01:506:201 Lecture 7: Chapter 7 Part II
17 May 2018
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Chapter 7 Part II
Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast
Asia
1. Introduction
1. Mid 9th century losing control
1. Rebellious governors
2. new challenging dynasties
2. …but still creative – ironically – a golden age without political
stability
1. architecture
2. fine arts
3. literature
4. philosophy
5. mathematics and science
3. Territorial growth – warriors, traders, wandering mystics
1. political conquest
2. peaceful conversion
4. Conduit for exchange – between urban/agrarian centers and
between nomadic peoples
1. ideas
2. plants and medicines
3. commercial goods
4. inventions
2. The Islamic Heartlands in the Middle and Late Abbasid Eras
1. Introduction – 3rd Abbasid caliph – al-Mahdi
1. Courtly excesses > financial drain
1. taste for luxury/monumental buildings
2. surrounded self with wives, concubines, courtiers
2. Political divisions
1. continued Shi’a revolts and assassinations
3. Problem of succession
1. Son/successor poisoned
1. Harun al-Rashid (786-809)
1. most famous
2. enduring
2. Imperial Extravagance and Succession Disputes
1. Extravagance amazed visitors
1. Charlemagne impressed by mosques, palaces,
treasures
2. The Thousand and One Nights
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1. Luxury and palace intrigue/manipulations
2. Throne at 23 – growing power of royal advisors
1. signaled shift in power – court advisors now more
important
2. Now also power struggles between court factions
3. Death of Harun al-Rashid led to civil war
1. winning son had huge army
1. started precedent of having “bodyguards”
2. mercenary forces could reach 70,000
4. Power shift now to military
1. Between military and court, assassinations quite
common
3. Imperial Breakdown and Agrarian Disorder
1. Caliphs try to move capitals away from Baghdad – kind of
like Versailles
1. Very expensive
2. Cost of new palaces/capitals plus mercenary force =
high taxes
3. Peasant revolts caused from
1. taxation
2. pillaging
3. Shi’a “encouragement”
4. The Declining Position of Women in the Family and Society
1. Remember Islamic world initially quite open to egalitarian
treatment of women
2. Harem – women kept in seclusion
1. creation of Abbasid court
2. win their freedom/gain power by bearing healthy sons
3. some women became slaves
1. But…slaves captured, purchased from non-
Muslim regions
1. prized for beauty and intelligence
2. best educated men and women
3. officials more attracted to slaves then
wives sometimes
4. more freedom than free women – no
veils/robes
3. Veil
1. slaves – no veil/robes
2. Upper class no career outlets beyond homes
1. focused on interests of sons
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3. lower class women could actually farm, weave
clothing, raise silkworms
5. Nomadic Incursions and the Eclipse of Caliphal Power
1. Kingdoms try to take over power
1. 945 Buyids of Persia invade empire and captured
Baghdad
2. Took names of sultan – victorious
3. 1055 Seljuk Turks – replaced Buyids
1. Turks were Sunnis – purged Shi’a officials
2. Kept Byzantines from taking over
3. Lay foundations for Ottoman Empire
6. The Impact of the Christian Crusades
1. First Crusade 1096-1099 – most successful for Europeans
1. Surpise + political divisions
2. Europeans killed Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of
Jerusalem
2. 200 years of battle – but…had little effect on Muslim princes
3. Saladin – Salau-ud-Din – reconquered territory
4. Impact much greater on Christians – Muslims show little
interest in the west
1. Increased European borrowing
1. weapons – damascene sword
2. fortifications
3. science/medicine
4. recovered Greek learning
5. mastered Arabic numerals
6. Middle Eastern rugs/textiles
7. names for different cloths – taffeta, muslin
8. Popular culture
1. Chess
2. Troubadours/ballads
3. food – dates, coffee, yogurt
3. The Age of Learning and Artistic Refinements
1. Introduction
1. Political divisions not that important – still successful
artistically
2. Remember – India/Western Europe also fragmented
3. One of great ages in human ingenuity and creativity
4. Expansion of professional classes
1. Great fortunes to be made through trade
1. Middle East > Mediterranean Europe
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