Isfahan, on the Zayanda Rud in the middle of its oasis, is the largest city of Persian Iraq and was the Seljuk capital under Malikshah.
It has changed masters more than any other Jibal city since 1194: Qutlugh Inanj for Tekish (1194); the caliph's army under Sayf al-Din Tughril, let in by the Shafi'i leader Sadr al-Din al-Khujandi in 591/1195 as the Khwarazmian garrison and Tekish's son withdrew; Kokche for a moment; the Diwan's prefect Falak al-Din Sunqur the Tall, who killed al-Khujandi in 592; a grandson of Tekish after the Khwarazmian victory of 1196; the rebel Mayajuq, who drove that grandson out with the caliph's encouragement before January 1199 (TDV). Who governs it on 1 January 1200 is not pinned; in the following years it is held by Kokche's son-in-law Jamal al-Din Ay Aba.
Who holds it
- Name
- not pinned (lord record Isfahan (governor not pinned))
- Title
- Governor or military prefect (shihna)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
See lord_1200 and the lord records.
Lord in 1200
Not pinned: a Khwarazmian governor restored after Mayajuq's fall (likely but unrecorded) or the Pahlavanid mamluks
How things stand that morning
Contested in the sense that no holder can be shown; no siege is recorded that winter.
Council
Two great families divide the city: the Khujandis, hereditary heads of the Shafi'is (their head in 1200 not pinned; Sadr al-Din al-Khujandi was killed in 592/1196), and the Sa'idis, heads of the Hanafis (head not pinned). The judge (qadi) in 1200 is not named.
Communities
Persians, Sunni of both schools; a large Jewish community in the old twin town of al-Yahudiyya; few Shi'a; Turkish soldiers.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded in the sources read
Militia
The followers of the two schools fight as armed parties of the quarters; Yaqut, about 1220, blamed the ruin of much of the city on this fighting.
Walls and castle
Walled since the 11th century; the Friday Mosque with its Seljuk domes (1080s); the Nizari castle of Shahdiz on the mountain south of the city was destroyed in 1107. Citadel and garrison in 1200: not pinned.
Trade and crafts
The richest market of the Jibal: cotton and silk cloth, the farms of the oasis watered by canals from the Zayanda Rud, the caravans to Fars, Yazd, Kashan and Hamadan.
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.
- 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
Places of note
- Friday Mosque of Isfahan: The great mosque with the Seljuk domes
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Ibn al-Athir and al-Durar to 592; TDV and the Duhok study after.
Sources and studies
- 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)
- al-Durar al-Saniyya, historical encyclopedia: the caliph's army takes Isfahan (591 AH), after Ibn al-Athir
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi: Tekis, Alaeddin
- The Mountain Region (al-Jibal) during the rule of the Pahlavani mamluks 1199-1218, Journal of the University of Duhok (2017), in Arabic
- Yaqut, Mu'jam al-buldan (about 1225), articles on al-Rayy and Isbahan: cited from standard knowledge, not fetched in this session
- Standard reference knowledge on monuments and crafts (Seljuk mosques, Kashan lustre ware, al-Rafi'i's dates), not fetched in this session
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.