Nawrūz (Mongol emir)

Nawrūz (Persian: نوروز‎‎; died August 13, 1297) was a son of governor Arghun Aqa, and was a powerful Oirat emir of the 13th century who played an important role in the politics of the Mongol Ilkhanate.

Nawrūz
Naib of Ilkhanate
In office
1295–1297
MonarchGhazan
Preceded byJamal ud-Din Dastgerdani
Succeeded bySadr al-Din Khaladi
Ilkhanate emir of Khorasan
In office
1284–1289
MonarchArghun
Preceded byArghun Aqa
Succeeded byNurin Aqa
Personal details
Died(1297-08-13)August 13, 1297
Herat

Early career

He inherited his father's administrative job in Khorasan and was listed as emirs and son-in-laws of Abaqa in medieval chroniclers' works.[1] He supported Arghun against Teküder in 1284 and was rewarded by being atabeg of his 13 year old son Ghazan and Prince Kingshü (son of Jumghur) as Ghazan's subordinate in Khorasan thanks to new kingmaker Buqa. He hold this powerful position of being autonomous de-facto ruler of Khorasan until Arghun Khan's arrest of Buqa.[2]

Rebellion

Hearing arrival of an Ilkhanate army towards Khorasan, Nawrūz led a revolt against Arghun, possibly proclaiming Hulachu (son of Hulagu) and Kingshü (who seems to have died or executed sometime during revolt) as new ilkhan[3], captured his commander Tegine Yarguchi, also banishing his former ward Ghazan to Mazandaran in 1289. He gained his second victory on Prince Ghazan near Radkan, forcing him to go back to Mazandaran. He had to face new army sent by Arghun under leadership of Nurin Aqa - emir of Iraq and Prince Baydu in Autumn of 1289.[2] Being overwhelmed, Nawruz fell back to Jam, losing territories. Nawruz followed a scorching earth strategy in winter in order to halt advance of Ilkhan's armies, which proved effective when Baydu returned to west with half of the army in 1290. Using opportunity, Nawruz crossed Oxus and fled Ilkhanate. He joined Kaidu[4] and managed to secure 30.000 soldiers from Ögedeid retinue. He was appointed as governor of Badakhshan by Kaidu and minted coins in his name.[5]

Nowruz invaded Khorasan with Ögedeid armies in 1291 with Sarban and Ebugen - sons of Kaidu - reaching Mashhad. Arghun's death in 1291, granted more maneuver chance to Nowruz who laid siege to different parts of the province.[6]He soon left Kaidu as well, this time allying himself with Kadan's grandson Ürük Temür, giving his daughter to him in marriage and sponsoring his conversion to Islam. With new Borjigid puppet-prince, Nawruz issued yarlighs, but this proved ineffective as well, since Ürük Temür rejoined Kaidu after a while.[7] Losing his legitimacy, Nawruz sought to make peace with Ghazan and submitted in 1294.

Rise and fall under Ghazan

Nawruz pledged to raise Ghazan to throne after Gaykhatu's death on condition of his conversion to Islam. Managing to gain loyalties of emirs like Taghachar, Chupan, Irinjin and Qurumushi, Nawruz ensured Ghazan's victory over Baydu in 1295.[2][8]He was subsequently named naib of the state by Ghazan after his coronation. Nawruz appointed his brothers, Lagzi Güregen to watch over financial issues and Hajji Narin to oversee divan. As a fervent adherent to Islam;[9] the history of Bar Sawma's voyages and Mar Yaballaha III's Patriarchal tenure portrays him as a ferocious enemy of Nestorian Christians. With Islam new state religion, Nawruz ordered all Buddhist and Christian temples to be destroyed or converted to mosques.

Nawruz headed Ghazan's army against Chagatai khan Duwa's invasion of Khorasan in 1295. However, Ilkhanid prince Sogai (son of Yoshmut) 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.[7] However, Nawruz soon embroiled himself in argument with Nurin Aqa, who was more popular in military and left Khorasan. After returning to west, he survived an assassination attempt by a soldier named Tuqtay, who claimed that Nawruz murdered his own father, Arghun Aqa. Soon he was accused of treason by Sadr al-Din Khaladi, sahib-divan of Ghazan by secret alliance with Mamlukes. Indeed, according to Mamluk sources, Nawruz corresponded with Sultan Lajin.[7]

Using opportunity Ghazan started a purge against Nawruz and his followers in May 1297. His brother Hajji Narin and his follower Satalmish were executed among Nawruz's children in Hamadan, his other brother Lagzi Güregen was also put to death in Iraq on 2 April 1297. His 12 year old son Toghai was spared due to efforts of Bulughan Khatun Khurasani, Ghazan's wife Arghun Aqa's granddaughter and given to household of Amir Husayn. Along spared, were his brother Yol Qutluq and his nephew Kuchluk.

Emir Qutluqshah was ordered to pursue Nawruz and kill him. Qutluqshah's armies defeated Nawruz near Jam and Nishapur. Following defeats, Nawrūz took refuge at the court of the malik Fakhr al-Din of Herat, in northern Afghanistan, but the latter actually betrayed him and delivered him to Qutluqshah, who had him executed immediately on August 13, 1297[10][11] with his brothers Hajji and Bulquq. Nawruz's decapitated head was mutilated and hanged on gates of Baghdad.

Family

He was a son of Arghun Aqa and a woman called Sürmish and had several wives with offsprings. Known issues:

  • Toghanchuq Khatun (d. 1291) — daughter of Abaqa and Kawkabi Egachi
  • Sultan Nasab Khatun — daughter of Ala al-Dawla (Atabeg of Yazd)
    1. Sultanshah — granted government of Yazd by Baydu, never assumed it.[12]
  • With other wives
    1. Arghunshah — controlled puppet ilkhan Togha Temür[13]
    2. A daughter — married to Sarban, son of Kaidu
    3. A daughter — married to Ürük Temür, son of Yeye, son of Kadan
    4. Ordu Buqa (executed on 1297)
    5. Toghai (b. 1285)

Biographies
  • Namık Kemal — Biography of Emir Nawruz (Ottoman Turkish: ترجمۀ حال امير نوروز‎, romanized: Terceme-i Hâl-i Emir Nevruz), La Turquie ve Şark, Constantinople, 28 March 1875, republished in 1884 by Matbaayi-Ebüzziya[14]

Notes
  1. Landa, Ishayahu (2018). "Oirats in the Ilkhanate and the Mamluk Sultanate in the Thirteenth to the Early Fifteenth Centuries: Two Cases of Assimilation into the Muslim Environment (MSR XIX, 2016)". Mamluk Studies Review: 155. doi:10.6082/M1B27SG2.
  2. Hope, Michael (2015). "The "Nawrūz King": the rebellion of Amir Nawrūz in Khurasan (688–694/1289–94) and its implications for the Ilkhan polity at the end of the thirteenth century". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 78 (3): 451–473. doi:10.1017/S0041977X15000464. ISSN 0041-977X.
  3. Brack, Jonathan (2016). Mediating Sacred Kingship: Conversion and Sovereignty in Mongol Iran, University of Michigan
  4. Roux, p.411
  5. Badakshan, Amir Nawruz
  6. Biran, Michal. (1997). Qaidu and the rise of the independent Mongol state in Central Asia. Surrey: Curzon. p. 58. ISBN 0-7007-0631-3. OCLC 38533490.
  7. Hope, Michael (2016). Power, Politics, and Tradition in the Mongol Empire and the Īlkhānate of Iran. Oxford University Press. pp. 154–155, 166–167. ISBN 978-0-19-876859-3.
  8. Jackson, p.170
  9. The fire, the star and the cross minority religions in medieval and early modern Iran, by Aptin Khanbaghi, pg. 69-70
  10. Roux, p.432
  11. Grousset lists Baidu's death as occurring on October 5, 1295
  12. Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2007-01-01). Historic Cities of the Islamic World. BRILL. p. 562. ISBN 978-90-04-15388-2.
  13. Smith, John M. (2012-02-13). The History of the Sarbadar Dynasty 1336-1381 A.D. and its Sources. Walter de Gruyter. p. 97. ISBN 978-3-11-080110-1.
  14. Namık Kemal (1884). اوراق پريشان: ترجمۀ حال امير نوروز. قسطنطينيه: مطبعه ابو الضيا]،. OCLC 80999249.

References
  • Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-4671-9.
  • Foltz, Richard, Religions of the Silk Road, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
  • Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, p. 376
  • Jackson, Peter, The Mongols and the West, Pearson Education Ltd, ISBN 0-582-36896-0
  • Roux, Jean-Paul, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, Fayard, ISBN 2-213-03164-9
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