Buyid dynasty controls Baghdad

1000

The Shia Buyid emirs from the Caspian highlands held the Abbasid caliph as a virtual prisoner in his own palace, ruling Iraq and western Persia through a network of military governors. The caliph issued decrees; the Buyids collected taxes. Their fragile hegemony was already under pressure from Turkic mercenaries whose ambitions would soon sweep the Buyids from power entirely.