Friday, May 3, 2024

Qara Qoyunlu against the Kurdish dynasties

Thomas, a 15th-century Armenian chronicler, recounts what transpired before the Kurdish rulers succumbed to the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty. The passage focuses on the Hakkari ruler Izz al-Din Shir (Ezdin):

Now after the death of Timur in 857 of the Armenian Era [1408], the Turkmen [Qara] Yusuf once again came to our land, first to the city of Bitlis. The son of emir Sharaf, Shams al-Din, went before him and greatly honored him with bread, donkeys, horses, weapons, and all military and battle preparations. Taking this, [Yusuf] went against the land of Rshtunik' and the monastery[-complex, vanakert] of Varag. Preparing their forces, [the people of Rshtunik'] came before him with more than 12,000 troops. The treacherous Mar (Mar = Medes, Armenians used the term to refer to Kurds) people cheated the goodly Melik' who was fond of and merciful toward Christians-they fled. Then [Qara Yusuf] destroyed the land with fire, robbing, killing, and polluting. Then emir Ezdin and his son Melik' submitted.




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