The breaking of a thousand swords: A history of the Turkish community of S amarr a (218-264 A.H./833-877 C.E.)

This thesis treats the history of the Turkish community that inhabited the 'Abbasid capital of Samarra in the third/ninth century. Samarra replaced Baghdad as the caliphal capital from approximately 221/835-836 to 279/892-893. The Turkish community of Samarra has long been seen by scholars of Islamic history to have been made up primarily of slave soldiers (often referred to as mamluks), that is, individuals captured in the regions of Central Asia neighboring the Islamic empire and trained to serve in elite regiments. This process, in turn, is linked to the institution of the slave military which, it is argued, was a key aspect of the socio-political history of the Islamic world until the pre-modern period. One of several arguments advanced in this study is that while historians have acknowledged the role of the Turkish soldiers in the history of the third/ninth century caliphate, they have emphasized the long-range history of the slave military institution, and, as a result, generally have glossed over the historical experience of the Samarran Turks. This thesis treats the history of the Samarran Turks using three approaches, each contained in a separate chapter.;The first chapter contains a narrative account of the history of the Turkish community from its origins to its apparent decline shortly before the departure of the 'Abbasid court from Samarra. The second chapter looks at the biographies of seven Turkish families whose members rose to positions of prominence. These were the families of Ashnas, Wasif, Itakh, Bugha the Elder, Bugha the Younger, Khaqan 'Urtuj and Tulun. The third and final chapter considers a series of questions related to the history of the Turkish community. A key argument presented in the final chapter concerns the composition of the community. In contrast with a prevailing view that the status and activity of the Samarran Turks was largely uniform, the argument is made here that the Turkish community was composed of three distinct groups, each with its own historical experience under the third/ninth century caliphs.