50 chapter two
however, this version of the story is undermined by the most reliable
source in the controversy, ‛atā Malik Juwaynī, who knew the Mongol tax
system of iran well. this persian historian, together with his father, worked
in the administration of arghun aga, appointed by töreghene55 as chief of
finances in the lands beyond the amu darya as far as “Fars,56 georgia, ana-
tolia and Mosul.”57 By his own account, once charged with the important
task of collecting taxes for the Qara Qorum treasury, he met most opposi-
tion not from the tax-payers themselves, but from local Mongol chieftains,
who squeezed money from the lands which they had been assigned as
though these were their own property. in 1243/4 arghun restored order in
favour of the central power, not just in the areas under direct Mongol rule
but also in anatolia and syria, which were part of the chinggisid sphere
of influence.58 among all those greater or lesser usurpers who had seized
the chance presented by Ögödei’s death to carve themselves fiefdoms and
rule more or less as they chose, the “bandit chief ” was, of course, Batu.
his interests, powerfully present both in neighbouring transcaucasia and
in other, more distant parts of the near east,59 inevitably clashed head-
on with the interests of the dowager empress of Mongolia, once arghun
appeared in azerbaijan to collect taxes on her behalf. Juwaynī describes
this earliest tussle between the two centres of power over tabriz, although
his account is understandably tinged by political partisanship: “when
sharaf al-dīn arrived in tabriz from the ordu of Batu he made great exac-
tions on the people there and elsewhere because of arrears in taxes. the
emir arghun opposed this although sharaf al-dīn persisted; and love and
affection for him became ever more firmly implanted in men’s hearts.
[.. .] he left my father the ṣāḥib diwān [director of finance] as his deputy
55 Ögödei’s widow and regent from his death (1241) until their son güyük took the
throne (1246); cf. grousset, Empire, pp. 333–334, spuler, Horde, pp. 28, 232, allsen, Imperial-
ism, pp. 20, 24, 36, 68, 103, 146, 151, 201.
56 the province in the south-west corner of iran (cf. le strange, Lands, pp. 248–297;
spuler, Mongolen, pp. 117–121).
57 Juwaynī/spuler, History, pp. 126–127; georgian sources give a favourable portrait of
this Mongol, as a learned man with considerable organisational talent and with a strong
sense of justice (Brosset, Histoire, pp. 550–551).
58 spuler, History, p. 127: “upon arriving in tabriz he restored to order the affairs of that
region which had been disturbed by the proximity of the Mongol emirs [.. .] who regarded
that territory as their own property. he protected the revenue and caused these people to
withdraw their hands therefrom. [.. .] the sultans of rūm, syria and aleppo sent ambas-
sadors to him and sought his protection and favour; and he dispatched elchis [= envoys]
to those parts to secure the payment of tribute.”
59 see above, pp. 45–46 notes 34–36.