Mediating between the Royal Court and the Periphery: The Zangana Family’s Brokerage in Safavid Iran (1501–1722)

ABSTRACT

To control the unruly Kurdish tribal confederates on the western frontier of their kingdom, successive Safavid shahs of Iran tried strengthening their personal ties with the Kurdish emirs by various measures, such as educating young members of the Kurdish ruling families in the Safavid court and recruiting some into their royal guard. The formation and maintenance of such close lord–vassal relationships definitely necessitated various levels of negotiations and mediations. This paper highlights the importance of intermediaries in the political integration of peripheral areas, focusing on the brokering role of the Zangana family, an influential elite family of Kurdish origin, who mediated between the royal court and the Ardalan emirate, one of the largest Kurdish tribal confederations that accepted Safavid rule.

KEYWORDS:

• Safavid
• Ottoman
• Kurds centre–periphery relations
• Ardalan

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Matthee, “Relations between the Center and the Periphery” and Matthee, Persia in Crisis, chap. 6 are the most comprehensive overviews of the Safavid state’s centre–periphery relations. H. Maeda’s series of articles which examine in detail the Safavid integration policy for the Caucasus region are also extremely thought-provoking in considering the changing central-local relations in the Safavid state. See especially, Maeda, “The Forced Migrations and Reorganisation”; “Exploitation of the Frontier.”

2 For the importance of middlemen in Safavid provincial governance, see Matthee, Persia in Crisis, esp. 145–46.

3 Similarly, in the Ottoman Empire, some brokers even arranged the relationships between the central government and Kurdish emirs without going through provincial governors. The most famous example is Idris Bidlisi, a Kurdish erudite scholar who, after the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, coordinated the submission of Kurdish emirs to Selim I (r. 1512–520). See Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State, 143–4; Genç, “Rethinking Idris-i Bidlisi,” 439–44; Genç, Acem’den Rum’a bir bürokrat, 294–349; Markiewicz, The Crisis of Kingship, 126–31. In addition, Sultan Husayn Beg, a Kurdish emir who governed ‘Amadiyya in the mid-sixteenth century, also established a strong connection with the Ottoman grand vizier, Rüstem Pasha (in office: 1544–553), and delivered the petitions of other Kurdish rulers to the Ottoman court. See Posch, Osmanisch–Safavidische Beziehungen, 87–89. Early Safavid shahs also intended to control the Kurdish emirs through the intermediary of the amir al-umara’-i Kurdistan (commander-in-chief of Kurdistan), whom the Safavid authorities selected from among the loyal Kurdish rulers, although the measure did not seem to be as effective as expected. See Yamaguchi, “Shah Tahmasp’s Kurdish Policy,” 118–20.

4 For the political situation in Kurdistan up to the middle of the sixteenth century, see, e.g. Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State, 136–51; Posch, Osmanisch–Safavidische Beziehungen, 78–106, 668–88; Yamaguchi, “Shah Tahmasp’s Kurdish Policy.”

5 Matthee, “Administrative Stability and Change,” 87.

6 For the integration process of the Safavid-controlled Kurdistan into Iran, see Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy”; “The Kurdish Frontier.”

7 Scheref, Scheref-nameh, 328. For an analytical study of this group of Kurdish tribes, see Yamaguchi, “Iranian Kurds.”

8 Several detailed studies have already been published on the Zangana clan’s political career in the late Safavid dynasty. See in particular Matthee, “Administrative Stability and Change,” and Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana. In addition, Sultani’s Kirmanshahan provides a wealth of information about the tribe’s history from the Safavid period to the Qajar period. In this paper, the long and complex process of the Zangana clan’s rise in power is only briefly described to the extent necessary for our purposes.

9 The history of the Ardalan emirate has attracted the attention of many researchers. See, for example, Nikitine, “Vâlîs d’Ardelan”; Mardukh, “Contribution”; Vasileva, Jugo-Vostochnyj Kurdistan; Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân; Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy.”

10 The local chronicles on the Ardalan emirate and other Kurdish tribes are explained in Mardukh, “Aux sources de l’historiographie kurde,” and Vasilʹeva, “Kurdskie istoriografy.”

11 Sultani, Kirmanshahan, 649; Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana, 86; Yamaguchi, “Shah Tahmasp’s Kurdish Policy,” 120.

12 For qurchis and ghulams in Safavid Iran, see Haneda, “Army iii. Safavid Period.”

13 His name is spelled differently among sources, including ‘Ali, ‘Ali Bali, Ali Bali or Alu Balu.

14 For this powerful Turkmen leader’s career, see Röhrborn, Provinzen und Zentralgewalt Persiens, 34–37, and Matthee, “Farhād Khan Qaramānlū.”

15 See Tadhkirat al-Mulūk, 52, 120–21, as well as Matthee, “Amīr-akhūr-bashī” for more information on the office in Safavid Iran.

16 The jilawdars were among the subordinates of the amirakhurbashi. See Rota, “The Horses of the Shah,” 36–7.

17 Matthee, “Administrative Stability and Change,” 80, 95; Matthee, Persia in Crisis, 62–63, 74; Matthee, “Šayḵ-ʿAli Khan Zangana”; Sultani, Kirmanshahan, 654, 657; Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana, 87, 91; Yamaguchi, “The Zangane Family’s Strategic Land Acquisition,” 33–34, 45.

18 See, for example, Haneda, “Army iii. Safavid Period” for more information on the office.

19 Matthee, “Administrative Stability and Change,” 81–98; Matthee, Persia in Crisis, 63–72; Matthee, “Šayḵ-ʿAli Khan Zangana”; Sultani, Kirmanshahan, 655; Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana, 93ff.

20 Matthee, “Administrative Stability and Change,” 92; Matthee, Persia in Crisis, 71; Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana,87, 91.

21 Vasileva, Jugo-Vostochnyj Kurdistan, 34–36; Posch, Osmanisch–Safavidische Beziehungen, 570–4, 681–8; Yamaguchi, “Shah Tahmasp’s Kurdish Policy,” 113–4; “The Safavid Legacy,” 133–5.

22 Turkaman, Tarikh-i ‘alam-ara-ye ‘Abbasi, 926. For a detailed monograph on the castle of Hasanabad, see Zari’i, “Qal‘a-yi Hasanabad.”

23 Kütükoğlu, Osmanlı–İran siyâsî münâsebetleri, 18–27 et passim; Murphey, “The Resumption.”

24 Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy,” 135; Dehqan and Genç, “Kurdish Emirs,” 110–111.

25 Kütükoğlu, Osmanlı–İran siyâsî münâsebetleri, 194–200; Kılıç, Osmanlı–İran siyâsî antlaşmaları, 126–32.

26 Scheref, Scheref-nameh, 89; Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 20; Erdelanî, Mêjûy Erdelan, 72.

27 Munajjim, Ruznama, 265.

28 Mardukh, “Contribution,” 231–32; Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 36, 38; Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy,” 135–36.

29 Turkaman, Tarikh-i ‘alam-ara-yi ‘abbasi, 867, 926–7, 1070; Khuzani Isfahani, Chronicle, 748. See also Mardukh, “Contribution,” 232; Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 38.

30 ‘Abdülkadir Efendi, Topçular Kâtibi 'Abdülkadir Efendi tarihi, 1047; Isfahani, Khulasat al-siyar, 236–7; Vala Isfahani, Iran dar zaman-i Shah Safi va Shah ‘Abbas-i duvvum, 239–41; Vahid Qazvini, Tarikh-i jahan-ara-yi ‘abbasi, 278. See also Mardukh, “Contribution,” 236–39; Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 39–40.

31 Ateş, “Treaty of Zohab,” 405.

32 Mardukh Kurdistani, Tarikh-i Mardukh, 331. See also Minorsky, “Senna”; Mardukh, “Contribution,” 239–40; Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 40.

33 Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy,” 138–39; Alizade, The Urban Morphology of Sanandaj, 19–25.

34 Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 42; Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy,” 140–41.

35 Melville, “From Qars to Qandahar,” 208. For the general of Georgian origin, see Savory, “Allāhverdī Khan (1).”

36 Turkaman, Tarikh-i ‘alam-ara-yi ‘abbasi, 650.

37 No Safavid chronicle mentions the Lur leader’s offensive against the Ardalan ruler. However, given that some Ardalan local histories claim that Husayn Khan Lur attacked Halu Khan in 1603–4 (Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 91; Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 103), and that the Lur leader was then involved in an expedition to Baghdad with Allahvirdi Khan (Turkaman, Tarikh-i ‘alam-ara-yi ‘abbasi, 649; Khuzani Isfahani, Chronicle, 480), it is most reasonable to assume that the incident occurred during the course of this expedition. Other Ardalan chronicles claim that this took place in 1019/ 1610–11 (Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 20; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 42; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 28). However, this date is unsupportable because the Ardalan ruler had already yielded to Shah ‘Abbas by then.

38 This episode has already been mentioned in previous studies. See Mardukh, “Contribution,” 230–32; Sultani, Kirmanshahan, 654; Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana, 86–87; Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 36.

39 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 21; Erdelanî, Mêjûy Erdelan, 73; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 20; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 42; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 28; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 91; Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 103. The village is located northwest of Hamadan city. Interestingly, according to early eighteenth-century sources, the village of Mayham was among the properties of the Zangana family (Yamaguchi, “The Zangane Family’s Strategic Land Acquisition,” 52). It is not certain whether Mayham was already owned by the Zangana clan by the time Halu Khan submitted to the Safavids in the early seventeenth century. The Safavid chronicles are silent about the shah’s alleged visit to Isfandabad or Mayham.

40 The castle in question must be that of Hasanabad.

41 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 22. See also Mardukh, “Contribution,” 230–31.

42 Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 20–21; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 20a–21a.

43 Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 106.

44 Isfahani, Khulasat al-siyar, 235; Vala Isfahani, Iran dar zaman-i Shah Safi va Shah ‘Abbas-i duvvum, 239–240; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 96. See also Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana, 88.

45 Isfahani, Khulasat al-siyar, 243; Vala Isfahani, Iran dar zaman-i Shah Safi va Shah ‘Abbas-i duvvum, 245. See also Karimi, Shaykh ‘Ali Khan Zangana, 88.

46 Vahid Qazvini, Tarikh-i jahan-ara-yi ‘abbasi, 625; Vala Isfahani, Iran dar zaman-i Shah Safi va Shah ‘Abbas-i duvvum, 592–93; Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy,” 140; Güngörürler, “Diplomacy and Political Relations,” 189–90. Local Ardalan histories state that ‘Abbas II, who doubted Sulayman Khan’s loyalty, summoned him and kept him in Isfahan until his death. See Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 28–9; Qazi and Mastura, Tarikh-i Kurdha-yi Ardalan, 35–6; Erdelanî, Mêjûy Erdelan, 75; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 32; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 33a; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 52. See also Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 42.

47 Vahid Qazvini, Tarikh-i jahan-ara-yi ‘abbasi, 626; Vala Isfahani, Iran dar zaman-i Shah Safi va Shah ‘Abbas-i duvvum, 593; Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 29; Qazi and Mastura, Tarikh-i Kurdha-yi Ardalan, 36; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 32; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 33a–33b; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 53–4; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 97; Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 123–4.

48 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 30–32; Qazi and Mastura, Tarikh-i Kurdha-yi Ardalan, 37–40; Erdelanî, Mêjûy Erdelan, 75; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 33–34; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 34a–35a; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 56–7; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 98; Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 125–6. Unfortunately, no Safavid chronicle mentions the governorship of Khusraw Khan Ardalan.

49 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 30–31.

50 Although the Zangana family did not have governorship over Hamadan, it is known that they built a madrassa, and owned caravansaries, shops, and many villages in and around the city. Clearly, the clan had substantial economic interests in Hamadan. See Zarinebaf, “Rebels and Renegades,” 94; Yamaguchi, “The Zangane Family’s Strategic Land Acquisition,” 38–47.

51 Nasiri, Dastur-i shahriyaran, 55, 128.

52 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 36; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 36; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 37a; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 62.

53 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 36–37.

54 See Matthee, Persia in Crisis, 204–5 for this Shamlu grand vizier.

55 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 36; Qazi and Mastura, Tarikh-i Kurdha-yi Ardalan, 44; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 36; Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 37b; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 63–5; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 100–101; Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 129–130. See also Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 42n121.

56 Bani Ardalan, Khronika, 22b–23a; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 201–4; Mardukh Kurdistani, Tarikh-i Mardukh, 242–5. Mulla ‘Abd al-Karim was the son of Mawlana Mustafa and the grandfather of Muhammad Sharif Qazi, the author of the Zubdat al-tavarikh. For a more analytical description of the family’s political and social role in the Ardalan emirate, see Ardalan, Les Kurdes Ardalân, 56, 201–2.

57 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 37; Qazi and Mastura, Tarikh-i Kurdha-yi Ardalan, 43.

58 Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 38–39.

59 Floor, Commercial Conflict, 4.

60 Abu Salih, Misal. This is the first case in which the judge of Sanandaj was appointed by the central government.

61 From the descriptions in the Ardalan chronicles, it can be inferred that ‘Abbasquli Khan was sent to Khurasan twice, first in 1709 and again in 1716, although some of the chroniclers mention the two events in a confusing manner. The first time was when he participated in the Safavid expedition against Mir Ways and distinguished himself during the operation. Subsequently, in 1716, he was ordered to go to subdue the Abdali tribe, who was besieging Herat at that time. However, as they were obliged to remain at Tehran about half a year, his irritated soldiers abandoned their mission and returned to their country. This eventually caused ‘Abbasquli Khan’s downfall. Qazi, Zubdat al-tavarikh, 38; Qazi and Mastura, Tarikh-i Kurdha-yi Ardalan, 45–7; Erdelanî, Mêjûy Erdelan, 76; Musannif, Lubb-i tavarikh, 36–7; Bani Ardalan, Khronika,38a–38b; Mastura, Tarikh-i Ardalan, 66–7; Vaqayi‘-Nigar, Hadiqa-yi nasiriyya, 101–2; Sanandaji, Tuhfa-yi nasiri, 130–1. For the revolts in Khurasan, see Lockhart, The Fall of the Safavī Dynasty, 84–93; Matthee, Persia in Crisis, 233–5.

62 Yamaguchi, “The Safavid Legacy,” 139.