A

Abbs Mrz
Nyib al-Sal ana Abbs Mrz
(120349/17891833) was the fourth son
of Fat - Al Shh Qjr (r. 17971834).
He was heir apparent (val ahd) to the
Qjr throne of Iran and, as governor of
Azerbaijan, played a leading role in the
two Russo-Persian wars in the Caucasus
(180413 and 18268). With his ministers
Mrz s Buzurg (d. 1822) and Mrz
Ab l-Qsim Q im Maqm (d. 1835), he
is credited with making the first efforts at
reform and modernisation in Iran. He was
born in Nav (in Mzandarn) on 4 Dh
l- ijja 1203/26 August 1789 and died
in Mashhad on 10 Jumada II 1249/25
October 1833.
Abbs Mrzs mother was siya
Khnum (d. 18145), daughter of Fat Al Khn Daval. Abbs Mrz was thus
the first of Fat - Al Shhs sons to have
Qjr descent on both sides, thus linking
two competing clansthe Quvnl and
the Davalof the Qjr tribe. Anecdotal tradition has it that he grew up
as the favourite of his grandfather q
Mu ammad Shh (d. 1797), who envisaged him as future ruler. In 1799 Abbs

Mrz was sent to Azerbaijan as the nominal head of a campaign to defeat local
opposition incited by Ja far-Qul Khn
Dunbul (d. 1814). The actual military
command had been assigned to Sulaymn
Khn Qjr (d. 18056), while Abbs
Mrz himself was placed under the tutelage of Mrz Buzurg. This first mission, at
the age of ten, was a symbolic statement
of authority in the absence of the ruler
who, on this occasion, bestowed on him
the title of Nyib al-Sal ana (vice-regent).
This title did not yet imply nomination as
crown prince, contrary to the later statements of official Qjr historiography.
The position of Abbs Mrz remained
contested by his brothers, especially the
older Mu ammad Al Mrz (d. 1821).
Only six years later, in 1805, with the
outbreak of the first Russo-Persian war,
Abbs Mrz was officially appointed governor of Azerbaijan and took up regular
residence in Tabriz and Khy. On his own
initiative, he was also assigned the overall
leadership in this war, which resisted the
Russians annexation of Georgia (1801)
and their ensuing expansion into areas
in the Caucasus hitherto under Persian
suzerainty. Following the disastrous defeat

of his troops at A lndz in 1812, Abbs

Mrz was obliged to negotiate the treaty
of Gulistn in 1813, by which Iran was
compelled to relinquish large territories,
including Darband, Baku, and Shrvn.
Abbs Mrz has often been labeled a
great and enlightened reformer. His principal reforms were of a military character
and focused on establishing a new army,
the ni m-i jadd (lit., the new system). This
included Western-style infantry training
and the establishment of a more effective
artillery, along with new forms of recruitment and pay. In Tabriz, a foundry, a
gunpowder factory, and an arsenal were
built and equipped. The first military
instructors included Russian deserters
and mercenaries, followed in 18079 by
a French mission under General Charles
Mathieu Gardanne (d. 1818) and then by
British officers, in both official and private
capacities. Abbs Mrzs efforts were
a first step towards the establishment in
1852 of the Dr al-Funn polytechnic
school. A first group of five students was
sent to England in 1815, among them
Mrz li Shrz, who returned in 1819
to Tabriz and was instrumental in introducing typeset printing to Iran. (In 1817,
Abbs Mrz himself had bought a printing house in Tabriz and all its equipment
from an agent of Mrz Buzurg.) Further
innovations in medicine and the reorganisation of the judiciary are attributed to
Abbs Mrz as well, but their range and
his personal involvement in them are difficult to ascertain.
From 1812 to 1826 Abbs Mrz served
as a skilful diplomat, who was increasingly
in charge of Irans still rudimentary foreign
policy. He became the principal contact
for most foreign envoys and ambassadors, who usually had to pass through
Azerbaijan on their way to Tehran, and

abb s m rz
he negotiated successfully between British and Russian interests. From 1821
to 1823, Abbs Mrz and his brother
Mu ammad Al Mrz were engaged in
military confrontations with the Ottoman
Empire. Without a clear victory on either
side, border disputes were settled preliminarily by the Treaty of Erzurum, signed
in July 1823.
The second Russo-Persian war (18268)
had multiple origins: Russian aggression
coincided with jihadist calls by ulam led
by Sayyid Mu ammad I fahn (d. 1826),
while Abbs Mrz and other Qjr
nobles had political interests of their
own in resuming hostilities. The second
war ended abruptly with the occupation
of Tabriz by General Ivan Fdorovich
Paskevich (d. 1856), who was able to dictate the conditions for peace. The treaty
of Turkmanchy (signed in February
1828) imposed huge indemnities on Iran
and confirmed the loss of all its territories
north of the Aras River, which became
the new border with Russia. The succession to the Qjr throne was finally settled in chapter seven of this treaty, which
asserted Abbs Mrzs position as crown
prince.
Abbs Mrz did not have a particular interest in the patronage of arts and
architecture. In Tabriz he erected a modest new residence with administrative
functions (dvnkhna), built new watersupply tunnels (qants), and gardens,
and there is proof, in his testament and
surviving sale contracts, of his systematic
acquisition of real estate. Only a small
mosque in Tabriz, known as the Masjid-i
Shhzda (mosque of the prince), was
begun on his initiative before 1826. The
mosque in the citadel of Erivan (Yerevan)
traditionally attributed to him and called
the Masjid-i Abbs Mrz, of which no

abb s m rz
trace remains, was probably erected by
usayn Khn Sardr Qjr (d. 182930).
More prominent are fortifications built by
Abbs Mrz, according to plans provided
by members of the Gardanne mission in
Ardabl, Khy, and Tabriz, as well as the
fortress of Abbsbd, near Nakhjavn.
In the years before his death, Abbs
Mrz was charged with several missions
to quell rebellions and other unrest that
resulted from the lost war and the perceived weakness of the central government.
During this time he continued nominally
in charge of Azerbaijan, delegating actual
tasks to his son Farhd Mrz (d. 1888).
In 1830 Abbs Mrz re-established
order in Yazd and Kirmn. During his
first short campaign in Khursn, in the
winter of 18312, he relied on negotiations. He resumed his efforts in the spring
and summer of 1832, with military operations directed against Ri Qul Khn,
of Qchn, and Mu ammad Khn, of
Turbat-i aydariyya. He succeeded in
establishing Qjr rule firmly over most
of Khursn, but the ultimate aim of
regaining Herat was thwarted by his early
death, en route to his third campaign
in Khursn. European travellers and
observers early on commented on Abbs
Mrzs weak health and his chronic and
recurrent illnesses. He was under constant
treatment by both Western and Persian
physicians, among the former Dr John
Cormick (d. 1833). He was buried in the
shrine of Imm Ri , in Mashhad.
At the time of his death Abbs Mrz
had forty-eight surviving childrentwentytwo daughters and twenty-six sonsmany
of whom held important offices and/or
became famous writers. Among his sons,
in addition to Farhd Mrz, were Shh
Mu ammad Mrz (r. 183448)by
his first wife Jahn Khnum bt. Mrz

Mu ammad Khn DavalBahrm

Mrz (d. 1882), Jahngr Mrz (d. 1852
3), and Bahman Mrz (d. 18834). Many
of Abbs Mrzs official decrees and letters have survived; the seal he used carried the inscription, Durr-i dary-yi khusrav
Abbs sana-yi 1214 (The pearl in the
majestic ocean, Abbs, the year 1214).
Abbs Mrz remains difficult to understand as a person, whom his European
and Persian contemporaries depicted as
the archetype of the young and valiant
noble hero. The historiography on the
period has tended to turn these positive
assessments into a myth and to construct
Abbs Mrz as a positive counter-image
to the otherwise spoiled, corrupt, and
ignorant nobility. Thus he is often mentioned alongside another highly idealized figure in the history of modern Iran,
Mu ammad Taq Khn Amr Kabr
(d. 1852), one of the most capable and
innovative figures of the whole Qjr
period, who served as prime minister
under N ir al-Dn Shh (r. 184896).
Bibliography
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sul niyya. Trkh-i jangh-yi avval-i rn va Rs,
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Christoph Werner

Abbsid art and architecture

Abbsid art and architecture was
the visual culture of the Abbsid caliphate at its height (132320/750932). The
architecture was mainly a Mesopotamian
tradition of unfired and fired brick but
also included other techniques and styles
in Iran, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, the building types
developed from the requirements of an
Islamic society originating in the Arabian
Peninsula. Decoration began to include
styles from outside the Middle East, notably Central Asia, while ceramics and other
minor arts responded to the growing maritime trade with the Far East.
1. Architecture
In the architecture of the two centuries
after the revolution of 132/750, the period
of the peak of the Abbsid caliphate, there
were two traditions: the dominant tradition was the eastern, which arose in the
former territories of the Ssnian Empire,

THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM

THREE

Max Planck Commentaries on

World Trade Law
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THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM

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