Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Mongol Ilkhante of Iran: Realm or Empire?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Empires to be remembered

  • 581 Accesses

Abstract

The Ilkhanate of Iran emerged in the course of the disintegration of the Great Mongol Empire. In scholarly literature, the Ilkhanate likewise is quite often termed an empire. But, what are the essential characteristics that allow for this label? The editors of this volume, Michael Gehler and Robert Rollinger, in this and previous publications, developed and discussed a catalogue of imperial qualities that facilitate a comparative and global history approach. This chapter follows their guideline and takes up some of their key concepts by comparing the Great Mongol Empire with the Ilkhanate. Legitimacy, self-perception, the exercise of political power, the dynamics of expansion, and the relations with other Mongol polities are among the topics to be examined.

I thank my dear colleague and friend Christine Noelle-Karimi that she read the original draft of this text carefully and made valuable suggestions to improve my English phrasing. I am responsible for all potential mistakes in the final text.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Komaroff and Carboni (2002); Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2005).

  2. 2.

    For a discussion of the sources cf. Morgan (2007, pp. 5–29).

  3. 3.

    Jackson (2000, pp. 189–210); Morgan (2004); Morgan (2007); Morgan (2016).

  4. 4.

    Gehler and Rollinger (2014, pp. 1–32).

  5. 5.

    Ilkhanid Iran was considerably larger than today’s Islamic Republic of Iran, covering areas which today belong to Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, the Republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Turkey. For maps showing the territories under Mongol expansion and rule cf. Komaroff and Carboni (2002, pp. 8–10); Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2005, pp. 30–33).

  6. 6.

    For a brief narrative of events see Spuler (1985, pp. 16–36); Morgan (2016, pp. 99–104).

  7. 7.

    Spuler (1985, pp. 44–106); Amitai (2004); Morgan (2007, pp. 139–151).

  8. 8.

    The Mongol empire is discussed extensively along this guideline by Gießauf (2014).

  9. 9.

    On the procedures of decision-making and ceremonies of succession cf. Hoffmann (2014).

  10. 10.

    For a discussion of this topic cf. Jackson (2017, p. 97 f).

  11. 11.

    Hoffmann (2014, p. 272 f).

  12. 12.

    Hoffmann (2014, pp. 274–279); Jackson (2017, p. 100 f).

  13. 13.

    Allsen (1987, pp. 30–34).

  14. 14.

    Allsen (1987, pp. 77–104).

  15. 15.

    For a concise narrative of events cf. Morgan (2016, pp. 130–139).

  16. 16.

    Lane (2003).

  17. 17.

    Juvaini/Boyle (1997, p. 42 f). on the allocation of the uluses by Chinggis Khan. For a thorough discussion of the semantic and factual dimensions and development of this term cf. Jackson (1999).

  18. 18.

    Jackson (1999, pp. 17–28); Jackson (2017, pp. 101–106).

  19. 19.

    So we know Hülegü had possessions in China and Tibet while Qubilai in return owned some cattle in Iran: Allsen (2001, p. 49).

  20. 20.

    Allsen (2001, p. 54).

  21. 21.

    Allsen (2001, p. 52 f).

  22. 22.

    Jackson (1978).

  23. 23.

    On the details of Hülegü’s campaign cf. Smith (2013).

  24. 24.

    Rashiduddin (1998/1999, pp. 478–479).

  25. 25.

    For a short but instructive presentation and interpretation of events that resulted in the formation of the Ilkhanate cf. Allsen (2001, pp. 17–23).

  26. 26.

    Rashiduddin (1998/1999, pp. 480–481). Hoffmann (2014, p. 286).

  27. 27.

    Juvaini and Boyle (1997, pp. 614; 616–617).

  28. 28.

    For a discussion of the sources and the pros and cons cf. Morgan (2016, p. 130).

  29. 29.

    For his biography cf. Rossabi (1988), for a map of Qubilai’s territories ib. p. 111.

  30. 30.

    For a critical discussion of the dissolution of the Great Mongol Empire and the evolution of the Khanates cf. Jackson (1978) and Jackson (1999). On Qaidu cf. Biran (1997).

  31. 31.

    Kim (2009, pp. 30–36); cf. p. 34 for his citation of the Japanese scholar Masaaki Sugiyama.

  32. 32.

    Erdal (1993) has shown that it was in use before the Mongols and in the Mongol period was not confined to the house of Hülegü.

  33. 33.

    Kim (2009, p. 31 f).

  34. 34.

    Allsen (2001, pp. 22–30).

  35. 35.

    Allsen (2001, pp. 17–23).

  36. 36.

    Allsen (2001, pp. 31–40).

  37. 37.

    On both Bolad’s amazing careers, first in China, than in Iran cf. Allsen (2001, pp. 63–80).

  38. 38.

    Spuler (1985, pp. 149–157); Morgan (2016, pp. 237–240).

  39. 39.

    Cited after Pfeiffer (2013, p. 371), who highlights on the Mongols’ capacity to integrate Muslim discourse into their own worldview.

  40. 40.

    Melville (1990). On the process of Islamisation of the Mongols in the Ilkhanate cf. Amitai (2001) and Pfeiffer (2013).

  41. 41.

    Aykut and Aydın (1992).

  42. 42.

    Melville (2003).

  43. 43.

    Allsen (2001, p. 33 f.; 37 f.; 39).

  44. 44.

    Lane (2003, p. 255).

  45. 45.

    Pistor-Hatam (2014).

  46. 46.

    Spuler (1985, pp. 288–292) gives a brief overview on provincial government. For more details on client dynasties of Fars, Kerman, and Herat cf. Lane (2003: chap. 5), for Anatolia Melville (2009), for the most recent discussion of Mongol client principalities in general cf. Jackson (2017, pp. 242–268).

  47. 47.

    Dates of Ilkhanid military expeditions or raids into Ilkhanid territory are briefly sketched in Amitai (2004) for each of the Ilkhans. For fuller details on the first two decades of Mamluk-Ilkhanid warfare cf. Amitai (1995) and for the Chinggisid hostilities cf. Jackson (2017), chap. 7 “The Era of Inter-Mongol Warfare”.

  48. 48.

    Masuya (2002); Haneda (1997); Blair (1986).

  49. 49.

    Masuya (2002) with a map of Mongol summer and winter camps on p. 76.

  50. 50.

    Spuler (1985, pp. 297–299); Jackson (2017, p. 411 f).

  51. 51.

    Allsen (1987, p. 207).

  52. 52.

    Smith (1975); Morgan (1979); Allsen (1987, pp. 189–194).

  53. 53.

    Melville (2013) and Hope (2016).

  54. 54.

    Morgan (2007, pp. 94–98).

  55. 55.

    Spuler (1985, p. 238 f).

  56. 56.

    Aubin (1995); Aigle (2006/2007).

  57. 57.

    Rossabi (1992).

  58. 58.

    Jackson (2005, pp. 173–175).

  59. 59.

    Allsen (2001, pp. 72–80).

  60. 60.

    Still no monographic biography of Rashīd ad-Dīn exists but a myriad of biographical sketches in articles, introductions to his works. A recent collective volume covers many aspects of his life and achievements: Akasoy et al. (2013).

  61. 61.

    There are other reasons that contributed to this effect. After Hülegü and Abaqa who reached an age of 50 and 48 respectively, most Ilkhans died rather young: Arghun reached the age of thirty (or thirty-two), Ghazan of thirty-two, Öljeitü of thirty-six and Abū Saʿīd of thirty. At the same time fertility also declined, cf. Hoffmann (2014, p. 291 f). Compare also the respective genealogical charts in Thackston’s translation of the Jāmiʿ at-tawārīkh to be found in the first sections on the individual rulers! Rashiduddin (1998/1999). Smith (2000) argues with habitual dietary decadence and abuse of alcohol.

  62. 62.

    Spuler (1985, pp. 107–115).

  63. 63.

    Melville (1999).

  64. 64.

    Hope (2016).

  65. 65.

    Allsen (2001, pp. 90–94).

  66. 66.

    Kim (2009, pp. 15–18) gives an outline of the controversial discussion of Pax Mongolica. He argues that even after the disintegration of the Mongol empire Eurasian long-distance communication was not prevented completely, but that—with the exception of shorter periods—envoys, merchants and others still made their way through hostile uluses.

  67. 67.

    Allsen (2001, p. 191) give a discussion of the Mongols’ agency in transcultural transmission.

  68. 68.

    Allsen (2001, pp. 189–211).

  69. 69.

    Komaroff (2002).

  70. 70.

    Fragner (1997, pp. 124–127).

  71. 71.

    Krawulsky (1978, pp. 11–17).

  72. 72.

    Fragner (1999, pp. 78–81).

  73. 73.

    Fragner (2013, p. 78).

  74. 74.

    Fragner (2013, p. 76 f.); Kolbas (2005).

Bibliography

  • Aigle, Denise. 2005. Le Fārs sous la domination mongole. Politique et fiscalité (XIIIe–XIVe s.). Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aigle, Denise. 2006/2007. Iran under Mongol domination. The effectiveness and failings of a dual administrative system. Bulletin d’études orientales 57: 65–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akasoy, Anna, Charles Burnett, and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (eds.). 2013. Rashid al-Din: Agent and Mediator of Cultural Exchange in Ilkhanid Iran. London: Warburg Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allsen, Thomas T. 1987. Mongol Imperialism: The Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia, and the Islamic Lands, 1251–1259. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allsen, Thomas T. 2001. Culture and conquest in Mongol Eurasia, 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amitai, Reuven. 1995. Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amitai, Reuven. 2001. The conversion of Tegüder Ilkhan to Islam. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 25: 15–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amitai, Reuven. 2004. Il-Khanids. i. Dynastic History. Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol. XII, Fasc. 6: 645–654.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aubin, Jean. 1995. Emirs mongols et vizirs persan dans les remous de l’acculturation (Studia Iranica, Cahier 15). Leuven: Peeters Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aykut, Tuncay, and Şennur Aydın. 1992. Ak Akçe. Moğol ve İlhanlı Sikkeleri. Mongol and Ilkhanid Coins (Yapı Kredi Koleksiyonarı 2). Istanbul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biran, Michal. 1997. Qaidu and the rise of the independent Mongol state in Central Asia. Richmond: Curzon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, Sheila S. 1986. The Mongol Capital of Sulṭāniyya, ‘The Imperial’. Iran 24: 139–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erdal, Marcel. 1993. Die türkisch-mongolischen Titel elxan und elči. In Altaica Berolinensia. The Concept of Sovereignty in the Altaic World. Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 34th Meeting, Berlin 21–26 July, 1991 (Asiatische Forschungen 126), ed. Barbara Kellner-Heinkele, 81–99. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fragner, Bert G. 1997. Iran under Ilkhanid Rule in a World History Perspective In L’Iran face à la domination mongole. Ètudes réunies et présentées par Denise Aigle (Bibliothèque Iranienne 45), ed. Denise Aigle, 123–131. Teheran: Institut Français de recherche en Iran.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fragner, Bert G. 1999. Die „Persophonie“: Regionalität, Identität und Sprachkontakt in der Geschichte Asiens (ANOR 5). Halle/Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fragner, Bert G. 2013. Ilkhanid Rule and its Contributions to Iranian Political Culture. In Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, ed. Linda Komaroff, 68–80. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gehler, Michael, and Robert Rollinger (eds.). 2014.. Unter Mitarbeit von Sabine Fick und Simone Pittl. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gießauf, Johannes. 2014. Size does matter. In Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte. Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche, ed. M. Gehler and R. Rollinger, 589–619. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haneda, Masashi. 1997. The Pastoral City and the Mausoleum City: Nomadic Rule and City Construction in the Eastern Islamic World. In Islamic Urbanism in Human History: Political Power and Social Networks, ed. Tsugitaka Sato, 142–170. London/New York: Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, Birgitt. 1997. Iran unter mongolischer Herrschaft. In Die Mongolen in Asien und Europa (Kieler Werkstücke, Reihe F. Beiträge zur osteuropäischen Geschichte 4), ed. Stephan Conermann and Jan Kusber, 103–120. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, Birgitt. 2014. Von Dschingis Khan zu den Ilkhanen von Iran: Das Thronzeremoniell mongolischer Fürsten nach zeitgenössischen Quellen – Funktionen und Wandlungen eines politischen Rituals. In: Bamberger Orientstudien (Bamberger Orientstudien 1), ed. Lale Behzadi et al., 245–316. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press. (Free online version: urn:nbn:de:bvb:473-opus4-253265)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hope, Michael. 2016. Power, Politics, and Tradition in the Mongol Empire and the Īlkhānate of Iran. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Peter. 1978. The dissolution of the Mongol Empire. Central Asiatic Journal 22: 186–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Peter. 1999. From Ulus to Khanate: The Making of the Mongol States c. 1220–c. 1290. In The Mongol empire & its legacy, ed. Reuven Amitai-Preiss and David O. Morgan, 12–38. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Peter. 2000. The State of Research: The Mongol Empire, 1986–1999. Journal of Medieval History 26: 189–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Peter. 2005. The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410. Harlow et al.: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Peter. 2017. The Mongols & the Islamic World. From Conquest to Conversion. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Juvaini, ʿAlā-ad-Dīn ʿAta-Malik/Boyle, John A. 1997. Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror, translated from the text of Mirza Muhammad Qazwini by J[ohn] A[ndrew] Boyle with a new introduction and bibliography by David O. Morgan. Manchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Hodong. 2009. The Unity of the Mongol Empire and Continental Exchanges over Eurasia. Journal of Central Eurasian Studies 1: 17–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolbas, Judith. 2005. The Mongols in Iran: Chingiz Khan to Uljaytu 1220–1309. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Komaroff, Linda. 2002. The Transmission and Dissemination of a New Visual Language. In The Legacy of Genghis Khan. Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, ed. L. Komaroff and S. Carboni, 168–195. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    Google Scholar 

  • Komaroff, Linda (ed.). 2013. Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Komaroff, Linda, and Stefano Carboni (eds.). 2002. The Legacy of Genghis Khan. Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krawulsky, Dorothea. 1978. Īrān – das Reich der Īlḫāne (Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B, 17). Wiesbaden: Reichert.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ed.). 2005. Dschingis Khan und seine Erben. Das Weltreich der Mongolen. München.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, George. 2003. Early Mongol rule in thirteenth-century Iran: A Persian renaissance. London/New York: Routledge/Curzon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masuya, Tomoko. 2002. Ilkhanid Court Life. In The Legacy of Genghis Khan. Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, ed. L. Komaroff and S. Carboni, 75–103. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melville, Charles. 1990. Pādshāh-i Islām: The Conversion of Sulṭān Maḥmūd Ghāzān Khān. Pembroke Papers 1: 159–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melville, Charles. 1999. The Fall of Amir Chupan and the Decline of the Ilkhanate, 1327–1337: A Decade of Discord in Mongol Iran (Papers on Inner Asia 30). Bloomington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melville, Charles. 2003. History and Myth: The Persianisation of Ghazan Khan. In Irano-Turkic Cultural Contacts, ed. Éva Jeremiás, 133–160. Piliscaba.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melville, Charles. 2009. Anatolia under the Mongols. In The Cambridge History of Turkey, ed. Kate Fleet, 51–101. Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melville, Charles. 2013. The Keshig in Iran: The Survival of the Royal Mongol Household. In Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, ed. L. Komaroff, 135–164. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, David O. 1979. The Mongol Armies in Persia. Der Islam 56/1: 81–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, David. 2004. The Mongols in Iran: A Reappraisal. Iran 42: 131–136. doi: 10.2307/4300668.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, David. 2007. The Mongols, 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell. (Chapter 9: “The Mongol Empire since 1985”: 181–206.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, David. 2016. Medieval Persia 1040–1797, 2nd edition. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer, Judith. 2013. Reflections on a ‘double rapprochement’: conversion to Islam among the Mongol elite during the early Ilkhanate. In Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, ed. L. Komaroff, 368–389. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pistor-Hatam, Anja. 2014. Geschichtsschreibung und Sinngeschichte in Iran: Historische Erzählungen von mongolischer Eroberung und Herrschaft, 1933–2011. Leiden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rashd ad-Dīn / Thackston, W. M. 1998/1999. Rashiduddin Fazlullah: Jamiʿuʾtawarikh. Compendium of Chronicles. A History of the Mongols. Translated and annotated by W. M. Thackston, 3 parts (Sources of Oriental Languages & Literatures 45). Harvard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossabi, Morris. 1988. Khubilai Khan: His life and times. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossabi, Morris. 1992. Voyager from Xanadu. Rabban Sauma and the first journey from China to the West. Tokyo/New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, John Masson. 1975. Mongol Manpower and the Persian population. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 18: 271–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, John Masson. 2000. Dietary Decadence and Dynastic Decline in the Mongol Empire. Journal of Asian History 34: 35–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, John Masson Jr. 2013. High Living and Heartbreak on the Road to Baghdad. In Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, ed. L. Komaroff, 111–134. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spuler, Bertold. 1985. Die Mongolen in Iran: Politik, Verwaltung und Kultur der Ilchanzeit 1220–1350, 4th ed. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Cambridge History of Iran, vol.5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed. by John Andrew Boyle. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Orientalistik, Universität Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

    Birgitt Hoffmann

Authors
  1. Birgitt Hoffmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Birgitt Hoffmann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Deutschland

    Michael Gehler

  2. University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Österreich

    Robert Rollinger

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hoffmann, B. (2022). The Mongol Ilkhante of Iran: Realm or Empire?. In: Gehler, M., Rollinger, R. (eds) Empires to be remembered. Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34003-2_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34003-2_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-34002-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-34003-2

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation