City · Bukhara: the sadrs of the house of Burhan · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Bukhara

Bukhara, the old capital of the Samanids, is the chief city of the lower Zarafshan and the greatest seat of Hanafi learning in the east.

It is governed by its sadr of the house of Burhan, under the khan of Samarkand and the gurkhan. The Khwarazmshah Tekish took it in 1182; Ibn al-Athir says he took it again in 1198 after the Bukharans, fighting for the Qara Khitai, threw a one-eyed dog in a robe from the walls to mock him, and that he pardoned them; Barthold and Biran doubt that second capture. On 1 January 1200 the city is in the gurkhan's empire and its government is the sadr's.

Who holds it

Name
The sadr of the house of Burhan (most likely Burhan al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad; not pinned)
Title
Sadr of Bukhara under the khan of Samarkand and the gurkhan
Since
Not pinned
Confidence
medium

Lord in 1200

Governed by the hereditary sadr (preacher and headman) of the house of Burhan, who collects the gurkhan's tribute; the khan of Samarkand Ibrahim b. Husayn is overlord and strikes coins here (597, 1200-01).

How things stand that morning

Under the sadr and the khan of Samarkand, vassals of the gurkhan; quiet.

Charter

None: the towns of the Qarakhanid khans have no charters; the khan's governor, the judge (qadi), the market inspector (muhtasib) and the headman (ra'is) run them.

Council

The sadr (sadr-i jahan) is khatib of the Friday mosque and ra'is of the city; the qadi and the Hanafi scholars (the sadr is said to keep 6,000 jurists, Iranica after the sources) form the patriciate; heads of quarters and guilds speak for the townsmen. The qadi in 1200 is not named in the sources read.

Communities

Persian-speaking Muslim townsmen, overwhelmingly Hanafi; Turkish soldiers; a Jewish community; Christians of the Church of the East in small numbers (numbers not recorded); the Arab-descended villages of the oasis.

Fairs and markets

Daily markets and caravanserais; no fair days recorded for 1200.

Militia

No standing militia is recorded for 1200; the artisans and poor rise in 1206-07 under Sanjar, a shield-maker's son, which shows armed townsmen able to act.

Walls and castle

The inner city (shahristan) and the long suburb wall (rabad) rebuilt by Arslan Khan in the early 12th century and restored by the khan Mas'ud in 560 (1165); the citadel (ark), rebuilt by Muhammad of Khwarazm in 1207. Monuments: the Kalyan minaret (1127), the Friday mosque, the Namazgah (1119), the Samanid mausoleum.

Trade and crafts

Cloth (the zandaniji cottons, silks), carpets, metalwork and leather; the caravan roads to Khwarazm across the Kyzyl Kum, to Merv and Amul across the Oxus, and to Samarkand; the mint (coins of Ibrahim b. Husayn of 597).

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. 1206-07Revolt of the townsmen under Sanjar while the sadr is on pilgrimage; Muhammad of Khwarazm enters Bukhara in 604 (1207).Depends on: Discontent with the sadr and Muhammad's ambitions. Stopped by: A strong overlord at Samarkand or Balasagun.

Where the sources disagree

  • Ibn al-Athir dates a Khwarazmian capture of Bukhara to 594 (1198); Barthold and Biran put Tekish's capture in 578 (1182) and doubt the second.

Evidence: The city is well known; its government in 1200 is inferred from the sadrs' office and the khan's coins.

Primary sources for Bukhara (the sadrs)

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 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
  • History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. 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

Sources and studies

  1. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Bukhara ii'
  2. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Al-e Borhan'
  3. W. Barthold, Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion (1928)

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