Editing Tahmasp I (section)

== {{Anchor|Policies}}Policies ==

=== Administration ===
Tahmasp's reign after the civil wars between the Qizilbash leaders became a "[[Absolute monarchy|personal rule]]" that sought to control Turkoman influence by empowering the Persian bureaucracy. The key change was the 1535 appointment of [[Qadi Jahan Qazvini|Qazi Jahan Qazvini]], who extended diplomacy beyond Iran by establishing contact with the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]], the [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]], the Mughals, and the Shiite [[Deccan sultanates]].{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=68}} [[Kingdom of England|English]] explorer [[Anthony Jenkinson]], who was received at the Safavid court in 1562, also sought to promote trade.{{Sfn|Savory|Bosworth|2012}} The Habsburgs were eager to ally with the Safavids against the Ottomans. In 1529, [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] ({{Reign|1558|1564}}) sent an envoy to Iran with the objective of a two-front attack on the Ottoman Empire the following year. The mission was unsuccessful, however, since the envoy took over a year to return.{{Sfn|Slaby|2005}} The first extant Safavid letters to a European power were sent in 1540 to [[Doge of Venice]] [[Pietro Lando]] ({{Reign|1538|1545}}). In response, the Doge and the [[Great Council of Venice]] commissioned [[Michel Membré]] to visit the Safavid court. In 1540, he visited Tahmasp's encampment at [[Marand]], near Tabriz. Membré's mission lasted for three years, during which, he wrote the ''Relazione di Persia'', one of the few European sources which describe Tahmasp's court.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=90}} In his letter to Lando, Tahmasp promised to "cleanse the earth of [Ottoman] wickedness" with the help of the [[Holy League (1538)|Holy League]]. The alliance, however, never bore fruit.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=90–91}}

One of the most important events of Tahmasp's reign was his relocation of the Safavid capital, which began what is known as the Qazvin period.{{Sfn|Aldous|2021|p=35}} Although the exact date is uncertain, Tahmasp began preparations to have the royal capital moved from Tabriz to Qazvin during a 1540s period of ethnic re-settlement.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}} The move from Tabriz to Qazvin discontinued the Turco-Mongol tradition of shifting between summer and winter pastures with the herds, ending Ismail I's nomadic lifestyle.{{Sfn|Aldous|2021|p=37}} The idea of a Turkoman state with a center in Tabriz was abandoned for an empire centered on the [[Iranian plateau]].{{Sfn|Roemer|2008|p=249}} Moving into a city that linked the realm to Khorasan through an [[Khurasan Road|ancient route]], allowed a greater degree of centralisation as distant provinces such as Shirvan, Georgia, and Gilan were brought into the Safavid fold.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=105}} The incorporation of Gilan in particular was vital to the Safavids. To ensure his permanent control on the province, Tahmasp arranged royal marriages with the influential families in Gilan.{{Sfn|Szuppe|2003|p=146}} Qazvin's non-Qizilbash population allowed Tahmasp to bring new members to his court who were unrelated to the Turkoman tribes.{{efn|As further explained by the modern historian, Colin P. Mitchell: "A more appealing explanation for basing the central, royal administration in Qazvin lies with the aforementioned agenda of minimizing undue Turkic influence in the Safavid court. As Hans Roemer (2008, p. 249) observed, there was no need to see a policy of 'Persianization' in this move, but undoubtedly 'the idea of a Turkmen state with its center at Tabriz and its fulcrum in eastern Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and northwestern Persia was abandoned.' The decision to replace Tabriz as the imperial center, a city that had historically been the hub of several Mongol and Turkmen dynasties such as the Il-khanids, the Qara Qoyunlus, and the Āq Qoyunlus, was concurrent with a decision by the shah to populate and staff his court and army with members of a new, non-Qezelbāš constituency."{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}}}}{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}} The city, associated with orthodoxy and stable governance, developed under Tahmasp's patronage; the era's foremost building is [[Chehel Sotun, Qazvin|Chehel Sotoun]].{{Sfn|Kleiss|1990}}

From the transition of capitals, a new era in history-writing emerged under Tahmasp's rule.{{Sfn|Aldous|2021|p=38}} The Safavid historiography, which until then relied only on historians outside of Safavid's influence, matured and became a valued project in Tahmasp's new court.{{Sfn|Quinn|2021|p=170}} Tahmasp is the only Safavid monarch to have recorded his memories, known as ''Tazkera-ye Shah Tahmasb''.{{Sfn|Quinn|2021|p=170}} On the shah's behalf, [[Abdi Beg Shirazi]], a secretary-accountant in the royal chancellery, wrote a world history named ''[[Takmelat al-akhbar]]'', which he dedicated it to Pari Khan Khanum, Tahmasp's daughter. Although intended to be a world history, only the last part of the book which covers the reigns of Ismail I and Tahmasp up until 1570 was published.{{sfnm|1a1=Dabīrsīāqī|1y=1982|1pp=|2a1=Aldous|2y=2021|2pp=39–40|1a2=Fragner}} He also commissioned Abol-Fath Hosseini to rewrite ''[[Safvat as-safa]]'', the oldest surviving text regarding Safi-ad-din Ardabili and the Sufi beliefs of the Safavids, in order to legitimise his {{Transliteration|fa|sayyid}} claim.{{Sfn|Quinn|2021|p=170}} All of the historians under Tahmasp's patronage centred their works around one main goal: to tell the history of the Safavid dynasty. They defined themselves as 'Safavid' historians, as living in a Safavid period of Iranian history, a concept that had not been seen in the earlier chronicles of the dynasty. This new definement has its roots in the change of the capital and the urbanisation of the Safavid nomadic lifestyle. Historians such as [[Charles P. Melville|Charles Melville]] and Sholeh Quinn thus consider Tahmasp's reign as the start of the "real flourishing of Safavid historiography".{{Sfn|Aldous|2021|p=40–41}}

=== Military ===
The [[Military of Safavid Iran|Safavid military]] evolved during Tahmasp's reign. The first corps of [[Artillery#Crew|gunners]] ({{Transliteration|Fa|tupchiyan}}) and [[musketeer]]s ({{Transliteration|Fa|tufangchiyan}}), developed initially during Ismail I's reign, came to be used in his army. A court chronicle's retelling of Battle of Jam and a military review in 1530 show that the Safavid army was armed with several hundred light canons and several thousand infantrymen.{{Sfn|Savory|2007|p=57}} {{Transliteration|Tr|Gollar-aghasis}}, military slaves developed by Tahmasp from Caucasus prisoners, commanded the {{Transliteration|Fa|tufangchiyan}} and {{Transliteration|Fa|tupchiyan}}.{{Sfn|Streusand|2019|p=170}} To lessen Qizilbash power, he discontinued the titles of {{Transliteration|Ar|amir al-umara}} and {{Transliteration|Fa|vakil}}.{{Sfn|Savory|Bosworth|2012}} The {{Transliteration|Tr|[[Military of Safavid Iran#Qurchi-bashi|qurchi-bashi]]}} (the commander of the {{Transliteration|Tr|qurchi}}''s''), formerly subordinate to the {{Transliteration|Ar|amir al-umara}}, became the chief Safavid military officer.{{Sfn|Savory|2007|p=56}}

After the Peace of Amasya in 1555, Tahmasp became an avaricious person who did not care how and where his troops obtained their pay, even if it was through criminal means. By 1575, Iran's troops had not been paid for four years. They are said to have accepted this because, as one chronicler put it, 'they loved the shah so much'.{{Sfn|Floor|2021|p=229}}

=== Religion ===
[[File:Khalili_Collection_Islamic_Art_qur_0729_fol_1b-2a.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Blue-and-gold Quran|A [[Quran]] probably belonging to Tahmasp I, dated July–August 1552, created in [[Shiraz]] or Qazvin]]
Tahmasp described himself as a "pious Shia mystic king".{{Sfn|Streusand|2019|p=164}} His religious views and the extent to which they influenced Safavid religious policy is the most interesting aspect of his reign for historians, both contemporary and modern. As the Italian historian [[Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti]] has noted, "the modern originality of Persian Shi'ism has its roots [with Shah Tahmasp]".{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}} Until 1533, the Qizilbash leaders (worshipping Ismail I as the promised [[Mahdi]]) urged the young Tahmasp to continue in his father's footsteps; that year, he had a spiritual rebirth, performed an act of [[repentance]] and outlawed irreligious behaviour.<ref>{{harvnb|Mitchell|2009b}}; {{harvnb|Savory|Bosworth|2012}}.</ref> Tahmasp rejected his father's claim of being a mahdi, becoming a mystical lover of [[Ali]] and a king bound to [[sharia]],{{Sfn|Babayan|2012|p=291}} but still enjoyed villagers travelling to his palace in Qazvin to touch his clothing.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}} Tahmasp held firmly to the controversial Shia belief in the [[Reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi|imminent coming of the Mahdi]]. He refused to allow his favourite sister, Shahzada Sultanim, to marry, because he was keeping her as a bride for the Mahdi.{{Sfn|Blow|2009|p=12}} He claimed connections with Ali and Sufi saints, such as his ancestor Safi al-Din, through dreams in which he foresaw the future.{{Sfn|Babayan|2012|p=292}} Tahmasp had other superstitious beliefs too; for instance, his obsession with the [[Occult|occult science]] of [[geomancy]]. According to the Venetian diplomat, [[Vincenzo degli Alessandri]], the shah was so devoted to practice geomancy that he had not left his palace for a decade.{{Sfn|Melvin-Koushki|2021|p=404}} He also observed that Tahmasp was worshipped by his people as a godlike being possessing a frail and old body.{{Sfn|Melvin-Koushki|2021|p=404}} Tahmasp wanted the poets of his court to write about Ali, rather than him.{{Sfn|Canby|2000|p=72}} He sent copies of the [[Quran]] as gifts to several Ottoman sultans; overall, during his reign, eighteen copies of the Quran were sent to Istanbul and all were encrusted with jewels and gold.{{Sfn|Guliyev|2022|p=62}}

Tahmasp saw [[Twelver Shi’ism|Twelverism]] as a new doctrine of kingship, giving the {{Transliteration|Fa|ulama}} authority in religious and legal matters, and appointing Shaykh Ali al-Karaki as the deputy of the [[Occultation (Islam)#Twelver Shia|Hidden Imam]].{{Sfn|Streusand|2019|p=164}} This brought new political and court power to the {{Transliteration|Fa|[[mullah]]s}} (Islamic clerics), {{Transliteration|Ar|sayyids}}, and their networks, intersecting Tabriz, Qazvin, Isfahan, and the recently incorporated centres of [[Rasht]], Astarabad, and [[Amol]].{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=109}} As observed by [[Iskandar Beg Munshi]], the court [[chronicle]]r, the {{Transliteration|Ar|sayyids}} as a class of landed elite enjoyed considerable power. During the 1530s and 1540s, they hegemonised the Safavid court in Tabriz and according to Iskandar Beg, "any wish of theirs was translated into reality almost before it was uttered… although they were guilty of unlawful practices".{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=107}} During Tahmasp's reign, Persian scholars accepted the Safavid claims to {{Transliteration|Ar|sayyid}} heritage and called him "the [[Husaynid]]".{{Sfn|Newman|2008|p=30}} Tahmasp embarked on a wide-scale urban program designed to reinvent the city of Qazvin as a centre of Shiite piety and orthodoxy, expanding the [[Imamzadeh Hossein, Qazvin|Shrine of Husayn]] (son of [[Ali al-Rida]], the eighth Imam).{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009a|p=106}} He was also attentive to his ancestral Sufi order in Ardabil, building the Janat Sarai mosque to encourage visitors and hold {{Transliteration|Fa|[[Sama (Sufism)|Sama]]}} (Sufi spiritual ceremony).{{Sfn|Newman|2008|p=32}} Tahmasp ordered the practice of Sufi rituals and had Sufis and {{Transliteration|Fa|mullahs}} come to his palace and perform public acts of piety and {{Transliteration|Ar|[[Dhikr|zikr]]}} (a form of Islamic meditation) for [[Eid al-Fitr]] (and renew their allegiance to him). This encouraged Tahmasp's followers to see themselves as belonging to a community too large to be bound by tribal or other local social orders.{{Sfn|Babayan|2012|p=295–296}} Although Tahmasp continued the Shia conversion in Iran, unlike his father he did not coerce other religious groups; he had a long-established acknowledgment and patronage of Christian Armenians.<ref>{{harvnb|Mitchell|2009b}}; {{harvnb|Mitchell|2009a|pages=104}}.</ref>

=== Arts ===
[[File:A calligraphic panel dedicated to Shah Tahmasp Safavi, signed Muhammad Mu'min, Iran, 16th century.jpg|alt=A panel of a calligraphic manuscript on a gold-outlined floral illumination|thumb|A calligraphic panel dedicated to Tahmasp I, signed Mohammad Mo'men, Iran, 16th century.]]
In his youth, Tahmasp was inclined towards [[calligraphy]] and [[art]] and patronised masters in both.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}} His preeminent and acclaimed contribution to the Safavid arts was his patronage of [[Persian miniature]] manuscripts that took place during the first half of his reign.{{Sfn|Canby|2000|p=49}} He was the [[namesake]] of one of the most celebrated illustrated manuscripts of the ''[[Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp|Shahnameh]]'', which was commissioned by his father around 1522 and completed during the mid-1530s.{{Sfn|Simpson|2009}} He encouraged painters such as [[Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād]],{{Sfn|Soudavar|2017|p=51}} bestowing a royal painting workshop for masters, [[Journeyman|journeymen]], and apprentices with exotic materials such as ground gold and [[lapis lazuli]]. Tahmasp's artists illustrated the ''[[Khamsa of Nizami]]'',<ref>{{harvnb|Mitchell|2009b}}; {{harvnb|Streusand|2019|page=191}}</ref> and he worked on Chehel Sotoun's balcony paintings.{{Sfn|Ghasem Zadeh|2019|p=4}} The ''Tarikh-e Alam-ara-ye Abbasi'' calls Tahmasp's reign the zenith of Safavid calligraphic and pictorial art.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}} Tahmasp lost interest in the miniature arts around 1555 and, accordingly, disbanded the royal workshop and allowed his artists to practice elsewhere.{{Sfn|Simpson|2021|p=473}} His patronage of arts, however, has been praised by many modern [[History of art|art historians]] such as [[James Elkins (art historian)|James Elkins]] and [[Stuart Cary Welch]].{{Sfn|Elkins|2002|p=107}}{{Sfn|Cary Welch|1987|p=14}} The American historian, Douglas Streusand, calls him 'the greatest Safavid patron'.{{Sfn|Streusand|2019|p=191}} Colin P. Mitchell associates Tahmasp's patronage with the revival of Iranian artistic and cultural life.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}}

The reigns of Tahmasp and his father, Ismail I, are considered as the most productive era of the history of the [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri Turkish]] language and [[Azerbaijani literature|literature]]. The renowned poet, [[Fuzuli (poet)|Fuzuli]], who wrote in Azeri Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, flourished during this era.{{Sfn|Javadi|Burrill|1988}} In his memoir, Tahmasp denotes his love for both Persian and Turkish poetry.{{Sfn|Berg|2022|p=302}} During the later years of his life, however, he came to despise poets and poetry; as his devotion to the Quran increased, he no longer counted poets as pious men, for many of them were addicted to wine, an irreligious behaviour. Tahmasp refused to allow poets in his court and ceased to regard them with favour.{{Sfn|Sharma|2017|p=21}} According to ''Tazkera-ye Tohfe-ye Sāmi'' by his brother, Sam Mirza, there were 700 poets during the reigns of the first two Safavid kings. After Tahmasp's religious conversion, many joined Humayun; those who remained and wrote erotic {{Transliteration|Fa|[[ghazal]]s}} ([[sonnet]]s), such as [[Vahshi Bafqi]] and [[Mohtasham Kashani]], were shunned.{{Sfn|Mitchell|2009b}}{{Sfn|Soudavar|2017|p=50–51}} Other poets such as Naziri Nishapuri and [['Orfi Shirazi]] chose to leave Iran and emigrate to the Mughal court, where they pioneered the rise of [[Indian style (poetry)|Indian-style poetry]] ({{Transliteration|Fa|Sabk-i Hindi}}), known for its high-rhetorical texts of metaphors, mystical-philosophical themes and allegories.{{Sfn|Ghasem Zadeh|2019|p=7}}{{Sfn|Seyed-Gohrab|2012|p=8}}