Hulaguids
1256-1335 AD
The Hulaguids (ایلخانان) (1256-1335 AD), as already mentioned above, being Mongols by origin, took possession of most of the Iranian lands without much difficulty. The Khorezmshahs, represented first by Shah Mohammed and then by his son Jalal Ad-Din, who fled from Khorezm, with their cowardice finally convinced the grandson of Genghis Khan Hulagu and his soldiers of their own victory, and led to the complete subjugation of Iran by the Mongols. Another name for the dynasty, by which it is known, including in Iran itself, is the Ilkhans, which means “rulers”, “rulers of the tribe” or “seniors”. Having existed for almost 100 years, the power that fell into the control of Hulagu included all of Iran, part of Azerbaijan (primarily the historical region of Shirvan) and Turkey. The significance of the latter was so great that at a certain stage one of the cities of East Azerbaijan - Iran, Tabriz, became the capital. It was Azerbaijan under the Khulaguids that was the actual center of the empire. The foreign policy of the Hulaguids consisted in the rapid conquest of Iran, the continuation of the attack on Syria, which ended in failure. With the collapse of the Mongol Empire, the Khulaguids, being at the head of a completely independent state, joined the fight against the Golden Horde, controlled by another branch of the descendants of Genghiszan - the Jochids. In the northeast, the Ulus of Chagatai became the main rival, in the west - the Mamluk sultanate. In cultural and economic terms, the era of the Ilkhans, instead of the expected general defeat that accompanied the campaigns of the Mongols, unexpectedly brought prosperity and development to many areas. One of the brightest, although by no means the only indicator of the positive development of handicrafts, arts and trade was ceramics of a special nature - kashin. Having been invented in Egypt, it was in Iran in the middle of the 13th - the second half of the 14th century that the production of vessels with a characteristic gold-like metal or ultramarine coating with colored enamels reached the borders of Ancient Rus' and the western outskirts of Eastern Europe. The cultural, economic and political significance of high-class painting, as well as the vessels themselves, is also noted in written sources. For example, it is Iranian bowls and goblets that are listed among the gifts of the Egyptian sultan to the Khan of the Golden Horde. The latter, by the way, was the main rival of the Ilkhans in the struggle for the prosperous lands of western Iran. Among other areas of culture, the flourishing of which is most noticeable and which was recorded precisely during the reign of the Khulaguids / Ilkhans, is painting. With the Mongols from the east, Chinese traditions of decor and drawing techniques came and took root forever. Most of us at the word "Persian miniature" involuntarily represent its "Chinese" version. Along with painting and pottery, architecture also developed (the number of Islamic places of worship increased). Literature achieved notable successes - at this time, for example, the famous work of Rashid ad-Din called "Jami at-Tawarikh" was being written.
Timurids
1370-1507 AD
Timurids (تیموریان) (1370-1507 AD). Timur's victorious march, first through Central Asia, then Persia and further towards the Caucasus, the Golden Horde and Eastern Europe in the 1370s, to a large extent also affected Iran. With the death of the "iron lame", as Timur was also called, his grandson Khalil-Sultan finally took control of the entire territory. Even more was achieved by Shahrokh, who united all the lands of Timur's empire, torn apart by the civil war that began after the death of the founder of the dynasty. The dominion of the Central Asian tyrant and his descendants lasted in Iran until the beginning of the 16th century. A genuine flowering of the arts became a kind of antipode to the bloodthirstiness of the troops of the new master of the steppes and other lands. This is most noticeable in the example of architecture and painting. Architectural masterpieces of that time, which became a real symbol of the East and the Muslim Middle Ages, were built in Samarkand, Herat, Tabriz. The great Behzad, a medieval master of Persian miniatures, the founder of a separate trend in art, whose works are still studied in the art history universities of Iran and other countries, worked in Herat and also in Tabriz. Culturally, the era of Timur's reign, and especially his descendants, can rightly be considered the "Timurid renaissance." The most diverse spheres of culture, having received the patronage of the ruling persons, began to develop intensively. Miniature, literature (including translations of Timur's biography, Sufi poetry and treatises into Persian), astronomy (Ulugbek's works) and many other areas of science and art reach a completely different level under the Timurids.