During the reign of Rustan in Tauris, Sechaidar,[414] the father of the Sophi, who had married a daughter of the King Assambei, through his wife, became rightful heir of the realm of Persia.[415] He resolved to raise an army and drive out Rustan, and for this purpose collected a number of Suffaveans, who all followed him as their chief and also because he was considered a saint; he was accustomed to reside in the city of Ardouil,[416] three days’ journey distant from Tauris, towards the East, like an abbot with a number of disciples. Having assembled an army of twenty-two thousand men, he marched towards Tauris;[417] but the King Rustan having heard of the preparations of the enemy, had also raised an army of fifty thousand men, and as he himself was very young, he gave the command in this enterprise against Sechaidar to one of his captains, named Sulimanbec. Sechaidar, hearing that the hostile army was more powerful than his, retreated to a place named Van, near Coi,[418] expecting to be joined from the West by some other chiefs, hostile to Rustan. But such was the rapidity of Sulimanbec, Rustan’s general, that Sechaidar was forced to join battle without waiting for further reinforcements, and a fierce contest began.[419] The Suffaveans fought like lions; nevertheless, at length after numbers of men had been killed on both sides, those of Tauris came off victorious, Sechaidar being killed with numbers of his men. After the rout they sought out the body of Sechaidar, which was found by an Armenian priest and taken to Ardouil to be buried. In Tauris the victory caused great rejoicings. Rustan, hearing the news of the defeat of the enemy, and the death of Sechaidar, sent immediately to Ardouil to seize his wife and three sons, and wished to put them to death; but to please some lords, they were liberated, keeping them, however, in charge in an island in the lake of Astumar,[420] inhabited by Armenian Christians. There are there more than six hundred houses, a church named after the Holy Cross, in which are more than a hundred priests governed by a patriarch. Here, then, were sent the three sons of Sechaidar, but the mother remained in Tauris, and was married for the second time to a lord who was an enemy of her former husband. The sons remained three years in the island; but Rustan, being apprehensive of their escape, and being persuaded by some of his friends to put them to death, sent to take them. The day that the messenger asked for them on behalf of Rustan, they were given up to him by the Armenians, although very reluctantly, as they were very much beloved, especially Ismael the second, for his beauty and pleasing manners. After they had given them up (notice well the influence of Providence to carry out what it has determined) one of the principal Armenians addressed the others, saying, “We have given up these boys to this messenger without having seen any command from the King Rustan; it may easily happen that we have been deceived, and that they may be taken away and escape somewhere, so that we would receive great blame, and our sovereign might well say, ‘Where is my order’. Thus it is my opinion that we ought not to deliver them to him unless he brings credentials in writings, which we may keep for security.” All the others agreed to this, more especially because they were very loth to give them up. Then they told the messenger to bring credentials from the king; and as it was some distance thence to Tauris, he was more than seven days before he returned. During this time the boys and their[421] mother were conducted in a boat from the island to the country of Carabas[422] on the east. This country borders on Sumacchia[423] and Ardouil, which belonged to the father of these boys, and its inhabitants are for the most part Suffaveans, and had great reverence for the father. Here they were hidden without anyone hearing anything of them for the space of five years. Ismael at this time was nine years old, and when he attacked Sumacchia was not quite fourteen.[424]