Rudi Matthee. Persia in Crisis: Safavid decline and the fall of Isfahan (2012)

Rudi Matthee. Persia in Crisis: Safavid decline and the fall of Isfahan. International Library of Iranian Studies, 17. London & New York: I.B. Tauris, 2012, XXXIX+371 p. ISBN 9781845117450

Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations … ix
Note on Transliteration … xi
Abbreviations … xiii
Acknowledgments … xv
Preface … xvii
Introduction … xxi

1. Patterns: Iran in the Late Safavid Period … 1
2. Politics at the Safavid Court, I: Shahs and Grand Viziers, 1629–1666 … 27
3. Safavid Politics, II: Shahs, Grand Viziers, and Eunuchs, 1666–1699 … 55
4. Monetary Policy and the Disappearing Mints, 1600–1700 … 75
5. From Perpetual War to Lasting Peace: Safavid Military Politics in the Seventeenth Century … 109
6. Weakening Links: The Center and the Provinces, 1600–1700 … 139
7. Religion in Late Safavid Iran: Shi`i Clerics and Minorities … 173
8. From Stability to Turmoil: The Final Decades, 1700–1722 … 197

Conclusion … 243
Glossary … 257
Notes … 259
Bibliography … 329
Index … 359

Note on Transliteration

The Arabic, Persian, and Russian transliteration used in this book follows the Library of Congress system without the diacritic marks. Exceptions are non-Roman place names such as Herat, Tehran, and Yerevan, terms such as jiz’ya and shari`a, which are spelled without the final h, and some originally Turkish words, such as bey, beglerbeg, and Shah-seven. Dates in the text are given according to the Common Era calendar, except when there is a compelling reason to give the
Islamic lunar or the Iranian solar hijri date as well.