Ismail II

Shah Ismail II
Shahanshah of Persia
Artwork of Ismail II
Reign	1576–77
Predecessor	Tahmasp I
Successor	Mohammad Khodabanda
Born	31 May 1537 Qom
Died	24 November 1577 Qazvin
Dynasty	Safavid
Father	Tahmasp I
Mother	Sultanum Begum Mawsillu

Ismail II (Persian: شاه اسماعیل دوم‎‎), (37 May 1537^[1]– 24 November 1577) was the third Safavid Shah of Iran, ruling from 1576 to 1577.

Early life

Ismail was the son of Shah Tahmasp I by an Iraqi Turkoman mother from the area of Mosul, Sultanum Begum Mawsillu.^[2] In 1547, he was appointed governor of the province of Shirvan where he led several expeditions against the Ottomans. In 1556 he became governor of Khorasan but one of his father's leading courtiers, Masum Beg Safavi, convinced the shah that Ismail was plotting to overthrow him. Ismail spent the next 20 years in the prison at Qahqaheh Castle.^[3]

On 18 October 1574, Tahmasp became ill—during his illness, he was close to dying two times, and he still hadn't chosen a successor. Thus the main chieftains of the Qizilbash arranged a meeting to discuss about who should be the successor. The Ustajlu clan, and the Shaykhavand clan (which was related to the Safavid family) favored Haydar Mirza Safavi. The Georgians also supported him, since his mother was Georgian.

The Rumlu, Afshar, and the Qajar clan favored Ismail, who was still jailed in the Qahqaheh Castle. Tahmasp's favorite Circassian daughter Pari Khan Khanum also favored him.^[4] While Tahmasp was still ill, those who supported Haydar Mirza, sent a message to the castellan of Qahqaheh Castle, named Khalifa Ansar Qaradghlu. They requested him to have Ismail killed. However, Pari Khan Khanum managed to find out about it and told Tahmasp about the plot. Tahmasp, who still had some feelings for Ismail due to the courage he used to have in the battles with the Ottoman Empire, sent a group of Afshar musketeers to the Qahqaheh Castle to protect him.^[4] Two months later, Tahmasp recovered from the life-threatening illness he had. Two years later, on 14 May 1576, he died in Qazvin. Haydar Mirza was the only son who was with him when he died, and thus the following day, he announced himself as the new king. Normally, some Qizilbash tribes would guard the royal palace and take turns with other others—unfortunately for Haydar Mirza, on that day all the Qizilbash guards were either from the Rumlu, Afshar, Qajar, Bayat, or the Dorsaq tribe—all loyal supporters of Ismail.^[4]

When Haydar Mirza found out about the dangerous position he was in, he took Pari Khan Khanum (who was also in the palace) "into custody as a precautionary measure" (Parsadust).^[4] Pari Khan Khanum then "threw herself at her brother's feet in the presence of Haydar Mirza's mother", and tried to urge him to let her leave the palace, stating that she was the first to acknowledge his rule by making a prostrating to him—she vowed that she would attempt to persuade Ismail Mirza's supporters to change their mind, which included her full brother Suleiman Mirza and uncle Shamkhal Sultan. Haydar Mirza accepted her request, and gave her permission to leave the palace. However, after she left the palace, she broke her oath and gave Shamkhal the keys to the gate of the palace.^[4]

When the supporters of Haydar Mirza found out about the threat their king was in, they hurried to his royal residence to save him. However, the palace guards, who disliked Haydar Mirza (although he had tried to win them to his side by making several promises) closed the entrances of the palace.^[4] At the same time, the supporters of Ismail Mirza, entered the palace and went to its inner part. However, Haydar Mirza's supporters shortly managed to break through the gate, but did not reach there in time—Ismail Mirza's supporters found Haydar Mirza, dressed as a woman in the royal harem. He was immediately captured and beheaded.^[5] His bloody head was then thrown down to Haydar Mirza's supporters, who stopped their resistance, which thus meant that Ismail Mirza could safely ascend the throne.^[4] He was crowned on 22 August 1576.^[6]

Reign

Ismail, in his campaigns in the Caucasus, brought another 30,000 Georgians and Circassians captives to Iran, further setting on the program of creating a new layer in Persian society, which was already initiated by his father Tahmasp I.^[7]

Ismail's years in prison seem to have affected his mind. As well as executing members of the faction who had opposed him, he also turned on some of his own supporters. He killed or blinded five of his own brothers and four other Safavid princes, including Ibrahim Mirza, so they would be unable to take the throne from him.

Described as being a "Sunni in sympathy,"^[8] he also implemented a pro-Sunni policy and began reversing the imposition of Shi'ism in Iran (which he ultimately sought to abolish)^[9] and appointed Sunni-leaning ulema.^[10] One belief is that the aim of his pro-Sunni measures was to strengthen his own internal and external political position by appealing to the still strong Sunni sympathies of the Persian population and to placate the Ottomans.^[11] The Qizilbash began to regret their choice of shah and plotted to assassinate Ismail with the help of Pari Khan Khanum. Ismail died after consuming poisoned opium on 24 November 1577.^[12]

Ismail was a poet, painter and calligrapher, who supported the arts.^[13]

Issue

He married four times;^[14]

1. Safia Sultan Begum (b. after 1537), née Pari Peykar Khanum, daughter of Sayyid Nur ud-din Nimatu’llah Baqi Yazdi, by his wife, Princess (Shahzadi ‘Alamiyan) Janish Khanum, eldest daughter of king (shah) Ismail I.
2. A daughter of Amir Pira Muhammad Khan Ustajlu (at Qazvin, 1567).
3. A daughter of Shamkhal Sultan, Governor of Sakki (at Qazvin, 1567).
4. A daughter of Amir Husain Khan Sultan Kinislu (at Qazvin, 1567).

Offspring

• Prince Sultan Shoja al-din Mohammad Mirza (b. 16 October 1577 – d. 17 February 1578)
• Princess Safieh Sultan Beygom (b. 1555 – d. 3 September 1617)
• Princess Fakhr-i-Jahan Khanoum (b. 1577 – d. ?)
• Princess Gowhar Sultan Khanoum (b. 1578 – d. 1618)

See also

• Safavid conversion of Iran from Sunnism to Shiism

References

1. Ismail II , Dr Manouchehr Parsadoost, ISBN 9643251063, 2003
2. Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran (IB Tauris, 2004) p. 42
3. Savory p. 68.
4. Parsadust 2009.
5. Blow 2009, p. 20.
6. Savory p. 69.
7. Oberling, Pierre, Georgians and Circassians in Iran, The Hague, 1963; pp.127-143
8. Sinor, Denis, ed. (1990). Aspects of Altaic Civilization III: Proceedings of the Thirtieth Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, June 19-25, 1987. Psychology Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780700703807.
9. Price, Massoume, ed. (1 Jan 2005). Iran's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 68. ISBN 9781576079935.
10. Houchang Chehabi; Rula Abisaab (2006). Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the Last 500 Years. I.B.Tauris. pp. 86–8.
11. Andrew J Newman (11 Apr 2012). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 118. ISBN 9780857716613.
12. Savory pp. 69–70
13. Andrew J Newman (11 Apr 2012). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 47. ISBN 9780857716613.
14. The Royal Ark

Sources

• Matthee, Rudi (2011). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–371. ISBN 0857731815.
• Babaie, Sussan (2004). Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–218. ISBN 9781860647215.
• Newman, Andrew J. (2008). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–281. ISBN 9780857716613.
• Savory, Roger (2007). Iran under the Safavids. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–288. ISBN 0521042518.
• Roemer, H.R. (1986). "The Safavid period". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5: The Timurid and Safavid periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 189–351. ISBN 9780521200943.
• Parsadust, Manuchehr (2009). "PARIḴĀN ḴĀNOM". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Nashat, Guity; Beck, Lois (2003). Women in Iran from the Rise of Islam to 1800. University of Illinois Press. pp. 1–253. ISBN 978-0-252-07121-8.
• Daryaee, Touraj (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–432. ISBN 0199875758.
• Blow, David (2009). Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who became an Iranian Legend. London, UK: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-989-8. LCCN 2009464064.
• Mitchell, Colin P. (2009). The Practice of Politics in Safavid Iran: Power, Religion and Rhetoric. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–304. ISBN 0857715887.