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The interaction between the Eurasian pastoral nomads - most famously the Mongols and Turks - and the surrounding sedentary societies is a major theme in world history. Nomads were not only raiders and conquerors, but also transmitted commodities, ideas, technologies and other cultural items. At the same time, their sedentary neighbours affected the nomads, in such aspects as religion, technology, and political culture. The essays in this volume use a broad comparative approach that highlights the multifarious nature of nomadic society and its changing relations with the sedentary world in the vicinity of China, Russia and the Middle East, from antiquity into the contemporary world.
The sixty year struggle (1260-1320) between the Mamluk Sultanate of Syria and Egypt and the Ilkhanate, the Mongol realm in Iran and the surrounding countries, had a profound impact on the region's ruling elites and the general population, as well as on neighboring countries and beyond. It is possible to speak of a thirteenth century world war: on one side were arrayed the Mamluks and the Mongol Golden Horde of southern Russia, at times Genoa and the Byzantine empire, while on the other side we find the Ilkhanate, the Venetians (albeit still trading with the Mamluks), the states of western Europe, the Papacy, the Armenians of both the Caucasus and Cilicia, and Georgia. To these we could add m...
The Mongol empire was founded early in the 13th century by Chinggis Khan and within the span of two generations embraced most of Asia, becoming the largest land-based state in history. The united empire lasted only until around 1260, but the major successor states continued on in the Middle East, present day Russia, Central Asia and China for generations, leaving a lasting impact - much of which was far from negative - on these areas and their peoples. The papers in this volume present new perspectives on the establishment of the Mongol empire, Mongol rule in the eastern Islamic world, Central Asia and China, and the legacy of this rule. The various authors approach these subjects from the view of political, military, social, cultural and intellectual history. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
For some sixty years, commencing in 1260, the Mamluk state in Egypt and Syria was at war with the Ilkhanid Mongols based in Persia. This is the first comprehensive study of the political and military aspects of the early years of the war, the twenty-one-year period commencing with the battle of Ayn Jalut in Palestine in 1260 and ending in 1281 at the battle of Homs in northern Syria. Between these major confrontations, which resulted from Mongol invasions into Syria, the Mamluk-Ilkhanid struggle was continued in the manner of a 'cold war' with both sides involved in border skirmishes, diplomatic maneuvers, psychological warfare, ideological posturing, espionage and other forms of subterfuge. Here, as in the decisive battles, the Mamluks usually maintained the upper hand, establishing themselves as the major Muslim power at the time. Using primarily contemporary Arabic and Persian sources, Reuven Amitai-Preiss sheds new light on the confrontation, examining the war within the context of Ilkhanid/Mamluk relations with the Byzantine Empire, the Latin West and the crusading states, as well as with other Mongol states.
Since the first millennium BCE, nomads of the Eurasian steppe have played a key role in world history and the development of adjacent sedentary regions, especially China, India, the Middle East, and Eastern and Central Europe. Although their more settled neighbors often saw them as an ongoing threat and imminent danger—“barbarians,” in fact—their impact on sedentary cultures was far more complex than the raiding, pillaging, and devastation with which they have long been associated in the popular imagination. The nomads were also facilitators and catalysts of social, demographic, economic, and cultural change, and nomadic culture had a significant influence on that of sedentary Eurasi...
The Crusader World is a multidisciplinary survey of the current state of research in the field of crusader studies, an area of study which has become increasingly popular in recent years. In this volume Adrian Boas draws together an impressive range of academics, including work from renowned scholars as well as a number of though-provoking pieces from emerging researchers, in order to provide broad coverage of the major aspects of the period. This authoritative work will play an important role in the future direction of crusading studies. This volume enriches present knowledge of the crusades, addressing such wide-ranging subjects as: intelligence and espionage, gender issues, religious cele...
Introduction / Judith Pfeiffer & Sholeh A. Quinn -- |t The Mongol world empire. -- |t World-conquest and local accomodation: threat and blandishment in Mongol diplomacy / |r Peter Jackson -- |t "Stuck in the throat of Chingīz Khān:" envisioning the Mongol conquests in some Sufi accounts from the 14th to 17th centuries / |r Devin de Weese -- |t The Qongrat in history / |r İsenbike Togan -- |t References to economic and cultural life in Anatolia in the letters of Rashīd al-Dīn / |r Zeki Velidi Togan, trans. Gery Leiser -- |t Autonomous enclaves in Islamic states: temlîks, soyurghals, yurdluḳ-ocaḳlıḳs, mâlikâne-muḳâṭaʿas and awqāf / |r Halil İnalcık -- |t The early Persian historiography of Anatolia / |r Charles Melville -- |t Aḥmad Tegüder's second letter to Qalāʼūn (682/1283) / |r Judith Pfeiffer -- |t The age of Timur. -- |t A note on the life and works of Ibn ʿArabshāh / |r R.D. McChesney -- |t On the Persian original Vālidiyya of Khvāja Aḥrār / |r Eiji Mano.
As the title implies, New Approaches to Ilkhanid History explores new methodologies and avenues of research for the Mongol state in the Middle East. Although the majority of the Ilkhanate was situated in Iran, this volume considers other regions within the state and moves away from focusing on the center and the Ilkhanid court. New consideration is given to the source material, particularly how they have been composed, but also how the sources can inform on the provinces of the Ilkhanate. Several authors also examine lower-tier personages, groups, and institutions. Contributors include: A.C.S. Peacock; Kazuhiko Shiraiwa; Christopher P. Atwood; Stefan Kamola; Qiu Yihao; Koichi Matsuda; Judith Kolbas; Reuven Amitai; Na'ama O. Arom; Timothy May; Michael Hope; Pier Giorgio Borbone; Dashdondog Bayarsaikhan; Dmitri Korobeinikov.
This study provides a new interpretation of how political authority was conceived and transmitted in the Early Mongol Empire (1227-1259) and its successor state in the Middle East, the Ikhanate (1258-1335). Authority within the Mongol Empire was intimately tied to the character of its founder, Chinggis Khan, whose reign served as an idealized model for the exercise of legitimate authority amongst his political successors. Yet Chinggis Khan's legacy was interpreted differently by the various factions within his army. In the years after his death, two distinct political traditions emerged within the Mongol Empire, the collegial and the patrimonialist. Each of these streams represented the econ...
This book focuses on the Mansuriyya regiment, the mamluks of sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. It traces the lives of these mamluks during the career of their master Qalawun (ca. 1260-1290), the period they ruled the Sultanate of Egypt and Syria de jure or de facto (1290-1310), and their aftermath, during the third reign of sultan al-Nasir Muhammad b. Qalawun (1310-1341). Based on dozens of contemporary Arabic sources, the book traces the political and military events of the turbulent Mansuriyya period, as well as the basic military-political principles and socio-political practices that evolved during this period. It suggests that the Mansuriyya period marks the beginning of the demilitarization, or politicization, of the Mamluk sultanate.