Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · Contested ground · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Isfahan (governor not pinned)

Isfahan, the largest city of the Jibal, has changed hands more often than any other since 1194.

Tekish gave it to the Eldiguzid Qutlugh Inanj in 1194. In 591/1195 the caliph's mamluk Sayf al-Din Tughril marched on it at the invitation of Sadr al-Din al-Khujandi, head of the Shafi'is and the city's leading man; the Khwarazmian garrison and Tekish's son withdrew to Khurasan and the caliph's army entered (Ibn al-Athir). Kokche then came to drive out the Khwarazmians, professed himself the Diwan's servant, chased them to Tabas and entered Isfahan, but the Diwan's settlement left Isfahan to the Diwan.

In 592 the Diwan's prefect (shihna) Falak al-Din Sunqur the Tall killed Sadr al-Din al-Khujandi after a quarrel. After Tekish's victory of 592/1196 a grandson of his held the city until Tekish's rebel governor Mayajuq, encouraged by the caliph, drove him out (TDV). Who governs Isfahan on 1 January 1200 is not pinned: a Khwarazmian restoration after Mayajuq's fall in January 1199 is likely but is not recorded in the sources read, and in the following years the city is found in the hands of Kokche's son-in-law Jamal al-Din Ay Aba.

Inside the walls the real powers are the two great families, the Khujandis (Shafi'i) and the Sa'idis (Hanafi).

Who he is

Title
Governor or military prefect (shihna) of Isfahan
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
low

Holders since 1194: Qutlugh Inanj for Tekish (1194); Tekish's garrison under his son, withdrawn in 591/1195 before the caliph's army under Sayf al-Din Tughril; Kokche, who entered it after the caliph's army moved to Hamadan but left it to the Diwan; the Diwan's prefect Falak al-Din Sunqur the Tall (592); a grandson of Tekish whom TDV calls Erboz (Arboz) Khan; the rebel Mayajuq, who drove that grandson out with the caliph's encouragement before January 1199 (TDV). Later, Kokche's son-in-law Jamal al-Din Ay Aba holds real power in Isfahan (Duhok study, date not pinned).

Overlord

not pinned: the Khwarazmshah by the caliph's settlement of Rabi I 595, or the Pahlavanid mamluks

What it holds

  • Isfahan and the oasis of the Zayanda Rud
  • Najafabad, Falavarjan and the western oasis villages
  • Qumisha (Shahreza) on the road to Fars
  • Ardestan and Na'in on the road to Yazd (dependencies)
  • Fereydan, the upland west of the oasis (not pinned)

How it was acquired

See research: by turns conquest, invitation and grant.

Allies and rivals

Claimants: the Khwarazmshah (by the caliph's confirmation of his lands, Rabi I 595); the Pahlavanid mamluks under Kokche; the caliph's Diwan, which held it in 591-592. Inside: the Khujandi and Sa'idi factions.

How things stand that morning

Not pinned. The ground is drawn as contested. The khutba is presumably for the caliph al-Nasir, with Tekish's name if his men hold the city.

Wealth

The richest market of the Jibal: cotton and silk cloth, the farms of the Zayanda Rud oasis watered by canals from the river, the trade of the roads to Fars, Yazd, Kashan and Hamadan.

Military

Not pinned: whatever garrison holds the citadel, and the factions' armed followers.

Threats

  • The Khujandi and Sa'idi feud
  • Whichever of the Khwarazmians and the mamluks is stronger after Tekish's death

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. 596-597 (from July 1200), month not pinnedOn the news of Tekish's death the townsmen and the Pahlavanid mamluks rise against the Khwarazmian garrisons in the Persian lands and massacre them (Bosworth, Iranica); the Jibal towns fall to the mamluks under KokcheDepends on: Tekish's death; Muhammad turning east against the Ghurids, who invade Khurasan in 597 Stopped by: a strong Khwarazmian army kept in the Jibal; Muhammad marching west at once
  2. after 595, not pinned (probably after July 1200)Kokche's son-in-law Jamal al-Din Ay Aba is master of Isfahan; the atabeg Abu Bakr comes to the city, but most of his army goes over to Kokche and he returns to Azerbaijan (Duhok study)Depends on: the mamluks' rise in the Jibal Stopped by: a Khwarazmian or caliphal army holding Isfahan

Where the sources disagree

  • The name of Tekish's grandson at Isfahan (Erboz or Arboz Khan) is TDV's; no other source read names him.

Evidence: Ibn al-Athir is clear to 592; the 593-596 sequence rests on TDV's short account and a modern Arabic study.

On the map: Contested colour marks an unpinned holder in a province fought over by three parties since 1194, not a siege recorded that winter.

Sources and studies

  1. Ibn al-Athir, The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period, part 3, tr. D. S. Richards (archive.org text, years 589-594)
  2. al-Durar al-Saniyya, historical encyclopedia: the caliph's army takes Isfahan (591 AH), after Ibn al-Athir
  3. TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi: Tekis, Alaeddin
  4. The Mountain Region (al-Jibal) during the rule of the Pahlavani mamluks 1199-1218, Journal of the University of Duhok (2017), in Arabic

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.