Shirvanshah

Who he is

Name

Akhsitan I ibn Manuchihr, or his brother Shahanshah: not pinned

Title

Shirvanshah

Since

Akhsitan from after 1160; his reign ends between 1197 and 1203-04

Born

Akhsitan about 1112 (not secure)

Family

Son of Manuchihr III and the Georgian princess Tamar, daughter of David IV; wife Ismat al-Din (his cousin); his heir Minuchihr (alive about 1188) and two infants died before him. Brothers Shahanshah, Farrukhzad I and Afridun II; Farrukhzad's son Garshasp I reigns after 1204.

Confidence

low

Coins and inscriptions (Kouymjian 1969); Khaqani's and Nizami's poems; the Georgian chronicle.

Overlord

Georgia in practice (protectorate); the Eldiguzid claim is old and resented.

What it holds

• Shamakhi and the hill castles above it (Gulistan)
• Baku and the Absheron (naphtha wells, salt, the port; Mardakan)
• Shabran and the coast road north to the Samur, with the Mushkur district (Quba, Khachmaz)
• The Shirvan plain to the Kura (Kurdamir, Aghsu, Goychay)
• The lower Kura to its mouth (Salyan): the hold here is not pinned

How it was acquired

Hereditary in the Kasranid line.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Queen Tamar (kin and protector). Rivals: Abu Bakr; the emir of Derbent; the Kipchaks.

How things stand that morning

Holds the kingdom from the Kura to the Samur; court probably at Baku. The ruler is Akhsitan if he is still alive, otherwise a brother.

Wealth

Silk of Shamakhi; naphtha and salt of the Absheron; the coast road and the Caspian ports.

Military

Walled towns (Shamakhi, Baku, Shabran), hill castles, the king's guard and tribal levies; Georgian help in need, as in 1173-74 and 1195. No figures.

Threats

• Abu Bakr
• The emir of Derbent and the Kipchaks
• A divided succession

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.

In 1200

1. 596-597 AH (1200-01) if Iranica's dating holdsAbu Bakr attacks Shirvan and is heavily defeated.Depends on: Abu Bakr choosing war Stopped by: Peace between the atabeg and Georgia

Later, on the likely course

1. By 1203-04Farrukhzad I named Shirvanshah in an inscription.Depends on: Akhsitan's and Shahanshah's deaths or retirement Stopped by: Not applicable

Places of note

• Mardakan tower: Tower whose inscription names Farrukhzad I and his son Garshasp, who built it (undated)
• Baku walls: The walled port and residence of the Shirvanshahs after 1191

Where the sources disagree

• The earthquake that hit Shamakhi is dated 1191 by the English Wikipedia page on the town and 588 AH (1192) by the TDV; the move of the court to Baku is tied by Minorsky to Qizil Arslan's seizure of Shamakhi (1191).

Evidence: Coins, inscriptions and poets; no chronicle.

On the map: The western limit toward Georgian Hereti (Shakki, Qabala) and the lower Kura are rough.

Primary sources for Shirvan

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 History of Derbent and Shirvan, as preserved in Munejjim-bashi's Jami al-duwal, Anonymous (an 11th-century author of Derbent, excerpted by Munejjim-bashi, died 1702) (about 1075; preserved in an Ottoman compilation of the 1670s). The only local history of the Shirvanshahs and the emirs of Derbent, surviving as extracts in a 17th-century Ottoman compilation.
• History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
• The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
• Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online