41 
1887.] E. E. Oliver —The Safwi Dynasty of Persia. 
defeated on the borders of A'zarbaijan,—a reverse that affected him so 
much that he is said to have never smiled again. Beyond the glory of 
defeating Isma’il, and the plunder of his camp, the Turks reaped little 
profit, and on the death of Salim, Isma’il crossed the Araxes river and 
subdued Georgia. This was the last of his conquests, for he died on 
Monday the 10th Rajab, 930 H. at Ardibll, where he had gone to visit 
the tomb of his father. 
Tahmasp the First 930 to 984 H. 
When Tahmasp succeeded his father he was ten years old, and 
for long was necessarily in the hands of his ministers. He had hardly 
ascended the throne before he was involved in a war with ’Ubaidu-llah 
the Shaibani, the most powerful of the Uzbaks, though not the 
actual ruler till some 10 years after. A war, or succession of wars, 
lasted through almost the whole of a reign exceeding half a century. 
The Uzbaks had obtained possession of Mashhad,* defeated the Persians 
near Bastam 932 H., marched to Balkh 933 H., and advanced and laid 
siege to Hirat 934 H. The Persians, however, collected a large force of 
veteran troops, and under the new king, aged 15, beat off the Uzbak 
general, raised the siege of Hirat, and in 935 H.f signally defeated 
’Ubaidu-llah near Jam, with, according to Babar’s memoirs, a slaughter 
of the most enormous numbers. Soon after this Tahmasp’s affairs 
recalled him westward again. In Ba gh dad a chief of the Kurds had 
usurped the government, and in A'zarbaijan itself the Qazalbash 
chiefs had fallen out. The tribes of Shamlu and Tukiilu were at open 
war, and Alana Tuklu had called in the aid of the Turks. While Tah- 
masp was settling matters in the west, the Uzbaks in the east were 
not slow to take advantage of the internal disturbance, and in 937 H. 
again invaded Khurasan, Astarabad, Sabzwar, Mshapur and Mashhad 
falling under their sway, while Hirat was invested to the great distress 
of the inhabitants. The rebellious tribes quelled, Tahmasp sped again 
to the rescue, and to the relief of the Hiratis spent the winter of 
938 H. there. In the spring of 939 H. he was even proposing to 
retaliate by invading Mawarau-n-Nahr, when he was compelled to 
hark back to meet SulaimanJ from Constantinople who was invading 
his kingdom, had taken Tabriz, occupied Ba gh dad, and but for the 
severity of the season would have reduced Sultaniyah. Tahmasp’s 
active measures, however, compelled him to retire and in 940 H. to 
* And Tus the old town close to the modern Mashhad. 
t 10th Muharram. 
X Sulaiman bin Salim, reigned 926—974 IT. 
