Page:The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema (1863).djvu/86
and raised a levy of seven thousand men attached to the sect, and more particularly devoted to his family, because either they or their fathers had been delivered out of the hands of Tamerlane through the intercession of Sheik Sûfî.
"Young Isma’îl, who was then only fourteen years old, undertook with this handful of men to wage war with Ferukhzâd, king of Shirwân, a province of Media, whom he regarded as the murderer of his father. This enterprise was so successful, that he challenged and slew his enemy, seized his kingdom, and thereby gained a position which opened Asia to his ambition.
"This first essay in arms took place a.h. 906, correspond-
ing exactly with a.d. 1500, and the following year Isma’îl attacked and took the city of Tabrîz, obliging Alvend, the grandson of Usuncassan [Hasan Beg] who reigned there, to flee and shut himself up in Baghdad; but that sultân was forced to leave that city also and take refuge in Diarbekir, where he died, a.h. 910, and Baghdad fell into the hands of Isma’îl.
"In a.h. 908, [a.d. 1052,] Isma’îl Shâh, after making himself master of Tabrîz, Media, and Chaldea, turned his arms against Persia, where another grandson of Usun-
cassan reigned, named Murâd Beg, or ’Amrâth son of Yä'acûb Beg. This prince, finding himscl vigorously at-
tacked by his adversary, wished to decide the contest by a general engagement. Leaving Shirâz with that object, he marched towards Hamadân, where the battle took place, wherein he was overcome and obliged to flee to Baghdad, as his cousin Alvend had done before him.
"In a.h. 909, [a.d. 1503,] Isma’îl having besieged Murâd in Baghdad, the latter took to flight, and running from one province to another was ultimately slain by the soldiers of Isma’îl."[1]
- ↑ Bibliothèque Orientale, sub voce Ismael.