Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the Islamic Polity

313 Pages·2003·9.76 MB·English

by  Patricia Crone

SLAVES ON HORSES
THE EVOLUTION OF THE
ISLAMIC POLITY

SLAVES ON HORSES
THE EVOLUTION OF THE
ISLAMIC POLITY
PATRICIA CRONE
Lecturer in Islamic History
University of Oxford
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE
MELBOURNE SYDNEY
PUBLISHED BYTHE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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©Cambridge University Press 1980
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1980
First paperback edition 2003
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Crone, Patricia, 1945-
Slaves on horses.
Based on part of the author's thesis, University of London, 1974.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Islamic Empire - Politics and government. I. Title.
DS38.5.C76 9O9'.O9767O1 79-50234
ISBN 0 521 22961 8 hardback
ISBN 0 521 52940 9 paperback
For T. C. and V. C.
I have seen slaves upon horses,
and princes walking as slaves upon the earth.
Eccles. 10 :j.
CONTENTS
Preface ix
A note on conventions x
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1 Historiographical introduction 3
2 The nature of the Arab conquest 18
PART II: THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONQUEST SOCIETY
3 The Sufyanid pattern, 661—84 [41—64] 29
4 Syria of 684 [64] 34
5 The Marwanid evolution, 684—744 [64—126] 37
6 The Marwanid faction 42
7 Syria of 744 [ 126J 46
8 Umayyad clientage 49
PART III: THE FAILURE OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE
9 The abortive service aristocracy 61
10 The emergence of the slave soldiers 74
11 The emergence of the medieval polity 8 2
APPENDICES
I The ashrafoi Syria and Iraq 93
II The subgovernors of Syria, 685 — 744 [65 — 126] 123
III The subgovernors of Iraq and its dependencies, 694—744 129
[75-126]
IV The Yamaniyya and the Qaysiyya 154
V The 'Abbasid servants, 750—813 [132—98] 173
VI Mawlfi in the sense of 'kinsman'
Notes 201
vii
viii Contents
Bibliography
General index 2 7 2
Prosopographical index 2 9 3
PREFACE
This book is a reincarnation of the first part of my thesis ('The Mawali in
the Umayyad Period', University of London Ph.D., 1974) in a form so
different that theologians might dispute the identity. I should like to thank
Professor B. Lewis, who supervised me in 1969—73, Professor M. J.
Kister, who helped me during a term in Jerusalem in 1972, Robert
Irwin, whose queries inspired two pages of part III, and Dr Martin Hinds,
whose criticisms inspired many more. Above all I wish to thank Michael
Cook, who read the entire typescript in both its past and its present
form, and whose advice I have nearly always followed, if not always
with good grace. I also owe a special debt to Magister E. Iversen for
suggesting to me, many years ago, the unfamiliar idea of becoming a
historian. Needless to say, not even Magister Iversen can be held res-
ponsible for the result.
P.C.