Tajlu Khanum

Tajlu Khanum
Principal consort of the Safavid Shah
Tenure1504–1524
SuccessorSultanum Begum
Bornc. 1485
Died1540 (aged 54–55)
Shiraz
Burial
Bibi Dokhtaran mausoleum
SpouseIsmail I
IssueTahmasp I
Bahram Mirza Safavi
Parikhan Khanum
Mahinbanu Khanum
TribeMawsillu
FatherMihmad beg Mawsillu

Tajlu Khanum (Persian: تاجلو خانم) or Tajli Begum (تاجلی بیگم), also known by her title of Shah-Begi Khanum (شاه بگی خانم), was a Turkoman princess from the Mawsillu tribe and mother of Tahmasp I.

Family

While Italian writer Angiolello and Iranian historian Manuchihr Parsaʹdust agree that she was a granddaughter of the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Yaqub (r. 1478–1490) via a daughter, John Woods proposed her paternal lineage as Mihmad Beg being her father and Amir Hamza being her grandfather.[1] Jean Aubin on the other hand, proposed Bakr Beg Mawsillu as her maternal grandfather.[2] She also had a sister named Beksi Khanum.[3]

Marriage

According to Angiolello and Ramusio, the Safavid shah Ismail I (r. 1501–1524) married Tajlu Khanum after defeating the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Murad ibn Ya'qub in 1503, but according to the Safavid-period historians such as Budaq Monshi Qazvini, she was the wife of the Afrasiyabid ruler Kiya Husayn II, who had during the dissolution of the Aq Qoyunlu confederation expanded his rule from western Mazandaran into parts of Persian Iraq. Ismail I invaded the latter's territories and put an end to his rule in 1504, where he afterwards took Tajlu Khanum into his harem. She became Ismail's most beloved wife. She was a very beautiful, intelligent, and warlike woman, which is why Shah Ismail loved her and wrote great poems for her. Tajlu was the only wife of the king who was skilled in swordsmanship and always accompanied her husband in his battles. She bore him two sons, Tahmasp Mirza and Bahram Mirza Safavi, and two daughters, Parikhan Khanum and Mahinbanu Khanum.

Life in Safavid court

Her supposed capture at Battle of Chaldiran was a major source of controversy among historians of Iran and Ottoman Empire.[4] While Ottoman sources wrote that she was captured during battle and even conversed with Selim I, according to Safavid sources she was lost but found by Mirza Shah Hossein, who because of this rose to the rank of wakil in Safavid court.[5] According to Roger Savory, it was Behruza Khanum, another wife of Ismail I who was captured and apparently later remarried.

Tajlu financed shrine of Fatima al-Masuma in Qom in 1519, supported Tahmasp Mirza's elevation to throne in 1524. But was banished to Shiraz in 1540 because of treason by his son. She later died and buried in Bibi Dokhtaran mausoleum.

References

  1. ^ Woods, John E. (1999). The Aqquyunlu : clan, confederation, empire (Rev. and expanded ed.). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. pp. 192–193. ISBN 0-585-12956-8. OCLC 44966081.
  2. ^ Aubin, Jean (1988). "L'avènement des Safavides reconsideré". Moyen-Orient & Océan Indien. 5. ISSN 0764-5562.
  3. ^ Ruggles, D. Fairchild (2000-08-03). Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies. SUNY Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-7914-4469-6.
  4. ^ Savory, Roger (2003). Tajlu Khanum: Was She Captured by the Ottomans at the Battle of Chaldiran?. Jeremiás, Éva M. Piliscsaba: The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. pp. 217–232. ISBN 963-86359-0-8. OCLC 59719983.
  5. ^ Roemer, H.R. (1986). "The Safavid period". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5: The Timurid and Safavid periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 231. ISBN 9780521200943.

Sources