Vushmgir

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Vushmgir (?-967, Persian: وشمگير) was a ruler of the Ziyarids (935-967). He was a son of Ziyar. Vushmgir means "quail catcher" in the local Caspian Iranian dialects.

In 935, Vushmgir's brother Mardavij was murdered by his Turkish troops. Many of the Turks then defected; some entered the service of the Buyid Hasan, while others traveled to the caliph in Baghdad. Hasan took advantage of this situation by stripping Isfahan from Ziyarid rule. The Dailamite and Gilite troops, however, pledged their support to Vushmgir, who was in Ray. That same year, he defeated a Samanid army, as well as the Dailamite Makan, which had together invaded Tabaristan. Vushmgir then wrested Gurgan from Samanid control.

Vushmgir soon decided to acknowledge Samanid supremacy, and in 936 he also turned over Gurgan to Makan. Turning against Hasan, he retook Isfahan in 938. In 939 or 940 the Samanid governor Abu 'Ali ibn Muhtaj attacked Gurgan; Vushmgir sent Makan aid, but the city fell after a long siege. Ibn Muhtaj then engaged Vushmgir in battle in Ray and defeated him, killing Makan in the process. Vushmgir fled to Tabaristan, but was faced there with a revolt by his governor of Sari, al-Hasan ibn al-Fairuzan, who was a cousin of Makan and blamed the Ziyarid for his death. Vushmgir defeated him, but al-Hasan convinced Ibn Muhtaj to invade Tabaristan. Vushmgir was forced to recognize Samanid authority again. Hasan furthered the Ziyarid's troubles by retaking Isfahan in 940.

When Ibn Muthaj left for Samanid Khurasan, Vushmgir retook control of Ray. He then lost it for good in 943, to the Buyid Hasan. Returning to Tabaristan, he was defeated there by al-Hasan, who had previously occupied Gurgan. Vushmgir fled to the Bavandids of the mountains in eastern Tabaristan, then to the court of the Samanid Nuh I. Al-Hasan meanwhile allied with Hasan, but when Ibn Muthaj took Ray from the Buyids in 945, he recognized Samanid authority. Still, in 945 Vushmgir captured Gurgan with Samanid support, but did not manage to retain his rule there. It was only in 947 when he was able to take Gurgan and Tabaristan from al-Hasan with the help of a large Samanid army.

In 948 Hasan (who since the Buyids' entrance into Baghdad in 945 had used the title Rukn al-Daula) invaded Tabaristan and Gurgan and took them from Vushmgir. While al-Hasan supported the Buyids, Vushmgir relied on his Samanid allies. Tabaristan and Gurgan changed hands several times until 955, when in a treaty with the Samanids, Rukn al-Daula promised to leave Vushmgir alone in Tabaristan. Peace between the two sides did not last long, however; in 958 Vushmgir briefly occupied Ray, which was Rukn al-Daula's capital. The Buyid struck back, temporarily taking Gurgan in 960, then taking both Tabaristan and Gurgan for a short time in 962. He may have also taken Tabaristan and Gurgan in 966, but did not hold on to them for long.

Vushmgir was killed by a boar during a hunt in 967, shortly after a Samanid army had arrived for a joint campaign against the Buyids. He was succeeded by his eldest son Bisutun, although the Samanid army attempted to put another son, Qabus, into power. A third son predeceased him in 964 in the fighting over Hausan (for Vushmgir's involvement in this conflict, see Langar).