City · The Khwarazmshah's realm · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Bardasir

The capital of Kerman since the Seljuk Qavurt took it in 440/1048-49.

Muhammad ibn Arslan Shah (1142-1156) built mosques and libraries here. The Ghuzz years ruined it: the raids and the famine destroyed its great trading suburb, which never recovered, and the last Seljuk moved to Bam. Malik Dinar entered it in Rajab 583 (September 1187); since 1196 or about 1198 it has been held for the Khwarazmshah Tekish. The Ghuzz will hold it again and surrender it to the Salghurid Sa'd in 600/1203-04.

Who holds it

Name
The atabeg Nusrat al-Din, son of Muhammad Oner (as Bosworth gives it), or his deputy; not pinned for that winter
Title
Governor of Kerman for the Khwarazmshah
Since
1196 or about 1198
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

The Khwarazmian governor (low confidence for that winter).

How things stand that morning

Held for Tekish (low confidence).

Charter

None known: the towns of the atabegs have no charters; the governor, the judge (qadi) and the market inspector (muhtasib) answer to the ruler.

Council

The governor, the qadi and the notables; names not pinned.

Communities

Persian Muslims; Turkish soldiers (Khwarazmian and Ghuzz); Zoroastrians (numbers not pinned).

Fairs and markets

Daily or weekly markets; no fair dates recorded.

Militia

Not recorded for 1199-1200.

Walls and castle

Town wall and the hill castles east of the town (the Qal'a-yi Ardashir and the Qal'a-yi Dukhtar); state in 1200 not described.

Trade and crafts

Once the meeting point of the Gulf, Khurasan and Fars roads; trade much reduced since the 1180s.

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. About 1200 to 600 AH (1203-04)After the Khwarazmian garrison goes, the Shabankara and then the Ghuzz take the city; the Ghuzz hand it to Sa'd's army in 600/1203-04.Depends on: Tekish's death (3 July 1200) Stopped by: A new Khwarazmian army

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Bosworth's summaries of Muhammad b. Ibrahim; no direct source for the winter of 1199-1200.

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.

Sources and studies

  1. C. E. Bosworth, 'The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000-1217)', Cambridge History of Iran 5 (1968), pp. 167-175, 184-185
  2. C. E. Bosworth, 'Dinar, Malek', Encyclopaedia Iranica (after Afzal al-Din Kirmani, 'Iqd al-ula, and Muhammad b. Ibrahim, Tarikh-i Saljuqiyan-i Kirman)
  3. E. Mercil, 'Salgurlular', TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi (after Muhammad b. Ibrahim, Wassaf, Zarkub and Mercil, Fars Atabegleri Salgurlular, 1975)
  4. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chapters XVII-XXIV (Fars, Kirman, Makran) after Istakhri, Muqaddasi, Ibn al-Balkhi, Yaqut and Mustawfi

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