CONDITION OF PERSIA IN 1254, WHEN HULAGU CAME TO CONQUER AND TO
SLAUGHTER
Sad was the fate of the people in Rūm through disunion, stupidity and
thoughtlessness. After Jelal ud din lost his life in the mountains his
warriors dispersed and were finished by land tillers, by Kurds, and by
Beduins. The Mongols fell straightway to ravaging Amid, Erzerum and
Mayafarkin. After a siege of five days they captured Sarad, two days’
journey from Mardin, and east of it, and though the city had
surrendered they slaughtered its inhabitants to the number of fifteen
thousand, as is stated. Tanza met the same fate as also did Mardin,
whose sovereign took refuge in the fortress. The district of Nisibin
was changed to a desert, though the city itself was not taken by the
Mongols who, entering the country of Sinjar sacked El Khabur and
Araban. One division of them took the road to Mosul and hastened to
pillage El Munassa, on the road between Mosul and Nisibin. The people
of that place and the flat country around it took refuge in a building
near the middle of the city where all save desirable women were
massacred. A man of that region being hidden in a house looked out
through a cranny and saw what was happening and afterward told Ibn al
Athir, the historian. “Each time the Mongols slew some one they shouted
‘La illahi.’ This massacre finished, they pillaged the place and
departed leading away the women selected. I saw them,” said the hidden
man, “rejoicing on horseback. They laughed, sang songs in their
language and shouted while mocking the Moslems.”
Another Mongol division marched on Bitlis. Some of the people fled to
the mountains, others took refuge in the citadel. The Mongols set fire
to the city and burned it. They stormed Balri, a fortified place in the
region of Khelat, and slaughtered all the inhabitants. The large city
of Andjish met a similar destruction.
A third Mongol force now laid siege to Meraga. This city surrendered on
condition that the lives of all citizens be respected. The Mongols gave
a promise to spare them, but notwithstanding this promise they slew a
great number. They sacked Azerbaidjan, passed into Erbil, attacked
Kurds and Turkmans, slaying every one whom they could reach with a
weapon. They took fire and sword to all places, and committed
atrocities without parallel.
Mozaffer, prince of Erbil, assembled his troops with great speed and
got aid from Mosul. The Mongols withdrew then and marched on Dakuka.
The prince thought it best not to pursue them.
During those two months which followed the death of Jelal ud din and
the scattering of his army, the Mongols pillaged all lands between the
Euphrates and Tigris; Diarbekr, Khelat and Erbil, without finding a
single armed warrior to oppose them. The princes of those petty states
hid away carefully, and the people were stupefied so great was the
terror which had seized upon mankind. Deeds were done in that period
which beggar belief. For example a lone Mongol horseman rode into a
populous village and fell to cutting down people; no man had the
courage to defend himself.
Another time a Mongol without weapons wished to hew off the head of a
prisoner whom he had taken; he commanded the man to lie down and wait
for him. The Mongol went off for a sabre, came back and killed the
unfortunate, who was waiting obediently. Still a new tale from a third
man: “I was on the road with seventeen comrades when a Mongol on
horseback rode up to us, and commanded that each man tie the hands of
another. My comrades thought it best to obey. ‘This man,’ said I to
them, ‘is alone, let us kill him.’ ‘We are too much afraid,’ said they.
‘But he will kill us. Let us kill him, God may then save us.’ No man of
them had the courage to do this. I killed him then with a knife thrust,
and we fled and in that manner saved ourselves from other Mongols.”
These cases are but three out of thousands.
Three months after the death of Jelal ud din, people in general knew
not whether he had been killed, or was hiding, or had gone to another
country. Azerbaidjan was now seized by the Mongols. Their leader fixed
his camp near Tebriz and summoned that city to surrender. It offered a
large sum of money, many fabrics, wine and other products. The chief
judge and the mayor with the principal people went to the Mongol
commander, who ordered to send out to him weavers since he wished to
have certain stuffs made for his sovereign. They obeyed and the
citizens paid for those costly fabrics. He asked also a tent for his
master. One was made for him of a kind that had never been equalled in
that city. It was covered with silk embroidered in gold and ornamented
with sable and beaver. Tebriz agreed to an annual tribute in stuffs and
in silver.
The Mongols were sacking the lands of Erbil, a fief of the Kalif,
Mostansir, who had summoned to assist him Mohammedan sovereigns as well
as the Arabs. Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, whose dominions beyond the
Euphrates were also threatened, had set out from Cairo at the head of
an army and arrived at Damascus whence he moved eastward very promptly.
His army being numerous, took various roads in crossing the desert.
Since water was lacking, many horses died on that journey, and many men
also. On learning at Harran that the Mongols had gone out of Khelat,
Kamil besieged Amid. The capture of this place, which belonged to a
grandson of Ortok, was the real cause of his coming from Egypt. With
him was Ashraf, his brother, who had persuaded him to make the
expedition. The Eyubite princes and the Sultan of Rūm marched also with
Kamil.
The siege lasted five days altogether. Prince Massud, a weakling and a
man enamoured of pleasure, surrendered his capital to Kamil, who gave
it as an appanage (1232) to his faithless son Salih, who previously had
wished to dethrone him. Massud received certain lands lying in Egypt;
to those lands he went and settled down ignominiously as became him.
Master of Amid Kamil attacked Hóssn-Keifa, which yielded also. He had
now gained his object.
Mongol troops under Chormagun’s orders, and after that general’s death,
under Baidju, continued during two entire decades to slaughter, rob,
pillage and devastate lands west of Persia. They ruined whole regions,
and cut down the people in wantonness and by thousands. In 1236–7 they
made a second invasion of the districts near Erbil, and advanced to the
Tigris. Next they took Erbil and found there rich booty. They burned a
great number of houses, but could not take the fortress where the
inhabitants had rallied, and though perishing from thirst fought with a
marvelous valor. At the end of forty days the Mongols retired on
receipt of large sums in gold from the people.
They ravaged after that the north edge of Arabian Irak as far as Zenk
Abad and Sermenraï, which they pillaged. The Kalif made Bagdad
defensible and in 1237 in his wish to rouse every Moslem, he asked the
Ulema: “Which gives more merit, a pilgrimage to Mecca, or a war on the
infidel?” “The holy war,” answered all as one person. The war was
proclaimed then. Great persons, men of law, common people, all went out
daily to learn the art of wielding weapons. The Kalif himself wished to
march with the forces, but prudent advisers dissuaded him. His troops
met the enemy at Jebel Hamrin north of Tacrit, on the bank of the
Tigris, put them to flight, cut down many, and freed all the captives
seized at Dakuka and Erbil a short time before. In 1238 fifteen
thousand Mongols invaded the territory of Bagdad, and advanced to
Jaferiye, but retired at approach of the forces of the Kalif made up of
Turks and Arabs.
That same year, Arabian Irak was reëntered by Mongols from ten to
fifteen thousand in number. They advanced to Khanekin, a place some
leagues south of Heulvan. The Kalif sent seven thousand horsemen
against them under orders of Jemal ud din Beïlek. The Mongols,
employing their old stratagem successfully, lured on the forces of
Bagdad and attacked them from ambush. They put to the sword nearly all
the detachment. Beïlek, their leader, disappeared without tidings.
In 1235 the Mongols took Gandja the capital of Arran, giving the city
to flames and the people to slaughter. The year following, 1236,
Chormagun left Mugan and swept through Armenia, Albania and Georgia,
sacking all the best cities. Georgia had so recently been plundered by
Jelal ud din that unable to defend themselves against the Mongol
invaders, the princes and people sought refuge in the mountains. Queen
Rusudan, a woman famous for her beauty and her lack of virtue, chose as
asylum the impregnable fortress of Usaneth in Imeretia.
Chormagun seized the country between the Araxes and the Cyrus. One of
his generals, Gadagan, took Kedapagu and Varsanashod. Another one,
Mular, seized Shamkar and every stronghold around it. Chormagun’s
brother Jela took the fortress of Katchen. Jelal, the master of the
place, fled to Khok Castle near Kandzassar. When summoned to surrender
he gave the Grand Khan allegiance with tribute and military service.
Jagatai, another leader of Mongols, took Lori which belonged to Shah in
Shah, prince of Ani, sacked the city and slaughtered the people. Next
after this, and in 1239, the Mongols burst into Georgia and captured
Tiflis with many other places. When Jagatai had made all his circuits
through the country with terror in front of him and ruin behind, he
swept again through Armenia, besieging now the old capital Ani. When
the ancient city was summoned to yield, the authorities answered that
without Shah in Shah they could not surrender, since he was prince of
that region. The envoy was returning with this statement when the
populace grew furious and killed him. Chormagun laid siege immediately
to Ani. Not having supplies, the people learned soon the full meaning
of famine. To escape from it many went out and surrendered. Chormagun
met all those people with kindness, and gave them provisions; this
enticed others till more than one half had gone out of Ani. After that
those men, captured thus by their stomachs and Chormagun’s cunning,
were drawn up in companies and delivered to warriors, who cut them down
to the very last person. Ani could not defend itself longer, so pillage
and fire destroyed the old city.
On hearing of the dread destruction which had fallen upon Ani, and the
slaughter of all who had lived in it, the inhabitants of Kars fearing
the doom which, as they thought, would meet them unless they could
avert it, carried the keys of their city to the Mongol commander.
Notwithstanding this voluntary submission and surrender, a dreadful
massacre followed, for Chormagun gave direction to put all to the sword
except children, desirable women, and artisans of skill, who were
needed by the Mongols.
When Kars had been ruined the invaders returned to the plains of Mugan,
which abounded in rich winter pastures.
In 1240 Prince Avak of Tiflis and his sister Tamara went to give homage
at Ogotai’s court, and were met there with kindness. The Grand Khan
gave them an order commanding Chormagun to reinstate them and other
Georgian princes; a second command was sent also to take from them only
the tribute agreed on already. When people north of the Euphrates and
Tigris had been thinned out sufficiently and enlightened by slaughter,
the Mongols turned to take Rūm and subdue it.
Rūm had been ruled for a century and a half by a branch of the Seljuks.
Asia Minor was conquered about 1080 by Suleiman Shah, whom his cousin
Sultan Melik, Shah of Persia, had sent toward the west with eighty
thousand Turkman households to bring down the infidel. Suleiman seized
the central provinces of that region from the Byzantine Empire, and
made Konia the capital of his newly won kingdom, which was called Rūm
in the Orient, but in the west with another vowel, Rome. From that
period on, the Turkman swarms which followed the banners of the Seljuks
spread over those conquered lands widely. Most places were given them
as fiefs, and the Christians of that entire region passed under the
yoke of unsparing and insolent nomads.
The Sultan Ghiath ud din Kei Kosru, eighth successor of Suleiman the
first conqueror, had ruled over Rūm for five years when in 1243 the
Mongols set out to subject it. Chormagun was now dead and Baidju, who
succeeded him, had come with an army, in which were Armenian and
Georgian contingents, to invest Erzerum where Sinan ud din Yakut was
commandant. This Yakut was a freedman of Sultan Kei Kubad, the father
of Kei Kosru. At the end of two months the walls were destroyed by
twelve catapults; the city was taken by storm, and one day later the
citadel met with a similar misfortune. The commandant and also his
warriors were put to the sword without exception. Artisans, workmen,
desirable women and children were spared to be driven into slavery.
When the city had been plundered and ruined the Mongols withdrew to
their winter camp on the plain of Mugan.
Mongol warriors were sent in 1244 toward Syria. While they were
approaching Malattia, where news of the sack of Cesaraea had spread
dismay through every hamlet and corner, the prefect and other officials
of the Sultan took during night hours all the silver and gold of the
treasury, divided it among themselves and set out to find refuge in
Aleppo. At the same time the chief citizens, both Moslem and Christian,
tried to save themselves by flight, but these, after journeying one
day, were overtaken by Mongols who slaughtered the old men and women;
the young of both sexes were spared and driven on into slavery.
The Mongols waited not to lay siege to Malattia, they sped forward at
command of Noyon Yassaur to Aleppo, demanded a ransom, received it, and
vanished. On his way back, Yassaur made a halt at Malattia and feigned
an attack on it. The prefect collected much plate, also gold from
church pictures, besides other treasures taken from the Nestorian
cathedral; the value in all reached forty thousand gold pieces. After
receiving this ransom Yassaur continued his march toward the boundary
of Persia. Yassaur was the Mongol chief, probably, who in 1244, toward
the end of the summer, summoned Bohemond V., Prince of Antioch, to
level the walls of his cities, send in all the revenue of his
princedom, and give besides three thousand maidens. The prince refused,
the Mongol commander refrained from attacking, but later on the Antioch
prince furnished tribute to the Mongols.
The Grand Khan’s lieutenant had summoned all sovereigns in Western Asia
to obedience. Shihab ud din in 1241 got a letter from an envoy of the
Mongols. The letter sent to other princes as well as to him began in
this way: “The lieutenant on earth, of the Master of Heaven, commands
all the following princes to acknowledge his authority and level their
defences;” the names then were given. The prince answered that he was a
weak, petty ruler if compared with the sovereigns of Rūm, Syria and
Egypt. “Go to them first,” said he, “I will follow their example.”
Hayton, the king of Cilicia, had promised to bring to the Sultan of Rūm
a whole corps of Armenians; he delayed marching, however, and awaited
developments. The kingdom of Rūm was now subject to Mongols, and Hayton
thought it well to win Mongol favor if possible. On securing consent
from the chief men of his kingdom he sent envoys in 1244, during
spring, with rich presents to Baidju. The envoys turned to Jalal, an
Armenian prince then in Katchen, who presented them to Baidju, to
Chormagun’s widow, and to Mongol commanders. Baidju asked first that
Hayton deliver the wife, daughter and mother of Kei Kosru, who were
then in Cilicia. That request made, he took leave of the envoys, and
sent with them men of his own to their sovereign. The conditions were
grievous to Hayton, but he yielded the women to Baidju’s officials and
sent on new envoys. The Mongol commander was satisfied, and concluding
an alliance with Hayton, giving him a diploma which affirmed his
position as vassal to the Grand Khan. The Mongols during 1245 took
regions north of Lake Van, among others Khelat, which through an order
of Ogotai had been given to Tamara of Georgia. After this they marched
into regions between the Euphrates and Tigris, taking Roha, Nisibin and
other cities which the people abandoned at approach of the dread enemy.
But great summer heat brought down most of their horses, hence the
Mongols were forced to withdraw very speedily to save themselves.
Mongol dominion was extending continually. Bedr ud din Lulu the Prince
of Mosul declared in a letter to the Prince of Damascus that he had in
his own name concluded a treaty by which the inhabitants of Syria would
give the Mongols a fixed tribute according to wealth and ability. The
tax of the rich would amount to ten dirhems, medium men would pay five,
and poor people one dirhem. This letter was published at Damascus, and
officials began to collect the taxes decreed by it.
The same year, 1245, news came to Bagdad, by pigeons, that the Mongols
had entered Sheherzur, eight days’ travel northward from Bagdad, and
sacked the whole city, whose prince, Melik ud din Mohammed, had fled to
a stronghold.
The Mongols advancing in 1246 to Yakuba were attacked and driven off by
Bagdad troops, and some of them were captured. Baidju did not feel
himself master of Georgia while Queen Rusudan remained in Usaneth and
refused all submission. In vain did he send her rich presents, and ask
for an interview during which she and he might arrange, he declared, an
alliance with friendship. The queen would not go from her stronghold,
and gave no better answer to a message from Batu, who since Ogotai’s
death, in December, 1241, was the first among Jinghis Khan’s grandsons.
She sent her son David, however, to Batu as hostage, and placed him
under that strong Khan’s protection. Baidju, wrathful at Rusudan’s
stubbornness, resolved to give Georgia a ruler subservient to Mongols.
Rusudan’s brother, Lasha, had a son born outside wedlock whom the queen
had despatched into Rūm when her daughter went thither to marry Kei
Kosru. This son of Lasha, named David, was detained for ten years in
Cesaraea. Freed now for this special state trick, he was brought to the
camp of the Mongols where certain princes proclaimed him, and took the
oath of allegiance. Georgian troops and Armenians went with David to
Mtskhete the seat of the Patriarch, who anointed him.
David, the new king and tool of the Mongols, in 1246 attacked Rusudan
in her fortress where, reduced to extremities, she took poison and in
dying recommended her son to Batu the Khan of the Kipchaks and master
at that time in Russia.
The young King of Georgia set out to be present at the installation of
Kuyuk (1246). The names given of subject rulers present at this great
Kurultai show how far-reaching was the power of the Mongols: the Prince
of Fars; the ruler of Kerman; Bedr ud din Lulu, Prince of Mosul;
Yaroslav, Grand Prince of Russia; Ambassadors from the Kalif of Bagdad;
the Prince of the Assassin Kingdom; and many other noted rulers. There
were present also two monks who came from the Pope—one of whom, Du
Plano Carpino, has left us an account of the Kurultai—and Rusudan’s
son.
The rivalry of the King of Georgia and Rusudan’s son brought about a
division of their country. David got Georgia proper and Rusudan’s son,
Imeretia, Mingrelia and Abhasia. Both men were called kings, but David
was the Suzerain. The Cilician King Hayton who sent Sempad, his
brother, to be present at Kuyuk’s enthronement, received from the Grand
Khan more cities seized from Cilicia by the Sultans of Rūm.
In 1249 fresh alarm rose in Bagdad, for the Mongols advanced to Dakuka
and killed Bilban the prefect. In 1250–1 Nassir the Prince of Damascus
got a letter of safe-conduct from the Grand Khan and bore it in his
girdle. Splendid gifts were a proof of his gratitude and pleasure.
Lands between the Euphrates and Tigris were again visited by the
Mongols. The districts of Diarbekr and Mayafarkin with Reesain and
Sarudj were given over to pillage. The invaders cut down in this raid
more than ten thousand people. A caravan which had set out from Harran
for Bagdad was attacked by those Mongols, who massacred every man in
it. They took a large booty; among other objects they got six hundred
camel loads of sugar and cloth stuffs from Egypt, besides six hundred
thousand dinars in money. After such splendid robbery they went back to
Khelat for enjoyment.
A corps under Yassaur, who eight years before that had struck at
Malattia, attacked now this city’s environs and slew all the people
whom it could reach with a weapon. Kei Kosru had died in 1245. Yzz ud
din Kei Kavus with his two brothers, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, and
Alai ud din Kei Kubad, had succeeded their father. The names of all
three appeared on the coinage, and were mentioned in mosques at public
service. Some great lords of Rūm wished Rokn ud din as chief sovereign.
Shems ud din of Ispahan, the grand vizir, put many of those partisans
to death. He married Yzz ud din’s mother and, wishing to eliminate Rokn
ud din, had him sent to the court of Kuyuk with the tribute and
presents agreed on in the treaty of submission made recently.
When Rokn ud din had appeared at the court of the Grand Khan he and an
officer of his suite, Behai ud din Terjuman, accused the vizir of doing
to death powerful people who favored Rokn ud din, of marrying the late
Sultan’s widow, and of raising a sovereign to the throne without
consent or command of the Grand Khan. On hearing this statement, Kuyuk
commanded that Rokn ud din take Yzz ud din’s place, and that Terjuman
take Shems ud din’s office. When the latter heard of this change he
despatched to Kuyuk, Rashid ud din, the prefect of Malattia, with much
gold and many jewels. The new order destroyed him and he hoped now that
the Grand Khan would revoke it. But when his envoy was nearing Erzerum
the newly made Sultan with his vizir were approaching that city.
Overcome by the greatness of his task the weak envoy placed his
treasures in the stronghold of Kemash and fled with all speed to
Aleppo. Terjuman appeared at Malattia very promptly with two thousand
Mongols, and proclaimed the new Sultan.
Shems ud din wished to take Yzz ud din to the seacoast from Konia, but
he was seized and held captive before he could do so. Terjuman then
sent Mongols to Konia to torture that active vizir and thus learn where
his treasures were hidden; by these men he was finally killed.
Meanwhile it was settled that Rūm must go to both brothers. All that
lay west of the Sivas was given to Yzz ud din, and everything east of
that river fell to Rokn ud din, but the officials of the latter wished
him to have all that Kuyuk had first given him. Yzz ud din’s partisans
declared that their sovereign was resigned to the will of the Grand
Khan, and would take whatever appanage his brother might give him. Rokn
ud din credited this statement and went to a meeting place. He was
seized with his vizir and taken to Konia. No harm was done him,
however. Yzz ud din joined in the sovereignty Alai ud din his third
brother.
Kuyuk died in 1248; Mangu his successor was inaugurated July, 1251. In
1254, three years after Mangu’s elevation, Yzz ud din was called to
Mongolia, but he feared to absent himself, knowing that Rokn ud din had
many partisans, hence he decided to send Alai ud din the third brother,
who set out, with many presents, traveling along the Black Sea and the
borders of Kipchak. Yzz ud din craved forgiveness from Mangu for
sending his own younger brother instead of appearing in person. This,
he said, he regretted most keenly, but he was forced to remain and
defend his possessions from Greeks and Armenians, his most implacable
enemies; he hoped soon, however, to offer homage in person.
Rokn ud din’s partisans now sought means to uphold the claims of their
master in the presence of the Grand Khan. They forged a letter from Yzz
ud din to Tarantai and his colleague, in which the Sultan commanded to
confide Alai ud din and the presents to the chancellor Shems ud din and
the Emir Seif ud din Jalish, the bearers of the letters, who would go
with the prince to Mongolia. Tarantai and his colleague were summoned
to Konia.
The Emir and the chancellor set out with this letter and overtook Alai
ud din at Sarai, Batu’s capital. Batu gave them an audience and to him
they explained how Yzz ud din had discovered Tarantai’s evil plotting
and also that of his colleague. On a time, as they said, Tarantai had
been stricken by lightning, hence should not stand in the presence of
Mangu. Shuja ed din, his associate, was a leech greatly skilled in all
magic, and had with him poison to use for the Grand Khan’s undoing;
hence the Sultan had sent them to replace those two envoys, who must go
back immediately to Konia.
Batu commanded to search the effects of the envoys; certain roots were
found in them, among other things scammony. They directed Shuja to
swallow the drugs in his baggage. He swallowed parts of each except
scammony. Batu thought this last to be poison, but his doctor declared
it a plant used in medicine. After that the Khan decided that Alai ud
din must go with the new envoys, while the two others must take with
them the presents.
Each party went its own way. Alai ud din died on the journey. When they
arrived at the court of Mangu, the opposing officials defended each two
of them their own cause. The Grand Khan decided that Rūm must be given
to both brothers, Yzz ud din getting everything west of the Sivas, and
Rokn ud din all that lay east of that river, as far as the Erzerum
border. The tribute was fixed, which each Sultan must send in annually.
After Alai ud din had set out for Mongolia, Rokn ud din’s partisans,
thinking that Yzz ud din wished to be rid of this brother, had him slip
away from the capital where agents were watching him. He went to
Cesaraea, gathered troops there and led them to Konia where, defeated
in battle, he was captured and imprisoned.
In 1255, one year later, Baidju being impatient at Yzz ud din’s
loitering with the tribute, entered Rūm, marched against Konia, and met
the Sultan’s forces between Ak Serai and the capital where he scattered
them. Yzz ud din fled and found refuge in the stronghold Anthalia.
Baidju then took Rokn ud din out of prison and installed him as Sultan
in all the Rūm provinces. Yzz ud din fled now a second time and found
refuge with the Byzantine Emperor who was visiting Sardis. This
emperor, Theodore Lascaris, fearing Rokn ud din’s partisans, as well as
the Mongols, advised the fleeing Sultan to return to his kingdom. Yzz
ud din took the advice, and offered submission to Hulagu, who upheld
the division of Rūm between the two brothers.
When Mangu became Grand Khan in 1251 the Cilician king, Hayton, begged
Batu to recommend him to the new Mongol sovereign. Batu counseled him
thus wise: “Go to Mangu and stop on the way to confer with me.” The
Armenian, alarmed by the length of the journey, and knowing that evils
might happen to the country in his absence, was fearful to leave it.
Meanwhile Argun, the collector, with a great horde of Moslem
assistants, appeared in Armenia. These men caused immense hardship to
Christians. “Whoso could not pay,” declares an Armenian historian,
“suffered torture. Owners of land were driven from their places, their
children and women were sold into slavery. Any man trying to emigrate
and caught in the act was stripped, beaten and torn to pieces by raging
dogs kept for that purpose.”
The King, learning of these savage deeds in Armenia, decided to go to
the Grand Khan and intercede for the people of his nation, but the
death of his queen, Isabella, detained him. He set out at last in 1254
and, traveling in disguise, crossed Asia Minor. He passed through
Derbend to the court of Batu, and to that of Sartak, Batu’s son, said
then to be a Christian. From Batu’s Horde he spent five months in
reaching Mangu, who received him with distinction. Letters patent were
given the King. These were to serve as a safeguard to him and his
country, and as a charter of freedom to the church in Armenia. He
remained fifty days at the court, and returned in 1255 to Cilicia
through Transoxiana and Persia. Hulagu had at this time arrived with
his army.
Great was the ruin effected by Mongols in Asia Minor between Jelal ud
din’s death and the coming of Hulagu. Great too were the ravages
wrought by Jelal through his various adventures. Though Chormagun’s
army and that under Baidju were vastly inferior to those of the princes
in Western Asia, the dissensions of those princes were so hopeless and
their wretched self-seeking so pitiful and paltry that the enemy
brought most of them down to death or submission, and thousands upon
thousands of people to destruction or torture.
After Jinghis Khan had returned from the west to Mongolia his eldest
son, Juchi, left Chin Timur in Kwaresm as its governor. When Chormagun
was sent out by Ogotai against Jelal ud din, Chin Timur was commanded
to march with the troops of Kwaresm, and keep guard in Khorassan while
Chormagun was destroying the Sultan. Chin Timur remained in Khorassan
as governor, having as colleagues four officers appointed by the heads
of the four groups in Jinghis Khan’s family, namely: Kelilat by the
Grand Khan; Nussal by Batu; Kul Toga by Jagatai, and Tunga by the widow
and sons of Tului. Those countries west of the Transoxiana, and south
of it, were the undivided inheritance of Jinghis Khan’s family. Despite
all the horrors committed in Khorassan there was something still left
there to pillage. Many districts had escaped through ready submission,
and at their first coming the Mongols knew not precisely the value of
treasures, but Chin Timur knew the value of jewels and gold, and was
eager to get them. People were tortured by him to disclose hidden
wealth, and on learning where it was he killed them very promptly. The
few who were spared had to buy back their homes. Besides there was
still another misery. Kwaresmian bands ravaged actively in Khorassan.
They killed all the prefects whom Chormagun the Mongol general sent to
various places, and searched out and slew Kwaresmians who were faithful
to Mongols. These bands were parts of a corps of Kankalis, ten thousand
in number, or thereabouts, who occupied chiefly the Tus and the
Nishapur mountains. Togan Sangur and Karadja, two of Jelal ud din’s
lieutenants, commanded them.
Chin Timur attacked thrice these Kankalis, but did not master or crush
them. At last, Kelilat, his lieutenant, succeeded at Sebzevar, after
three days of desperate fighting. In this struggle he lost two thousand
warriors. Karadja fled to the Sidjistan country to save himself, while
Sangur sought refuge in the Kuhistan mountains. Three thousand Kankalis
went to find safety in Herat. Kelilat sent four thousand horsemen to
end them. After three days of hard struggle those four thousand forced
the grand mosque where the three thousand had hoped to find safety, and
there every man died at the sword edge. Of course the attackers lost
heavily.
Sair Bahadur who commanded at Badghis had been commissioned by the
Grand Khan to march against Karadja and take fire and sword to all
rebels. He was on the road when he heard that Karadja, defeated by
Kelilat, had shut himself up in Arak Seistan. Sair invested the place,
but only after two years of hard toil did he take it.
This general now informed Chin Timur, that the Grand Khan had given him
Khorassan to govern, and that he, Chin Timur, had no further power in
that country.
Chin Timur reproached Kelilat with seeking those districts of Khorassan
which had been recovering from ruin, and whose people were innocent of
Karadja’s excesses, and forewarned Sair that he was sending a report to
the Grand Khan through an officer, and would wait for his orders.
Meanwhile Chin Timur and the others received from Chormagun a command
to march with their forces and join him, leaving Mazanderan and
Khorassan to Sair Bahadur. Chin Timur thereupon counseled with his
officers. It was settled at last that Kelilat should go to Ogotai, and
get Mazanderan and Khorassan for Chin Timur. As this officer served the
Grand Khan directly, he was chosen as the best man for the mission. To
secure a good hearing he took from those two great regions various
small princes who had given their submission.
Kara Kurum now beheld for the first time princes of Iran. When Ogotai
heard of their coming he was gratified greatly. He compared Chin
Timur’s methods with Chormagun’s action. Chormagun, master in rich and
broad countries, had never sent to his sovereign even one from among
vassal rulers. Chin Timur was made governor, and with him was
associated Kelilat; both were free of Chormagun and every other
commander. Ogotai gave feasts to honor the Persian princes, his
vassals. He showed them many marks of high favor, and when they were
going he confirmed each one of them in his own region.
Chin Timur made Sherif ud din of Kwaresm his sealkeeper, and Behai ud
din Juveini the minister of Finance. Commanders of troops belonging to
the three other branches of Jinghis Khan’s family had each one an agent
in the ministry of Finance.
Chin Timur dying in 1235 was succeeded by Nussal, a Mongol commander
who was nearly one hundred years old when he took up his office, and
soon he gave way to Kurguz, Chin Timur’s chancellor and favorite. It is
said that Kurguz had organized honestly and well the affairs of
Khorassan and had repressed a whole legion of fiscal extortioners. This
of course made him enemies among whom were Sherif ud din, the vizir,
and Kelilat, the commander, who were working at Ogotai’s court to
destroy him.
Kurguz was an Uigur and a Buddhist and had risen mainly through merit.
Born in a village not far from Bishbalik, the Uigur capital, he had
striven in early life to master Uigur letters and penmanship. That
done, he began service with an officer attached to Prince Juchi. One
day while the prince was out hunting a letter was brought him from his
father. None of his secretaries were present, so search was made for a
man to read Uigur. Kurguz was brought in and he read Jinghis Khan’s
letter to Juchi; he was the only man in that party who could read it.
Juchi took him then to his service. Since his penmanship was beautiful,
Kurguz was sent to teach letters and writing to the children of Juchi
which he did till Chin Timur was made governor of Khorassan. Kurguz was
then attached to him as secretary; he soon won his confidence and was
made minister. He kept his office under Nussal, but was summoned to
Mongolia to explain the affairs of Khorassan. Danishmend Hadjih, an
enemy of Chinkai, Ogotai’s minister and the special friend of Kurguz,
was toiling at that time to put Ongu Timur, Chin Timur’s son, in the
place held before by his father, while Chinkai was using every effort
to make Kurguz master, hence, choosing a moment when he was alone with
the Grand Khan, Chinkai explained that the chief men of Khorassan were
anxious that Kurguz should manage their country, and he obtained an
ordinance from Ogotai, by which Kurguz was sent to collect for a time
all the taxes and make a census of Mazanderan and Khorassan. While this
task was in progress no man was to trouble him for any cause. If Kurguz
did his work well he would be rewarded.
Kurguz came back to Khorassan with this patent and commenced work with
vigor. Nussal, set aside by this document, was old and quite powerless,
but Kelilat, his aid, being a man of capacity and keenly ambitious,
raised his voice in opposition. Kurguz showed his patent: “Here is the
order that no man may trouble me in my labor.” Kelilat found no answer
on that day. Kurguz reorganized Mazanderan and Khorassan, putting down
as he did so a whole army of extortioners and tyrants.
Meanwhile Sherif ud din, the vizir, and Kelilat, who were powerless
against Ogotai’s patent and Kurguz, with his strong will and purpose,
urged Ongu to ask with insistence for the place of his father. The
vizir, while feigning to be the fast friend of Kurguz, was rousing up
every power possible against him. Swept away by these efforts, Ongu
sent a nephew to Ogotai with false accusations, incriminating Kurguz.
These accusations were upheld with activity by all who were hostile to
Chinkai. Ogotai now sent Argun with two others to investigate and
report to him. Kurguz, on learning that Ongu had sent an agent to
Ogotai, set out himself to explain the position, leaving Behai ud din
to manage in his absence. At Tenakit he came on the members of Argun’s
commission, who declared that he must go back to Tus with them. He
refused. Thereupon there was violence and he lost one tooth in a
personal encounter. He returned, but before starting he sent a trusty
friend in the night time to Ogotai, bearing one of his garments which
was blood stained.
When the commission arrived at Khorassan the commanders of troops with
Kelilat, Ongu and Nussal, expelled from the residence of Kurguz his
secretaries and other assistants. Kurguz himself wanted simply to hold
the position till his messenger returned from Mongolia. This man came
at last with an order to the civil and military chiefs to state each
man his case before Ogotai, who had been incensed by the bloody
garment.
Kurguz communicated this order to his enemies, and set out at once
without waiting for their answers. Many persons of distinction went
with him. Kelilat, Ongu and others followed quickly and both parties
reached Bukhara simultaneously. In the time of a feast which was given
them by the governor, Kelilat was assassinated.
When the opponents reached Ogotai’s capital the Grand Khan wished to
dine in a beautiful tent which Ongu had just given him. After the meal
he went out for some minutes, intending to reënter, but as soon as he
had left the pavilion a blast of wind overturned it. The Grand Khan,
through annoyance and superstition, commanded to rend the tent in
pieces immediately.
Some days later a tent was erected which with its contents Kurguz had
given Ogotai. Inside were displayed curious things of many kinds and
much value; all these were gifts to the Grand Khan. Among other objects
was a girdle set with stones known as yarkan. When Ogotai put on this
girdle he was freed from a pain in the loins which had troubled him
somewhat. He drank that day freely and was in excellent humor. Kurguz
might consider his cause as triumphant. Chinkai, his protector, had
been appointed with other Uigurs to examine all statements of the
rivals. On one side was Kurguz, helped by persons of value, position
and substance; he himself had much keenness. On the other, since
Kelilat’s death, there were only that general’s sons, who were still
little children, and Ongu, a young man devoid of experience. But at the
end of some months the affair was still pending. Ogotai, wishing peace
between the two rivals, commanded Ongu and Kurguz to live in one tent
and drink from the same goblet. Care had been taken to remove every
weapon. This plan proved resultless, and Chinkai and his aids gave in
their report to the sovereign.
Ogotai summoned the two sides before him. When he had questioned each
one he condemned both Ongu and his partisans. “But,” said he to Ongu,
“since thou art under Batu I will refer the whole matter to him; he it
is who will punish thee.”
Chinkai, taking pity on Ongu, approached him, whispered, and then spoke
aloud to the Grand Khan: “Ongu Timur has said this to me. ‘The Grand
Khan is higher than Batu. Should a dog, such as I am, cause these two
sovereigns to deliberate? Let the Grand Khan fix my fate; he can fix it
in one moment.’”
“Thy words are wise,” replied Ogotai, “Batu would not pardon his own
son had he acted as thou hast.”
Ongu’s adherents were punished. Some were bastinadoed immediately while
others were given to Kurguz with the wish that he put the kang on each
man of them, and all had to go back with the victor. “Let them learn,”
said the Grand Khan, “that according to Jinghis Khan’s Yassa and
justice, calumny brings with it death for the sake of example, but
since their children and wives are awaiting them I bestow life on those
people, if they offend not a second time. But tell Kurguz too that he,
like those who are punished, is also my servitor, and should he cherish
hatred toward any he himself will be subject to punishment.” After that
he gave Kurguz rule over all the lands south and west of the Oxus.
Persian lords also begged patents, but Kurguz convinced Chinkai that if
others got patents of any kind they would assume independence of the
governor. It was settled then that no patent should be issued save the
one given Kurguz.
Sherif ud din continued double dealing; he feigned friendship for
Kurguz while working as an enemy in secret. On noting Ogotai’s action,
an adherent of Ongu gave Kurguz certain papers in Sherif’s own hand,
which proved the entire recent trouble to be the sole work of that
trickster. When he learned this, Ogotai did not wish the vizir to go
back to Persia lest he suffer from Kurguz. Sherif was rejoiced to
escape, but some friend warned Kurguz not to lose sight of an enemy who
would take the first chance to destroy him. Kurguz got permission to
take with him Sherif, whose presence, as he said, was important. The
taxes had not yet been brought to Khorassan and collectors might charge
some of these to Sherif in his absence.
Kurguz went back to Tus and there fixed his residence. He summoned
promptly the chief men in Khorassan and Irak, as well as the Mongol
commanders, and marked his accession to power by a festival which
lasted some days, during which the new ordinances were issued.
He sent his son with officials of finance to take from Chormagun’s
officers control over districts in Azerbaidjan and in Irak which they
were ruining by exactions. Every noyon, every officer acted with
absolute power in the region or city where he functioned, and seized
for himself the main income of the treasury. These petty despots lost
their places and were forced to restore even large sums of money.
Kurguz protected the lives and the property of Persians against Mongol
officers, who now could not bend people’s heads when they met them. The
warrior lost power to vex peaceful people along roads over which he was
marching. Kurguz was both feared and respected. He raised Tus again
from its ruins. On the eve of his coming there were only fifty
inhabited houses within its limits. When he had chosen it as a
residence Persian lords came to live in that capital and within a week
land rose a hundred-fold as to value.
Herat too reappeared out of ashes and fragments. After the ruin and
sack of that city in 1222 its site had been occupied by very few
persons, but in 1236, when Ogotai commanded to raise up Khorassan, it
was planned to repeople Herat, once so prosperous. An Emir, Yzz ud din,
whom with one thousand families Tului had transported to Bishbalik from
Herat, received now command to come back with one tenth of his
following. These people at first had much difficulty in finding
subsistence, through lack of draught cattle. Men of all ranks had to
draw ploughs in the manner of oxen. Earth tillers were forced to
irrigate land out of water pots, all canals being choked up and ruined.
When the first harvest was gathered, twenty strong men were chosen to
bear each twenty menns of cotton to the country of the Afghans, and
sell it. They did so and brought back implements for tillage.
In 1241 the chiefs of this settlement sent to the Grand Khan for more
people. At the end of five months two hundred new families were added
to Herat. A census taken the year following showed the city as having
six thousand nine hundred inhabitants. In following years the increase
became rapid.
On arriving at Tus Kurguz put a kang on his enemy Sherif. He drew from
him afterward confessions which were sent to the court in Mongolia. His
messenger learned on the road that the Grand Khan was dead. Kurguz
himself had set out to explain the whole system introduced by him
recently in Persia. While passing through Transoxiana he had a quarrel
with an officer of Jagatai’s household. Threatened with complaint
before that prince’s widow he replied that he cared not. This answer
when taken to the widow roused wrath and keen hatred. Alarmed by the
quarrel and hearing of Ogotai’s death with the loss of protection, he
judged best to turn back and he did so.
Meanwhile the wife of Sherif had sent people promptly to the Jinghis
Khan princes imploring protection for her husband. Those messengers had
been seized on the way save one among all of them. This man escaped and
reached Ulug Iff, the chief residence of Jagatai, whose wives and sons
sent Argun out with orders to bring them Kurguz of his own will or, if
need be, in spite of him. On hearing this order Kurguz, who had given
Sherif to the prefect of Sebzevar who was to kill him, sent command
straightway to stay the execution. When Argun was approaching, Kurguz
found retreat in a storehouse. Since the governor would not yield
himself willingly, Argun required aid of the district commanders and
got it. These men were all foes of Kurguz since he had fought their
abuses. When they were ready to burst in and take him, he threw the
gates open declaring that he was no enemy.
Kurguz was taken to Jagatai’s sons and examined. After that he was sent
to the court of Turakina, Ogotai’s widow, who was regent in Mongolia.
Chinkai, his protector, was gone. He had fled from the hatred of the
regent which intrigue had roused wrongfully against him. To crown his
misfortune, the governor of Persia was penniless, hence had no power to
establish his innocence. He was sent back at command of the regent to
Jagatai’s sons to be judged by them. He answered straightforwardly all
questions which they put to him, nevertheless, Kara Hulagu adjudged
death to the governor. His mouth was crammed then with earth and in
that way they strangled and killed him.
Kurguz being dead, Sherif had a chance now to prove himself, and he did
so; he engaged to collect four thousand balishes due, as he stated,
from Mazanderan and Khorassan. This Sherif, destined to death by Kurguz
very recently, was the son of a porter of Kwaresm. He became page to
the governor of the country, who chose him because of his personal
beauty. When Chin Timur was commanded to enter Khorassan and assist
Chormagun in that country he wanted a secretary. No man wished that
office because the incumbent must act against Moslems, and the issue of
the enterprise seemed doubtful. The governor of Kwaresm, whose feelings
had cooled toward Sherif, who by that time had lost youthful freshness
and was acting only as secretary, gave him to Chin Timur. Sherif had
learned the Mongol language already and, being the only man able to
interpret, all business passed through his hands and he became greatly
important.
When Argun went as governor to Khorassan many agents of Turakina, the
regent, went with him. These he left in the province to gather the
imposts and taxes, going himself into Azerbaidjan and to Irak to rescue
those countries from Mongol commanders, who acted as if the whole
conquest had been made by them only, and for their sole personal
profit. At Tebriz he received envoys from Rūm and from Syria, who
implored his protection. He sent men to those countries to gather
tribute.
All this time Sherif, who had received from Argun perfect liberty of
action, wrested taxes from people with unparalleled audacity and
harshness. Each collector was bound and instructed to spare no man. To
extort from the victims all that was humanly possible, armed warriors
of the garrison were quartered in houses; people were seized and
imprisoned, kept without food or even water, nay more, they were
tortured. Moslem ulemas, exempt from all tribute to Mongols and
hitherto treated respectfully, came to ask mercy for themselves and for
others. Widows and orphans, exempt by the laws of Jinghis and Mohammed,
came to implore simple justice. These people were treated with the
utmost contempt, and were flouted by Sherif’s assistants. Men pledged
at Tebriz their own children, and sometimes they sold them to find
means to pay taxes. One collector on entering a house where a dead man
was laid out for burial, and finding no other property to seize, had
the shroud stripped from the body, and took it.
Sherif’s agents assembled at Rayi after passing through Irak on their
great round of robbery. They brought the fruits of their merciless
activity and extortion to the chief mosque, and placed them in piles
there. Beasts of burden were driven into that edifice, which was sacred
for most of the people. Then the carpets of the mosque were taken and
cut into sizes that suited the robbers. In those pieces they wrapped
all the wealth which they had gathered and took it away on the backs of
pack animals. Happily for Persia, and for most people in it, Sherif ud
din met his death some months later (1244).
Argun did what he could, as it seems, to correct those abuses. He
remitted taxes not paid before Sherif’s death, and freed all who were
in prison for non-payment. Argun had been summoned to the Kurultai
which elected Kuyuk and there an important abuse became prominent.
Since Ogotai’s death the various princes of Jinghis Khan’s family had
given to some orders on the revenue of districts in Persia, and given
also orders of exemption to others. Argun collected these orders and
delivered them to the Grand Khan in person. Of all presents brought to
Kuyuk this was the one which gave him most pleasure. The orders were
delivered in the presence of the princes who had issued them. Kuyuk
continued Argun as the governor of Persia, and those whom Argun favored
obtained whatever offices he asked for them.
On returning to Persia, Argun was received in Merv splendidly. But he
saw very soon that powerful opponents at court were intriguing against
him, hence he set out again for Mongolia. While on the road he learned
of Kuyuk’s death and turned back to make barracks for troops sent by
that Grand Khan to reduce populations not subject as yet to the
Mongols. Now arrived also agents of various princes with orders on the
revenues for years in advance of collection. This abuse, which was
ruinous, endured till the interregnum was ended.
Argun reached the court only after the election of Mangu in July, 1251.
He complained of those orders on the income and he condemned the great
hordes of officials who went to collect them. These people lived on the
country, he said, and they ruined it. It was decided at last that each
man in Persia should pay in proportion to his property. This tax was
varied from one to ten dinars, and was to maintain the militia and post
routes; also envoys of the Grand Khan. Nothing more would be asked of
the people.
Argun retained his high office of governor. Persia was divided into
four parts; in each was a lieutenant under Argun. Evil doers were
punished, at least for a season, and here is a striking example of this
justice: Hindudjak, a general and chief of ten thousand, who had taken
life from a melik of Rūm without reason, was put to death, though a
Mongol, outside the Tus gate by direction of Mangu. His property,
family and slaves were divided among the four parts of the Jinghis Khan
family.
When he had fixed administration in Persia, Argun at command of the
Grand Khan went back to Mongolia to explain the position.
East Persia had been given by Mangu as a fief to Melik Shems ud din
Mohammed Kurt, lord of the castle of Khissar in Khorassan. Osman
Mergani, his grandfather, had been made governor of this stronghold by
his brother, Omar Mergani, the all-powerful vizir of Ghiath ud din of
the Gur line of princes. When Osman died Abu Bekr succeeded him. Abu
Bekr married a daughter of Ghiath ud din; from this union came Melik
Shems ud din Mohammed, who in 1245 lost his father and inherited the
Gur kingdom. He went to the Kurultai and arrived on the day of
election. He was presented by Mangu’s officials, who informed the Grand
Khan of the merits of the father and grandfather of the man then before
him, not forgetting, of course, Shems ud din’s own high qualities.
Mangu received Shems ud din with distinction and invested him with
Herat and its dependencies which extended from the Oxus to the Indus,
including Merv, Gur, Seistan, Kabul, and Afghanistan. Mangu commanded
besides, that Argun deliver to his agents fifty tumans as a present.
Next day at an intimate audience the Grand Khan gave the favorite a
robe from his own shoulders, three tablets, and objects of the value of
ten thousand dinars; a sabre from India, a club with the head of a bull
on it, a battle axe, a lance and a dagger. Shems ud din then set out
for Herat attended by one of the Grand Khan’s own officers. He turned
aside on arriving in Persia to go with a salutation to Argun, to whom
the commands of Mangu were exhibited. The governor treated him with
great respect, and had fifty tumans delivered to his agents.
Shems ud din reigned in Herat as a sovereign and took many strongholds
in Afghanistan, Guermsir, and other places.
Kerman was held at that time by the son of Borak Hadjib. After slaying
Ghiath ud din, the brother of Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Persia,
Borak asked the title of Sultan from the Kalif, and received it. Kutlug
Sultan was the name which he gave himself. When Sair Bahadur laid siege
to Seistan at the head of a Mongol division, he summoned Borak to show
the Grand Khan obedience and furnish troops also. Borak declared that
he could take the place with his own men, the Mongols might spare
themselves trouble. His great age, he added, hindered him from going to
the Grand Khan, but his son would go thither instead of him.
In fact he sent Rokn ud din Khodja. While on the road to Mongolia this
young prince heard of the death of his father, and the usurpation of
power by Kutb ud din his own cousin. He continued the journey, however,
and was received well by Ogotai, who, to reward him for coming so far
to look on the face of the Grand Khan, gave him Kerman which he was to
hold in his character of vassal with the title and name of his father,
Kutlug Sultan.
Kutb ud din now received a summons to appear at the court in Mongolia.
Shortly after his arrival he was sent to China under command of
Yelvadji. After Ogotai’s death Kutb ud din went to that Kurultai at
which Kuyuk was elected, and strove then to get Kerman, but met only
failure. Chinkai, the minister, was the firm friend of his rival, and
he himself was commanded to go back to Yelvadji. Soon after, he went
with this governor from China to the new Kurultai, which chose Mangu
from whom, and with the aid of Yelvadji, he obtained the throne of
Kerman. When Kutb ud din was approaching Kerman, Rokn ud din was
departing with treasures to Lur where he asked an asylum from the
Kalif. The Kalif, not wishing to anger the Mongols, refused it, and now
Rokn ud din resolved to repair to the court of Mangu to find justice.
The two rivals were summoned to the Grand Khan’s tribunal. Rokn ud din
lost his case and was given to his cousin, who struck him down with his
own hand, and killed him. Kutb ud din ruled in Kerman till his death in
1258. He was son of that Tanigu the treacherous prefect of Taraz under
the last sovereign of Kara Kitai. Tanigu was Borak Hadjib’s own
brother.
When Hulagu came with his army to Persia, Kutb ud din met him at Jend
to show homage and honor.
This was the position in Persia in 1254 when Hulagu went to that
country to conquer, to slaughter, and to regulate. His very first task
was to root out and destroy the Ismailians who had formed the famed
mountain Commonwealth of Assassins, and then he was to bring to
obedience or ruin the successor of Mohammed the Abbasid Kalif at
Bagdad.
That the importance of this expedition may be understood a brief sketch
of the origin and history of the Assassins must be given.