Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu

Jalal al-Din Mangburni , also known as Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah , was the last Khwarazmshah of the Anushtegin dynasty. The eldest son and successor of Ala ad-Din Muhammad II of the Khwarazmian Empire, Jalal al-Din was brought up at Gurganj, the wealthy capital of the Khwarazmid homeland. An able general, he served as second-in-command to his father in at least one battle; however, since he was the son of a concubine, he was challenged as successor by a younger brother, whose cause was supported by the powerful Queen Mother, Terken Khatun. Nevertheless, after the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire led to his father's flight and death on an island in the Caspian Sea, Jalal-al Din gained the loyalty of the majority of Khwarazmian loyalists.

The new Shah Jalal al-Din moved to Gurganj, but departed eastwards after Terken Khatun moved against him; evading Mongol patrols, he gathered a substantial army at Ghazni. He managed to inflict an excellent defeat on Shigi Qutuqu at the Battle of Parwan, but soon lost a good portion of his army in a dispute over spoils. He was defeated by a vengeful Genghis Khan at the Battle of the Indus, and fled across the river. Now essentially a warlord, Jalal al-Din managed to establish a succession of short-lived states: first in the Punjab from 1222 to 1224, and then in northwest Iran and Georgia after 1225. Jalal al-Din did not have the political ability needed to underpin his martial exploits, and he was forced to combat several large revolts and increasing pressure from Mongol forces. Eventually, he was killed in 15 August 1231. The army he had gathered would continue to terrorize the Levant as the mercenary Khwarazmiyya until its final defeat in 1246.

Name and early life The spelling and meaning of his Turkic personal name is obscure. In al-Nasawi's work (written in Arabic) his name was written as "Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, son of the Sultan Muhammad, son of Tekish, son of Il-Arslan, son of Atsiz, son of Muhammad, son of Nushtekin" . Original publisher of the manuscript, , rendered his name (in French title) as "Mankobirti" and translated it as "Dieu donné" (Gift of God). Due to Arabic rendering, early scholarship spelled it as Manguburti (or similar variants), whilst the most common variant today is Mangburni ("with a birthmark on the nose") or Mingirini ("valiant fighter worth one thousand men"; cf. Persian ).

Jalal al-Din was reportedly the eldest son of the Khwarazmshah Ala ad-Din Muhammad II , while his mother was a concubine of Turkmen origin, whose name was Ay-Chichek. Due to the low status of Jalal al-Din's mother, his powerful grandmother and Kipchak princess Terken Khatun refused to support him as heir to the throne, and instead favored his half-brother Uzlagh-Shah, whose mother was also a Qipchaq. Jalal al-Din first appears in historical records in 1215, when Muhammad II divided his empire among his sons, giving the southwestern part (part of the former Ghurid Empire) to Jalal al-Din. However, he could not ignore the seizure of a trade caravan in Otrar and subsequent execution of Mongol envoys in Gurganj. War between the two new neighbours was inevitable. The Khan commanded a skilled and disciplined army: the precise size of it is disputed, but most agree on around 75,000 to 200,000 soldiers. The Khwarazmshah, meanwhile, faced many problems. His empire was vast and newly formed, with a still-developing administration. The Shah also distrusted most of his commanders, with the only exception being Jalal al-Din. If he had sought open battle, as many of his commanders wished, he would certainly have been greatly outmatched in quantity of troops, let alone quality. The Shah thus made the decision to distribute his forces as garrison troops inside his most important towns, such as Samarkand, Merv and Nishapur. This battle made Jalal al-Din's reputation; however, he soon lost half of his army through infighting: the sources report a dispute over booty between Temur Malik and Ighrak, commander of the right flank.

Under Doqshin's leadership, the Mongol army took Nandana fort of Janjua tribe from one of the lieutenants of Jalal al-Din, sacked it, then proceeded to besiege the larger Multan. The Mongol army managed to breach the wall but the city was defended successfully by the Khwarazmians; due to the hot weather, the Mongols were forced to retreat after 42 days. Peter Jackson suggests that Doqshin, having been instructed not to return unsuccessfully, eventually converted to Islam and joined al-Din. after which a hundred thousand citizens were put to death for not renouncing Christianity.

Jalal al-Din spent the rest of his days struggling against the Mongols, pretenders to the throne and the Seljuqs of Rûm. His dominance in the region required year-after-year campaigning. In 1226, Burak Hadjib, the governor of Kerman and Jalal al-Din's father-in-law, rebelled against him, but after Jalal al-Din marched against him he was subdued. Jalal al-Din then had a brief victory over the Seljuqs and captured the town of Akhlat on the northwestern shore of Lake Van from the Kurdish Ayyubids. In 1227, after the death of Genghis Khan, a new Mongol army commanded by Chormagan was sent to invade Jalal al-Din's lands; they were met near Dameghan and defeated. In August 1228, a new Mongol army under the leadership of Taymas Noyan invaded the re-established kingdom. Jalal al-Din met them near Isfahan and the two armies fought. The Mongols scored a pyrrhic victory in this battle, unable to exploit their victory as they had no power left to advance.

Death Through the ruler of Alamut, the Mongols learned that Jalal al-Din had recently been defeated; the Nizari Ismaili Assassins sent a letter to Ögedei Khan, proposing joint operation against Jalal al-Din. Jalal al-Din once again escaped from the Mongols and took refuge in the Silvan mountains. In August he was killed by a Kurd who claimed that he was avenging his brother, who had been killed by Jalal al-Din's forces in Ahlat.

Jalal al-Din's kingdom swiftly collapsed after his death; his nobles squabbled over territory and would be overcome easily by the Mongols. Several thousand, however, took up service with the princes of Anatolia and Syria to escape the Mongols. They continued to be a force in Syrian politics until their destruction in 1246.

Juzjani described al-Din as "endowed with great heroism, valour and high talents and accomplishments". Yaqut al-Hamawi notes that Jalal al-Din was known as a bellicose warrior and Jalal al-Din's passiveness after the Battle of Yassıçemen was seen as unbelievable. Modern historians are also positive concerning his military talent. Carl Sverdrup described Jalal al-Din as "brave and energetic"; while Timothy May describes him as the most stalwart enemy of the Mongols in West Asia until the time of the Mamluk Sultanate. Even after defeating Jalal al-Din at the battle of Indus, Genghis Khan was keen on maintaining peace with Jalal al-Din, promising not to cross the demarcation between the Mongol empire and Jalal al-Din's re-established realm after being informed of Jalal al-Din's might.

Though considered a successful warrior and a general, Jalal al-Din is considered a poor ruler and the loss of his re-established empire to Mongols has been attributed to his poor diplomacy and rulership; he was seen as untrustworthy and warmongering. His enmity with many neighbors resulted in his isolation against the Mongol army of Chormaqan. A sculpture of him by Saragt Babaýew won a national competition in 2015, receiving a prize from the president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.