The Simjurids were a Turkic family that served the

Samanid The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest ...

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

s of

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

in the 10th century. They played an influential role in the history of eastern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

during that time, and by the second half of the 10th century they had built a semi-independent principality in

Khurasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

History

The Simjurids originated as Turkic slaves ('' mameluks'' or ''

ghilman Ghilman (singular ',Other standardized transliterations: '' / ''. . plural ')Other standardized transliterations: '' / ''. . were slave-soldiers and/or mercenaries in armies throughout the Islamic world. Islamic states from the early 9th cent ...

'') for the Samanid amirs.Bosworth, p. 175 They quickly rose to prominence thanks to their skills as military commanders and governors, along with their extensive estates in the

Quhistan Quhistan () 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 East. Quhistan ...

region which acted as a permanent power base.Treadwell Their founder and eponym, Simjur al-Dawati, was appointed to various governorships in eastern and central Iran, and helped the Samanids to expand their authority in that region. His son Ibrahim ibn Simjur was appointed as governor of Khurasan in 944/945, but only held it for a short time. After Ibrahim's death, his son Abu'l-Hasan Simjuri was invested with the governorship of Khurasan and served in that position for almost three decades. With the ascension of the child Nuh ibn Mansur to the Samanid amirate, Muhammad was able to gain greater autonomy from Bukhara for himself. He was a key figure in the struggles that wracked the Samanid state in the 970s and 980s. When he died, his son Abu Ali Simjuri took his father's place. Abu 'Ali completely renounced the sovereignty of the Samanids and was able to resist his enemies for some time, but was ultimately captured and executed by the

Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin. It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus ...

, another Turkic slave family, who then took over Khurasan.

List of Simjurids

* Simjur al-Dawati, (913-914) * Ibrahim ibn Simjur, governorship (945-946) * Abu'l-Hasan Simjuri, 1st governorship (956-960), 2nd governorship (961-982) * Abu Ali Simjuri, I 1st governorship (984-987), 2nd governorship (995-997)

Notes

References

* Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. ''The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual.'' Great Britain: Columbia University Press, 1996. *Treadwell, Luke.
Simjurids
" ''Encyclopaedia Iranica.'' Ed. Ehsan Yarshater. Columbia University. Retrieved 8 May 2012. {{Turkic topics Dynasties of Central Asia Medieval Khorasan Ghilman 10th century in Iran

History

List of Simjurids

See also

Notes

References