Much worse was the case of the unfortunate Prince Báyazíd, son of the Ottoman Sulṭán Sulaymán, who, de- Betrayal of the Ottoman Prince Báyazíd (A.D. 1560-62). prived of his government of Kútáhiya and driven from his native land by the intrigues of his father's Russian wife Khurram * (whose one object was to secure the succession of her son Salím, afterwards known as “the Sot”) took refuge at Ṭahmásp's court in 967/1559-60. An Ottoman mission headed by 'Alí Páshá was sent to Qazwín to demand the surrender of Báyazíd and his children. They arrived there, as we learn from Anthony Jenkinson's narrative, * four days earlier than himself, to wit on October 30, 1562, and Ṭahmásp, moved partly by fear of the Turkish power, partly by bribes, disregarded his solemn promises to the contrary and caused or suffered the unfortunate Prince and his four little sons to be put to death, and, as Anthony Jenkinson says, “sent his head for a present, not a little desired, and acceptable to the unnatural father.” Ṭahmásp seems to have overcome any scruples he may have felt in breaking his solemn promises to the guest he thus betrayed by handing him over not directly to his father, but to the emissaries of his brother Salím. The case is bad enough even as stated by the Sháh himself in his Memoirs, which conclude with a pretty full account of this episode, * ending thus:
“At this date 'Alí Áqá came from his Majesty the Sulṭán, * and of [my] Nobles and Court everyone who had sent a Ṭahmásp's own account of this betrayal. present received its equivalent, save in the case of my own gift and offering, which on this occasion also had not proved acceptable; and there was a letter full of hints and complaints. I said, ‘Here have I arrested and detained Prince Báyazíd with his four sons for the sake of His Majesty the Sulṭán and Prince Salím; but since I have given my word not to surrender Báyazíd to the Sulṭán, I have determined that when the Sulṭán's commands arrive and likewise the emissaries of Prince Salím, I will surrender [Báyazíd] to the latter, so that I may not break my promise.’ So when the Sulṭán's messengers arrived, I said, ‘Your Excellency and Ḥasan Áqá are welcome, and I will act according to the commands of His Majesty and in no wise transgress his orders, but faithfully accomplish whatever service he may indicate. But in return for so material a service I desire from His Majesty the Sulṭán and Prince Salím such reward and recompense as may be worthy of them; and, moreover, I hope of the Sulṭán in a friendly way that no hurt may befall Prince Báyazíd and his sons’.”
Needless to say this pious wish in no wise influenced the tragic course of events, but the Sháh's compliance with the Sulṭán's imperious demands led to a temporary amelioration of the relations between Persia and Turkey which is reflected both in Anthony Jenkinson's narrative and in the concluding State Papers contained in the first volume of Firídún Bey's Munsha'át, in which for the first time Ṭahmásp is addressed by Sulaymán with decent civility, though there is no explicit reference to this event.
More creditable and better known is the reception of Humáyún, the son of Bábur and Emperor of Dihlí, at the The Emperor Humáyún in Persia. Court of Ṭahmásp in A.D. 1544 when he was driven out of his own dominions. Of the hospitality which he received Sir John Malcolm * speaks with enthusiasm; but Erskine, * giving less weight to the official accounts than to the “plain unvarnished tale” of Humáyún's servant Jawhar, * takes the view (which he supports by numerous illustrations) that in reality “Humáyún had much to suffer and many humiliations to endure”; and that in particular great pressure was brought to bear on him to compel him to adopt the Shí'a faith, which might have gone even further but for the moderating influence of the Sháh's sister Sulṭánum Khánum, the Minister Qáḍí-i-Jahán and the physician Núru'd-Dín. One of the pictures in the celebrated palace of Chahil Sutún * at Iṣfahán represents an entertainment given by Ṭahmásp to Humáyún.
The foreign relations of Persia during the reign of Ṭahmásp
were chiefly, as in the reign of his father Isma'íl, with three
Foreign relations of Persia
in Ṭahmásp's
reign.
states—Turkey, the Uzbeks of Transoxiana,
and the so-called “Great Moghuls” of Dihlí.
During the greater part of his reign (until 974/
1566-7) the great Sulṭán Sulaymán occupied
the Ottoman throne; afterwards Salím II (“the Sot”), and,
for the last two years of his life (982-4/1574-6) Murád III.
Of the Uzbek rulers 'Ubayd Khán, until his death in 946/
1539-40, and afterwards Dín Muḥammad Sulṭán were his
most formidable foes, who ceased not to trouble his eastern,
as did the Ottoman Turks his western borders. Of the
“Great Moghuls” Bábur (died 937/1530-1), Humáyún (died
962/1555) and Akbar were his contemporaries. Anthony
Jenkinson, as we have seen, came to him with credentials
from Queen Elizabeth in A.D. 1561, and some thirteen years
later, towards the end of his reign, the arrival of a Portuguese
mission from Don Sebastian is recorded in the Aḥsanu't-
Between the Ottoman Turks on the one hand and the Uzbeks on the other, Persia enjoyed little peace at this period, and these campaigns on the N.E. and N.W. frontiers succeeded one another with varying fortune but with Wars with the Ottoman Turks. monotonous reiteration. Sulṭán Sulaymán's chief campaigns were in 940-942/1534-6, when Baghdád was taken from the Persians and Ádharbáyján invaded; * 950/1543-4; 953-955/1546-8, when the Sháh's brother Alqáṣ allied himself with the Turks; 959/1552, when the Persians recovered Arjísh; and 961/ 1554, when Sulaymán burned Nakhjuwán and attacked Ádharbáyján for the fourth time. The Turkish military power was at this time at its zenith, and was formidable not only to the Persians but to the great European Powers, who, indeed, were thankful for such diversion of its activities as the Persians from time to time effected, so that Busbecq, Ferdinand's ambassador at the Court of Sulaymán, declares that “only the Persian stands between us and ruin.” * Creasy * speaks of the “pre-eminence of the Turks of that age in the numerical force and efficiency of their artillery”; and adds that “the same remark applies to their skill in fortification, and in all the branches of military engineering.” Inferior as were the Persian to the Ottoman troops alike in discipline and equipment, it was much to their credit that they were able to offer as stout a resistance as they did, especially as the continual object of Turkish diplomacy at this time was to incite the Uzbeks, Turkmáns, and other Sunní peoples, to combine with them in attacking “the rascally Red-heads” (Qizil-básh-i-Awbásh). Of this policy the State Papers of Sulaymán's, as of his father Salím's, reign afford ample evidence; for instance the letter addressed to a Turkmán chief about the end of 960/1553 (given on pp. 612-613 of Firídún Bey's Munsha'át) and transmitted to him, apparently, by four of his representatives, Muḥammad, Mír Abú Turáb, Mír Ṭútí and Sunduk, who, after performing the Pilgrimage, had visited the Sulṭán's Court at Constantinople on their homeward journey, and had delighted him with accounts of their achievements against the Persians.
The wars with the Uzbeks were equally continuous, especially until the death of the redoutable 'Ubayd Khán,
Wars with the Uzbeks. the son of Shaybak Khán, a direct descendant of Chingíz, in 946/1539-40, at the age of fifty-