Mulay, Mûlay, Bulay ( or Molay for the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
, ) was a general under 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 ...
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
ruler
Ghazan
Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of A ...
at the end of the 13th century. Mulay was part of the 1299–1300 Mongol offensive in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, and remained with a small force to occupy the land after the departure of Ghazan. He also participated in the last Mongol offensive in the Levant in 1303. His name has caused confusion for some historians, because of its similarity with that of the contemporary Grand Master of the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
,
Jacques de Molay
Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...
.
Early years
According to Maitland Muller's translation of
Jami' al-Tawarikh
The ''Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh'' (Persian/Arabic: , ) is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate. Written by Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318 AD) at the start of the 14th century, the breadth of coverage of the work h ...
, he was a member of
Küin clan of
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different tribe. Michael Hope calls him a maternal uncle to Ghazan various times,
while
Rashid al-Din doesn't specify him as brother to Ghazan's mother Qultaq, but rather as a brother to certain Küräk Temür, whom Arghun took Qultaq from:
In any case, he was close to Ghazan, by the virtue of his fiefs were located in
Quhistan
Quhistan ( fa, قهستان) or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to ...
, which was located in Ghazan's viceroyalty of Khorasan. He was on side of Ghazan when
Nawruz revolted in 1289. He captured Nawruz's puppet prince Hulachu on 30 April 1289 on behalf of Ghazan. He spent summer of 1290 repulsing attacks by
Qaraunas under Danishmend Bahadur. Facing failure, he went back to Quhistan to reinforcements in 1291. Hearing death of Arghun in March, he rejoined Ghazan near
Simnan
Semnan (Persian: , ); is the capital city of Semnan Province, situated on the alluvial fan of the Golrudbar creek in north central Iran, 216 km east of Tehran and 640 km west of Mashhad. With a population of 185,129 people, Semnan is ...
, where he was given a sister of emir Satalmish, another emir under Ghazan. He was sent with
Sutai against rebellious malik of
Zozan
Zozan ( fa, زوزن; also Romanized as Zūzan and Rūzān) is a village in Jolgeh Zozan District, Khaf County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 2,183, in 479 families.
Zozan was the site of an ancient city ...
and
Mihrabanid
The Mihrabanid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty that ruled Sistan (or Nimruz) from 1236 until the mid-16th century. It was the third indigenous Muslim dynasty of Sistan, having been preceded by the Saffarid and Nasrid dynasties.
Overview
Most of wh ...
prince Shah Ali who came to his aid in 1292. Siege was quick, Shah Ali was defeated and fled to
Sistan
Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...
with a thousand men.
After Ghazan's accession, he became member of
kheshig Kheshig ( Mongolian: Khishig, Keshik, Khishigten for "favored", "blessed") were the imperial guard for Mongol royalty in the Mongol Empire, particularly for rulers like Genghis Khan and his wife Börte. Their primary purpose was to act as bodyguards ...
and was sent to
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 ...
to arrest Tughan, who was also from Quhistan. Later, he joined Nawruz in 1295 against
Duwa
Duwa (; died 1307), also known as Du'a, was khan of the Chagatai Khanate (1282–1307). He was the second son of Baraq. He was the longest reigning monarch of the Chagatayid Khanate and accepted the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty as Gr ...
. However, Ilkhanid prince Sogai (son of
Yoshmut
Yoshmut () was Ilkhanate prince and one of eldest sons of Hulagu. According to Dai Matsui and Daniel King, his name was of Christian Uyghur origin and ultimately derived from Sogdian word "''ʿywšmbt''" (cognate with ).
Life
He was born to ...
) refused to join campaign in Khorasan, believing this was Nawruz's plot further deprive nobility of their possessions. Nawruz informed Ghazan of this plot, subsequently executed him. It was Mulay who brought news to Ghazan in
Arran. Emir
Taghachar
Taghachar, also spelled Tajir, Ta'achar (, ; died c. 1296) was a commander in the army of the Mongol Empire. He was one of the conspirators involved in the overthrow of three Ilkhanate khans, and placed the short-lived Baidu on the throne in 1295. ...
was also executed for involving in a conspiracy with Sogai and was replaced by Mulai in
Diyar Bakr
Diyar Bakr ( ar, دِيَارُ بَكرٍ, Diyār Bakr, abode of Bakr) is the medieval Arabic name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a. According to the m ...
.
As Viceroy of Diyar Bakr
His appointment in Mamluk border was not without incidents. In 1299,
Ghazan
Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of A ...
marched with his generals Mulay and
Samagar
Samagar, also Cemakar, was a Mongol general of the Il-Khan ruler Abaqa Khan (1234–1282), mentioned as leading a Mongol invasion force in 1271, in attempted coordination with the Ninth Crusade.
Background
Little is known about Samagar, but he ...
towards Egyptian
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
-controlled Syria. The Mongols successfully took the city of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
, and then defeated the Mamluks in the
Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar
The Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar, also known as the Third Battle of Homs, was a Mongol victory over the Mamluks in 1299.''Wadi 'L-Khaznadar'', R. Amitai, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol XI, ed. P.J.Bearman, T.Bianquis, C.E.Bosworth, E. van Donzel ...
, on December 23 or 24, 1299.
[Demurger, p.97–99] At some point, Ghazan ordered Mulay to lead a raid through Palestine, with a ''
tumen'', a force of 10,000–20,000 horsemen. Mulay's group split off from Ghazan's army, and pursued the retreating Mamluk troops as far as
Gaza, pushing them back to Egypt.
["Meanwhile the Mongol and Armenian troops raided the country as far south as Gaza." Schein, 1979, p. 810][Demurger, p. 99 (English edition): "Ghazan left Syria under the control of the emir Mulay, whom the Templar of Tyre refers to as Molay, thereby leading to confusion with acques de Molay] The bulk of Ghazan's forces then proceeded on to Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
, which surrendered at some point between December 30, 1299, and January 6, 1300, though its Citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
resisted. Ghazan then retreated with most of his forces in February, probably because the Mongol horses needed fodder. He promised to return in November to attack Egypt.[ Mulay and his horsemen returned to Damascus around March 1300, and followed Ghazan back across the ]Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
. In May 1300, the Egyptian Mamluks returned from Egypt and reclaimed the entire area[Schein, 1979, p. 810] without a battle.
1303 offensive
In 1303, the Mongols, led by Ghazan's generals Mulay and Qutlugh-Shah, reappeared in great strength in Syria (about 80,000) together with the Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
. However, they were defeated at Homs
Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...
on March 30, 1303, and also at the decisive Battle of Shaqhab
The Battle of Marj al-Saffar (or Marj al-Suffar), also known as the Battle of Shaqhab, took place on April 20 through April 22, 1303 between the Mamluks and the Mongols and their Armenian allies near Kiswe, Syria, just south of Damascus. The ...
, south of Damascus, on April 21, 1303.[Demurger, p. 158] It is considered to be the last major Mongol invasion of Syria. Mulai was bastinadoed
Foot whipping, falanga/falaka or bastinado is a method of inflicting pain and humiliation by administering a beating on the soles of a person's bare feet. Unlike most types of flogging, it is meant more to be painful than to cause actual injury ...
for his incompetence during the battles on the orders of Ghazan on 17 July 1303.
Last years
After death of Ghazan in 1304, he supported Öljaitü
Öljaitü ( mn, , Öljaitü Qaghan, fa, اولجایتو), also known as Mohammad-e Khodabande ( fa, محمد خدابنده, ''khodābande'' from Persian meaning the "slave of God" or "servant of God"; 1280 – December 16, 1316), was the eig ...
and advised him to keep Ghazan's death as a secret for smooth transition. He happens to have little to no activity in his last years as less authors mention him. He died in 1312.
Mulay/Molay controversy
The 14th-century historian Templar of Tyre Templar of Tyre (french: Templier de Tyr) is the conventional designation of the anonymous 14th-century historian who compiled the Old French chronicle known as the ''Deeds of the Cypriots'' (French: ''Gestes des Chiprois''). The ''Deeds'' was writt ...
(assistant to the Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
on Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
), wrote of the 1300 offensive:
The Molay mentioned by the Templar of Tyre has sometimes been confused with the contemporary Grand Master of the Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
, Jacques de Molay
Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...
(1244–1314). Some of this confusion was reinforced by the abundant rumors which had circulated in 1300, some of which had been placed in written form, that Jerusalem had been captured by the Mongols. The reports turned out to be false, the result of wishful thinking and poor communications between the continents. But the inadvertently false documents that resulted, when reviewed out of context, continued to fuel confusion (see Mongol raids into Palestine#European rumors about Jerusalem).
Modern historians agree that the Templar of Tyre's document does not designate Jacques de Molay, but instead designates the Mongol general "Mûlay".[ Earlier historians however, regularly confused the two. This confusion was further expanded in 1805, when the French playwright/historian, François Raynouard, made claims that Jerusalem had been captured by the Mongols, with Jacques de Molay in charge of one of the Mongol divisions.][Demurger, pp. 203–204] "''In 1299, the Grand-Master was with his knights at the taking of Jerusalem.''"["Le grand-maître s'etait trouvé avec ses chevaliers en 1299 à la reprise de Jerusalem." ] In 1846, a large-scale painting was created by Claude Jacquand, entitled ''Molay Prend Jerusalem, 1299'' ("Molay Takes Jerusalem, 1299"), which depicts the supposed event. Today the painting hangs in the Hall of the Crusades in the French national museum in Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. And in the 1861 edition of the French encyclopedia, the '' Nouvelle Biographie Universelle'', it says in the "Molay" article:
Some modern writers, such as the contrarian historian Laurent Dailliez (''Les Templiers''), the novelist of popular pseudohistory Robert Payne (''The Dream and the Tomb''), and various Templar-related websites, still consider that the Templar of Tyre's Molay was Jacques de Molay himself, and attribute all of Mulay's deeds, as well as rumors of his deeds, to the Grand Master.
Family
He was married to a sister of emir Satalmish. His descendants appear to have played role in further life of Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
, his son Abdullah inherited his fiefs in Quhistan
Quhistan ( fa, قهستان) or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to ...
and ruled it autonomously during reign of Chupanid puppet Sulaiman. Another son of Mulay — Rustam was described by Wassaf
Wassaf or Vassaf ( fa, عبدالله ابن فضلالله شرفالدین شیرازی) Abdallah ibn Faḍlallah Sharaf al-Din Shīrāzī (''fl.'' 1265–1328) was a 14th-century Persian historian of the Ilkhanate. Waṣṣāf, sometimes ...
as an emir serving in Khorasan. Another possible descendant of his, Muhammad-i Mulai was sent by Hasan Buzurg
Shaikh Hasan (), also known as "Hasan Buzurg" ("Hasan The Great"), Hassan the Jalair or Hassan-e Uljatâï was the first of several de facto independent Jalayirid rulers of Iraq and central Iran.
Early years
He was born to Amir Husain Jalayir a ...
to 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 ...
to act as its governor but killed by Arghunshah, son of Nawruz. A descendant of Mulai through his Abdullah, Abu Sa'id Tabasi (Tabas
Tabas ( fa, طبس, also Romanized as Ṭabas), formerly known as Golshan, is the capital city of Tabas County in South Khorasan Province of Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 35,150, in 9,903 families.
Tabas is located in central Iran, ...
is a city in historical Quhistan) was a favored person by 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 ...
. Sultan Muhammad, the son of Abu Sa'id Tabasi was declared by sovereign of Yazd
Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Worl ...
by rebels in 1395.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*{{cite book, author=Weatherford, Jack, title=Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, year=2004, isbn=0-609-80964-4, publisher=Three Rivers Press
Generals of the Ilkhanate
1312 deaths