come to lie with the elite Turkish troops, and with al-Mu'tamid's brother Abu Ahmad Talha, who, as the Caliphate's main military commander, served as the chief intermediary between the caliphal government and the Turks. When Caliph al-Mu'tazz died in 869, there was even popular agitation in Baghdad in favour of his elevation to Caliph. In contrast to his brother, al-Mu'tamid appears to have lacked any experience of, and involvement in, politics, as well as a power base he could rely on. At the time al-Muhtadi was killed by the Turks, Abu Ahmad was at Mecca. Immediately he hastened north to Samarra, where he and Musa ibn Bugha effectively sidelined al-Mu'tamid, and assumed control of the government. Al-Mu'tamid was thus quickly reduced to a figurehead ruler, which remained the case for the remainder of his reign. Within a short time, Abu Ahmad was conferred an extensive governorate covering most of the lands still under caliphal authority: western Arabia, southern Iraq with Baghdad, and Fars. To denote his authority, he assumed an honorific name in the style of the caliphs, al-Muwaffaq bi-Allah. As one of the few vestiges of actual power, al-Mu'tamid retained the right to appoint his own viziers, originally choosing the experienced Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan, who had already served al-Mutawakkil. During his caliphate, the Caliph retained some freedom of action, but after his death in 877, he was replaced by al-Muwaffaq's secretary, Sulayman ibn Wahb. Ibn Wahb was soon disgraced and replaced as vizier by Isma'il ibn Bulbul. Real power however lay again with al-Muwaffaq's new secretary, Sa'id ibn Makhlad, until his own disgrace and downfall in 885, after which Ibn Bulbul became the sole vizier to both al-Mu'tamid and al-Muwaffaq. On 20 July 875, al-Mu'tamid formally arranged for the governance of the state and his succession: his underage son Ja'far was given the honorific name al-Mufawwad ila-llah, was named heir-apparent and assigned the western half of the Caliphate—Ifriqiya, Egypt, Syria, the Jazira and Mosul, Armenia, Mihrajanqadhaq and Hulwan— while al-Muwaffaq received the eastern provinces and was named second heir, except for the event that the Caliph died while al-Mufawwad was still a minor. In practice, al-Mufawwad never exercised any real authority, and al-Muwaffaq continued to exercise control over the western provinces as well through his trusted lieutenant Musa ibn Bugha, who was named al-Mufawwad's deputy. Al-Muwaffaq's power was strengthened by the military threats the Caliphate faced