Abdullah Mirza
{{Short description|15th-century amir of the Timurid Empire}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Abdullah Mirza
| title =
| image = Princely banquet. Frontispiece from a Shahnama manuscript, Shiraz, 1444. Possibly made for Abdallah Mirza, son of Ibrahim Sultan (detail).jpg
| caption = Contemporary Timurid court scene, in Shiraz. Frontispiece of a Shahnama (1444), likely commissioned by Abdullah Mirza.{{cite web |title=Consultation Supplément Persan 494 |url=https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc77991g |website=archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr |quote=
French: "Copie achevée (f. 671) le jeudi 27 Ğumādà Ier 848H. par le calligraphe Muḥammad al-Sulṭānī [qui était certainement au service du sultan timouride ‛Abd-ullāh b. Ibrāhīm Sulṭān de Šīrāz]"
English:"Copy completed (f. 671) on Thursday 27 Ğumādà I 848H. by the calligrapher Muḥammad al-Sulṭānī [who was certainly in the service of the Timurid sultan ‛Abd-ullāh b. Ibrāhīm Sulṭān of Šīrāz]}}{{cite book |last1=Sims |first1=Eleanor |title=Peerless images : Persian painting and its sources |date=2002 |publisher=New Haven : Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-09038-3 |pages=115-116, item 32 |url=https://archive.org/details/peerlessimagespe0000sims/page/115/mode/1up?view=theater |quote=This double-page frontispiece to a Shahnama, possibly made for Ibrahim-Sultan's son 'Abdallah and completed in Shiraz in 1444, is the ultimate version of the Timurid feast in a garden: virtually everything seen in any of the three earlier princely Timurid frontispieces is depicted within it. The occasion is perhaps the celebration at a marriage, given the cluster of ladies sharing the carpet, the huge ornamented tent under which a male and a female figure sit, and the male musicians in the foreground}}{{cite web |title=Royal Reception in a Landscape, right folio from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940–1019 or 1025) Cleveland Museum of Art |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.169 |website=www.clevelandart.org |quote=The painting on the verso of this folio is the first half of a double-page frontispiece now detached from a Shah-nama manuscript (see CMA 1956.10 for the second half of the frontispiece). The scene does not illustrate a narrative from the Shah-nama, but is likely a representation of the courtly audience for whose entertainment the manuscript was created. The date and style of the painting indicate that it was made during the reign of the Timurid dynasty in Shiraz, Iran.}}
| full name = Abdullah Mirza ibn Ibrahim Sultan ibn Shah Rukh
| succession = Amir of the Timurid Empire in Transoxiana
| reign = 9 May 1450 – June 1451
| predecessor = Abdal-Latif Mirza
| successor = Abu Sa'id Mirza
| birth_date = After 1410
| birth_place = during the Timurid Empire
| death_date = June 1451 (aged 40-41)
| death_place = Central Asia
| spouse =
| father = Ibrahim Sultan
| mother = Mihr Sultan Agha
| religion =
| image_size = 250px
| succession1=
| reign1=
| successor1 =
| predecessor1=
|dynasty=Timurid}}
'Abdullah Mirza (after 1410 – June 1451) was a short-lived ruler of the Timurid Empire, which encompassed the territory shared by present-day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, along with substantial areas of India, Mesopotamia and Caucasus.
As a member of the Timurid dynasty, Abdullah Mirza was a great-grandson of Timur, a grandson of Shah Rukh and a son of Ibrahim Sultan.
Governor of Fars (1435-1447)
Abdullah Mirza was Governor of Fars from 1435 to 1447, succeeding to his father Ibrāhim b. Shāhrukh who had held the position from 1415-1435, after the first Timurid Governor of the region Iskandar Sulṭān b. ‘Umar Shaykh (1409-1415).{{cite journal |last1=Erkinov |first1=Aftandil |title=From Herat to Shiraz: the Unique Manuscript (876/1471) of ‘Alī Shīr Nawā’ī’s Poetry from Aq Qoyunlu Circle |journal=Cahiers d’Asie centrale |date=10 March 2015 |issue=24 |pages=47–79 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/asiecentrale/2791 |language=en |issn=1270-9247|quote=The first Timurid governor of Shiraz was Timur’s grandson...}}
File:Frontispiece ruler, Shiraz 1437.jpg
Granted the governorship of Fars by his grandfather Shah Rukh, Abdullah Mirza found his position threatened by his cousin Sultan Muhammad during the 1447 succession crisis which followed Shah Rukh's death, and was forced to abandon the province. Weakened by these conflicts, western Iran was soon conquered first by the Qara Qoyunlu under Jahan Shah circa 1452.
=Art of the book=
Various important works were created during the governorship of Abdullah Mirza in Shiraz, Fars:
- Shahnama 1437, Shiraz (Leiden University Libraries, Or. 494)
- Khamsa and Divan of Khwaju Kirmani, 1438, Shiraz (Sackler, S1986.34)
- Tarikh-i Jahangushay, 1438, Shiraz
- Shahnama 1441, Shiraz.{{cite web |title=NF Sup. Pers. 493 |url=https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc33983s |website=archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr}}{{cite journal |last1=Sims |first1=Eleanor |title=The Illustrated Manuscripts of Firdausi's "Shahnama" Commissioned by Princes of the House of Timur |journal=Ars Orientalis |date=1992 |volume=22 |pages=43–68 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629424 |issn=0571-1371}}
- Shahnama, 1444, Shiraz
- Khamsa of Nizami, 1443-46, Abarkuh near Shiraz (Princeton University, Ms. 77 G)
Timurid emperor (1450-51)
As a supporter of Ulugh Beg, Abdullah Mirza was imprisoned in 1450 by 'Abd al-Latif following the latter's rise to power. When 'Abd al-Latif was murdered, he was released and made ruler of Samarkand, for which he was forced to lavish money upon the troops that supported him. Despite this, he did not enjoy widespread popularity.
During his relatively brief reign, a revolt created by Sultan Muhammad's brother Ala al-Dawla Mirza did not seriously threaten him, but a rising initiated by Abu Sa'id Mirza, whose home base, at the time, was in Bukhara, proved to be fatal. Marching from Tashkent to Samarkand with the support of Abu'l-Khayr Khan, Abu Sa'id Mirza defeated Abdullah Mirza and executed him in 1451, taking his place on the throne.
Sources
{{Campaignbox Second Timurid Succession Crisis}}
- Roemer, H. R. (1986). "The Successors of Timur". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Ed. Peter Jackson. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-20094-6}}
References
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{{s-hou|Timurid dynasty||}}
{{s-bef | before=Abdal-Latif Mirza}}
{{s-ttl | title=Timurid Empire (in Samarkand) | years=}}
{{s-aft | after=Abu Sa'id Mirza}}
{{end}}
{{Timurid Empire}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah Timurid}}
Category:Timurid wars of succession
Category:People from Fars province
Category:15th-century executions
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Place of birth unknown
Category:Date of death unknown
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