372 Idrisid dynasty
al-Mushtaq Fi’khtiraq al-Afaq of al-’Sharif al-Idrisi(Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1960); G. Oman, “Al-Idrı ̄sı ̄,” Encyclopedia of
Islam3.1032–35.
Idrisid dynasty(Adarisa, Hasanids) They were the
dynasty who reigned from 789 to 925/926 over the west-
ern al-MAGHRIBor MOROCCO. The founder, Idris I (r.
789–793), was a descendant of ALI, who had fled ABBASID
persecutions. He was subsequently nominated as an IMAM
by the BERBERSin the region of Volubili. The Idrisids
introduced SHIISMto northwestern Africa. They founded
the city of FEZ and peopled it with al-Qayrawani and
Andalusian scholars, thus making it a great new center of
Islamic learning. After several dynastic quarrels, their
control slowly collapsed, and the region became a bone of
contention between the more powerful FATIMIDS of
Ifriqiya and the UMAYYADSof SPAIN. After Fez fell in 926,
various branches of the dynasty retained power in outly-
ing areas of Morocco until 1974.
Further reading:C. E. Bosworth, The Islamic Dynas-
ties (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1967),
20–21; Michael Brett and Werner Forman, The Moors:
Islam in the West(London: Orbis Publishing, 1980); D.
Eustache, “Idrisids (Adarisa),” Encyclopedia of Islam
3.1035–1037.
Ifriqiya SeeAL-MAGHRIB.
Igor (Ingvar)(ca. 877–945)grand prince of Kiev, leader
of expeditions against Constantinople
Igor was born in 877, probably the son of RURIKof NOV-
GOROD. He succeeded OLEGas prince in 912. In its first
attack against CONSTANTINOPLE, the RUS ́ fleet was
destroyed by GREEK FIRE. His second attack in 945 was
met on the Danube with proposals for a new but less
advantageous commercial treaty, to which he agreed. He
had a reputation for greed and military failure. Igor met
his death in 945 at the hands of Slavic tribesmen while he
was trying to raise their tribute. After scalding to death
the murderers of her husband, Igor’s widow, Saint Olga
(d. 969), ruled Kiev as regent between 945 and 961 dur-
ing the minority of their son, Sviatoslav (r. 962–971/972).
Further reading:George Vernadsky, The Origins of
Russia(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959); George Vernad-
sky, Kievan Russia(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1948).
Il-Khanids(Ilkhans) This was the MONGOLdynasty
established by HULEGUin the 1260s. The great khan of
Persia, Mïngko, sent his brother, Hulego, to establish or
recover and consolidate Mongol conquests in western
Asia, after Jenghiz Khan’s death in 1227, as much of the
control of the Islamic world south of the Oxus River had
subsequently revolted against Mongol control. Hulegu
defeated the ISMAILISand ASSASSINSin northern Persia in
1256 and routed a caliphal army in IRAQ. He then mur-
dered the last ABBASIDof BAGHDAD, al-Mustazim, in 1258.
His army advanced into SYRIAwithout him, where the
Mongols were defeated by the MAMLUKSof EGYPTat the
Battle of AYN-JALUTin PALESTINEin 1260. Nevertheless,
Hulegu became ruler on behalf of the great khan of all
the regions of Persia, Iraq, the Caucasus, and eastern
ANATOLIA and assumed the title of il-khan, remaining
subject or subordinate to his brother.THE KINGDOM CONSTITUTED
The Il-Khanid kingdom was now in place, but had many
enemies, still including the Mamluks. The surrounding
Mongol khanates to the north were hostile because of dis-
puted territories in the Caucasus mountains and north-
eastern IRAN. The Il-Khanids tried half-heartedly to form
anti-Muslim alliances with European Christian powers,
remnants of the crusader states, and the Armenians in
Cilicia. Hulegu’s wife was a Nestorian Christian, so the
early Il-Khanids were somewhat favorably inclined to
Christianity and Buddhism.
The Il-Khanids held power against all these external
foes without much help from the Christians. After Kublai
Khan’s death in 1294, their links with the great khans in
eastern Asia were slight. The cultural and religious pres-
sures of Persian and Islamic culture led to the conversion
to ISLAMof Ghazan Khan (r. 1295–1304). Abu-Said (r.
1317–35) was the last great Il-Khanid. He made peace
with the Mamluks in 1323 and thus ended the fighting
over Syria, but his kingdom was still wracked by internal
strife and he died without a legitimate heir. The years
after his death were accordingly filled with a succession
of ephemeral khans, until finally the Il-Khanid Empire
was replaced by local dynasties in the mid-14th century.LEGACY
Despite frequent warfare and internal conflict, the Il-
Khanid period was prosperous for Persia. With the con-
version of the Ghazan, a reconciliation commenced
between the Mongol-ruling class and their Persian and
Muslim subjects. The Il-Khanid capitals of Tabriz and
Maragha were great centers of learning and artistic
accomplishment. The connections of the Mongols with
such differing cultures as those of Christian Europe and
China drew new intellectual, commercial, and artistic
influences into Persia. The Il-Khanid kingdom was for a
while at the center of TRADEbetween the east and India
and the Mediterranean.
Further reading: Rashid al-Din, The Successors of
Genghis Khan,trans. John A. Boyle (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1971); Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The
Islamic Dynasties (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 1967), 149–51; Bertold Spuler and Richard Etting-
hausen, “Ilkhans,” Encyclopedia of Islam 3.1120–1127;
Linda Komaroff and Stephen Carboni, eds., The Legacy of