The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu (Azerbaijani: Qaraqoyunlular, قاراقویونلولار; Persian: قره قویونلو), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a Turkoman, culturally Persianate, Muslim dynasty that ruled over the territory comprising present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, northwestern Iran, eastern Turkey, and northeastern Iraq from about 1374 to 1468.
History
Etymology
The name Qara Qoyunlu literally means "[those with] black sheep". They were likely so named because of the black sheep that was painted on their flags. It has been suggested that this name refers to old totemic symbols, but according to Rashid al-Din Hamadani, the Turks were forbidden to eat the flesh of their totem-animals, and so this is unlikely given the importance of mutton in the diet of pastoral nomads. Another hypothesis is that the name refers to the predominant color of their flocks.
Origins
The ruling family descended from the Yıwa tribe of the Oghuz Turks, specifically the Baharlu, who by the fourteenth century possessed territories north of Lake Van and Mosul in Upper Mesopotamia. The tribes that comprised the Qara Qoyunlu besides the Baharlu were the Saadlu in what is now Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the Karamanlu in Ganja and Barda, the Alpaut and the Agacheri in Maraş, the Dukharlu in Erzurum and Bayburt, the Jagirlu in Ardabil, and the Hajilu. According to Faruk Sümer, the Qara Qoyunlu were undoubtedly a sub-tribe (oba "camp, tribe") of the Oghuz, and Vladimir Minorsky's claim that this subtribe belonged to the Yiwa is probably true.
By a number of researchers, the Oghuz dialect of Qara-Qoyunlu is connected with the Azerbaijani language. So, for example, Faruk Sumer noted that the East Oghuz dialect, which was spoken by Qara-Qoyunlu, is today called the Azerbaijani dialect. Serdar Gündoğdu and Ali İçeri (Serdar Gundogdu and Ali Icher) call the Azerbaijani language a legacy that came from the Turkoman tribes of Qara-Qoyunlu. Sultan Qara-Qoyunlu in 1435-1467 Jahan Shah is a recognized representative of Azerbaijani poetry.
Duharlu Turkmens, a branch of the Qara Qoyunlu, first appeared in the Chronicle of Michael Panaretos of the rump state of the Empire of Trebizond. It is probable that the Duharlu came to Anatolia from Central Asia during the Mongol conquest of Anatolia, as testified by the legendary traditions of the Qara Qoyunlu.
Rise
During the 14th century, the Qara Qoyunlu had several encounters with the powerful Jalayirid Sultanate, which was based in Baghdad and Tabriz. In 1366, Shaykh Uways Jalayir marched against the Qara Qoyunlu, defeating their leader Birdi Khwaja in Mosul and his brother Bayram Khwaja, at the battle of Mush. The Qara Qoyunlu Turkomans then became vassals of the Jalayirid Sultanate from about 1375, and the leader of their leading tribe ruled from Mosul. The Qara Qoyunlu ruler Qara Mahammad invaded Mardin in 1384 and received the submission of its Artuqid ruler Majd al-Din Isa Al-Zahir (1376-1407), who became a vassal.
In 1400, the Timurid Empire under Timur defeated the Qara Qoyunlu, and Qara Yusuf fled to Egypt, seeking refuge with the Mamluk Sultanate. Qara Yusuf was welcomed by Sheikh Mahmud, the nāʾib of Damascus. Not long after, the Jalayirid sultan Ahmad Jalayir also came to Damascus. Not wanting to worsen relations with Timur, An-Nasir Faraj agreed to capture Qara Yusuf and Ahmad Jalayir and hand them over to him. Together in prison, the two leaders renewed their friendship, making an agreement that Ahmad Jalayir should keep Baghdad while Qara Yusuf would have Azerbaijan. Ahmad also adopted Qara Yusuf's son Pirbudag.
When Timur died in 1405, an-Nasir Faraj released them both. However, according to Faruk Sümer, they were released on the orders of rebellious wali of Damascus, Sheykh Mahmud.
Qara Yusuf, having returned from exile, forced Timur's governor of Van, Izzaddin Shir, to submit, while capturing Altamış, another viceroy set up by Timur, and sending him to Barquq. He later moved on to the territories of Azerbaijan. He defeated the Timurid Abu Bakr at the Battle of Nakhchivan on 14 October 1406 and reoccupied Tabriz. Abu Bakr and his father Miran Shah tried to recapture Azerbaijan, but on 20 April 1408, Qara Yusuf inflicted a decisive defeat on them at the Battle of Sardrud in which Miran Shah was killed. In the fall of 1409, Qara Yusuf entered Tabriz and sent a raiding party to Shirvan, especially Shaki, which was fruitless. In the west, Mardin, the last stronghold of the Artuqids, was taken over by the Qara Qoyunlu in 1409. The Qara Qoyunlu finally secured their independence from the Jalayarid dynasty with the conquest of Tabriz by Qara Yusuf and the execution of Shaykh Uways Jalayir in 1410.
Armenia and Georgia (1410)
In 1410, Armenia fell under the control of the Qara Qoyunlu. The principal Armenian sources available in this period come from the historian Tovma Metsopetsi and several colophons to contemporary manuscripts. According to Tovma, although the Qara Qoyunlu levied heavy taxes against the Armenians, the early years of their rule were relatively peaceful and some reconstruction of towns took place. This peaceful period was, however, shattered with the rise of Qara Iskander, who reportedly made Armenia a "desert" and subjected it to "devastation and plunder, to slaughter, and captivity". Iskander's wars with and eventual defeat by the Timurids invited further destruction in Armenia, as many Armenians were taken captive and sold into slavery and the land was subjected to outright pillaging, forcing many of them to leave the region. Iskander did attempt to reconcile with the Armenians by appointing an Armenian from a noble family, Rustum, as one of his advisers.
When the Timurids launched their final incursion into the region, they convinced Jihanshah, Iskander's brother, to turn on his brother. Jahanshah pursued a policy of persecution against the Armenians in Syunik and colophons to Armenian manuscripts record the sacking of the Tatev monastery by his forces. But he, too, sought a rapprochement with the Armenians, allotting land to feudal lords, rebuilding churches, and approving the relocation of the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church's Catholicos to Etchmiadzin Cathedral in 1441. For all this, Jihanshah continued to attack Armenian towns and take Armenian captives as the country saw further devastation in the final years of Jihanshah's failed struggles with the Aq Qoyunlu.
During the reign of the Georgian king Alexander I of Georgia (r. 1412–1442), the Qara Qoyunlu multiplied raids against the Kingdom of Georgia, such as the raids led by Qara Yusuf in Akhaltsikhe in 1416. They started the Turkoman invasions of Georgia (1407–1502), ultimately participating to the collapse of the Georgian realm.
Baghdad
In 1410, the Qara Qoyunlu captured Baghdad. The installation of a subsidiary Qara Qoyunlu line hastened the downfall of the Jalairids they had once served. The Qara Qoyunlu finally took down the Jalayirid Sultanate, which fled in a diminished form to southern Iran. The illustrated manuscript Basatin al-uns (TSMK Ms. R. 1032) seems to have been created at the juncture of these events, and may be one of the last manuscripts created by the Jalayirids in Baghdad.
Qara Yusif died in 1420, leading to internal fighting among Qara Yusuf's descendants. After the death of Qara Yusuf in December 1420, Shah Rukh tried to take Azerbaijan from Qara Yusuf's son Iskander, using the fact that none of his sons was accompanying his father. Shah Rukh defeated Qara Iskander in 1420–21. The Timurids briefly occupied the Qara Qoyunlu capital of Tabriz in 1421, and Baysunghur, the son of Shah Rukh, brought back to Herat a group of Tabrizi artists and calligraphers, formerly working for Ahmad Jalayir, who he installed in Herat to add to his existing artists from Shiraz. They became the most important school of artists in Iran, merging the two styles. Shah Rukh again defeated Qara Iskander in 1429, only in the third expedition of Shahrukh Mirza in 1434–35 did the Timurids succeed, upon which Shah Rukh entrusted the government to Iskander's own brother, Jahan Shah (1436-1467) as his vassal.
In 1436 Jahan Shah made peace with the Timurid Shahrukh Mirza, and obtained the help of Shah Rukh to defeat Iskander and seize the throne for himself. He was also adopted by Gawhar Shad and crowned on 19 April 1438, taking the epithet Muzaffar al-Din. Upon the death of the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh in 1447, Jahan Shah became an independent ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu, and started to use the titles of sultan and khan. At the same time, the Timurid Empire took advantage of the struggles among the Turkoman princes and captured the cities of Sultaniya and Qazvin. Peace was made when Sultan Muhammad bin Baysonqor was married to a daughter of Jahan Shah. However, he retook lands he lost from Mirza Babur.
After the death of Shahrukh in 1447, the Qara Qoyunlu Turkomans annexed portions of Iraq and the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula as well as Timurid-controlled western Iran. As the Timurid Empire was embroiled in uncertainty and succession struggles, Jahan Shah managed to capture the cities of Sultaniya, Hamadan and Qazvin.
Southern and Eastern expansion
In 1452-1453, Jahan Shah seized the opportunity of the death of Sultan Muhammad bin Baysonqor, Timurid Governor of Fars, to further expand East and South, taking Saveh, Qum, Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd. He was seconded by his son Pīr Būdāq, who became governor of the region of Shiraz.
In the summer of 1458, Jahan Shah advanced as far as Herat and occupied the city for a few months, but ultimately had to turn back because of a revolt by his son Hasan Ali, and also because of Abu Said's march on Tabriz.
Hasan Ali was kept in Maku prison for a while for his rebellious nature. He was defeated in winter 1458. But this time, his son Pirbudag rebelled, who was soon joined by Hasan Ali in Fars. However, he was spared at the request of his mother and replaced by Mirza Yusuf, another son of Jahan Shah. Pirbudag was sent to govern Baghdad, his other sons Qasim beg was assigned to Kerman with Hasan Ali being imprisoned again. However, Pirbudag again rebelled, now controlling Baghdad. He was defeated in 1464 and was executed by Mirza Muhammad.
Decline
Though much territory was gained during his rule, Jahān Shāh's reign was troubled by his rebellious sons and the almost autonomous rulers of Baghdad, whom he expelled in 1464. In 1466, Jahan Shah attempt to take Diyarbakır from the Aq Qoyunlu ("White Sheep Turkomans") ended in a catastrophic failure, which resulted in Jahān Shāh's death in the Battle of Chapakchur in 1467 and the collapse of the Qara Qoyunlu control in the Middle East. This time Hasanali Mirza came to power, but was killed by Uzun Hasan. By 1468, at their height under Uzun Hasan (1452–1478), the Aq Qoyunlu defeated the Qara Qoyunlu and conquered Iraq, Azerbaijan, and western Iran.
Religion
During the Qara Qoyunlu period, Shia Islam was being spread, notably through the activities of Shaykh Junayd of the Safavid order in Azerbaijan and Anatolia and the Musha'sha' in Khuzistan. Vladimir Minorsky writes that the Qara Qoyunlu adopted Shia Islam as a unifying ideology for their loose tribal confederation, and that "in trying to unify their adepts on a shīʿa platform, they can be regarded as the forerunners of the Safavids." Their rivals, the Aq Qoyunlu, probably rejected heterodox religious influences out of their enmity towards the Qara Qoyunlu. According to R. Quiring-Zoche, however, it is "doubtful" that there was a definite contrast between the Shia Islam of the Qara Qoyunlu and the Sunni Islam of the Aq Qoyunlu. Some later members of the ruling family had names typical of Shia Muslims, and some rulers minted coins with Shia legends. However, the rulers Qara Yusuf, Iskander and Jihanshah minted coins with the names of the four caliphs (three of whom are rejected by Shia Muslims). C. E. Bosworth writes, "there seems no strong evidence for definite Shi'i sympathies among many Turkmen elements of the time." Additionally, there is no indication in contemporary Aq Qoyunlu, Mamluk and Timurid sources that the Qara Qoyunlu rulers had Shia inclinations.