TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

important consequence was that it brought profound changes in the political and
ideological trajectory of the Safavid state because of two consequent developments: 1)
the collapse of Ismail’s mythical image as a divinely guided invincible leader 1950 , and 2)
the death of most of the leading qizilbash khans on the battlefield.
The subsequent effects of the defeat on the psychology of Ismail himself and on
his relations with the qizilbash disciples had already been coined by several scholars.
Indeed, before the battle of Çaldıran, both Ismail and his qizilbash disciples had reasons
to develop such a mythical image. As Nasr Allah Falsafī underlines, having always been
victorious until then, Ismail considered no adversary his equal and assumed that he had
been invincible. Thus, the defeat of Çaldıran profoundly affected his character and
behavior; his egoism and arrogance were changed to despair and dejection. From then
on, he went into mourning and began to wear black robes and black turban. His
pessimism was best reflected by the fact that during the remaining ten years of his reign,
Ismail never led his troops into action in person. 1951 “Nor did he devote his attention to
the state affairs”, says Savory and goes on saying that “on the contrary, he seems to have
1950 I would like to quote from the testimony of a contemporary western observer: “This monarch is
almost, so to speak, worshipped, more especially by his soldiers, many of whom fight without armor,
being willing to die for their master. They go into battle with naked breasts, crying out ‘Schiac, Schiac’,
which, in the Persian language, signifies ‘God, God’. [This is evidently wrong] Others consider him a
prophet; but it is certain that all are of opinion that he will never die.” See Giovan Maria Angiolello, “A
Short Narrative of the Life and Acts of the King Ussun Cassano”, in NIT, p. 115. For a similar account
also see “The Travels of a Merchant in Persia”, in NIT, pp. 206-207. Another Venetian source writes that
“they [Ismail’s army] fight neither for gold nor for the state but for their religion and they believe that if
they die they will go straight to paradise and thus they fight most valiantly.” See Theodora Spandugino,
La Vita di Sach Ismael et Tamas Re di Persia Chiamati Soffi, in Sansovino, Historia Universale
dell’Origine et Imperio de Turchi, 98-100 (This source was compiled after Ismail’s death), quoted in
Palmira Brummett, “The Myth of Shah Ismail Safavi: Political Rhetoric and ‘Divine’ Kinship”, in
Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam, edited by John Victor Tolan, New York, London: Garland
Publishing, 1996, p. 337.
1951 Nasr Allah Falsafī, “Jang-i Chāldiran”, in Majalla-yi Dānishkada-yi Adabiyyāt-i Tihrān, I, 1953-4, p.
121.
590