1473, The White Sheep Ledger

By the Black Sea’s iron margin, where the ancient mists still cling,

A pasture of old shadows where the Pontic ranges ring,

They came from out the borderlands in thirteen-forty’s breath—

The Aq Qoyunlu riders, shearing through the dust and death.

For decades locked in iron feud, the wool was dyed in dread,

As Black Sheep and the White Sheep clashed where mountain rivers bled.

The rivals kept them hemmed in stone, a barrier of pride,

Until the turning of the tide

In fourteen-sixty-seven, when Jahan Shah met his doom,

And Uzun Hassan rode the storm to cast a giant's gloom.

They hailed him as a heaven’s gift, a sovereign born of storm,

To shape the wild Anatolian earth to an imperial form.

From Baghdad down to Persian sands, the crescent banners flew,

Through Syria, Iran, and towns the ancient rivers knew—

An empire carved of dust and wind, a vast and fragile throne,

Where every valley paid the toll in steel and blood alone.

But eastward cast the Ottoman, a darker, sharper shade,

Where Mehmed held the master-hand and whetted iron blade.

Across the plains of Erzincan, the thunder-line was drawn,

At Otlukbeli’s bitter field, beneath the crimson dawn.

The White Sheep broke before the guns in fourteen-seventy-three,

And swallowed by the rising tide of East and West was he.

The map rolls on, the empires shift, the border fires burn deep,

While restless lands of middle earth forget how souls can sleep.

to be continued 

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 ELENCHUS... A Trial of History"    (20)

PUBLICATION IDENTITY & CREDITS

Original Text & Inspiration:

Panayotis V. Mataragas (Rotterdam)

The foundational vision, drafted at the crossroads of European history.

Language Editing & Adaptation:

Kellene G. Safis (Chicago)

Refining the rhythm and pulse through a definitive American lens.

Digital Editing & Formatting:

Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga (Piraeus)

The architectural assembly and final form at the Great Port.

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* The Black Sheep Turkomen, When in 1400, the armies of Timur defeated the Kara Koyunlu tribe of Turcomen, their leader Qara Yusuf fled to Egypt seeking refuge with the Mamluk Egyptians. He gathered an army or black sheep warriors and launched an attack to retake his lands. By 1406 had taken back Tabriz and in 1410, the Black Sheep captured Baghdad. Despite internal fighting amongst Kara Yusuf's descendants after his death in 1420 and increasing pressure from the Timurids, the Black Sheep Turkomans maintained a strong grip over the areas they controlled. A successor to Jusef, Jahān Shāh made peace with the Shāh Rukh the Timurid leader, however this "pax-black-sheepium" soon fell apart and when Shāh Rukh died in 1447, the Black Sheep Turkomans annexed portions of Iraq and the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Timurid controlled western Iran. In 1466, Jahān Shāh attempted to take Diyar Bakr from the White Sheep Turkomans, however, this was a catastrophic failure resulting on Jahān Shāh's death and the collapse of the Black Sheep Turkoman's control in the Middle East. The White Sheep Turkomen, The White Sheep were orginally thought to be a schism of the Black Sheep with better mobile laundry facilities however they have now been identified as a Turkoman tribe which first acquired its own land in 1402, when Timur granted them all of Diyarbakır in present-day Turkey. The White Sheep were unable to expand their territory for ages after that as the Black Sheep kept them in their shadow, until the rule of Uzun Hassan who defeated the Black Sheep Turkoman leader, Jahān Shāh, in 1467. After the defeat of a Timurid army Uzun Hassan was able to take Baghdad, along with territories around the Persian Gulf. 
He expanded into Iran as far east as Khorasan. However, around this time, the Later Ottoman Turkish Empire sought to expand eastwards, a serious threat that forced the White Sheep into an alliance with the Qaramanids of central Anatolia. As early as 1464, Uzun Hassan had requested military aid from one of the Ottoman Empire's strongest enemies the Italian Condotta power of Venice, however, despite Venetian promises this aid never arrived and as a result Uzun Hassan was defeated by the Later Ottoman Turkish army at Tercan in 1473. 
When Uzun Hassan died early in 1478, he was succeeded by his son Khalil Mirza (Sultan Khalil), but he was defeated by a confederation under his younger brother Ya'qub at the Battle of Khoy in July. Ya'qub, who reigned from 1478 to 1490, sustained the dynasty for a while longer. However, during the first four years of his reign there were seven pretenders to the throne that had to be put down. Following Ya'qub's death civl war again erupted, the White Sheep destroyed themselves from within, and they ceased to be a threat to their neighbours.

Eventually, sick of the continual bleating of their neighbours, the Safavid Persians met the White Sheep army in battle at Nakhichevan in 1501, and defeated them. Shorn of their lands and heritage, the White Sheep became a mutton-flavoured footnote in history.
Who are these Mongols anyway then?

The FoG army lists reproduce the Mongols in many guises. They are: Mongol Conquest - Empires of the Dragon : 1206-1260, The origin of the Mongols, Ghengis Khan, invading China and Korea. Mongol Invasion - Oath of Fealty : 1223-1242, Ghengis invades Russia, his sons invade Bulgaria & Hungary and then turn into the Golden Horde Tatars. Tatar - Eternal Empire : 1242-1500, a multi-ethnic conglomeration extracting tribute from Russia, the Baltic, the Crimea and all the 'stans but finally coming unstuck against the Timurids and then the Ottomans. Ilkhanid Mongol - Swords and Scimitars : 1230-1353, Mongols (and assimilated Turks, Persians and Cumans) in Iran, Azerbajan, Iraq messing with the Crusaders, Caliphates and Caucauses. Has some Frankish knights for added interest. Timurid White Sheep Turcoman or Black Sheep Turcoman - Eternal Empire ; 1360-1500, Tamerlane, almost restoring Ghengis' glory days from China to Europe, 4 elephants, some bowmen on foot. Later Horse Nomad - Empires of the Dragon : proto-Mongols
Yuan Chinese? - Empires of the Dragon : Sedentary Mongols in China.

 ELEGHOS... at history