ABSTRACT
O n Shah Isma'Il’s death in 930/1524, his ten-year-old son ascended the throne as Tahmasp I. The young boy could not o f course exercise effective personal rule, and ten years o f crisis, both internal and exter nal, ensued. Control o f the central government became a prize to be grasped by contending factions o f Qizilbash amirs, and Persia’s foreign enemies, O ttom an and Ozbeg, did not fail to take advantage o f the situation. It m ight have seemed that the dynasty was on the verge o f collapse, but in fact Tahmasp’s victory over the factions at the end o f this period ushered in forty years o f comparative stability. Tahmasp, however, did not succeed in finding a permanent solution to the prob lems o f his minority, and his death was the prelude to a further time o f internal chaos and external assault which looked even more likely to bring the regime to an inglorious end. Recovery this time, however, was yet more strikingly dramatic: the reign o f Shah 'Abbas I (995-1038/ 1587-1629) proved to be the high point o f Safawid power and prestige. 'Abbas’s achievement made it possible for Safawid rule to survive a succession o f largely ineffective shahs for a further century.
