The Qufs of the Kerman hills

Who rules

Name

Governed for the Khwarazmshah Tekish by the atabeg Nusrat al-Din, son of Muhammad Oner (so Bosworth); whether he is still in Bardasir that winter is not pinned

Title

No prince of Kerman's own on 1 January 1200

Since

592 AH (1196) after Farrukh Shah's death (Bosworth, CHI) or about two years later (Bosworth, EIr)

Born

Not pinned

Family

Not pinned

Confidence

low

Bosworth, CHI 5 and EIr 'Dinar, Malek'.

Overlord

The Khwarazmshah Tekish (realm khwarazm).

What the realm holds

• Bardasir (Kerman city), the capital
• Jiroft and the warm country (garmsir)
• Bam and Narmashir
• Sirjan
• Zarand, Kuhbanan and Ravar to the north
• Khabis (Shahdad) on the edge of the Lut
• The Qufs (Kuch) hill country and the Baluch deserts (self-governing; see provinces)

How it was acquired

See summary: Seljuk sultanate 1048-1186; Ghuzz rule 1186-1196; Khwarazmian occupation from 1196 or about 1198.

Allies and rivals

The Shabankara and the Salghurids covet Kerman; the Ghuzz remnants wait for a chance to return; Hormuz pays tribute to whoever holds Kerman.

The realm that morning

A Khwarazmian province, its Ghuzz broken but not gone; the trade and farming of the province are still wrecked by fifteen years of Ghuzz raids and famine.

Wealth

Once great: the Indian, Chinese and African trade that came up from Hormuz to Jiroft's merchant suburb of Qamadin and on to Bardasir, the dates and grain of Jiroft, the cotton cloth of Bam, the indigo and sugar of the warm country. All badly reduced since the 1180s.

Military

The Khwarazmian garrison (no figures); the citadels of Bardasir, Bam and Sirjan.

Threats

• The death of Tekish and the withdrawal of his troops
• The Shabankara
• The Ghuzz remnants
• The Salghurids once their civil war ends

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. 3 July 1200 (Ramadan 596 AH)Tekish dies; Khwarazmian control of Kerman weakens (when the garrison leaves is not pinned).Depends on: Natural death Stopped by: Not applicable
2. About 1200 to 600 AH (1203-04)The Shabankara take Kerman from the Ghuzz and lose it again; the Ghuzz hold Bardasir and hand it to the Salghurid Sa'd's army in 600/1203-04.Depends on: The Khwarazmian withdrawal Stopped by: A new Khwarazmian army

Later, on the likely course

1. 610 AH (1213-14)Kerman and Hormuz pass to the Khwarazmshah Muhammad.Depends on: Not applicable (outside 1200) Stopped by: Not applicable

Where the sources disagree

• The dossier's 'Kerman: Khwarazmian' is supported for 1196-1200 (Bosworth); the date the Khwarazmians took over differs (592/1196 in CHI, about 594/1198 in EIr), and no source seen names the governor for the winter of 1199-1200 itself.

Evidence: Kerman's history after 1196 rests on Muhammad b. Ibrahim's history (from Afzal al-Din Kirmani's lost al-Mudaf), read here only through Bosworth's summaries.

On the map: No ground is drawn under this realm except the Qufs hill country (province); the towns and plains are drawn under the Khwarazmian governor.

Primary sources for this realm

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.

• 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