The name Qara Qoyunlu literally means "[those with] black sheep".[13] It has been suggested that this name refers to old totemic symbols, but according toRashid al-Din Hamadani, the Turks were forbidden to eat the flesh of their totem-animals, and so this is unlikely given the importance of mutton in the diet of pastoral nomads. Another hypothesis is that the name refers to the predominant color of their flocks.[14]
Original territory of the Qara Qoyunlus circa 1400 ()
The Qara Qoyunlu Turkomans were initially vassals of theJalayirid Sultanate inBaghdad andTabriz from about 1375, and the leader of their leading tribe ruled fromMosul. The Qara Qoyunlu rulerQara Mahammad invadedMardin in 1384 and received the submission of itsArtuqid ruler Majd al-Din Isa Al-Zahir (1376-1407), who became a vassal.[21] The Qara Qoyunlu finally rebelled against the Jalayirids and secured their independence from the Jalayarid dynasty with the conquest ofTabriz byQara Yusuf.
In 1400, theTimurid Empire underTimur defeated the Qara Qoyunlu, and Qara Yusuf fled toEgypt, seeking refuge with theMamluk Sultanate. Qara Yusuf was welcomed by Sheikh Mahmud, thenāʾib ofDamascus. Not long after, the Jalayirid sultanAhmad Jalayir also came to Damascus. Not wanting to worsen relations with Timur,An-Nasir Faraj agreed to capture Qara Yusuf and Ahmad Jalayir and hand them over to him. Together in prison, the two leaders renewed their friendship, making an agreement that Ahmad Jalayir should keepBaghdad while Qara Yusuf would have Azerbaijan. Ahmad also adopted Qara Yusuf's sonPirbudag.
Likely contemporary depiction ofPirbudag, son ofQara Yusuf, and first ruler of the Qara Qoyunlus as an independent Sultanate.The Monastery, 1407-08 (Topkapı Palace Museum, TSMK H.2153, f.131b).[22]
When Timur died in 1405, an-Nasir Faraj released them both. However, according to Faruk Sümer, they were released on the orders of rebellious wali of Damascus, Sheykh Mahmud.[23][24][25][26]
Qara Yusuf, having returned from exile, forced Timur's governor ofVan, Izzaddin Shir, to submit, while capturing Altamış, another viceroy set up by Timur, and sending him toBarquq. He later moved on to the territories of Azerbaijan. He defeated theTimurid Abu Bakr at theBattle of Nakhchivan on 14 October 1406 and reoccupied Tabriz. Abu Bakr and his fatherMiran Shah tried to recapture Azerbaijan, but on 20 April 1408, Qara Yusuf inflicted a decisive defeat on them at the Battle of Sardrud in whichMiran Shah was killed. In the fall of 1409, Qara Yusuf entered Tabriz and sent a raiding party toShirvan, especiallyShaki, which was fruitless.[27] In the west,Mardin, the last stronghold of theArtuqids, was taken over by the Qara Qoyunlu in 1409.[21]
In 1410,Armenia fell under the control of the Qara Qoyunlu. The principalArmenian sources available in this period come from the historianTovma Metsopetsi and severalcolophons to contemporary manuscripts.[28] According to Tovma, although the Qara Qoyunlu levied heavy taxes against theArmenians, the early years of their rule were relatively peaceful and some reconstruction of towns took place. This peaceful period was, however, shattered with the rise ofQara Iskander, who reportedly made Armenia a "desert" and subjected it to "devastation and plunder, to slaughter, and captivity".[29] Iskander's wars with and eventual defeat by the Timurids invited further destruction in Armenia, as many Armenians were taken captive and sold into slavery and the land was subjected to outright pillaging, forcing many of them to leave the region.[30] Iskander did attempt to reconcile with the Armenians by appointing an Armenian from a noble family, Rustum, as one of his advisers.
When the Timurids launched their final incursion into the region, they convinced Jihanshah, Iskander's brother, to turn on his brother. Jihanshah pursued a policy of persecution against the Armenians inSyunik and colophons to Armenian manuscripts record the sacking of theTatev monastery by his forces.[30] But he, too, sought arapprochement with the Armenians, allotting land to feudal lords, rebuilding churches, and approving the relocation of the seat of theArmenian Apostolic Church'sCatholicos toEtchmiadzin Cathedral in 1441. For all this, Jihanshah continued to attack Armenian towns and take Armenian captives as the country saw further devastation in the final years of Jihanshah's failed struggles with the Aq Qoyunlu.[31]
In 1410, the Qara Qoyunlu captured Baghdad. The installation of a subsidiary Qara Qoyunlu line there hastened the downfall of the Jalairids they had once served. Despite internal fighting among Qara Yusuf's descendants after his death in 1420, The Qara Qoyunlu state collapsed after Qara Yusif. After the death of Qara Yusuf in December 1420,Shah Rukh tried to take Azerbaijan from Qara Yusuf's sonIskander, using the fact that none of his sons was accompanying his father. Despite defeatingQara Iskander, twice in 1420–21 and 1429, only in the third expedition of Shahrukh Mirza in 1434–35 did the Timurids succeed, when he entrusted the government to Iskander's own brother,Jahan Shah (1436-1467) as his vassal.
Contemporary depiction of Qara Qoyunlu rulerQara Iskander (left) in battle against the TimuridIbrahim Sultan (right) in April 1429.Shahnama (1430), Bodleian Library, ms. Add 176, folios 6r-7v.[32]
In 1436 Jahan Shah made peace with the TimuridShahrukh Mirza, and obtained the help of Shah Rukh to defeat Iskander and seize the throne for himself. He was also adopted byGawhar Shad and crowned on 19 April 1438, taking the epithetMuzaffar al-Din.[9][24] Upon the death of the Timurid rulerShah Rukh in 1447, Jahan Shah became an independent ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu, and started to use the titles ofsultan andkhan. At the same time, the Timurid Empire took advantage of the struggles among theTurkoman princes and captured the cities ofSultaniya andQazvin. Peace was made whenSultan Muhammad bin Baysonqor was married to a daughter of Jahan Shah. However, he retook lands he lost fromMirza Babur.
After the death of Shahrukh in 1447, the Qara Qoyunlu Turkomans annexed portions of Iraq and the eastern coast of theArabian Peninsula as well as Timurid-controlled western Iran. As the Timurid Empire was embroiled in uncertainty and succession struggles,Jahan Shah managed to capture the cities ofSultaniya,Hamadan andQazvin.[33]
Hasan Ali was kept inMaku prison for a while for his rebellious nature. He was defeated in winter 1458. But this time, his son Pirbudag rebelled, who was soon joined by Hasan Ali inFars. However, he was spared at the request of his mother and replaced byMirza Yusuf, another son of Jahan Shah.[24] Pirbudag was sent to govern Baghdad, his other sons Qasim beg was assigned toKerman with Hasan Ali being imprisoned again. However, Pirbudag again rebelled, now controlling Baghdad. He was defeated in 1464 and was executed by Mirza Muhammad.
Though much territory was gained during his rule, Jahān Shāh's reign was troubled by his rebellious sons and the almost autonomous rulers of Baghdad, whom he expelled in 1464. In 1466, Jahan Shah attempted to takeDiyarbakır from theAq Qoyunlu ("White Sheep Turkomans"), however, this was a catastrophic failure resulting in Jahān Shāh's death and the collapse of the Qara Qoyunlu Turkomans' control in the Middle East. Jahanshah died in theBattle of Chapakchur in 1467. The Qara Qoyunlu was almost destroyed. This time Hasanali Mirza came to power, but was killed byUzun Hasan.[36]
By 1468, at their height underUzun Hasan (1452–1478), Aq Qoyunlu defeated the Qara Qoyunlu and conqueredIraq,Azerbaijan, and western Iran.[37]
TheBlue Mosque, Tabriz was started in 870AH (1465/1466 CE) through a foundation established by the wife ofJahan Shah, and was completed in October 1465.[38]
The argument that there was a clear-cut contrast between the Sunnism of the Āq Qoyunlū and the Shiʿism of the Qara Qoyunlū and the Ṣafawīya rests mainly on later Safavid sources and must be considered doubtful.[39]
— R. Quiring-Zoche,Encyclopædia Iranica
As to the religious affiliations of the Qara Qoyunlu, although some of the later members of the family had Shi'i-type names and there were occasional Shi'i coin legends, there seems no strong evidence for definite Shi'i sympathies among manyTurkmen elements of the time.[40]
— C. E. Bosworth,The New Islamic Dynasties
During the Qara period, Shi'ism became widespread. Successful activities of Shaykh Junayd-i Safavi in Azerbaijan and Anatolia, and the Musha'sha'iyyah in Khuzestan are the most important pieces of evidence that Shi'ism was spread by the sword. It can be said, like Yar Ali (brother of Qara Yusuf) in the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty, there is a conscious love for Ali (caliph). However, the names of four caliphs are seen on the coins of Qara Yusuf, Isqandar and Jahan Shah. In addition to that, there is no record in the contemporary Aq Qoyunlu, Mamluk and Timurid sources that the Qara Qoyunlu rulers were inclined to Shi'ism.[1]
The Qara Qoyunlu state organization was based mainly on of its predecessors,Jalayirids, and theIlkhanids. Qara Qoyunlu rulers used the titlesultan since the enthronement ofPirbudag by Qara Yusuf. Sometimes the titlebahadur appeared on the coinage. They also used the titleskhan,khagan andpadishah.[1]
Keeping with a Persianate culture,[41] the Qara Qoyunlu used the Persian language for diplomacy, poetry,[42] and as a court language.[2] Diplomatic letters to the Timurids and Ottomans were written in Persian, while the correspondence with the Mamluk sultans were in Arabic.[6] Official internal documents (farmān, suyūrghāl) were also written in Persian.[6]Jahan Shah was titledPadishah-i Iran[43] andKing of Kings of Iran during his reign.
As for the provincial organization, the provinces were governed byşehzade andbeys, who had smallerdivans in each of the provinces. The governance by military governors (beys) generally passed on from father to son. In the cities there were officials calleddarugha, that looked after financial and administrative affairs, and also had political powers. The şehzades and beys had their own soldiers which were callednökers, who were trained and salaried.[1]
In the south,Pir Budaq, son ofJahan Shah became Governor of the region ofShiraz, becoming to some extent a ruler in his own right, rebelling against his father by seeking independence. This move aroused his father's anger. Pir Budaq was later transferred to the governorship of Baghdad, thought to be easier to control than Shiraz, but he was ultimately killed upon the orders of his father.[44]
Under Timur, the cultural entity of Iran was renewed by Persian literature, art and culture being patronized throughout the Timurid Empire.[45] Consequently, Qara Qoyunlu art was notably influenced by the Timurids.[46] Jahan Shah wrote his poetry inAzerbaijani andPersian, while theKitab-i Diyarbakriyya, a history of the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu, was written by Abu Bakr Tehrani in Persian.[47]
Jahan Shah is known for several architectural contributions through western Iran. TheNorthern Iwan ofDarb-e Imam inIsfahan is attributed to him. He commissioned and dedicated the monument in 1453, two years after conquering the city.[48] The gate is considered as "a masterpiece of tile decoration",[49] and "among the finest specimens of such work in Persia".[50] It hasa monumental inscription in Persian recording the rule of Jahanshah and the local governorship of his son Moḥammad:“When the ruler of the greatest domain, lord of the mightiest realm, and sovereign protector of the world Abu’l-Moẓaffar Mīrzāda Jahānšāh, may God perpetuate his stewardship, entrusted the government of this province to the care and direction of the prince, the support of the pillars of the religion of Moḥammad Abu’l-Fatḥ Moḥammadī...”.[51][52]
Jahanshah is also known for renovation work on theEastern entrance iwan of theJameh Mosque of Yazd in 1457. The portal hasa central dedication in the name of Jahanshah:"the structure of this lofty arch (taf) was restored during the reign of . . . Abu’l-Muzaffar Sultan Jahanshah, Nizam al Dawlah wa’l-Din al-Hajj Qanbar, in Dhu’l-Hijjah 861." It is thought that the contribution was specifically related to themuqarnas of the portal.[53][54]
Interior of the Blue Mosque of Tabriz
TheBlue Mosque inTabriz was started through a foundation established by the wife of Jahanshah, and was completed in 1465.[38] The construction of the mausoleum itself, forming an outgrowth to the south of the mosque, continued during the reign of theĀq Qoyunlu into the 1480s.[38][55] The entrance gate also hasa monumental inscription in the name of Jahan Shah.[56][57]
The celebrated tilework of the Blue Mosque consists in "unrivalled" underglaze painted tile and mosaics, using shades of cobalt blue and incized gold and white patterns, which covered both the interior and the exterior of the mosque, as well as its dome.[58] Qara Qoyunlu architecture is often richly decorated, but the designs of the Blue Mosque are particularly innovative, and may have been influenced by architects from the Timurid capital of Herat having moved to Tabriz following the1458 capture of Herat.[59]
The Turkmen style of tilework appears to have been an influential precursor throughout the Middle-East.[60] It is thought that the blue-and-white tiles which can be found in the architectural decorations ofMamluk Syria and Egypt, or in theOttoman capitals ofBursa andEdirne, were created by itinerant artists coming from the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu capital ofTabriz.[60] The tilework of theDome of the Rock in theOld City of Jerusalem was signed by "Abdallah of Tabriz" under a commission of the OttomanSultan Süleyman in 1545-1552.[60] The influence of this Tabrizi school was also felt in Istanbul up to the mid-16th century.[60]
Jahan Shah's constant military struggles limited his involvement in artistic pursuits, apart from monumental architectural contributions such as theBlue Mosque in Tabriz. The beautiful tilework displayed in the decorations of the Blue Mosque can be considered as a precussor of the manuscript frontispieces later made in Herat.[61] Many of the miniatures produced during the period tended to be somewhat "provincial" in taste, using bright colors and standardized figures, known as the "Turkmen style".[62]
On the contrary, Jahan Shah's sonPir Budaq, who became Governor of Fars and Baghdad, was extremely active in the production of refined manuscripts.[61] The fact that Pir Budaq had accompanied his father Jahan Shah during the several-monthsoccupation of Timurid Herat in 1458, may have given him the opportunity to get acquainted to the Timurid "art of the book" and to Timurid court artists.[63] Under Pir Budaq, several innovations were made in the calligrapgy ofnasta'liq writing, and manuscripts were finely illustrated along Khorasan pictorial conventions.[61]
Mihr u Mushtari by Assar. Tabriz, 1420: earliest appearance of the "Turkmen style" under the Qara Qoyunlu.[64]
Two folios from a Persian manuscript, Persia, Qaraqoyunlu Turkmen, 1460-1480.
The court of Pir Budaq, Shiraz, Iran, circa 1455-60
The battle of the crows and the owls.Kalila wa Dimna, for Pir Budak c. 1460
In the 16th century, other Qara Qoyunlus played a prominent role in the service of theMughals in India, such asBairam Khan (Bahārlū clan of the Qara Qoyunlū, Commander-in-chief of the Mughal army), his sonAbdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, or his nephewKhan Jahan I.[70][71]
^"It is somewhat astonishing that a sturdy Turkman like Jihan-shah should have been so restricted in his ways of expression. Altogether the language of the poems belongs to the group of the southern Turkman dialects which go by the name of 'Azarbayjan Turkish'."[5]
^Philippe, Beaujard (2019). "Western Asia: Revival of the Persian Gulf".The Worlds of the Indian Ocean. Cambridge University Press. pp. 515–521.ISBN9781108341219. "In a state of demographic stagnation or downturn, the region was an easy prey for nomadicTurkmen. TheTurkmen, however, never managed to build strong states, owing to a lack of sedentary populations (Martinez-Gros 2009: 643). When Tamerlane died in 1405, the Jalāyerid sultan Ahmad, who had fled Iraq, came back to Baghdad. Five years later, he died in Tabriz (1410) in a battle led against theTurkmen Kara Koyunlu ("[Those of the] Black Sheep"), who took Baghdad in 1412."
^ab"Kara Koyunlu".Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, English Black Sheep,Turkmen tribal federation that ruled Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468."
^The Book of Dede Korkut (F.Sumer, A.Uysal, W.Walker ed.). University of Texas Press. 1972. p. Introduction.ISBN0-292-70787-8. "Better known asTurkomans... the interim Ak-Koyunlu and Karakoyunlu dynasties..."
^Miklukho-Maklay, N. D.Shiism and its social face in Iran at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries "These tribes, which later became known as theQizilbash tribes... created the states of Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu, which in the 15th century successively ruled Azerbaijan and most of Iran."
^Sümer, F. (30 May 2021). "Ḳarā-Ḳoyunlu". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.).
^Rustam Shukurov (2016).The Byzantine Turks, 1204-1461. p. 289.
^abBosworth, C. E. (1 June 2019).The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburg University Press. pp. 195–196.doi:10.1515/9781474464628.ISBN978-1-4744-6462-8.
^White, James (January 2017). "A Sign of the End Time: 'The Monastery', Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi H.2153 f.131b".Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland.27 (1): 21, 29.doi:10.1017/S1356186316000444.p.29 "I suggest that the child represented in the painting is the Qaraqoyunlu sultan Pir Budaq (d. 816/1413)." p.21 "Pir Budaq's investiture as sultan provides a logical occasion for 'The Monastery', occurring as it did in 810/1407-8, the year commemorated in the chronogram. His age of roughly six at the time would make him a plausible match for the enthroned child depicted in the wallpainting of 'The Monastery'. Furthermore, the form of kingship articulated in the painting may resonate with an attempt to construct an alternative model of political and religious authority."
^Grousset, René (1970).The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. RUTGERS UNIV PR.ISBN0-8135-1304-9.
^Kouymjian, Dickran (1997), "Armenia from the Fall of the Cilician Kingdom (1375) to the Forced Migration under Shah Abbas (1604)" inThe Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century, ed.Richard G. Hovannisian, New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 4.ISBN1-4039-6422-X.
^Soucek, Priscilla (2000)."The Theory and Practice of Portraiture in the Persian Tradition".Muqarnas.17: 105.doi:10.2307/1523292.ISSN0732-2992.The double-page battle scene in which Ibrahim Sultan, on the right, is shown confidently leading his troops toward a Turkman force, on the left, headed by Iskandar b. Kara Yusuf, who turns back biting his finger in consternation (figs. 3-4). This image is the frontispiece for a copy of Firdawsi's Shāhnāma and is thus not accompanied by any explanatory text, but it does correspond to descriptions of a battle that occurred on April 1429 which are contained in Timurid historical sources. Although neither of these key figures is labeled, each of them would have been recognized by a contemporary viewer because of this event's notoriety.
^Roxburgh, David J. (1 January 2014).Envisioning Islamic Art and Architecture (“Many a Wish Has Turned to Dust”: Pir Budaq and the Formation of Turkmen Arts of the Book). Brill. pp. 181–182.doi:10.1163/9789004280281_010.The balance of power between the Qaraqoyunlu and Timurid houses ended with Shahrukh's death in 1447. Jahanshah lost no time in marching on and capturing Sultaniyya, Hamadan, and Qazvin, steadily taking in Timurid territories.
^Christoph Baum (2018).History of Central Asia. Vol. 4. p. 297.
^Orly R. Rahimiyan. "Anjuman-i Markazī-yi Tashkīlat-i Ṣiyyonīt-i Irān". In Norman A. Stillman (ed.).Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Brill.doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_sim_000228.
^Fragner, Bert G. (1998). "Shah Isamil's Fermans and Sanads: Tradition and Reform in Persophone Administration and Chancellery Affairs".Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences.1 (1). Khazar University Press.ISSN1027-3875.Subsequently, lahanshah (sic) Qara-Qoyunlu presented himself as padishah-i Iran immeuiately after the takeover of Tabriz (...)
^Browne, E.G.,A Literary History of Persia, Vol. 3, Cambridge University Press, 1969, p. 402
^Durand-Guedy, David (1 January 2018).Isfahan during the Turko Mongol period (11th-15th centuries). Brill. p. 2999.The entrance of Darb-i Imām, commissioned by Jahān-Šāh Qara-qoyunlu in 857/1453... In Isfahan, the Darb-i Imām, commissioned by Jahān-Šāh Qara-qoyunlu in 857/1453 to contain the tombs of Ibrāhim Baṭḥā and Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, is a masterpiece of tile decoration
^Golombek, Lisa; Wilber, Donald Newton (1988).The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan, Vol. 1. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Pr. p. 416.ISBN978-0691035871.9. Dhu'l-Hijjah 861 /October 1457 (p. 126, 3/4). Mosaic faience surrounding the rectangular frame of the doorway of the portal: ". . . the structure of this lofty arch (taf) was restored during the reign of . . . Abu'l-Muzaffar Sultan Jahanshah, Nizam al Dawlah wa'l-Din al-Hajj Qanbar, in Dhu'l-Hijjah 861. Written by Muhammad al-Hakim." The vault in question is probably the muqarnas of the portal.
^Burch, Heike; Burch, Gerd (15 February 2024)."Iran - Tabriz and the Blue Mosque".Leben pur! On the way. Münchenwiler, Switzerland: MOLIRI. Archived fromthe original(includes extensive images of the mosque) on 27 April 2025. Retrieved18 March 2025.
^Golombek, Lisa; Wilber, Donald Newton (1988).The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan (Vol.1). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Pr. p. 408.ISBN978-0691035871.Inscriptions-. 1. (Portal, over door in mosaic faience; Tabataba'i 1968:42, fig. 46) "[titles] Abu'l-Muzaffar Jahanshah b. Shah Yusuf nuyan, may God perpetuate his rule [epithets].
^Tokatlian, Armen (2013).Persian treasures in Erevan: a selection of manuscripts from the Matenadaran collection. Gand: Éditions Snoeck. pp. 24–25.ISBN978-9461611284.Jahanshah's constant struggle for leadership with rival Aq Qoyunlu Turkmen confederation shackled his artistic projects with the exception of the Muzaffariya in Tabriz, also called the Blue Mosque. Built in 1465, the compound included a tomb, a cistern, a library and an adjoined dervish convent, khangah. The Blue Mosque is celebrated for its unrivalled underglaze painted tile and mosaics that decorate both the interior and exterior of the building, Patterns are rendered in subtle colors with extensive use of cobalt blue as a ground for elegant inscriptions and arabesque designs in gold and white. The dome itself was a deep blue, stenciled with gold patterns. The monumental calligraphies of the Blue Mosque are attributed to Nematollah b. Muhammad al-Bawab, a pupil of Khalvati. These subtle, jewel-like decors of the Blue Mosque epitomize the manuscript frontispieces made in Herat.
^Golombek, Lisa; Wilber, Donald Newton (1988).The Timurid architecture of Iran and Turan (Vol 1). Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. p. xiii.ISBN978-0691035871.The Turkman monuments of central Iran, from the second half of the fifteenth century, are often richly decorated, but show none of the innovative design that appears in the mosque of Jahanshah's daughter (popularly called the Blue Mosque) at Tabriz, capital of the Qara Qoyunlu. Jahanshah probably had attracted architects of the late Shah Rukh from Herat to his own imperial city.
^abcdNecipoglu, Gulru (1990)."From International Timurid to Ottoman: A Change of Taste in Sixteenth-Century Ceramic Tiles".Muqarnas.7. E.J. Brill: 137.Reflecting local variants of an international Timurid taste, blue-and-white tiles of mostly hexagonal shapes found in Mamluk Syria and Egypt, as well as in the Ottoman capitals of Bursa and Edirne, appear to have been created by artists from Tabriz, the capital of the Qaraqoyunlu and Aqqoyunlu Turcoman dynasties. Compared to the tiles of the Tawrizi (i.e., Tabrizi) complex in Damascus (ca. 1430), the technical perfection of the Muradiye tiles in Edirne suggests that different groups of itinerant potters were at work. Unfortunately, the wholesale destruction of contemporary buildings in Tabriz - the only one to survive is the Blue Mosque (1465), where square blue-and-white under-glaze tiles are used in conjunction with a variety of glazed tiles and mosaic-faience makes the study of this Tabrizi tradition impossible. Its impact was still strong in the Dome of the Rock tiles, signed by Abdallah of Tabriz and produced on the order of Sultan Süleyman between 952 (1545-46) and 959 (1551-52), which combined in the same scheme tile mosaic, cuerda seca, polychrome underglaze, as well as blue-and-white un- derglaze tiles." As we shall see, the influence of this Tabrizi school was also felt in Istanbul up to the middle of the sixteenth century.
^abcTokatlian, Armen (2013).Persian treasures in Erevan: a selection of manuscripts from the Matenadaran collection. Gand: Éditions Snoeck. pp. 24–25.ISBN978-9461611284.Jahanshah's constant struggle for leadership with rival Aq Qoyunlu Turkmen confederation shackled his artistic projects with the exception of the Muzaffariya in Tabriz, also called the Blue Mosque. (...) These subtle, jewel-like decors of the Blue Mosque epitomize the manuscript frontispieces made in Herat. A different situation occurs with Pir Budaq (d.1467) the eldest son of Jahanshah and consecutive governor of Fars and Bagdad, who was a dynamic patron of the arts. His first Shiraz kitabkhana was under the supervision of Shaykh Mahmud al-Heravi. Afterwards in Bagdad, Pir Budaq worked with several artists such as calligraphers Fakhr al-Din Ahmad Katebi and 'Abd al-Rahman Khawarazmi who created an innovative approach to nasta'liq writing. The finely illustrated manuscripts, produced between 1456 and 1466, reflect Pir Budaq's own taste through Khorasan pictorial conventions".
^Balafrej, Lamia (2019).The making of the artist in late Timurid painting. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 48.ISBN978-1474437431.Jahanshah Qara Qoyunlu, the Turkmen ruler of Western Iran, however, briefly occupied Herat in 1458. His son Pir Budaq participated in the attack. He may have become acquainted with Timurid manuscripts during this episode.
^abGeorge Michell, Mark Zebrowski,Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 17.
^Schimmel, A. (22 Feb. 2022). Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.p.77 "Humayun had been forced to leave Hindustan after his second defeat; he first sought shelter in Sind, where the Turkish dynasty of the Arghuns had replaced the indigenous Samma in 1520. His father's faithful friend Bairam Khan, a Baharlu Turcoman, joined him there, and his son Akbar was born in Umarkot (Sind) in 1542."
^N. H. Ansari, 1989,"Bayram Khan", Encyclopedia Iranica: "Bayram Khan belonged to the Bahārlū clan of the Qara Qoyunlū Turkmen (Nehāvandī, I, p. 11), whose descendants still live in theDārābjerd region of Fārs province (Ṣafā, IV, p. 13). The Qara Qoyunlūs established their independent rule underQarā Yūsof (d. 823/1420) in Azerbaijan and the adjoining areas, expanding in later years into Kermān and Fārs, but they were overthrown by theĀq Qoyunlūs led by Uzun Ḥasan in 973/1468 (Nehāvandī, I, pp. 16ff.; Ṣafā, Adabīyāt IV, pp. 13ff.). Bayram Khan was descended from ʿAlī Šokr Bīg [Ali Sher Beg], the ruler of Hamadān and Kurdistan (Nehāvandī, I, p. 46) through his father Sayf-ʿAlī Bīg, son of Bayram Bīg, son ofSultan Maḥmūd Mīrzā, a Timurid prince and governor of Badaḵšān (Nehāvandī, I, p. 61), who married the daughter of ʿAlī Šokr Bīg,[Ali Sher Beg] himself married to the daughter ofQarā Sekandar (r. 823-39/1420-35)."
Arjomand, Saïd Amir (2016). "Unity of the Persianate World under Turko-Mongolian Domination and Divergent Development of Imperial Autocracies in the Sixteenth Century".Journal of Persianate Studies.9 (1): 11.doi:10.1163/18747167-12341292.The disintegration of Timur's empire into a growing number of Timurid principalities ruled by his sons and grandsons allowed the remarkable rebound of the Ottomans and their westward conquest of Byzantium as well as the rise of rival Turko-Mongolian nomadic empires of the Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu in western Iran, Iraq, and eastern Anatolia. In all of these nomadic empires, however, Persian remained the official court language and the Persianate ideal of kingship prevailed.
Bauden, Frédéric (2019). "Diplomatic Entanglements between Tabriz, Cairo, and Herat: a Reconstructed Qara Qoyunlu Letter Datable to 818/1415". In Bauden, Frédéric; Dekkiche, Malika (eds.).Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies:Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics. Brill.
Bosworth, Clifford E. (1996).The New Islamic Dynasties. Columbia University Press.
Kadoi, Yuka (2019).Persian Art: Image-making in Eurasia. Edinburgh University Press.
Roy, Kaushik (2014).Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750. Bloomsbury.Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: Akkoyunlu (White Sheep) (1378–1507) and Qaraoyunlu (Black Sheep). They were Persianate Turkoman Confederations of Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Azerbaijan.
Bosworth, Clifford.The New Islamic Dynasties, 1996.
(in Armenian) Khachikyan, Levon.ԺԵ դարի հայերեն ձեռագրերի հիշատակարաններ, մաս 1 (Fifteenth Century Armenian Colophons, Part 1). Yerevan, 1955.
Morby, John.The Oxford Dynasties of the World, 2002.
Sanjian, Avedis K.Colophons of Armenian manuscripts, 1301-1480: A Source for Middle Eastern History, Selected, Translated, and Annotated by Avedis K. Sanjian. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969.
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