Empress of Persia of the Sasanian dynasty, Bûrândûkht (Persian:بوراندخت) reigned for three years between 630 and 632, during a very unstable period. Wise and just, she strives to restore justice and infrastructure.
A politically unstable period
daughter of Khosrau II Parviz, Persian emperor from 590 to 628, Bûrândûkht and her sister Azarmedûkht descend from the dynasty of Sassanids, ruling Iran for four hundred years. Bûrândûkht is also known as Pūrāndokht, meaning "pink-faced girl".
At the beginning of the 7th century, the Perso-Byzantine war raged and the advance of the Byzantine armies forced Khosrau II to retreat. He attempted to appoint one of his younger sons as successors but, due to his despotism and indolence, he encountered great opposition and his eldest son was proclaimed king on February 25, 628. Khosrau II was assassinated four days later, the February 29. Six months later, the new king dies of the plague. In 630, General Schahr-Barâz took power, marrying, according to some historians, Bûrândûkht to establish his legitimacy. He was assassinated in turn on June 9, 630.
A brief reign
Bûrândûkht was then proclaimed empress, but the political situation of the empire was still very unstable and her husband's son sought to usurp power. The empress, whom tradition designates as just and wise, signs peace with Byzantium and tries to restore justice and infrastructure. She lowers taxes, mints coins but encounters resistance from the governors and fails to restore her power and ends up abdicating in favor of her sister, Azarmedûkht. But the new queen has a nobleman assassinated who is trying to monopolize the throne; the son of the latter will avenge his father shortly after by killing Azarmedûkht.
Following the death of her sister, Bûrândûkht is restored to the throne. The Arab conquest that begins is marked by the first defeats of the Sassanid arms, from 631. As the dynasty inexorably approaches its fall, Bûrândûkht dies of illness in 632, after two years of reign.