A Friend in Need… Part III: Sogdian converts and their response to the Umayyad poll-tax (jizya) policy
By Reza Said Huseini In the series “A Friend in Need” we examine the ability of individuals and groups in the early Islamic empire to tackle problems by using social and political relationships. Our two previous examples looked at local…
How to ask? Strategies of entreating in medieval Eurasia.
By Birte Kristiansen Our conference How to ask? Strategies of entreating in medieval Eurasia looked at how letter writers in medieval Eurasia tried to convince someone else to do something. What arguments did they use? What sentiments and values did…
A Friend in Need… part II
In our first blog in this series we looked at how the powerful friends of the rebel Ibn Dabian b. Sa‘id got him out of trouble after The rebellion of ‘Abdallah b. al-Jarud. This time an imprisoned monk is finding…
A friend in need… part I
Introduction The Emco team tries to understand the success of the early Islamic empire in its first four centuries. One of the keys to that understanding is to apprehend what possibilities existed for people living in the empire to counter…
A medieval Chinese passport?
A medieval Chinese passport? A Sogdian merchant’s business trip in Tang China By Shuqi Jia When reading a modern day travelblog, it is not uncommon to read about the administrative hassle that one encounters when travelling. Anecdotes about complicated processes…
“It belongs in a museum”… or does it?
By Cecilia Palombo and Birte Kristiansen Imagine you are a graduate student who just heard about some fascinating document kept in a private collection. Thanks to the right introduction, and after gently pulling some strings, you are welcome to study…
The continuum approach: Multiple legal solutions to run a diverse empire
This essay first appeared as part of the Islamic Law Blog’s Roundtable on Islamic Legal History & Historiography By Petra Sijpesteijn Two developments in the field of Islamic history are making it possible for us to look at Islamic law…
My favourite medieval things, part III
We continue our material objects blog with a third and final episode. So far, we have encountered a gravestone, a bone document, a cloak and a plaque with an inscription. All those objects showed multiple cultural influences creating layers of historical meaning. The objects discussed below similarly emphasise that divisions between cultures, or religious and social groups, are never clearcut. Ideas…
My Favourite Medieval Things, part II
Here we continue our series on curious medieval objects that attracted our attention and that we enjoy using for teaching. This time inscriptions are central. Again if we look at these texts within their material context they offer ever richer…
My Favourite Medieval Things, part I
A while ago one of our team members, Ed Hayes, asked us an interesting question concerning material culture from the medieval Middle East. In order to prepare a lecture for undergraduate students, he wanted us to come up with our…