# Bahram Mirza > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bahram_Mirza > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bahram_Mirza.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahram_Mirza > Source revision: 1353445644 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{good article}} {{Short description|Prince of Qajar Iran (died 1882)}} {{distinguish|Bahram Mirza Safavi}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Bahram Mirza | title = | image = Rooznāme-ye Dowlat-e Elliye-ye Iran (1860-65) 11.jpg | caption = Portrait of Bahram Mirza by [Abu'l-Hasan Sani al-Mulk](/source/Abu'l-Hasan_Sani_al-Mulk) | full name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = 21 October 1882 | death_place = | burial_place = [Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine](/source/Shah_Abdol-Azim_Shrine), [Ray](/source/Ray%2C_Iran) | dynasty = [Qajar](/source/Qajar_dynasty) | father = [Abbas Mirza](/source/Abbas_Mirza) | issue = Unnamed daughter | religion = [Twelver Shia Islam](/source/Twelver) | module = {{Infobox writer | embed = yes | language = [Persian](/source/Persian_language) | notable_works = ''Nezam-e naseri'' }} }} '''Bahram Mirza Moezz-od-Dowleh''' ({{langx|fa|بهرام میرزا معزالدوله}}) was a [Qajar](/source/Qajar_dynasty) prince, statesman and governor in 19th-century [Iran](/source/Qajar_Iran). The second son of the crown prince [Abbas Mirza](/source/Abbas_Mirza), he served as the [Minister of Justice](/source/Ministry_of_Justice_(Iran)) from 1878 until his death on 21 October 1882. Bahram Mirza first started working for the government in 1828, when he briefly governed [Khoy](/source/Khoy). After the death of his grandfather and sovereign [Fath-Ali Shah Qajar](/source/Fath-Ali_Shah_Qajar) ({{reign|1797|1834}}) on 24 October 1834, a dynastic struggle for the throne erupted. Bahram Mirza helped his elder brother [Mohammad Shah Qajar](/source/Mohammad_Shah_Qajar) ({{reign|1834|1848}}) defeat some of the rebel princes and was made the governor of [Kermanshah](/source/Kermanshah), [Khuzestan](/source/Khuzestan_province), and [Lorestan](/source/Lorestan_province), the latter of which he assigned to his brother [Farhad Mirza](/source/Farhad_Mirza). With the assistance of British military advisor [Henry Rawlinson](/source/Sir_Henry_Rawlinson%2C_1st_Baronet), Bahram Mirza led an expedition to confront the disobedient [Bakhtiari](/source/Bakhtiari_people) Chahar Lang tribe, which ended in a truce. Bahram Mirza's tenure ceased soon afterward due to grievances from its residents, and he subsequently held other posts, including governor of [Azerbaijan](/source/Azerbaijan_(Iran)) (1858–1860) and chief of the military council (1865–1868). During this period, he composed the military drill manual of ''Nezam-e naseri''. His final post was as the Minister of Justice from 1878 to 1882. == Name == "Bahram" is a [New Persian](/source/New_Persian) name that originally meant "smiting of resistance", and is derived from [Middle Persian](/source/Middle_Persian) ''Warahrān''.{{sfn|Gnoli|Jamzadeh|1988}} In the [Qajar](/source/Qajar_Iran) era, a person of aristocratic or prestigious origin was represented by the title [Mirza](/source/Mirza_(name)). Princes bore the title at the end of their name.{{sfn|Marzolph|Zenhari|2022|p=4}} == Biography == === Background and early career === A member of the ruling [Qajar dynasty](/source/Qajar_dynasty) of [Iran](/source/Guarded_Domains_of_Iran), Bahram Mirza was the second son of the crown prince [Abbas Mirza](/source/Abbas_Mirza) and grandson of the [shah](/source/shah) (king) [Fath-Ali Shah Qajar](/source/Fath-Ali_Shah_Qajar) ({{reign|1797|1834}}).{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}}{{sfn|Busse|1982|pp=79–84}} Bahram Mirza first started working for the government in 1828, when he was given the governorship of [Khoy](/source/Khoy),{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} with [Mirza Mohammad Qavam al-Dawla](/source/Mirza_Mohammad_Qavam_al-Dawla) serving as his minister.{{sfn|Rabiei|2004}} The same year, the [city was besieged](/source/Russo-Persian_War_(1826%E2%80%931828)) by the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire). Abbas Mirza evacuated Bahram Mirza and brought Amir Aslan Khan Donboli in his place.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} After the death of Abbas Mirza in 1834, his eldest son [Mohammad Mirza](/source/Mohammad_Shah_Qajar) was appointed the new crown prince.{{sfn|Calmard|2004}} Bahram Mirza was in the company of Mohammad Mirza when Fath-Ali Shah died on 24 October 1834, which sparked schemes and a dynastic struggle over the throne.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}}{{sfn|Calmard|2004}} === Governorship of Kermanshah and Khuzestan === [[Image:Kermanshah by Pascal Coste.jpg|thumb|300px|Illustration of [Kermanshah](/source/Kermanshah), made by [Eugène Flandin](/source/Eug%C3%A8ne_Flandin) and [Pascal Coste](/source/Pascal_Coste) in 1840]] Under the orders of the newly ascended Mohammad Mirza (crowned as Mohammad Shah Qajar), Bahram Mirza was appointed the governor of the southwestern region ([Kermanshah](/source/Kermanshah), [Khuzestan](/source/Khuzestan_province) and [Lorestan](/source/Lorestan_province)), which he successfully wrested from the rebellious brother princes [Mohammad-Hossein Mirza](/source/Mohammad-Hossein_Mirza), Asadollah Mirza and Nasrollah Mirza. Mohammad-Hossein Mirza, attempting to avoid Bahram Mirza, took an alternate route to the capital of [Tehran](/source/Tehran), but was soon captured and sent to imprisonment in [Ardabil](/source/Ardabil). Asadollah Mirza and Nasrollah Mirza shared the same fate as him and were sent to Tehran. Bahram Mirza subsequently appointed his brother [Farhad Mirza](/source/Farhad_Mirza) as the governor of Lorestan.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} In April 1835, Mohammad Shah sent the British military adviser [Henry Rawlinson](/source/Sir_Henry_Rawlinson%2C_1st_Baronet) to Kermanshah to serve "as a sort of military adviser and assistant" to Bahram Mirza.{{sfn|Hambly|1991|p=173}} In the spring of 1837, Bahram Mirza was ordered by Mohammad Shah to launch a military expedition to Mungasht, the fortress of the disobedient [Bakhtiari](/source/Bakhtiari_people) Chahar Lang tribe led by Mohammad Taqi Khan Bakhtiari. Bahram Mirza was joined by Henry Rawlinson, who had trained a [Kurdish](/source/Kurds) regiment for the shah. Six cannons and five thousand cavalry and infantry troops made up the military expedition. After the celebration of [Nowruz](/source/Nowruz) (Iranian new year), the Qajar and Chahar Lang forces clashed on the Malamir plain near the banks of the [Karun River](/source/Karun). With neither of the forces managing to emerge victorious, a truce was made.{{sfn|Khazeni|2009|p=49}} The contemporary historian [Mohammad Taqi Sepehr](/source/Mohammad_Taqi_Sepehr) reported that following the truce, Rawlinson was permitted to choose a thousand Bakhtiari tribesmen to be added to the Iranian elite regiment ''[Nezam-e Jadid](/source/Nezam-e_Jadid)''. Escorted by Rawlinson and 5,000 soldiers, Bahram Mirza met with Mohammad Taqi Khan at Mungasht, where he gifted him a jeweled sword and a robe of honor (''[khilat](/source/Khalat)''). Mohammad Taqi Khan promised that the Bakhtiari would stop avoiding their yearly taxes and fight for the shah if needed. As a sign of his compliance, he sent his brother Ali Naqi Khan to live in Kermanshah.{{sfn|Khazeni|2009|p=228 (see note 21)}} However, in reality, the Chahar Lang would first start paying their yearly taxes during the 1840s, as a result of the harsh measures by the new governor, [Manuchehr Khan Gorji](/source/Manuchehr_Khan_Gorji).{{sfn|Khazeni|2009|pp=49–50}} === Later career and death === [[Image:نمایی از خیابان باب همایون و سر در الماسیه اثر محمود ملک‌الشعرا.jpg|thumb|Illustration of [Tehran](/source/Tehran), made by [Mahmud Khan Malek al-Sho'ara](/source/Mahmud_Khan_Malek_al-Sho'ara) in 1871]] Bahram Mirza was soon called back to Tehran due the grievances expressed by the residents of Kermanshah.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} In December 1848, he was appointed the governor of [Fars](/source/Fars_province), thus replacing [Hossein Khan Ajudanbashi](/source/Hossein_Khan_Ajudanbashi). During his tenure, the government began to progressively widen its power to include parts of the south (such as [Bushehr](/source/Bushehr)), started to actively push for taxes, and was able to keep enlarging certain aspects of their bureaucratic administration. He was replaced in January 1849.{{sfn|Davies|1987|p=134}} In 1850, during the visit to [Isfahan](/source/Isfahan) by [Naser al-Din Shah Qajar](/source/Naser_al-Din_Shah_Qajar) ({{reign|1848|1896}}) and his prime minister [Amir Kabir](/source/Amir_Kabir), Bahram Mirza was named deputy governor of Tehran. In the same year, Bahram Mirza composed the military drill manual of ''Nezam-e naseri'' ("the army under Naser al-Din Shah" or "the victorious army"{{sfn|Ebrahimnejad|2004|p=56}}), which had 400 copies published in Tehran.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} It was praised as "well done and carefully written" by the Iranian government's official [gazette](/source/gazette), ''[Vaqaye-e Ettefaqiyeh](/source/Vaqaye-e_Ettefaqiyeh)''.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} In 1858, Bahram Mirza was given the governorship of [Azerbaijan](/source/Azerbaijan_(Iran)) and the title of "Moezz-od-Dowleh". However, he was only its titular governor, as he had given his ''pishkar'' (general manager) [Aziz Khan Mokri](/source/Aziz_Khan_Mokri) complete control of its administration.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}}{{sfn|Calmard|1988|pp=261–263}} In 1860, the governorship of the province was instead given to the crown prince [Mozaffar ad-Din Mirza](/source/Mozaffar_ad-Din_Shah). Bahram Mirza was summoned to Tehran, where he served as the chief of the military council from 1865 to 1868.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} [Mirza Mohammad Khan Sepahsalar](/source/Mirza_Mohammad_Khan_Sepahsalar) had established this council to look into military personnel promotions and to propose new regulations.{{sfn|Ebrahimnejad|2004|pp=55–56}} From 1865 to 1869, Bahram Mirza served as the governor of Khuzestan and Lorestan. He briefly held the governorship of [Mazandaran](/source/Mazandaran_province) from 1873 to 1874, being subsequently re-appointed as the governor of Khuzestan and Lorestan. In 1878, he was appointed as the [Minister of Justice](/source/Ministry_of_Justice_(Iran)). He died on 21 October 1882 from a heart attack,{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} and was buried in the [Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine](/source/Shah_Abdol-Azim_Shrine) in [Ray](/source/Ray%2C_Iran).{{sfn|Rabiei|2004}} He had a daughter who was married to the [Twelver Shia](/source/Twelver_Shi'ism) [jurist](/source/Faq%C4%ABh) [Mirza Abutaleb Zanjani](/source/Mirza_Abutaleb_Zanjani).{{sfn|Sahraei|2016}} == Legacy and assessment == Bahram Mirza is given very little attention in Nader Mirza's biography of the governors of Azerbaijan, which suggests that outside from serving as a soldier, he had no real interests. The social well-being of the individuals under his authority does not appear to have occurred to him. His shifting provincial governorship assignments are indicative of his uncompromising wealth accumulation strategies, which in turn infuriated the populace and led to his removal.{{sfn|Nava'i|1986|p=524}} == References == {{reflist|2}} ==Sources== {{sfn whitelist |CITEREFNava'i1986}} * {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | volume=1 | fascicle=1 | title = ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qajar | last = Busse | first = H. | url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abbas-mirza-qajar | pages = 79–84 }} * {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | volume=3 | fascicle=3 | article = ʿAzīz Khan Mokrī | last = Calmard | first = Jean | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/aziz-khan-mokri-sardar-e-koll | pages = 261–263 }} * {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online |title=Moḥammad Shah Qājār |first=Jean|last=Calmard|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/*-COM_1221|year=2004}}{{Sfn whitelist|CITEREFCalmard2004}} * {{cite journal|last1=Davies|first1=Charles Edward|title=Qajar Rule in Fars Prior to 1849|journal= Iran|year=1987 |volume=25|pages=125–153|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4299789|oclc=819189725|issn=0578-6967|doi=10.2307/4299789|jstor=4299789|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite book | last = Ebrahimnejad | first = Hormoz | title = Medicine, Public Health, and the Qājār State: Patterns of Medical Modernization in Nineteenth-century Iran | publisher = Brill | year = 2004 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GRs1o9Li1jkC | isbn = 978-9004139114 }} * {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-1/|title=Bahrām|first1=G.|last1=Gnoli|first2=P.|last2=Jamzadeh|year=1988|isbn = 978-0710091215}}{{sfn whitelist|CITEREF 1988}} * {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=7|last=Hambly|first=Gavin R. G.|chapter=Iran during the reigns of Fath ‘Alī Shāh and Muhammad Shāh|pages=144–173|chapter-page=144}} * {{cite book | last = Khazeni | first = Arash | title = Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran | publisher = University of Washington Press | year = 2009 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HMHcfc-WMB4C | isbn = 978-0295989952 }} * {{cite book | last1 = Marzolph| first1 = Ulrich|last2=Zenhari|first2= Roxana| title = Mirzā ʿAli-Qoli Khoʾi: The Master Illustrator of Persian Lithographed Books in the Qajar Period. Vol. 1 | publisher = [Brill Publishers](/source/Brill_Publishers) | year = 2022 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-fVgEAAAQBAJ&newbks| isbn = 978-1845118280 }} * {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | volume=2 | fascicle=5 | title = Bahrām Mīrzā, Moʿezz-al-Dawla | last = Nava'i | first = A.| url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-mirza-moezz-al-dawla-the-second-son-of-the-crown-prince-abbas-mirza | pages = 524 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Rabiei|first1=Manijeh|title=Bahram Mirza Mo'ez od-Dowleh|encyclopedia=[Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam](/source/Encyclopaedia_of_the_World_of_Islam) |date=2004 |volume=4 |url=https://rch.ac.ir/article/Details/12134 |publisher=[Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation](/source/Encyclopaedia_Islamica_Foundation)|language=Persian|isbn=978-964-447-004-2}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Sahraei|first1=Shahram|title=Mirza Abotaleb Zanjani|encyclopedia=[Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam](/source/Encyclopaedia_of_the_World_of_Islam) |date=2016 |volume=21 |url=https://rch.ac.ir/article/Details/14715 |publisher=[Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation](/source/Encyclopaedia_Islamica_Foundation)|language=Persian|isbn=978-964-447-004-2}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza, Bahram}} Category:Children of Abbas Mirza Category:1882 deaths Category:Qajar princes Category:Year of birth unknown Category:19th-century Iranian politicians Category:Qajar governors of Kermanshah Category:Qajar governors of Khuzestan Category:Qajar governors of Lorestan Category:Qajar governors of Azerbaijan Category:Qajar governors of Fars Category:19th-century Iranian writers Category:19th-century Persian-language writers Category:Burials at Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine {{Qajar princes}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bahram Mirza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahram_Mirza) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahram_Mirza?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.