Choban

Amir Choban, also written Chupan or Cuban, was a Mongol general who became the strongest man at the court of the Ilkhan Abu Said and was then destroyed by him. He belonged to the Chubanids, a family of Mongol amirs. ³ The article on the family calls him an able and experienced military commander and gives him the first place among its notable members. ¹ The museum's Ilkhanate page sets his career in its wider history.

The Chubanids claimed descent from a certain Surghan Shira of the Suldus tribe, who had once saved the life of Chingiz Khan. ³ The article records this as the family's own claim.

According to Hamd Allah Mustawfi, as the article cites him, Choban fought his first battle in Rabi' II 688/1289. From then on he served with distinction under the Ilkhans Arghun, Gaykhatu, Ghazan and Oljeitu. ¹

Abu Said, who succeeded Oljeitu at the age of twelve, appointed Choban amir al-umara in 717/1317, and Choban married the Ilkhan's sister. ¹ The wider article on the Ilkhans adds that the vizier Rashid al-Din was executed in 1318 and that Choban stepped into his place. He worked with the other vizier, Ali Shah, until Ali Shah's death in 724/1324. The author's verdict is that Choban showed no statesmanlike skill of his own. ^{1 2}

In the reign of Abu Said, Choban acquired great power in the affairs of state, and all the important provinces of the empire were governed by his sons. ¹ In Rajab 719/August-September 1319 a group of amirs plotted to assassinate him, but he, with Abu Said's support, crushed the revolt with great severity. After the death of Dulandi he married Abu Said's other sister, Sati Beg, in 719/1319. ¹ In 725/1325 he prevented Abu Said from marrying his daughter Baghdad Khatun, who was then the wife of the Jalayirid Hasan Buzurg. ¹

The article says Abu Said determined to break the power of the Chubanids. Two years later, while Choban was away in Khurasan, he had Choban's son Dimashq Khwaja put to death and issued orders for the execution of Choban himself at Herat and of his family throughout the Ilkhanid dominions. ¹ Dimashq Khwaja had stayed at court in 726/1326 when his father went to defend Khurasan against the Mongols of the house of Chaghatay, and had become the virtual ruler of the empire. He was convicted of a liaison with a member of the royal harem and executed on 5 Shawwal 727/24 August 1327. The article calls his dissolute nature the excuse Abu Said had been seeking. ¹

Choban, forewarned, advanced as far as Rayy and tried to negotiate with Abu Said, without success. Deserted by most of his troops, he fled back to Herat and took refuge with Malik Ghiyath al-Din the Kurt, of the Kartid dynasty. A few months later, in October-November 1327 or perhaps in Muharram 728, which began on 17 November 1327, the rewards offered by Abu Said induced the malik to put Choban and his son Jilaw Khan to death. The bodies were taken to Medina for burial. ¹

Choban's second son Timurtash had been wazir to Oljeitu and was appointed governor of Rum in 716/1316, and the article says he carried Mongol arms to the shores of the Mediterranean for the first time. In 721/1321-2 he rebelled, struck coins in his own name and styled himself the Mahdi. His father took him prisoner to Abu Said, who pardoned him for Choban's sake. After his brother's execution he fled to Egypt, where the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad at first treated him with great honour. Intrigues and Abu Said's repeated demands for his extradition then embarrassed the sultan, who had him put to death on 13 Shawwal 728/21 August 1328. ¹

Timurtash's son Hasan, called Kuchuk, gained the support of his father's followers in Rum after Abu Said's death in 736/1335. In Dhu 'l-Hijja 738/July 1338 he defeated Hasan Buzurg the Jalayirid near Nakhchivan, and he went on to rule through puppet khans, including Sati Beg, Choban's widow. His wife Izzat Malik murdered him at Tabriz on 27 Rajab 744/15 December 1343. ¹ After Choban's fall the two factions of Hasan Kuchuk and Choban's former son-in-law Hasan Buzurg fought each other almost continually, and Abu Said no longer played a significant part. ²

The article does not give Choban's birth date or parentage, and it records his death date as uncertain between two dates. It also leaves out his religious profile; the museum does not infer one.