Transformation
The Middle Islamic Period: Social, Economic and Cultural Transformations in Syria and Northern Mesopotamia
The Scope of Research
Damascus, Bimaristan an-Nuri built 1154 CE (photo SH)
The transformation from the Early Islamic period to the Middle Islamic era during the 12th to 13th centuries is one of the most significant watersheds in world history. This multidisciplinary project looks at the economic, political and social reasons for this transformation and how these affected cityscapes and the material culture. In turn material culture and cityscapes can be read as sources, as documents, for this change.
While developments that began already in Late Antiquity culminated in many respects in the early Islamic period; the Middle Islamic period, however, had quite a different cultural, political and material outlook. For the first time the majority of the population in the Islamic realm was Muslim--with regional differences; cityscapes became islamisized, now being dominated by Islamic institutions and complexes; Islam in its theological, philosophical and cultural aspects became more self-centred yet cultural influences and economic exchanges with both China and the West increased dramatically by far. The old istitution of the waqf became a political and economic instrument to finance new public and semi-public institutions. In this time Islamic culture as we know it today was formed.
The middle decades of the 12th century saw the most dynamic developments in different areas within the society. Witnesses are the increasing literary productionin and the material culture: Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd initiated a vast building program transforming of the cities; the fundamental currency reforms occured all over Western Asia; new techniques of fritware, gold enamelled glass and inlaid metal were introduced; and urban historiography and legal literature blossomed.
The reasons for the transformation are poorly understood and rarely explored. The advent of the Saljūqs at the end of the 11th century had clearly laid the foundations for change, but the visible acceleration took only place two generations later.
My book "Die Renaissance der Städte (The Renaissance of the Cities)" (2002) explored the decline of the cities under nomad domination and the initial political and economic measures taken by the Saljūqs. The current research looks into the causes of the blossoming in Islamic Syria and Northern Mesopotamia in the middle decades of the 11th century that characterized the Middle Islamic period.
This project has benefitted from the generous support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) (2004-2008), the Institute for Advanced Study in Jerusalem (2006-2008), and the Aga-Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007-2008).
The different parts of my work on transformations in the Middle Islamic period are presented by the headings and associated publications can be downloaded.
A - Transformation of the cities
These are the result of the tremendous, dynamic social changes that involved urbanites, rural communities, and nomadic populations.
History and selfdefinition of medieval Islamic cities
Die Renaissance der Städte in Nordsyrien und Nordmesopotamien. Städtische Entwicklung und wirtschaftliche Bedingungen in ar-Raqqa und Harran von der Zeit der beduinischen Vorherrschaft bis zu den Seldschuken (Islamic History and Civilization. Studies and Texts 40), Leiden (Brill).- (The Renaissance of the Cities in Northern Syria and Northern Mesopotamia. Urban Development and Economic Conditions in al-Raqqa and Harran from the Time of the Bedouin Dominition until the Seljuqs).
Entwicklung und Selbstverständnis mittelalterlicher Städte in der Islamischen Welt (7.-15. Jahrhundert) (Development and Self-Definition of Medieval Cities in the Islamic World (7th-15th c.). In: Kurt-Ulrich Jaeschke - Christhard Schrenk (eds.): Was machte im Mittelalter zur Stadt? Selbstverständnis, Außensicht und Erscheinungsbilder mittelalterlicher Städte (Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte der Stadt Heilbronn 18), Heilbronn 2007, pp. 203-244.
Die Renaissance der Städte im Vorderen Orient zur Kreuzfahrerzeit (The Renaissance of the Cities in the Near East in the Period of the Crusades). In: Alfried Wieczorek - Mamoun Fansa - Harald Meller (eds.): Saladin und die Kreuzfahrer. Begleitband zur Sonderausstellung "Saladin und die Kreuzfahrer" im Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale), im Landesmuseum für Natur und Mensch Oldenburg und in den Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim (Publikation der Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Bd. 17 / Schriftenreihe des Landesmuseums für Natur und Mensch, Oldenburg, Heft 37), Mainz, pp. 14-29.
Citadels
The Citadel of al-Raqqa and Fortifications in the Middle Euphrates Area. In: Hugh Kennedy (ed.): Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria. From the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period (History of Warfare 35), Leiden 2006, pp. 122-150.
Die Zitadelle von ar-Rafiqa (The Citadel of al-Rafiqa). In: Verena Daiber - Andrea Becker (eds.): Raqqa III - Baudenkmäler und Paläste I, Mainz 2004, pp. 49-55; plate 14, 15.
Nomads and the sedentary state
Arab Nomads and Seljuq Military. In: Stefan Leder - Bernhard Streck (eds.): Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations (Nomaden und Sesshafte 2), Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 289-305. [revised article of 2004].
B - Financing the change: endowments and taxes
New or renewed taxes and an active endowment policy allowed the authorities to finance the military in order to maintain state authority and fight the jiha-d, while also supporting the renewal of the cities. To achieve these goals, the state encouraged agriculture, industry, and trade.
Endowments - Waqfs
The Transformation of Middle Eastern Cities in the 12th Century: Financing Urban Renewal. In: AKPIA@MIT. Studies In Architecture, History and Culture 2008 (online-publication).
Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities. The New Direction in Taxation and Waqf Policy in Mid-Twelfth-Century Syria and Northern Mesopotamia. In: Miriam Frenkel - Yaacov Lev (eds.): Charity in the Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes), Berlin, New York 2009, pp. 153-174.
Frömmigkeit und Wohltätigkeit für die städtische Erneuerung. Abgaben- und Stiftungspolitik in der Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts (Piety and Charity for the Urban Renaissance - Tax and Endowment Policy in the Middle of the 12th Century). In: Astrid Meier - Johannes Pahlitzsch - Lucian Reinfandt (eds.): Islamische Stiftungen zwischen juristischer Norm und sozialer Praxis (Stiftungsgeschichten 5), Berlin 2009, pp. 61-77.
Taxes
Financing the Tribute to the Kingdom of Jerusalem: An Urban Tax in Damascus. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 70 (2007), pp. 117-142.
C - Monetary systems
must always adjust to the prevailing economic, political and juridical conditions. Seen from another angle, their design and evolution reveal much about the societies that created them. While there is little text documentation for Levantine trade with Europe during the 12th century, coins demonstrate a flourishing bullion trade between Europe to the Near East.
Economic Growth and Currency in Ayyu-bid Palestine. In: Robert Hillenbrand - Sylvia Auld (eds.): Ayyu-bid Jerusalem: The Holy City in Context, 1187-1250, London 2009, pp. 276-300.
D - Transformation of material culture
This is evident in arts, artefacts, and architecture. The sudden change stimulated Terry Allen's hypothesis of the 'Classical Revival' and Yasser Tabbaa's ideologically charged interpretation of art as a 'Sunni revival'. My research in this topic examines the new blossoming and changes the material culture that accompanied the new economic and cultural developments.
Memories of the Past? 'Classical' or 'Sunni Revival' in Architecture and Art in Syria Between the Mediterranean and Iran in the 12th and 13th centuries Paper presented at the "International Symposium on The Islamic Civilization in the Mediterranean", December 1-4, 2010, Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus.
Die Bilderwelten auf den Münzen der Zangiden und Artukiden (The Imagery on Coins of the Zangids and Artukids). In: Almut von Gladiss (ed.): Die Dschazira - Kulturlandschaft zwischen Euphrat und Tigris (Veröffentlichungen des Museums für Islamische Kunst 5), Berlin 2006, pp. 96-113.