National Gallery of Art

The most important dynasties in terms of the artifacts in this exhibition are:

The Universal Caliphate

The Umayyads. The founder of the dynasty, Mu‘awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, was a distant cousin of the Prophet. He became caliph in AD 662 and converted the caliphate into a hereditary office, which his successors held until AD 750. Their capital was Damascus in Syria. After their fall, a single survivor, ‘Abd al-Rahman, made his way to Spain, where he established an emirate centred on the city of Córdoba. In the tenth century, after the Fatimids had set up a Shi’ite imamate in North Africa, the Umayyads again assumed the title of caliph and held it until 1012, after which they reigned intermittently until 1031.

The Abbasids. The Abbasids were closer relatives of the Prophet, being descended from his uncle, al-‘Abbas. The first caliph of the dynasty overthrew the Umayyads in AD 750 and moved the capital of the Islamic empire to central Iraq, where the dynasty founded Baghdad, Samarra’ and other cities. In the tenth century, the Abbasids were challenged by counter-caliphs in Egypt and elsewhere, and they lost their independence of action, first to lords of the Buyid dynasty and then, in the eleventh century, to the Seljuk sultans. After the fall of the Seljuks at the end of the twelfth century, the Abbasids regained their independence as rulers of Iraq, but in 1258 they were finally overthrown by Mongol invaders. Thereafter a titular caliph of the Abbasid dynasty resided in Cairo until the Ottoman conquest in 1517.

Egypt and Syria, Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries

The Fatimids. Members of Shi’ite movements regard the Sunni caliphs as usurpers: the leadership of the Muslim community rightfully belonged to the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah. In AD 909, one of these descendants became the focus of a successful Shi’ite political movement in North Africa, and a Fatimid state was established. In 969, the Fatimid army conquered Egypt, and the capital was moved to the newly founded city of Cairo. The Fatimid caliphate lasted until 1171, when it was overthrown by the Ayyubids.

The Ayyubids. The first Ayyubid, Salah al-Din (Saladin), was the Sunni chief minister of the last Fatimid caliph. In 1171 he overthrew his master and declared his allegiance to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, who eventually, in the 1240s, awarded a member of the dynasty the title of sultan. In Egypt the dynasty was replaced by the rule of the Mamluks in 1250.

The Mamluks. Although mamluk means "owned, possessed," the term indicates political privilege rather than social ignominy, and it designates a political system rather than a single dynasty. During the Abbasid period it became normal for the ruler to recruit his household troops from outside the Islamic world, often from the Turkish lands of Central Asia, since they could be trained as soldiers from childhood and had allegiance only to the ruler. Nevertheless, their role as military strongmen gave these men access to power when their masters faltered, and in 1250, after the branch of the Ayyubid dynasty ruling in Egypt had failed to supply a male heir, the sultanate passed to a royal mamluk. Mamluk sultans were succeeded either by their sons or by a mamluk who had proved his military prowess or political wiliness. This system continued to supply rulers until the Ottoman conquest in 1517, which it survived, providing administrators at a lower level until 1811.

Iraq and Iran, Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries

The Samanids. As the Abbasid caliphate became less dynamic during the ninth century, provincial governors began to exercise more autonomy, and many established local dynasties. Among the most important were the Samanids, one of whom was appointed amir of Farghana in western Central Asia in AD 819. By 874, a member of the family was governor of the whole region and of parts of eastern Iran, and they held power continuously until 1005.

The Buyids. Buyid governors ruled Iraq and western Iran from the 930s until the mid-eleventh century. They were under the nominal suzerainty of the Abbasid caliphs even though they were themselves Shi’ites. They were eventually overthrown by the Seljuks, who posed as the restorers of Sunnism in these regions.

The Seljuks. The Seljuk Turks invaded the Islamic world from the northeast in the early eleventh century and eventually established a great empire that stretched from Anatolia to Central Asia. After they had conquered Baghdad from the Buyids in 1055, they were acknowledged by the Abbasid caliph as his protector, with the title of sultan. The Seljuks lost control of eastern Iran in the mid-twelfth century and were removed from power in Iraq in the 1190s, but a junior branch remained as rulers of Anatolia until the first decade of the fourteenth century.

The Ilkhanids. Devastating Mongol incursions into Muslim Central Asia and Iran in the early thirteenth century were followed by a full-scale invasion in the 1250s, culminating in the conquest of Baghdad in 1258. The Mongols’ leader, Hulagu, became ruler of Iran and Iraq as vassal of the Great Khan in China with the title of Ilkhan. In 1295, however, the dynasty converted to Islam and declared its independence. The Ilkhanid emperors fostered an economic and artistic revival of their territories, but their dynasty failed in the 1330s.

The Timurids. Amir Timur emerged as one of the contenders for power in western Central Asia after the collapse of the Ilkhanid empire, and he proved the most successful, destroying those who opposed him. From the 1370s he rapidly acquired a huge empire of his own, ranging from the Aegean coast of Turkey to the northern plains of India. After his death in 1405, his successors ruled a more restricted domain, eventually comprising eastern Iran and western Central Asia, with capitals in Herat and Samarqand. They were overthrown by the Uzbeks in 1507, but a Timurid, Babur, was later able to establish the Mughal empire in India.

Later Dynasties

The Ottomans. Anatolia was settled by Muslim Turks from the end of the eleventh century. They soon gained political control of the central plateau, and after the Mongol invasions of the mid-thirteenth century, Turkish warlords began to move into the coastlands. One of the most successful was Osman, who established himself in Byzantine territory in northwest Anatolia. From here his descendants were able to invade southeast Europe, beginning in the 1360s. Having survived Timur’s invasion of Anatolia in 1402, they established themselves as the leading power there and in the Balkans. In 1453 the Byzantine empire was extinguished when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, which became their new capital, and in 1516 to 1517 they made themselves masters of the Mamluk empire. Further expansion followed, so that the Ottomans were probably the world’s most powerful state in the later sixteenth century. Although they later lost ground, the dynasty proved immensely durable, remaining in power until 1922.

The Safavids. The leaders of the Turcoman tribes of eastern Anatolia, Iraq and western Iran gained political power in the region after Timur’s death at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Some allied themselves with the Safavi Sufi brotherhood, which had its centre in Ardabil in northwest Iran. The brotherhood converted to a form of Shi’ism late in the century, and beginning in 1500, its leader, the future Shah Isma‘il, began to seize political power for himself. He succeeded in uniting all of Iran under his rule, and he and his successors established a Shi’ite state that survived until 1722.

The Qajars. The collapse of the Safavid state in Iran was followed by a period of political instability, during which the leaders of the Qajar tribe began to play an important political role. Towards the end of the century, its forceful leader, Agha Muhammad, was able to gain control of the whole country, with Tehran as his capital. He was assassinated soon after, but he was succeeded by his nephew Fath ‘Ali Shah (ruled 1797–1834), and the dynasty ruled Iran until 1924.

Excerpted from Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum, by Tim Stanley with Mariam Rosser-Owen and Stephen Vernoit, published worldwide by V&A Publications, ISBN 185177 430 0. The book is distributed in hardcover in North America by Harry N. Abrams Inc., ISBN 0-8109-6562-3.

General Information

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