territories in 1374 In the spring of 1384,
Timur and the Chagatai army (whom he was allied with) attacked the Jalayirids. Although Sultan Ahmad was not captured, his subordinates in
Soltaniyeh failed to defend the town and Timur took it with little resistance. Timur gave the town to Adil Aqa, who had defected to him, before retiring from the campaign. Ahmad then sent an army to retake Soltaniyeh, but Adil Aqa successfully defended it. In the midst of Timur's absence, Ahmad had to deal with an invasion by
Tokhtamysh, Khan of the
Golden Horde. Tokhtamysh's troops swept down into
Azerbaijan, devastating the land, and
Tabriz was sacked in 1385. Ahmad himself had escaped to
Baghdad through the aid of his ally,
Izz al-din Shir of
Hakkari.
Loss of Tabriz (1386–1405) created in Baghdad in 1396. The Golden Horde raid of Tabriz had significantly weakened Ahmad's position and so he could not combat Timur when he returned from his Indian campaigns with his
Chagatai army in 1386. Tabriz was taken by Timur that year. In the summer, its citizens had to pay a heavy tribute. Adil Aqa collected the tribute but was executed by Timur, who suspected him of corruption. Azerbaijan from this point on remained in the control of the Timurids, as Ahmad could not recover the province. After 1386, Ahmad Jalayir was essentially based in Baghdad. The
Kara Koyunlu ruler
Kara Yusuf retreated to
Mosul to avoid a sudden raid, was able to take shelter in the
Ottoman Empire in 1400 with Ahmad Jalayir. The region from
Azerbaijian to
Darband was entrusted to Timur's son
Miran Shah in 1392, with Tabriz as the capital. In 1395, Miran Shah became insane, committing unwarranted excecutions and destructions.
Ruler of Baghdad In 1393, Timur renewed the war with Ahmad. Near the end of August, he arrived in Baghdad, where Ahmad was residing. Deciding that defending the city was impossible, Ahmad fled and traveled to
Mamluk-held Syria, and was granted asylum by Sultan
Berkuk. Ahmad traveled to Dmascus and then
Cairo. Meanwhile, Baghdad was forced to pay ransom and many captives (including Ahmad's son
Ala al-Daula) were taken with Timur when he left the city, most of the citizens were left unharmed. A member of the
Sarbadar,
Khwaja Mas'ud Sabzavari, was given control of the city. In 1394, Ahmad
returned to Baghdad and Khwaja Mas'ud withdrew his forces instead of fighting. When Timur returned from campaigns in the east in 1400, Ahmad feared that he would be attacked and left Baghdad. He returned for a short while but then left again, taking refuge with the
Ottomans.
Bayezid I welcomed him together with
Qara Yusuf, defiantly opposing Timur in the process, and assigned each of them a fief (
Kütahya for Ahmad Jalayir and
Aksaray for Qara Yusuf). Already in the 14th century, Tabriz was a cultural hub functioning as the center of many Turkic states in the region, and already incorporated elements of Turkic art and culture. The expressive quality of these creations in a sense surpasses anything that came before of after. The creations of Tabriz during the reign of Ahmad Jalayir can be seen in exquisite works such as
Kalila and Dimna (MS Topkaki H.362) created in Tabriz in 1375-1385, more copies of
Kalila and Dimna (BNF, MS persan 376) and
Kalila and Dimna (BNF, MS persan 376) illustrated in Jalayirid Baghdad in 1385-95, a splendid
Khamsah by Khvaju Kirmani (BL Add MS 18113) created in Baghdad in 1396. . At the time of his conquest of Tabriz in 1386 (which he would hold until 1405), the Turco-Mongol invader
Timur relocated many of the Tabriz artists to
Samarkand, influencing the styles in the Timurid realm, in Samarkand, Herat, and Shiraz. The Jalayirids finally recovered Tabriz in 1405, and a remarkable illustrated manuscript was still created there in the last years of Sultan Ahmad Jalayir's reign in 1405-1410, the
Khosrow and Shirin (Freer Galery of Art). Ahmad Jalayir is known for actively participating to artistic creation. A drawing of a horse's head was drawn and dedicated by him. Ahmad learned the black-pen technique from his main painter
Khvaja ʿAbd al-Hayy. ==Final years in Tabriz (1405–1410)==