Siege of Baghdad (1401)

For the 1258 siege, see Siege of Baghdad.
Siege of Baghdad
Part of Timurid conquest of the Middle East

Jalayirid troops (left, on top of the wall) defending Baghdad against Timur (right) in August 1401. Folio from a Dispersed copy of the Zafarnama (Book of Victory) of 1436
Date1401 (40 days)
Location
Baghdad
33°20′51″N 44°20′06″E / 33.34750°N 44.33500°E / 33.34750; 44.33500
Result Timurid victory
Territorial
changes		 Timurid occupation of Baghdad (1401-1405)
Belligerents
Timurid Empire Jalayirid Sultanate
Commanders and leaders

In 1401, Timur, the ruler of the Timurid Empire, besieged the Jalayirid Sultanate capital of Baghdad for forty days and then massacred its inhabitants for resisting.[1] The Turco-Mongol army looted the treasury and razed much of the city, except for mosques and madrasas.[2] Contemporaries reported that each Mongol soldier was ordered to bring at least one severed head of an inhabitant. Only one out of a hundred of the city's inhabitants reportedly survived the massacre to be sold into slavery.[3]

Dust Muhammad reports that following the siege Timur captured the Jalayirid miniature artist Khwaja Abdul-Hayy to bring him back to the Timurid court in Samarkand, where his style was then followed by local court artists:[4]

When the realm-conquering banners of Timur Kiiragan cast the ray of the caliphate in subjugating the realm of Baghdad, and he made that Abode of Peace the residence of the caliphal throne for a few days, Khwaja Abdul-Hayy was taken along with the celestial army to the Abode of the Sultanate Samarqand, where he died. After the Khwaja's death all masters imitated his works.

— Dust Muhammad, preface to Bahram Mirza Album (1544).[4][5]

Sultan Ahmed Jalayir, the ruler of the Jalayirids, had to flee to Damascus, to the protection of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. He was accompanied by the Kara Koyunlu ruler Kara Yusuf.[7][8] Sultan Ahmed Jalayir and Qara Yusuf were welcomed by Sheikh Mahmud, the nâib of Damascus. Not wanting to worsen relations with Amir Timur, Nasir-ad-Din Faraj agreed to capture Qara Yusuf and Sultan Ahmed Jalayir, and hand them over to Timur. Instead, Sultan Ahmad Jalayir and Qara Yusuf were imprisoned on the order of Nasir-ad-Din Faraj, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. Together in prison, the two leaders renewed their friendship, making an agreement that Sultan Ahmed Jalayir should keep Baghdad while Qara Yusuf would have Azerbaijan. Ahmad also adopted Qara Yusuf's son Pirbudag. The hosting of Kara Yusuf by Bayezid I was one of the main reasons Timur then launched a campaign against the Ottomans. Timur continued as he conquered Aleppo, Damascus and eastern Anatolia. In 1402 he defeated the Ottomans in the momentous Battle of Ankara, plunging the Ottoman Empire into a civil war.

When Timur died in 1405 Nasir-ad-Din Faraj released Sultan Ahmad Jalayir and Qara Yusuf from captivity in Damascus.[13] However, according to Faruk Sümer, they were released on the orders of rebellious wali of Damascus – Sheykh Mahmud.[14][15] Sultan Ahmad Jalayir, taking advantage of a local insurrection, finally managed to recapture the city of Baghdad with the help of Qara Yusuf leading his Qara Koyunlu troops.[13] He eliminated the administration of Mirza Ömer, son of Miran Shah, who had been in charge of ruling the city for the Timurids.[16]

Then, Qara Yusuf took control of Tabriz, where he settled his own government.

References

  1. ^ Shterenshis, Michael (2013). Tamerlane and the Jews. Routledge. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-1-136-87366-9.
  2. ^ The Diez Albums: Contexts and Contents. BRILL. 14 November 2016. p. 490. ISBN 978-90-04-32348-3.
  3. ^ Yehuda, Zvi (2017). The New Babylonian Diaspora: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Community in Iraq, 16th-20th Centuries C.E. BRILL. p. 33. ISBN 978-90-04-35401-2.
  4. ^ a b Sims, Eleanor; Marshak, Boris Ilʹich; Grube, Ernst J. (1 January 2002). Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources. Yale University Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-300-09038-3.
  5. ^ Album prefaces and other documents on the history of calligraphers and painters (Paperback [edition] ed.). Leiden Boston: Brill. 2014. p. 13. ISBN 978-90-04-11961-1.
  6. ^ Munt, Harry (2017). The Jalayirids: Dynastic State Formation in the Mongol Middle East. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. Map 3. ISBN 978 1 4744 0225 5.
  7. ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam (Tabriz article) (2nd ed.). Brill. 2007. p. 44. ISBN 978-9004161214.
  8. ^ "Karakoyunlular –TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi". TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  9. ^ Blair, Sheila (2022). Text and Image in Medieval Persian Art. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9781474464499. The last of the illustrations in Humay and Humayun celebrates the consummation of the lovers' marriage (5.1), and many years ago Soucek suggested that the image might illustrate a specific marriage of Sultan Ahmad." (98. Soucek, 1974, 75–7.)
  10. ^ Soucek, Priscilla (1974). "Comments on Persian Painting". Iranian Studies. 7 (1/2): 77–78. ISSN 0021-0862. It is possible that the painting refers to a specific marriage celebration of Ahmad Jala'ir, but it has not yet been possible to provide documentation of this connection. (...) The incorporation of the images of patrons within the paintings themselves, suggests that manuscripts may have served as a vehicle for royal flattery or propaganda.
  11. ^ Blair, Sheila S. (1 June 2019). Text and Image in Medieval Persian Art. Edinburgh University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-4744-6449-9. This copy of Khwaju's poems then had a long, colorful, and quite eventful life. Made perhaps as a momento to celebrate Ahmad Jalayir's return to Baghdad, the consummation of his marriage, and hence the continuing presence of the Jalayirid line, the manuscript and its illustrations have continued to delight readers and viewers down to the present...
  12. ^ Sturkenboom, Ilse (2018). "The Paintings of the FreerDivanof Sultan Ahmad b. Shaykh Uvays and a New Taste for Decorative Design". Iran. 56 (2): 198. doi:10.1080/05786967.2018.1482727. ISSN 0578-6967. S2CID 194905114.
  13. ^ a b Minorsky, V. (2000). "Tabriz". Encyclopaedia of Islam First Edition (PDF). Leiden Brill. p. 44. ISBN 90 04 11211 1.
  14. ^ Muir, William (2010). The Mameluke Or Slave Dynasty of Egypt 1260–1517 A.D. Nabu Press. ISBN 978-1142162863.
  15. ^ "Karakoyunlular – TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi". TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  16. ^ Cristea, Ovidiu; Pilat, Liviu (29 January 2020). From Pax Mongolica to Pax Ottomanica: War, Religion and Trade in the Northwestern Black Sea Region (14th-16th Centuries). BRILL. p. 136. ISBN 978-90-04-42244-5.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.