From Fárs Sháh Isma'íl marched into Shírwán (where Shaykh Sháh, the son of Farrukh-Yasár, had re-established Attacks Shírwán. himself), recovered the body of his father Shaykh Ḥaydar and conveyed it to Ardabíl for burial, as already related, and took Darband.

So far Sháh Isma'íl had been chiefly occupied in putting down minor princes and pretenders and in consolidating Two powerful external enemies, the Uzbeks and Ottomans. his power in Persia, of which he had to the West and North-West greatly enlarged the territories, and had almost restored the ancient frontiers of Sásánian times. Hitherto he had hardly come into conflict with the two powerful enemies who were destined to give so much trouble to himself and his successors, to wit the Uzbeks of Central Asia and the Ottoman Turks. Of his relations with these formidable rivals we must now speak, but, before doing so, a few more words may be said of Sháh Isma'íl's character and appearance. As usual, a much more vivid picture of these is given by contemporary Sháh Isma'íl's appearance and character as depicted by contempotary European travellers. travellers than by his own countrymen, though his courage, energy, cruelty and restless activity are sufficiently apparent in the Persian chronicles of his reign. At the age of thirteen, when he began his career of conquest, he was, according to Caterino Zeno, * “of noble presence and a truly royal bearing, as in his eyes there was something, I know not what, so great and commanding, which plainly showed that he would yet some day become a great ruler. Nor did the virtues of his mind disaccord with the beauty of his person, as he had an elevated genius, and such a lofty idea of things as seemed incredible at such a tender age…He had vigour of mind, quickness of perception, and a personal valour… never yet…equalled by any of his contemporaries.” Angio-lello * speaks of “his beauty and pleasing manners” when he was a child, and relates * how, in his campaign against 'Alá'u'd-Dawla (“Alidoli”), “he supplied himself with provisions, paying for everything, and proclaiming abroad that everyone might bring supplies to the camp for sale, and that anyone taking anything without paying for it would be put to death.” “This Sophi,” he says a little further on, * “is fair, handsome, and very pleasing; not very tall, but of a light and well-framed figure; rather stout than slight, with broad shoulders. His hair is reddish; he only wears moustachios, and uses his left hand instead of his right. He is as brave as a game-cock, and stronger than any of his lords; in the archery contests, out of the ten apples that are knocked down, he knocks down seven; while he is at his sport they play on various instruments and sing his praises.” “He is almost worshipped,” he remarks in another place, * “more especially by his soldiers, many of whom fight without armour, being willing to die for their master. While I was in Tauris [Tabríz] I heard that the king is displeased with this adoration, and being called God.” The anonymous merchant describes him * at the age of thirty-one as “Very handsome, of a magnanimous countenance, and about middle height; he is fair, stout, and with broad shoulders, his beard is shaved and he only wears a moustache, not appearing to be a very heavy man. He is as amiable as a girl, left-handed by nature, is as lively as a fawn, and stronger than any of his lords. In the archery trials at the apple he is so expert that of every ten he hits six.” The same writer, on the other hand, after describing his massacre of Alwand's soldiers, of the male and female kinsmen of Sulṭán Ya'qúb, of three hundred courtezans of Tabríz, of “eight hundred avaricious Blasi” * who had been brought up under Alumut [i.e. Alwand], of “all the dogs in Tauris,” and of his own mother [or stepmother], concludes, “From the time of Nero to the present, I doubt whether so bloodthirsty a tyrant has ever existed.” He presented, in short, the strangest blend of antithetical qualities; and we are alternately attracted by his personal charm, his unquestionable valour, generosity and—within certain limits—justice, and repelled by actions, such as those recorded above, revealing a savagery remarkable even in that cruel and bloodthirsty age. His courage was shown not only on the field of battle but in the chase. Hearing after his conquest and occupation of Baghdád of a singularly fierce man-eating lion which had its lair in a thicket and terrified the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, he insisted, in spite of all remonstrances, in destroying it single-handed with the bow he knew so well how to use. * At the age of thirteen he had already slain a fierce bear in like manner in a cave near Arzinján. * When “immense treasures” fell into his hands on the capture of one of the Caspian ports, “he divided them amongst his men, keeping nothing for himself .” * Yet the same traveller who reports this instance of generosity and political foresight (for in consequence of it “he was joined by numbers, even those who were not Suf-faveans flocking to his standard in hopes of receiving gifts of this nature from the valiant Ismael”) describes how the Sháh with his own hand cut off the head of the unfortunate young prince “Alumut,” * captured by treachery, whom he himself had seen bound in chains in a tent; and tells of even darker deeds wrought at Tabríz on the occasion of the Sháh's second entry into that city in A.D. 1520. * Towards the Sunnís Ruthless repression of Sunnís. he showed himself ruthless, sparing neither eminent divines like the learned Farídu'd-Dín Aḥmad, a grandson of the celebrated scholar Sa'du'd-Dín-i-Taftázání, who for thirty years had held the office of Shaykhu'l-Islám in Herát, * nor witty poets like Banná'í, who perished in the massacre of Qarshí in 918/1512. But perhaps the most conspicuous instance of a ferocity which pursued his foes even after their death was his treatment of the body of his old enemy Muḥammad Khán Shaybání, or Shaybak, the Uzbek, of which we shall have to speak very shortly.

It has already been stated that the foreign relations of Sháh Isma'íl, after he had cleared Persia of the “White Foreign relations of Persia at this period. Sheep” and other rivals for the sceptre of that ancient kingdom, were chiefly with three Powers, the Tímúrids, who still kept a precarious hold on Herát and portions of Khurásán and Central Asia; the formidable Uzbeks of Transoxiana; and the Ottoman Turks. With the last two, rigid Sunnís in both cases, the relations of Persia were, and continued to be, uniformly hostile; with the Tímúrids, themselves menaced by the Uzbeks, comparatively friendly and at times even cordial. The aged Sulṭán Ḥusayn ibn Bayqará, whose brilliant and luxurious court at Herát was so famous a centre of literature and art, * is reckoned amongst the rulers who, with less success than Sháh Isma'íl, endeavoured to replace the Sunní by the Shí'a doctrine in their dominions; * and Bábur, whether from conviction or policy, showed enough partiality towards the Shí'a faction to cause grave disaffection amongst his Central Asian Sunní subjects. * There existed, then, in this case no such essential cause of enmity as in the two others, while a common hatred of Shaybání Khán and his redoutable Uzbeks naturally tended to unite Bábur to Isma'íl.

It is beyond the scope of this work to enter into a detailed account of the decline of the Tímúrid and the rise of the Shaybání or Shaybak Khán and the Uzbeks. Uzbek power, of which ample particulars may be found in Erskine's and other works. * Suffice it to say that Shaybání or Shaybak Khán, a direct descendant of Chingíz Khán, * first became prominent about A.D. 1500, when he captured Samarqand and Bukhárá, and later Táshkand and Farghána. He invaded Khurásán in 911/1505-6, in the year of Sulṭán Ḥusayn's death, and in the course of the next year or two practically exterminated the Tímúrids, with the exception of Bábur and Badí'u'z-Zamán, of whom the latter sought refuge with Sháh Isma'íl. It was not until 916/1510-11, however, that he came into direct conflict with Sháh Isma'íl, whom he had provoked by a raid on Kirmán in the previous year and a most insulting letter in reply to Isma'íl's politely-worded remonstrance. * Sháh Isma'íl was not slow to respond to his taunts, and, the rest of his realms being for the moment tranquil, at once marched into Khurásán to meet him, visiting on his way Death of Shaybání in battle, Dec. 1510. the Shrine of the Imám 'Alí Riḍá at Mashhad, so sacred in Shí'a eyes. The decisive battle was fought on Dec. 1 or 2, 1510, at Ṭáhir-ábád near Merv, where, after a stubborn and protracted conflict, the Uzbeks were utterly defeated and Shaybání killed. When his body was found under a heap of slain, Sháh Isma'íl ordered the limbs to be cut off and distributed to different parts of his kingdom, and the head to be stuffed with straw and sent as a grim gift to the Ottoman Sulṭán Báyazíd II at Constantinople. * The bones of the skull he caused to be Barbarous treatment of his remains. mounted in gold and made into a drinking-cup for his own use, and one hand he sent to Áqá Rustam Rúz-afzún, the ruler of Mázandarán, by a special messenger, Darwísh Muḥammad Yasá'úl, who cast the hand on to Rustam's skirt as he sat amidst his courtiers at Sárí, crying “Thou didst say, ‘My hand on Shaybak Khán's skirt’ (dast-i-man-ast u dáman-i-Shaybak Khán): * lo, his hand is now on thy skirt!” So astounded were those present by this audacity that none lifted a hand to stay the messenger's departure, and Rustam received so great a shock that he soon afterwards sickened and died. Of the drinking-cup the following grim anecdote is told. One of Shaybání's trusted advisers, Khwája Kamálu'd-Dín Ságharchí, saved his life by professing the Shí'a faith, and was admitted into the service of Sháh Isma'íl. One day at a banquet the latter, pointing to the drinking-cup, asked him if he recognized the skull of his late master. “Yes, glory be to God,” replied Kamálu'd-Dín; “and how favoured by fortune was he! Nay, fortune still abides with him, so that even now he rests in the hands of so auspicious a being as thyself, who continually drinks the Wine of Delight!”