Editing Al-Mu'tasim (section)

=== Foundation of Samarra ===
[[File:Abbasid Samarra Map.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|alt=Topographic map showing the course of the Tigris river in blue and the settled areas of the city in orange, with their names|Map of [[Abbasid Samarra]]]]
The Turkish army was at first quartered in Baghdad, but quickly came into conflict with the remnants of the old Abbasid establishment in the city and the city's populace. The latter resented their loss of influence and career opportunities to the foreign troops, who were furthermore often undisciplined and violent, spoke no Arabic, and were either recent converts to Islam or still pagans. Violent episodes between the populace and the Turks thus became common.{{sfn|Kennedy|2006|pp=218–219}}

This was a major factor in al-Mu'tasim's decision in 836 to found a new capital at [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]], some {{convert|80|mi|km}} north of Baghdad, but there were other considerations in play. Founding a new capital was a public statement of the establishment of a new regime. According to Tayeb El-Hibri it allowed the court to exist "at a distance from the populace of Baghdad and protected by a new guard of foreign troops, and amid a new royal culture revolving around sprawling palatial grounds, public spectacle and a seemingly ceaseless quest for leisurely indulgence", an arrangement compared by [[Oleg Grabar]] to the relationship between [[Paris]] and [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]] after [[Louis XIV]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=163}}{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|pp=296–297}} By creating a new city in a previously uninhabited area, al-Mu'tasim could reward his followers with land and commercial opportunities without cost to himself and free from any constraints, unlike Baghdad with its established interest groups and high property prices. In fact, the sale of land seems to have produced considerable profit for the treasury—in the words of Kennedy, "a sort of gigantic property speculation in which both government and its followers could expect to benefit".{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=163}}

Space and life in the new capital were strictly regimented: residential areas were separated from the markets, and the military was given its own cantonments, separated from the ordinary populace and each the home of a specific ethnic contingent of the army (such as the Turks or the [[Maghariba (Abbasid troops)|Maghariba]] regiment). The city was dominated by its mosques (most famous among which is the [[Great Mosque of Samarra]] built by Caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] in 848–852) and palaces, built in grand style by both the caliphs and their senior commanders, who were given extensive properties to develop.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=163}}{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|pp=297–298}} Unlike Baghdad, the new capital was an entirely artificial creation. Poorly sited in terms of water supply and river communications, its existence was determined solely by the presence of the caliphal court, and when the capital returned to Baghdad, sixty years later, Samarra was rapidly abandoned.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|pp=163–164}} Due to this, the ruins of the Abbasid capital are still extant, and the city can be mapped with great accuracy by modern archaeologists.{{sfn|Kennedy|2006|pp=219–220}}