The Great Seljuk Empire (The Edinburgh History of the Islamic Empires) - Softcover

Peacock, A. C. S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748638261 ISBN 13: 9780748638260

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2015

Synopsis

Received an honorable mention at the 2016 British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize

The Great Seljuk Empire was the Turkish state which dominated the Middle East and Central Asia in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This book surveys that period, which was one of exceptional importance, witnessing profound demographic, religious, political and social changes in the Islamic Middle East. The Turkish invasions played a role in provoking the Crusades, led to the collapse of Byzantine power in Anatolia and brought about the beginnings of Turkish settlement in what is now Turkey and Iran, permanently altering their ethnic and linguistic composition.

About this title

About the Author:

A.C.S.Peacock is Lecturer in Middle Eastern History at University of St Andrews. Previous publications include Early Seljuq History: a new interpretation (London, 2010) and as co-editor (with Sara Nur Yildiz) The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East (London, 2013).

Review:

'The Great Seljuk Empire is a truly impressive piece of scholarship that provides arguably the first full-length overview of Seljuk history in English and demonstrates Peacock's considerable experience in this area. It will also appeal to a broad audience. I am sure that students and non-specialists will find Peacock's engaging manner accessible, whilst appreciating the trouble he takes explaining key terms and concepts. For specialists, interested in the key thematic debates on this subject, this work provides new insights, but it also acts as a much-needed benchmark, drawing together the various studies produced thus far and reflecting upon their implications when considered as a corpus. In general, I am fully in agreement with Deborah Tor that this will rapidly become "a standard work in the field".' -- Nicholas Morton, Al-Masaq, Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean

'An elegantly and entertainingly written, painstakingly researched work that fills a glaring lacuna in the scholarly literature. Peacock's book is, quite simply, the first ever to cover the entire Seljuq period, and the only available comprehensive overview of this critical era. It will no doubt become a standard work in the field.' -- Professor Deborah G. Tor, University of Notre Dame

"Andrew Peacock is to be commended on the challenge undertaken. He has produced 'the first serious overall study of the Great Seljuk Empire which has ever existed'. Our reviewer was impressed by the fact that the book is 'very well and clearly organised' and written in a 'pleasing style which renders it remarkably accessible to the reader'. The book 'places strong emphasis on the nomadic background of the Seljuks, and on the continued importance of their relations with the nomadic Turks who they led as well as were often in conflict with. This is something which the sources, the majority of which were written by bureaucrats or clerics - and certainly not by the Seljuks themselves or other Turks - has tended to obscure'. In short, Andrew Peacock has produced 'a most remarkable book'." -- British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize

"This book is well written and the author provides an excellent overview of how the Seljuk empire probably looked and functioned." -- Willem Floor, Der Islam

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0748638261
• ISBN 13: 9780748638260
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 392