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Mohammad Vali Mirza
Photograph of Mohammad Vali Mirza
Governor of Semnan
Tenure	1799–1802
Predecessor	Hossein Qoli Khan Qajar
Successor	Unknown
Governor of Khorasan
Tenure	1802–1816
Successor	Hasan Ali Mirza
Born	1789 Nava, Mazandaran, Iran
Died	1864
Issue	12, including Mehdi-Qoli Mirza Qajar
Dynasty	Qajar
Father	Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
Mother	Bibi Kuchak Khanum
Religion	Twelver Shia Islam

Mohammad Vali Mirza (Persian: محمدولی میرزا; 1789–1864) was a Qajar prince, governor and military officer in 19th-century Iran. He was one of the eldest sons of Fath-Ali Shah (r. 1797–1834).

Biography

Background and early career

Mohammad Vali Mirza was born in 1789 in the village of Nava in Mazandaran, northern Iran. He was the third or fourth son of Fath-Ali Shah (r. 1797–1834), the second Qajar ruler of Iran. His mother was a Bakhtiari named Bibi Kuchak Khanum. Three of his brothers were also born in the same year; Abbas Mirza, the heir apparent and future governor of the Azerbaijan province; Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah, who was the eldest and future governor of the Kermanshah, Lorestan and Khuzestan provinces; Hossein Ali Mirza, a persistent schemer and future governor of the Fars province. Intense competition would emerge between these brothers. During his childhood, Mohammad Vali Mirza helped escort Dowlatshah to safety after the latter had made a rude remark to Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789–1797). In 1799, Mohammad Vali Mirza was appointed as the governor of the town of Semnan, thus succeeding Fath-Ali Shah's brother Hossein Qoli Khan Qajar, who had been dissatisfied with his post.

Term as governor of Khorasan

The rebellion of Nader Mirza Afshar and the situation in Khorasan

In the autumn of 1802, Mohammad Vali Mirza was appointed as the governor of Khorasan by Fath-Ali Shah, who was at the time besieging Mashhad, the provincial capital of the province. The city had been captured by Nader Mirza Afshar, the son of the last Afsharid ruler, Shahrokh Shah (r. 1748–1796). Fath-Ali Shah returned to Tehran and assigned the task of recapturing Mashhad to Mohammad Vali Mirza, who succeeded in early 1803. Nader Mirza was taken hostage to Tehran, where his eyes were gouged out and his tongue and hands were severed. Eshaq Khan Qaraei-Torbati, leader of the Qarai tribe, was rewarded by Mohammad Vali Mirza with the title of sardar and one of his daughters in marriage.

During this period, the neighbouring Durrani Kingdom had been weakened due to the violent succession of Mahmud Shah Durrani in 1801, which had disrupted the balance of power in its cities of Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. However, the focus on limiting Russian encroachment in the Caucasus overshadowed the advantageous conditions for the Iran in Khorasan, and for the ensuing ten years, their presence in Khorasan remained slightly weak. The financial and military resources of Mohammad Vali Mirza were low, and to keep up the appearance of having power, he needed the backing of the local aristocracy. As a result, his capacity to handle the Khorasani leadership was reduced. Through a close partnership with Eshaq Khan, Mohammad Vali Mirza was able to maintain his rule. Mohammad Khan Hazara Beglerbegi, the Hazara governor of Bakharz, and whose family had a history of serving the Durranis, was one of the leading military leaders under Mohammad Vali Mirza. Mohammad Taqi ibn Mohammad Mehdi Nuri served as the scribe and minister of Mohammad Vali Mirza. Uncertainty over Herat's status as an Iranian vassal and the largely autonomous position of the Qarai territories influenced many developments in the early 19th-century. Since Mahmud Shah's succession, Herat had been controlled by his brother Firuz al-Din Mirza Durrani.

In December 1804, Ibrahim Khan Durrani, who governed Ghuriyan, requested Mohammad Vali Mirza's assistance against Firuz al-Din. Instead of helping him, Mohammad Vali Mirza had Ibrahim Khan Durrani removed. Eshaq Khan made use of his partnership with Mohammad Vali Mirza, getting his nephew Yusuf Ali Khan Qarai appointed as the new governor of Ghuriyan.

Policies towards the local leaders in Khorasan

Mohammad Vali Mirza's passion for hunting and outdoor activities, along with his previous tenure as governor, were highlighted by contemporary Iranian chroniclers as evidence of his readiness for the position as Khorasan's governor. According to the Iranologist Assef Ashraf; "How hunting and effective governing are linked is not entirely clear, but a clue lies in the fact that the prince would take khans and notables (khwānīn va aʿyān) with him on hunting expeditions, perhaps as an effort to draw closer ties with them." Khilats (robes of honour) were crucial in forging and preserving political connections with the local leaders in Khorasan during the early rule of Fath-Ali Shah, and particularly during Mohammad Vali Mirza's governorship of Khorasan. Officials demonstrating loyalty and appointees to lower positions were recipients of numerous khilats from Fath-Ali Shah and Mohammad Vali Mirza. Approximately 1,200 khilats were handed out to the khans and military leaders in Khorasan during the second year of Mohammad Vali Mirza's tenure in Khorasan.

Conflict with Herat and Khorasan's local leaders

In 1807, Firuz al-Din Mirza attempted to capture Mashhad, which Yusuf Ali Khan had secretly urged. The Naqshbandi murshid (teacher) Sufi Islam and the leader of the Sunni clergy in Herat, Hajji Mulla Musa, also supported Firuz al-Din Mirza. However, on 29 June 1807, Firuz al-Din Mirza was defeated at the battle of Shada by Mohammad Vali Mirza's deputy, Mohammad Khan Qajar. 4,000-6,000 Heratis were killed, including Sufi Islam. Mohammad Khan Qajar then besieged Herat, forcing Firuz al-Din Mirza to surrender after forty days and agree to pay two years worth of income. Firuz al-Din Mirza's inability to pay tribute and his suspected plans to regain control of Ghuriyan prompted the next Iranian attack against Herat in July 1811. Firuz al-Din Mirza quickly surrendered when Mohammad Vali Mirza and his army almost reached Herat. He then resumed paying tribute through his son Malik Hossein Durrani.

By the summer of 1813, Mohammad Vali Mirza's did not have good relations with Khorasan's aristocracy. The author of Nasekh-ol-tavarikh-e salatin-e Qajariyeh considered this to have been caused by his treatment towards them; "Whenever he detected a hint of rebelliousness among the great ones… he would fly into a rage and abuse their ancestors and descendants with filthy language. The nobles of that territory suffered these ignominies for years unable to give vent to the darkness in their hearts…" After the Iranian territorial losses near the conclusion of the Russo-Iranian war of 1804–1813, the aristocrats of Khorasan decided to take advantage of the situation. The decision to get rid of Mohammad Vali Mirza was made by Eshaq Khan and the other Khorasani aristocrats at a meeting held in the Gorgan Plain.

Legacy and assessment

Mohammad Vali Mirza is described in the Persian texts as a wise and skilled astrologer, who was able to foresee the future, and someone who enjoyed traditional customs. However, the British Iranologist Gavin R.G. Hambly described him as "violent and intemperate."

References

1. ^ Farmanfarmaian 2011, p. 221.
2. ^ Farmanfarmaian 2011, p. 221 (note 12).
3. Amanat 1999, pp. 407–421.
4. Hambly 1991, pp. 149–151.
5. ^ Ashraf 2024, p. 280.
6. Bamdad 1972, p. 28.
7. ^ Hambly 1991, p. 165.
8. Amanat 1997, p. 114.
9. Ashraf 2024, pp. 279–280.
10. ^ Noelle-Karimi 2014, p. 218.
11. Noelle-Karimi 2014, p. 128.
12. Noelle-Karimi 2014, p. 147.
13. Noelle-Karimi 2014, p. 131.
14. Noelle-Karimi 2014, p. 139 (note 290).
15. Ashraf 2024, p. 281.
16. Noelle-Karimi 2014, pp. 218–219.
17. Noelle-Karimi 2014, p. 219.
18. Farmanfarmaian 2011, p. 220.
19. Hambly 1991, p. 150.

Sources

• Amanat, Abbas (1997). Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1845118280.
• Amanat, Abbas (1999). "Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qājār". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. IX/4: Fārs II–Fauna III. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 407–421. ISBN 978-0-933273-32-0.
• Ashraf, Assef (2024). Making and Remaking Empire in Early Qajar Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1009361552.
• Bamdad, Mehdi (1972). شرح حال رجال ایران در قرن ۱۲ و ۱۳ و ۱۴ هجری [Biographies of personages of Iran in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, vol. 4].
• Farmanfarmaian, Fatema Soudavar (2011). "An Iranian Perspective of J. B. Fraser's Trip to Khorasan in the 1820s". Iranian Studies. 44 (2): 217–242. doi:10.1080/00210862.2011.541692. S2CID 162041391.
• Hambly, Gavin R. G. (1991). Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin R. G.; Melville, Charles Peter (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 104–173. ISBN 0-521-20095-4.
• Noelle-Karimi, Christine (2014). The Pearl in its Midst: Herat and the Mapping of Khurasan (15th-19th Centuries). Austrian Academy of Sciences. ISBN 978-3700172024.

• 1789 births
• 1864 deaths
• Qajar governors of Khorasan
• Qajar governors of Yazd
• Children of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
• 19th-century Iranian military personnel