Vushmgir

Zahir al-Dawla Vushmgir (Persian: ظاهر الدوله وشمگیر‎), mostly known as Vushmgir (Persian: وشمگير‎) was the second Ziyarid Emir who ruled from 935 until his death in 967. He was a son of Ziyar. Voshmgir means "quail catcher" in the local Caspian Iranian dialects.

Early life

Vushmgir was the son of Ziyar, who was the brother of Harusindan, an Dailamite ruler. Vushmgir belonged to the Arghich tribe, which claimed to be descended from Arghush Farhadan, king of Gilan who lived during the time of Kai Khosrow.^[1] The religion of Ziyar and his family is not exactly known. Zoroastrianism, including heterodox branches such as the Mazdakite, the Zurvanite and Gayomardian, was still popular at his time. However, unlike his Zoroastrian brother Mardavij, Vushmgir was a Sunni Muslim.

Rise to power

In 931, Mardavij, the brother of Vushmgir and king of the Ziyarid dynasty, sent an army to conquer Tabaristan from Makan ibn Kaki, his army was, however, defeated. One later year, Mardavij and Vushgmir defeated Makan and conquered Tabaristan. Vushmgir was then appointed as governor of Amol.^[2]

In 935, Voshmgir'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 under Bajkam traveled to the Abbasid 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 Voshmgir, who was in Ray. That same year, he defeated a Samanid army, as well as the Dailamite Makan, which had together invaded Tabaristan. Voshmgir then wrested Gorgan from Samanid control.

Reign

Voshmgir soon decided to acknowledge Samanid supremacy, and in 936 he also turned over Gorgan to Makan.^[3][4] Turning against Hasan, he retook Isfahan in 938. In 939 or 940 the Samanid governor Abu 'Ali ibn Muhtaj attacked Gorgan; Voshmgir sent Makan aid, but the city fell after a long siege. Ibn Muhtaj then engaged Voshmgir in battle in Ray and defeated him, killing Makan in the process. Voshmgir 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. Voshmgir defeated him, but al-Hasan convinced Ibn Muhtaj to invade Tabaristan. Voshmgir was forced to recognize Samanid authority again. Hasan furthered the Ziyarid's troubles by retaking Isfahan in 940.

When Ibn Muhtaj left for Samanid Khurasan, Voshmgir 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 Gorgan. Voshmgir 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 Voshmgir captured Gorgan with Samanid support, but did not manage to retain his rule there. It was only in 947 when he was able to take Gorgan 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-Dawla) invaded Tabaristan and Gorgan and took them from Voshmgir. While al-Hasan supported the Buyids, Voshmgir relied on his Samanid allies. Tabaristan and Gorgan changed hands several times until 955, when in a treaty with the Samanids, Rukn al-Daula promised to leave Voshmgir alone in Tabaristan. Peace between the two sides did not last long, however; in 958 Voshmgir briefly occupied Ray, which was Rukn al-Dawla's capital. Rukn al-Dawla later made a counter-attack, temporarily taking Gorgan in 960, then taking both Tabaristan and Gorgan for a short time in 962. He may have also taken Tabaristan and Gorgan in 966, but did not hold on to them for long.^[5]

Death

Voshmgir 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 Voshmgir's involvement in this conflict, see Langar).

References

Sources

• Madelung, W. (1975). "The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran". In Frye, R.N. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 198–249. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6. 
• R. N. Frye (1975). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume Four: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. ISBN 0-521-20093-8

External links

• Edmund Bosworth, C. "ZIYARIDS". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition.