Fereydun Khan Cherkes (died 1620/21) 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 ...

official and military commander of Circassian origin, who served as the governor (''beglarbeg'') of

Astarabad Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...

in 1605/06–1620, during the reign of king Abbas I (r. 1588–1629).

Biography

Fereydun was kidnapped at a young age, and spent more than seven years in captivity. Finally, he was bought as a ''

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 ...

'' by merchants acting on behalf of the Safavid royal court. Afterwards, he was promoted to the position of the keeper of the king's armor ('' qurchi-e zereh''), and by that became part of the expanding number of ''gholams'' within the royal household (). In late October 1605, during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1603-1618, amidst a period of heavy fighting in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

against the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

, a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

prisoner from the Mokri tribe attempted to murder king Abbas I. However, Fereydun Khan Cherkes managed to save his life. As a reward for his bravery, Abbas I appointed him in either December 1605 or November 1606 as the governor of the

province. During a part of the Safavid era, including Fereydun Khan Cherkes' tenure, the Astarabad province encompassed most of today's provinces of Golestan, Semnan, and

North Khorasan North Khorasan Province ( fa, استان خراسان شمالی, ''Ostān-e Khorāsān-e Shomālī'') is a province located in northeastern Iran. Bojnord is the capital of the province. The counties of North Khorasan Province are Shirvan Count ...

. Fereydun's main task as a governor was to ensure the safety and protection of the Astarabad province from the various Turkmen nomads of

Khwarezm Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ...

, as well as from those indigenous Turkmens of the northern fringes of the Astarabad province. They were keen on expanding their territory and to carry out raids often — the latter which caused major problems for the rural and urban people who were living close to these border regions of the Safavid realm. As a result, he had to conduct several wars against these nomads on the northern fringes of the province. These successful wars led by Fereydun (as well as a brief coverage of his early life) were described by Moḥammad Ṭāher b. Ḥasan (''Ḵādem-e Besṭāmi’'') in his short history entitled ''Fotuḥāt-e Fereyduniyeh''. He was succeeded as governor by

Behbud Khan Cherkes Behbud Khan Cherkes, also known as Behbud Beg, was a Safavid official and ''gholam'' of Circassian origin, who served during the reign of king Abbas I (1588–1629). He held the governorship of Goklan in 1606, Gaskar in 1620, and Astarabad in 16 ...

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Biography

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