Chapter 7 Decline of Abbasid Abbasid dynasty Control

Chapter 7 Decline of Abbasid

• Abbasid dynasty – Control over empire begins to slide in 9 th century – Reasons for decline • Difficulty in communication and moving armies across the large empire • Local administrators not always obeying • Excess of court • Regions of empire maintaining their local identites • Disputes over succession • Rise of mercenary armies became virtually independent • Failure of agricultural economy Decline

• Al-Mahdi – 3 rd Abbasid caliph • Try to reconcile the moderates among the Shi’ i opposition – Failed which meant Shi'as revolts and assassinations would continue to end of the dynasty • Love the good life- excess of luxury – Habit passed on to later caliphs – Financial drain • Fail to solve problem of succession – Waiver between which son to succeed – Civil war was avoided but his successor was poisoned within year.

• Harun al-Rashid – One of most famous and enduring Abbasid caliph – Reputation for living the luxurious life – One Thousand One Nights based on his court – Dependent on Persian royal advisors • Young when he took the throne. Only 23 • Will eventually resist their influencereliance will become a trend – Mid 9 th century caliphs were pawns in court power struggles

• Harun al Rashid death will cause several fullscale civil wars over succession – Precedent set by struggle for throne deeply damaging – Also end the real power of the Caliphs – Convince candidates for the throne that they need a personal army • Often slave soldiers – Turkic speaking nomads from central Asia

• Mercenary Armies – Leaders of slave mercenary armies will be the real power behind the Abbasid throne • 4 caliphs will be murder or poison by the mercenary forces – A disruptive force in life of Baghdad and other cities • Bully • Catalyst for food riots – Be major players in the contest for control of the Capital and empire – Consist largely of slave troops – Help bring about the decline of the empire

Imperial Breakdown • Constant civil wars drain the treasury – Alienated the people • Caliphs wanting to escape turmoil of Baghdad established new – capitals – Add to already high cost of government • Cost of maintaining the mercenary armies • Spiraling taxation falling to peasants- least able to pay

• Agricultural economy will be disrupted by – Spiraling taxation – Destruction of irrigation – Mercenaries pillaging villages • Often led to abandonment of the villages

• Women increasingly under. Decline in Position of complete control of men Women – Harems • seclusion of wives and concubines – Concubines- slaves who sometimes could win freedom and gain power by having rulers sons • Restricted to forbidden parts of imperial palace – veiling • Why? – Men unable to resist the lures and temptations of women – Segregation except in family household

• Abbasid elite will have a great demand for slaves – Both male and female – Most captured or purchased from non-Muslim regions – Prized for beauty and intelligence.

• Busy with struggles at home and in the central provinces, caliphs were powerless to prevent loss of outer territorties – Egypt – Syria – Buyids • Persian Shi’ ites

• Buyids – 945 CE • A regional splinter dynasty – Captured Baghdad • Caliph- puppet government • Buyids even took the title of Sultans – Arabic for victorious – Muslim rulers – Control the court but could not stop the disintegration of empire

• 1055 Seljuk Turks – Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia – Brought down the Buyids • Two centuries Turk military leaders rule the Abbasid Empire in name of caliphs • Staunch Sunnis – Purge Shi’ i officials – Rid empire of Shi’ I influence

• Military machine will be successful for a while – End threat of Shi’ i dynasty in Egypt – Defeat Byzantine attempt to regain long last land • Important because it open the way to settlement of Asia Minor – Later home to Ottoman Empire– now Turkey

• Seljuks faced challenge by Christian Crusaders – Knights from western Europe who wanted to control the holy lands • Christian crusaders were successful between 1069 -1099 due to – Muslim political divisions – Element of surprise • 1099 Jerusalem the main objective of the Christian Crusaders was capture

• 8 Crusades over two centuries • Seljuk Turks – United by Saladin – Reconquered lost territory • Last crusader kingdom was lost with the fall of Acre in 1291

• Impact on – Greater on Christians than Muslims – Intensified European borrowing from the Muslims • • Weapons Building fortifications Words Games – Chess • Scientific learning • Arabic numbers & decimal system • Greek learning

• Of greater significance was the “exchange” was largely one way • Muslims show little interest in learning or institutions of the West

Persian influence • Persian language – replaced Arabic as primary written language at Abbasid court – Arabic remain language of religion, law and natural sciences – Persian was chief language of “high culture”