Sabzevār

Sabzevar stands in the Bayhaq district of western Khorasan, on a major caravan route across the Iranian plateau toward Nishapur. Its busy markets and surrounding villages made it an important regional centre of commerce. In the fourteenth century the city became the seat of the Sarbadars, a movement whose name evokes their willingness to risk the gallows rather than submit to oppression. Their rule brought together urban notables, soldiers and religious adherents, though these groups did not always agree.

The movement began in the nearby village of Bashtin amid the disintegration of Ilkhanid authority. In 1337 Abd al-Razzaq took Sabzevar, and his brother Masud extended Sarbadar power across much of western Khorasan. The city became the base for campaigns against neighbouring rulers. Rivalries between the military leaders, local elites and followers of the religious teacher Hasan Juri repeatedly disturbed the state; after Masud's death his commander Muhammad Ay Timur ruled from Sabzevar until his assassination in 1346.

The Sarbadars continued to contend with the powers around them, at times taking Tus and Mashhad as well as Nishapur. Their independence ended as Timur advanced into Khorasan, and their last ruler submitted to him in 1381. The soldiers of Sabzevar subsequently served in Timurid campaigns, carrying the city's name beyond the frontier it had once defended.