Shabankara'i

• Born — c. 1298 • Birthplace — Shabankara, Fars, Ilkhanate • Died — c. 1358 • Occupation — Poet, historian • Notable Works — Majma‛ al-ansāb fī l- tawārīkh

Born in c. 1298, Shabankara'i was a native of the district of Shabankara (in the southern Iranian region of Fars), which was conquered by the Mongols in 1258. In 1332 or 1333, Shabankara'i completed his general history Majma‛ al-ansāb fī l- tawārīkh ("A Collection of Genealogies in the Histories"), which was dedicated to Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, the Persian vizier of the Ilkhanate ruler Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan. However, the work was destroyed during a ransacking of the vizier's house due to the disorder that followed after Abu Sa'id's death. Shabankara'i thus wrote a second version of the work on 17 December 1337. He also composed a third version in 1343, which was dedicated to the Chobanid prince Pir Husayn. The Majma‛ al-ansāb is notable for containing valuable information about the reign of Öljaitü and Abu Sa'id. Not long after Shabankara'i's death in c. 1358, a certain Ghiyath al-Din ibn Ali Faryumadi from Gurgan or Khurasan, wrote a short continuation of the Majma‛ al-ansāb, which reports about the history of the Sarbadars and the local dynasties of Khurasan during the mid-to-late 14th century.

Shabankara'i's positive portrayal of the Mongols in his Majma‛ al-ansāb is a demonstration of the emerging Iranian support that they started to receive since the fall of Baghdad in 1258 and the stability and blossoming that followed: "It must be known that from the start of the creation of the world and the creation of mankind no padeshah, sultan, khalif, Caesar, khan, qa'an, faqfor (Chinese emperor), khosrow, raj, Jaipal, Raja, tuba (king of Yemen), amir, or king has exercised such power or dominion over the world as Genghis Khan and his progeny have." In his work, Shabankara'i also devotes chapters to local dynasties, such as the Shabankara and Hazaraspids. While there is no evidence of Shabankara'i being associated with the Hazaraspids, he praises their atabeg (ruler) Nusrat al-Din Ahmad like many other contemporary historians: "Nusrat al-Din is the delight of atabegs' eyes and the essence of his dynasty. In the course of the long history of Iranian rulers (moluk-e Irān-zamin), no ruler such as him has appeared, with his good character and good faith. I have never seen such gifts, charity, and favors as his in any tradition and history."