Putting the Caliph in His Place

"During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Abbasids were just one of a number of regional powers vying for supremacy and influencing the actions of others. By analyzing the roles played by these caliphs in terms of the institution they represented, the households that they headed, and the personal relationships with regional powers they fostered, we are forced to revisit our understanding of both the institution of the medieval Caliphate, as well as how power and authority were manifested in medieval Islam."--BOOK JACKET.