Yazdegerd III

Yazdegerd III
Shahanshah of Ērānshahr
Coin of Yazdegerd III during his last year
Reign	16 June 632 – 651
Coronation	Estakhr
Predecessor	Borandukht
Successor	Office abolished
Born	ca 618-20
Died	651 (aged 34) Merv
Issue	Peroz III Izdundad (Yazaddad)
Dynasty	Sasanid dynasty
Father	Shahriyar
Mother	Unknown
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Yazdegerd III or Yazdgerd III (Middle Persian: 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩 Yazadgērd, meaning "made by God"; New Persian: یزدگرد; Izdegerdes in classical sources), was the thirty-eighth and last king of the Sasanian Empire of Iran from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II (590–628). Yazdegerd III ascended the throne on 16 June 632 when he was 8 years old after a series of internal conflicts.

Early life

There is no consensus over the age of Yazdegerd III, al-Tabri gives age of 21 years and Abu Hanifa Dinawari states that Yazdegerd was 16 years old when installed on the throne. Considering different versions about age, figures provided by Washington Irving stating that "Yazdegerd was in the 34 years of his age, when killed on 23 August, 651 CE" appears to be most appropriate and compatible to events of history related to his period.

Yazdegerd III was son of the Shahriyar Bahar of Sasan and an unnamed woman from Baduraya. Shahriyar was the son of Khosrau II, and was killed in 628 by his brother Kavadh II who sought to secure the throne from any rebellion. After the death of Kavadh, a civil war began in Persia, which was fought between two factions, the Pahlav (Parthian) faction headed by the nephew of Vistahm, Farrukh Hormizd, and the Parsig (Persian) faction headed by the former Sasanian minister Piruz Khosrow.

During the civil war, Yazdegerd III was hiding in Estakhr. However, on 16 June 632, Farrukh Hormizd's son and successor Rostam Farrokhzad and Piruz Khosrow agreed to collaborate with each other and chose Yazdegerd as the new Sasanian king. They had him crowned as king in the Zoroastrian temple of Anahita in Estakhr when he was at least 12 years old. Yazdegerd III was almost the last living member of the House of Sasan. One year after his ascension, the Muslim Arabs invaded Iran.

Family

Yazdegerd's sons Peroz III and Bahram VII fled to China. According to a Shiite tradition, his daughter Shahrbanu married Hussein ibn Ali. Shahrbanu's son was Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, the fourth Shi'ite imam. Some Bahá'í writers have claimed that Bahá'u'lláh's ancestry can be traced back to Yazdegerd III, which was promoted to encourage Zoroastrians to convert to the Bahá'í religion. The Muslim scholar Al-Masudi provides different information, claiming Yazdegerd III had two sons, Bahram and Peroz, and three daughters, Shahrbanu, Adrag and Mardawand.

Marital Status

Al-Tabri and Ibn Khaldun inferred marital engagement of Yazdegard-III with a woman at Merv in addition to previous marriage(s). Washington Irving in his book "Mahomet and His Successors" cited not only wives but also concubines and their female attendants during hideout.

Children

Col. James Tod, writer of the Ancient History of Rajasthan "The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan" writes that in ancient time Rajpootana (Rajasthan) was included as vassal kingdom in the Sassanid Empire and there were family relations between Persian and Rahjistan. He wrote further that one of Yazdegard's daughters Mah Bano was wife to Chundar Bhan who was Rana of Audhaypur (king of Audhaypur), papularly known as Chundar Bhoga. This book reveals that King Yazdegard-III had three daughters and Firoze as son, and Mahmud Ghazni was 7th in descendants to Feroze. Chinese sources refer marriage of one of his daughters to Chinese Emperor

Jews sources also reveal marriage of princess Dara or Izdundad, one of daughters of Yazdegard, with Bostanai or Bustanai, the first Exilarch under Arabian rule. The Geniza version goes on to say that Azdawar/Dara, the princess handed over to Bustanai, was the daughter of Biran (Buran and in Perisan Puran) or Khosrau II daughter. However the question whether the princess was Khosrau’s daughter or Yazdegard was a dispute among scholars.

Reign

Early clash with the Muslim Arabs

Yazdegerd later negotiated with fourteen Arab negotiators, and asked them about the reasons for their aggressive behavior towards his Empire. One of the fourteen Arabs shortly replied, "Allah commanded us, by the mouth of His Prophet, to extend the dominion of Islam over all nations." On May, the Muslims defeated a Sasanian force under the Azadbeh near the important strategic Sasanian city of Hira, which was shortly afterwards occupied. After the fall of Hira, Yazdegerd began to pay greater attention to the Muslims; Rostam Farrokhzad sent an army under the Persian military officer Bahman Jadhuyih and the Armenian military officer Jalinus against the Muslims. Rostam is known to have secretly to have told Bahman that: "if Jalinus returns to the like of his defeat, then cut off his head." The Sasanian army managed to defeat the Muslims at the Battle of the Bridge.

In 636, Yazdegerd III ordered Rostam Farrokhzad to subdue the invading Arabs and then told him: "Today you are the [most prominent] man among the Iranians. You see that the people of Iran have not faced a situation like this since the family of Ardashir I assumed power." Envoys then came to Yazdegerd III asking him to consider the dismissal of Rostam in order to replace him with someone around whom the people would rally.

Yazdegerd III asked Rostam for an assessment of the Arab forces since they had camped at Qadisiyyah. Rostam Farrokhzad stated that the Arabs were "a pack of wolves, falling upon unsuspecting shepherds and annihilating them." Yazdegerd III responds to Rostam by saying,

It is not like that. The Arabs and the Persians are comparable to an eagle who looked upon a mountain where birds take shelter at night and stay in their nests at the foot of it. When morning came, the birds looked around and saw that he was watching them. Whenever a bird became separated from the rest, the eagle snatched him. The worst thing that could happen to them would be that all would escape save one.

Last stand

However, the Sasanian army suffered a heavy defeat at the battle of al-Qādisiyyah, and Rostam Farrokhzad, Bahman, Jalinus, Shahriyar bin Kanara (who was the son of the kanarang Kanadbak), and two Armenian princes named Grigor II Novirak and Musel III Mamikonian, were killed during the battle. The Arabs then marched towards the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon without any resistance. Yazdegerd, however, took his treasury, and along with 1,000 of his servants fled to Hulwan in Media, and left Rostam Farrokhzad's brother Farrukhzad in charge of the city, who, however, did not put any resistance and also went to Hulwan. The Arabs subsequently reached Ctesiphon, besieged the western parts of the city, and soon occupied all of it. In April 637, the Arabs defeated another Sasanian army at the Battle of Jalula. After this defeat, Yazdegerd fled deeper into Media.

He subsequently raised a new army and sent it to Nahavand to retake Ctesiphon and prevent any further Muslim advances. The army that Yazdegerd sent seemed a threat so big that it led Umar to combine the Arab forces of Kufa and Basra under Al-Nu'man ibn Muqrin and send them against the Sasanians with reinforcements from Syria and Oman. The battle is said to have lasted several days, it resulted in major losses on both sides, including the death of Al-Nu'man ibn Muqrin and the Persian general Mardanshah and Piruz Khosrow. The battle of Nahāvand in 642 was the second military disaster for the Sasanians after the battle of al-Qādisiyyah.

Flight

After the Sasanian disaster, Yazdegerd fled to Isfahan, and raised a small army under a certain military officer named Siyah, who had lost his property to the Arabs. However, Siyah and the rest of the army mutinied against Yazdegerd, and agreed to help the Arabs in return for places to live. Meanwhile, Yazdegerd had arrived in Estakhr, where he tried organizing a base for resistance in the province of Pars. However, in 650, Abdullah ibn Aamir, the governor of Basra, invaded Pars and put an end to the Persian resistance. Estakhr was made into ruins after the battle and a force of 40,000 defenders including many Persian nobles were killed. After the Arab conquest of Pars, Yazdegerd fled to Kerman while being pursued by an Arab force. Yazdegerd managed to flee from the Arab force in a snowstorm at Bimand.

Coin of a young Yazdegerd III

After arriving at Kerman, Yazdegerd became unfriendly with the Marzban of Kerman, and then left Kerman for Sistan. Another Basran army later arrived which defeated and killed the Marzban of Kerman in a bloody fight. When Yazdegerd arrived at Sistan he lost the support of the governor of Sistan by demanding tax from him. Yazdegerd then headed for Merv to join the leader of the Turks. However, when he arrived in Khorasan the people of Khorasan did not agree with Yazdegerd's decision and told him that it was better if he made peace with the Arabs; Yazdegerd, however, refused. Sistan was also later taken by the Arab forces after a bloody fight around 650-652. Yazdegerd was also supported by the Principality of Chaghaniyan, which sent him troops to aid him against the Arabs.

When Yazdegerd arrived in Merv he demanded tax from the Marzban of Merv, losing also his support and making him ally with Nezak Tarkan, the Hephthalite ruler of Badghis, who helped him defeat Yazdegerd and his followers. After his defeat, Yazdegerd was killed by a local miller for his purse while he was trying to flee from Merv in 651.

The legend is that he was killed by a miller who robbed him of his clothes and jewellery, but there is a strong suspicion that the governor of Merv was the real culprit.

Ferdowsi, a contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni, recounts the killing of Yazdegerd III by the miller at the behest of Mahuy Suri.

Mahui sends the miller to cut off his head on pain of losing his own, and having none of his race left alive. His chiefs hear this and cry out against him, and a Mobed of the name of Radui tells him that to kill a king or prophet will bring evil upon him and his son, and is supported in what he says by a holy man of the name of Hormuzd Kharad Shehran, and Mehronush. The miller most unwillingly goes in and stabs him with a dagger in the middle. Mahui's horsmen all go and see him and take off his clothing and ornaments, leaving him on the ground. All the nobles curse Mahui and wish him the same fate.

Zoroastrian calendar

The Zoroastrian religious calendar, which is still in use today, uses the regnal year of Yazdegerd III as its base year, and its calendar era (year numbering system) is accompanied by a Y.Z. suffix. Magians took Yazdegerd III's death as end of the millennium of Zoroaster and the beginning of the millennium of Oshedar.

External links

• Genealogy of the Byzantine-Persian royal lineage

Yazdegerd III Sasanian dynasty
Preceded by Khosrau IV	Shahanshah of Ērānshahr 632–651	Succeeded by Sasanian Empire abolished