Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:45:12.877Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Career of Mohammad Beg, Grand Vizier of Shah 'Abbas II (r. 1642-1666)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Rudi Matthee
Rudi Matthee*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Denver
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

La plus belle charge de la cour, c'est la faveur.

Safavid historiography has oscillated between admiration and vilification in its appraisal of Shah ‘Abbas II's reign (1642-1666). In the accounts of contemporary observers—for the most part European travelers—one finds favorable descriptions of the shah and his court as part of a positive assessment of the overall state of the country. Impressed by the hospitality they enjoyed at the court of Isfahan, these foreign visitors spoke highly of a magnanimous and tolerant monarch; moreover, the absence of rebellion and relatively secure roads prompted them to refer to Iran as a prosperous and stable country. Those who visited Iran within a generation after the shah's death corroborated this image; indeed, in their narratives one already finds an element of nostalgia for the days of ‘Abbas II.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1-4 , 1991 , pp. 17 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. d'Andilly, Robert Arnauld, inédit, Journal (1614-1620), ed. Halphen, Achille (Paris, 1857), 168Google Scholar, quoted in Bergin, Joseph, The Rise of Richelieu (New Haven, 1991), 116Google Scholar.

2. See Manucci, N. , Sloria di Mogor or Mogul India 1653-1708, ed. and trans. Irvine, W., 4 vols. (London, 1907), 1: 40Google Scholar; and Tavernier, Jean Baptiste, Les six voyages de Jean Babl. Tavernier, en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes, 2 vols. (Utrecht, 1712), 1: 520-63, 580-81, 616, 663Google Scholar.

3. Chardin, Jean, Voyages du chevalier Chardin, en Perse, et autres lieux de l'Orient, ed. Langlès, L., 10 vols. and map (Paris, 1811), 9: 398-9Google Scholar; and Kaempfer, Engelbert, Am Hofe des persischen Grosskönigs 1684-1685, ed. and trans. Hinz, Walther (Tubingen, 1977), 46Google Scholar.

4. The first to do so was Father du Cerceau in his introduction to Tadeusz Krusinski's account of the fall of the Safavids, The History of the Late Revolutions of Persia, 2d ed., 2 vols. (London, 1733), 1: 49-52. For nineteenth and twentiethcentury examples, see Malcolm, Sir John, The History of Persia from the Most Early Period to the Present Time, 2 vols. (London, 1815), 1: 582-3Google Scholar; Sykes, Sir Percy, A History of Persia, 2 vols. (London, 1930), 2: 211Google Scholar; Lockhart, Laurence, The Fall of the Safavi Dynasty and the Afghan Occupation of Persia (Cambridge, 1958), 28-9 (Lockhart used the term “Indian summer” for ‘Abbas II's reign)Google Scholar; Nava'i, ‘Abd al-Hosayn, Iran va jahan az Moghol tā Qājārlyeh (Tehran, 1366 S./1987), 334Google Scholar; and Roemer, Hans Robert, Persien auf dem Weg in die Neuzeit: Iranische Geschichte von 1350-1750 (Beirut, 1989), 339-40Google Scholar.

5. See A Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia and the Papal Mission of the XVIIth and XVIlIth Centuries, 2 vols. (London, 1939), 1: 365, 404. For modern studies echoing this assessment see Spicehandler, Ezra, “The Persecution of the Jews of Isfahan under Shah ‘Abbas II (1642-1666),” Hebrew Union College Annual 46 (1975): 331-47Google Scholar; Moreen, Vera Basch, Iranian Jewry's Hour of Peril and Heroism: A Study of Babai Ibn Lutfs Chronicle (1617-1662) (New York- Jerusalem, 1987)Google Scholar; idem, “The Persecution of Iranian Jews during the Reign of Shah ‘Abbas II (1642-1666),” Hebrew Union College Annual 52 (1981): 275-309; idem, “The Downfall of Muhammad ['Ali] Beg, Grand Vizier of Shah ‘Abbas II (Reigned 1642-1666),” The Jewish Quarterly Review 72 (1981): 81-99.

6. The notable exception is Paul Luft, “Iran unter Schah ‘Abbas II (1642-1666)” (Dissertation Phil., University of Gottingen, 1968).

7. See the modern studies mentioned in note 5.

8. Chardin, Voyages 4: 286-7; 9: 116.

9. Monshi, Eskandar Beg Torkman and Movarrekh, Mohammad Yusuf, Ẕayl-e tārīkhe ‘ālam ārā-ye ‘Abbāsi, ed. Khwansari, S. (Tehran, 1317 S./1938), 281Google Scholar. See also Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 616. On the qaychāchī-bāshī see Vladimir Minorsky (ed. and trans.) Tadhkirat al-muluk: A Manual of Safavid Administration (London, 1940), 65-6.

10. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 616.

11. Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague (hereafter ARA), VOC 1379, report Casembroot to Heren XVII, 25 November 1682, fol. 2735r.

12. ARA, Collectie Geleynssen de Jongh, 283, Isfahan to Gamron (Bandar ‘Abbas), 4 October 1646, fol. 437.

13. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 617. According to Vali-qoli Shamlu b. Davud-qoli's Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, Mohammad ‘Ali Beg died on Wednesday 8 Dhu'l hijjah 1059 and Mohammad Beg received his assignment on the 12th of the same month. These dates would have corresponded with Saturday 13 and Wednesday 17 December 1649. In reality the events took place two years later, for a Dutch embassy that had arrived in Bandar ‘Abbas from Batavia in December 1651 received the news of Mohammad ‘Ali Beg's death and Mohammad Beg's appointment from a merchant on 24 January 1652. If the date of Mohammad ‘Ali Beg's death was 8 Dhu'l hijjah 1061, the Christian date would have been 22 November 1651. See Davud-qoli, Vali-qoli Shamlu b., Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, Ms. Or. 7656, British Library, fol. 91; and Cornells Speelman, Journaal der reis van den gezant der O.I. Compagnie Joan Cunaeus naar Perzië. in 1651-1652, ed. Hotz, A. (Amsterdam, 1908), 54Google Scholar.

14. Speelman, Journaal, 54.

15. ARA, VOC, Gamron to Batavia, 16 May 1654, fol. 815v.

16. See Luft, “Schah ‘Abbas II,” 88. The story of Mirza Mohammad Taqi is told by Braun, Hellmut, “Ein iranischer Grosswesir des 17 Jahrhunderts: Mirza Muhammad-Taqi,” in Eilers, Wilhelm(ed.), Festgabe deutscher Iranisten zur 2500. Jahrfeier Irans (Stuttgart, 1971), 1-7Google Scholar; and by Falsafi, Nasrollah, “Sargoẕasht-e Sārū Taqī,” Chand maqāleh-ye tārīkhl va adabī (Tehran, 1342 S./1963), 287-310Google Scholar.

17. For Shaykh ‘Ali Khan see Rudi Matthee, “Administrative Change in Late Seventeenth- Century Iran: The Case of Shaykh ‘Ali Khan,” forthcoming in International Journal of Middle East Studies.

18. Minorsky, Tadhkiral al-mulūk, 23—4. See also Foran, John, “The Long Fall of the Safavid Dynasty: Moving Beyond the Standard Views,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 24 (1992): 281-304CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19. Chardin, Voyages 5: 416-20.

20. Qazvini, Mirza Mohammad Taher Vahid, ‘Abbāsnāmeh, ed. Dehqan (Arak, 1329 S./1950), 19-20Google Scholar.

21. ARA, VOC 1144, Daghregister Walckaert, 22 October 1642, fol. 567v. The reception of the Özbeg embassy, it was later said, included the carpeting of a onemile stretch of the route with gold sheets. See ARA, Coll. Geleynssen de Jongh 157a, Isfahan to Qazvin, 5 November 1642.

22. Qazvini, Abu'I Hasan, Favā'ed-e Ṣafavīyeh, ed. Ahmadi, Maryam Mir (Tehran, 1367 S./1988), 66Google Scholar.

23. Vahid Qazvini, ‘Abbasnameh, 103.

24. See the reports by John Lewis, Isfahan to Company, 26 July and 21 November 1649, in Foster, William, The English Factories in India, 1646-1650 (Oxford, 1914), 256-7, 270Google Scholar; Speelman, Journaal, 211-12, 249, 286.

25. ARA, VOC 1170, Gamron to Batavia, 15 May 1648, fol. 738; Foster, English Factories, 123.

26. P. Raphael du Mans, Estat de la Perse en 1660, ed. Ch. Schefer (Paris, 1890), 18.

27. Chardin, Voyages 5: 345.

28. This is related in Manucci, Storia di Mogor 1: 21-35; Foster, English Factories, 20-24; and Luft, “Iran unter Schah ‘Abbas II,” 62-3. For the Bellomont embassy see also Lockhart, Laurence, “The Diplomatic Missions of Henry Bard, Viscount Bellomont, to Persia and India,” Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 4 (1966): 97-104CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29. For this argument see Röhrborn, Klaus, “Staatskanzlei und Absolutismus im safawidischen Persien,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft 127 (1977): 316-7Google Scholar.

30. For the harsh winter and the inflation see Nasrabadi, Mohammad, Taẕkereh-ye Naṣrābādī, ed. Dastgerdi, Hasan Vahid (Tehran, 1317 S./1938), 421Google Scholar;” and Afshar, Iraj, “'Enqelab-e deram’ dar zāman-e Shàh ‘Abbās-e dovvom” Tārīkh: Zamīmehye majalleh-ye ddneshkadeh-ye adabīyāt va ‘olūm-e ensānī 1 (2535 Shahanshahi/ 1976): 267-74Google Scholar. See also Matthee, Rudi, “Politics and Trade in Late-Safavid Iran: Commercial Crisis and Government Reaction Under Shah Solayman (1666— 1694)” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1991), 123ffGoogle Scholar.

31. See Rafi'a, Mirza, “Dastūr al-molūk,” ed. Daneshpazhuh, M. T., Majalleh-ye dāneshkadeh-ye adabīyāt va ‘olūm-e ensānī-ye dàneshgàh-e Tehrān 16 (1347-48 S./1968-69)Google Scholar: 80-81; and the study of the sepahsālār by Roger Savory, forthcoming in the proceedings of the 2d European Conference of Iranian Studies, Bamberg, 30 September-4 October 1991.

32. Chardin, Voyages 5: 312-3.

33. Ibid. 7: 137.

34. ARA, VOC 1232, Gamron to Heren XVII, 25 December 1660, fol. 368v.

35. See Rohrborn, Provinzen und Zentralgewalt Persiens im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1966), 122Google Scholar.

36. Du Mans, Estat de la Perse, 226.

37. ARA, VOC 1224, Gamron to Batavia, 1 March 1658, fol. 800.

38. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 617-20Google Scholar; Sir Wilson, Arnold T., “History of the Mission of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, Established in Persia by the Reverend Father Alexander of Rhodes,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 3 (1923-25): 699-700Google Scholar.

39. Ibid. The search for lead is also mentioned in Mir Mohammad Sa'id Moshizi (Bardsiri), Taẕkereh-ye Safavīyeh-ye Kermān, ed. Mohammad Bastani-Parizi (Tehran, 1369S./1990), 273-4.

40. Chardin, Voyages 7: 283.

41. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 621-2.

42. ARA, Coll. Geleynssen de Jongh 283, Extract daghregister Winninx, 8 January 1646, fol. 328.

43. For the struggle within the religious ranks see Said Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion, Political Order and Societal Change in Shi'ite Iran from the Beginning to 1890 (Chicago, 1984), ch. 5.

44. For this episode see Rudi Matthee, “Coffee in Safavid Iran: Commerce and Consumption,” forthcoming in The Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient.

45. As is maintained for the Jews by Moreen, “Problems of Conversion,” 220.

46. ARA, VOC 1215, Gamron to Batavia, 30 March 1657, fol. 863v-864.

47. Wilson, “History of the Mission,” 695. This story sounds less implausible when we consider that the period in question was coincident with the messianic expectations among the Jews in the Ottoman Empire that culminated in the movement of Sabbatai Zevi in the 1660s.

48. ARA, VOC 1215, Gamron to Batavia, 30 March 1657, fols. 863v-864.

49. Favā'ed-e Safavīyeh, 66, states that ‘Abbas II regaled Allah Verdi Khan in 1060/1650 with gold-embroidered silk wovens, inlaid with six rubies and a gemstudded dagger.

50. Foster, English Factories, 66.

51. Shamlu, Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, fol. 91.

52. ARA, VOC 1203, Gamron to Batavia, 21 March 1653, fol. 798v; VOC 1201, Gamron to Batavia, 5 April 1653, fol. 777v.

53. Ibid., 16 May 1654, fols. 8O7v-8O8r.

54. Speelman, Journaal, 33, 70, 231.

55. Ibid., 54.

56. Coolhaas, W. Ph., Generate missiven van gouverneurs-generaal en raden aan Heren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, vol. II, 1639-1655 (The Hague, 1964), 803Google Scholar.

57. This can be deduced from combining the information in Foster, English Factories, 88 & 127, ARA, VOC 1226, 1 March 1658, fol. 806, Coolhaas, Generale missiven 3: 1655-74 (The Hague, 1968), 276, and the EIC documents in India Office Records, London (hereafter IOR), E/3/26/2868, Isfahan to Company, 25 January 1660. 58. ARA, VOC 1226, Gamron to Batavia, 1 March 1658, fol. 806.

58. ARA, VOC 1226, Gamron to Batavia, 1 March 1658, fol. 806.

59. Vahid Qazvini, ‘Abbāsnāmeh, 149.

60. Torkman/Movarrekh, Ẕayl-e tārīkh, 281.

61. Coolhaas, Generale missiven 2: 803.

62. ARA, VOC 1224, Gamron to Batavia, 1 March 1658, fol. 800.

63. Wilson, “History of the Mission,” 700. The embassy in question is the one sent in 1658 to congratulate the new Mughal ruler Aurangzeb with his accession to the throne. It is unlikely that Mohammad Beg's nephew was the head of this embassy, which was led by Budaq Beg, the son of the commander of riflemen (tofangchī-āqāsī) Qalandar Soltan. Upon his return he was appointed commander of riflemen himself.

64. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 633.

65. ARA, VOC 1224, Gamron to Batavia, 3 September 1657, fol. 316.

66. The post of dārūgheh of Isfahan was in the hands of the son of the governor of Georgia following an agreement between Shah ‘Abbas I and the governor, who submitted to Isfahan in return for having his son fill the post in perpetuity. Rostam Khan had thus held the post for thirty years, but ordinarily a substitute held the actual position. Mir Qasem Beg was one such substitute, as is reflected in his official title, nā'eb-e dārūgheh. See Chardin, Voyages 10: 29.

67. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 626-30; Chardin, Voyages 9: 570.

68. Ibid.; Shamlu, Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, fol. 132v.

69. For Pharsadan see Brosset, M. F., Histoire de la Géorgie depuis V anliquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle (trans, from the Georgian), 2 vols. (St. Petersburg, 1856), 2: 509-14, 541, 561-3Google Scholar.

70. The story is told, in slightly different versions, by Vahid Qazvini, ‘Abbāsnāmeh, 220-21; Shamlu, Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, fol. 133v; ARA, VOC 1224, Gamron to Batavia, 3 September 1657, fol. 316v, and VOC 1229, 30 November 1657; Thevenot, Jean de, The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant (London, 1687), part II, 101-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chardin, Voyages 9: 567-70. It is also reproduced by Luft, “Iran unter Schah ‘Abbas II,” 97-9, and by Keyvani, Mehdi, Artisans and Guild Life in the Later Safavid Period: Contributions to the Social-economic History of Persia (Berlin, 1982), 156-7Google Scholar.

71. The story of Mirza Hadi's dismissal and replacement by the gholam Babuneh Beg is told by Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 624-5, and Shamlu, Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, fol. 133. See also ARA, VOC 1224, Gamron to Batavia, 9 December 1656, fol. 272v, and ibid., Gamron to Batavia, 3 September 1657, fol. 316v. The fall of the governor of Erevan is narrated by Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 622-3. For the names of the various governors see Luft, “Iran unter Schah ‘Abbas II,” 236-7, fn. 399.

72. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 632.

73. ARA, VOC 1236, Gamron to Heren XVII, 2 September 1660, fols. 9ff; idem in VOC 1232, Gamron to Heren XVII, 25 December 1660, 368v-369r.

74. Speelman, Journaal, 181.

75. Ibid., 269-70.

76. Tavernier, Six voyages 1: 632.

77. See Moreen, “Downfall.“

78. Vahid Qazvini, ‘Abbāsnāmeh, 299-300; Shamlu, Qeṣaṣ al-khāqānī, fol. 143.

79. IOR, E/3/26/2868, Isfahan to Company, 25 January 1660.

80. ARA, VOC 1234, Gamron to Heren XVII, 5 May 1662, fol. 207r.

81. ARA, VOC 1239, Gamron to Heren XVII, 31 December 1662, fol. 1209r, and VOC 1241, Gamron to Heren XVII, 15 February 1664, fol. 576r.

82. Chardin, Voyages 9: 345-6; ARA, VOC 1307, Gamron to Batavia, 12 December 1675, fol. 639v.