Chobanids

The Chobanids or the Chupanids (Persian: سلسله امرای چوپانی‎‎), were descendants of a Mongol family of the Suldus clan that came to prominence in 14th century Persia. At first serving under the Ilkhans, they took de facto control of the territory after the fall of the Ilkhanate. The Chobanids made Azerbaijan their stronghold, while the Jalayirids took control in Baghdad.

Early Chobanids

The early Chobanids were members of the Soldus tribe. Sorgan Sira, one of the first important Chobanids, served Genghis Khan during the latter's rise to power. Later on, the Chobanids came to live under the authority of the Ilkhanate. A descendent of Sorgan Sira, Amir Tudahun, was killed in 1277 fighting against the Mamluks at the battle of Elbistan. He left a son, Malek (king), who in turn fathered Amir Chupan, the namesake of the Chobanids.

Amir Chupan and his Sons

During the early 14th century, Amir Chupan served under three successive Ilkhans, beginning with Ghazan Mahmud. A military commander of note, Chupan quickly gained a degree of influence over the Ilkhans and married several members of the line of Hulagu Khan. His power fueled resentment among the nobility, who conspired against him in 1319 but failed. The Ilkhan Abu Sa'id, however, also disliked Chupan's influence and successfully eliminated him from court. He fled in 1327 to Herat, where the Kartids executed him. Several of his sons fled to the Golden Horde or the Mamluks of Egypt while others were killed.

Chobanids (beylik)

Chobanids (Turkish: Çobanoğulları or Çobanoğulları Beyliği) was an Anatolian beylik founded by the dynasty of the same name and controlled the region in and around the northern Central Anatolian city of Kastamonu in the 13th century, ruling as an independent entity in intervals.

History

The founder of the dynasty was Hüsamettin Çoban, a prominent statesman and a commander of the Sultans of Rum during the reigns of Kaykaus I and his successor Kayqubad I. In the early decades of the 13th century, Hüsamettin Çoban was one of the commanders of the raids that extended Seljuq territory in northern Anatolia at the expense of the Byzantine Empire of Trebizond. As a result, he had acquired Kastamonu as a fiefdom. Between 1224-1227, he also led the Seljuq army and fleet that set sail from Sinop and captured and fortified the city of Sudak in Crimea.

After Hüsamettin Çoban's death, his hereditary possessions centered in Kastamonu were ruled respectively by his son and grandson, Alp Yürek and Yavlak Arslan. Until the last years of Yavlak Arslan's reign, the Chobanid Beys pursued a prudent policy of allegiance to the Mongols who had established their hegemony over Anatolia following the Battle of Köse Dag. A rebellion in the end by Yavlak Arslan resulted in his death in battle before Kastamonu against combined Seljuq-Mongol forces, and the region was given to the Seljuq commander Shams al-Din Yaman Jandar, whose descendants were to found the Jandarids Principality in the same region.