The Kart Dynasty of Herat, Religion and Politics in Medieval Iran. From the Author’s Preface to the Translation: Herat played an important role in a border zone where Iranian, Turcic and Indian cultures converged. As Tajiks, the Karts ruling there helped preserve Persian culture and Islamic traditions at a time that the Mongol dynasty of the Il-Khans dominated the Iranian world. This was one of Iran’s greatest ages of regionalism and a crucial period of transition for political and religious institutions. The Karts’ achievement was that of a minor dynasty at a time of weak or nonexistent central government, but the social synthesis and artistic expression taking place at that time would find fuller expression in the Timurid state to follow. One of the least-studied eras of Iranian history is that between the invasion of Changiz Khan (Genghis Khan) in the early 13th century and the establishment of the Safavid Empire early in the 16th. This was a time of unprecedented political upheaval when much of the Iranian world became subject to rule by Mongols and Turks. The period between the collapse of the (Mongol) Il-Khan dynasty in 1335 and the consolidation of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane) in the 1380s was an age of regionalism par excellence and one of cultural florescence. The most important of the minor dynasties that flourished at this time were the Karts at Herat (1245-1389), the Muzaffarids in Fars, Iraq-i 'Ajam and Kirman (1314-93), the Jalayirids in Iraq, Kurdistan and Azarbaijan(1336-1432), and the Sarbidars at Sabzavar(1336-81). I was pleased to learn of the opening of the Baysunghur Research Institute in 1396/2017 in Herat. (It is named, of course, after the Timurid prince who played a major role as a statesman and a patron of art and architecture in this city.) In a few short years the Foundation has sponsored the publication and translation into Persian of a number of important publications relating to the history and literature of Herat. I am honored that my work is included in this group. I thank the Institute’s Director, Dr. Khalilullah Afzali, and the translator, Dr. Mohammad Afzali, for their enthusiasm for the project, and for the professional way in which the production was carried out. Although these are troubled days in Afghanistan, I trust that the Baysunghur Research Institute will persist and play a leading role in promoting scholarship on the region in the future. Lawrence G. Potter, Prof of Columbia University.