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FDU PRESS
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| Scholarly Review |
 | PUTTING THE CALIPH IN HIS PLACE: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate
ISBN# 9780838641132
Reviewed by: Hayrettin Yucesoy
Int. J. Middle East Studies (2009) |
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Putting the Caliph in His Place is an important contribution to the scholarship on the Abbasid caliphate after its heyday in the 8th and 9th centuries. It focuses on the actions of the caliphs during the Buyid and Selcukid eras in the 11th and 12th centuries. Both centuries have certainly received their share in scholarship--but not from the perspective of the Abbasid caliphs. The scholarly impression has been, by and large, that the Abbasid caliphs were in the shadow until their eventual demise at the hands of the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century. Hanne argues that caliphs during these two centuries, although weaker than other rulers, were far from ceremonial figures escorted in and out when needed. On the contrary, they emerged as one of the primary regional players in the political, cultural, and military affairs of the 11th and 12th centuries and even expanded their authority in central Iraq.
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The conclusion duly summarizes the main points of the study and reiterates the need to look at the caliphal institution in a tripartite way to better understand the social forces that contributed to the evolution of the caliphate in later phases. The study is complemented with relevant genealogical tables, an index, a useful glossary for nonexperts, and a selected bibliography.
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