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Manuchihr, Minuchihr or Manuchehr I (Persian: منوچهر) was the eleventh Shah of Shirvan. He is considered to be first fully Persianized ruler of the dynasty. Starting from his rule, the Shirvanshahs favoured names from the pre-Islamic Iranian past and claimed descent from characters such as the Sasanian monarch Bahram V Gur (r. 420–438).

Reign

Manuchihr succeeded his father Yazid II as the Shah of Shirvan in 1027. He had at least 6 brothers and a sister.

Two years later, he declared war against the Hashimids of Derbent for an estate in Masqat. He was, however, defeated by an Hashimid army in 1030 which ravaged his land.

The following year, his kingdom was invaded by a Rus' army under Ingvar the Far-Travelled. Manuchihr tried to repel them from Caucasus, but was soundly defeated at Baku; many prominent commanders of Shirvan were killed, such as one of the nobles Ahmad ibn Khasskin. Manuchihr then had the Araxes river closed in order to stop the Rus'. However, this resulted in the drowning of a large number of his men. The Rus then were employed by Abu'l-Fath Musa of Shaddadids who used them to capture Baylaqan. Nevertheless, some time later in 1031, they again landed in Baku, but this time Manuchihr managed to repel the Rus'. It was probably around this time Manuchihr married Sitt, sister of Musa.

In 1032, a combined army from Sarir and Alania invaded Shirvan and seized its capital Shamakhi, killing around 10000 people and pillaging it for 10 days. During their withdrawal from Shirvan, however, they were attacked and defeated by the people of Derbent who seized the goods for themselves.

Death

Manuchihr was stabbed to death by his younger brother Abu-Mansur Ali, who had with the help of Manuchihr's wife Sitt entered the latter's house while the shah was reading a letter came from Musa. Ali thus became the new Shirvanshah.

Family

He had at least two wives and a son:

• Sitt — daughter of Fadl ibn Muhammad of Shaddadids (m. Ali II of Shirvan in January 1035)
• A daughter of ruler of Tabasaran
  • Hormuzd — emir of Tabasaran, d. 9 April 1065

References

1. ^ Madelung 1975, p. 248.
2. ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 31.
3. Bosworth, C.E. (11 February 2011). "ŠERVĀNŠAHS". Archived copy. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Archived from the original on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "Shaddadids". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
5. ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 32.
6. Minorsky 1958, p. 35.

Sources

• Madelung, W. (1975). "The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran". In Frye, R. N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 198–249. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
• Minorsky, Vladimir (1958). A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries. University of Michigan. pp. 1–219. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.

• Shirvanshahs
• 11th-century Iranian people
• 1034 deaths
• 11th-century monarchs in the Middle East
• History of Derbent