Shamlu
Encyclopedia
The Shamloo, Shamlu, shomloo Tribe was one of the 7 original and the most powerful Qizilbash Tribe of Turcoman
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...

 origin in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

Pre-Safavid Era

Among the Kizilbash, Turcoman tribes from Eastern Anatolia and Azerbaijan who had helped Shah Ismail I defeat the Aq Qoyunlu tribe were by far the most important - in number and influence. Therefore the name Kizilbash is usually applied to them only. Some of these greater Turcoman tribes were subdivided into as many as eight or nine clans and included the:

* Ustādjlu
* Rumlu
* Shāmlu (the most powerful clan during the reign of Shah Ismail I.)
* Dulghadir (Arabic: Dhu 'l-Kadar)
* Afshār
* Qājār
* Takkalu

Other tribes, such as Turkman, Bahārlu, Qaramānlu, Warsāk or Bayāt were occasionally listed among these "seven great uymaqs". Some of these names consist of a place-name with addition of the Turkish suffix -lu, such as Shāmlu or Bahārlu. Other names are those of old Oghuz tribes such as Afshār, Dulghadir, or Bayāt, as mentioned by the medieval Uyghur historian Mahmoud Al-Kāshgharī. The origin of the name Ustādjlu, however, is unknown and possibly indicates a non-Turkic origin of the tribe.

The non-Turkic or non-Turkish-speaking Iranian tribes among the Kizilbash were called Tājiks by the Turcomans and included:

* Tālish
* Siāh-Kuh (Karādja-Dagh)
* Lur tribes (for example the Zand)
* certain Kurdish tribes
* certain Persian families and clans

The rivalry between the Turkic clans and Persian nobles was a major problem in the Safavid kingdom and caused much trouble. As V. Minorsky put it, friction between these two groups was inevitable, because the Turcomans "were no party to the national Persian tradition". Shah Ismail tried to solve the problem by appointing Persian wakils as commanders of Kizilbash tribes. However, the Turcomans considered this an insult and brought about the death of 3 of the 5 Persians appointed to this office - an act, that later inspired the deprivation of the Turcomans by Shah Abbas I.

Safavid Era

The Beginnings

In the 15th century, Ardabil was the center of an organization designed to keep the Safavid leadership in close touch with its murids in Azerbaijan, Iraq, eastern Anatolia, and elsewhere. The organization was controlled through the office of khalīfāt al-khulafā'ī who appointed representatives (khalīfa) in regions where Safavid propaganda was active. The khalīfa, in turn, had subordinates termed pira. Their presence in eastern Anatolia posed a serious threat to the Ottomans, because they encouraged the Shi'ite population of Asia Minor to revolt against the sultan.

In 1499, Ismail, the young leader of the Safavid order, left Lahijan for Ardabil to make his bid for power. By the summer of 1500, ca. 7,000 supporters from the local Turcoman tribes of Anatolia, Syria, and Iraq - collectively called "Kizilbash" by their enemies - rallied to his support. Leading his troops on a punitive campaign against the Shīrvanshāh (ruler of Shirvan), he sought revenge for the death of his father and his grandfather in Shīrvan. After defeating the Shīrvanshāh Farrukh Yassar, he moved south into Azarbaijan where his 7,000 Kizilbash warriors defeated a force of 30,000 Ak Koyunlu under Alwand Mirzā, and conquered Tabriz. This was the beginning of the Safavid state.

In the first decade of the 16th century, the Kizilbash expanded Safavid rule over the rest of Persia, as well as Baghdad and Iraq, formerly under Ak Koyunlu control. In 1510 Shah Ismail sent a large force of the Kizilbash to Transoxania to support the Timurid ruler Babur in his war against the Uzbeks. The Kizilbash defeated the Uzbeks and secured Samarqand for Babur. However, in 1512, an entire Kizilbash army was annihilated by the Uzbeks after Turcoman Kizilbash had mutinied against their Persian wakil and commander, Amir Nadjm. This heavy defeat put an end to Safavid expansion and influence in Transoxania and the northeastern frontiers of the kingdom remained vulnerable to nomad invasions.

The Battle of Chaldiran

Meanwhile, the Safavid da'wa (propaganda) continued in Ottoman areas - with great success. Even more alarming for the Ottomans was the successful conversion of Turcoman tribes in eastern Anatolia and Iraq, and the recruitment of these well experienced and feared fighters into the growing Safavid army. In order to stop the Safavid propaganda, Sultan Bayezid II deported large numbers of the Shi'ite population of Asia Minor to Morea. However, in 1507, Shah Ismail and the Kizilbash overran large areas of Kurdistan, defeating regional Ottoman forces. Only two years later in Central Asia, the Kizilbash defeated the Uzbeks at Merv, killing their leader Muhammad Shaybani and destroying his dynasty. His head was sent to the Ottoman sultan as a warning.

In 1511, an Alevi revolt known as "Shahkulu Uprising" broke out in Teke and was brutally suppressed by the Ottomans: 40,000 were massacred on the order of the sultan. Shah Ismail sought to turn the chaos within the Ottoman Empire to his advantage and invaded Anatolia. The Kizilbash defeated a large Ottoman army under Sinan Pasha. Shocked by this heavy defeat, Sultan Selim I (the new ruler of the Empire) decided to invade Persia with a force of 200,000 Ottomans and face the Kizilbash on their own soil. In addition, he ordered the persecution of Shiism and the massacre of all its adherents in the Ottoman Empire.

In 1588, Shah Abbas I came to power. He appointed the Governor of Herat and his former guardian and tutor, Alī Quli Khān Shāmlū (also known as Hājī Alī Qizilbāsh Mazandarānī) the chief of all the armed forces. Later on, events of the past, including the role of the Turcomans in the succession struggles after the death of his father, and the counter balancing influence of traditional Ithnāʻashari Shia Sayeds, made him determined to end the dominance of the untrustworthy Turcoman chiefs in Persia. In order to weaken the Turcomans - the important militant elite of the Safavid kingdom - Shah Abbas raised a standing army from the ranks of the ghilman who were usually ethnic Armenians and Georgians. The new army would be loyal to the king personally and not to clan-chiefs anymore.

On the 20 August of 1514 (1st Rajab 920 A.H.), the two armies met at Chaldiran in Azarbaijan. The Ottomans outnumbered the Kizilbash two to one (according to other sources: three to one) and had artillery and handguns. The Kizilbash were heavily defeated,[15] and many high-ranking Kizilbash amirs as well as three influential figures of the ulamā were killed.

The defeat destroyed Shah Ismail's belief in his invincibility and his divine status. It also fundamentally altered the relationship between the murshid-e kāmil and his murids.

Post Safavid Era

(work in progress)

List of the Khans of Shamlu

  • Ahmad Sultan
    Sultan
    Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...

      Shamlu
  • Abdu Beg
    Bey
    Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

     Shamlu ( Father in law of Ismail I
    Ismail I
    Ismail I , known in Persian as Shāh Ismāʿil , was a Shah of Iran and the founder of the Safavid dynasty which survived until 1736. Isma'il started his campaign in Azerbaijan in 1500 as the leader of the Safaviyya, an extremist heterodox Twelver Shi'i militant religious order and unified all of Iran...

     )
  • Husein Khan Shamlu ( The most powerful qizilbash Khan, executed by Shah Tahmasp in 1534)
  • Hossein Khan Shamlu ( Governor of Lors Pushtkuh- Province of Lorestan
    Lorestan Province
    Lorestan Province is a historic territory and province of western Iran, amidst the Zagros Mountains. The population of Lorestan was estimated at 1,716,527 people in 2006.Lorestan covers an area of 28,392 km²...

     )
  • Hasan Khan Shamlu
  • Mirza Vali Khan Shamlu (Governor)
  • Ali Gholi Khan Shamlu (aka Haji Ali Qizilbash Mazandarani Governor of Khorassan
    Greater Khorasan
    Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...

     in 1576 and chief of the armies under Shah Abbas I en 1588 )
  • Jauni Beg Khan Bigdeli-e Shamlu (1629)
  • Sinan Khan Shamlu (Ambassador of Shah AbbasI to Emperor Rudolph II of Habsburg)
  • Muhamad Gholi Khan Bigdili-e Shamlu
  • Dormish Khan Shamlu (Brother in law of Shah Ismail I and Governor of Isfahan )
  • Murteza Gulu Khan Shamlu-Ardabili (invented a style of calligraphy called "Shikasta Nastaʿlīq")
  • Abbas Gholi Khan Shamlu-Shahsevan (Governor of Herat
    Herat
    Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...

    , 1812)
  • Mu'min Khan Shamlu (1699–1707, Grand Vizier
    Grand Vizier
    Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...

     )
  • Mohammed Zaman Khan Shamlu (1711)
  • Muhamad Ali Khan Bigdili-e Shamlu (c.1722, Grand Vizier
    Grand Vizier
    Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...

     )
  • Zaynal Khan Shamlu
  • Murshid Gholi Khan Ustajlu-e Shamlu
  • Heydar Gholi Khan Ghiaï-e Chamlou I
  • Mirza Ali Akbar Khan Ghiaï-e Chamlou
  • Manouchehr Ghiaie-e Shamloo (Governor of Tehran)
  • Heydar Gholi Khan Ghiaï-e Chamlou II
    Heydar Ghiai
    Heydar Gholi Khan Ghiaï-Chamlou who graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in 1952, was known as a pioneer of modern architecture in Iran.He designed the Senate House, the Royal Tehran Hilton Hotel, several train stations, cinemas, various civic and government buildings and the first series of...

     (Architect and Aide de Camp
    Aide-de-camp
    An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

     of the Impériale Court of Iran under Emperor Mohammad Reza Pahlavi)
  • Farhad Khan Ghiaï-e Chamlou( 1957 )

Internal Links

  • Qizilbash
  • Safavid dynasty
    Safavid dynasty
    The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...

  • Farhad Khan Ghiaï-e Chamlou (in French)

External links

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