and the actual seizure of Herat, necessitating the recovery of that city and a march to Kandahar (1536); the temporary loss of Kandahar in the following year (1537), when the governor ceded it to Prince Kamran, son of Babar; the hospitable reception accorded to the Indian emperor Humayun (1543); the rebellion of the shah’s brother next in age, Ilkhas, who, by his alliance with the sultan, brought on a war with Turkey (1548);[1] and finally a fresh expedition to Georgia, followed by a revengeful incursion which resulted in the enforced bondage of thousands of the inhabitants (1552).
Bayezid, a son of the Turkish emperor, rebelled, and his
army was beaten in 1559 by the imperial troops at Konia
in Asia Minor. He fled to Persia and took refuge
with Shah Ṭahmasp, who pledged himself to give
him a permanent asylum. Suleiman’s demand,
however, for extradition or execution was too peremptory for
War with
Turkey.
refusal, and the prince was delivered up to the messengers sent
to take him. Whatever the motive, the act itself was highly
appreciated by Suleiman, and became the means of cementing a
recently concluded peace between the two monarchs. Perhaps
the domestic affliction of the emperor and the anarchy which
in his later years had spread in his dominions had, however,
more to do with the maintenance of tranquillity than any mere
personal feeling. At this time not only was there religious
fanaticism at work to stir up the mutual hatred ever existing
between Sunni and Shiʽah, but the intrigue of European courts
was probably directed towards the maintenance of an hostility
which deterred the sultan from aggressive operations north and
west of Constantinople. “ ‘Tis only the Persian stands between
us and ruin” is the reported saying of Busbecq, ambassador
at Suleiman’s court on the part of Ferdinand of Austria; “the
Turk would fain be upon us, but he keeps him back.”
In 1561 Anthony Jenkinson arrived in Persia with a letter from Queen Elizabeth to the shah. He was to treat with his majesty of “Trafique and Commerce for our English Marchants,”[2] but his reception was not encouraging, and led to no result of importance.
Ṭahmasp died in 1576, after a reign of about fifty-two years. He must have been some sixty-six years of age, having come to the throne at fourteen. Writers describe him as a robust man, of middle stature, wide-lipped, and of tawny complexion. He was not wanting in soldierly qualities, but his virtues were rather negative than Ṭahmasp’s Death. decided. The deceased shah had a numerous progeny, and on his death his fifth son, Haidar Mirza, proclaimed himself king, supported in his pretensions by the Kizil-bash tribe of Ustujulu. Another tribe, the Afshar, insisted on the succession of the fourth son, Ismaʽil. Had it not been that there were two candidates in the field, the contention would have resembled that which arose shortly after Ṭahmasp’s accession. Finally Ismaʽil, profiting from his brother’s weak character and the intrigues set on foot against him, obtained his object, and was brought from a prison to receive the crown.
The reign of Ismaʽil II. lasted less than two years. He was found dead in the house of a confectioner in Kazvin, having left the world either drunk, drugged or poisoned. No steps were taken to verify the circumstances, for the event itself was a cause of general relief and joy. He was succeeded by his eldest brother, Mahommed Mirza, otherwise Ismaʽil II. Mahommed Khudabanda. called Mahommed Khudabanda, whose claim to sovereignty had been originally put aside on the ground of physical infirmity. He had the good sense to trust his state affairs almost wholly to an able minister; but he was cowardly enough to deliver up that minister into the hands of his enemies. His kingdom was distracted by intestine divisions and rebellion, and the foe appeared also from without. On the east his youngest son, ʽAbbas, held possession of Khorasan, on the west the sultan’s troops again entered Azerbaijan and took Tabriz. His eldest son, Hamza Mirza, upheld his fortunes to the utmost of his power, reduced the rebel chieftains, and forced the Turks to make peace and retire; but he was stabbed to death by an assassin. On the news of his death reaching Khorasan, Murshid Kuli Khan, leader of the Ustujulu Kizil-bash, who had made good in fight his claims to the guardianship of ʽAbbas, at once conducted the young prince from that province to Kazvin, and occupied the royal city. The object was evident, and in accordance with the popular feeling. ʽAbbas, who had been proclaimed king by the nobles at Nishapur some two or three years before this occurrence, may be said to have now undertaken in earnest the cares of sovereignty. His ill-starred father, at no time more than a nominal ruler, was at Shiraz, apparently deserted by soldiers and people. Malcolm infers that he died a natural death, but when[3] or where is not stated.
Shah ʽAbbas the Great commenced his long and glorious reign (1586) by retracing his steps towards Khorasan, which had been reinvaded by the Uzbegs almost immediately after his departure thence with the Kizil-bash chief. They had besieged and taken Herat, killed the governor, plundered the town, and laid waste the surrounding ʽAbbas the Great. country. ʽAbbas advanced to Meshed, but owing to internal troubles he was compelled to return to Kazvin without going farther east. In his absence ʽAbd-ul-Munim Khan, the Uzbeg commander, attacked the sacred city, obtained possession of it while the shah lay helplessly ill at Teherān, and allowed his savage soldiers full licence to kill and plunder. The whole kingdom was perplexed, and ʽAbbas had much work to restore confidence and tranquillity. But circumstances rendered impossible his immediate renewal of the Khorasan warfare. He was summoned to Shiraz to put down rebellion in Fars; and before he could drive out the Uzbegs, he had to secure himself against Turkish inroads threatening from the west. He had been engaged in a war with Murad III. in Georgia. Peace was concluded between the two sovereigns in 1590; but the terms were unfavourable to Persia, who lost thereby Tabriz and one or more of the Caspian ports. A stipulation was included in the treaty to the effect that Persians were not to curse any longer the first three caliphs,—a sort of privilege previously enjoyed by Shiʽites as part and parcel of their religious faith.
In 1597 ʽAbbas renewed operations against the Uzbegs, and succeeded in recovering from them Herat and Khorasan. Eastward he extended his dominions to Balkh, and in the south his generals made the conquest of Bahrain (Bahrein), on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, and the territory and islands of the Persian seaboard, inclusive of the mountainous province of Lar. He strengthened his position in Khorasan by planting colonies of Kurdish horsemen on the frontier, or along what is called the “atak” or skirt of the Turkoman mountains north of Persia. In 1601 the war with the Ottoman Empire, which had been partially renewed prior to the death of Sultan Murad in 1595, with little success on the Turkish side, was now entered upon by ʽAbbas with more vigour. Taking advantage of the weakness of his ancient enemy in the days of the poor voluptuary Mahommed III., he began rapidly to recover the provinces which Persia had lost in preceding reigns, and continued to reap his advantages in succeeding campaigns under Ahmed I., until under Othman II. a peace was signed restoring to Persia the boundaries which she had obtained under the first Ismaʽil. On the other side Kandahar, which Ṭahmasp’s lieutenant had yielded to the Great Mogul, was recovered from that potentate in 1609.
At the age of seventy, after a reign of forty-two years, ʽAbbas died at his favourite palace of Farahabad, on the coast of Mazandaran, on the night of the 27th of January 1628. Perhaps the most distinguished of all Persian kings, his fame was not merely local but world-wide. At his court were ambassadors from England, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Holland and India.
- ↑ Creasy says that “Suliman led his armies against the Persians in several campaigns (1533, 1534, 1535, 1548, 1553, 1554), during which the Turks often suffered severely through the difficult nature of the countries traversed, as well as through the bravery and activity of the enemy.” All the years given were in the reign of Ṭahmasp I.
- ↑ Purchas.
- ↑ Krusinski says in 1585.
