Baghdad (Late Abbasid Period)

Type Object Region Iraq Time 1180–1258

In the late 12th century Baghdad was in the late period of the Abbasid caliphate, experiencing a revival of political and religious symbolism under C…

Timeline

1180–1189Baghdad · MesopotamiaCaliph al-Nasir sought to restore Abbasid religious authority, integrating networks of Sufis and orthodox scholars, and regained for Baghdad a symbolic centrality within the fragmented Islamic political landscape.
1190–1195Baghdad · MesopotamiaDuring the Third Crusade, Baghdad as the caliphal seat nominally rallied religious calls for jihad in the Levant and maintained a ceremonial alliance with the Ayyubid sultan Saladin, though actual military decisions were still directed from Damascus and Cairo.
1196–1200Baghdad · MesopotamiaIn the late 1190s Baghdad still maintained markets, madrasas, and workshops of considerable scale, continuing its tradition as a metropolis of Mesopotamia amid the relatively diminished urban scale of the late Abbasid period, laying the groundwork for further political reorganization in the early 13th century.

Sources

When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty — Hugh Kennedy (2004)
The Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 1A — P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis (1970)