, three families of the Banū Hamdān whose tribal rule over Ṣanʿāʾ and its dependencies extended from 481-570/1088-1175. Throughout Yemen’s long history of political anarchy, the large and powerful tribe of Hamdān [q.v.], many of whose members were S̲h̲īʿī, either of the Zaydī or Ismāʿīlī sect, often imposed their rule over Ṣanʿāʾ and its environs whenever there was a decline of a larger dynastic state. Such was the case with the weakening of the Ṣulayḥid [q.v.] dynasty, whose members were of a sub-tribe of the Hamdān, towards the end of the 5th/11th century.
Upon the transfer of the cap…