Muslim Sources about the Turkic Governors of Khorezm: On the Example of Ikinchi ibn Kochkar and Anush-Tegin Garcha

Dmitriy M. Timokhin

doi:10.21638/spbu13.2024.404

Authors

Dmitriy M. Timokhin Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2024.404

Abstract

The migration of the nomadic Turkic tribes of eastern Desht-i Qipchak to the borders of Transoxiana and Khorasan has its reflection in numerous monuments of Muslim historiography both of the pre-Mongol period and as part of later writings. Researchers are relatively well aware of certain Turkic tribes or tribal associations that had different forms of interaction with representatives of settled cultures. However, at the same time, there are numerous examples of incorporation of people from a nomadic environment into the administrative or military system of the state formations of Transoxiana and Khorasan, and their biographies were described quite in detail by the authors of Muslim historical and geographical writings. At the same time, such plots have significantly less historiography, since the attention of specialists was focused mainly on the migration processes themselves, rather than on such frequent examples of the presence of nomads or on the people from a nomadic environment in the service of the rulers of Transoxiana and Khorasan. In this article, we would like to analyze two cases when a representative of the nomadic Turkic tribes of eastern Desht-i Qipchak became the governor of Khorezm, namely, we will talk about Ikinchi ibn Kochkar and Anush-Tegin Garcha. We will be interested not in the biographies of both Khorezmshahs only, but also how they managed to achieve this title, how their governorship in this region took place and whether they managed to transfer power in Khorezm to their descendants. Both of these examples are also important for understanding of what place Khorezm occupied as part of the Seljukid state of Khorasan and what was the peculiarity of the administration of this region. Finally, the biographies of both of these Khorezmshahs are also interesting for consideration of what common mechanisms natives of the Turkic nomadic environment used as part of the administrative or military system of the state formations of Transoxiana and Khorasan.

Keywords:

Khorezm, Ikinchi ibn Kochkar, Anush-Tegin Garcha, Muslim historical writings, nomadic Turkic tribes, Desht-i Qipchak

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Sadr ad-Din ‘Ali al-Husajni. Ahbar ad-Daulat as-Seldzhukijja (Zubdat at-tavarih fi ahbar al-umara va-l-muluk as-seldzhukijja) (Reports on the Seljuk state. The cream of Chronicles, telling about the Seljuk emirs, and the lords). Transl. by Z. M. Buniyatov. Moscow, Vostochnaia literatura Publ., 1980. 274 p. (In Russian)

Bartol’d V. V. Turkestan during the Mongol invasion. In: Bartol’d V. V. Sochineniia. Vol. I. Turkestan v epokhu mongol’skogo nashestviia. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1963, pp. 45–597. (In Russian)

Agadzhanov S. G. Essays on the history of the Oghuz and the Turkmens of Central Asia 9th–13th centuries. Ashkhabad, Ylym Publ., 1969. 297 p. (In Russian)

Akhinzhanov S. M. Qipchaks in the history of medieval Kazakhstan. Alma-Ata, Gylym Publ., 1995. 296 p. (In Russian)

Golden P. B. An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples: Ethnogenesis and state-formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East. Wiesbaden, O. Harrassowitz, 1992. 493 p.

Kafesoglu I. Turk Milli Kulturu. Istanbul, Otuken, 1998. 466 s. (In Turkish)

Buniyatov Z. M. State of the Khorezmshah Anushteginids 1097–1231. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1986. 248 p. (In Russian)

Kafesoglu I. Harezmsahlar devleti tarihi (485–617/1092–1229). Ankara, Tu?rk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1956. 318 s. (In Turkish)

Marquart J. Uber das Volkstum der Komanen. In: Bang W., Marquart J. Ostturkische Dialektstudien. Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1914. S. 25–238.

Marquart J. Skizzen zur geschichtlichen Volkerkunde von Mittelasien und Sibirien. Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, 1919–1920, Bd. VIII. Festschrift fur Friedrich Hirth zu seinem 75. Geburtstag 16. April 1920. S. 289–299.

Bartol’d V. V. Turkestan during the Mongol invasion. Part one. Texts. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk Publ., 1898. 212 s. (In Persian and Arabic)

Timokhin D. M., Tishin V. V. Description of the nomadic Turkic tribes of the eastern Desht-i Qipchak in Muslim writings of the first half of the 13th century: On the problem of historiographical continuity. RUDN Journal of World History, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 105–118.

Bartol’d V. V. Twelve lectures on the history of the Turkish peoples of Central Asia. In: Bartol’d V. V. Sochineniia. Vol. 5. Raboty po istorii i filologii tiurkskikh i mongol’skikh narodov. Moscow, Glavnaia redaktsiia vostochnoi literatury Publ., 1968, pp. 19–195. (In Russian)

Sharaf al-Zaman T?ahir Marvazi on China, Turks and India. Arabic Text (circa A. D. 1120) with the English transl. and comment. by V. Minorsky. London, The Royal Asiatic Society, 1942. 170 p. + 53 s.

Materials on the history of Turkmens and Turkmenistan. Ed. by S. L. Volin, A. A. Romaskevich, A. Y. Yakubovsky. Moscow; Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR Publ., 1939. Vol. I. 612 p. (In Russian)

Ibn-el-Athiri Chronicon quod perfectissimum inscribitur. Vol. 10. Annos H. 451–527. Ed. by С. J. Tornberg. Lugduni Batavorum, E. J. Brill, 1864. 486 s. (In Arabic)

Juvayni Ata-Malik. Genghis Khan. The History of the World-Conqueror. Transl. and ed. by J. A. Boyle with an introd. by David O. Morgan. Manchester, University Press; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997. 763 p.

Ta’rikh-i-Jahan-gusha of ‘Ala’u d-Din ‘A?a Malik-i Juwayni (composed in A. H. 658 = A. D. 1260). Ed. by Qazvi?ni?, Muh?ammad. Leyden, E. J. Brill; London, Luzac & Co., 1916. 384 s. (In Persian)

Histoire des seldjoucides de l’Iraq par al-Bondari d’apres Imad ad-din al-Katib al-Isfahani. Recueil de textes relatifs a l’histoire des seldjoucides. Ed. by M. Th. Houtsma. Vol. II. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1889. 324 s. (In Arabic)

Ravandi Mohammad. Rahat as-sudur va ayat as-sorur. Ed. by Mohammad Iqbal. Leiden; London, Luzac & Co., 1921. 575 s. (In Persian)

Najm al-Din Abu l-Reza’ al-Qummi. Tarih al-Wuzara (The History of Vezirs). Ed. by Muhammed Taki Danish-Pazuh. Tehran, Muassase-i mutalaat va tahkikat-i farhangi, 1363/1985. 440 s. (In Persian)

Timokhin D. M. The work of Juzdzhani Tabakat-i Nasiri as a source on the history of Khorezm. Trudy Instituta vostokovedeniia RAN. Vypusk 30: Pis’mennye pamiatniki Vostoka: Problemy perevoda i interpretatsii. Izbrannye doklady. Volume IV. Ed. by L. V. Goryaev, V. N. Nastich. Moscow, Institut vostokovedeniia RAN Publ., 2021, pp. 261–281. (In Russian)

T?abaka?t-i-Nas?iri: A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia, Including Hindustan; from A. H. 194 (810 A. D.) to A. H. 658 (1260 A. D.) and the Irruption of the Infidel Mughals into Islam by Minhaj-ud-din, Abu-’Umar-i-‘Usman. Transl. from original Persian manuscripts by H. G. Raverty. London, Gilbert & Rivington, 1881. Vol. I. 718 p.

Timokhin D. M. Anush-Tegin as the eponym of the Khorezm dynasty in Muslim sources. Journal of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, 2022, no. 3 (21), pp. 10–23. (In Russian)

The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 5. The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Ed. by. J. A. Boyle. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1968. 762 p.

Nishaburi Zahir ad-Din. Salguk-name. Tehran, Chaphaney-e Havar Tehran, 1953. 100 s. (In Persian)

Baha ad-Din Mohammad ibn al-Bagdadi. at-Tavassul ila at-Tarassul. Тehran, Ketabhaneyye Ahmad Bahmanyar, 1937. 389 s. (In Persian)

Vatvat Rashid ad-Din. Namehaye Rashid ad-Din Vatvat. Ed. by K. Toyserkani. Tehran, Kitabkhanayi Barani, 1960. 262 s. (In Persian)

Ibn al-Asir. Al-Kamil fi-t-Tarikh. Full arch of history. Selected passages. Transl. by P. G. Bulgakov, Sh. S. Kamoliddin. Tashkent, Uzbekistan Publ., 2006. 560 p. (In Russian)

Bibliotheca geographorum Arabicorum. Vol. I. Viae Regnorum. Descriptio ditionis moslemicae auctore Abu Ishak al-Farice al-Istakhri. Ed. by M. J. de Goeje. Leiden, Brill, 1927. 348 s. + 11 p. (In Arabic)

Timokhin D. M. Muslim sources on the connections of Khorezm, Desht-i Qipchak and the Volga region in the 12th century. Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: Istoriia i sovremennost’, 2022, issue 4, pp. 114–124. (In Russian)

Muhammad ibn Najib Bakran. Jahan-nameh (The Book of the World). Ed., introd. and indexes by Yu. E. Borshchevsky. Moscow, Glavnaia redaktsiia vostochnoi literatury Publ., 1960. 166 s. (In Persian)

Timokhin D. M. Khorezmshakhs and Seljuks: constructing the image of a ruler and forming the succession of power. Igra prestolov na Vostoke: Politicheskii mif i real’nost’. Ed. by M. S. Kruglova, D. V. Dubrovskaya. Moscow, Institut vostokovedeniia RAN Publ., 2023, pp. 237–253. (In Russian)