EBN FŪLĀD

 

EBN FŪLĀD (or Ebn Pūlād), military adventurer, probably of Daylamī origin, active in northern Persia during the Buyid period (early 5th/11th century) and typical of the soldiers of fortune characterizing the “Daylamī intermezzo” of medieval Persian history. In 407/1016, he revolted against the Buyids (Ebn al-Aṯīr, IX, pp. 268-69). He is described as base-born; but he collected a following of soldiers and demanded the governorship of Qazvīn from Majd-al-Dawla Rostam, the feeble Buyid ruler of Ray and Jebāl, and his mother Sayyeda. When they refused, he began harrying the fringes of Ray itself, so that Majd-al-Dawla had to call in the help of the “Espahbad of Ferīm” (probably the Bawandid prince of Ṭabarestān, Abū Jaʿfar Moḥammad b. Vandarīn, builder of the Mīl-e Rādkān mausoleum near Estarābād; Camb. Hist. Iran IV, p. 218). The latter came with an army of Gīlānīs and relieved Ray, so that Ebn Fūlād had to flee. Ebn Fūlād then sought help from the Ziyarid ruler of Ṭabarestān and Gorgān, Manūčehr b. Qābūs (r. 402-20/1012-29), promising to become his vassal. Manūčehr sent 2,000 troops, Ray was besieged, and Majd-al-Dawla was now compelled to cede the governorship of Isfahan to Ebn Fūlād before the Ziyarid army departed. Thereafter Ebn Fūlād is not mentioned in the sources, so it seems that he was unable to establish himself in Isfahan against the more powerful Kakuyid ʿAlāʾ-al-Dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār.

 

Bibliography:

Cl. Huart, “Les Ziyārides,” Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions et des Belles-Lettres 42, 1922, pp. 357-436.

H. L. Rabino di Borgomale, “Les dynasties locales du Gīlān et du Daylam,” JA 237, 1949, pp. 313-14.

Spuler, Iran, pp. 115-16.

(C. Edmund Bosworth)

Originally Published: December 15, 1997

Last Updated: December 6, 2011

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Vol. VIII, Fasc. 1, pp. 26-27