Medieval Islam

Medieval Islam

berkey context period IV

Going into this period (Berkey begrudgingly calls it Medieval), political Islam was fractured, with no great empires to speak of. The Fatimids and Buyids were the main powers, with the Buyids being defeated by the Seljuks early on in 5th century AH/11th century CE. One of the commonalities in medieval Islamic societies was widespread violence and death. The plague, crusades, and Mongol invasions were all well-documented events of great proportions, impacting the art and architecture of the time as a result. With architecture especially, what we can see today is limited by these events. Cairo lives on as a relic of the middle period, while cities like Baghdad did not survive Mongol sacking with much of their original character. Similarly impactful on the arts of the time was the reemergence/popularization of Islamic mysticism (Sufism).

Jonathan Berkey

Jonathan Berkey, The Formation of Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Cambridge University Press

2003

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English

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