Maria E. Subtelny, PhD (1979) in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, is Professor of Persian and Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto. She has published extensively on the Timurids and on medieval Iranian and Central Asian cultural history. Her book Le monde est un jardin: Aspects de l’histoire culturelle de l’Iran médiéval (Paris, 2002) received the Saidi–Sirjani Book Award.

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSNOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND STYLEMAPS, TABLES, AND ILLUSTRATIONSINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER ONE. THE ROUTINIZATION OF CHARISMA: THE TIMURID PATRIMONIAL HOUSEHOLD STATE CHAPTER TWO. POLITICAL VAGABOND TO POTENTATE: THE CAREER OF SULṬĀN-ḤUSAIN BAYQARACHAPTER THREE. THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE: CENTRALIZING REFORMS AND THEIR OPPONENTS CHAPTER FOUR. THE SEARCH FOR LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS: KHORASAN AND THE AGRICULTURAL IMPERATIVECHAPTER FIVE. PIETY AND PRAGMATISM: THE ROLE OF THE ISLAMIC ENDOWMENTCHAPTER SIX. SAINTS AND SCRIBES: TIMURID SHRINES AS VEHICLES FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND AGROMANAGEMENT CONCLUSIONAPPENDIX ONE. SURVEY OF ENDOWMENT DEEDS FROM THE TIMURID PERIOD APPENDIX TWO. A TIMURID DEED OF ENDOWMENT: THE VAQFIYYA OF AFAQ BEGIM APPENDIX THREE. AN EDICT OF SULṬĀN-ABŪ SA‘ĪD CONCERNING COMPLETION OF THE GULISTĀN DAM AT MASHHADAPPENDIX FOUR. A DIPLOMA OF APPOINTMENT ISSUED BY SULṬĀN-ḤUSAIN FOR THE SUPERVISOR OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AT THE ‘ALID SHRINE AT BALKHAPPENDIX FIVE. BILLS OF PURCHASE AND SALE RELATING TO THE PRIVATIZATION OF STATE LAND IN THE BALKH REGION BY SULṬĀN-ḤUSAINFACSIMILE EDITIONBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX

"Thoroughly researched and elegantly presented, this volume offers valuable insights into questions that stand at the heart of medieval Islamic and Central Asian history."Ron Sela (Indiana University), Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 68:2 (2009)'Subtelny has produced a fine book, which draws on an extremely impressive range of sources, many of them still unpublished, and remains clear and admirably readable even wehn dealing with intractable matters like agronomy and fiscal management.'Peter Jackson, Keel University, Speculum July 2009.