Between, and even earlier than, the death of Ázarmdukht and the accession of Yazdagird III., the order of the dynastic succession becomes very confused. The names of the Sháhs vary in the different lists. The reason is that it was a period of great internal unrest and various aspirants to the throne held contemporaneously some short-lived authority in different provinces of the empire. One of these princes, Farrukhzád (Farrukhzád-Khusrau) has received the honour of being included in the list of the Sháhs as recorded in the Sháhnáma. Two accounts of the length of his reign are given in Tabarí. According to one, it lasted for six months, according to the other, for a year. Both agree that he did not die a natural death, and one of them states that his death was instigated by the adherents of Yazdagird.*