Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

220 HISTORY OF PERSIA
The "Black Sheep" Dynasty, A.H. 780-874 (1378-
1469). Reference has already been made to the Turkoman
tribe bearing a black sheep on its standards, which
rose to power towards the end of the fourteenth century
in the country to the south of Lake Van. Strengthened
by an alliance with the Jalayr family, the Kara Kuyunlu, 1
as they are termed, established themselves in Armenia and
Azerbaijan and finally succeeded to the kingdom of the
Jalayr. Kara Yusuf, the second chief of the tribe, was
more than once driven into exile by Tamerlane, and was
one of the causes of the campaign against Bayazid, who
granted him protection.
He ultimately recovered his
possessions in A.H. 808 (1405), and three years later
added to them those of the Jalayr dynasty, defeating
Ahmad the Il-Khanid and putting him to death.
Kara Yusuf, whose sister was Gauhar Shad, the wife
of Shah Rukh, was succeeded by Iskandar. A later
member of the dynasty, Jahan Shah, was a successful
soldier, who conquered Georgia to the north and Pars
and Kerman to the south. He was preparing to invade
Khorasan when a rebellion of his two sons, who ruled in
Tabriz and Baghdad respectively,
forced him to forgo
his designs, and shortly afterwards he was killed in a
battle with the " White Sheep." The " Blue Mosque "
of Tabriz was founded by
this monarch.
The "White Sheef Dynasty, A.H. 780-908 (1378-
1502). The Ak-Kuyunlu, or "White Sheep" dynasty,
known also from a remote ancestor as Bayenderi, was
founded in the same year as that of their rivals the
" Black Sheep," by a grant from Tamerlane of lands
in Armenia and Mesopotamia, in reward for services
rendered to him. Their capital was Diarbekr, and their
power was at first inferior to that of the rival tribe, with
which a deadly feud existed. This originated
in the
action of Iskandar, who, when fleeing from Shah Rukh,
had by chance seized Kara Osman, the grandfather of
Uzun Hasan. He kept the chief in prison at Erzerum,
where he died, and some time afterwards he exhumed the
corpse, struck off the head, and despatched it in triumph
1
Lu in Turk! iignifies "possessor of."