Amir al-umara

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The office of amir al-umara (

Abbasid caliphs to a purely ceremonial role. The office then formed the basis for the Buyid control over the Abbasid caliphs and over Iraq
until the mid-11th century.

The title continued in use by Muslim states in the

Norman Sicily
for a few of the king's chief ministers.

In the Abbasid Caliphate

Background

The first person to be titled amir al-umara was the commander Harun ibn Gharib, a cousin of the Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932), in 928.[5] He was followed soon after by his rival, the eunuch Mu'nis al-Muzaffar (845–933),[5] who served as commander-in-chief of the caliphal army and the power behind the throne for most of al-Muqtadir's reign. From 928, Mu'nis was involved in a tumultuous power struggle with his rivals in the court's civilian bureaucracy, which ended with the deposition and execution of al-Muqtadir in 932, and his replacement with his brother al-Qahir (r. 932–934). Mu'nis and the military were now dominant in the affairs of the Abbasid court, beginning a period of troubles that was, in the words of the historian Hugh Kennedy, "dominated by the struggles of military men to control the caliphate and, perhaps more importantly, the revenues of the Sawad which would enable them to satisfy the demands of their followers".[6]

Mu'nis himself was executed by al-Qahir in 933, but in 934 another palace coup deposed al-Qahir and replaced him with

Ali ibn al-Athir (d. 1233) asserted that after the death of Mu'nis, the post of amir al-umara fell to Tarif al-Subkari, who was also head of the treasury.[5]

Elevation to regent

Finally, in November 936, the failure of the

Friday prayer. In effect, writes Miskawayh, the caliph "resigned to him the government of the kingdom".[9] Henceforth, effective power in both military and civil administrations passed from the caliph to the amir al-umara and his secretary, who ran the civilian administration. Ibn Ra'iq took care to deprive the caliph of his last support base by disbanding the old household bodyguard, replacing them as the core of the caliphal army with his own Turks and Daylamites.[4]

Struggle for power, 936–946

Silver dirham of 940/941 CE, with the names of Caliph al-Muttaqi and the amir al-umara Bajkam

Despite his extraordinary authority, however, Ibn Ra'iq failed to stabilize the situation and a decade-long complicated power struggle between various regional leaders followed for the office of amir al-umara. On 9 September 938 Ibn Ra'iq was deposed by his former subordinate, the Turk Bajkam, who secured his own succession to the post four days later, and ruled until his death by Kurdish brigands on 21 April 941. Caliph al-Muttaqi (r. 940–944), raised to the throne by Bajkam after al-Radi's death, now tried to restore civilian rule, appointing Ibn Maymun and then Abu Abdallah al-Baridi as viziers, but the military retook control under the leadership of Kurankij, who became amir al-umara on 1 July.[10][11]

He was deposed on 16 September by Ibn Ra'iq, who within a few days re-assumed his old position. However, Ibn Ra'iq's restoration provoked the reaction of al-Baridi, whose forces occupied Baghdad, forcing Ibn Ra'iq and al-Muttaqi to flee to the Hamdanid ruler al-Hasan in

laqab (honorific title) of Nasir al-Dawla. The Hamdanids too were unable to consolidate their control in the face of financial difficulties, and a military revolt under the Turkish general Tuzun forced Nasir al-Dawla to abandon his post (11 May 943) and retreat to his base at Mosul. Tuzun became the new amir al-umara on 1 June.[11][12]

Al-Muttaqi tried to regain his independence by remaining at

Muhammad ibn Shirzad, held only feeble authority and tried to fend off the Buyid threat by allying himself with Nasir al-Dawla. His efforts were in vain, and on 17 January 946, the Buyids under Mu'izz al-Dawla entered Baghdad.[13][14] This began the Buyid era in Baghdad and Iraq, which lasted until the Seljuk conquest in the mid-11th century.[15]

Under the Buyids

Possession of the title of amir al-umara formed the institutional framework of Buyid authority in Baghdad itself and vis-a-vis the caliph, who now became simply another state functionary and was given an annual salary. Although Ahmad ibn Buya had seized Baghdad, the strong family ties of the Buyid brothers determined their respective positions with each other, and the post of amir al-umara fell to the elder brother and ruler of Fars, Ali, known by his laqab

shahanshah ("shah of shahs"), malik ("king"), or malik al-muluk ("king of kings"), to underline his pre-eminence. Thus, under the later Buyid rulers, Persian titles were more prominent, and amir al-umara came to denote the designated heir-apparent. In general, Buyid use of the title appears to have been inconsistent, and it was employed more as an honorific rather than an office.[5][16]

In other Muslim states

Iran and Khurasan

Further east, neither the

Barkiyaruq (r. 1094–1105).[5]

In the

Husayn Beg Shamlu occupied the office in 1501–1510, he was the most powerful state official, but after his fall it fell in importance and lost much power, particularly to the qurčibaši, the commanders of the Turkmen tribal cavalry. The amir al-umara enjoyed a revival in the period of Qizilbash tutelage over Tahmasp I in 1524–1533, but thereafter disappears almost completely. It only reappeared occasionally in the late Safavid period, when it designated a military commander exceptionally appointed to a border region threatened with foreign invasion.[5]

Mamluks and Ottomans

The title was also, albeit rarely, used by the

Mamluk Sultanate centered in Cairo, apparently associated with the commander of the army (atabak al-'asakir), but also appears to have been given to other amirs.[3] In the Ottoman Empire, it was used, along with the Persian equivalent mir-i miran, as a translation of beylerbey ("bey of beys").[3]

In Norman Sicily

As a result of the long period of

Hauteville dynasty in 1194. It is from these individuals that the corrupted form "admiral" began to be used in the western Mediterranean for naval commanders in the 13th century.[18]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Watt 1998, p. 100.
  2. ^ Catafago, Joseph (1858). An English and Arabic Dictionary, In Two Parts, Arabic and English, and English and Arabic. Bernard Quaritch, Oriental and Philological Bookseller. London. p. 30.
  3. ^ a b c Zetterstéen 1960, p. 446.
  4. ^ a b Kennedy 2004, p. 195.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth & Savory 1985, pp. 969–971.
  6. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 186–193.
  7. ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 194.
  8. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 194–195.
  9. ^ Donohue 2003, p. 110.
  10. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 195–196.
  11. ^ a b Donohue 2003, p. 9.
  12. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 196, 270.
  13. ^ Donohue 2003, pp. 9–10.
  14. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 196, 214–215.
  15. ^ cf. Kennedy 2004, pp. 215–240.
  16. ^ Donohue 2003, pp. 13–34, 128.
  17. ^ Takayama 1993, pp. 18, 66–68, 96.
  18. ^ Abulafia 2012, pp. 321–322.

Sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amir_al-umara&oldid=1219811612"