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

Nishapur

Once the greatest city of Khurasan, Nishapur was sacked by the Ghuzz in 1153 and then torn apart by street wars between the Shafi'is, the Hanafis and the Alids (1158-1161), after which the emir Mu'ayyad Ay-Aba walled the governors' suburb of Shadyakh and the people moved there; the old city and its citadel are largely ruined.

Tekish took it in 1187 (582-583 AH) and held it against his brother Sultan Shah, who breached Shadyakh's walls. Malikshah governed it until his death in 1197; since then the heir Muhammad. The turquoise mines lie in the hills north-west of the city.

Who holds it

Name
Qutb al-Din Muhammad, heir of Khwarazm
Title
seat of the governor of Khurasan
Since
not pinned
Born
not applicable
Family
not applicable
Confidence
high

Juvaini (Boyle) vol. I.

Lord in 1200

Qutb al-Din Muhammad, the heir, governor of Khurasan since 1197 (Juvaini).

Overlord

The Khwarazmshah Tekish

How things stand that morning

Seat of the heir and of Khwarazmian rule in Khurasan on 1 January 1200.

Council

No ra'is or qadi of this town is named for 1200 in the sources checked. The great families of the Shafi'i and Hanafi scholars and the Alid naqibs (heads of the Prophet's descendants) lead the town's factions; the Karramis survive as a sect.

Communities

Persians; Shafi'is, Hanafis and Karramis among the Sunnis; Twelver Shi'is and Alids; Sufis; Turkish garrison troops.

Fairs and markets

not known by name; daily bazaars

Militia

Faction militias of the quarters (the ayyarun) fought the street wars of 1158-1161; nothing known for 1200

Walls and castle

Shadyakh walled by Mu'ayyad Ay-Aba after 1161 and repaired by Tekish after Sultan Shah's siege (1187); the old citadel (kuhandiz) ruined.

Trade and crafts

Turquoise of the Ma'dan mines; cotton and silk cloth; pottery; the hub of the roads from Rayy to Merv, Herat, Tus and Khwarazm; farmland watered by underground canals (qanats).

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. 7 April 1201 and afterBesieged by the Ghurids; Ali Shah, now holding it for his brother, surrenders within days; the town is plundered until Ghiyath al-Din orders the loot returned; Diya al-Din Muhammad is made Ghurid governor of Khurasan here.Depends on: Tekish's death and the Ghurid invasion Stopped by: a strong Khwarazmian army in Khurasan

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Its history to 1187 and its governors are well attested; the town's officials in 1200 are not.

On the map: The town's near land only; its wider district is drawn in the realm and governor records.

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. Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror, tr. J. A. Boyle, vol. I (1958), Part II, the chapters on Tekish and Muhammad (scan pp. 342-362, read through archive.org search-inside in the copies dli.ernet.507519 and dli.ernet.528458)
  2. TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi: Muhammed b. Tekis
  3. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905): towns, districts and roads, used from the researcher's knowledge of the text, not re-read for this file

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