In Politics, Patronage and the Transmission of Knowledge in 13th – 15th Century Tabriz, an international group of specialists from different disciplines investigate the role of Tabriz as one of the foremost centres of learning, cultural productivity, and politics in post-Mongol Iran and the Middle East. While standard accounts of Islamicate history have long presented the 13th to 15th centuries as the bottom of the decline paradigm of old, the present volume demonstrates the vibrancy and originality of the intellectual and cultural production of this period by focusing on Tabriz among other capitals of the region. The volume particularly explores the transmission of knowledge and institutional and cultural patronage in the post-Mongol period.
Author(s): Judith Pfeiffer
Series: Iran Studies, Volume 8
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: xiv, 397
City: Leiden ; Boston
Tags: Politics and culture -- Iran -- Tabrīz -- History -- To 1500; Islam and culture -- Iran -- Tabrīz -- History -- To 1500; Knowledge, Theory of -- Iran -- Tabrīz -- History -- To 1500; Patronage, Political -- Iran -- Tabrīz -- History -- To 1500; Art patronage -- Iran -- Tabrīz -- History -- To 1500; Patronage, Ecclesiastical -- Iran -- Tabrīz -- History -- To 1500; Tabrīz (Iran) -- Intellectual life; Tabrīz (Iran) -- Politics and government; Tabrīz (Iran) -- Relations
List of Contributors vii
List of Illustrations xi
Introduction. From Baghdad to Marāgha, Tabriz, and Beyond: Tabriz and the Multi-Cephalous Cultural, Religious, and Intellectual Landscape of the 13th to 15th Century Nile-to-Oxus Region / Judith Pfeiffer 1
PART ONE
INTELLECTUALS, BUREAUCRATS AND POLITICS
Hülegü and His Wise Men: Topos or Reality? / Reuven Amitai 15
'Alā' al-Dawla Simnānī’s Religious Encounters at the Mongol Court near Tabriz / Devin DeWeese 35
“Tabrizis in Shiraz are Worth Less Than a Dog:” Sa'dī and Humām, a Lyrical Encounter / Domenico Ingenito 77
Confessional Ambiguity vs. Confessional Polarization: Politics and the Negotiation of Religious Boundaries in the Ilkhanate / Judith Pfeiffer 129
PART TWO
THE TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE
In Pursuit of Memoria and Salvation: Rashīd al-Dīn and His Rab'-i Rashīdī / Birgitt Hoffmann 171
Rashīd al-Dīn Fadl Allāh al-Hamadhānī’s Manuscript Production Project in Tabriz Reconsidered / Nourane Ben Azzouna 187
What Was the Purpose of Astronomy in Ījī’s Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī 'ilm al-kalām? / Robert Morrison 201
New Light on Shams: The Islamic Side of Σὰμψ Πουχάρης / F. Jamil Ragep 231
PART THREE
TABRIZ AND INTERREGIONAL NETWORKS
Civitas Thauris. The Significance of Tabriz in the Spatial Frameworks of Christian Merchants and Ecclesiastics in the 13th and 14th Centuries / Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 251
“Rich in Goods and Abounding in Wealth:” The Ilkhanid and Post-Ilkhanid Ruling Elite and the Politics of Commercial Life at Tabriz, 1250–1400 / Patrick Wing 301
Tabriz: International Entrepôt under the Mongols / Sheila S. Blair 321
Tabrizi Woodcarvings in Timurid Iran / Joachim Gierlichs 357
Imperial Aqquyunlu Construction of Religious Establishments in the Late Fifteenth Century Tabriz / Ertugrul Ökten 371
Index 387
