200 chapter four
for their claim to the old transcaucasian territories, there remained the
problem of confronting the chobanids, the emir choban’s heirs, who had
installed themselves as rulers in azerbaijan and persian Iraq.231
as rulers, their position vis-à-vis their subjects was weakened not by a
lack of legitimacy but by their inability to meet the needs of a vital seg-
ment of society and the state, the great merchant class. however hard
the usurpers tried to satisfy mercantile requirements, they could do no
more than their little power allowed: they could not guarantee secu-
rity and infrastructure, the indispensable preconditions for commerce,
beyond their principalities’ narrow borders. Such poor substitutes were
not enough for the long-distance merchants, who were used to being able
to travel the great asian roads as far as eastern europe under chinggisid
protection, risk-free and without the inconvenience of customs. When
persia, including its chobanid component, fell apart, this gave the coup
de grace to long-distance trade in the Middle east.
the only ruler far and wide who was ready to press a legitimate claim
as successor to the whole of the Ilkhanate, and who to all appearances
was powerful enough to do so, was Janibek. Such succession certainly
included taking over as protector of the merchant class.232 It is thus no
surprise that the upper strata in the great persian cities saw the Volga
khan as a veritable saviour on whom they could pin their hopes: “as a
result of al-Malik al-ashraf ’s oppression, many of the hajjis of tabriz, Shi-
raz, ardabil, Bailakan, Barda and Nakhchivan came to him.”233 religious
leaders energetically promoted the merchants’ cause: the famous qadi
Muḥyī al-Dīn of Barda had become court preacher at Sarai, and publi-
cally invited Janibek to bring his army across the caucasus and topple the
illegitimate ruler of tabriz.234
the anarchy in persia also made it commercially unwelcoming for
Western businessmen. Beginning in 1340, Genoa forbade its subjects to
231 the most important member of this local dynasty was al-Malik al-ashraf (1344–1356)
and Sheikh uwais (1356–1374); cf. Spuler, Horde, pp. 114–115, Grekov, Yakubovskiy, Orda,
p. 263. al-Malik al-ashraf’s dispute with Janibek on the legitimacy of his claim is recounted
in ‘history of Sheikh uwais’/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, II, p. 102.
232 See chapter 1.2.2.
233 ‘history of Sheikh uwais’/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, II, p. 101. the russian editors and
translators suggest ‘gorodskie bogateyʼ [= ‘rich town dwellersʼ] to explicate the term ḥājj,
literally ‘pilgrimʼ (ibid., note 3).
234 Zayn al-Dīn/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, II, p. 94; cf. Grekov, Yakubovskiy, Orda, p. 264.