorial respects. Bandit chiefs and feudal lords plundered it at will, further weakening the Empire, and people yearned for strong central rule and stability. Within a decade of creating the Safavid Dynasty, Shah Ishmael had captured almost all of . (2009). [82], Tahmsp also planted the seeds that would, unintentionally, produce change much later. Next in line were the Master of the Royal Stables (Mirakor bashi) and the Master of the Hunt (Mirshekar bashi). [122][123][124][125] After fully securing the region, he executed the rebellious Luarsab II of Kartli and later had the Georgian queen Ketevan, who had been sent to the shah as negotiator, tortured to death when she refused to renounce Christianity, in an act of revenge for the recalcitrance of Teimuraz. The lesser officials were the qazi, corresponding a civil lieutenant, who ranked under the local governors and functioned as judges in the provinces. [159], Jean Chardin, the 17th-c French traveler, spent many years in Iran and commented at length on their culture, customs and character. Shah Ismail was a poet and Shah Tahmasp a painter. According to the Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye:[240]. The Safavid Empire. In addition to fighting its perennial enemies, their archrival the Ottomans and the Uzbeks as the 17th century progressed, Iran had to contend with the rise of new neighbors. But in the seventeenth century the Ottoman threat to the Safavids declined. This action coincided with the accession to the Ottoman throne in 1512 of Sultan Selim I, Bayezid II's son, and it was the casus belli leading to Selim's decision to invade neighbouring Safavid Iran two years later.[64]. As well as wrestling, what gathered the masses was fencing, tightrope dancers, puppet-players and acrobats, performing in large squares, such as the Royal square. [164], As noted before, a key aspect of the Persian character was its love of luxury, particularly on keeping up appearances. The Spanish demanded Abbas break off relations with the English before they would consider relinquishing the town. Because Shi'ism was now a state religion, with major educational establishments devoted to it, its philosophy and theology developed greatly during the Safavid Empire. In its heyday it was also one of the largest with a population of one million; 163 mosques, 48 religious schools, 1801 shops and 263 public baths. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. This Bakhtrioni Uprising was successfully defeated under personal direction of Shah Abbas II himself. Ayatollah Khomeini's challenge to the Shah's Royal authority confirmed a deep religious tradition in Iranian society and history. [207], The Safavid economy was to a large extent based on agriculture and taxation of agricultural products. The growth of Safavid economy was fuelled by the stability which allowed the agriculture to thrive, as well as trade, due to Iran's position between the burgeoning civilizations of Europe to its west and India and Islamic Central Asia to its east and north. This would not change with the Arab conquest of Iran, and it was primarily the Persians that took upon them the works of philosophy, logic, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, music and alchemy. (1986). It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. [2] Regarding the usage of Georgian, Circassian and Armenian at the Royal Court, David Blow states,[195]. 1 They were close to the Arabian sea but they never had a strong navy 2 They lacked natural defense Note any significant actions of the following Safavid shahs or notable things that happened in/to the empire during their reigns: Shah Ismail Shah Abbas I - Conquered most of . [105] The Ustajlu chief, Murshid Quli Khan, immediately acquiesced and received a royal pardon.
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