ABSTRACT

An account of the re-emergence of Persia as a world player and the reassertion of its cultural, political and spiritual links with Turkic Lands, this book opposes the way in which, for too long, the whole period of Mongol domination of Iran has been viewed from a negative standpoint. Though arguably the initial irruption of the Mongols brought little comfort to those in its path, this is not the case with the second 'invasion' of the Chinggisids. This study demonstrates that Hülegü Khan was welcomed as a king and a saviour after the depredations of his predecessors, rather than as a conqueror, and that the initial decades of his dynasty's rule were characterised by a renaissance in the cultural life of the Iranian plateau.

chapter 1|14 pages

THE SOURCES

chapter 3|10 pages

BAGHDAD AND ITS AFTERMATH

chapter 4|58 pages

THE UNEASY BORDERS

chapter 5|81 pages

THE PROVINCES

chapter 6|36 pages

The Juwayn¥s

chapter 7|13 pages

KhwÇja Na‚¥r al-D¥n ˝s¥

chapter 8|29 pages

Poets, Sufis and Qalandars

chapter 9|7 pages

RETURN OF A KING