State Documents from the Medieval Islamicate World

The political states that existed in the premodern Islamicate world share a remarkable characteristic: their archives do not survive. As this limits our ability to examine consolidation of power, hierarchy, bureaucracy, legislation and taxation, their political systems often remain only partially understood. Recently, historians have advanced reinterpretations of what constitute 'archives' and 'original documents' and have called attention to state documents preserved in non-archival contexts. In view of these developments, this book highlights important original state documents which are preserved and currently researched and offers new perspectives on alternative sources, such as collections of model documents and state letters, which were traditionally used when sufficient original materials have not yet been recovered.Featuring chapters from specialists in pre-modern history across a range of geographical regions, this volume contains studies on distinctive features of state documents, including their palaeography and diplomatics, as well as historical analyses of administrative systems as they transpire from surviving documents. By bringing together articles on 8th- to 15th-century Islamicate Lands from Egypt to Afghanistan, the book takes a transregional and diachronic perspective to the study of states and their administrations in the medieval Islamicate world.