Safiqoli Khan

Mirman Mirimanidze, better known as Safiqoli Khan (died 1631), was a Safavid official and gholam who served during the reigns of Abbas I (1588-1629) and Safi (1629-1642).

Biography

Safiqoli's original name was Mirman, and he was a member of the Mirimanidze clan.[1] His father was named Malek Qorkhmaz, and he had a brother named Malek Atabek (Atabegi).[2][3] One of his uncles, Tahmaspqoli, who was bestowed with the title Anīs ol-Dowleh, was the first influential gholam from the family.[4]

Safiqoli rose steadily through the Safavid ranks to become a yuzbashi (officer) early on in his career.[5] Later on, in 1618-1619, he became prefect (darugha) of New Julfa in Isfahan, and was made governor (beglarbeg) of Hamadan shortly after, in 1619-1620.[5][6] Following king Abbas I's recapture of Baghdad in 1624 during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1623–1639, which ended many decades of Ottoman rule, Safiqoli was appointed as its new beglarbeg.[7][8][9] In addition, he was made the local qurchi-bashi of the shrine city of Najaf.[8]

His two close relatives included Mihrab Khan (d. 1648/49) and Manuchehr (sometime beglarbeg of Shirvan).[10]

References

1. Maeda 2003, pp. 253, 255, 266, 271.
2. Maeda 2003, p. 256.
3. Maeda 2003, p. 254.
4. Maeda 2003, pp. 254, 256.
5. Floor & Herzig 2012, p. 481.
6. Maeda 2003, pp. 253-254.
7. Newman 2008, p. 202.
8. Maeda 2003, p. 253.
9. Floor 2008, p. 158.
10. Maeda 2003, pp. 253, 271.

Sources

• Floor, Willem M. (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers. p. 198. ISBN 978-1933823232.
• Floor, Willem; Herzig, Edmund, eds. (2012). "Exploitation of the Frontier". Iran and the World in the Safavid Age. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1780769905.
• Maeda, Hirotake (2003). "On the Ethno-Social Background of Four Gholām Families from Georgia in Safavid Iran". Studia Iranica (32): 1–278.
• Newman, Andrew J. (2008). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 66. ISBN 978-0857716613.