Daud-Khan or Dāvūd b. Allāhverdī (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: داوود خان, ka, დაუდ-ხანი) was a

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

Iranian military commander and politician of

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

origin who served as governor (''

beglarbeg ''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuk ...

'') of

Ganja Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: �aːɲd� ...

and

Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura (Caspia ...

from 1627 to 1633.

Biography

Daud Khan was the son of

Allahverdi Khan Allahverdi Khan ( fa, اللّه وردی خان, ka, ალავერდი-ხანი) (c. 1560 – June 3, 1613) was an Iranian general and statesman of Georgian origin who, initially a '' gholām'' ("military slave"), rose to high offic ...

, a former Georgian

gholam Ghulam ( ar, غلام, ) is an Arabic word meaning ''servant'', ''assistant'', ''boy'', or ''youth''. It is used to describe young servants in paradise. It is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesse ...

("military slave") from the

Undiladze The Undiladze ( ka, უნდილაძე, fa, اوندیلادزه) were a Georgian noble family whose members rose in prominence in the service of Safavid Iran and dominated the Shah’s court at a certain period of the late 16th and early 1 ...

clan who rose through the highest ranks in the

administration under Shah

Abbas I of Persia Abbas I ( fa, ; 27 January 157119 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the 5th Safavid dynasty, Safavid Shah (king) of Safavid Iran, Iran, and is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavi ...

(r. 1588–1629). Daud-Khan, unlike his father and older brother, Imam-Quli Khan, had closer ties with the country of his origin; he was married to Helene, the sister of the

king

Teimuraz I of Kakheti Teimuraz I ( ka, თეიმურაზ I) (1589–1663), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a Georgian monarch who ruled, with intermissions, as King of Kakheti from 1605 to 1648 and also of Kartli from 1625 to 1633. The eldest son of David I and ...

(Tahmuras Khan), and was on friendly terms with the Georgian warlord

Giorgi Saakadze Giorgi Saakadze the Grand Mouravi ( ka, გიორგი სააკაძე) (c. 1570 – October 3, 1629) was a Georgian politician and military commander who played an important but contradictory role in the politics of the early 17th-cent ...

(Murav Beg). Daud-Khan tried to mediate a conflict between Abbas I and the shah's recalcitrant Georgian subjects. After

Shah Safi Sam Mirza ( fa, سام میرزا) (161112 May 1642), better known by his dynastic name of Shah Safi ( fa, شاه صفی), was the sixth Safavid shah (king) of Iran, ruling from 1629 to 1642. Early life Safi was given the name Sam Mirza when ...

succeeded upon the death of Abbas in 1629, the new shah's mentor and yet another influential Georgian at the Safavid court, Khosrow Mirza, succeeded in sidelining the rival Undiladze clan, and persuaded Safi into removing Daud-Khan from the

majles The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Pa ...

in 1630/31. In 1633, alarmed by the political purges within the Iranian ruling élite, Daud fled to Georgia, where he apparently encouraged his brother-in-law Teimuraz I to renew his rebellion against the Safavid overlordship. Daud claimed that one of his brothers was actually the son of the late shah Abbas I and that he, having 30,000 troops under his command, had already conquered all of Fars,

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, Lar, Hormuz,

Khuzestan Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

, Arabestan, and

Hoveyzeh Hoveyzeh ( fa, هویزه; ar, الهويزة also romanized as Huwaiza, Havizeh, Hawiza, Hawīzeh, Hovayze, and Hovayzeh; also known as Hūzgān or Khūzgān) is a city and capital of Hoveyzeh County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census ...

. Teimuraz and Daud started to attack the Persian garrisons in and near Georgia and launched several raids on Ganja of which Daud-Khan had been dispossessed after his defection to Georgia. Teimuraz refused to surrender Daud in exchange of the shah's parole and allowed him a free passage to the Ottoman possessions. Since then, he disappears from the records. His brother and nephews were annihilated, and Daud's sons castrated on the shah's order, thus largely ending the career of this illustrious Iranian Georgian family. Beyond his military and administrative career, Daud Khan commissioned several building projects and patronized

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

missioners in Georgia and Ganja.

Notes

References

* * *Valerian N. Gabashvili. The Undiladze Feudal House in the Sixteenth to Seventeenth-Century Iran According to the Georgian Sources. ''Iranian Studies'', Volume 40, Issue 1 March 2007, pp. 37–58. *Maeda, H. On the Ethno-Social Background of Four ''gholem'' Families from Georgia in Safavid Iran. ''Studia Iranica'', Volume 32, Issue 2 2003, pp. 243–278. {{DEFAULTSORT:Daud Khan Safavid generals Iranian people of Georgian descent Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown Safavid ghilman Safavid governors of Karabakh Undiladze Safavid governors of Ganja 17th-century people of Safavid Iran Safavid slaves