The Mongols Seize Mazandaran and the Treasures of Khwarazm-shah's Mother

استيلاء التتر على مازندران وأخذ ذخائر أم خوارزم شاه

c. 1220 CE · 617 AH

When the western Mongol detachment despaired of catching Khwarazm-shah in his fortress by the sea, they turned back and made for Mazandaran, which they took very quickly despite its strength and the difficulty of entering it. Ibn al-Athir notes that it had always resisted, old and new: when the Muslims had taken all the Sasanian lands from Iraq to the far reaches of Khurasan, the districts of Mazandaran still paid tribute while the Muslims could not enter, until it was conquered in the days of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik in 90. Now the Mongols took it outright, killing, enslaving, plundering and burning. They then headed for Rayy and came upon the mother of Khwarazm-shah, with his women, property and treasures, precious goods the like of which had never been heard of, for she had left Khwarazm making for Rayy and then Isfahan to seek refuge, and they caught her before she arrived. They sent everything on to Genghis Khan at Samarkand ¹.

Overview

When one group of the Mongols despaired of reaching the Khwarazm Shah in his fortress by the sea, they turned back and made for the lands of Mazandaran, and took them very quickly despite their strength and the difficulty of entry. Ibn al-Athir relates this in "al-Kamil". ¹

The land's strength

Ibn al-Athir says that Mazandaran had long stayed unconquered, both in the past and recently. When the Muslims took the lands of the Persian kings from Iraq to the far end of Khurasan, its districts still paid the land tax without the Muslims entering it, until it was conquered in the days of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik in 90 AH. ¹

Conquest and the mother of the Khwarazm Shah

According to the source, the Mongols killed, enslaved, plundered and burned in Mazandaran. Then they made toward al-Rayy and came upon the mother of the Khwarazm Shah, his women, and their property and treasures; she had left Khwarazm for al-Rayy and then Isfahan to take refuge. They sent them all to Genghis Khan in Samarqand. ¹

Date

617 AH, with a Gregorian equivalent (around 1220 CE) that is derived. ¹

The Mongols Erupt into the Lands of Islam

In 617 the Mongols erupted into the lands of Islam: a large people of Turks whose dwellings were the mountains of Tamghaj, on the side of China. Ibn al-Athir opens their story by saying that he had for years held back from recounting it, out of awe: who could bring himself to write the obituary of Islam and the Muslims, wishing he had died before it and been forgotten? He calls it a calamity such that the days and nights have been barren of its like, and says that had someone claimed no people since Adam had suffered its like, he would have spoken truly; what Nebuchadnezzar did to the Children of Israel, the killing and the wrecking of Jerusalem, is nothing beside it, since every city they ruined was many times Jerusalem. He describes how they came out from the edges of China and made for Turkistan, Kashghar and Balasaghun, then Transoxania, Samarkand and Bukhara; a detachment crossed into Khurasan and left it emptied of rule through ruin and plunder; then Rayy, Hamadan and the Jibal to the borders of Iraq, then Azerbaijan and Arran, then Darband of Shirvan, the lands of the Lan and the Lakz, and the Qipchaq, all in less than a year by the measure of their march alone. Alexander, whom the historians agree ruled the world, held it for about ten years; these took most of the inhabited world in about a year. He describes their way of life: they need no supply train, since their sheep, cattle, horses and mounts dig the earth with their hooves and eat plant roots; they know no barley; they prostrate to the sun at its rising, and they forbid none of the beasts. He explains their success: Khwarazm-shah Muhammad had seized those lands, killing and wiping out their kings, so that once he was beaten nothing stood to bar or defend them.

The Mongols Seize Mazandaran and the Treasures of Khwarazm-shah's Mother

At a glance

In time

Overview

The land's strength

Conquest and the mother of the Khwarazm Shah

Date

Connections

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Sources

Time

The Mongols Erupt into the Lands of Islam