The arguably most renowned historian from this time was Iskandar Beg Munshi. [121] Ultimately forming an alliance, the two sought refuge with the Ottoman forces in Ottoman ruled Imereti. [57], Although Ismil I initially gained mastery over Azerbaijan alone, the Safavids ultimately won the struggle for power over all of Iran, which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. And most craftily of all, they used grants of land and money to create a new class of wealthy religious aristocrats who owed everything to the state. Tobacco grew all over the country and was as strong as that grown in Brazil. That done, they slap their thighs, buttocks and hips to the rhythm of the drum. 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. Medieval Islamic period" in, Mikheil Svanidze, "The Amasya Peace Treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Iran (June 1, 1555) and Georgia,", Max Scherberger, The Confrontation between Sunni and Shii Empires: Ottoman-Safavid Relations between the Fourteenth and the Seventeenth Centuries in. Despite being based on urf, it relied upon certain sets of legal principles. The capture of Baghdad by Ismail I in 1509 was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I in 1534. "They were granted control over land and . 1007 Words. These three empires all had military strength, Sovereign Pride, Religious commitment, and Aesthetic sophistication in common to varying degrees. The longest-lasting of the Gunpowder Empires, the Ottoman Empire in Turkey was first established in 1299, but it fell to the conquering armies of Timur the Lame (better known as Tamerlane, 1336-1405) in 1402. Military & Wartime Collectibles (3642) Musical Instruments & Equipment (506) . [134] For his part, Abbas declared that he "preferred the dust from the shoe soles of the lowest Christian to the highest Ottoman personage. Astrakhan came under Russian rule, nearing the Safavid possessions in Dagestan. According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya.[31]. Since the earliest days of the Safavid dynasty, the Qizilbash generals had been appointed to most of these posts. In cultural matters, Tahmsp presided the revival of the fine arts, which flourished under his patronage. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars - an individual who holds a mansab, meaning a position or rank. The Shah had a dozen of each in his service and would usually be accompanied by three doctors and three astrologers, who were authorized to sit by his side on various occasions. By the time of the orders fourth leader, Sheikh Junayd, it had become explicitly Shii. Examples of such were the trade and artisan guilds, which had started to appear in Iran from the 1500s. During these operations an agent of the Samlu (now supporting Sam Mizra's pretensions) attempted to poison the shah. (1986). The strength of the Kizilbash was reduced, while the use of firearms was expanded. It became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th century. The group crossed the Caspian Sea and spent the winter in Moscow before proceeding through Norway and Germany (where it was received by Emperor Rudolf II) to Rome, where Pope Clement VIII gave the travellers a long audience. [62] By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east, led by their Khan Muhammad Shaybni, were driven far to the north, across the Oxus River, where they continued to attack the Safavids. [83] Therefore, in 1540, Shah Tahmsp started the first of a series of invasions of the Caucasus region, both meant as a training and drilling for his soldiers, as well as mainly bringing back massive numbers of Christian Circassian and Georgian slaves, who would form the basis of a military slave system,[84] alike to the janissaries of the neighbouring Ottoman Empire,[85] as well as at the same time forming a new layer in Iranian society composed of ethnic Caucasians. After the death of Shah Abbs I (1629), the Safavid dynasty lasted for about a century, but, except for an interlude during the reign of Shah Abbs II (164266), it was a period of decline. "[194] Lastly, due to the large amount of Georgians, Circassians, and Armenians at the Safavid court (the gholams and in the harem), the Georgian, Circassian and Armenian languages were spoken as well, since these were their mother tongues. Although in those campaigns (and in 1554) the Ottomans captured Tabriz, they lacked a communications line sufficient to occupy it for long. [222] The Persians complied, and thousands of Persians emigrated to the Deccan during the 16th and 17th centuries, continuing a process that already began under the Bahmani Sultanate of the Deccan. Read more. Af first, Kopek Sultn's Ustajlu tribe suffered the heaviest, and he himself was killed in a battle. During his reign he had realized while both looking to his own empire and that of the neighboring Ottomans, that there were dangerous rivalling factions and internal family rivalries that were a threat to the heads of state. (ed.). Jan 20, 2017. In earlier times, the Shah had been closely involved in judicial proceedings, but this part of the royal duty was neglected by Shah Safi and the later kings. The ulama developed a theory that only a Mujtahid - one deeply learned in the Sharia (Qur'anic law) and one who has had a blameless life, could rule. Extortion, intimidation and harassment were practiced against Sunnis.[88]. [85] In turn, many of these transplanted women became wives and concubines of Tahmasp, and the Safavid harem emerged as a competitive, and sometimes lethal, arena of ethnic politics as cliques of Turkmen, Circassian, and Georgian women and courtiers vied with each other for the king's attention. Abbas offered trading rights and the chance to preach Christianity in Iran in return for help against the Ottomans. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. 1977, p. 77. Consequently, the vast majority of captives available in seventeenth-century Istanbul were "Rus'," most hailing from what is today Ukraine. Iran weakened appreciably during the reign of Ismls eldest son, Shah ahmsp I (152476), and persistent and unopposed Turkmen forays into the country increased under his incompetent successors. Except for Shah Abbas II, the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were therefore rendered ineffectual, and the Iranian government declined and finally collapsed when a serious military threat emerged on its eastern border in the early eighteenth century. The land-borne trade would thus continue to provide the bulk of revenues to the Iranian state from transit taxes. Of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Ismail I gained political prominence in 1501. A very strenuous form of exercise which the Persians greatly enjoyed was hunting. Bandit chiefs and feudal lords plundered it at will, further weakening the Empire, and people yearned for strong central rule and stability. In describing the lady's clothing, he noted that Persian dress revealed more of the figure than did the European, but that women appeared differently depending on whether they were at home in the presence of friends and family, or if they were in the public. He also made Efahn the capital of Persia and fostered commerce and the arts, so that Persian artistic achievement reached a high point in his reign . Between 1508 and 1524, the year of Ismail's death, the shah appointed five successive Persians to the office of vakil. In 1501, the Safavid Shahs declared independence when the Ottomans outlawed Shi'a Islam in their territory. (ed.). [63] Furthermore, by the early 1510s Ismail's expansionistic policies had pushed the Safavid borders in Asia Minor even more westwards. Another official selected by the consensus of the local community was the kadkhoda, who functioned as a common law administrator. In 1585 two events occurred that would combine to break the impasse among the Qizilbash. Open Document. [46] The most important local rulers about 1500 were: Ismil was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian Empire he created. When the young Shah Tahmsp took the throne, Iran was in a dire state. On these occasions the royal edicts were drawn up and sealed. Poetry stagnated under the Safavids; the great medieval ghazal form languished in over-the-top lyricism. Ali Quli Khan Shamlu, the lala of Abbas and Ismail II's man in Herat proclaimed Abbas shah there April 1581. 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". She had been married to Uzun Hassan[44] in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. The Empire's economic strength came from its location on the trade routes; . Next in line were the Master of the Royal Stables (Mirakor bashi) and the Master of the Hunt (Mirshekar bashi). [68], At the downfall of Husain Khan, Tahmsp asserted his rule. [49] Ismil was of mixed Turkoman, Kurdish, Pontic Greek, and Georgian descent, and was a direct descendant of the Kurdish f Muslim mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din. [216] The Italian traveler Pietro Della Valle was impressed by an encounter with one of these road guards:[217]. He enjoyed tremendous power and control over national affairs as he was the immediate deputy of the Shah. But the reverse seems not to have been true. This book was translated into French in 1681 by Angulus de Saint, under the name "Pharmacopoea Persica". Usually neither Persian nor European authors mention in which language people communicated with each other. On Tahmsps death support for a successor coalesced around two of his nine sons; the support divided on ethnic linesIsmail was supported by most of the Turkmen tribes as well as his sister Pari Khn Khnum, her Circassian uncle Shamkhal Sultan as well as the rest of the Circassians, while Haydar was mostly supported by the Georgians at court although he also had support from the Turkmen Ustajlu. [75] Temporary terms were followed by the Peace of Amasya in June 1555, ending the war with the Ottomans for the next two decades. . But the stumbling block of Hormuz remained, a vassal kingdom that had fallen into the hands of the Spanish Habsburgs when the King of Spain inherited the throne of Portugal in 1580. Blow; chapter: "English adventurers at the servise of Shah Abbas.". Alien shrines were vandalised, and Sufi mystic groups forbidden. SAFAVID ISFAHAN, FR. The Safavid Empire began in 1501 BC when the Safavid leader Esma'il conquered Persia. It led to the . Other exports were horses, goat hair, pearls and an inedible bitter almond hadam-talka used as a spice in India. Mohammad was selected and received the crown on February 11, 1579. Abbas was unable to comply. The Safavid Empire (1501-1722) . [185] Majlisi promoted specifically Shii rituals such as mourning for Hussein ibn Ali and visitation (ziyarat) of the tombs of the Imams and Imamzadas, stressing "the concept of the Imams as mediators and intercessors for man with God."[186]. . The Mughals adhered (for the most part) to a tolerant Sunni Islam while ruling a largely Hindu population. SURVEY . Soltan Hoseyn (16941722) in particular was known for his love of wine and disinterest in governance. Their sport also provided the masses with entertainment and spectacle. When the second Persian vakil was placed in command of a Safavid army in Transoxiana, the Qizilbash, considering it a dishonor to be obliged to serve under him, deserted him on the battlefield with the result that he was slain. Each element constituted 20 percent of the crop production, and if, for instance, the farmer provided the labour force and the animals, he would be entitled to 40 percent of the earnings. What remained unchanged, was the "crop-sharing agreement" between whoever was the landlord, and the farmer. Under Shah Esml and ahmsp (1501-76). RELATIONS IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD. "the Order of the Lion and the Sun, a device which, since the 17 century at least, appeared on the national flag of the Safavids the lion representing 'Ali and the sun the glory of the Shii faith", Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski, J. M. Rogers, Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House, Courtauld Institute of Art. Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252-1334). This class is granted special privileges because they have aided the Ottoman Empire with expansion efforts. It lasted from 1501 to 1722 and was strong enough to challenge the Ottomans in the west and the Mughals in the east. 1. Except for Shah Abbas II, the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were largely ineffectual. First, in the west, the Ottomans, seeing the disarray of the warriors, pressed deep into Safavid territory and occupied the old capital of Tabriz. But even here there may have been practical political considerations; namely, "concern about the excessively powerful position of Shii dignitaries, which would have been undermined by a reintroduction of the Sunna. This extensive development of architecture was rooted in Persian culture and took form in the design of schools, baths, houses, caravanserai and other urban spaces such as bazaars and squares. Although the first slave soldiers would not be organized until the reign of Abbas I, during Tahmsp's time Caucasians would already become important members of the royal household, Harem and in the civil and military administration,[86][87] and by that becoming their way of eventually becoming an integral part of the society. Each town had their own troop of wrestlers, called Pahlavans. The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement that conducted religious propaganda throughout Iran, Syria and Asia Minor, and most likely had maintained its Sunni Shafiite origin at that time. use of the Persian language. But the Portuguese ambassador to the Safavids, De Gouvea, still mentions the Council of State[188] in his records, which perhaps was a term for governmental gatherings of the time. [78] Having to flee from city to city, Humayun eventually sought refuge at the court of Tahmsp in Qazvin in 1543. The 150-year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. [29] The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, as well as spreading Sha Islam in major parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia.[29][31]. At the fourth invasion in 1553, it was now clear that Tahmsp followed a policy of annexation and resettlement as he gained control over Tbilisi (Tiflis) and the region of Kartli while physically transplanting more than 30,000 people to the central Iranian heartlands. [156], A proper term for the Safavid society is what we today can call a meritocracy, meaning a society in which officials were appointed on the basis of worth and merit, and not on the basis of birth. [6] It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin,[7] but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman,[8] Georgian,[9] Circassian,[10][11] and Pontic Greek[12] dignitaries, nevertheless they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified. Religious and political power were completely intertwined, and encapsulated in the person of the Shah. As the former represented the "people of the sword" and the latter, "the people of the pen", high-level official posts would naturally be reserved for the Persians. Among these, the founder of one of the most successful f orders, Shh Ni'matullh Wal (d. 1431), traced his descent from the first Isml Imam, Muhammad ibn Isml, as evidenced in a poem as well as another unpublished literary composition. In August 1514 Isml was seriously defeated at Chldirn by his Sunni rival, the Ottoman sultan Selim I. Notwithstanding the success with firearms at Jm, Tahmsp still lacked the confidence to engage their archrivals the Ottomans, choosing instead to cede territory, often using scorched earth tactics in the process. [6] It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, [7] but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, [8] Georgian, [9] Circassian, [10] [11] and Pontic Greek [12] dignitaries, nevertheless they . Although they lasted a long time it was necessary to have changes for different occasions like weddings and the Nowruz, while men of status never wore the same turban two days running. 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. [15][21] But the official[9] language of the empire as well as the administrative language, language of correspondence, literature and historiography was Persian. The authority of the Safavids was religiously based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants of Ali,[30] the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by the Shia as the first Imam. He also reduced the taxes of districts that were traditionally Shii, regulated services in mosques and engaged Shii propagandists and spies. Abbas also moved the capital to Isfahan, deeper into central Iran. Moreover, Shah Abbas's conversion to a ghulam-based military, though expedient in the short term, had, over the course of a century, weakened the country's strength by requiring heavy taxation and control over the provinces. From 1540 and onwards, Shah Tahmasp initiated a gradual transformation of the Iranian society by slowly constructing a new branch and layer solely composed of ethnic Caucasians. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Isma'il, adopted the title of "King of Iran" (Pdiah- rn), with its implicit notion of an Iranian state stretching from Khorasan as far as Euphrates, and from the Oxus to the southern Territories of the Persian Gulf. As a result, Iran was cut off from overseas links to East Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and South Asia. [83] In turn, many of these transplanted women became wives and concubines of Tahmsp, and the Safavid harem emerged as a competitive, and sometimes lethal, arena of ethnic politics as cliques of Turkmen, Circassian, and Georgian women and courtiers vied with each other for the shahs attention.[83]. The revenue came not so much from exports, as from the custom charges and transit dues levied on goods passing through the country. For art to succeed at this scale, patronage had to come from the top. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.3) Shiism in Iran Since the Safavids: Safavid Period", Persian Constitutional Revolution (19051911), 1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, March 1979 Iranian Islamic Republic referendum, December 1979 Iranian constitutional referendum, 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International military intervention against the Islamic State (2014), Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (2015), 20182019 Iranian general strikes and protests, Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament), Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Safavid_dynasty&oldid=1150017490, Early Modern history of Georgia (country), Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Persian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia; Matthee, Rudi. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Moreover, Shah Abbas's conversion to a ghulam-based military, though expedient in the short term, had, over the course of a century, weakened the country's strength by requiring heavy taxation and control over the provinces. Efahn fell to the Ghilzai Afghans of Kandahr in 1722. Since two other sons had predeceased him, the result was a personal tragedy for Shah Abbas. [197] Shah Abbas I intended to decrease the power of the Qizilbash by bringing some of these provinces into his direct control, creating so called Crown Provinces (Khassa). [50] As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyeh order, prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Anthony Bryer. The Safavid Empire also differed from the Ottoman and Mughal Empires because it was an official Shi'ite empire. They were the continuers of the classical tradition of Islamic thought, which after Averroes died in the Arab west. [48] His background is disputed: the language he used is not identical with that of his "race" or "nationality" and he was bilingual from birth. The Spanish demanded Abbas break off relations with the English before they would consider relinquishing the town. Savory, Roger M.; Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (1998), This page was last edited on 6 April 2023, at 01:37. 1867. Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of the Qizilbash. Safavid dynasty, (1501-1736), ruling dynasty of Iran whose establishment of Twelver Shiism as the state religion of Iran was a major factor in the emergence of a unified national consciousness among the various ethnic and linguistic elements of the country.
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