A Culmination in Traditionalism 149 SHUHDA AL-KATIBA (48Z-574/1089-II78) Political and religious turmoil in Baghdad framed the endeavors of Shuhda al-Katiba, the first case study. The Seljuq conquest (447/1055), which vanquished the Shi‘1 Buyid dynasty, was at best a qualified victory for the Sunni ‘Abbasid caliphate and the inhabitants of this city. The Seljuqs were ideologically and economically invested in Sunnism. Yet their ostensible patronage and loyalty to the ‘Abbasid caliphate did little to mask their aspirations for political and military dominance, and their very presence bespoke caliphal impotence. Unlike Nishapur, which the ‘Abbasid caliph could hope to control only through dynasties loyal to him, Baghdad was the heart of Sunn! caliphal authority and as such became the arena for the fiercest political struggles. 1 11 The seven caliphs who ruled during Shuhda’s life struggled to reestablish ‘Abbasid control in the capital and its environs. Several of them, including al-Muqtadl (r. 467-87/1075-94) and al-Mustazhir (r. 487-512/1094-1118), were generally ineffective in channeling Seljuq rivalries and politics to their advantage. Others, such as al-Muqtafi (r. 530-55/1136-60) and al-Mustanjid (r. 555-66/1160-70), more successfully asserted political and military control.1 Al-Muqtafi, for example, exploited Seljuq infighting and extended his control over Wasit and Hilla. Al-Mustanjid continued to carve out autonomous territory for the ‘Abbasids, though his efforts and achievements waned toward the end of his reign. The inhabitants of Baghdad were vulnerable during these struggles for political and military dominance. Seljuq efforts to regain areas claimed by the caliph necessitated garrisoning Turkish troops, who settled awkwardly in the predominantly Arab urban quarters of Baghdad. Their presence 1 Biographical notices for her can be found in the following works: al-Dhahabl, Siyar, 20:542-43; Ibn al-jawzl, al-Muntazam , 17:254; al-Safadl, al-Wafi , 16:111—12; and Kahhala, A ‘lam al-Nisa ’, 2:309-12. 10 For an analysis of elite women’s roles in these political struggles, see Eric Hanne, “Women, Power, and the Eleventh and Twelfth Century Abbasid Court,” Hawwa 3, no. 1 (2005): 80-110. 11 The seven caliphs are as follows: al-Muqtadl (r. 467-87/1075-94); al-Mustazhir (r. 487-512/ 1094-1118); al-Mustarshid (r. 512-29/1118-35); al-Rashid (r. 529-30/1135-36); alMuqtafi (r. 530-55/1136-60); al-Mustanjid (r. 555-66/1160-70); and al-Mustadl’ bi-Amr Allah (r. 566-75/1170-80). Summaries of the lives of each of these caliphs are available in El2. Ibn al-jawzl’s Muntazam also chronicles the major events marking their reigns and describes the struggles for power between the caliphs and the Seljuq sultans. Eric Hanne, in Putting the Caliph in His Place (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2007), analyzes the power struggles marking the late ‘Abbasid caliphate in the fifth/eleventh and sixth/twelfth centuries from the perspective of the caliphs themselves.