Yaqub (Aq Qoyunlu)

Yaqub b. Uzun Hasan^[2] (Persian: یعقوب بن اوزون حسن), commonly known as Sultan Ya'qub (Persian: سلطان یعقوب; Azerbaijani: Sultan Yaqub سلطان یعقوب) was the ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu from 1478 until his death on 24 December 1490. A son of Uzun Hasan, he became the ruler of the dynasty after the death of his brother Sultan Khalil. The borders of Aq Qoyunlu dynasty remained stable during his reign. In his book Alam-Aray-i Amini, Fazlallah Khunji Isfahani praised him as a decent successor of Uzun Hasan.^[2] Ya'qub received praise from other historians for supporting poets and scientists.

Ya'qub Beg
Padishah
Sultan Ya'qub Aq Qoyunlu in a folio from the Majalis al-ushshaq, dated October/November 1552
Sultan of the Aq Qoyunlu
Reign	1478 – 24 December 1490
Predecessor	Sultan Khalil
Successor	Baysunghur
Died	24 December 1490 Karabakh
Spouse	Gawhar-Sultan Khanum
Issue	Baysunghur Beg Murad Beg A daughter
Names Abū al-Muẓaffar Yaʿqūb Bahādur Ḫān[1]
Father	Uzun Hasan
Mother	Seljuk Shah Khatun
Religion	Sunni Islam

Origins

Yaqub Beg was the son of Uzun Hassan and Seljuk Shah Khatun. He had an older full-brother, Khalil Mirza Beg, and a younger full-brother, Yusuf Beg.^[3][4] On 6 January 1478, his father died^[5] and his brother Khalil proclaimed himself sultan. He exiled both of his brothers and killed his half-brother Maqsud Beg, son of Despina Khatun,^[6] a Byzantine princess.^{[7][6][4][8][9]} Another half-brother, Ughurlu Muhammad, son of Jan Khatun, escaped to Constantinople, to the court of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, where he married his daughter Gevherhan Hatun.^[10][11] This caused civil war to break out between Khalil and his family.^{[12][7][8][9]} On 15 June 1478, Yaqub defeated his brother, executed him and proclaimed himself the new sultan.^[7][8][9]

Reign

Firman of Ya'qub concerning land rights given previously by the deceased Qara Qoyunlu ruler Jahan Shah to two sons of Sayyid Ni'matullah. Created in Iran

At the outset of his reign, Ya'qub faced a revolt from the Bayandur princes Alwand Beg and Kusa Haji in Shiraz and Isfahan respectively, but both revolts were crushed. The biggest revolt during his reign was that of Shaykh Haydar, the father of Ismail I, which resulted in the death of Haydar.^[13] In 1480, Qaitbay, the Mamluk sultan of Egypt, sent an army under his Pecheneg commander Yashbak al-Zahiri to invade Diyar Bakr. Ya'qub consequently sent an army under Bayindir Beg, Sulayman Beg Bijan and Sufi Khalil Beg Mawsilu to counter the army. The two forces clashed in November of the same year, which resulted in an Aq Qoyunlu triumph and capture of Yashbak al-Zahiri, who was executed a few days later. In the same year, Ya'qub's forces defeated and killed Balish Beg, the commander-in-chief of Syria, who had attempted to conquer Diyar Bakr.^[13]

Under Ya'qub, the realm remained the same size as that of his father, and the institutions of realm was strengthened. He retained the same ranks and land-grants that his subjects had received from his father. He did, however, launch a land reform in order to consolidate his realm, creating a stable government. The Aq Qoyunlu used a political system based on the old iqta' (land grants) which had been in use since the pre-Seljuk period. This system, known as the soyurghal (benefice), had been in use since the time of the Jalayirids. It excluded the owner of an iqta from taxation, and also made him autonomous. The reform was set in motion by Ya'qubs tutor and wakil Qazi Isa Savaji.^[13][2]

The religious scholar and historian Fazlallah Khunji Isfahani (died 1521) condemned the abolition of the soyurghal, claiming that it had disturbed many of the religious scholars in Shiraz. The Encyclopaedia Islamica considers the truthness of his claim uncertain, stating that; "It must be reiterated that his information on the impact of these reforms mainly refers to Fars, however it is virtually the only contemporary source on the topic and therefore central to any understanding of it. His stance is clearly partisan since the reforms seem to have adversely affected his relatives."^[13] The qadi (chief judge) of Fars, Jalal al-Din Davani (died 1502), also opposed the reforms of Ya'qub, which worsened their relations.^[14][15] Together with Abu-Yazid al-Davani and Maulana Muhammad al-Muhyavi, Davani sent letters to Qazi Isa Savaji to protest these reforms.^[16] After Ya'qub's death, the land reform was cancelled.^[13][2]

Ya'qub became severely ill and died on 24 December 1490 in Karabakh. A number of scholars believe that he was poisoned by his wife.^[13] The leading figures of the confederation installed his eight-year-old son Baysunghur on the throne to increase their own power. This marked the start of the decline of the Aq Qoyunlu.^[13]

Imperial ideology

Helmet inscribed in the name of Sultan Ya'qub, located in Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Aq Qoyunlu displayed their legitimacy by rebuilding ruined Ilkhanate buildings, including the palace of Ujan near Tabriz, originally founded by Ghazan (r. 1295–1304). By including areas which had represented kingship in their court ceremonials, the Aq Qoyunlu were to use the utilise the customs of their predecessors, in order to strengthen their own kingship. This practise had been adopted from the Ilkhanate themselves, who rebuilt Sasanian buildings, notably the palace of Shiz (Takht-e Soleyman). Aq Qoyunlu historiography represents Ya'qub hunting around the palace of Ujan in the same manner as the Sasanian monarch Bahram V (r. 420–438).^[17]

Family

Yaqub Beg had a consort, Gawhar-Sultan Khanum. They had two sons and a daughter:

• Baysunghur Beg
• Murad Beg
• A daughter, mother of Tajli Khanum and grandmother of Shah Tahmasp I.^{[18][8][19][20]}

Poetry

Ya'qub's court included several distinguished poets, such as Baba Fighani Shirazi, Ahli Shirazi, Kamal al-Din Bana'i Haravi, and Shahidi Qumi. Another distinguished poet, Hatefi, who was a nephew of the poet Jami, spent five years at Ya'qub's court.^[21] Khatai Tabrizi, an Azeri poet of the 15th century, dedicated a mathnawi entitled Yusof wa Zoleykha to Sultan Ya'qub,^[22] and Ya'qub even wrote poetry in the Azerbaijani language.^[22] Baba Fighani Shirazi dedicated a ceremonial ode (qasida) to Ya'qub, and also a eulogy after the latter's death.^[23]

References

1. Sandra Aube Lorain (2015). "In search of 'Kamāl': Five Monumental Inscriptions from Yazd (second half of the 15th century)". Eurasian Studies (13): 69–91.
2. Quiring-Zoche 1986, pp. 163–168.
3. John E. Woods, The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire (1999), p. 62
4. Minorsky, V.; Bosworth, C. E. (24 April 2012), "Uzun Ḥasan", Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Brill, retrieved 10 February 2023
5. Babinger, Franz (1978). Mehmed the Conqueror and his time. Ralph Manheim, William C. Hickman. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 232. ISBN 0-691-09900-6. OCLC 3168859.
6. Bryer, Anthony (1975). "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 29: 113–148. doi:10.2307/1291371. ISSN 0070-7546. JSTOR 1291371.
7. Rezazadeh Langaroodi, Reza; Negahban, Translated by Farzin (16 October 2015), "Āq-qūyūnlū", Encyclopaedia Islamica, Brill, retrieved 10 February 2023
8. Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
9. The Cambridge history of Iran. W. B. Fisher. Cambridge: University Press. 1968–1991. ISBN 0-521-06935-1. OCLC 745412.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
10. Ottoman women in public space. Ebru Boyar, Kate Fleet. Leiden. 2016. p. 231. ISBN 978-90-04-31662-1. OCLC 945767549.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
11. Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları : vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler (1. baskı ed.). Beyoğlu, İstanbul: Oğlak Yayıncılık. p. 179. ISBN 978-975-329-623-6. OCLC 316234394.
12. Murray, Hugh (1820). Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Asia: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Time. A. Constable and Company. p. 16.
13. Langaroodi & Negahban 2015.
14. Pourjavady 2011, p. 11.
15. Dunietz 2015, pp. 34–35.
16. Minorsky 1955, p. 454.
17. Leube 2018, pp. 480–482.
18. Ebnʻayyāš - Eʻteżād-al-Salṭana. Iḥsān Yāršātir. Costa Mesa, Calif: Mazda Publ. 1998. pp. 628–636. ISBN 1-56859-050-4. OCLC 246186527.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
19. Woods, John E. (1999). The Aqquyunlu : clan, confederation, empire (Rev. and expanded ed.). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. pp. 192–193. ISBN 0-585-12956-8. OCLC 44966081.
20. Savory, Roger (1980). Iran under the Safavids. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-521-22483-3. OCLC 5354386.
21. Lingwood 2013, p. 112.
22. Javadi & Burrill 2012.
23. Losensky 2020.

Sources

• Dunietz, Alexandra (2015). The Cosmic Perils of Qadi Ḥusayn Maybudī in Fifteenth-Century Iran. Brill. ISBN 978-9004302310.
• Langaroodi, Reza Rezazadeh; Negahban, Farzin (2015). "Āq-qūyūnlū". In Madelung, Wilferd; Daftary, Farhad (eds.). Encyclopaedia Islamica Online. Brill Online. ISSN 1875-9831.
• Leube, Georg (2018). "Aqquyunlu Turkmen Rulers Facing the Ruins of Takht-i Jamshīd" (PDF). Der Islam. 95 (2). De Gruyter: 479–506. doi:10.1515/islam-2018-0031. S2CID 166087209.
• Lingwood, Chad (2013). Politics, Poetry, and Sufism in Medieval Iran: New Perspectives on Jāmī's Salāmān va Absāl. Brill. ISBN 978-9004254046.
• Losensky, Paul E. (2020). "Fighānī Shīrāzī, Bābā". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
• Minorsky, Vladimir (1955). "The Aq-qoyunlu and Land Reforms". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 17 (3): 449–462. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00112376. JSTOR 609589. S2CID 154166838. (registration required)
• Javadi, H.; Burrill, K. (24 May 2012). "AZERBAIJAN x. Azeri Turkish Literature". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Pourjavady, Reza (2011). Philosophy in Early Safavid Iran. Brill. ISBN 978-9004191730.
• Quiring-Zoche, R. (1986). "Āq Qoyunlū". Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, Vol. II, Fasc. 2. New York. pp. 163–168.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)