Mosāferīd Dynasty

Mosāferīd Dynasty, (ad c. 916–1090), Iranian dynasty that ruled in northwestern Iran.

The founder of the dynasty was Moḥammad ebn Mosāfer (ruled c. 916–941), military commander of the strategic mountain fortresses of Ṭārom and Samīrān in Daylam, in northwestern Iran. With the increasing weakness of the Justānid dynasty that ruled the region, Moḥammad increased his power and gained control of most of Daylam. After Moḥammad’s death in 941, his domains were divided between his two sons, Marzobān I (ruled 941–957) and Vahsūdān (ruled 941–957). Vahsūdān ruled over the fortresses of Ṭārom and Samīrān. Marzobān I expanded northward and westward and captured Azerbaijan and east Transcaucasia; these territories, however, were lost by the Mosāferīds by 984.

Ebrāhīm II (ruled 997–c. 1030) was able to reestablish Mosāferīd control over Daylam and to expand southward as far as Zanjān. After Ebrāhīm’s death, however, the history of the dynasty becomes fragmentary; Ebrāhīm’s descendants ruled in Daylam, first as vassals of the Ghaznavids and then of the Seljuqs. At the end of the 11th century the Mosāferīds were extinguished by the Ismāʿīlīs of Alamūt.