Safavid Cousins on the Verge of Extinction: Dynastic Centralization in Central Asia and the Bahrāmī Collateral Line (1517-1593)

Abstract

The Bahrāmī Safavids, a relatively unknown collateral branch of the Safavid dynasty, active in Iran from 1517 to 1593, played a crucial role in dynastic developments in Safavid Iran. This essay examines the dynastic developments of the Safavid rulers and their contemporaries to argue that they embarked on a process of dynastic centralization, presenting themselves increasingly as the only holder of dynastic power, at the expense of their male relatives. The persistence of the Bahrāmī branch illuminates how this process took shape in Iran and how dynastic developments among neighbouring Central Asian dynasties influenced the fate of the Safavid collaterals.