Editing Tahmasp I (section)

=== Later life and death ===
[[File:Iran, Qazvin, Safavid period - Shah Tahmasp I (1514-1576) Seated in a Landscape - 1917.1078 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|left|thumb|alt=Painting of an aged Tahmasp sitting outdoors under a tree|An aged Shah Tahmasp, painted {{circa|1575}}, Qazvin]]

Although Tahmasp rarely left Qazvin from the Peace of Amasya in 1555 to his death in 1576, he was still active during this period. A 1564 rebellion in Herat was suppressed by Masum Bek and the Khorasan governors, but the region remained troubled and was raided by the Uzbeks two years later.{{Sfn|Newman|2008|p=38–39}} Tahmasp became seriously ill in 1574 and neared death twice in two months.{{Sfn|Savory|2007|p=67}} Since he had not chosen a crown prince, the question of succession was raised by members of the royal family and Qizilbash leaders. His favourite son, [[Haydar Mirza Safavi|Haydar Mirza]], was supported by the Ustajlu tribe and the powerful Georgian court faction; the imprisoned prince Ismail Mirza was supported by [[Pari Khan Khanum]], Tahmasp's influential daughter.{{Sfn|Roemer|2008|p=247}}{{Efn|Ismail Mirza had been imprisoned since 1557. Different reasons are suggested as to why the shah had put him in jail; amongst them being his paranoia of Ismail, Ismail's recurrent attacks on the Ottoman borderlands, thus being a threat to the Peace of Amasya, and being under the influence of his grand vizier Ma'sum Beg Safavi (who was also the {{transliteration|fa|lala}} to Haydar Mirza).<ref>{{harvnb|Ghereghlou|2016a}}; {{harvnb|Hinz|1992|page=24, 26, 32–37}}; {{harvnb|Mitchell|2009a|p=145}}</ref>}} The pro-Haydar faction tried to eliminate Ismail by winning the favour of the castellan of [[Qahqaheh Castle]] (where Ismail was imprisoned), but Pari Khan learned about the plot and informed Tahmasp; the shah, who was still fond of his son, ordered him to be guarded by [[Afshar people|Afshar]] musketeers.{{Sfn|Pārsādust|2009}}

Tahmasp, recovered from his illness, returned his attention to affairs of state. Remaining court tensions, however, triggered another civil war when the shah died on 14 May 1576 from poisoning.{{Sfn|Roemer|2008|p=248}} The poisoning was blamed on Abu Naser Gilani, a physician who attended Tahmasp when he was ill. According to ''[[Tarikh-e Alam-ara-ye Abbasi]]'', "He unwisely sought recognition of his superior status vis-à-vis the other physicians; as a result, when Tahmasp died, Abu Nasr was accused of treachery in the treatment he had prescribed, and he was put to death within the palace by members of the {{Transliteration|Tr|qurchi}}".{{Sfn|Savory|Bosworth|2012}} Tahmasp I had the longest reign of any member of the Safavid dynasty: nine days short of fifty-two years.{{Sfn|Savory|Bosworth|2012}} He died without a designated heir and the two factions in his court clashed for the throne. Haydar Mirza was murdered not long after his father's death, and Ismail Mirza became king and was crowned Ismail II ({{Reign|1576|1577}}). Less than two months after his enthronement, Ismail ordered a mass purge of all male members of the royal family. Only Mohammad Khodabanda, already nearly blind, and his three toddler sons survived this purge.{{Sfn|Ghereghlou|2016a}}