Abstract
Abstract The chronicle of Qasim Beg Hayati of Tabriz, written during the reign of Shah Tahmasp (d. 1576), provides new information on early Safavid history that is absent from the other Persian historical literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In particular, Hayati shows how important the Caucasus was for the rise of Shaykh Junayd (d. 1460) and Shaykh Haydar Safavi (d. 1488). Using plunder and slaves gained from raids on the Circassians and the Georgians, Junayd and Haydar maneuvered themselves into a position of leadership of their familial order to which they were not entitled by birth. The disastrous ends of both men meant that there could be little continuity in the movement, but they still placed their line at the head of the shrine of Ardabil, and bequeathed to the young Shah Isma’il (d. 1524) a few surviving veterans with valuable experience about campaigning.
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