Fear and Loathing in Tabrīz? Rediscovering ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ (d. 1486 ce) as Aqquyunlu Envoy to Venice and Armenian Power Broker for the “Turkmen” Dynasties

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Leube, Georg:
Fear and Loathing in Tabrīz? Rediscovering ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ (d. 1486 ce) as Aqquyunlu Envoy to Venice and Armenian Power Broker for the “Turkmen” Dynasties.
In: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. Bd. 175 (2025) Heft 1 . - S. 111-136.
ISSN 0341-0137
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13173/ZDMG.175.1.111

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Abstract

The murder of ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ by a Turkmen zealot named Mahdī on March 24th 1486 ce is described in detail both in the account of Barbaro, a Venetian envoy to the Aqquyunlu court, and in the 16 th-century ce description of the funerary landscape of Tabrīz by Ibn Karbalāʾī. Due to the subsequent direct involvement of the Aqquyunlu ruler sulṭān Yaʿqūb and the ensuing conflict between the “Turkmen” ruler and (Muslim) urban elites, this episode arguably represents the most discussed event in the internal history of the Qara- and Aqquyunlu dynasties of the 15th century ce as reconstructed within the framework of Islamic studies. Although this has so far not been recognized in non-Armenian Islamic studies, the same episode is also described in great detail in a versified Armenian account dated by its editor to 1486 ce. Additional Armenian historiographical and “commemorative notes” (hišatakaranner) enable the reconstruction of ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ’s positionality as a longstanding Armenian power broker in “Turkmen” Tabrīz, as well as his identification as the envoy sent to Venice by uzun Ḥasan Aqquyunlu in 1469 ce. While these Armenian sources have been brought together and discussed by Armenian scholars, however, this discussion has not engaged with the Venetian and Persian narratives of his killing mentioned above. The present article begins by combining the two hitherto isolated strands of sources and scholarship to reconstruct the trajectory of ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ’s career and the significance of his murder to Aqquyunlu rule in Tabrīz. To facilitate further engagement with the unique versified Armenian narrative of ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ’s death, I also present this crucial source in a commented English translation. In addition, I argue that the combined impact of the Western, Persian, and Armenian sources enables the confident identification of ḫwāǧa Mirakʿ not only as an Aqquyunlu envoy to Europe, but also as the host of Western travellers to Tabrīz whose travelogues constitute one of our most valuable sources for the reconstruction of the administration, economy, and topography of Tabrīz in the 15 th century ce.