Safavid Lorestan

Lorestan was one of the five velayats of the Safavid realm, being ruled by a vali (viceroy), who was nearly an independent governor. The valis generally belonged to prominent local families, and were officially chosen by the shah (king) as a compromise of regional autonomy. Nevertheless, they ruled in a hereditary manner.[1][2]

The province was composed of three lower-ranking governorships, Khaveh, Sadmareh and Khorramabad, the latter which was also controlled by the vali of Lorestan.[3] Since the closing of the 12th-century, Little Lorestan had been ruled by the Khorshidi dynasty.[4] The area, also known as Lorestan from the 16th-century and onwards, roughly corresponded to the present-day Ilam and Lorestan provinces.[5][6] In 1508, Lorestan acknowledged the suzerainty of the Safavid shah Ismail I (r. 1501–1524). After the latter's return from Baghdad, he confirmed the Khorshidi ruler Shah Rostam Abbasi as the governor of Lorestan, which included the districts of Sadmareh, Harunabad and Silakhur. During the 1540s, the Safavids established more direct control in Lorestan, such as in Khorramabad. Because the governor of Lorestan resided in the latter city, he was also known as the "governor of Khorramabad and Lorestan". From 1578 till 1587, the governors of Lorestan were in league with the Ottoman Empire.[4]

Following the suppression of Shahverdi Abbasi's rebellion and his subsequent execution, Shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) had all male members of the Khorshidi family either blinded or jailed, thus marking their end.[7] Shahverdi Abbasi's maternal cousin Hoseyn Khan Solvizi was appointed the governor of Lorestan, while Tahmaspqoli Khan Inanlu was appointed the governor of some of its parts close to Baghdad, such as Sadmareh and Hendamin. From 1603 and onwards, the Solvizi family became the hereditary governors of Lorestan. In the 1670s, however, Shah Soleyman (r. 1666–1694) gave the governorship of Lorestan to a non-Lori, who was later forced out by the locals.[8]

The governor of Lorestan, Ali Mardan Khan Feyli, played a significant role during the upheavals caused by the arrival of the Afghans to the Safavid capital of Isfahan. He participated in the defense of Isfahan in 1722/23 with 5,000 of his soldiers. Even though he had been chosen as the commander-in-chief of the Iranian army, the other khans disobeyed his instructions. In 1725, the Ottoman Empire invaded Iran, seizing Khorramabad and thus forcing Ali Mardan Khan Feyli to withdraw to Khuzestan, where he launched attacks against Baghdad. The Ottoman force that crossed the Bakhtiari domain to get to Firuzan were forced to withdraw.[9]

This is a list of the known figures who governed Lorestan or parts of it.[10] Hakem and beglerbegi were both administrative titles designating the governor.[11]

• Ehlers, Eckart (2021). "Khorramabad". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
• Floor, Willem (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers. ISBN 978-1933823232.
• Matthee, Rudi (2011). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857731814.
• Matthee, Rudi (2015). "Relations between the Center and the Periphery in Safavid Iran: The Western Borderlands v. the Eastern Frontier Zone". The Historian. 77 (3): 431–463. doi:10.1111/hisn.12068. S2CID 143393018.
• Minorsky, V. (1986). "Luristān". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume V: Khe–Mahi (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 829–832. ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2.
• Spuler, B. (1987). "Atābakān-e Lorestān". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume II/8: Aśoka IV–Āṯār al-Wozarāʾ. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 896–898. ISBN 978-0-71009-108-6.