Manuchihr I of Shirvan

Manuchihr,^[1] Minuchihr^[2] or Manuchehr I (Persian: منوچهر) was the eleventh Shah of Shirvan. He is considered to be first fully Persianized ruler of the dynasty. Starting from his rule, the Shirvanshahs favoured names from the pre-Islamic Iranian past and claimed descent from characters such as the Sasanian monarch Bahram V Gur (r. 420–438).^[3]

Manuchihr I
Shah of Shirvan
Reign	1027-1034
Predecessor	Yazid II
Successor	Ali II
Died	1034 Shamakhi
Consort	Sitt (daughter of Fadl ibn Muhammad)
Issue	Hormuzd
House	Kasranid
Father	Yazid II

Reign

Manuchihr succeeded his father Yazid II as the Shah of Shirvan in 1027. He had at least 6 brothers and a sister.

Two years later, he declared war against the Hashimids of Derbent for an estate in Masqat. He was, however, defeated by an Hashimid army in 1030 which ravaged his land.

The following year, his kingdom was invaded by a Rus' army under Ingvar the Far-Travelled. Manuchihr tried to repel them from Caucasus, but was soundly defeated at Baku; many prominent commanders of Shirvan were killed, such as one of the nobles Ahmad ibn Khasskin. Manuchihr then had the Araxes river closed in order to stop the Rus'. However, this resulted in the drowning of a large number of his men.^[2] The Rus then were employed by Abu'l-Fath Musa of Shaddadids who used them to capture Baylaqan.^[4] Nevertheless, some time later in 1031, they again landed in Baku, but this time Manuchihr managed to repel the Rus'.^[1] It was probably around this time Manuchihr married Sitt, sister of Musa.

In 1032, a combined army from Sarir and Alania invaded Shirvan and seized its capital Shamakhi, killing around 10000 people and pillaging it for 10 days. During their withdrawal from Shirvan, however, they were attacked and defeated by the people of Derbent who seized the goods for themselves.^[5]

Death

Manuchihr was stabbed to death by his younger brother Abu-Mansur Ali, who had with the help of Manuchihr's wife Sitt entered the latter's house while the shah was reading a letter came from Musa.^[5] Ali thus became the new Shirvanshah.

Family

He had at least two wives and a son:

• Sitt — daughter of Fadl ibn Muhammad of Shaddadids (m. Ali II of Shirvan in January 1035)
• A daughter of ruler of Tabasaran
  • Hormuzd — emir of Tabasaran, d. 9 April 1065^[6]