Burhan-Mirza

Year of birth unknown; died 1549. Leader of the anti-Safawid uprising in Shirvan (northeastern Azerbaijan) from 1547 to 1549.

Burhan-Mirza belonged to the Shirvanshah dynasty, which was overthrown by the Safawids in 1538. Taking ad-vantage of the struggle between Shah Tahmasb I and Alaas Mirza, the vice-regent of Shirvan, and the resumption of the Iranian-Turkish war, he became in 1547 the leader of a rebellion for Shirvan’s independence and proclaimed himself Shirvan-shah. He had ties with Turkey and depended on its aid. The main participants in the uprising were the peasants of Shirvan, who took up the struggle against the oppression of the Kizilbash feudal lords. After Burhan-Mirza’s death, the uprising was suppressed with great cruelty by the shah’s vice-regent.