Prolegomenon The Late Period: 729–83/1329–81

Muʿizz al-Dīn (Abū al-Ḥusayn) Muḥammad Kart, Ghiyāth al-Dīn’s third son, ruled the Kartid state from 24 Ramażān 732/19 June 1332 to 5 Dhū al-Qaʿda 771/31 May 1370.1 Despite youthful mistakes, he built on his father’s foundations. Following the death of the last Il-Khan, Abū Saʿīd Bahādur Khān (13 Rabīʿ II 736/30 November 1335),2 the Kartids became one of the independent Persian kingdoms that established themselves from Balkh to Āzarbayjān and the Persian Gulf, the most prominent being Jalayirids (Īlkā or Ilkanid), Qara-Qoyunlu (and later, Aq-Qoyunlu), Sarbadarids,3 and Muzaffarids.4 Ṭaghā-Temür (d. 754/1353), the nominal Il-Khan—or “Chinggisid pretender” as Charles Melville put it—was elected at a congress held in 737/1336 at Sulṭān-Maydān (in the Nishapur Quarter). He involved himself in the post-Ilkhanate struggles transpiring in western Persia. The absence of Ṭaghā-Temür’s armies, and his vizier’s exactions, fostered a rebellion in the Bayhaq district of Nishapur Quarter. Tax rebels morphed into the Sarbadarid dynasty. This confessionally mixed band allied with Shaykh Ḥasan Jūrī (d. 742/1342), a charismatic “Sufi” of indeterminable Shiʿi proclivities. The joint forces marched on Herat but were defeated. They remained a menace until Muʿizz al-Dīn established détente with their leader, Khwājah ʿAlī Muʾayyad (r. 764–83/1363–81).