Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and figures
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1
- Map 2
- Map 3
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I LATE ANTIQUE ARABIA AND EARLY ISLAM (c. 550–c. 660)
- PART II THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE (c. 660–750)
- PART III THE EARLY ABBASID CALIPHATE (c. 750–809)
- PART IV THE MIDDLE ABBASID CALIPHATE (809–865)
- INTRODUCTION
- 13 FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO SAMARRA (809–847)
- 14 CALIPHATE OF AL-MUTAWAKKIL (847–861)
- 15 THE OUTBREAK OF THE SECOND NINTH-CENTURY CIVIL WAR (861–865)
- 16 ABBASID DOCUMENTS FOR CALIPHAL ACCESSION
- CONCLUSION
- Genealogical table of Quraysh
- Genealogical table of the Abbasid caliphs
- Bibliography
- Index
15 - THE OUTBREAK OF THE SECOND NINTH-CENTURY CIVIL WAR (861–865)
from PART IV - THE MIDDLE ABBASID CALIPHATE (809–865)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and figures
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1
- Map 2
- Map 3
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I LATE ANTIQUE ARABIA AND EARLY ISLAM (c. 550–c. 660)
- PART II THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE (c. 660–750)
- PART III THE EARLY ABBASID CALIPHATE (c. 750–809)
- PART IV THE MIDDLE ABBASID CALIPHATE (809–865)
- INTRODUCTION
- 13 FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO SAMARRA (809–847)
- 14 CALIPHATE OF AL-MUTAWAKKIL (847–861)
- 15 THE OUTBREAK OF THE SECOND NINTH-CENTURY CIVIL WAR (861–865)
- 16 ABBASID DOCUMENTS FOR CALIPHAL ACCESSION
- CONCLUSION
- Genealogical table of Quraysh
- Genealogical table of the Abbasid caliphs
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
THE ACCESSION OF Al-MUNTAṢIR (R. 11 DECEMBER 861 – 7 JUNE 862)
On the assassination of al-Mutawakkil, al-MuntaṢir's entourage was swift to assert his right to the caliphate and to secure the pledges of the leading notables at Samarra and al-Mutawakkiliyya. Once again, al-Yacqūbī provides a concise account, and al-Ṭabarī a much fuller one.
According to al-Yacqūbī:
The pledge of allegiance was taken to Muḥammad al-Muntaṣir b. Jacfar al-Mutawakkil … on the night on which his father was killed, which was 4 Shawwāl 247 (11 December 861) … He summoned his two brothers cAbd Allāh al-Muctazz bi'llāh1 and Ibrāhīm al-Muɔayyad. He took the pledge of allegiance from them, and from all of the courtiers who were present, rode to the Public Audience Hall (Dār al-cĀmma), and gave the army (al-jund) 10 months' stipends and returned from al-Jacfariyya to Samarra, ordering the destruction of those palaces and the transfer of the courtiers from them.
Al-Ṭabarī's account of events is composed of six reports; two are anonymous and four are on the authority of various courtiers. As one might expect of reports of a coup, they are slightly contradictory. However, despite what appear to be attempts to conceal motives or the extent of involvement, they do present a coherent picture of events, which accords with al-Yacqūbī's summary and which can be mapped onto the plan of the imperial capital.
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- Rituals of Islamic MonarchyAccession and Succession in the First Muslim Empire, pp. 283 - 293Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2009