It is plain that the vizier became as important as the caliph. But Abu 'l-Abbas was fortunate in early securing as his vizier the grandfather of the house of the Barmecides (q.v.). On this Persian family the fortunes of the Abbasids hung, and it secured for them and for Islam a short golden age, like that of the Antonines, until the jealous madness of Harun al-Rashid cast them down. Thereafter the vizierate had many vicissitudes. Technically a vizier could be either limited or unlimited. The limited vizier had no initiative; he carried out the commands of the caliph. The unlimited vizier, often afterwards called the grand vizier, exercised full authority and was the _alter ego_ of the caliph, to whom he was required only to report. Naturally the formal distinction is a later theorizing of history; for a weak ruler his vizier became absolute, for a strong ruler his vizier remained subordinate. Here, as with regard to all Moslem institutions, a marked distinction must be made between the historic facts and the speculative edifices raised by constitutional theorizers. Compare especially MAHOMMEDAN LAW. Until the time of Radi (934-940) the vizierate thus fluctuated in importance. In that caliphate the vizier lost all authority, and in his place came the _amir al-omara_--equivalent to the _major domus_ of the Franks--the head of the Turkish bodyguard, in terror of whom the caliph now stood. When in 945 the Buyids captured Bagdad and the caliph became a purely spiritual sovereign, they took the title "vizier" for their own chief minister, and the caliphs retained only a secretary (see CALIPHATE, C. § 22). Under the Seljuks, however, they regained their viziers and some real authority. Elsewhere, also the vizierate had its vicissitudes. Under the Mamelukes the vizier fell to be merely the court purveyor. Under the Omayyads of Spain the title was given to several responsible officers of the state, but their chief was called _hajib_, chamberlain. Under the Almohades the chamberlain was called vizier. In the modern Turkish empire the grand vizier (called generally _sadr A`zam_) is the sultan's representative in secular matters, and nominally stands between the sovereign and all the other officials. He is the president of the council of ministers, but Abd-ul Hamid II. deprived the office of almost all its importance. Other Ministers.