this was going so well too, knock the Timurids about, beat up the Spanish, bit of a pity the heir dies in a hunting accident (was it just black sheep he was into?) and then ....
at least a number of the neighbours who might feast on the realm during a civil war have been weakened already
Don't worry. Mariam is one tough trooper.
Hah. The Burkha Emperor.
:rofl:
The thing you should do is use the male title. Poland had a female king, so I don't see why the Jalayirids can't have a female Caliph.
The problem is that I don't know what to put in the localization files for neither female nor male. Could you use some help here.
A woman with fabulous military skills. It is quite annoying that you can't have her become a military leader. But well, you have a Mariam d'Arc AND a cause, I see some good sinergy.
She will kick some arse later one. Let's just hope they don't burn her as a witch
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Caliph Mariam I’s Reign
Or
The Beginning of the ‘Rule of the Harem’
Truly, with the death of Caliph Hasan, the realm stood on the brink of annhilation. Foreign courts already started making contacts with the would-be pretenders, in an attempt to tame the Eastern Giant. Regional governors too, dreamt of marching to Baghdad and rewarding themselves with the spoils of the City of a Thousand and One Nights. None of them seemed to mind the late Caliph’s daughters. How wrong they were.
Mariam, shown here playing in a later painting. It was not only her willpower and deceit, but also her seductive powers and charisma that allowed the bint Hasan* sisters to reach power.
Khadija, the eldest and Mariam, as they shed their black mourning robes, prepared to seize power. Indeed, they had a monumental task ahead of them – it was truly a man’s world, to speak nothing of the highest office in a strictly Islamic state, the person who was held as divine will on Earth.
Neither of them had had what could be called an orthodox education. The Caliph had instructed them to be educated with the finest tutors, in the subjects of mathematics, philosophy, geography, literature and, of course, warfare. Mariam, while being mostly known for her conquests, was also a fluent speaker of Greek and Latin, and willfully patronized many leading artists and thinkers throughout her reign.
These teachings had given the sisters a taste of the world outside the palace, and they would not stand to have what they saw as their rightful heritage be partitioned between fat old men and mercenaries.
Thus, the period known as the ‘Rule of the Harem’ – a title given at a later date, in the derisive spirit of the zealous orthodoxy of Caliph Jafar II – began, one which occupied the latter part of the 15th century up to the mid 17th; it was a period of great economic growth and development of the arts, fueled by the Caliphate’s expansion and the rulers’ patronage. It is in this period that the Caliphate experienced its Golden Age. Also, due to the large amount of women in positions of power, there was a relaxation of Quranic law regarding the segragation and different rights enjoyed by men and women; this greatly vexed the Ulema.
In this period many burgeoning bazaars were established, thanks in no small part to the incentives given to trade and the privileges enjoyed by the merchant class.
The two sisters moved quickly, securing the support of the merchants – which had been instrumental in the elevation of their own father, and whose aid was to be duly rewarded. The cities were granted greater benefits, such as tax exemption on the copper trade. The great pillars of opposition, however, were firmly nestled in the countryside, in the Ulema and in the provincial governors.
To counteract these issues, a process of both centralization of power in the palace and of decentralization, with several functions once belonging solely to the Caliph – Hasan had sought to concentrate as much power as he could in his and and his loyal minister’s hands - being delegated to a growing bureaucracy, was begun. The provincial governors steadily began to be palace-appointed civil servants – which were in office temporarily – instead of the quasi-hereditary appointments of nobles to senior positions.
The great expansion of the number of offices at Court meant the creation of many new wings, courtyards, roof gardens and chambers in the palace during this period, such as this one; many of them represented the apogee of palatial architecture.
However these reforms, while increasing the Caliph’s hold overall on the provinces, also led to the creation and appointement of many new offices in the central government, which, on account of their power, were prone to nepotism and infighting – setting the stage for the complex palatial plots common later on - much more so as the 17th century dawned, with the apparent decline of the Caliphate. It is in this context of debauchery and disunity that Jafar II, a strong-willed monarch - much like Mariam - began his authoritarian yet necessary measures to curb the united forces of the harem, army, and a rebellious civil service.
Anyway, the sisters steadily began eliminating their opponents, through subterfuge – their skillful use of anonymous and deadly assassins has lead some even to claim they engineered the death of their father; a bold claim, although their quite machiavellian schemes are well-known - and direct use of force.
The so-called viceroy of Egypt was found dead on his palace garden on a warm Summer day, and the Mayor of Damascus, one Mehmed ibn Ahmad al-Misr famously said:
Let them come I say. If the two whores of Baghdad wish to destroy all that is holy, and claim the title of Caliph as if it was some profane trophy, for their own amusement and their lovers’, let them come. I ask… NO! I DEMAND they raise themselves from that brothel they call a city and correct me! The city of Damascus will never bow to these imposters, these public women!
The Caliph’s Guard arrived several days later, with the Caliphs in tow. He was taken from his quarters, and, with the town hall emptied, was left alone with Mariam, while Khadija set out to pacify any rebellious spirits in the city.
He resigned his position the same day, and became a monk, preaching the holiness of the two Caliphs. The city bowed.
Slowly, the country recovereed from the shock as the opposition was silenced and propaganda measures taken.
Massive propaganda campaigns began in this period to reinforce the legitimacy of Mariam's rule, on a scale comparable with those undertaken in the 19th century, who also used mostly images glorifiying a given subject, due to high levels of illiteracy in the populace.
Abroad, however, news were less than favourable. Other muslims – the christians merely laughed, and sent mock congratulations on the ascension of the so-called ‘Whores of Babylon’ - had more or less accepted Husan’s rule, on account of him mostly allowing them to continue their affairs with little interferance, but in no way were they going to accept the authority of two women. Thus, they, like the many courtiers who underestimated the power of the bint Hasan sisters, sealed their fate and paved the way for further expansion of the True Islamic Caliphate.
While the Ulema was still in uproar, the country steadily descended into peace, so Mariam executed her final move. She disposed of Khadija. In a palatial coup that has not yet been fully understood, Mariam arranged for her sister to be married to a prince from Brunei and whisked her off. A folk tale from the 19th century actually claims that Khadija fled her terrible sister to live happily with her new-found lover; some versions actually feature Mariam as a vile step-mother.
However, these moral judgements, improper of a history worth its salt, pale in the fact that Mariam was a strong monarch, who managed to unite a broken country behind her person – her iron-willed determination and role in world history were used as a model and argument during the Woman’s Suffrage movement in the Arab States.
Woman's Suffrage rally in Baghdad
It is with her that the Modern Age truly begins in the Middle East. With her we witness a sort of second founding of the Caliphate, one fully adapted to the circumstances of managing a vast, rich empire.*
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*meaning 'daughter of Hasan'.
*It is also around this time that all traces, as light as they were, of Mongol culture in the Caliphate truly disapear, with the large-scale patronage of arabic- and persian-style painting, literature, architecture, and so on.
In other news, this will be the only update you'll be getting for the next 2 weeks, since I will be at least 300 kilometeres away from my computer during that time. Still, I ask you to comment on anything you like (or don't like!). I'll be checking this out regularly.
Tune in next time to see half of Europe get its ass kicked by a girl.