The Shabankara of Ij and Darabgird

Who rules

Name

Not pinned. The leaders named for about 1200 are Qutb al-Din Mubariz and his brother Nizam al-Din Mahmud

Title

Chief (malik, later atabeg) of the Shabankara

Since

Not pinned

Born

Not pinned

Family

The ruling house of the Mas'udi branch, heirs of the Fadluyid (Fadlawayh) chiefs of the eleventh century

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia after Buchner (EI1); al-Shaymaa Sayed Kamel (2019), who dates a Qutb al-Din Mubariz to 610-624 AH (1213-1226). Thin.

Overlord

Nominally the atabeg of Fars; in practice their own masters in their mountains.

What the realm holds

• Ij (Ig) and its castle
• Istahbanat (Estahban)
• Niriz and the shores of Lake Bakhtegan
• Darabgird and its round city
• Burk, Tarum and Furg towards Kerman
• The summer and winter pastures of the five clans
• Laristan (Lar) under its own hereditary lords: Shabankara overlordship not pinned for 1200

How it was acquired

Hereditary tribal lordship; the Fadluyid house was recognised by Tughril Beg in 448/1056-57, broken by Qavurt and Alp Arslan (459/1067), and survived as a line of Shabankara chiefs under the Seljuks.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the Salghurids (Sa'd later defeats them); the masters of Kerman, whose land they covet. The Hazaraspids of Greater Lur claim Shabankara descent.

The realm that morning

Self-governing in their mountains east of Shiraz; not part of the Salghurid war as far as the sources show; poised on the Kerman border.

Wealth

Flocks and horses, the oases of Darabgird, Fasa's edge, Niriz and Istahbanat (fruit, grapes, cotton), the road from Shiraz to Kerman and to the Gulf through Darabgird.

Military

Tribal horsemen of the five clans; the castle of Ij; the Shabankara were valued as mercenaries by the Seljuks. No figures.

Threats

• Salghurid punitive campaigns
• Defeat in Kerman
• Feuds among the clans

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. About 1200 (exact date not pinned)Qutb al-Din Mubariz and his brother Nizam al-Din Mahmud take Kerman from the Ghuzz, then lose it to a rising of the townsmen and a Ghuzz counter-attack.Depends on: The collapse of Khwarazmian authority in Kerman, likely after Tekish's death on 3 July 1200 Stopped by: A strong Khwarazmian governor in Bardasir; a Salghurid attack on Ij

Where the sources disagree

• English Wikipedia gives a ruler list with 'Muhammad Muzaffar, about 1190-1260', which cannot be right as one reign; the same page names Qutb al-Din Mubariz and Nizam al-Din Mahmud for the Kerman campaign of 1200, and an Arabic study dates Qutb al-Din Mubariz to 610-624 AH. The chief on 1 January 1200 is left not pinned.
• Wikipedia dates the Kerman conquest to '1200'; whether that is AD 1200 or 600 AH (1203-04) is not clear. The Salghurids received Bardasir from the Ghuzz in 600/1204, so the Shabankara episode falls between Tekish's death (July 1200) and 600/1204.

Evidence: The Shabankara of the late twelfth century are known from late sources (Shabankara'i's Majma' al-ansab, Wassaf, Mustawfi) read only through secondary summaries.

On the map: The outline follows the Shabankara districts of the fourteenth-century geographers trimmed to the core round Ij and Darabgird; their extent in 1200 is not pinned.