Azerbaijan in the Early Middle Ages

As the control of the Arab Caliphate over the Caucasus region weakened, independent states began to emerge in the territory of Azerbaijan.

[7][3][8][9][10][11][12][13] A relative of the Sasanian king Shapur II (309-379), Urnayr came to power in Albania (343-371), and pursued a partially independent foreign policy.

This ended in the victory of the Sassanid army and as a result, Artsakh, Marlar (now Nakhichevan), Caspiana and other regions of Albania were returned.

[7][9][8][14] “Close by him [Šapur II] on the left went Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, a man of moderate strength, it is true, and with shrivelled limbs, but of a certain greatness of mind and distinguished by the glory of many victories.

After the fall of the Sassanid Empire by the Arab Caliphate in 651, Javanshir changed his policy and moved to Byzantine emperor's side in 654.

The first Christian church in South Caucasus was established in Caucasian Albania by St. Elishe in the village of Kish in the region of Uti, now Sheki district, in north-western Azerbaijan.

In the reign of king Urnayr, who was baptized by St. Gregory, Caucasian Albania officially adopted Christianity and it gradually spread.

[27][5][clarification needed] In 498 under the monarchy of Vachagan III, in the settlement named Aluen (Aghuen) (now the Agdam region of Azerbaijan), an Albanian church council convened to adopt laws further strengthening the position of Christianity in Albania.

The council produced me a twenty-one-paragraph codex formalizing and regulating the Church's structure, functions, relationship with the state, and legal status.

[6] Al-Walid sent a group of his men north across the river Aras under Salman ibn Rabiah, and to Nakjavan (Nakhchevan) under Habib b. Maslama.

Habib ended up with a treaty calling for tribute and jezya and kharaj taxes from the population of Nakjavan, while the army of Salman moved on Arran and captured Beylagan.

Salman continued his expedition to the left bank of the river Kura and concluded treaties with the governors of Gabala, Sheki, Shakashēn and Shirvan.

[5] Due to the outbreak of the First Muslim Civil War and priorities on other fronts, the Arabs refrained from another attack on the Khazars until the early 8th century.

Inspired by this success, the rebels marched on Barda, crushed the Arab garrison, and assassinated the local governor, Asim ibn Yazid.

Jizya was a financial charge on permanent non-Muslim subjects (dhimmis), kharaj a tax on agricultural land and its crops.

[6] At that time Barda, known as the "Mother of Arran" and the residence of the caliphate's rulers, was the largest place not only in Azerbaijan, but in the entire Caucasus.

[53][6] Local artisans made clothes, carpets, wooden utensils of khalandj (iron tree) for the interior and foreign markets of Nakhchivan.

[55][56][57][58] From 861 to 1538 the Islamic Shirvanshah dynasty ruled Shirvan and eventually the shores of the Caspian Sea from Derbent to the Kura River.

[60] From the late eighth century, Shirvan was under the rule of the Arab family of Yazid ibn Mazyad al-Shaybani (d. 801), who was named governor of the region by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid.

[60] Vladimir Minorsky, in his book titled "A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th–11th Centuries", distinguishes four dynasties of Shirvanshahs: According to al-Masudi, in 917, Russian merchants attacked Shirvan and the Caspian provinces from the Don River with 500 ships.

The Shirvan ruler Ali ibn Haysam lacked a fleet, so Russian merchants looted the area, and he was dethroned.

[59][60][58] In the 1080s, however, Fariburz, taking advantage of the weakening of his neighbors, also subject to Seljuk invasion, extended his power to Arran and appointed a governor in Ganja.

Muhammad's father Abu'l-SajDevdad had fought under the Ushrusanan prince AfshinKhaydar during the latter's final campaign against the rebel BabakKhorramdin in Azerbaijan, and later served the caliphs.

Thus, in the beginning of the tenth century the Sajid state included territories from Zanjan in the south to Derbent in the north, the Caspian Sea in the east, and the cities of Ani and Dabil in the west, covering most of the lands of modern Azerbaijan.

According to ibn Miskawaih, the local people broke the peace by throwing stones and other abuse at the Rus', who then demanded that the inhabitants evacuate the city.

This momentary weakness in the central government allowed the Rawadids and Shaddadids to take control of the areas to the northeast of Tabriz and Dvin, respectively.

According to Wilferd Madelung, in 968 Sallaryd İbrahim al Marzuban reaffirmed Sallarid authority over Shirvan and al-Bab (Darband).

The Ziyarid prince Kaykāvus b. Eskandar mentioned Abu’l-Aswār as “a great king” in his Qābus-nāma, written when he lived for several years in Ganja fighting against the Byzantines.

During Shavur's reign, the Shaddadids recognized the rule of the Seljuk sultan Togrul, who turned back Alan attacks from the north in 1063–1064, and maintained an allied relationship with the people of Tbilisi.

According to the anonymous Tariḵ Bab al-abwab, Alp Arslan appointed al-Bab and Arran as iqta to his slave Sav Tegin who seized these areas by force from Fażlun in 1075 and ended his reign.