382 Ireland
used in the Middle Ages, Iraqmeans Mesopotamia or the
land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as a whole.
The frontier between the two regions was at the latitude
of the limit of palm cultivation. Iraq consists of the allu-
vial plains between the Tigris and Euphrates, whose
waters end in the marshes of the Shatt al-Arab and then
the Persian Gulf. From antiquity, Iraq has been an
extremely fertile region because of the restoring floods
carried down by the two rivers and complex IRRIGATION
systems to support a rich culture.
HISTORYIraq in the Middle Ages had a variable political history
and saw numerous dynasties. Mesopotamia had been
conquered by the Arabs at the victory of al-Qadisiyya in
637 over the SASSANIANor Persian armies. In 637/638 the
new conquerors founded a new town, AL-BASRA, near the
Persian Gulf and then in 639 established the town of al-
Kufa. The latter replaced Seleucia Ctesiphon as capital of
the province. Iraq was the scene of bloody encounters
between the fourth CALIPH,ALI, and his opponents. Ali
was assassinated at al-Kufa, and his son, AL-HUSAYN, was
killed in 680 at Karbala.
Under the UMAYYAD dynasty, the governors, the
most famous of whom was al-Hajjaj, had to quell several
rebellions, centered at least in part of Iraq. With the
accession of the ABBASIDS, Iraq became the central
province of the Muslim Empire. Their capital was
installed in the new town of BAGHDAD. Founded by
AL-MANSUR in 762, Baghdad was eclipsed as capital
of the empire only by Samarra, founded by al-Mutasim
(r. 833–842) between 836 and 872. Under the Abbasid
dynasty, Iraq enjoyed great economic and intellectual
prosperity. But it was also the scene of many conflicts,
such as the rising of the Alids, the revolts of the Zani,
and the periodic raids of the Qarmates. This political
instability culminated in the establishment of the regime
of the BUYIDemirs, SHIITEby confession, who governed
in place of the Abbasid caliphs from the mid-10th cen-
tury to 1055. Favored by SUNNIdiscontent, the SELJUK
Turks took power and restored Sunni ISLAMto religious
dominance. The MONGOLSinvaded Iraq and took Bagh-
dad in 1258, ending the by then shadowy Abbasid
caliphate. Iraq then went into a long period of decline
caught on the border between the OTTOMANTurks and
various and often more prosperous dynasties in control
of IRAN.
RELIGIONThe majority of the medieval inhabitants of Iraq were
Sunni, but the Shiite element was always extremely
important, especially in the south. There the two greatest
sanctuaries of Shiism were situated at al-Najaf and Kar-
bala. Its Christian population belonged to two churches.
Most were members of the NESTORIANChurch of the
East, whose patriarch resided at Baghdad. A minority
belonged to the Jacobite Church of ANTIOCH, whose pri-
mate resided at Takrit.
See alsoART AND ARCHITECTURE,ISLAMIC;ISLAMIC
CONQUESTS AND EARLY EMPIRE.
Further reading:Carole Hillenbrand, A Muslim Prin-
cipality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State(Leide:
Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1990);
Michael G. Morony, Iraq after the Muslim Conquest
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984); Tariq
Jawad Janabi, Studies in Mediaeval Iraqi Architecture
(Baghdad: Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Culture and
Information, State Organization of Antiquities and Her-
itage, 1982).Ireland Though mentioned in the first century C.E.
but never conquered by Rome, Ireland only emerged
from prehistory in the fifth century with the alleged
establishment of Christianity in 431 by Palladius (ca.
364–420/430), who had been sent by Pope Celestine I
(r. 422–443) as first bishop to the scattered Christian
communities already established there. A second fifth-
century missionary, PATRICK, has left little record in
contemporary written sources but has traditionally been
given credit for completing that conversion. Irish soci-
ety between about 600 and about 800, according
to texts and literary saga material, such as Táin Bó
Cuailnge,was dominated by five large provincial king-
doms, Ulster, Leinster, Connachta, Munster, and Mide,
with their centers at Emain Macha, Tara, Cruachu,
Emly, and Uisnech. This older structure was later
divided up into some 150 petty kingdoms, each separate
and autonomous with its own king. Severe plagues also
devastated the country before 800 and whole groups of
people simply vanished.KINGS AND VIKINGS
New dynasties such as the Uí Neill fought successfully to
dominate other rival groups. So from the midseventh
century, the concept of a high kingship began to take
hold. The following centuries of Irish history were domi-
nated by the efforts of successive local rulers to dominate
Ireland. VIKINGraids started in 795. Vikings settled in
particular around the new town of DUBLIN. By 1000 a
new dominant dynasty in Munster had arisen, under the
leadership of Brian Boru or Bóruma (r. 1002–14). Most of
the two centuries before the invasion of the Anglo-Nor-
mans were full of the almost constant clashes of rival
claimants to the high kingship. This ended in 1172, with
the invasion of HENRYII, king of England.THE ENGLISH ARRIVE
The English king HENRYII decided to take advantage of
these Irish civil wars to launch a conquest of the island.
He justified his intervention as an attempt to spread
Christianity, and particularly more orthodox Roman