Hossein belonged to the
Shamlu tribe, one of the seven Turkoman tribes of the Qizilbash, a
Shia militant group, which supported the young
Safaviyya leader
Ismail I, who had taken refuge in
Gilan to avoid the
Aq Qoyunlu, a Turkic tribal federation which controlled most of
Iran. During Ismail's stay in Gilan, Hossein Beg served as his guardian and mentor. In 1500, Ismail came out of hiding and with the aid of the Qizilbash, invaded
Shirvan, killing its ruler
Farrukh Yassar. In 1501, all of Shirvan,
Arran and
Azerbaijan was under the control of Ismail, who laid foundation to the Safavid dynasty. He then appointed Hossein Beg as the vakil of the empire and the commander-in-chief (
amir al-umara) of the Qizilbash army. By 1504, all of present-day Iran was under the control of Ismail. In 1507, Hossein Beg campaigned in western Iran, where he was ambushed by a group of
Kurds and as a result lost 300 men. During the same year, Ismail appointed the
Iranian Mir Najm Zargar Gilani as the new
vakil. One year later, a Safavid army under Hossein Beg and Ismail captured
Baghdad. In 1509/10, Hossein Beg lost his office as commander-in-chief in favor to a man of humble origins, Muhammad Beg Ustajlu (later called "Chayan Khan"). In 1512, Hossein Beg, along with the rest of the Qizilbash commanders, betrayed the Safavid vakil
Najm-e Sani and left him to die at the
Battle of Ghazdewan. Hossein Beg later took part in Ismail's war against the
Ottomans, but was killed at the
Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. == References ==