Ordubadi family

The Ordubadi family (also spelled Urdubadi), otherwise known as the Nasiri family, was an Iranian family, which was descended from the medieval philosopher and polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.^[1] The family was from Ordubad, a town which lay on the banks of the Araxes river, and is first mentioned during the Mongol invasions and conquests. The family thereafter disappears from sources, and is first mentioned several decades later when the Safavid dynasty conquered Iran and its surroundings in the 15th century. The leader of the family Bahram Khan Ordubadi, began serving the Safavid king (shah) Ismail I (r. 1501–1524), who appointed him as the civil administrator (kalantar) of Ordubad.

Bahram's son Hatem Beg Ordubadi, later succeeded his father as the lord of Ordubad, and received the title of "Beg" (lord).^[2] In 1591, Hatem Beg was appointed by Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) as his grand vizier, and later died 1610/1. He had a son named Mirza Taleb Khan Ordubadi, who would later serve as the grand vizier of shah Safi (r. 1629–1642) from 1632 until 1633, where he was assassinated by the eunuch Saru Taqi, due to a personal hatred he had towards the Ordubadi family, the reason being that Hatem Beg had denied to give Saru Taqi's father a post which he had asked for.^[1]

Another member of the family, Mirza Abol-Hosayn Beg Ordubadi, served as the treasurer (khezanadar-bashi) during the early reign of Safi, while a later member, Mirza Naqi Nasiri, wrote an important manual about the empire's administration apart from serving as secretary of the royal council (majles-nevis or vaqāye'-nevis) for several years.^[3]

References

1. Babaie 2004, pp. 42–43.
2. Babaie 2004, p. 160.
3. Babaie 2004, p. 140.

Sources

• Blow, David (2009). Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who became an Iranian Legend. London, UK: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-989-8. LCCN 2009464064.
• Floor, Willem M.; Faghfoory, Mohammad H. (2007). The Dastur Al-moluk: A Safavid State Manual, by Mohammad Rafi' al-Din Ansari. Mazda Publishers. pp. 1–355. ISBN 978-1568591957.
• Floor, Willem M. (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers. pp. 1–324. ISBN 978-1933823232.
• Matthee, Rudi (2011). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–371. ISBN 978-0857731814.
• Babaie, Sussan (2004). Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–218. ISBN 9781860647215.
• Marcinkowski, M. Ismail (2005). "DASTUR AL-MOLUK". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Newman, Andrew J. (2008). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–281. ISBN 9780857716613.
• Roemer, H.R. (1986). "The Safavid period". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5: The Timurid and Safavid periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 189–351. ISBN 9780521200943.