Fakhr al-Din Qutlugh-bey ( Azerbaijani and ; died 1389) was the second

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (, ; ) was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two trib ...

bey, ruling from 1362-1389. His full name was ''Haji Fakhr al-Din Kutlug ibn Tur Ali-bey''.

Biography

Qutlugh was the son and successor of

Bey Tur-Ali Bey Tur-Ali, also Aladdin Turali Bey was the second ruler of Aq Qoyunlu state. Life He was a son of Pehlavan bey Bayandur, who for the first time had settled the Bayandur The Bayandur (, , ), also spelled Bayundur or Bayindir, is an Oghuz Tu ...

and grandson of

Pehlavan bey Bayandur Pehlavan bey Bayandur (Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani and ) was founder and first ruler of Aq Qoyunlu state. Life He was a son of Idris bey Bayandur. For the first time during his reign, Bayandur eli settled in Diyarbakir region. According to ...

. In his youth he spent time at the court of

Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad I Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad I (died October 1365) was the second Sultan of the Eretnids in central and eastern Anatolia, ruling from 1352 until his death. He was enthroned at a young age and struggled to maintain his authority over the state his fat ...

, Bey of Eretna (1352-1366). In 1352, Qutlugh married Maria Komnene (''Despina Khatun''), sister of the

Emperor of Trebizond The Trapezuntine emperors were the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond, one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire founded after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, until its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1461. All but two of the Trapezuntine rule ...

, Alexios III, as part of the peace agreement between the Aq Qoyunlu and Trebizond. Around 1363, after the death of his father, Qutlugh became the new Bey of the Aq Qoyunlu. Under Qutlugh, the Aq Qoyunlu expanded south of

Erzincan Erzincan (; ), historically Yerznka (), is the capital of Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is majority Turkish Sunni w ...

. He attempted to maintain good relations with Trebizond, visiting there with his wife in 1365. In 1379, he sent his oldest son, Ahmad, to Erzincan to assist

Mutahharten Mutahharten (), also known as Taharten (; died late 1403), was Emir of Erzincan from 1379 until his death. Erzincan was previously ruled by emirs who exercised autonomy as vassals of the Eretnids. Mutahharten claimed sovereignty from the Eretnids ...

against the military incursions of the Eretnids under sultan Ala al-Din Ali. Following the death of Ala al-Din Ali in 1381, Qutlugh supported the semi-autonomous lords of Erzincan.

Alliances

Qutlugh focused his main efforts on transforming the tribal union into a more solid state formation. At the same time, he made an alliance with the Jalayirid Sultanate against the tribal union

Kara Koyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu (, ; ), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, English Black Sheep, Turkmen tribal federation th ...

, which was defeated in 1366. However, in the end he quarreled with the Jalayrids because of their establishment of an alliance with the state

. During the 1370s, in alliance with

Jalayirid Sultanate The Jalayirid Sultanate () was a dynasty of Mongol Jalayir origin, which ruled over modern-day Iraq and western Iran after the breakup of the Ilkhanate in the 1330s.Bayne Fisher, William. ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', p. 3: "From then until ...

and

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

Qutlugh fought against

. However, in 1386 in the battle of

he was defeated by Kara Muhammad, beg Kara Koyunlu. Then Qutlugh made an alliance with the Central Asian commander

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

, who set out on

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. He was allied with him against Jalairids and

. In 1389, Qutlugh died under unknown circumstances. After that, a power struggle began between his sons Osman and Ahmad, which was joined by another brother, Pir Ali.

Marriage and issue

Qutlugh and Maria had: *Ahmad *Pir Ali * Qara Usman *Husayn *unnamed daughter married Salim Doger

Legacy

Qutlugh expanded the borders of the Aq Qoyunlu to south of Erzincan into Diyarbakr. It was under his reign that the term "Aq Qoyunlu" is first referenced in Burhan al-Din of Sivas' chronicle. Qutlugh had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and was given the title "al-Hajj". He also founded a mosque in Sinir.

References

Sources

* * 14th-century Aq Qoyunlu rulers 1389 deaths {{Aq Qoyunlu leaders