Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction. From Baghdad to Marāgha, Tabriz, and Beyond: Tabriz and the Multi-Cephalous Cultural, Religious, and Intellectual Landscape of the 13th to 15th Century Nile-to-Oxus Region / Judith Pfeiffer -- Hülegü and His Wise Men: Topos or Reality? / Reuven Amitai -- ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla Simnānī’s Religious Encounters at the Mongol Court near Tabriz / Devin DeWeese -- “Tabrizis in Shiraz are Worth Less Than a Dog:” Saʿdī and Humām, a Lyrical Encounter / Domenico Ingenito -- Confessional Ambiguity vs. Confessional Polarization: Politics and the Negotiation of Religious Boundaries in the Ilkhanate / Judith Pfeiffer -- In Pursuit of Memoria and Salvation: Rashīd al-Dīn and His Rabʿ-i Rashīdī / Birgitt Hoffmann -- Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allāh al-Hamadhānī’s Manuscript Production Project in Tabriz Reconsidered / Nourane Ben Azzouna -- What Was the Purpose of Astronomy in Ījī’s Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī ʿilm al-kalām? / Robert Morrison -- New Light on Shams: The Islamic Side of Σὰμψ Πουχάρης / F. Jamil Ragep -- Civitas Thauris. The Significance of Tabriz in the Spatial Frameworks of Christian Merchants and Ecclesiastics in the 13th and 14th Centuries / Johannes Preiser-Kapeller -- “Rich in Goods and Abounding in Wealth:” The Ilkhanid and Post-Ilkhanid Ruling Elite and the Politics of Commercial Life at Tabriz, 1250–1400 / Patrick Wing -- Tabriz: International Entrepôt under the Mongols / Sheila S. Blair -- Tabrizi Woodcarvings in Timurid Iran / Joachim Gierlichs -- Imperial Aqquyunlu Construction of Religious Establishments in the Late Fifteenth Century Tabriz / Ertuğrul Ökten -- Index.

In Politics, Patronage and the Transmission of Knowledge in 13th – 15th Century Tabriz , an international group of specialists from different disciplines investigate the role of Tabriz as one of the foremost centres of learning, cultural productivity, and politics in post-Mongol Iran and the Middle East. While standard accounts of Islamicate history have long presented the 13th to 15th centuries as the bottom of the decline paradigm of old, the present volume demonstrates the vibrancy and originality of the intellectual and cultural production of this period by focusing on Tabriz among other capitals of the region. The volume particularly explores the transmission of knowledge and institutional and cultural patronage in the post-Mongol period. Contributors include Reuven Amitai , Nourane Ben Azzouna , Sheila Blair , Devin DeWeese , Joachim Gierlichs , Birgitt Hoffmann , Domenico Ingenito , Robert Morrison , Ertuğrul Ökten , Judith Pfeiffer , Johannes Preiser-Kapeller , F. Jamil Ragep , and Patrick Wing .