Timeline December 861

Events in December 861 3

• 822 – 861 Al-Mutawakkil (822-861) Died 11 December 861, aged 39 Al-Mutawakkil ruled the Abbasid Caliphate from 847 until his assassination, pursuing religious orthodoxy and reversing the Mihna persecution of traditionalist scholars while also ordering restrictions on Christians and Jews. He was killed by his own Turkic guards in a palace coup that his son al-Muntasir had helped orchestrate.
• 861 Assassination of Caliph al-Mutawakkil Abbasid caliph murdered by his own Turkic palace guard Caliph al-Mutawakkil was stabbed to death in his palace at Samarra on the night of 10-11 December 861 by Turkish soldiers of his guard, acting with the connivance of his son al-Muntasir. The killing opened the period later called the Anarchy at Samarra, a decade of caliphal weakness and military dominance over the Abbasid court.
• 861 Al-Muntasir proclaimed Abbasid caliph Succession following his father's assassination Al-Muntasir was proclaimed caliph in Samarra immediately after the murder of his father al-Mutawakkil, which he had helped arrange with the Turkic guard commanders. His brief reign, lasting less than a year, left real power in the hands of the Turkish military leaders who had killed his father.