Muḥammad Khudá-banda, in spite of his blindness, was now placed on the throne which he had refused on the death Reign of Muḥammad Khudábanda (A.D. 1577-87). of his father Sháh Ṭahmásp. He was at this time about forty-six years of age * and was resident at Shíráz, having been replaced in his former government of Herát by his little son Prince 'Abbás Mírzá, whose narrow escape from death has just been described. The new king at once set out for Qazwín, and amongst those who welcomed him at Qum was Ḥasan Beg Rúmlú, the author of the Aḥsanu't-Tawáríkh, which important but unpublished history was concluded in this very year and contains the most authoritative account of the events above narrated. That this account is in places confused and must be supplemented by later histories like the Khuld-i-Barín and Ta'rikh-i-'Álam-árá-yi-'Abbásí arises from the fact that the author, for his own personal safety, had to walk with great caution amidst the rapidly-changing circumstances of these perilous times.
At Qazwín, Muḥammad Khudá-banda received the homage of Sulaymán Páshá, a great-grandson of Abú Sa'íd the Tímúrid, who greeted him with the following verses:
<text in Arabic script omitted>
“O King, thy gate is the qibla of the Kings of the world,
Heaven is subjugated and earth surrendered to thee:
In thy reign the thread of royalty hath become single, *
But, Praise be to God, though single it is strong.”
The able, ambitious and beautiful Princess Parí-Khán
Khánum, Ṭahmásp Sháh's favourite daughter
*
by a Cir-
Parí-Khán
Khánum put to
death.
cassian wife, who had played a prominent part
in the troubles succeeding his death, and aspired
to rule in fact if not in name, was put to death
at Muḥammad Khudá-banda's command by Khalíl Khán
Afshár, together with her mother's brother Shamkhál Khán,
and Sháh Shujá', the infant son of the late King Isma'íl. In
consequence of these pitiless slaughters the representatives
of the Ṣafawí Royal Family were now reduced to Sháh Mu-
<text in Arabic script omitted>
“No luck remains in that household where the hen crows like
a cock.”*
Muḥammad Khudá-banda was born in 938/1531-2, was forty-six years of age when his father Sháh Ṭahmásp died Character of Muḥammad Khudá-banda. in 984/1576-7, reigned ten years after the death of his brother Isma'íl, survived his abdication eight or nine years, and died in 1004/1595-6. His character is thus described by Riḍá-qulí Khán in his Supplement to the Rawḍatu'ṣ-Ṣafá: “He had some knowledge of all the current sciences, and was incomparable in understanding and judgment, virtue and discernment, bounty and generosity, and expression and eloquence. Being a ‘servant of God’ (Khudá-banda) he showed an excessive clemency in matters of administration, war, anger and punishment, and, so far as possible, would not consent to the death of any one. Though he struck the first blow at Khudá-verdí the barber, * this was only according to the enactment of the Holy Law. In consequence of his weak eyesight he seldom gave public audience, and, while he tarried in the women's apartments, the Sayyida [his wife] gave effect to his commands, and, in order more effectively to control affairs, herself sealed the documents…In short, he was a king with the qualities of a religious mendicant, or a religious mendicant endowed with regal pomp (Pádisháhí darwísh-khiṣál, yá darwíshí pádisháh-jalál).”
His reign, though short, was troubled not only by the domestic tragedies indicated above, but by the Turks, Uzbeks, Crimean Tartars, Georgians and other external foes, who, encouraged by the spectacle of those internecine struggles which succeeded the death of Ṭahmásp, sought to profit by the distractions of Persia.
Sháh 'Abbás I, commonly and justly called “the Great,”
was only sixteen or seventeen years of age when he ascended
Sháh 'Abbás the
Great (A.D. 1588
to 1629).
the throne in 996/1588,
*
and died in Jumádá 1,
1038/Jan. 1629 at the age of 60 after a reign of
43 lunar years, in which, by general agreement,
Persia reached the highest degree of power, prosperity and
splendour ever attained by her in modern times. His
position at first was, however, fraught with dangers and
Dangers threatening Persia on
his accession.
difficulties. Not only was his kingdom threatened,
as usual, by the Ottoman Turks on the
west and the Uzbeks on the east, but many
of the provinces were in revolt and the country was distracted
by the rivalries and ambitions of the great Qizil-básh
nobles of different tribes, in the hands of two of whom,
Murshid-qulí Khán and 'Alí-qulí Khán, the young King
seemed at first to be a mere puppet. When the former
accompanied him to Qazwín to place him on the throne,
the latter was left in Khurásán to bear the brunt of the
Uzbek attack, to which, after a defence of nine months, he
fell a victim. 'Abbás, suspecting Murshid-qulí Khán of
deliberately withholding help from his rival, caused him to
be murdered one night in camp at Sháhrúd, thus freeing
himself from an irksome tutelage, and becoming a sovereign
ruler in fact as well as in name. Realizing that he could
not possibly wage successful war simultaneously with the
Turks and the Uzbeks, he determined, with far-sighted
prudence, to make peace, even on unfavourable terms, with
the former in order to check the encroachments of the latter
and to devise some mechanism to control the disorderly
rivalries of the Qizil-básh nobles, whereby his authority and
the efficiency of his military force were paralysed. The
terms of the treaty with Turkey included the surrender of
the towns and districts in Ádharbáyján and Georgia con-
Conclusion of
Peace with
Turkey.
quered by the Ottoman troops during a war
which had lasted more than twelve years (985-
Sháh 'Abbás next proceeded to subdue Shíráz, Kirmán,
Gílán and Khurram-ábád in Luristán, and to inflict condign
Uzbek invasion.
punishment on Ya'qúb Khán Dhu'l-Qadar and
other rebels. Meanwhile 'Abdu'l-Mú'min Khán
and his Uzbeks were again ravaging Khurásán, and the
Sháh, advancing to attack them, was stricken down by
fever at Ṭihrán. While he lay sick and unable to move, the
holy city of Mashhad was taken and sacked by the savage
Uzbeks and many of its inhabitants slain. Sabzawár
*
suffered a similar fate in 1002/1593-4; but three or four
years later
*
'Abdu'lláh Khán, the Uzbek sovereign, died,
and his son, the above-mentioned 'Abdu'l-Mú'min Khán,
was killed by his own people. It was at this juncture
(April, 1598) that Sháh 'Abbás was at length able to attack
the Uzbeks in force and drive them out of Khurásán, which
now at length enjoyed a period of peace and tranquillity.
On his return from this victorious campaign to Qazwín in
the autumn of the same year, he found awaiting him there
The Sherley
brothers.
those celebrated English soldiers of fortune
Sir Anthony and Sir Robert Sherley, whose
romantic adventures are fully described in
several excellent monographs.
*
These, who were accompanied
by some dozen English attendants, including at
least one cannon-founder, aided him greatly in the reconstruction
of his army and especially in providing it with
Improvement of
Persian artillery.
artillery, the lack of which had hitherto so
severely handicapped the Persians in their wars
with the Turks, so that, as it is quaintly phrased
in Purchas's Pilgrims, “the mighty Ottoman, terror of the
Christian world, quaketh of a Sherley fever, and gives hopes
of approaching fates. The prevailing Persian hath learned
Sherleian arts of war; and he which before knew not the
use of ordnance, hath now five hundred pieces of brass and
sixty thousand musqueteers; so that they, which at hand
with the sword were before dreadful to the Turks, now also,
in remoter blows and sulphurean arts, are grown terrible.”
The discipline of the Persian army had also been improved
by the elimination of the more ambitious and disobedient
Formation
of the Sháhseven tribe.
Qizil-básh nobles; the creation of a composite
tribal force known as Sháh-seven (“King-