Lesser Lur: the Khurshidid atabegs

Who rules

Name

Shuja al-Din Khurshid

Title

Atabeg of Lesser Lur (Lur-i Kuchik)

Since

580/1184-85, when his overlord Husam al-Din, the Turkmen lord of Khuzistan, died; Iranica also offers 570/1174-75

Born

about 521/1127, if, as reported, he died in 621/1224 aged a hundred lunar years

Family

A Lur chief's family; Iranica gives his father as Ali (other genealogies differ: not pinned). His nephew Sayf al-Din Rustam seizes power after his death (1224: later). Sons living in 1200 not pinned.

Confidence

medium

Iranica, Atabakan-e Lorestan, after Mustawfi; no contemporary chronicle read names him in 1199-1200.

Overlord

None shown; good relations with the caliph al-Nasir

What the realm holds

• Khorramabad (Shapurkhwast) with its castle, the seat
• The valleys of Aleshtar, Kuhdasht and the Kashgan (the Pish-kuh)
• The pastures of the Lur tribes between Borujerd and the Khuzistan plain
• The district of Tarazak in Khuzistan, from the caliph in exchange for castles (Iranica; date not pinned)
• A claim over the Lurs of the Pusht-i Kuh (not pinned)

How it was acquired

By service to the Turkmen lords of Khuzistan and independence on Husam al-Din's death (580/1184-85 or 570/1174-75); the tribes brought to obedience by war (Iranica).

Allies and rivals

Friend: the caliph al-Nasir, with whom he exchanged castles for Tarazak. Neighbours: the Hazaraspid atabeg of Greater Lur across the Dez; the Jibal towns of Borujerd, Nahavand and Hamadan to the north, under the Khwarazmshah's order that winter; the caliph's Khuzistan to the south. No war in force is recorded.

The realm that morning

Khurshid rules the Lur valleys round Khorramabad as an independent atabeg on good terms with Baghdad. His hold over the Pusht-i Kuh tribes is not pinned. Borujerd and Nahavand belong to the Jibal, not to him. The khutba at Khorramabad is not recorded; presumably the caliph's name.

Wealth

Herds and horses of the Lur tribes; grain and rice in the valley bottoms; the road from Borujerd down to the Khuzistan plain at Dezful passes through his country and pays him. No mint known.

Military

Lur tribal levies; the castle above Khorramabad (Dizh-i Shapurkhwast, the present Falak al-Aflak). No figures in the sources.

Threats

• Whoever masters Hamadan and the Jibal
• Tribal rivals inside Lesser Lur
• The succession: Khurshid is old and his nephew Rustam later seizes power

Places of note

• Castle of Khorramabad (Dizh-i Shapurkhwast): The atabeg's fortress above the town

Where the sources disagree

• The brief's 'since about 1184?' matches Iranica's first date (580/1184-85); Iranica also offers 570/1174-75. The later reach of Lesser Lur 'from Hamadan to Shushtar and from Isfahan to the Arab zone' (Iranica) is undated and is not drawn for 1200.

Evidence: Late Persian sources (Mustawfi) via Iranica; nothing contemporary for 1199-1200.

On the map: Valley country; the outline joins the main Lur valleys. The Pusht-i Kuh is shown as a claim and as a self-governing province.

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