There follows a lengthy account of this dangerous rebellion, in which the Turks suffered several severe reverses and lost many notable officers, including the Grand Vezír Khádim 'Alí Pasha, ere the rebels were dispersed, killed, or driven into Persia. Instead of rewarding or comforting the fugitives, however, Sháh Isma'íl put many of them to death at Tabríz, because, as Knolles says, * they had plundered a caravan of rich merchants; but, according to the most modern Turkish historian, * in order to clear himself of complicity in the eyes of Báyazíd. Knolles adds that “Techellis himself (i.e. Sháh-qulí), to the terror of others, was burnt alive”; but, according to the Turkish historian, he fell at the same time as 'Alí Pasha in the battle of Gyuk Cháy, between Síwás and Qayṣariyya, in which statement the Aḥsanu't-Tawáríkh * agrees. “Techellis thus put to Massacre of Shí'a throughout the Turkish Empire. flight,” continues Knolles, “Jonuses * caused strait inquisition to be made through all the Cities of the lesser Asia for all such as had professed the Persian Religion; and them whom he found to have borne Arms in the late Rebellion he caused to be put to death with most exquisite torments and the rest to be burnt in their Foreheads with an hot Iron, thereby forever to be known; whom together with the Kinsfolks and Friends of them that were executed or fled with Techellis he caused to be transported into Europe and to be dispersed through Macedonia, Epirus and Pele-ponnesus , for fear lest if Techellis, now fled into the Persian Kingdom, should from thence return with new Forces, they should also again repair unto him and raise a new Rebellion. This was the beginning, course, and ending of one of the most dangerous Rebellions that ever troubled the Turkish Empire; wherein all, or at leastwise the greatest part, of their Dominions in Asia might have been easily surprised by the Persian King, if he would thoroughly have prosecuted the occasion and opportunity then offered.” These events are placed by Knolles in A.D. 1508, but by the Aḥsanu't-Tawáríkh in 917/1511-12, the year before Báya-zíd's death.

It is curious that little or nothing is said by the Persian historians about this massacre of the Shí'a in Turkey, which von Hammer describes as one of the most dreadful deeds ever perpetrated in the name of Religion, not excepting the cruelties of the Inquisition or the Massacre of St Bartholomew. That most of the Turkish historians ignore it is less astonishing, since it can hardly be a matter of pride for them. Knolles appears to be mistaken in placing it in the reign of Báyazíd II, for there can hardly have been two such massacres, and one certainly took place in 1514 after the accession of Salím, as witnessed by Nicolo Giustiniani in an account dated October 7 of that year. * The number of victims is placed by Sa'du'd-Dín, Soláq-záda and 'Alí Abu'l-Faḍl, the son of Idrís of Bitlís, at 40,000. The particulars given by the last-named writer, quoted by von Hammer in the original Persian verse transliterated into the Roman character, are as follows:*

Von Hammer's translation, which can hardly be bettered, runs as follows:

“Der Sultan wohlbewandert, voll Verstand,
Schickt kund'ge Schreiber aus in jedes Land;
Aufzeichnen sollen sie nach Stamm und Stammen
Die Jünger dieses Volks mit Nahm und Nahmen.
Von sieben Jahren bis auf siebzig Jahr
Bring' im Diwan die List' ein jeder dar.
Es waren Vierzigtausend grad enthalten
In den Verzeichnissen von Jung und Alten,
Die Bringer dieser Listen wurden dann
Gesandt an die Statthalter mit Ferman.
Wo immer hin die Feder war gekommen,
Ward Fuss für Fuss das Schwert zur Hand genommen.
Es wurden hingerichtet in dem Land
Mehr als die Zahl, die in den Listen stand.”

Turning now once more to the Munsha'át of Firídún Sulṭán Salím's Persian correspondence. Bey, we find the following letters belonging to the reign of Sulṭán Salím which bear on his relations with Persia.

(13) From Sulṭán Salím to 'Ubayd Khán the Uzbek, in Persian, dated the end of Muḥarram, A.H. 920 (March 27, 1514), only five months before the Battle of Cháldirán (pp. 374-7). In this long letter, sent by the hand of a certain Muḥammad Bey, Salím denounces “that vile, impure, sinful, slanderous, reprehensible and blood-thirsty Ṣúfí-cub” (to wit Sháh Isma'íl), “at whose hands the people of the Eastern lands are rendered desperate”

and calls upon 'Ubayd Khán to do his part in avenging the death of his father Shaybak Khán.

(14) Answer to the above, also in Persian, dated the end of Jumáda ii, 920 (August 21, 1514), pp. 377-9. In this letter 'Ubayd Khán describes how he has already avenged his father and slain “the lesser dog, agent and lieutenant of the greater dog (i.e. Sháh Isma'íl), who in his quintessential folly had conferred on him the title of Najm-i-Thání,” * and promises to aid the Turkish Sulṭán in extirpating the “inconsiderable remnant” (<text in Arabic script omitted>) of the “rascally infidels and heretical ‘Red-heads’” (<text in Arabic script omitted>).

(15) From Sulṭán Salím to Sháh Isma'íl, in Persian, dated Ṣafar, 920 (April, 1514), pp. 379-381. This letter, written in the most arrogant and offensive tone, calls on Isma'íl to repent of his heresies and evil practices, especially the cursing of “the two Shaykhs” (Abú Bakr and 'Umar), and threatens, should he continue obdurate, to invade and wrest from him “the lands which he has usurped by violence.”

(16) From Sulṭán Salím to Muḥammad Beg Áq-Qoyúnlú, in Persian, dated the end of Ṣafar, 920 (April 25, 1514), pp. 381-2, congratulating him on the sound Sunní principles of himself and his family and subjects, and inviting his co-operation against the “heretical ‘Red-heads’.”

(17) Reply to the above, in Persian, dated the end of Rabí' ii, 920 (June 23, 1514), p. 382. From this it appears that Salím's letter was brought by an envoy named Aḥmad Ján, who took back the answer, and that the writer was in great fear that the correspondence might be discovered.

(18) Sulṭán Salím's second letter to Sháh Isma'íl, in Persian and undated, pp. 382-3. In this letter Salím lays claim to the Caliphate, accuses Sháh Isma'íl and his family of heresy and immorality, and calls on him to repent and suffer Persia to be annexed to the Ottoman dominions.

(19) Sulṭán Salím's third letter to Isma'íl, in Turkish, dated the end of Jumáda i, 920 (July 23, 1514) and written from Arzinján, taunting him with his apparent unwillingness to try the fortune of battle.

(20) Sháh Isma'íl's reply to Sulṭán Salím's three letters, in Persian and undated (pp. 384-5). This is apparently the letter to which Creasy refers in his History of the Ottoman Turks (ed. 1877, pp. 136-7), for the writer hints that Salím's secretary must have written under the influence of bang or opium, and sends a gold casket filled with a special preparation of one or both of these narcotics, sealed with the Royal Seal, by the hand of his messenger Sháh-qulí Ághá.

(21) Sulṭán Salím's fourth letter to Isma'íl, in Turkish, dated the end of Jumáda ii, 920 (August 21, 1514), again challenging him to battle.

Shortly after this last letter was written, namely early in the month of Rajab, * 920 (August—September, 1514), a The Battle of Cháldirán, August, 1514. great battle was fought between the Turks and Persians at Cháldirán, situated some 20 parasangs from Tabríz, where 3000 of the former and 2000 of the latter were slain, but the Turkish artillery decided the day, and Sháh Isma'íl, notwithstanding the valour shown by him and his devoted followers, was forced to give way and to fall back beyond Tabríz, which was occupied by the Turks on Rajab 16, 920 (Sept. 6, 1514). Many men of note on both sides were slain; of the Turks Ḥasan Pasha, Begler-begi of Rumelia, who commanded the left wing of the Ottoman army, Ḥasan Bey, Governor of Morea, Uways Bey of Caesarea, Ayás Bey of Latakia, and many other high civil and military officials; of the Persians Amír Sayyid-i-Sharíf of Shíráz, a protagonist of the Shí'a doctrine, Amír 'Abdu'l-Báqí, a descendant of the noted saint Sháh Ni'matu'lláh of Kirmán, Sayyid Muḥammad Kamúna of Najaf, Khán Muḥammad Khan, and many others.