View source for Barlas

{{Short description|Turco-Mongolian aristocratic tribal confederation clan}}
{{other uses}}
{{Royal house|
| surname = Barlas
| native_name = برلاس
| native_name_lang = fa
| other_names = Barulas
| traditions = {{Small|[[Tengrism]] <br> {{small|later}} <br> [[Sunni Islam]]}}
| estate = [[Shahrisabz|Kesh]]; [[Samarkand]]
| country = {{plainlist|
*[[Mongol Empire]]
*[[Chagatai Khanate]]
*[[Transoxiana]]
}}
| region = [[Central Asia]]
| image = Mongol Empire c.1207 (Barlas).png
| image_size = 300
| image_caption = {{center|{{Small|Constitutive tribes of the Khamag Mongol Confederations the Barlas were showing in 1207}}}}
| origin = [[Khamag Mongol Confederation]]
| parent house = [[Kiyat Borjigin]]
| titles = [[Khan (title)|Khan]]<br>[[Sheikh]]<br>[[Mirza (noble)|Mirza]]<br>[[Baig|Beg]]<br>[[Shah]]<br>[[Sardar]]<br>[[Emir]]<br>[[Ghazi warriors|Ghazi]]<br>[[Sultan]]
| founder = {{Small|In [[Mongolia]]:}}<br>{{Small|[[Qachuli Barlas]]}} <br/><br/>
{{Small|In [[Transoxiana]]:<br>[[Qarachar Barlas]]}}
| cadet_branches = {{plainlist|
*[[Timurid Dynasty]]
*[[Mughal Dynasty]]
}}
| founding year = {{Small|Early to Mid 12th-Centuries}}
}}

The '''Barlas''' ({{langx|mn-Latn|Barulās}};<ref name="ReferenceA">Grupper, S. M. 'A Barulas Family Narrative in the Yuan Shih: Some Neglected Prosopographical and Institutional Sources on Timurid Origins'. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 8 (1992–94): 11–97</ref> [[Chagatay language|Chagatai Turkic]]/{{langx|fa|برلاس}} ''Barlās''; also ''Berlās'') were a aristocratic tribal [[confederation]] clan of [[List of medieval Mongol tribes and clans|Mongol]]<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chann |first=Naindeep Singh |date=2008 |title=Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/157338408x406182 |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=413–415 |doi=10.1163/157338408x406182 |issn=1609-8498|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anooshahr |first=Ali |date=2018-04-19 |title=Mongols in the Tarikh-i Rashidi |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190693565.003.0006 |journal=Oxford Scholarship Online |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190693565.003.0006|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-07 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref><ref name="Manz">B.F. Manz, ''The rise and rule of Tamerlan'', [[Cambridge University|Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge 1989, p. 28: ''"... We know definitely that the leading clan of the Barlas tribe traced its origin to Qarachar Barlas, head of one of Chaghadai's regiments ... These then were the most prominent members of the Ulus Chaghadai: the old Mongolian tribes&nbsp;— Barlas, Arlat, Soldus and Jalayir ..."''</ref> nomadic origins, which later becoming a [[Turco-Mongol tradition|Turkified]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Timur and the Timurids, Svat Soucek, Princeton University, New Jersey, Publisher Cambridge University Press |page=Timur was born around 1336 in Transoxania near Kesh – later known as Shahrisabz – in the Kashka Darya region of what is today the Republic of Uzbekistan. He was a Turk of the Barlas tribe; this tribe, like many others, boasted a Mongol name and ancestry, but for all practical purposes it was Turkic.}}</ref><ref name="UNESCO">M.S. Asimov & [[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|C. E. Bosworth]], ''History of Civilizations of Central Asia'', [[UNESCO]] Regional Office, 1998, {{ISBN|92-3-103467-7}}, p. 320: ''"... One of his followers was [...] Timur of the Barlas tribe. This Mongol tribe had settled [...] in the valley of Kashka Darya, intermingling with the Turkish population, adopting their religion (Islam) and gradually giving up its own nomadic ways, like a number of other Mongol tribes in Transoxania ..."''</ref>, They were a sub-clan of the [[Kiyat Borjigin|Kiyat-Borjigin]],<ref>G.R. Garthwaite, ''"The Persians"'', Malden, {{ISBN|978-1-55786-860-2}}, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=RpiywbMvG5gC&pg=RA1-PA148&dq=Timur+Turkic+speaking&hl=tr&sig=9tWp001dj7GoDBdAjveeJclsQD8 p.148])</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Family tree of major Timurid princes |date=2007-03-01 |work=Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran |pages=xviii–xviii |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511497483.003 |access-date=2025-05-07 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86547-0}}</ref> emerged within the [[Khamag Mongol confederation]] in present-day [[Mongolia]] in the early to mid-12th century,<ref>{{Citation |title=Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index |date=1972-12-31 |work=Index to the Secret History of the Mongols |pages=175–344 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112311790-003 |access-date=2025-05-07 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}</ref> and traced their military roots to one of the elite regiments of the [[Mongol Empire|Mongol Empire’s]] [[Kheshig]] armies.<ref>{{Citation |last=Saunders |first=J. J. |title=The Turkish rehearsal for the Mongol conquests |date=2023-07-07 |work=The History of the Mongol Conquests |pages=16–29 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003408093-2 |access-date=2025-05-07 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-40809-3}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA2">Grupper, S. M. 'A Barulas Family Narrative in the Yuan Shih: Some Neglected Prosopographical and Institutional Sources on Timurid Origins'. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 8 (1992–94): 11–97</ref> they residing on [[Central Asia]], [[Transoxiana]] regions, known for there nomadic sedentary lifestyles, they forming military governorships under [[Chagatai Khans]], The Barlas spawned as one imperial dynasties with two major empires in [[Asia]]: the [[Timurid Empire]] in Central Asia and [[Persia]]; and its later branch, the [[Mughal Empire]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>Gérard Chaliand, ''A Global History of War: From Assyria to the Twenty-First Century'', [[University of California Press]], California 2014, p. 151</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Lee |first=Joo-Yup |title=Turkic Identity in Mongol and Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe |date=2019-12-23 |work=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.443 |access-date=2025-05-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Origins ===
[[File:Timur seated (earliest known portrait), Timurid genealogy, 1405-1409, Samarkand (TSMK, H2152).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portrait of [[Timur]], a member of the Barlas. Painted in 1405–1409.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Droese |first1=Janine |last2=Karolewski |first2=Janina |title=Manuscript Albums and their Cultural Contexts: Collectors, Objects, and Practices |date=4 December 2023 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-132146-2 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OoLlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135 |language=en|quote=To the best of my knowledge, the earliest portrait of Timur can be found in a genealogical scroll (Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum, H. 2152, fols 32-43"), produced shortly after his death in Samarqand (probably under the reign of Khalil Sultan, r. 1405-1409)}}</ref>]]
According to the ''[[Secret History of the Mongols]]'' (written during the reign of [[Ögedei Khan]] [''r.'' 1229–1241]) and historian [[Rashid al-Din Hamadani]] (1247–1318) who wrote the ''[[Jami' al-tawarikh]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref> the Barlas shared ancestry with the [[Kiyat Borjigin|Khiyad Borjigin]],<ref>{{Citation |title=Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index |date=1972-12-31 |work=Index to the Secret History of the Mongols |pages=175–344 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112311790-003 |access-date=2025-06-03 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref> who were the descendents of [[Khaidu Khan]]. He also noted that the Barlas' relationship with the imperial Mongol ruling clan was through a common ancestry via [[Tumbinai Khan]], who was both [[Timur]] and [[Genghis Khan]]'s ancestor.<ref>[[The Secret History of the Mongols]], transl. by I. De Rachewiltz, [http://www.mongolianculture.com/TheSecretHist.htm Chapter I] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223125400/http://www.mongolianculture.com/TheSecretHist.htm|date=February 23, 2007}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Joshi |first=Harit |title=Akbarnama |date=2020 |work=Encyclopédie des historiographies : Afriques, Amériques, Asies |pages=41–43 |url=https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.21823 |access-date=2025-06-10 |publisher=Presses de l’Inalco |isbn=978-2-85831-344-0}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Melville |first=Charles |title=On Some Manuscripts of Hatifi’s Timurnama |date=2021-10-11 |work=Exploring Written Artefacts |pages=1123–1146 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110753301-055 |access-date=2025-06-10 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-075330-1}}</ref> Rashid al-Din Hamadani also traced the ancestry of the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors, as well as other related [[List of medieval Mongol tribes and clans|Mongol clans]]. The progenitor of the Barlas clan is [[Qachuli Barlas|Qachuli]], who founded the tribe in [[Khamag Mongol]] in [[Northern Mongolia]];<ref>{{Citation |title=Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index |date=1972-12-31 |work=Index to the Secret History of the Mongols |pages=175–344 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112311790-003 |access-date=2025-06-03 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chann |first=Naindeep Singh |date=2008 |title=Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/157338408x406182 |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=413–415 |doi=10.1163/157338408x406182 |issn=1609-8498|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref> Qachuli was either the son of [[Tumanay Khan|Tumanay Setsen]] or Tumbinai Khan (the chief of the [[Borjigin]]), as well as the twin brother of [[Qabul Khan]], the founder and first ruler of the Khamag Mongol Confederations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chann |first=Naindeep Singh |date=2008 |title=Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/157338408x406182 |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=413–415 |doi=10.1163/157338408x406182 |issn=1609-8498|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref> Qachuli's great-grandson was [[Qarachar Barlas]], a minister (''[[Noyan]]'') and military commander of a (''[[Tumen (unit)|Tumen]]'') under Genghis Khan; during the [[Mongol invasion of Central Asia|Mongol Invasions of Central Asia]], he migrated and established new settlements in the regions of [[Central Asia|Central asia]] and [[Transoxiana]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chann |first=Naindeep Singh |date=2008 |title=Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/157338408x406182 |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=413–415 |doi=10.1163/157338408x406182 |issn=1609-8498|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref> Genghis Khan later assigned Qarachar to be a minister and governor (''[[Darughachi]]'') of Transoxiana under the command of [[Chagatai Khan]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Part One: The Secret History of the Mongols Text |date=1972-12-31 |work=Index to the Secret History of the Mongols |pages=11–174 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112311790-002 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chann |first=Naindeep Singh |date=2008 |title=Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/157338408x406182 |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=413–415 |doi=10.1163/157338408x406182 |issn=1609-8498|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref> 

The Barlas controlled the region of [[Shahrisabz|Kish]] (modern day [[Shahrisabz]], [[Uzbekistan]]) and all of its lineages seem to have been associated with this region.<ref>B.F. Manz, ''The rise and rule of Tamerlan'', [[Cambridge University|Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge 1989, p. 156–7</ref> In contrast to most neighboring tribes who remained [[nomadic]], the Barlas were a [[Sedentism|sedentary]] due to there military and aristrocratic natures and status of tribe.<ref>Gérard Chaliand, ''A Global History of War: From Assyria to the Twenty-First Century'', [[University of California Press]], California 2014, p. 151</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref> Due to extensive contacts with the native population of [[Central Asia]], the tribe had adopted the religion of [[Islam]] and leaving there forefathers [[Tengrism]],<ref name="UNESCO" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamola |first=Stefan |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421423.001.0001 |title=Making Mongol History |date=2019-09-01 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-2142-3}}</ref> and as they native [[Mongolic languages|Mongol]] speaker they adopted the [[Chagatai language]], a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] of the [[Uyghur Turkic languages|Qarluq branch]], which was heavily influenced by [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref name="Iranica">G. Doerfer, "''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071118231354/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v5f4/v5f4a002.html  Chaghatay]}}''", in [[Encyclopædia Iranica]], Online Edition 2007.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref> Although the Barlas were not always [[exogamous]], but many marriages recorded were outside the tribe.<ref>B.F. Manz, ''The rise and rule of Tamerlan'', [[Cambridge University|Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge 1989, p. 157</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Rührdanz |first=Karin |title=8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting |date=2016-01-01 |work=The Mongols' Middle East |pages=172–192 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004314726_010 |access-date=2025-06-08 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31199-2}}</ref>

=== Timurids and Mughals ===
{{main|Timurid dynasty|Mughal dynasty}}

[[File:Humayun and Babur (Late Shah Jahan Album) Babur detail.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Babur]], founder of the [[Mughal Empire]]. ''Late Shah Jahan Album'', painted {{Circa|1640}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Babur and Humayun with Courtiers, from the Late Shah Jahan Album |url=https://asia-archive.si.edu/object/S1986.401/ |website=Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art|quote=The first Mughal emperor, Babur, who reigned from 1526 to 1530, is shown seated on the right with his son and successor, Humayun.}}</ref>]]
Its most famous representatives were the [[Timurids]], a dynasty founded by the conqueror [[Timur]] in the 14th century, who ruled over modern-day [[Iran]], [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], and almost the entire rest of the [[Caucasus]], [[Afghanistan]], much of Central Asia, as well as parts of contemporary [[Pakistan]], [[Mesopotamia]], and [[Anatolia]].<ref>René Grousset, ''The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia'', Rutgers University Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0-8135-0627-1}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=CHzGvqRbV_IC&pg=PA409&dq=Barlas+Turkic&hl=tr&sig=Eenkx86afOfm0RKKnq4Y5fDggD8 p.409])</ref> One of his descendants, [[Babur]], later founded the [[Mughal Empire]] of [[Central Asia]] and [[South Asia]].<ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor">{{iranica|babor-zahir-al-din|Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor|quote=Bābor, Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad son of Umar Sheikh Mirza, (6 Moḥarram 886-6 Jomādā I 937/14 February 1483&nbsp;– 26 December 1530), [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] prince, military genius, and literary craftsman who escaped the bloody political arena of his Central Asian birthplace to found the Mughal Empire in India. His origin, milieu, training, and education were steeped in [[Muslim]] culture and so Bābor played significant role for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, the Mughals of India, and for the expansion of Islam in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and [[historiographical]] results.}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Turco-Mongol tradition]]
* [[Hajji Beg Barlas]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Mongol Empire}}
{{Mongolic ethnic groups}}
{{Aristocratic family trees}}
{{Mongol tribes of the 12th century}}
{{Turco-Mongol}}
{{Mongols}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlas}}
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