Part 16: Sultan Mahmoud Shah, Lion of Islam
A 17th century depiction of Sultan Mahmoud Shah, probably around the age of 40 or 50
Part 16: Sultan Mahmoud Shah, Lion of Islam
Even as the salah prayer was recited at his father’s funeral in 1349 (749), the newly crowned 30 year old Sultan Mahmoud Shah had to contend with the ongoing effects of the Pestilence that engulfed Anatolia, trying his hardest to help his people cope with the massive loss of life from the disease. Taking a cue from the lives of past sultans, Mahmoud Shah reinstated the grain redistribution of Sultan Kilij Arslan IV, though diversifying it to rely primarily on food produced in cities due to the mass migration of farmers into cities. Partnering with the largest masjids in cities from Iconium to Nicomedia, Mahmoud Shah began a program designed to feed the starving populace as best as he could, with extra funds being provided by zakat and jizya taxes in order to provide the widows and orphans of deceased farmers and craftsmen with an income. In 1356 (756), noticing the migration of Kurds further north in the eastern regions of his holdings, Mahmoud Shah struck a deal with a number of Kurdish tribes that would give them political autonomy in exchange for a cut of the produce of their herding, namely wool and mutton. At first this may seem like a poor deal, but the location of the Kurds on the border with the Ilkhanate gave these dealings an additional significance, with autonomous Kurdish bands able to better defend their borderland homes, as a buffer against potential Mongol aggression.
However, Mahmoud Shah’s attentions would be diverted back to the west with the Alexionite Uprising of Theodoros, depriving the reinvigorated grain redistribution program of the fertile produce of western Anatolia as well as resulting in the deaths of thousands of citydwellers and formerly agrarian refugees. The period of Alexionite control of western Anatolia caused a spike in the number of deaths in Anatolia, even when ignoring the deaths from the fighting itself. The lull in the food redistribution program was absolutely devastating, and if Mahmoud Shah wanted to get back to helping his people, he would have to respond to the rebellion as quickly as possible.
Initially, Sultan Mahmoud Shah believed that the rebels were fully backed by Basileos Alexios VI Palaiologos, and so an envoy was sent to Constantinople to demand an end to support for the rebels and a return to amicable relations between the two states. The envoy was imprisoned and presumably died in prison. So Mahmoud Shah reached out to two increasingly important factions within his state: the iqta of Orhan son of Osman, and the nomadic Kurds. The Alexionite Uprising had begun within the iqta of Orhan, but the young noble had been experiencing difficulties defend his domains from the efforts of Theodoros. Mahmoud Shah sent him a letter in 1354 (755), describing the sultan’s plans to defeat the rebels: he would use nomadic Kurdish warriors from eastern Anatolia to supplement the struggling troops of the sultanate, providing a unified bulwark against the Alexionites that would be able to defeat them with ease. Orhan son of Osman was intrigued by the idea, and agreed. Now, Mahmoud Shah had only to communicate with the prominent Kurdish tribes, and these dealings were not too difficult. By 1357 (758), a force of mixed Kurdish and Turcoman soldiers was moving out of Iconium to regroup with the forces of Orhan at Nicomedia.
Ultimately, the strategy of a combination of nomadic warriors and traditional infantry and cavalry paid off, with the Alexionite rebels routed and exiled to the Eastern Roman Empire by 1372 (772). A few Kurdish bands which had accompanied Sultan Mahmoud Shah settled down in the recaptured territories of western Anatolia, shaping pockets of Iranian nomadism in the fertile fields and valleys of the Aegean plain, and providing a bulwark against Roman incursion. Many of these Kurdish bands were almost fanatical in their adherence to the faith, and the Sultan used them to his advantage in suppressing the rebellious Dimashqi Sufis as well as the Alexionites that remained in Anatolia, though there were documented instances where Kurdish mercenaries would attack state-sanctioned Sufis (namely Mevlevis) for their supposed heresy and drunkenness.
With the victory over the Alexionites pushing the way, Sultan Mahmoud Shah experienced a period of great popularity, increasing the efficiency of the food redistribution system as well as building a few notable masjids and sufi lodges, most importantly the Mevlevi lodge in Prusa, which was constructed in 1378 (779) with the help of dirhams from the Sultan’s treasury. For his defeat of the Alexionites and patronage of religious institutions, Mahmoud Shah was termed the Lion of Islam, or Islam Arslani. When he went on hajj in 1379 (779), he took with him an entourage of servants and attendants, but left his wife behind in Iconium. She would die while he was away, succumbing to the Pestilence as many of her subjects did as well. His wife, a scion of a notable family of Turcomen, was named Sayar, and she was instrumental in the restructuring and re-esablishing of the food redistribution system in Rum. She proposed the division of the state into districts with state-appointed representatives, in the Roman style, which would oversee the distribution of the food and work with local masjids in a way which the Sultan simply could not. She was also known to be a skilled huntress, even riding alongside her husband in the Anatolian countryside. Upon hearing of her death, Sultan Mahmoud Shah is said to have spent a whole year grieving in Damascus, but it is possible that this is a fabrication. Mahmoud Shah returned to Iconium from the hajj in 1381 (782), now 62 years old.
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Hundredth post in this thread! Sorry for a bit of a short one: I sort of thought that this one and the last one had to go together, so I decided to post them back to back like this.
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