Shirvan

Who rules

Name

Akhsitan I ibn Manuchihr, or his brother and successor Shahanshah: not pinned

Title

Shirvanshah ('the supreme king', al-malik al-mu'azzam, on the coins); Akhsitan is styled Jalal al-Dawla

Since

Akhsitan reigned from after 1160; his reign ended between 1197 and 1203-04 (Kouymjian). Coins of his brother Shahanshah struck at Shamakhi suggest Shahanshah followed him; an inscription of 1203 or 1204 names another brother, Farrukhzad I, as Shirvanshah.

Born

Akhsitan about 1112 (Wikipedia infobox, not secure)

Family

The Kasranid (Yazidid) house, Arab in origin and Persian in culture. Akhsitan is the son of Manuchihr III and Tamar, daughter of King David IV of Georgia, who went home to Georgia and became a nun; Queen Tamar of Georgia is thus his cousin's daughter. His wife Ismat al-Din was his cousin; their son Minuchihr (alive about 1188) and two infants died before him. Brothers: Shahanshah, Farrukhzad I (father of Garshasp I) and Afridun II; coins suggest the brothers shared the kingdom.

Confidence

low

The succession after Akhsitan is 'a period of total confusion' (Kouymjian 1969): the written sources are almost silent and the coins contradict each other. On 1 January 1200 the Shirvanshah is either the old Akhsitan or one of his brothers.

Overlord

Georgia in practice: Shirvan has been close to a Georgian protectorate since the mid-12th century (Bosworth, Iranica), and Shirvani troops fought beside the Georgians at Shamkor in 1195. The Eldiguzids claim an older overlordship (Qizil Arslan seized Shamakhi in 1191).

What the realm holds

• Shamakhi and the hill country of the Shirvanshahs' castles (Gulistan above Shamakhi)
• Baku and the Absheron peninsula with its naphtha wells and salt
• Shabran and the coastal road north to the Derbent frontier, with the Mushkur district
• The plain of the lower Kura down to the river crossings (the Kura is the border with Arran)
• Claims on Derbent, which Akhsitan took briefly

How it was acquired

Hereditary in the Kasranid line since the 9th century; the Shirvanshahs became Seljuk tributaries in the 11th century and turned to Georgia under David IV (1089-1125).

Allies and rivals

Allies: Queen Tamar of Georgia (kin and protector), and in 1195 the Eldiguzid prince Amir Amiran Umar against Abu Bakr. Rivals: the Eldiguzid atabeg Abu Bakr; the emir of Derbent, who with Rus' raiders (brodniki) attacked Shirvan in late 1173 or early 1174 and was beaten by Akhsitan with George III of Georgia; the Kipchaks of the steppe.

The realm that morning

The Shirvanshah holds Shamakhi, Baku and Shabran; the court is probably at Baku. Shirvan is at peace with Georgia and hostile to Abu Bakr. The Kura is the frontier with the atabeg's Arran; the western districts of Shakki and Qabala had at times been under direct Georgian rule and their holder in 1200 is not pinned (Georgia sheet).

Wealth

Silk; naphtha and white oil from the Baku wells, and salt from the Absheron; fisheries; the coastal caravan road from Derbent to Arran; the Caspian trade with the Rus' and Persia. Khaqani praises Baku for the customs it takes from Persia and the Khazars (Iranica, 'Baku').

Military

The king's guards and the tribal levies of the hills; walled towns at Shamakhi, Baku and Shabran and hill castles (Gulistan, the Qala-i Bughurd and others: the names in 1200 not pinned). No figures.

Threats

• Abu Bakr, who may try to retake Shamakhi (Iranica puts his defeat in Shirvan in 596-597 AH, 1200-01: later)
• The Kipchaks and the emir of Derbent from the north
• A disputed succession among Akhsitan's brothers

Relations with neighbours

Georgia

Protector and overlord: Shirvan pays tribute and Tamar styles herself Shirvanshah among her titles (geo sheet); Akhsitan is her kinsman through his Georgian mother.

Eldiguzids

Enemy since Qizil Arslan's invasion (1191) and Shamkor (1195), where Shirvan backed Amir Amiran against Abu Bakr.

Derbent

Old rival: the Shirvanshahs claim Derbent, Akhsitan held it briefly, and the emir Bek-Bars attacked Shirvan with Rus' raiders (brodniki) in 1173-74.

Cumans

The Kipchaks of the steppe beyond Derbent are a danger to the northern districts.

Heirs and children

Akhsitan's own children died before him (the heir Minuchihr after about 1188); the succession passes among his brothers Shahanshah, Farrukhzad I and Afridun II, and then to Farrukhzad's son Garshasp I.

Churches

A Muslim kingdom with Christian (Armenian and Georgian) and Jewish minorities; Akhsitan's mother ended her days as a nun in Georgia.

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. 596-597 AH (1200) only if Iranica's dating holds; on the Georgian chronology this war is the Shamkor campaign of 1195, already pastAbu Bakr attacks Shirvan and is heavily defeated (Georgian and Armenian sources).Depends on: Abu Bakr choosing war and Georgia standing by Shirvan Stopped by: A peace between the atabeg and Georgia, or Abu Bakr's inaction

Later, on the likely course

1. By 1203-04Farrukhzad I is named Shirvanshah in an inscription, so Akhsitan is dead by then at latest.Depends on: Natural death of Akhsitan and his brothers' order of succession Stopped by: Not applicable

Where the sources disagree

• Many older lists give Akhsitan I a death about 1197 and a reign for Shahanshah about 1197-1200 and Farrukhzad I about 1200-03; Kouymjian's coin study treats the whole sequence as unsure. This file does not pin a king for 1 January 1200.

Evidence: Shirvan in the 1190s is known from coins, a few inscriptions, the Georgian chronicle and court poetry; there is no narrative chronicle for these years.

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.

• The History of Derbent and Shirvan, as preserved in Munejjim-bashi's Jami al-duwal, Anonymous (an 11th-century author of Derbent, excerpted by Munejjim-bashi, died 1702) (about 1075; preserved in an Ottoman compilation of the 1670s). The only local history of the Shirvanshahs and the emirs of Derbent, surviving as extracts in a 17th-century Ottoman compilation.
• History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
• The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
• 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