CHAPTER X

CONDITION OF PERSIA IN 1254, WHEN HULAGU CAME TO CONQUER AND TO SLAUGHTER

Sad was the fate of the people in Rūm through disunion, stupidity and thoughtlessness. After Jelal ud din lost his life in the mountains his warriors dispersed and were finished by land tillers, by Kurds, and by Beduins. The Mongols fell straightway to ravaging Amid, Erzerum and Mayafarkin. After a siege of five days they captured Sarad, two days’ journey from Mardin, and east of it, and though the city had surrendered they slaughtered its inhabitants to the number of fifteen thousand, as is stated. Tanza met the same fate as also did Mardin, whose sovereign took refuge in the fortress. The district of Nisibin was changed to a desert, though the city itself was not taken by the Mongols who, entering the country of Sinjar sacked El Khabur and Araban. One division of them took the road to Mosul and hastened to pillage El Munassa, on the road between Mosul and Nisibin. The people of that place and the flat country around it took refuge in a building near the middle of the city where all save desirable women were massacred. A man of that region being hidden in a house looked out through a cranny and saw what was happening and afterward told Ibn al Athir, the historian. “Each time the Mongols slew some one they shouted ‘La illahi.’ This massacre finished, they pillaged the place and departed leading away the women selected. I saw them,” said the hidden man, “rejoicing on horseback. They laughed, sang songs in their language and shouted while mocking the Moslems.”

Another Mongol division marched on Bitlis. Some of the people fled to the mountains, others took refuge in the citadel. The Mongols set fire to the city and burned it. They stormed Balri, a fortified place in the region of Khelat, and slaughtered all the inhabitants. The large city of Andjish met a similar destruction.

A third Mongol force now laid siege to Meraga. This city surrendered on condition that the lives of all citizens be respected. The Mongols gave a promise to spare them, but notwithstanding this promise they slew a great number. They sacked Azerbaidjan, passed into Erbil, attacked Kurds and Turkmans, slaying every one whom they could reach with a weapon. They took fire and sword to all places, and committed atrocities without parallel.

Mozaffer, prince of Erbil, assembled his troops with great speed and got aid from Mosul. The Mongols withdrew then and marched on Dakuka. The prince thought it best not to pursue them.

During those two months which followed the death of Jelal ud din and the scattering of his army, the Mongols pillaged all lands between the Euphrates and Tigris; Diarbekr, Khelat and Erbil, without finding a single armed warrior to oppose them. The princes of those petty states hid away carefully, and the people were stupefied so great was the terror which had seized upon mankind. Deeds were done in that period which beggar belief. For example a lone Mongol horseman rode into a populous village and fell to cutting down people; no man had the courage to defend himself.

Another time a Mongol without weapons wished to hew off the head of a prisoner whom he had taken; he commanded the man to lie down and wait for him. The Mongol went off for a sabre, came back and killed the unfortunate, who was waiting obediently. Still a new tale from a third man: “I was on the road with seventeen comrades when a Mongol on horseback rode up to us, and commanded that each man tie the hands of another. My comrades thought it best to obey. ‘This man,’ said I to them, ‘is alone, let us kill him.’ ‘We are too much afraid,’ said they. ‘But he will kill us. Let us kill him, God may then save us.’ No man of them had the courage to do this. I killed him then with a knife thrust, and we fled and in that manner saved ourselves from other Mongols.” These cases are but three out of thousands.

Three months after the death of Jelal ud din, people in general knew not whether he had been killed, or was hiding, or had gone to another country. Azerbaidjan was now seized by the Mongols. Their leader fixed his camp near Tebriz and summoned that city to surrender. It offered a large sum of money, many fabrics, wine and other products. The chief judge and the mayor with the principal people went to the Mongol commander, who ordered to send out to him weavers since he wished to have certain stuffs made for his sovereign. They obeyed and the citizens paid for those costly fabrics. He asked also a tent for his master. One was made for him of a kind that had never been equalled in that city. It was covered with silk embroidered in gold and ornamented with sable and beaver. Tebriz agreed to an annual tribute in stuffs and in silver.

The Mongols were sacking the lands of Erbil, a fief of the Kalif, Mostansir, who had summoned to assist him Mohammedan sovereigns as well as the Arabs. Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, whose dominions beyond the Euphrates were also threatened, had set out from Cairo at the head of an army and arrived at Damascus whence he moved eastward very promptly. His army being numerous, took various roads in crossing the desert. Since water was lacking, many horses died on that journey, and many men also. On learning at Harran that the Mongols had gone out of Khelat, Kamil besieged Amid. The capture of this place, which belonged to a grandson of Ortok, was the real cause of his coming from Egypt. With him was Ashraf, his brother, who had persuaded him to make the expedition. The Eyubite princes and the Sultan of Rūm marched also with Kamil.

The siege lasted five days altogether. Prince Massud, a weakling and a man enamoured of pleasure, surrendered his capital to Kamil, who gave it as an appanage (1232) to his faithless son Salih, who previously had wished to dethrone him. Massud received certain lands lying in Egypt; to those lands he went and settled down ignominiously as became him. Master of Amid Kamil attacked Hóssn-Keifa, which yielded also. He had now gained his object.

Mongol troops under Chormagun’s orders, and after that general’s death, under Baidju, continued during two entire decades to slaughter, rob, pillage and devastate lands west of Persia. They ruined whole regions, and cut down the people in wantonness and by thousands. In 1236–7 they made a second invasion of the districts near Erbil, and advanced to the Tigris. Next they took Erbil and found there rich booty. They burned a great number of houses, but could not take the fortress where the inhabitants had rallied, and though perishing from thirst fought with a marvelous valor. At the end of forty days the Mongols retired on receipt of large sums in gold from the people.

They ravaged after that the north edge of Arabian Irak as far as Zenk Abad and Sermenraï, which they pillaged. The Kalif made Bagdad defensible and in 1237 in his wish to rouse every Moslem, he asked the Ulema: “Which gives more merit, a pilgrimage to Mecca, or a war on the infidel?” “The holy war,” answered all as one person. The war was proclaimed then. Great persons, men of law, common people, all went out daily to learn the art of wielding weapons. The Kalif himself wished to march with the forces, but prudent advisers dissuaded him. His troops met the enemy at Jebel Hamrin north of Tacrit, on the bank of the Tigris, put them to flight, cut down many, and freed all the captives seized at Dakuka and Erbil a short time before. In 1238 fifteen thousand Mongols invaded the territory of Bagdad, and advanced to Jaferiye, but retired at approach of the forces of the Kalif made up of Turks and Arabs.

That same year, Arabian Irak was reëntered by Mongols from ten to fifteen thousand in number. They advanced to Khanekin, a place some leagues south of Heulvan. The Kalif sent seven thousand horsemen against them under orders of Jemal ud din Beïlek. The Mongols, employing their old stratagem successfully, lured on the forces of Bagdad and attacked them from ambush. They put to the sword nearly all the detachment. Beïlek, their leader, disappeared without tidings.

In 1235 the Mongols took Gandja the capital of Arran, giving the city to flames and the people to slaughter. The year following, 1236, Chormagun left Mugan and swept through Armenia, Albania and Georgia, sacking all the best cities. Georgia had so recently been plundered by Jelal ud din that unable to defend themselves against the Mongol invaders, the princes and people sought refuge in the mountains. Queen Rusudan, a woman famous for her beauty and her lack of virtue, chose as asylum the impregnable fortress of Usaneth in Imeretia.

Chormagun seized the country between the Araxes and the Cyrus. One of his generals, Gadagan, took Kedapagu and Varsanashod. Another one, Mular, seized Shamkar and every stronghold around it. Chormagun’s brother Jela took the fortress of Katchen. Jelal, the master of the place, fled to Khok Castle near Kandzassar. When summoned to surrender he gave the Grand Khan allegiance with tribute and military service. Jagatai, another leader of Mongols, took Lori which belonged to Shah in Shah, prince of Ani, sacked the city and slaughtered the people. Next after this, and in 1239, the Mongols burst into Georgia and captured Tiflis with many other places. When Jagatai had made all his circuits through the country with terror in front of him and ruin behind, he swept again through Armenia, besieging now the old capital Ani. When the ancient city was summoned to yield, the authorities answered that without Shah in Shah they could not surrender, since he was prince of that region. The envoy was returning with this statement when the populace grew furious and killed him. Chormagun laid siege immediately to Ani. Not having supplies, the people learned soon the full meaning of famine. To escape from it many went out and surrendered. Chormagun met all those people with kindness, and gave them provisions; this enticed others till more than one half had gone out of Ani. After that those men, captured thus by their stomachs and Chormagun’s cunning, were drawn up in companies and delivered to warriors, who cut them down to the very last person. Ani could not defend itself longer, so pillage and fire destroyed the old city.

On hearing of the dread destruction which had fallen upon Ani, and the slaughter of all who had lived in it, the inhabitants of Kars fearing the doom which, as they thought, would meet them unless they could avert it, carried the keys of their city to the Mongol commander. Notwithstanding this voluntary submission and surrender, a dreadful massacre followed, for Chormagun gave direction to put all to the sword except children, desirable women, and artisans of skill, who were needed by the Mongols.

When Kars had been ruined the invaders returned to the plains of Mugan, which abounded in rich winter pastures.

In 1240 Prince Avak of Tiflis and his sister Tamara went to give homage at Ogotai’s court, and were met there with kindness. The Grand Khan gave them an order commanding Chormagun to reinstate them and other Georgian princes; a second command was sent also to take from them only the tribute agreed on already. When people north of the Euphrates and Tigris had been thinned out sufficiently and enlightened by slaughter, the Mongols turned to take Rūm and subdue it.

Rūm had been ruled for a century and a half by a branch of the Seljuks. Asia Minor was conquered about 1080 by Suleiman Shah, whom his cousin Sultan Melik, Shah of Persia, had sent toward the west with eighty thousand Turkman households to bring down the infidel. Suleiman seized the central provinces of that region from the Byzantine Empire, and made Konia the capital of his newly won kingdom, which was called Rūm in the Orient, but in the west with another vowel, Rome. From that period on, the Turkman swarms which followed the banners of the Seljuks spread over those conquered lands widely. Most places were given them as fiefs, and the Christians of that entire region passed under the yoke of unsparing and insolent nomads.

The Sultan Ghiath ud din Kei Kosru, eighth successor of Suleiman the first conqueror, had ruled over Rūm for five years when in 1243 the Mongols set out to subject it. Chormagun was now dead and Baidju, who succeeded him, had come with an army, in which were Armenian and Georgian contingents, to invest Erzerum where Sinan ud din Yakut was commandant. This Yakut was a freedman of Sultan Kei Kubad, the father of Kei Kosru. At the end of two months the walls were destroyed by twelve catapults; the city was taken by storm, and one day later the citadel met with a similar misfortune. The commandant and also his warriors were put to the sword without exception. Artisans, workmen, desirable women and children were spared to be driven into slavery. When the city had been plundered and ruined the Mongols withdrew to their winter camp on the plain of Mugan.

Mongol warriors were sent in 1244 toward Syria. While they were approaching Malattia, where news of the sack of Cesaraea had spread dismay through every hamlet and corner, the prefect and other officials of the Sultan took during night hours all the silver and gold of the treasury, divided it among themselves and set out to find refuge in Aleppo. At the same time the chief citizens, both Moslem and Christian, tried to save themselves by flight, but these, after journeying one day, were overtaken by Mongols who slaughtered the old men and women; the young of both sexes were spared and driven on into slavery.

The Mongols waited not to lay siege to Malattia, they sped forward at command of Noyon Yassaur to Aleppo, demanded a ransom, received it, and vanished. On his way back, Yassaur made a halt at Malattia and feigned an attack on it. The prefect collected much plate, also gold from church pictures, besides other treasures taken from the Nestorian cathedral; the value in all reached forty thousand gold pieces. After receiving this ransom Yassaur continued his march toward the boundary of Persia. Yassaur was the Mongol chief, probably, who in 1244, toward the end of the summer, summoned Bohemond V., Prince of Antioch, to level the walls of his cities, send in all the revenue of his princedom, and give besides three thousand maidens. The prince refused, the Mongol commander refrained from attacking, but later on the Antioch prince furnished tribute to the Mongols.

The Grand Khan’s lieutenant had summoned all sovereigns in Western Asia to obedience. Shihab ud din in 1241 got a letter from an envoy of the Mongols. The letter sent to other princes as well as to him began in this way: “The lieutenant on earth, of the Master of Heaven, commands all the following princes to acknowledge his authority and level their defences;” the names then were given. The prince answered that he was a weak, petty ruler if compared with the sovereigns of Rūm, Syria and Egypt. “Go to them first,” said he, “I will follow their example.”

Hayton, the king of Cilicia, had promised to bring to the Sultan of Rūm a whole corps of Armenians; he delayed marching, however, and awaited developments. The kingdom of Rūm was now subject to Mongols, and Hayton thought it well to win Mongol favor if possible. On securing consent from the chief men of his kingdom he sent envoys in 1244, during spring, with rich presents to Baidju. The envoys turned to Jalal, an Armenian prince then in Katchen, who presented them to Baidju, to Chormagun’s widow, and to Mongol commanders. Baidju asked first that Hayton deliver the wife, daughter and mother of Kei Kosru, who were then in Cilicia. That request made, he took leave of the envoys, and sent with them men of his own to their sovereign. The conditions were grievous to Hayton, but he yielded the women to Baidju’s officials and sent on new envoys. The Mongol commander was satisfied, and concluding an alliance with Hayton, giving him a diploma which affirmed his position as vassal to the Grand Khan. The Mongols during 1245 took regions north of Lake Van, among others Khelat, which through an order of Ogotai had been given to Tamara of Georgia. After this they marched into regions between the Euphrates and Tigris, taking Roha, Nisibin and other cities which the people abandoned at approach of the dread enemy. But great summer heat brought down most of their horses, hence the Mongols were forced to withdraw very speedily to save themselves.

Mongol dominion was extending continually. Bedr ud din Lulu the Prince of Mosul declared in a letter to the Prince of Damascus that he had in his own name concluded a treaty by which the inhabitants of Syria would give the Mongols a fixed tribute according to wealth and ability. The tax of the rich would amount to ten dirhems, medium men would pay five, and poor people one dirhem. This letter was published at Damascus, and officials began to collect the taxes decreed by it.

The same year, 1245, news came to Bagdad, by pigeons, that the Mongols had entered Sheherzur, eight days’ travel northward from Bagdad, and sacked the whole city, whose prince, Melik ud din Mohammed, had fled to a stronghold.

The Mongols advancing in 1246 to Yakuba were attacked and driven off by Bagdad troops, and some of them were captured. Baidju did not feel himself master of Georgia while Queen Rusudan remained in Usaneth and refused all submission. In vain did he send her rich presents, and ask for an interview during which she and he might arrange, he declared, an alliance with friendship. The queen would not go from her stronghold, and gave no better answer to a message from Batu, who since Ogotai’s death, in December, 1241, was the first among Jinghis Khan’s grandsons. She sent her son David, however, to Batu as hostage, and placed him under that strong Khan’s protection. Baidju, wrathful at Rusudan’s stubbornness, resolved to give Georgia a ruler subservient to Mongols. Rusudan’s brother, Lasha, had a son born outside wedlock whom the queen had despatched into Rūm when her daughter went thither to marry Kei Kosru. This son of Lasha, named David, was detained for ten years in Cesaraea. Freed now for this special state trick, he was brought to the camp of the Mongols where certain princes proclaimed him, and took the oath of allegiance. Georgian troops and Armenians went with David to Mtskhete the seat of the Patriarch, who anointed him.

David, the new king and tool of the Mongols, in 1246 attacked Rusudan in her fortress where, reduced to extremities, she took poison and in dying recommended her son to Batu the Khan of the Kipchaks and master at that time in Russia.

The young King of Georgia set out to be present at the installation of Kuyuk (1246). The names given of subject rulers present at this great Kurultai show how far-reaching was the power of the Mongols: the Prince of Fars; the ruler of Kerman; Bedr ud din Lulu, Prince of Mosul; Yaroslav, Grand Prince of Russia; Ambassadors from the Kalif of Bagdad; the Prince of the Assassin Kingdom; and many other noted rulers. There were present also two monks who came from the Pope—one of whom, Du Plano Carpino, has left us an account of the Kurultai—and Rusudan’s son.

The rivalry of the King of Georgia and Rusudan’s son brought about a division of their country. David got Georgia proper and Rusudan’s son, Imeretia, Mingrelia and Abhasia. Both men were called kings, but David was the Suzerain. The Cilician King Hayton who sent Sempad, his brother, to be present at Kuyuk’s enthronement, received from the Grand Khan more cities seized from Cilicia by the Sultans of Rūm.

In 1249 fresh alarm rose in Bagdad, for the Mongols advanced to Dakuka and killed Bilban the prefect. In 1250–1 Nassir the Prince of Damascus got a letter of safe-conduct from the Grand Khan and bore it in his girdle. Splendid gifts were a proof of his gratitude and pleasure. Lands between the Euphrates and Tigris were again visited by the Mongols. The districts of Diarbekr and Mayafarkin with Reesain and Sarudj were given over to pillage. The invaders cut down in this raid more than ten thousand people. A caravan which had set out from Harran for Bagdad was attacked by those Mongols, who massacred every man in it. They took a large booty; among other objects they got six hundred camel loads of sugar and cloth stuffs from Egypt, besides six hundred thousand dinars in money. After such splendid robbery they went back to Khelat for enjoyment.

A corps under Yassaur, who eight years before that had struck at Malattia, attacked now this city’s environs and slew all the people whom it could reach with a weapon. Kei Kosru had died in 1245. Yzz ud din Kei Kavus with his two brothers, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, and Alai ud din Kei Kubad, had succeeded their father. The names of all three appeared on the coinage, and were mentioned in mosques at public service. Some great lords of Rūm wished Rokn ud din as chief sovereign. Shems ud din of Ispahan, the grand vizir, put many of those partisans to death. He married Yzz ud din’s mother and, wishing to eliminate Rokn ud din, had him sent to the court of Kuyuk with the tribute and presents agreed on in the treaty of submission made recently.

When Rokn ud din had appeared at the court of the Grand Khan he and an officer of his suite, Behai ud din Terjuman, accused the vizir of doing to death powerful people who favored Rokn ud din, of marrying the late Sultan’s widow, and of raising a sovereign to the throne without consent or command of the Grand Khan. On hearing this statement, Kuyuk commanded that Rokn ud din take Yzz ud din’s place, and that Terjuman take Shems ud din’s office. When the latter heard of this change he despatched to Kuyuk, Rashid ud din, the prefect of Malattia, with much gold and many jewels. The new order destroyed him and he hoped now that the Grand Khan would revoke it. But when his envoy was nearing Erzerum the newly made Sultan with his vizir were approaching that city. Overcome by the greatness of his task the weak envoy placed his treasures in the stronghold of Kemash and fled with all speed to Aleppo. Terjuman appeared at Malattia very promptly with two thousand Mongols, and proclaimed the new Sultan.

Shems ud din wished to take Yzz ud din to the seacoast from Konia, but he was seized and held captive before he could do so. Terjuman then sent Mongols to Konia to torture that active vizir and thus learn where his treasures were hidden; by these men he was finally killed.

Meanwhile it was settled that Rūm must go to both brothers. All that lay west of the Sivas was given to Yzz ud din, and everything east of that river fell to Rokn ud din, but the officials of the latter wished him to have all that Kuyuk had first given him. Yzz ud din’s partisans declared that their sovereign was resigned to the will of the Grand Khan, and would take whatever appanage his brother might give him. Rokn ud din credited this statement and went to a meeting place. He was seized with his vizir and taken to Konia. No harm was done him, however. Yzz ud din joined in the sovereignty Alai ud din his third brother.

Kuyuk died in 1248; Mangu his successor was inaugurated July, 1251. In 1254, three years after Mangu’s elevation, Yzz ud din was called to Mongolia, but he feared to absent himself, knowing that Rokn ud din had many partisans, hence he decided to send Alai ud din the third brother, who set out, with many presents, traveling along the Black Sea and the borders of Kipchak. Yzz ud din craved forgiveness from Mangu for sending his own younger brother instead of appearing in person. This, he said, he regretted most keenly, but he was forced to remain and defend his possessions from Greeks and Armenians, his most implacable enemies; he hoped soon, however, to offer homage in person.

Rokn ud din’s partisans now sought means to uphold the claims of their master in the presence of the Grand Khan. They forged a letter from Yzz ud din to Tarantai and his colleague, in which the Sultan commanded to confide Alai ud din and the presents to the chancellor Shems ud din and the Emir Seif ud din Jalish, the bearers of the letters, who would go with the prince to Mongolia. Tarantai and his colleague were summoned to Konia.

The Emir and the chancellor set out with this letter and overtook Alai ud din at Sarai, Batu’s capital. Batu gave them an audience and to him they explained how Yzz ud din had discovered Tarantai’s evil plotting and also that of his colleague. On a time, as they said, Tarantai had been stricken by lightning, hence should not stand in the presence of Mangu. Shuja ed din, his associate, was a leech greatly skilled in all magic, and had with him poison to use for the Grand Khan’s undoing; hence the Sultan had sent them to replace those two envoys, who must go back immediately to Konia.

Batu commanded to search the effects of the envoys; certain roots were found in them, among other things scammony. They directed Shuja to swallow the drugs in his baggage. He swallowed parts of each except scammony. Batu thought this last to be poison, but his doctor declared it a plant used in medicine. After that the Khan decided that Alai ud din must go with the new envoys, while the two others must take with them the presents.

Each party went its own way. Alai ud din died on the journey. When they arrived at the court of Mangu, the opposing officials defended each two of them their own cause. The Grand Khan decided that Rūm must be given to both brothers, Yzz ud din getting everything west of the Sivas, and Rokn ud din all that lay east of that river, as far as the Erzerum border. The tribute was fixed, which each Sultan must send in annually.

After Alai ud din had set out for Mongolia, Rokn ud din’s partisans, thinking that Yzz ud din wished to be rid of this brother, had him slip away from the capital where agents were watching him. He went to Cesaraea, gathered troops there and led them to Konia where, defeated in battle, he was captured and imprisoned.

In 1255, one year later, Baidju being impatient at Yzz ud din’s loitering with the tribute, entered Rūm, marched against Konia, and met the Sultan’s forces between Ak Serai and the capital where he scattered them. Yzz ud din fled and found refuge in the stronghold Anthalia.

Baidju then took Rokn ud din out of prison and installed him as Sultan in all the Rūm provinces. Yzz ud din fled now a second time and found refuge with the Byzantine Emperor who was visiting Sardis. This emperor, Theodore Lascaris, fearing Rokn ud din’s partisans, as well as the Mongols, advised the fleeing Sultan to return to his kingdom. Yzz ud din took the advice, and offered submission to Hulagu, who upheld the division of Rūm between the two brothers.

When Mangu became Grand Khan in 1251 the Cilician king, Hayton, begged Batu to recommend him to the new Mongol sovereign. Batu counseled him thus wise: “Go to Mangu and stop on the way to confer with me.” The Armenian, alarmed by the length of the journey, and knowing that evils might happen to the country in his absence, was fearful to leave it. Meanwhile Argun, the collector, with a great horde of Moslem assistants, appeared in Armenia. These men caused immense hardship to Christians. “Whoso could not pay,” declares an Armenian historian, “suffered torture. Owners of land were driven from their places, their children and women were sold into slavery. Any man trying to emigrate and caught in the act was stripped, beaten and torn to pieces by raging dogs kept for that purpose.”

The King, learning of these savage deeds in Armenia, decided to go to the Grand Khan and intercede for the people of his nation, but the death of his queen, Isabella, detained him. He set out at last in 1254 and, traveling in disguise, crossed Asia Minor. He passed through Derbend to the court of Batu, and to that of Sartak, Batu’s son, said then to be a Christian. From Batu’s Horde he spent five months in reaching Mangu, who received him with distinction. Letters patent were given the King. These were to serve as a safeguard to him and his country, and as a charter of freedom to the church in Armenia. He remained fifty days at the court, and returned in 1255 to Cilicia through Transoxiana and Persia. Hulagu had at this time arrived with his army.

Great was the ruin effected by Mongols in Asia Minor between Jelal ud din’s death and the coming of Hulagu. Great too were the ravages wrought by Jelal through his various adventures. Though Chormagun’s army and that under Baidju were vastly inferior to those of the princes in Western Asia, the dissensions of those princes were so hopeless and their wretched self-seeking so pitiful and paltry that the enemy brought most of them down to death or submission, and thousands upon thousands of people to destruction or torture.

After Jinghis Khan had returned from the west to Mongolia his eldest son, Juchi, left Chin Timur in Kwaresm as its governor. When Chormagun was sent out by Ogotai against Jelal ud din, Chin Timur was commanded to march with the troops of Kwaresm, and keep guard in Khorassan while Chormagun was destroying the Sultan. Chin Timur remained in Khorassan as governor, having as colleagues four officers appointed by the heads of the four groups in Jinghis Khan’s family, namely: Kelilat by the Grand Khan; Nussal by Batu; Kul Toga by Jagatai, and Tunga by the widow and sons of Tului. Those countries west of the Transoxiana, and south of it, were the undivided inheritance of Jinghis Khan’s family. Despite all the horrors committed in Khorassan there was something still left there to pillage. Many districts had escaped through ready submission, and at their first coming the Mongols knew not precisely the value of treasures, but Chin Timur knew the value of jewels and gold, and was eager to get them. People were tortured by him to disclose hidden wealth, and on learning where it was he killed them very promptly. The few who were spared had to buy back their homes. Besides there was still another misery. Kwaresmian bands ravaged actively in Khorassan. They killed all the prefects whom Chormagun the Mongol general sent to various places, and searched out and slew Kwaresmians who were faithful to Mongols. These bands were parts of a corps of Kankalis, ten thousand in number, or thereabouts, who occupied chiefly the Tus and the Nishapur mountains. Togan Sangur and Karadja, two of Jelal ud din’s lieutenants, commanded them.

Chin Timur attacked thrice these Kankalis, but did not master or crush them. At last, Kelilat, his lieutenant, succeeded at Sebzevar, after three days of desperate fighting. In this struggle he lost two thousand warriors. Karadja fled to the Sidjistan country to save himself, while Sangur sought refuge in the Kuhistan mountains. Three thousand Kankalis went to find safety in Herat. Kelilat sent four thousand horsemen to end them. After three days of hard struggle those four thousand forced the grand mosque where the three thousand had hoped to find safety, and there every man died at the sword edge. Of course the attackers lost heavily.

Sair Bahadur who commanded at Badghis had been commissioned by the Grand Khan to march against Karadja and take fire and sword to all rebels. He was on the road when he heard that Karadja, defeated by Kelilat, had shut himself up in Arak Seistan. Sair invested the place, but only after two years of hard toil did he take it.

This general now informed Chin Timur, that the Grand Khan had given him Khorassan to govern, and that he, Chin Timur, had no further power in that country.

Chin Timur reproached Kelilat with seeking those districts of Khorassan which had been recovering from ruin, and whose people were innocent of Karadja’s excesses, and forewarned Sair that he was sending a report to the Grand Khan through an officer, and would wait for his orders. Meanwhile Chin Timur and the others received from Chormagun a command to march with their forces and join him, leaving Mazanderan and Khorassan to Sair Bahadur. Chin Timur thereupon counseled with his officers. It was settled at last that Kelilat should go to Ogotai, and get Mazanderan and Khorassan for Chin Timur. As this officer served the Grand Khan directly, he was chosen as the best man for the mission. To secure a good hearing he took from those two great regions various small princes who had given their submission.

Kara Kurum now beheld for the first time princes of Iran. When Ogotai heard of their coming he was gratified greatly. He compared Chin Timur’s methods with Chormagun’s action. Chormagun, master in rich and broad countries, had never sent to his sovereign even one from among vassal rulers. Chin Timur was made governor, and with him was associated Kelilat; both were free of Chormagun and every other commander. Ogotai gave feasts to honor the Persian princes, his vassals. He showed them many marks of high favor, and when they were going he confirmed each one of them in his own region.

Chin Timur made Sherif ud din of Kwaresm his sealkeeper, and Behai ud din Juveini the minister of Finance. Commanders of troops belonging to the three other branches of Jinghis Khan’s family had each one an agent in the ministry of Finance.

Chin Timur dying in 1235 was succeeded by Nussal, a Mongol commander who was nearly one hundred years old when he took up his office, and soon he gave way to Kurguz, Chin Timur’s chancellor and favorite. It is said that Kurguz had organized honestly and well the affairs of Khorassan and had repressed a whole legion of fiscal extortioners. This of course made him enemies among whom were Sherif ud din, the vizir, and Kelilat, the commander, who were working at Ogotai’s court to destroy him.

Kurguz was an Uigur and a Buddhist and had risen mainly through merit. Born in a village not far from Bishbalik, the Uigur capital, he had striven in early life to master Uigur letters and penmanship. That done, he began service with an officer attached to Prince Juchi. One day while the prince was out hunting a letter was brought him from his father. None of his secretaries were present, so search was made for a man to read Uigur. Kurguz was brought in and he read Jinghis Khan’s letter to Juchi; he was the only man in that party who could read it. Juchi took him then to his service. Since his penmanship was beautiful, Kurguz was sent to teach letters and writing to the children of Juchi which he did till Chin Timur was made governor of Khorassan. Kurguz was then attached to him as secretary; he soon won his confidence and was made minister. He kept his office under Nussal, but was summoned to Mongolia to explain the affairs of Khorassan. Danishmend Hadjih, an enemy of Chinkai, Ogotai’s minister and the special friend of Kurguz, was toiling at that time to put Ongu Timur, Chin Timur’s son, in the place held before by his father, while Chinkai was using every effort to make Kurguz master, hence, choosing a moment when he was alone with the Grand Khan, Chinkai explained that the chief men of Khorassan were anxious that Kurguz should manage their country, and he obtained an ordinance from Ogotai, by which Kurguz was sent to collect for a time all the taxes and make a census of Mazanderan and Khorassan. While this task was in progress no man was to trouble him for any cause. If Kurguz did his work well he would be rewarded.

Kurguz came back to Khorassan with this patent and commenced work with vigor. Nussal, set aside by this document, was old and quite powerless, but Kelilat, his aid, being a man of capacity and keenly ambitious, raised his voice in opposition. Kurguz showed his patent: “Here is the order that no man may trouble me in my labor.” Kelilat found no answer on that day. Kurguz reorganized Mazanderan and Khorassan, putting down as he did so a whole army of extortioners and tyrants.

Meanwhile Sherif ud din, the vizir, and Kelilat, who were powerless against Ogotai’s patent and Kurguz, with his strong will and purpose, urged Ongu to ask with insistence for the place of his father. The vizir, while feigning to be the fast friend of Kurguz, was rousing up every power possible against him. Swept away by these efforts, Ongu sent a nephew to Ogotai with false accusations, incriminating Kurguz. These accusations were upheld with activity by all who were hostile to Chinkai. Ogotai now sent Argun with two others to investigate and report to him. Kurguz, on learning that Ongu had sent an agent to Ogotai, set out himself to explain the position, leaving Behai ud din to manage in his absence. At Tenakit he came on the members of Argun’s commission, who declared that he must go back to Tus with them. He refused. Thereupon there was violence and he lost one tooth in a personal encounter. He returned, but before starting he sent a trusty friend in the night time to Ogotai, bearing one of his garments which was blood stained.

When the commission arrived at Khorassan the commanders of troops with Kelilat, Ongu and Nussal, expelled from the residence of Kurguz his secretaries and other assistants. Kurguz himself wanted simply to hold the position till his messenger returned from Mongolia. This man came at last with an order to the civil and military chiefs to state each man his case before Ogotai, who had been incensed by the bloody garment.

Kurguz communicated this order to his enemies, and set out at once without waiting for their answers. Many persons of distinction went with him. Kelilat, Ongu and others followed quickly and both parties reached Bukhara simultaneously. In the time of a feast which was given them by the governor, Kelilat was assassinated.

When the opponents reached Ogotai’s capital the Grand Khan wished to dine in a beautiful tent which Ongu had just given him. After the meal he went out for some minutes, intending to reënter, but as soon as he had left the pavilion a blast of wind overturned it. The Grand Khan, through annoyance and superstition, commanded to rend the tent in pieces immediately.

Some days later a tent was erected which with its contents Kurguz had given Ogotai. Inside were displayed curious things of many kinds and much value; all these were gifts to the Grand Khan. Among other objects was a girdle set with stones known as yarkan. When Ogotai put on this girdle he was freed from a pain in the loins which had troubled him somewhat. He drank that day freely and was in excellent humor. Kurguz might consider his cause as triumphant. Chinkai, his protector, had been appointed with other Uigurs to examine all statements of the rivals. On one side was Kurguz, helped by persons of value, position and substance; he himself had much keenness. On the other, since Kelilat’s death, there were only that general’s sons, who were still little children, and Ongu, a young man devoid of experience. But at the end of some months the affair was still pending. Ogotai, wishing peace between the two rivals, commanded Ongu and Kurguz to live in one tent and drink from the same goblet. Care had been taken to remove every weapon. This plan proved resultless, and Chinkai and his aids gave in their report to the sovereign.

Ogotai summoned the two sides before him. When he had questioned each one he condemned both Ongu and his partisans. “But,” said he to Ongu, “since thou art under Batu I will refer the whole matter to him; he it is who will punish thee.”

Chinkai, taking pity on Ongu, approached him, whispered, and then spoke aloud to the Grand Khan: “Ongu Timur has said this to me. ‘The Grand Khan is higher than Batu. Should a dog, such as I am, cause these two sovereigns to deliberate? Let the Grand Khan fix my fate; he can fix it in one moment.’”

“Thy words are wise,” replied Ogotai, “Batu would not pardon his own son had he acted as thou hast.”

Ongu’s adherents were punished. Some were bastinadoed immediately while others were given to Kurguz with the wish that he put the kang on each man of them, and all had to go back with the victor. “Let them learn,” said the Grand Khan, “that according to Jinghis Khan’s Yassa and justice, calumny brings with it death for the sake of example, but since their children and wives are awaiting them I bestow life on those people, if they offend not a second time. But tell Kurguz too that he, like those who are punished, is also my servitor, and should he cherish hatred toward any he himself will be subject to punishment.” After that he gave Kurguz rule over all the lands south and west of the Oxus.

Persian lords also begged patents, but Kurguz convinced Chinkai that if others got patents of any kind they would assume independence of the governor. It was settled then that no patent should be issued save the one given Kurguz.

Sherif ud din continued double dealing; he feigned friendship for Kurguz while working as an enemy in secret. On noting Ogotai’s action, an adherent of Ongu gave Kurguz certain papers in Sherif’s own hand, which proved the entire recent trouble to be the sole work of that trickster. When he learned this, Ogotai did not wish the vizir to go back to Persia lest he suffer from Kurguz. Sherif was rejoiced to escape, but some friend warned Kurguz not to lose sight of an enemy who would take the first chance to destroy him. Kurguz got permission to take with him Sherif, whose presence, as he said, was important. The taxes had not yet been brought to Khorassan and collectors might charge some of these to Sherif in his absence.

Kurguz went back to Tus and there fixed his residence. He summoned promptly the chief men in Khorassan and Irak, as well as the Mongol commanders, and marked his accession to power by a festival which lasted some days, during which the new ordinances were issued.

He sent his son with officials of finance to take from Chormagun’s officers control over districts in Azerbaidjan and in Irak which they were ruining by exactions. Every noyon, every officer acted with absolute power in the region or city where he functioned, and seized for himself the main income of the treasury. These petty despots lost their places and were forced to restore even large sums of money.

Kurguz protected the lives and the property of Persians against Mongol officers, who now could not bend people’s heads when they met them. The warrior lost power to vex peaceful people along roads over which he was marching. Kurguz was both feared and respected. He raised Tus again from its ruins. On the eve of his coming there were only fifty inhabited houses within its limits. When he had chosen it as a residence Persian lords came to live in that capital and within a week land rose a hundred-fold as to value.

Herat too reappeared out of ashes and fragments. After the ruin and sack of that city in 1222 its site had been occupied by very few persons, but in 1236, when Ogotai commanded to raise up Khorassan, it was planned to repeople Herat, once so prosperous. An Emir, Yzz ud din, whom with one thousand families Tului had transported to Bishbalik from Herat, received now command to come back with one tenth of his following. These people at first had much difficulty in finding subsistence, through lack of draught cattle. Men of all ranks had to draw ploughs in the manner of oxen. Earth tillers were forced to irrigate land out of water pots, all canals being choked up and ruined. When the first harvest was gathered, twenty strong men were chosen to bear each twenty menns of cotton to the country of the Afghans, and sell it. They did so and brought back implements for tillage.

In 1241 the chiefs of this settlement sent to the Grand Khan for more people. At the end of five months two hundred new families were added to Herat. A census taken the year following showed the city as having six thousand nine hundred inhabitants. In following years the increase became rapid.

On arriving at Tus Kurguz put a kang on his enemy Sherif. He drew from him afterward confessions which were sent to the court in Mongolia. His messenger learned on the road that the Grand Khan was dead. Kurguz himself had set out to explain the whole system introduced by him recently in Persia. While passing through Transoxiana he had a quarrel with an officer of Jagatai’s household. Threatened with complaint before that prince’s widow he replied that he cared not. This answer when taken to the widow roused wrath and keen hatred. Alarmed by the quarrel and hearing of Ogotai’s death with the loss of protection, he judged best to turn back and he did so.

Meanwhile the wife of Sherif had sent people promptly to the Jinghis Khan princes imploring protection for her husband. Those messengers had been seized on the way save one among all of them. This man escaped and reached Ulug Iff, the chief residence of Jagatai, whose wives and sons sent Argun out with orders to bring them Kurguz of his own will or, if need be, in spite of him. On hearing this order Kurguz, who had given Sherif to the prefect of Sebzevar who was to kill him, sent command straightway to stay the execution. When Argun was approaching, Kurguz found retreat in a storehouse. Since the governor would not yield himself willingly, Argun required aid of the district commanders and got it. These men were all foes of Kurguz since he had fought their abuses. When they were ready to burst in and take him, he threw the gates open declaring that he was no enemy.

Kurguz was taken to Jagatai’s sons and examined. After that he was sent to the court of Turakina, Ogotai’s widow, who was regent in Mongolia. Chinkai, his protector, was gone. He had fled from the hatred of the regent which intrigue had roused wrongfully against him. To crown his misfortune, the governor of Persia was penniless, hence had no power to establish his innocence. He was sent back at command of the regent to Jagatai’s sons to be judged by them. He answered straightforwardly all questions which they put to him, nevertheless, Kara Hulagu adjudged death to the governor. His mouth was crammed then with earth and in that way they strangled and killed him.

Kurguz being dead, Sherif had a chance now to prove himself, and he did so; he engaged to collect four thousand balishes due, as he stated, from Mazanderan and Khorassan. This Sherif, destined to death by Kurguz very recently, was the son of a porter of Kwaresm. He became page to the governor of the country, who chose him because of his personal beauty. When Chin Timur was commanded to enter Khorassan and assist Chormagun in that country he wanted a secretary. No man wished that office because the incumbent must act against Moslems, and the issue of the enterprise seemed doubtful. The governor of Kwaresm, whose feelings had cooled toward Sherif, who by that time had lost youthful freshness and was acting only as secretary, gave him to Chin Timur. Sherif had learned the Mongol language already and, being the only man able to interpret, all business passed through his hands and he became greatly important.

When Argun went as governor to Khorassan many agents of Turakina, the regent, went with him. These he left in the province to gather the imposts and taxes, going himself into Azerbaidjan and to Irak to rescue those countries from Mongol commanders, who acted as if the whole conquest had been made by them only, and for their sole personal profit. At Tebriz he received envoys from Rūm and from Syria, who implored his protection. He sent men to those countries to gather tribute.

All this time Sherif, who had received from Argun perfect liberty of

## action, wrested taxes from people with unparalleled audacity and

harshness. Each collector was bound and instructed to spare no man. To extort from the victims all that was humanly possible, armed warriors of the garrison were quartered in houses; people were seized and imprisoned, kept without food or even water, nay more, they were tortured. Moslem ulemas, exempt from all tribute to Mongols and hitherto treated respectfully, came to ask mercy for themselves and for others. Widows and orphans, exempt by the laws of Jinghis and Mohammed, came to implore simple justice. These people were treated with the utmost contempt, and were flouted by Sherif’s assistants. Men pledged at Tebriz their own children, and sometimes they sold them to find means to pay taxes. One collector on entering a house where a dead man was laid out for burial, and finding no other property to seize, had the shroud stripped from the body, and took it.

Sherif’s agents assembled at Rayi after passing through Irak on their great round of robbery. They brought the fruits of their merciless

## activity and extortion to the chief mosque, and placed them in piles

there. Beasts of burden were driven into that edifice, which was sacred for most of the people. Then the carpets of the mosque were taken and cut into sizes that suited the robbers. In those pieces they wrapped all the wealth which they had gathered and took it away on the backs of pack animals. Happily for Persia, and for most people in it, Sherif ud din met his death some months later (1244).

Argun did what he could, as it seems, to correct those abuses. He remitted taxes not paid before Sherif’s death, and freed all who were in prison for non-payment. Argun had been summoned to the Kurultai which elected Kuyuk and there an important abuse became prominent. Since Ogotai’s death the various princes of Jinghis Khan’s family had given to some orders on the revenue of districts in Persia, and given also orders of exemption to others. Argun collected these orders and delivered them to the Grand Khan in person. Of all presents brought to Kuyuk this was the one which gave him most pleasure. The orders were delivered in the presence of the princes who had issued them. Kuyuk continued Argun as the governor of Persia, and those whom Argun favored obtained whatever offices he asked for them.

On returning to Persia, Argun was received in Merv splendidly. But he saw very soon that powerful opponents at court were intriguing against him, hence he set out again for Mongolia. While on the road he learned of Kuyuk’s death and turned back to make barracks for troops sent by that Grand Khan to reduce populations not subject as yet to the Mongols. Now arrived also agents of various princes with orders on the revenues for years in advance of collection. This abuse, which was ruinous, endured till the interregnum was ended.

Argun reached the court only after the election of Mangu in July, 1251. He complained of those orders on the income and he condemned the great hordes of officials who went to collect them. These people lived on the country, he said, and they ruined it. It was decided at last that each man in Persia should pay in proportion to his property. This tax was varied from one to ten dinars, and was to maintain the militia and post routes; also envoys of the Grand Khan. Nothing more would be asked of the people.

Argun retained his high office of governor. Persia was divided into four parts; in each was a lieutenant under Argun. Evil doers were punished, at least for a season, and here is a striking example of this justice: Hindudjak, a general and chief of ten thousand, who had taken life from a melik of Rūm without reason, was put to death, though a Mongol, outside the Tus gate by direction of Mangu. His property, family and slaves were divided among the four parts of the Jinghis Khan family.

When he had fixed administration in Persia, Argun at command of the Grand Khan went back to Mongolia to explain the position.

East Persia had been given by Mangu as a fief to Melik Shems ud din Mohammed Kurt, lord of the castle of Khissar in Khorassan. Osman Mergani, his grandfather, had been made governor of this stronghold by his brother, Omar Mergani, the all-powerful vizir of Ghiath ud din of the Gur line of princes. When Osman died Abu Bekr succeeded him. Abu Bekr married a daughter of Ghiath ud din; from this union came Melik Shems ud din Mohammed, who in 1245 lost his father and inherited the Gur kingdom. He went to the Kurultai and arrived on the day of election. He was presented by Mangu’s officials, who informed the Grand Khan of the merits of the father and grandfather of the man then before him, not forgetting, of course, Shems ud din’s own high qualities.

Mangu received Shems ud din with distinction and invested him with Herat and its dependencies which extended from the Oxus to the Indus, including Merv, Gur, Seistan, Kabul, and Afghanistan. Mangu commanded besides, that Argun deliver to his agents fifty tumans as a present.

Next day at an intimate audience the Grand Khan gave the favorite a robe from his own shoulders, three tablets, and objects of the value of ten thousand dinars; a sabre from India, a club with the head of a bull on it, a battle axe, a lance and a dagger. Shems ud din then set out for Herat attended by one of the Grand Khan’s own officers. He turned aside on arriving in Persia to go with a salutation to Argun, to whom the commands of Mangu were exhibited. The governor treated him with great respect, and had fifty tumans delivered to his agents.

Shems ud din reigned in Herat as a sovereign and took many strongholds in Afghanistan, Guermsir, and other places.

Kerman was held at that time by the son of Borak Hadjib. After slaying Ghiath ud din, the brother of Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Persia, Borak asked the title of Sultan from the Kalif, and received it. Kutlug Sultan was the name which he gave himself. When Sair Bahadur laid siege to Seistan at the head of a Mongol division, he summoned Borak to show the Grand Khan obedience and furnish troops also. Borak declared that he could take the place with his own men, the Mongols might spare themselves trouble. His great age, he added, hindered him from going to the Grand Khan, but his son would go thither instead of him.

In fact he sent Rokn ud din Khodja. While on the road to Mongolia this young prince heard of the death of his father, and the usurpation of power by Kutb ud din his own cousin. He continued the journey, however, and was received well by Ogotai, who, to reward him for coming so far to look on the face of the Grand Khan, gave him Kerman which he was to hold in his character of vassal with the title and name of his father, Kutlug Sultan.

Kutb ud din now received a summons to appear at the court in Mongolia. Shortly after his arrival he was sent to China under command of Yelvadji. After Ogotai’s death Kutb ud din went to that Kurultai at which Kuyuk was elected, and strove then to get Kerman, but met only failure. Chinkai, the minister, was the firm friend of his rival, and he himself was commanded to go back to Yelvadji. Soon after, he went with this governor from China to the new Kurultai, which chose Mangu from whom, and with the aid of Yelvadji, he obtained the throne of Kerman. When Kutb ud din was approaching Kerman, Rokn ud din was departing with treasures to Lur where he asked an asylum from the Kalif. The Kalif, not wishing to anger the Mongols, refused it, and now Rokn ud din resolved to repair to the court of Mangu to find justice.

The two rivals were summoned to the Grand Khan’s tribunal. Rokn ud din lost his case and was given to his cousin, who struck him down with his own hand, and killed him. Kutb ud din ruled in Kerman till his death in 1258. He was son of that Tanigu the treacherous prefect of Taraz under the last sovereign of Kara Kitai. Tanigu was Borak Hadjib’s own brother.

When Hulagu came with his army to Persia, Kutb ud din met him at Jend to show homage and honor.

This was the position in Persia in 1254 when Hulagu went to that country to conquer, to slaughter, and to regulate. His very first task was to root out and destroy the Ismailians who had formed the famed mountain Commonwealth of Assassins, and then he was to bring to obedience or ruin the successor of Mohammed the Abbasid Kalif at Bagdad.

That the importance of this expedition may be understood a brief sketch of the origin and history of the Assassins must be given.

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