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1405–1736] was a man of great ability. He established a permanent staff to deal with legal, financial and military affairs, put on a firm basis the monetary system and the system of weights and measures, and perfected the mounted postal service. Ghazan fought with success against Egypt (which country had already from 1293 to December 1294 been ruled by a Mongol usurper Kitboga), and even held Damascus for a few months. In 1303, however, his troops were defeated at Merj al-Saffar, and Mongol claims on Syria were definitely abandoned. It was even suggested that the titular Abbasid caliphs (who retained an empty title in Cairo under Mameluke protection) should be reinstated at Bagdad, but this proposal was not carried into effect. Ghazan is historically important, however, mainly as the first Mongol ruler who definitely adopted Islam with a large number of his subjects. He died in 1304, traditionally of anger at the Syrian fiasco, and was succeeded by his brother Uljaitu (Oeljeitu). The chief events of his reign were a successful war against Tatar invaders and the substitution of the new city of Sultania as capital for Tabriz, which had been Ghazan’s headquarters. Uljaitu was a Shiʽite and even stamped his coins with the names of the twelve Shiʽite imams. He died in 1316, and was succeeded by Abu Saʽid, his son. The prince, under whom a definite peace was made with Malik al-Nasir, the Mameluke ruler of Egypt, had great trouble with powerful viziers and generals which he accentuated by his passion for Bagdad-Khatun, wife of the amir Ḥosain and daughter of the amir Chupan. This lady he eventually married, with the result that Chupan headed a revolt of his tribe, the Selduz. Abu Saʽid died of fever in 1335, and with him the first Mongol or Ilkhan dynasty of Persia practically came to an end. The real power was divided between Chupan and Ḥosain the Jelair (or Jalair), or the Ilkhanian, and their sons, known respectively as the Little Ḥasan (Ḥasan Kuchuk) and the great Ḥasan (Ḥasan Buzurg). Two puppet kings, Arpa Khan, a descendant of Hulagu’s brother Arikbuhga, and Musa Khan, a descendant of Baidu, nominally reigned for a few months each. Then Ḥasan Kuchuk set up one Sati-beg, Abu Saʽid’s daughter, and wife successively of Chupan, Arfa Khan and one Suleiman, the last of whom was khan from 1339 to 1343; in the same time Ḥasan Buzurg set up successively Mahommed, Tugha-Timur and Jahan-Timur. A sixth nonentity, Nushirwan, was a Chupani nominee in 1344, after which time Ḥasan Buzurg definitely installed himself as the first khan of the Jelairid or Ilkhanian-Jelairid dynasty.

Practically from the reign of Abu Saʽid Persia was divided under five minor dynasties, (1) the Jelairids, (2) the Mozaffarids, (3) the Sarbadarids (Serbedarians), (4) the Beni Kurt, and (5) the Jubanians, all of which ultimately fell before the armies of Timur.

1. The Jelairid rulers were Ḥasan Buzurg (1336, strictly 1344–1356), Owais (1356–1374), Ḥosain (1374–1382), Sultan Ahmad (1382–1410), Shah Walad (1410–1411). Their capital was Bagdad, and their dominion was increased under Ḥasan. Owais added Azerbaijan, Tabriz, and even Mosul and Diarbekr. Ḥosain fought with the Mozaffarids of Shiraz and the Black Sheep Turkomans (Kara Kuyunli) of Armenia, with the latter of whom he ultimately entered into alliance. On his death Azerbaijan and Irak fell to his brother, Sultan Ahmad, while another brother Bayezid ruled for a few months in part of Kurdistan. It was about this time that (q.v.) began his great career of conquest, under which the power of the various Persian dynasties collapsed. By 1393 he had conquered northern Persia and Armenia, Bagdad, Mesopotamia, Diarbekr and Van, and Ahmad fled to Egypt, where he was received by Barkuk (Barquq) the Mameluke sultan. Barkuk, who had already excited the enmity of Timur by slaying one of his envoys, espoused Ahmad’s cause, and restored him to Bagdad after Timur’s return to his normal capital Samarkand. Timur retaliated and until his death Ahmad ruled only from time to time. In 1406 Ahmad was finally restored, but almost immediately entered upon a quarrel with Kara Yusuf, leader of the Black Sheep Turkomans (Kara Kuyunli), who defeated and killed him in 1410. His nephew Shah Walad reigned for a few months only and the throne was occupied by his widow Tandu, formerly wife of Barkuk, who ruled over Basra, Wasit and Shuster till 1416, paying allegiance to Shah Rukh, the second Timurid ruler. Walad’s sons Mahmud Owais and Mahommed, and Ḥosain, grandson of Sultan Ahmad, successively occupied the throne. The last of these was killed by the Kara

Kuyunli, who had established aw dynasty in western Persia after Kara Yusuf’s victory in 1410.

2. The Mozaffarids, who ruled roughly from 1313 to 1399 in Fars, Kermān and Kurdistan, were descended from the Amir Mozaffar, or Muzaffar, who held a post as governor under the Ilkhan ruler. His son Mobariz ud-din Mahommed, who followed him in 1313, became governor in Fars under Abu Saʽid, in Kermān in 1340, and subsequently made himself independent at Fars and Shiraz (1353) and in Isfahan (1356). In 1357 he was deposed and blinded, and though restored was exiled again and died in 1364. His descendants, except for Jelal ed-din (Jalaluddin) Shah Shujaʽ, the patron of the poet Hafiz, were unimportant, and the dynasty was wiped out by Timur about 1392.

3. The Sarbadarids (so called from their motto Sar-ba-dar, “Head to the Gibbet”), descendants of Abd al-Razzak, who rebelled in Khorasan about 1337, enjoyed some measure of independence under twelve rulers till they also were destroyed by Timur (c. 1380).

4. The Beni Kurt (or Kart), who had governed in Khorasan from 1245, became independent in the early 14th century; they were abolished by Timur (c. 1383).

5. The Jubanians had some power in Azerbaijan from 1337 to 1355, when they were dethroned by the Kipchaks of the house of Jenghiz Khan.

The authority of Timur, which, as we have seen, was dominant throughout Persia from at least as early as 1395 till his death in 1405, was never unchallenged. He passed from one victory to another, but the conquered districts were never really settled under his administration. Fresh risings of the defeated dynasties followed each new enterprise, and he had also to deal with the Mongol hordes whose territory marched with northern Persia. His descendants were for a brief period the overlords of Persia, but after Shah Rukh (reigned 1409–1446) and Ala addaula (1447), the so-called Timurid dynasty ceased to have any authority over Persia. There were Timurid governors of Fars under Shah Rukh, Pir Mahommed (1405–1409), Iskendar (1409–1414), Ibrahim (1415–1434) and Abdallah (1434); in other parts of Persia many of the Timurid family held governorships of greater or less importance.

Timur died in 1405, when in the seventieth year of his age and about to invade China. Besides exercising sovereignty over Transoxiana and those vast regions more or less absorbed in Asiatic Russia of the 19th century, inclusive of the Caucasus, Astrakhan and the lower Volga, and overrunning Mesopotamia, Syria,

Asia Minor, Afghanistan and India, he had at this time left his indelible mark upon the chief cities and provinces of Persia. Khorasan and Mazandaran had submitted to him in 1381, Azerbaijan had shortly after followed their example, and Isfahan was seized in 1387. From Isfahan he passed on to Shiraz, and thence returned in triumph to his own capital of Samarkand. Five years later he subdued Mazandaran, and later still he was again at Shiraz, having effected the subjugation of Luristan and other provinces in the west. It may be said that from north to south, or from Astarabad to Hormuz, the whole country had been brought within his dominion.

The third son of Timur, Miran Shah, had ruled over part of Persia in his father’s lifetime; but he was said to be insane, and his incapacity for government had caused the loss of Bagdad and revolt in other provinces. His claim to succession had been put aside by Timur in favour of Pir Mahommed, the son of a deceased son, but Khalil Shah, a son of the discarded prince, won the day. His waste of time and treasure upon fascinating mistress named Shadu ʽl-Mulk, the “delight of the kingdom,” soon brought about his deposition, and in 1408 he gave way to Shah Rukh, who, with the exception of Miran Shah, was the only surviving son of Timur In fact the uncle and nephew changed places—the one quitting his government of Khorasan