The examples of political advice contained in this anthology, written across terrain that stretched from Egypt to Central Asia, date from the first half of the tenth century to the first half of the twelfth century (roughly, the Islamic Early Middle Period). The mirror-writers were both formed by and responded to the conditions in which they lived. This second chapter presents an overview of political and intellectual developments in western Asia in the Early Middle Period. It begins with a general, thematic discussion of the processes of historical change taking place in the region in the tenth to twelfth centuries, and proceeds to offer a narrative history of the major polities of the period (Samanids, Karakhanids, Buyids, Ghaznavids, Seljuks, Fatimids). It locates each mirror and mirror-writer within their specific contexts and points to interconnections among them across this historical-geographical canvas.

This concluding chapter summarizes the main thesis of the book, recapping the rise, consolidation, decay, and ultimate fall of the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties, pointing to the weak processes of instiotutionalization in both dynasties and their inability to forge meaningful ties with social classes that would enable them to survive political crises.

With few exceptions, the rule of Italian princes was based on dominance over one or more cities and their territories. For all Italian princes, the legitimacy of their position and rule was founded on the validation of others. Princes might claim a right to rule by conquest or inheritance, they might claim that their authority came from God, but they could still feel the need for explicit validation from the people, the pope or the Emperor, none of which could be taken for granted. Some families or individuals achieved a position of such pre-eminence in their cities that they could be regarded and treated as being virtually signori, although no special office or title was bestowed on them. In practice, the authority, power and connections binding princes and subjects were based on negotiations, reciprocal understandings and undertakings, contracts even.