The Hamdanid Dynasty of Mesopotamia and North Syria 254-404/868-1014. (Volumes 1 - 3).

The Hamdanid dynasty, which started as a tribal chiefdom and enjoyed a brief period of circumstantial statehood during the fourth century A.H./tenth century A.D., played a rather ephemeral role in history. Nevertheless, the Hamdanid dynasty is important, for there are many other dynasties like it, which enjoyed a short-lived prominence in the area. The overall social-political structure of the Islamic empire cannot be properly understood without an in-depth investigation of the role of petty dynasties like the Hamdanids. The present work traces the rise and fall of the Hamdanid dynasty and analyzes the most important raisons d'etats which governed its responses to the world around it. It divides itself into three parts: The first part defines the basic social-economic factors which the Hamdanids had to face, and describes the beginnings of the dynasty. The second part deals with the policies of the Hamdanids while they were in the service of the ('c)Abbasid caliphate during the reign of the Caliph al-Muqtadir (295-320/908-932), and describes their attempts to adjust to the political situation which arose after the death of al-Muqtadir and the breakdown of the ('c)Abbasid regime. The third part starts with the moment that the Hamdanids accepted the caliphate's inability to serve their political needs, and deals with the dynasty's attempts to maintain itself against internal and external threats.PhDMedieval historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/158402/1/8125070.pd