him visiting the public incognito. It is hard to know how much of a historical basis there is for most of those stories. It does lend, however, a magical air to the early culture of Baghdad.As noted above, Chinese artisans with knowledge of paper making are supposed to have been captured in 751. They were first put to work making paper in nearby Samarkand. By 794-795, the Wazir of Harun arRashid, Jafar al-Barmak, founded a paper mill in Baghbad. The relative cheapness and convenience of paper over the alternatives (parchment, papyrus, stone, clay, bone, shells, ostraca) transformed literate culture, with the drawback, however, that the medium, like papyrus, is less durable than parchment, let alone stone or ostraca. The technology was soon exported to Romania, where we get notable developments in the literate culture of the 9th century, such as the introduction of "miniscule" script and punctuation -- things that are often noted as features of the Carolingian "Renaissance" but certainly derive from the innovations apparent in Islam and Romania.Politically, the Abbasid era then becomes a story of fragmentation, as governors become autonomous and then rival powers arise. At first, only Spain escaped the Abbasid revolution.OMAYYAD AMIRS OF SPAIN'AbdurRah.man I756-788grandson of the CaliphHisham; escapes to Spain fromthe massacre of the OmayyadsHisham I788-799al-H.akam I799-822'AbdurRah.man II822-852Muh.ammad I852-886al-Mundhir886-888'Abdullah888-912Line continues with theOmayyad Caliphs, 912-1031After the Abbasid overthrow and massacre of the Omayyads, Spain was a place where their authority was never asserted. Instead, the Omayyad prince 'Abd-urRah.man, escaping the massacre, established himself and his line. Islam had little trouble in Spain these days. Charlemagne pushed the Omayyads back from the Pyrenees and established the Marches there that grew into later kingdoms, but he was defeated at Roncesvalles in 778 and the heart of Spain was little effected. Eventually, in response to the Fatimid Shi'ite Caliphate, the Spanish Omayyads proclaimed their own Caliphate.THE AGHLABID AMIRSOF TUNISIA, ALGERIA,& SICILYIbrahim I800-812'Adbullah I812-817Ziyadat Allah I817-838Invasion of Sicily, 827al-Aghlab838-841Muh.ammad I841-856Sack of Ostia & Rome, 846Ah.mad856-863Ziyadat Allah II863Muh.ammad II863-875Capture of Malta, 870Ibrahim II875-902Capture of Syracuse, 878'Abdullah II902-903Ziyadat Allah III903-909Conquest by the Fatimids, 909The Aghlabids were originally the faithful Abbasid governors of Tunisia and only gradually drifted out of central supervision and control. Their greatest independent project was the conquest of Sicily, 827-878, which remained in Islam until the arrival of the Normans.THE T.AHIRID AMIRS OF KHURASANT.ahir I821-822T.alh.a822-845T.ahir II845-862Muh.ammad862-873Occupied by S.affaridsThe T.ahirids were the faithful Abbasid governors of Khurasan, only beginning the process of drifting out of central control when the area was seized by the S.affarids. T.ahirids were also governors of Baghdad and Iraq under the Abbasids. For many years, Muh.ammad continued as the nominal governor of Khurasan while living in Iraq. His brother al-H.usayn briefly returned in 876.THE T.ULUNID AMIRS OF EGYPTAh.mad ibn T.ulun868-884Khumarawayh884-896Jaysh896Harun896-904Shayban904-905Recovered by AbbasidsEgypt first drifted out of Abbasid control under its originally faithful T.ulunid governors, while the Caliphate was distracted by the Zanj Rebellion (869-883). Ah.mad built one of the oldest monuments in Cairo (at the time still called Fust.at.), the Ibn T.ulun Mosque. The dynasty fell victim to the brief revival of Abbasid power at the beginning