Ghiyath al-Din

Who he is

Name

Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Muhammad ibn Baha al-Din Sam

Title

Sultan (al-sultan al-a'zam)

Since

558 AH (1163)

Born

About 1139-1140

Family

Shansabani of Ghur; son of Baha al-Din Sam I

Confidence

high

Juzjani; Ibn al-Athir; Iranica 'Ghurids'; TDV 'Gurlular'; Wikipedia. The division of his lands at his death (1203) shows what he held himself: Ghur, Garmsir, Zamindawar and Firuzkuh; Bust, Farah and Isfizar; Herat and its dependencies (TDV, after Juzjani).

Overlord

None; he names the caliph al-Nasir in the khutba.

What it holds

• Ghur with Firuzkuh, the senior capital, and the castles of the Ghur valleys (Tulak and others), many held under him by lesser Ghurid maliks
• Herat and its province on the Hari Rud, with Karukh, Awba (Obeh) and Chisht, and Pushang (Fushanj) to the west
• Badghis and Gharchistan on the upper Murghab (no Shar of Gharchistan is recorded ruling in 1200; the old line lost the land to Mahmud of Ghazna in 1012)
• Guzganan (Juzjan) with Shibarghan, Sar-i Pul, Faryab and Yahudiyya (Maymana), Andkhud on the Oxus frontier, and Talaqan, through governors not pinned for 1200
• Isfizar (Sabzawar of Herat, Shindand) and Farah
• Bust with Lashkari Bazar, Zamindawar and Garmsir on the Helmand
• Overlordship of the Bamiyan branch and of the malik of Sistan

How it was acquired

Ghur by inheritance (1163, after the death of his cousin Sayf al-Din Muhammad); Herat and Pushang from the Seljuk governor Baha al-Din Tughril in 1175; Bust and Zamindawar in the Ghurid expansion of the 1150s-1160s; Guzganan and Talaqan from the Seljuk successor emirs in the 1170s-80s (dates not pinned); Badghis and Gharchistan with Herat.

Allies and rivals

Allies: his brother; the caliph al-Nasir; the Bamiyan branch; the malik of Sistan. Rivals: the Khwarazmshah Tekish and his sons; the Qara Khitai gurkhan; the Nizaris of Quhistan.

How things stand that morning

He holds all the lands listed. His whereabouts on 1 January 1200 are not pinned: Firuzkuh is his capital and Herat his favourite city (he dies there in 1203). In 595 AH (1198-99) Firuzkuh saw riots between Karramis and the followers of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi after a disputation at court (Ibn al-Athir, medium confidence on the date). There is no war in progress that winter: the Qara Khitai were beaten in 1198 and Tekish's move on Herat failed.

Wealth

Herat's oasis and crafts; the Hari Rud and Murghab villages; the tolls of the Herat-Merv, Herat-Nishapur and Herat-Sistan roads; the treasure sent from India by his brother; the iron and arms of Ghur.

Military

The Ghurid hill infantry and the horse of Ghur, Gharchistan and Guzganan; the castles of Ghur; Herat's citadel and walls; Andkhud and the Guzganan forts against the Qara Khitai. No numbers.

Threats

• His health.
• The Khwarazmshah on the Merv and Sarakhs side.
• The Qara Khitai across the Oxus.
• The Karrami-Shafi'i quarrel in Ghur.

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. 3 July 1200 (19 Ramadan 596) and afterOn Tekish's death he prepares the invasion of Khurasan, which falls in late 1200 and 597 AH (1200-01).Depends on: Tekish's death; his own health; Mu'izz al-Din joining him. Stopped by: A Qara Khitai threat on the Oxus or a strong Khwarazmian succession.
2. 597 AH (1200-01), by most accountsHe has the Great Mosque of Herat rebuilt after a fire (the Ghurid portal).Depends on: Peace in the west. Stopped by: War at Herat.

Places of note

• Minaret of Jam: Bears his titles; the north inscription reads 590 AH (1193-94), though some read 570 AH (1174-75).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: His reign and lands are well attested; the governors of Herat, Guzganan, Talaqan and Badghis on 1 January 1200 are not named in what was consulted.

On the map: The blocks follow the districts named in the 1203 division; the Ghur outline is rough and many Ghur valleys were held under the sultan by lesser maliks.

Primary sources for Ghurids

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
• 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
• The Crown of Glorious Deeds, Hasan Nizami (Sadr al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan Nizami of Nishapur) (begun about 1205 at Delhi, carried on to about 1217). The earliest history written in Muslim India and the only contemporary account of Qutb al-Din Aibak's campaigns. Read online
• The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
• The Tree of Genealogies, and the Manners of War and Bravery, Fakhr-i Mudabbir (Fakhr al-Din Muhammad ibn Mansur Mubarakshah) (the Shajara about 1206, dedicated to Qutb al-Din Aibak; the Adab al-harb in the 1220s for Iltutmish). The prose introduction to the Shajara, written within six years of 1200, praises Aibak and tells of his rise under Mu'izz al-Din of Ghur, his consecration at Lahore in 1206 and the Ghurid campaigns in Hindustan, with some notice of the Turkish peoples.

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