Of the wazír Ghiyáthu'd-Dín b. Rashídu'd-Dín the con­temporary historian Ḥamdu'lláh Mustawfí of Qazwín speaks Ministry of Ghi­yáthu'd-Dín b. Rashídu'd-Dín in enthusiastic terms in his Ta'ríkh-i-Guzída, or “Select History,” which is dedicated to him. “That minister of good repute,” he says, “like his illustrious father, made the most admirable efforts to secure the order of the world; and inasmuch as to pardon when one has power to injure is the extreme of human perfection, and all the greatest of former ages have followed this path, and thus obtained, by their virtuous conduct, the highest honour and an enduring name, so this minister of angelic temperament, inspired by the certainty of his con­victions, did even more than this, for, instead of punishing those who had wrought towards his noble family ill deeds whereof the recapitulation would disgust the hearts of my hearers, he drew the pen of forgiveness through the record of their crimes, recompensed their evil actions with good, and made each one of them an exemplar of the prosperity of this Empire, raising them to the highest ranks, and en­trusting to them the most important functions, so that each now beholds with his own eyes that which he did most ardently desire.”*

This complaisance of Ghiyáthu'd-Dín nearly caused his destruction when the rebellious Amír Nárín Búqá sought his intercession with Abú Sa'íd at the very moment when he was plotting the minister's assassination. On this occasion, however, the king, prompted by his wife Baghdád Khátún, who hated Nárín Búqá as the destroyer of her father and brothers, intervened, and caused the rebel and his con­federate Tásh-Tímúr to be executed on October 5, 1327.

The last years of Abú Sa'íd's reign saw numerous changes in the Kurt kings of Herát. Ghiyáthu'd-Dín died in October,

Kurt rulers of Herát 1329, and was succeeded by his eldest son Shamsu'd-Dín, who was so much addicted to drink that it was said that during a reign of ten months he was only sober for ten days. He was succeeded by his younger brother Ḥáfiẓ, a gentle scholar, who was assassinated in 1332, and replaced by his infant brother Mu'izzu'd-Dín, whose election was approved by Abú Sa'íd. He enjoyed a long reign of forty years, and was followed by his son, Ghiyáthu'd-Dín Pír 'Alí, in whose time the dynasty, which had endured since 1245, was extinguished by Tamerlane.

In August, 1335, Abú Sa'íd, having learned that Úzbek, the Khán of the Golden Horde, intended an invasion of his Death of Abú Sa'íd (A.D. 1335) dominions, was preparing to take the field against him when he fell ill, and died at Qará-bágh near Arrán on Nov. 30 of that year. He is described by Ibn Taghribardí as “a brave and brilliant prince of majestic appearance, generous and witty.” He was a good calligraphist, composer and musician, and is praised by this historian not only for his good moral character and for his suppression of the drink traffic, but also for his destruction of the Christian churches. It is suggested by Mírkhwánd and positively asserted by Ibn Baṭúṭa * that Abú Sa'íd was poisoned by Baghdád Khátún, who was jealous of the ascendancy obtained by her younger rival Dilshád Khátún over the Íl-khán. * At any rate, whether guilty or not, Baghdád Khátún was put to death.*

With Abú Sa'íd's death the dynasty of the Íl-kháns of Persia, founded by Húlágú Khán, practically came to an end, and a period of anarchy ensued which lasted until another great wave of conquest from the land of Túrán swept over Persia and Asia Minor thirty-five years later, led by the ruthless and irresistible conqueror Tímúr-i-Lang (“Limping Tímúr”), or, as he is commonly called in Europe, Tamerlane. By a strange coincidence, noticed in the Maṭla'u's-Sa'dayn, * the year of Tímúr's birth was the same as that of Abú Sa'íd's death, and the chronogram lawdh (<text in Arabic script omitted> = “refuge!”) * has been devised for it, since this word gives the date (A.H. 736) according to the Muhammadan computation, and men might well seek refuge with God from this double calamity—the death of Abú Sa'íd and the birth of Tímúr—which this year brought.

On the death of Abú Sa'íd, who left no sons, Arpa, or Accession of Arpa Arpagá'ún, a descendant of Arik-búqá, the brother of Húlágú, was, at the instance of the minister Ghiyáthu'd-Dín b. Rashídu'd-Dín, chosen as his successor. To strengthen his position, he married Sátí Beg, the widow of Chúbán and sister of Abú Sa'íd. He then marched against Úzbek and defeated him. But meanwhile Amír 'Alí Pádisháh and other amírs, dis- Músá set up as a rival claimant approving of Arpa's election, set up a rival Íl-khán in the person of Músá, a descendant of Húlágú. A battle took place between the two rivals near Marágha on April 29, 1336. Arpa was defeated, and both he and the wazír Ghiyáthu'd-Dín were put to death shortly afterwards. Músá, however, was not suffered to enjoy the fruits of victory for long: another rival, Muḥammad Sháh, also descended from Húlágú, was set up against him by Shaykh Ḥasan the Jalá'ir (called Buzurg, “the Great”). Another battle was fought at Ala-Tágh near the town of Naw-Shahr, in which, by the treachery of Shaykh Ḥasan Buzurg, Músá was routed and 'Alí Pádisháh killed. Yet another claimant was set up in the person of Túgháy-Tímúr, who joined forces with Músá, and fought another battle with Shaykh Ḥasan Buzurg near Marágha in June, 1337, in which Músá was taken prisoner and put to death (July, 1337), while Túgháy-Tímúr fled to Bisṭám. Shaykh Ḥasan, the son of Tímúr-Tásh, the son of Chúbán, now added to the confusion by producing a pretender whom he asserted to be his father Tímúr-Tásh, whose execution by the Sultan of Egypt has been already mentioned. A battle finally took place at Nakhjuwán on July 10, 1338, between the two Ḥasans, in which Ḥasan “the Greater” was defeated, while his protégé Muḥammad Sháh was taken prisoner and put to death. Shaykh Ḥasan “the Less” (the grandson of Chúbán) now quarrelled with the pretended Tímúr-Tásh, and espoused the cause of the princess Sátí Beg, the sister of the late king Abú Sa'íd and widow of his grandfather Chúbán. She was proclaimed queen in 739 (1338-9), and a reconcilia­tion was effected between the two Ḥasans.

It is hardly worth following these intrigues further. Those who desire fuller information about them, and about the tortuous policy of Shaykh Ḥasan “the Less,” will find it in the pages of d'Ohsson and Howorth. Suffice it to say that Tugháy-Tímúr was betrayed by the astute Shaykh Ḥasan “the Less,” who then set up another puppet, Sulay-mán Khán, a descendant of Húlágú, and gave him Sátí Beg in marriage, while Ḥasan “the Greater” set up as a rival a descendant of Abáqá named Sháh Jahán Tímúr. A battle took place between the two factions near Marágha in 1340. Ḥasan “the Greater” was defeated, retired to Baghdád, deposed his puppet Sháh Jahán Tímúr, and, proclaiming himself king, founded the dynasty—more important in literary than in political history—of the Jalá'irs, who reigned until 1411 over Western Persia and Mesopotamia, with Baghdád as their capital. As for Ḥasan “the Less,” the grandson of Chúbán, he was murdered in 1343, while march­ing to attack his rival, by his wife 'Izzat Malik, who expiated her crime by a most cruel and ignominious death. On this event the contemporary poet Salmán of Sáwa (who, being a protégé of the rival Shaykh Ḥasan, was delighted at the death of Chúbán's grandson) has the following verses, * which hardly bear translation:

<text in Arabic script omitted>

The Mongol ascendancy in Persia was now at an end, and, until Tímúr's hordes swept over the country (1384-1393), it was divided into at least four kingdoms, those of the Jalá'irs, the Muẓaffarís, the Kurts and the Sar-ba-dárs, whose history will be considered in another chapter.