| Battle of Chapakchur Sancaq Döyüşü | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofQara Qoyunlu–Aq Qoyunlu Wars | |||||||
._Folio_402v._Rawzat_al-Safa%2c_1599%2c_Turkey_(British_Library%2c_Or._5736).jpg) Battle of Chapakchur (1467). A severed head, claimed to be Jahānshāh's, is being shown toUzun Hasan. Folio 402v. Rawzat al-Safa, 1599, Turkey (British Library, Or. 5736) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Aq Qoyunlu |  Qara Qoyunlu | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Uzun Hasan (WIA) | Jahan Shah † Muhammedi Mirza † Pirzad Beg (POW) Rüstem Beg (POW) İskender Beg (POW) Kılıç Arslan Beg (POW) Shah Veli Beg (POW) Yusuf Mirza (POW) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 10,000[5] | 30,000[6] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown, less | 5,000 killed | ||||||
TheBattle of Chapakchur (Turkish:Sancak Muharebesi;Azerbaijani:Səncəq döyüşü), alsoBattle of Muş, was a decisive battle fought betweenQara Qoyunlu (Black Sheep Turkomen) under the leadership ofJahan Shah andAq Qoyunlu (White Sheep Turkomen) under the leadership ofUzun Hasan. Jahan Shah was defeated by Uzun Hasan in a battle near thesanjak ofÇapakçur[3][4] in present-day easternTurkey on October 30[1] (or November 11[2]), 1467.
The conflict betweenQara Qoyunlu andAq Qoyunlu had reached its zenith under the leadership of the former group namedJahan Shah and latter group namedUzun Hassan. Aq Qoyunlu and Qara qoyunlu had been vying for power and regional supremacy for most of the 14th century and 15th century. Both groups wereTurkoman. Qara qoyunlu were vassals of theJalayirid dynasty inBaghdad andTabriz from about 1375, when the leader of their leading tribe, ruled overMosul. Aq Qoyunlu was brought to the region by the invasions ofTimur the Lame and Qara Qoyunlu were uprooted from power. However, after the death of Timur, they returned and hastened the downfall of the Jalayirids whom they had once served.
During Jahan Shah's reign the Qara Qoyunlu's territory reached its largest extent, including huge swaths of land inAnatolia, most of present-dayIraq, centralIran, and even eventuallyKerman. Uzun Hasan, meanwhile, was restricted initially toDiyarbakir but gradually expanded his territory in Anatolia. After clever diplomacy and regional alliances he managed to stave off theOttoman Turks and even fought several battles against Qara qoyunlu defeating Jahan Shah on the riverTigris in May 1457. Uzun Hasan avoided all out war with the Ottoman Empire by allowing them to conquer his allyEmpire of Trebizond, while he consolidated his power and prepared for the defense of his territory. It was during this time that Jahan Shah wanted to defeat the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan and make him hisvassal. So with that in mind he secured his eastern borders with a peace treaty with theTimurid leader ofSamarkand,Abu Sa'id Mirza and then invaded Aq Qoyunlu territory to his west.
Jahan Shah set out from Tabriz with a great army on May 16, 1466, and came to the basin ofLake Van. While there, he was furious to learn that Uzun Hassan was raiding his lands with 12,000 cavalry. Meanwhile, Uzun Hassan, worried that Jahan Shah was planning to attack him, had carefully guarded the mountain passes. Envoys went back and forth between them, but because of Jahan Shah's heavy demands, an agreement could not be reached. Having advanced as far asMuş, Jahan Shah had to postpone his attack because of the onset of winter. As his troops began to mutiny, he decided to withdraw to a winter residence.[7]
On November 10th in the afternoon (or possibly October 30[1] or November 11[2]), Uzun Hassan caught Jahanshah army of about 6,000 men by surprise, as Jahanshah was asleep in his tent.[8] Jahanshah's army was totally defeated.[1][2] Jahan Shah was killed by an unknown assailant while trying to flee, and was decapitated.[8] With his death the era of Qara Qoyunlu history came to an end.[8]
Apart from the execution of Sultan Jahan Shah, many people such as his sons Prince Mirza Muhammedi and Yusuf Mirza, as well as Pirzad Beg, Şehsuvaroğlu İskender Beg, Kılıç Arslan Beg, Shah Veli Beg were also captured. In this way, approximately 5,000 people, including Mirza Muhammadi, who constituted the main army force under the rule of Sultan Jahan Shah's sons Mirza Muhammadi and Yusuf Mirza, were destroyed in the war.[9] Prince Mirza Muhammedi was executed, and Yusuf Mirza was later blinded.[10]
The decapitated body of Jahanshah was recovered on the battlefield, but there are various accounts about the fate of his head, which may never have been found, or may have been sent as a trophy to the Timurid court according to some sources, or to the Mamluk court in Cairo.[11]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)A little after noon on 10 November/ra Rabi'Il, Uzun Hasan and 6,000 men fell upon the half-deserted Qaraquyunlu camp in the plain of Mus. True to his nickname, "the bat," Jahanshah was fast asleep when the attack carne. ln the ensuing confusion, Jahanshah was farally wounded by an unknown assailant, who then decapitated his corpse. A search of the battlefield later turned up Jahanshah's body, but his head was apparently never found.
The princes Abu Yusuf and Muharnmadi were captured along which many orher important Qaraquyunlu and Timurid leaders, including the prince Yadigar Muhammad b. Sultan-Muhammad Shahrukhi, Jahanshah's grandson, who was later to play an important part in Uzun Hasan's Timurid policy. Although the bulk of the defeaced army was allowed to return home, Muhammadi was executed -probably in revenge for his role in the first Diyar Bakr campaign- and Abu Yusuf was lacer blinded.
A search of the battlefield later turned up Jahanshah's body, but his head was apparently never found. According to one group of sources, it was dispatched to the Timurid court of Sultan-Abu Sa'id, Jahanshah's nominal overlord. While another contends that it was sent to the Mamluks in Cairo, the historian 'Abd Allah al-Baghdadi even claiming to have seen the head in Aleppo on 4 Decernber/v Jumada I.38. Ibn Taghribirdi quotes some of the many rumors that spread in Cairo after Uzun Hasan's defeat of Jahanshah, one of which denied that the head that arrived in Cairo on 18 December Jumada I or 31 December 4 Jumada Il belonged to Jahanshah. But writers agree, however, that the trophy, whoever it may have belonged to and whenever it may have reached Cairo, was displayed for several days on the Zuwaylah Gate as the head of Jahanshah Qara-quyunlu.