Qazvin (Khwarazmian)

Who he is

Title

Governor for the Khwarazmshah

Since

the Khwarazmian recovery of the Jibal in 592/1196, renewed by Tekish's campaign of 595/1199

Born

not pinned

Family

not pinned

Confidence

medium

Qazvin was among the towns the caliph's Diwan kept for itself in its settlement with Kokche in 591/1195 (Ibn al-Athir). In 1199 Tekish besieged the Nizari castle of Arslan-gusha near Qazvin for four months and took it, then attacked Alamut (Wikipedia, TDV), which makes Qazvin his base that year.

Overlord

Ala al-Din Tekish, Khwarazmshah

What it holds

• Qazvin and its plain
• Takestan (Siyahdahan) and the road west to Abhar
• Bu'in Zahra and the southern plain
• Kharraqan (Avaj and the upland toward Hamadan; not pinned)
• The castle of Arslan-gusha near Qazvin, taken from the Nizaris in 1199 (site not securely identified)

How it was acquired

With the Jibal in 592/1196 and again in 595/1199.

Allies and rivals

Enemy: the Nizari imam Nur al-Din Muhammad II at Alamut and his castles of Rudbar and Taleqan (cas researcher's records). Rival: the Pahlavanid mamluks, who take the Jibal after Tekish's death.

How things stand that morning

Held for Tekish (medium confidence), facing a Nizari frontier raided by both sides (belt record). The khutba presumably for al-Nasir and Tekish.

Wealth

The Qazvin plain's grain, vines and orchards watered by underground canals (qanats); tolls on the roads to Zanjan, Rayy and Gilan.

Military

A Khwarazmian garrison and the town's militia of volunteers against the Nizaris (not described in the sources read). No figures.

Threats

• Nizari raids and assassins from Alamut
• The Pahlavanid mamluks
• 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. 19 or 20 Ramadan 596 (3 or 4 July 1200)Tekish dies near Nasa, at Shahristana, on the road from Khwarazm into Khurasan, and his son Qutb al-Din Muhammad succeeds as Ala al-Din MuhammadDepends on: Tekish's illness (a throat abscess); natural death (khw researcher's record decides) Stopped by: play that keeps Tekish alive or keeps him from travelling
2. 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

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1199 siege of Arslan-gusha is in Juvaini and Ibn al-Athir as summarised by Wikipedia and TDV; Qazvin's governor is not named.

On the map: The northern edge is the raided foothill zone drawn as a belt.

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.