Ali Shah

Who he is

Name

Taj al-Din Ali Shah ibn Tekish

Title

malik, prince of the Khwarazmian house; governor of Iraq (the Jibal) at Isfahan

Since

end of Tekish's western campaign, before his return to Khwarazm on 28 March 1200; whether before 1 January 1200 is not pinned

Born

not pinned

Family

son of Tekish (mother not pinned), brother of the heir Muhammad

Confidence

medium

Juvaini (Boyle) vol. I (the return of 10 Jumada II 596); Wikipedia (Muhammad II) after Buniyatov and Ibn al-Athir.

Overlord

His father Tekish.

What it holds

• The governorship of Iraq at Isfahan (drawn on the Jibal pages, jib)

How it was acquired

By his father's appointment at the end of the 1199 campaign.

Allies and rivals

Loyal to his brother Muhammad in 1200-1201; rebels against him about 1209.

How things stand that morning

On 1 January 1200 he is with his father in the Jibal and either already installed at Isfahan or about to be (not pinned to the day). His governorship is written on the Jibal pages (jib); no land is drawn here.

Wealth

The revenues of Isfahan and its district, as far as Khwarazmian rule reaches there.

Military

The troops his father leaves him in the Jibal; no numbers.

Threats

• The emirs of the Jibal and the caliph's party, once Tekish has gone home

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. late 1200 to April 1201Recalled to Khurasan, holds Nishapur for Muhammad against the Ghurids and surrenders it a few days after the siege begins on 7 April 1201.Depends on: Tekish's death and the Ghurid invasion Stopped by: the Ghurids not invading

Where the sources disagree

• Wikipedia (Tekish), after Buniyatov, says Tekish 'returned to Gurganj on 29 March 1200 and assigned Ali Shah as governor'; Juvaini makes the post the governorship of Iraq at Isfahan, given before Tekish left the west.

Evidence: One dated statement in Juvaini and the account of 1201.

On the map: No land drawn here: Isfahan lies on the Jibal pages.

Primary sources for Khwarazm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
• History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
• The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
• The Life of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi (about 1241, at Aleppo). A Khwarazmian secretary's life of the last Khwarazmshah. Read online
• The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
• Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online

3 more in the sources library for Persia and the Eastern Islamic World.