Cultural Aspects of Baghdad in the Late Islamic Era 656-914 AH / 1258-1508 AD

Abstract

This study focuses on the cultural aspects of the city of Baghdad during the historical period following the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate with the Mongol occupation of Baghdad in 656 AH / 1258 AD until the collapse of the Aq Qoyunlu state in 914 AH / 1508 AD, during which the Mongol Ilkhanate, Jalayirid, Kara Qoyunlu, and Aq Qoyunlu successively ruled the city.

These four political entities dealt with Baghdad as occupying states, and none of their rulers left significant cultural traces, with the exception of Ala al-Din al-Juwayni, who ruled Baghdad from 657 AH/1259 AD to 680 AH/1282 AD, and who is credited with many of the urban projects he established in Baghdad. The same applies to the ruler of Baghdad during the Jalayirid era, Khawaja Marjan al-Tawashi, to whom the Marjan Khan, the Marjaniya School, and the Dar al-Shifa are attributed, as is the Qalandarkhane Khan attributed to Sultan Ahmed al-Jalayiri. During the reign of these rulers, many schools were also built, some of which, the least of which are attributed to them, while the majority were established through the efforts of many of Baghdad’s notables. These schools contributed to some extent to revitalizing the cultural movement in the city, and their role ended during the reign of Quwwat Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu, so no cultural or urban trace of Baghdad is known to be attributed to them. The crimes of its rulers against the people of Baghdad temporarily deprived its people of the ability to give culturally, only to resume their giving in later eras.