The "Nawruz King": the rebellion of Amir Nawruz in Khurasan (688-694/1289-94) and its implications for the Ilkhan polity at the end of the thirteenth century

In 688/1289 Nawruz Aqa, a leading Mongol magnate, began a rebellion in Khurasan to resist the Ilkhan Arghun's attempts to centralize power and loosen the Mongol aristocracy's grip on provincial government. The rebellion of Nawruz was significantly different from any Mongol uprising that had occurred in the Ilkhanate to that date: it was distinguished by the successful fusion of Chinggisid and Islamic traditions of political and spiritual authority to support Nawruz's challenge against the Hülegüid monarchy. This new hybrid political philosophy allowed Nawruz to mobilize both the sedentary and nomadic populations of Khurasan to overhaul the power structure of the Ilkhanate. The present study of the early career and rebellion of Amir Nawruz will reveal how his movement forced the Turco-Mongolian leadership to reconfigure its political, social and religious relationships, among themselves and with the sedentary Muslim population they ruled.