Bayqara Mirza I (1392 – 1422?) was a
Timurid prince and a grandson of the
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n conqueror
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
by his eldest son
Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Mu'iz-ud-din Umar Shaikh Mirza (1356 – February 1394) ( fa, عمر شیخ میرزا) was a member of the Timurid dynasty and a son of its founder, the Central Asian conqueror Timur. Known for being a skilled soldier, Umar Shaikh was one o ...
.
Described by the biographer
Dawlatshah as "the noblest, fairest, and bravest of Timur’s descendants", Bayqara Mirza is best known for his rebellions against his uncle/stepfather
Shah Rukh
Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447.
He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynas ...
. He also had an interest in the arts, a trait inherited by his famous grandson and partial namesake
Sultan Husayn Bayqara of
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
.
Background
Bayqara Mirza was born 1392 and was the youngest son of
Umar Shaikh Mirza I
Mu'iz-ud-din Umar Shaikh Mirza (1356 – February 1394) ( fa, عمر شیخ میرزا) was a member of the Timurid dynasty and a son of its founder, the Central Asian conqueror Timur. Known for being a skilled soldier, Umar Shaikh was one o ...
by his wife, the
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
princess
Malikat Agha. His father, the eldest of the four sons of
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
, died in 1394 when Bayqara was about two years old. His mother, a daughter of the
Khan of
Moghulistan
Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Teng ...
,
Khizr Khoja
Khizr Khwaja Khan (d. 1399, also known as Khizr Khoja) was the son of Tughlugh Timur and Khan of Moghulistan during the Chagatai Khanate, reigning from 1390 to 1399 AD.
Reign as Khan of Moghulistan
Khizr Khoja took the throne of Moghulistan af ...
, was subsequently remarried to Umar Shaikh's younger brother
Shah Rukh
Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447.
He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynas ...
.
[
]
Rebellions
When Timur died in 1405, Bayqara and his brothers were duty-bound to support their stepfather's bid for the throne in the ensuing dynastic struggle. However, within a few years of the latter's victory, Bayqara's brother Iskandar Mirza
Sahibzada Iskander Ali Mirza ( bn, ইস্কান্দার আলী মির্জা; ur, ; 13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969), , was a Pakistani Bengali general officer and civil servant who was the first President of Pakista ...
revolted, proclaiming himself Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
in Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
in 1412. Shah Rukh led an expedition against his stepson, with Bayqara and another brother, Rustam
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place = Kabulistan
, death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...
, in his baggage train. After a short siege, Iskandar was captured and blinded. His former lands were partitioned between his siblings, with Bayqara being given an area which included Hamadan
Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...
, Nahavand
Nahavand ( fa, نهاوند, translit=Nahāvand / Nehāvend) is a city in Hamadan Province, Iran. It is the capital of Nahavand County. At the time of the 2006 census, its population was 72,218, in 19,419 families. It is located south of the ci ...
and Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...
, as well as custody of his rebellious elder brother.[
Bayqara Mirza himself launched two unsuccessful rebellions against Shah Rukh, the first being in Fars in 1414. The second was instigated when Sa'd-i Waqqas, son of Bayqara's late cousin ]Muhammad Sultan
Muhammad Sultan was 5th son of Abdurashid Khan and became Khan of Yarkent Khanate from 1592-1609 after the death of his elder brother Abdul Karim Khan. He was the ruler who arranged Jesuit Bento de Goes' Caravan, sent by the third Mughal empero ...
, defected to the Qara Qoyunlu in the spring of 1415. Taking advantage of the disturbance caused by this, Bayqara was persuaded by Iskandar to declare independence. The latter was soon apprehended and executed by Rustam, though Bayqara himself continued in his campaign. His forces, burgeoned by nobles who had been loyal to Iskandar, met those of Shah Rukh's son Ibrahim Sultan outside the city of Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
. Bayqara routed his cousin's army and was welcomed into the city, having enjoyed support among the populace.
In preparation for his stepfather's inevitable retaliation, the prince quickly organised paramilitary forces as well as an armed cavalry of five thousand. When the emperor's army arrived outside Shiraz, the inhabitants lost confidence and asked Bayqara to surrender in order to save the city from destruction, to which he relented in December 1415. Shah Rukh withdrew his forces, though several nobles loyal to his stepsons were executed. Bayqara himself was spared, though only through the intercession of his cousin and friend Baysunghur
Ghiyath ud-din Baysunghur, commonly known as Baysonqor or Baysongor, Baysonghor or (incorrectly) as Baysunqar, also called Sultan Bāysonḡor Bahādor Khan (1397 – 1433) was a prince from the house of Timurids. He was known as a patron of arts ...
. Instead, he was exiled to Qandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...
, to live under the surveillance of another relation, Qaidu son of Pir Muhammad.[
]
Later life
There is uncertainty regarding the events of the remainder of Bayqara's life. One version states that he joined Qaidu in starting another rebellion, while another narrates that he had rebelled ''against'' Qaidu. Both accounts conclude with Bayqara being captured by the emperor and being sent to Samarqand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zin ...
. Alternatively, the biographer Dawlatshah said that the prince went voluntarily to Shah Rukh's camp in 1416, from where he was dispatched to his cousin Ulugh Beg
Mīrzā Muhammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrukh ( chg, میرزا محمد طارق بن شاہ رخ, fa, میرزا محمد تراغای بن شاہ رخ), better known as Ulugh Beg () (22 March 1394 – 27 October 1449), was a Timurid sultan, as ...
, who later had him poisoned. However, the historian Fasih states that a man thought to be Bayqara was caught by Shah Rukh's men in Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
in 1422. After being questioned about his identity, the man was executed, despite uncertainty about whether he really was the prince.[
There are some thoughts that the confusion regarding Bayqara's death were a result of Shah Rukh's reluctance to receive blame for it from his wife, the prince's mother Malikat Agha, who had already lost two of her sons by that point. There are also suggestions of intrigue against Bayqara and his brothers by the emperor's chief consort ]Gawhar Shad
Gawhar Shad ( fa, , Gawaršād; meaning "joyful jewel" or "shining jewel"; alternative spelling: Gohar Shād; died 19 July 1457) was the chief consort of Shah Rukh, the emperor of the Timurid Empire.
Life
She was the daughter of Giāth ud-Din ...
.[
]
Family
Wives and concubines
*Biki Sultan: daughter of his uncle Miran Shah
Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah ( fa, میران شاہ), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire.
During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initi ...
and a widow of his elder brother Iskandar
Iskandar, Iskander, Askander, Eskinder, or Scandar ( ar, إسكندر ( fa, اسکندر ''Eskandar'' or سکندر ''Skandar''), is a variant of the given name Alexander in cultures such as Iran (Persia), Arabia and others throughout the Middle Ea ...
;
*Qutlugh Tarkhan: a descendant of Eljigidey
Eljigidey was khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a division of the Mongol Empire in 1326–1329. He was the son of Duwa. After the death of his brother Kebek, Eljigidey took control of the Chagatai Khanate. He was involved in the succession stru ...
, Khan of the Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kha ...
*Adil Sultan Agha Qaraunas: a widow of his elder brother Pir Muhammad;
*Afaq Agha
*Mihr Nush Agha
*Mihr Nigar Agha
*La'l Beh
*A daughter of Hamza Tarkhan
Issue
By Biki Sultan
*Sa'adat Sultan
*Fatima Sultan
By Qutlugh Tarkhan
*Mansur Mirza (d.1446)
**Darvish Muhammad
**Muhammad Badi
**Muhammad Muzaffar
**Shahrbanu
**Mihr Nigar
**Bayqara Mirza II (d.1487)
**Aka Biki
**Badi al-Jamal
** Sultan Husayn Bayqara Mirza (1438–1506)
**Urun Sultan Khanum
*Muzaffar (d.1428/9)
By Adil Sultan Agha Qaraunas
*Muzaffar Mirza
*Maryam Sultan Bike
By Afaq Agha
*Muhammad
**Sultan Uways
**Zubayda Sultan
**Sa'adat Sultan
By Mihr Nush Agha
*Timur Beg
By Mihr Nigar Agha
*Ahmad Qara
By La'l Beg
*Sa'adat Sultan
By Hamza Tarkhan's daughter
*Khand-Sultan Biki
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayqara Mirza I
Timurid dynasty
1392 births
1422 deaths