Shirvanshah

Mazyadi/Kasrani/Darbandi
Coat of arms of the Shirvanshahs
Country	Azerbaijan  Dagestan
Titles	Shah of Shirvan Shah of Layzan Emir of Derbent
Founded	799
Founder	Yazid b. Mazyad al-Shaybani
Final ruler	Abu Bakr Mirza
Dissolution	1607
Cadet branches	Shervashidze House of Black Monk

Shirvanshah (Persian: شروانشاه‎‎, Azerbaijani: Şirvanşah), also spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title of the rulers of Shirvan, located in modern Azerbaijan, from the mid-9th century to the early 16th century. The title remained in a single family, the Yazidids, an originally Arab but gradually Persianized dynasty, although the later Shirvanshahs are also known as the Kasranids or Kaqanids. The Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan (located in modern Azerbaijan Republic).

The title Shirvanshah dates back to pre-Islamic times. Ibn Khordadbeh mentions the Shirvanshah as one of the local rulers who received their title from the first Sassanid emperor, Ardashir I.Al-Baladhuri also mentions that a Shirvanshah, together with the neighbouring Layzanshah, were encountered by the Arabs during their conquest of Persia, and submitted to the Arab commander Salman ibn Rab'ia al-Bahili.

From the late 8th century, Shirvan was under the rule of the members of the Arab family of Yazid ibn Mazyad al-Shaybani (d. 801), who was named governor of the region by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. His descendants, the Yazidids, would rule Shirvan as independent princes until the 14th century. By origin, the Yazidids were Arabs of the Shayban tribe and belonged to high ranking generals and governors of the Abbasid army. In the chaos that engulfed the Abbasid Caliphate after the death of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil in 861, the great-grandson of Yazid b. Mazyad Shaybani, Haytham ibn Khalid, declared himself independent and assume the ancient title of Shirvanshah. The dynasty continuously ruled the area of Shirvan either as an independent state or a vassal state until the Safavid times.