Nomadic Incursions
	• By the mid-10th century breakaway former provinces began to challenge Abbasid rule. • The Buyids of Persia captured Baghdad in 945. • The caliphs henceforth became powerless puppets controlled by sultans, the actual rulers. • The Seljuk Turks defeated the Buyids in 1055 and ruled the remnants of the Abbasid empire for two centuries.