) he
reproduces
for the most part at-Ta?
Arab-Historians-of-the-Crusades
It was to these uncivilized soldiers, who perfected the system of military feudalism introduced by the Seljuqids and continued by the Ayyubids, that Islam owed its deliverance both from the Mongol invasions (the victory at 'Ain Jalu?
t in 1260 saved Syria) and from the Crusaders.
The West could not maintain forever its artificial empire across the Mediterranean.
The Papacy had diverted the lofty religious impulse of the first Crusades to serve its own ends in the struggle for power in Europe, reducing the Cross to a mere symbol on a flag carried into battle against baptized Christians (in the Crusade against the Albigenses and the war against the Hohenstaufen).
Now it had to look on helplessly while Antioch, Tripoli and Acre fell one after the other and the Muslims finally regained control of Palestine.
The Templars' last stand in the Holy Land was also, unknown to them, a foretaste of the catastrophe that was to befall them in the West.
These two eventful centuries, which. brought the whole Christian world into conflict with Islam (although the Greek Church was the innocent victim of Western diplomatic errors) on territory that the Muslims had held for five hundred years, are faithfully recorded by Muslim historians of this and the succeeding era.
We have used the term 'Muslim' because many of the authors are not Arabic by birth, but 'Arabic' would be justifiable on the grounds of the language used (for the Persian historians and those few who had so far written in Turkish, add almost nothing to the history of the Crusades), or 'Arabo-Muslim' on the grounds of the spirit that inspired them, although the Arabic-speaking Christian historians of Egypt also had a part to play.
The Frankish invasions, by which the Muslims meant invasions by European Christians as opposed to the Byzantine Rumi, in spite of the havoc and loss of life that they caused,
Introduction xv
and the cost to Islam of the resistance that led up to the final victory, were never, for Muslim chroniclers, a single subject to be treated in isolation. Although of the greatest importance to them, as to the West, they were always incorporated into the customary literary forms, given their place in annals recording general history, or used in the writing of biographies of the Muslim individuals or dynasties who set themselves up as champions of the Faith. One would search Muslim historical writings in vain for a composite, specific History of the Wars against the Franks.
Such a work can be composed, however, by juxtaposing and interweaving material from the various types of historical writing of the period. First come the general histories of the Muslim world, like Ibn al-Athi? r's classic work, lesser-known annals by Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi and Ibn al-Fura? t and later compilations. Next come chronicles of cities and regions: Ibn al-Qala? nisi's of northern Syria and Kama? l ad-Din's of Mesopotamia, histories of regions and their dynasties like those of al-Maqrizi and Ibn Wasil and purely dynastic ones like Abu Shama's. Finally there are the biographies or records of the deeds of a certain person. Among these are the biographies of Saladin by 'Ima? d ad-Din and Baha? ' ad-Din and the official biographies of the first Mamlu? k Sultans by Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir. A unique work of the greatest historical and literary value is Usama's brilliant autobiography. The range of styles is wide: some works are simply dry lists of events, some are written in turgid rhymed prose (saj'); some are intelligent and accurate, others merely superficial compilations of unsubstantiated facts. What they have in common is, as one would expect, a scornful and hostile attitude toward the impious, fanatical infidels who invaded the territories of Islam.
There are few analyses or discussions of the enemy's military aims. Polemics of this sort had only a brief popularity, during the peace negotiations of the Third Crusade. The presence of an armed enemy on Muslim soil could arouse only one response--the military reprisals enjoined by the Qur'a? n, which commands the faithful to press on into enemy territory until the foe is either exterminated or converted to the True Faith. There could be no real peace (sulh) with the Franks or with any other infidel enemy, only a temporary truce (hudna) when opportune or necessary. The celebrated peace, or truce, of 1192 between Richard and Saladin, was strongly opposed by many Muslims, in principle if not in fact. The two hundred years of the Crusades could not have passed in continuous warfare. There were of course periods of truce, and even, in the twelfth century, cases of 'unholy alliance' between Muslims and Christians against the co-religionists of one side or the other. (Ibn al-Qala? nisi gives a frank account of the most scandalous of these alliances, that between the Franks and Damascus to block Zangi's advance in 1140. )
Peace was not however the favourite subject of the Muslim historians--nor perhaps of any historian. Muslim accounts of the Crusades are endless, often merely monotonous, descriptions of battles, skirmishes, ambushes, raids. Slaughter, pillage and devastation are the most common words in the accounts of the Holy War. Only the names of the combatants change. Where the early historians describe the fall of the coastal cities of Syria to the Franks in a welter of blood and flame, two hundred years later we can read of the same scenes, often in the same words but with the roles reversed. Qui gladio ferit gladio perit, although there is always admiration for valour and self-sacrifice, qualities to be found on both sides. The most intense conflicts of the two centuries took place during the Third Crusade, at Hitti? n and the siege of Acre, when the opposing personalities were thrown into highest relief, the fighting was more widespread and its implications more dramatic. The
xvi Introduction
monotonous military chroniclers sound almost inspired. Their accounts of daily life in the camp of Tiberias, of fights to the death under the walls of Acre, of marches and counter- marches at Saladin's command, have something of the atmosphere of religious epic. Equally important, though sometimes tiresomely detailed and confused, are their accounts of the long peace negotiations. It is a pity that the original text has not been preserved as Qalawu? n's treaties were by the Mamlu? k historians.
For two hundred years Christianity and Islam, face to face in the Holy Land, were officially enemies bound to ceaseless warfare, interspersed only with precarious truces. This official attitude was accepted by the Muslim historians of the time and limited the range and depth of their approach. They reveal no interest in the social, economic or cultural organization of the Frankish states. Occasionally self-congratulation or contempt leads them to mention cases in which Islam's superior culture and way of life have made their mark on the enemy, for example the case of the ruler of Shaqi? f Arnu? n mentioned in biographies of Saladin. He spoke Arabic and studied literature and Islamic law, but the only use he made of his knowledge was to try to deceive the enemy (Saladin, that noble Prince, punished him with nothing worse than imprisonment). The only hint to be found of interest in Frankish customs, ideas and way of life appears not in the serious histories but in the autobiography of the unprejudiced Usama; his accounts have not been forgotten in this volume. When mediaeval Muslims write of Christian beliefs or observances they create a grotesque caricature (see for example 'Ima? d ad-Din on the fall of Christian Jerusalem), based on misconceptions that can only be equalled in Christian accounts of Islamic beliefs and practices. In this respect each side gives as good as it gets and the Crusades were totally ineffective as a means of acquainting either side with the nobler aspects of the other's faith. It is also clear from the Muslim sources that what little exchange there was of men and ideas was almost always the result of Frankish initiative. William of Tyre, who learnt Arabic and who wrote a history of the Orient (now lost) from Arabic sources, had no parallel in the Muslim camp.
The main interest of the Muslim historians is, naturally, their own side and its heroes. It is this aspect of their work, complementing the European sources, that is also of greatest interest to Western readers. In their opening chapters the Arab historians give us frank and lucid discussions of the success of the First Crusade (there is a bitter passage in Kama? l ad-Din accusing the rival ami? rs in Syria of blindly and selfishly welcoming the Frankish invasion and profiting by it). They greet with relief, although sometimes with reservations about the claims to legitimacy that were advanced, the rise of the great champions of the Muslim resistance: Tughtiki? n, Zangi, Nur ad-Din, Saladin. Damascus' brave fight against the besieging Franks is the most distinguished example of resistance in open warfare by local and municipal troops. Not long after this, still in the first stage of the war, Zangids, Ayyubids and Mamlu? ks in succession took over the responsibility for controlling and unifying the defence, theoretically the duty of the Caliph in Baghda? d. The Caliphate, already a mere shadow of its former self, disappeared altogether in the course of the Crusades, having done nothing more effective than issue pious exhortations and homilies, and messages of congratulation to the victorious champions of the Faith. The annals of the Anti-Crusade are those of certain Muslim dynasties--Zangid, Mamlu? k and others--whose members carried the burden of the Holy War for a variety of reasons, both religious and
Introduction xvii
political, and sometimes sacrificed their whole lives to the cause. It is understandable that their chroniclers, out of piety, gratitude and devotion to the dynasty, have been generous with their eulogies.
Towering above them all, wringing admiration even from the enemy, is Saladin himself. His origins were obscure, his rise to power unorthodox and violent. He was destined to become the incarnation, for good or ill, of the power and prestige, and also the humanity and nobility, of the oriental civilization of the Middle Ages. At the same time, he was an inflexibly orthodox defender of its faith. The portrait of him drawn by Baha? ' ad-Din and 'Ima? d ad-Din, clearly that of the Muslim optimus princeps, is that of the pious leader rather than of a gallant knight, and it fails to explain the fascination that this man exerted on his contemporaries and successors, friends and ene-mies alike. But the legend which gives him a place in Dante's Limbo and in so many tales and epics is not to be found in his own country where the deeds of the less humane Baibars are more widely celebrated. There are vivid accounts in Muslim chronicles of both these heroes of the Islamic counter-offensive, as well as of Zangi, Nur ad-Din, al-Kamil and other great defenders of Islam.
Faithful characterization is one of the great merits of Muslim historians and is practised (with other motives) in the brief but illuminating sketches of enemy leaders: Baldwin II's shrewdness, Richard Coeur de Lion's prowess in war, the indomitable energy of Conrad of Montferrat, Frederick II's diplomacy and sceptical irony; all were noted and independently confirmed by Muslim historians. Other judgments carry less authority; for example the description of the saintly Louis IX as a cunning rogue: is it cunning to end a life of austere faith and quixotic idealism in a foolish expedition to Tunisia in the height of summer? (Yet how vividly he springs to life, in all his dignified affability, in Ibn Wasil's account of his conversation with an Egyptian plenipotentiary in the prison at Mansura. )
The Arab histories of the Crusades compare favourably with their Christian counterparts in their rich accumulation of material and chronological information (although this is not always consistent either internally or with the dating given in European sources) and in their faithful characterization. We would not expect from them either serene impartiality in their attitude to the enemy, or originality and depth of understanding. The views expressed are those of mediaeval Muslim historians in general, alternating between pragmatism and mechanical, pietistic theology. One man stands out as a true historian from the ranks of more or less diligent chroniclers: Ibn al-Athi? r. His reputation among Orientalists has recently diminished, because of the free and tendentious use he makes of his sources, but the qualities that reduce his reliability as documentary evidence are those of an original thinker, outstanding among so many passive compilers of facts.
Although for this period the Arabs have no historian of the stature of William of Tyre, their general level of scholarship is probably higher than that of their Christian contemporaries. It is noticeable that the Arabs are for the most part more experienced in the techniques of their art and more professional in their approach. The reason for this has been mentioned: the Arab histories of the Crusades are usually only a section of a general historical panorama.
This volume is by no means the first attempt in the West to show the other aspect of the Crusades. More than a century ago, at the end of Michaud's Bibliothe`que des Croisades, that great scholar Reinaud, Michele Amari's teacher, produced a volume of Chroniques Arabes (Paris, 1829), in which he strung together as a continuous narrative translations and
xviii Introduction
paraphrases of passages from various mediaeval Arab historians. They were taken from the manuscripts of the Bibliothe`que du Roi, then almost entirely unedited. This pioneer work, which is still of use to the non-Arabist, was designed to give a coherent account of the Crusades from Arabic sources rather than to present those sources for their own sakes. This was also the aim of the section called 'Historiens Orientaux' of the great Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, published in the second half of the nineteenth century under the auspices of the Acade? mie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. Most of the Oriental section was edited by Barbier de Meynard, and the five volumes published (Paris, 1872-1906) contain extracts, in the original and in translation, of such historians as Ibn al-Athi? r, Abu Shama and Abu l-Fida? . This imposing work is ill-adapted for reading as a continuous narrative, and has also been criticized for its choice of extracts and for errors in the text and the translations. Nevertheless it remains a standard work of reference for both Orientalists and mediaevalists.
This volume--a very modest work compared with either of these two--of course includes passages from both. Most of the excerpts, however, are taken directly from the original texts, nearly all of which have now been published or are available in the collection of photostats of historical manuscripts at the Fondazione Caetani per gli studi musulmani in Rome. Seventeen authors are represented; certainly not an exhaustive list of all the Muslim sources for the Crusades, but including all the most important ones and as many as possible of the various types of historical literary writings mentioned earlier. The translation is inevitably fairly free, for a literal translation would be impossible to read easily for any length of time. The precise references given will enable Arabists to verify particular points. While acknowledging our debt to earlier translators, where they have existed, and apologizing for our inevitable errors, we hope that the best interpretation of these passages will be found here, based on emendations to the text that will easily be reconstructed by the specialist.
The criteria of choice will be quite obvious: historical importance, human or literary interest and amusing or picturesque detail--without much historical importance perhaps, but the sort of vivid image that remains fixed in the memory, and is almost too appealing to Muslim historians and modern anthologists.
The second section of the book, devoted to Saladin and the Third Crusade, is inevitably, by both these criteria, the largest. We hope that the book as a whole will give a picture of the period that is both clear in outline and accurate in detail, and that as far as space allows the authors' characteristic styles will be revealed.
I have come to the end of several months spent in the company of these Muslim historians of the Crusades, listening again to their fierce and fanatical hostility to our ancestral faith, their zeal and love for their own faith and its traditions, and their admiration for the champions and martyrs who devoted themselves to its defence. I have studied the Muslim world for many years, but I must confess that never before have I experienced such a sympathetic comprehension and respect for a civilization whose faults and failings need no emphasis but which possessed inspiring qualities of endurance, dedication and self-sacrifice, amazing elasticity and powers of recuperation, and an unyielding faith in the absolute and supreme Law. When qualities such as these are shown by an enemy they
Introduction xix tend to be described in terms of their associated defects. It is time for us, without either
denying our own faith or shirking the facts, to give them the name they deserve. Rome, September 1957.
In this second edition certain errors have been corrected and the bibliography brought up to date.
June 1963.
FRANCESCO GABRIELI
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
In transcribing Arabic proper nouns we have ignored, for the sake of typographical simplicity, the distinction between long and short vowels and the normal and emphatic consonants. As a guide to pronunciation where the stress does not fall on the penultimate syllable words have been accented by a bar if long or by an acute accent if short. The titles of the sections are sometimes the author's and sometimes the editor's; it did not seem necessary to complicate the layout by distinguishing between the two.
F. G.
A standard transliteration of Arabic words into English has been used except in a few cases,
where we have kept a very familiar anglicized form.
E. J. C.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
General modern histories of the Crusades written by non-Orientalists who have however made use of Reinaud and the Recueil (see above) are R. Grousset, Histoire des Croisades et du Royaume Franc de Je? rusalem, Paris 91934-36; S. Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Cambridge, 1951-54, both in three volumes with enormous bibliographies (R. Grousset has also produced a popular general outline of the period, L'e? pope? e des Croisades, Paris, 1939); and A. Waas, Geschichte der Kreuzzu? ge, Freiburg, 1956, 2 vols. Two volumes have so far appeared of the great History of the Crusades, the work of many collaborators edited by La Monte and Setton: The first hundred years and The later Crusades, 1189-1311, Philadelphia, 1955 and 1962.
The definitive work on Muslim historiography and its varieties is F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden, 1952; for a review and fundamental evaluation of the Arab historians of the Crusades see C. Cahen, La Syrie du Nord a` l'e? poque des Croisades et la principaute? franque d'Antioche, Paris, 1940, pp. 33-93 ('Les sources arabes'), which has been brought up to date by Cahen in his article on the Crusades in Encyclope? die de llslam, 2nd ed. (1961), pp. 64-67. See also my own chapter Historiography of the Crusades in Historians of the Middle East, Oxford, 1962, pp pp. 98-107. A bibliography of individual authors and subjects would, I think, be too specialized to be useful; I shall only mention H. A. R. Gibb's three important studies: 'Notes on the arabic materials for the history of the early Crusades', in Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, VII (1935), pp. 739-54; 'The arabic sources for the life of Saladin', in Speculum, XXV (1950), pp. 58-72; and 'The achievement of Saladin', in Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, XXXV (1952), pp. 44-60 (for Saladin see also my own profile in Storia e civilta` musulmana, Naples, 1947 and Florence, 1948); also J. Kraemer, Der Sturz des Ko? nigreiches Jerusalem (583-1187) in der Darstellung des 'Ima? d ad-Din al-Ka? tib al-Isfaha? ni? , Wiesbaden, 1952; B. Lewis, 'The sources for the history of the Syrian Assassins', in Speculum, XXVII (1952), pp. 475-89; F. Gabrieli, 'Gli Ospitalieri di San Giovanni negli storici musulmani delle Crociate', in Annuario della R. Scuola Archeologica di Atene, VIII-IX (1929), pp. 345-56.
THE AUTHORS AND WORKS IBN AL-QALA? NISI1
Abu Ya'la Hamza ibn Asad at-Tami? mi? , known as Ibn al-Qala? nisi (Damascus, c. 465/1073- 555/1160). He is the earliest Arab historian to write about the Crusades, in his chronicle known as Dhail ta'ri? kh Dimashq (Appendix to the History of Damascus, referring to a chronicle of that title by Hila? l as-Sabi). This work, which is attached to as-Sabi's in a single MS. , covers the period 363/974-555/1160, the year of the author's death, and deals to some extent with the history of Mesopotamia, but chiefly of Syria and Damascus, where Ibn al-Qala? nisi held various municipal and administrative posts. He writes from first-hand experience of the First and Second Crusades up to the time of Nur ad-Din's entry into Damascus. The narrative is circumstantial and accurate, showing a certain partiality for Tughtiki? n's dynasty in Damascus. The style is dry and objective, apart from a few chapters in more stylised prose. His objectivity about most matters, his eye-witness accounts of events through which he lived and his use of documents make Ibn al-Qala? nisi's chronicle a basic source for the first period of the Crusades.
Text: Amedroz' edition, Leiden, 1908.
IBN AL-ATHI? R
'Izz ad-Din Ibn al-Athi? r (Jazirat Ibn 'Umar, 555/1160- Mosul 630/1233) came of a Mesopotamian family and is the most famous of three brothers, all well known to Muslims of Arabic education. His most important work is Kamil at-Tawarikh (The Perfect History, or The Collection of Histories), an enormous history of the whole Muslim world from Arabic and Hebrew legends and the history of pre-Muhammedan times to the year 628/1231. For the earlier period (to the beginning of the tenth century A. D.
) he reproduces for the most part at-Ta? bari's great collection, but for the last three centuries and in particular for his own period the breadth and balance of his statements, the wealth of material collected and above all his robust and personal view of history make him a very important source; some would call him the only real Arab historian of the period. This marked individuality is also the cause of his defects as an author: a tendency sometimes to favour the Zangid dynasty (Zangi, Nur ad-Din and their successors), inaccurate chronology and sometimes a certain lack of respect for his sources. But with these reservations one can only admire the unity of a work that embraces the whole Muslim world from Transoxiana to the farthest
1 The order of these notes, which in all cases but the first corresponds to that in which the authors appear in the book, is only roughly related to their chronological order.
The Authors and Works xxiii
Maghrib and Spain, one in which the author seeks to trace the causal links of events, and is able to overcome the difficulties of the annalist's technique and present his facts clearly and convincingly.
For his history of the Crusades Ibn al-Athi? r was an eyewitness, although not always a sympathetic one, of Saladin's career, and made use of Ibn al-Qala? nisi, Baha? ' ad-Din and 'Ima? d ad-Din as sources. The clarity and simplicity of his style, which avoids archaisms and embellishments and aims at pre-senting the essential facts, has contributed to his reputation as the chief historian of the later Crusades.
Text: Tornberg's edition, vols. X, XI, XII, Leiden, 1853-64.
KAMA? L AD-DIN
Kama? l ad-Din Ibn al-'Adi? m (Aleppo 588/1192-Cairo 660/ 1262) was the historian of his native city, in particular in an enormous biographical work, not yet published in modern times, (Bughyat at-Talab, The Students' Desire), of which only a part remains, and also in a history of the city (Zubdat al-halab fi ta'ri? kh Halab, The Cream of the Milk in the History of Aleppo), based on material collected for the larger work and extending to 641/1243. This work does for Aleppo of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries what Ibn al-Qala? nisi's chronicle does for twelfth-century Damascus. Its value to historians of the Crusades is as an Arabic account of the events in northern Syria.
Text: Sami Dahha? n's edition, II, Damascus, 1954.
USAMA
Usama ibn Munqidh, Ami? r of Shaizar (Shaizar 488/1095- Damascus 584/1188) is one of the most interesting of the Syrian Arabs living during the Crusades. A man of action and a writer, horseman and huntsman, lover of books and courtier, and an unscrupulous political intriguer, he spent most of his long life in contact with the Franks, the ami? rs of Syria and the Fatimid Caliphs of Egypt, but in the end died in obscurity at the height of Saladin's triumphs. He owes his reputation to his autobiography (Kita? b al-I'tiba? r, Book of Instruction with illustrations), which has come down to us in an incomplete MS. in the Escurial. It is a sincere if rather verbose self-portrait, and a storehouse of anecdotal information about his Muslim and Frankish contemporaries. Only fragments of the rest of his rich literary production are preserved, among them the Kita? b al-'Asa (The Book of the Stick), a collection in the traditional Arabic manner of anecdotes, rhymes, sayings and proverbs on the subject of sticks. The last of our selections from his work is taken from this book.
Text: Derenbourg's edition, Paris, 1886 (and for the last example, H. Derenbourg, Ousama ibn Mounkidh. Un e? mir syrien au premier sie`cle des Croisades, I, Paris, 1893, pp. 528-29).
xxiv The Authors and Works
BAHA? ' AD-DIN
Baha? ' ad-Din Ibn Shadda? d (Mosul 539/1145-632/1234) entered Saladin's service in 1188, was made Qadi to the army and remained a faithful member of the Sultan's household until Saladin's death. Under his immediate successors he was Grand Qadi of Aleppo. His biography of the Sultan (an-Nawadir as-Sultaniyya wa l-mahasin al-yusufiyya, Sultanly Anecdotes and Josephly Virtues, Joseph being Saladin's personal name) is an excellent historical and biographical source, dictated by sincere devotion and admiration unmixed with servile flattery and based for the most part on personal observation. The style is simple and free from literary affectations. Baha? ' ad-Din gives us the most complete portrait we have of Saladin as the Muslims saw him, and a vivid chronicle of the Third Crusade.
Text: in Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Orientaux, III, Paris, 1884. 'IMA? D AD-DIN
'Ima? d ad-Din al-Isfahani (Isfahan 519/1125-Damascus 597/ 1201) was secretary to Nur ad-Din and then to Saladin, whose chancellor he was under the Qadi al-Fadil. He was a scholar and a rhetorician to the marrow and left a valuable anthology of twelfth-century Arabic poetry as well as various historical works, written from start to finish in the most ornate and artificial style of which the language is capable: blank and rhyming verse, uninterrupted sequences of alliteration, metaphors and puns. This difficult and tedious literary form soon led other anthologists such as Abu Shama (see below) to give the gist of 'Ima? d ad-Din's history elsewhere, but there are facts of vital historical importance not included in these synopses for which we must go back to the original. Preserved and published in the same volume is 'Ima? d ad-Din's history of the fall of Jerusalem, which extends as far as Saladin's death (al-Fath al-qussi fi l-fath al-qudsi, which might be translated Ciceronian Eloquence on the Conquest of the Holy City: puns find their way even into the title); we also have a part, still unedited, of the Barq ash-Shami, or Lightning of Syria, which chronicles Saladin's life and deeds from 1175. In these two works modern research is revealing, beneath the impossible style, an important source for Saladin's career and for events in Syria and Mesopotamia, in which 'Ima? d ad-Din was a protagonist and which he describes circumstantially, accurately and faithfully. We have, however, to contend with the fact, clearly revealed in the passages chosen, that the concrete details are almost lost in an appalling mass of verbiage.
Text: Landberg's edition, Leiden, 1888.
ABU SHAMA
Shiha? b ad-Din Abu l-Qasim Abu Shama (Damascus 599/ 1203-665/1267) was a philologist, teacher and industrious anthologist. His Kita? b ar-Raudata? in, The Book of the Two Gardens, concerning the two dynasties of Saladin and Nur ad-Din, brings together valuable material, for most of which we also have his original sources. He quotes (giving his references) from Ibn al-Qala? nisi, 'Ima? d ad-Din (reduced to a more sober and endurable style), Baha? ' ad-Din, Ibn al-Athi? r and others. More important to us are his quotations from the lost
The Authors and Works xxv
Shi'ite historian of Aleppo, Ibn Abi t-Tayy, among other things the author of a biography of Saladin. The Two Gardens also reproduces numerous documents from the Sultan's chancellery, most of them from the chief secretary, individual collections of whose letters also exist.
Text: Cairo 1287/1870.
MANAQIB RASHID AD-DIN
We use this name to refer to a writer of the Isma'ilite sect in Syria (the Assassins). The Virtues of our Lord Rashid ad-Din, as the full title of his work may be translated, is a collection of recollections and anecdotes about the Great Master Rashid ad-Din Sina? n, a contemporary of Saladin and thus leader of the sect in Syria at the time of Saladin's greatest power. These records, in which edification is given a much more important place than historical information, were collected in 1324 by an obscure follower of the sect, Shaikh Abu Fira? s of Ma? inaqa, at a time when the influence of the Isma'ilites was on the wane. The passage translated here appears, under its cloak of legend, to be an account of the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat.
Text: 'Journal Asiatique' series VII, IX (1877), pp. 324-489 (S. Guyard, Un grand Maitre des Assassins au temps de Saladin).
IBN WASIL
Jama? l ad-Din Ibn Wasil (Hama? t 604/1207-697/1298) held several offices under the last Ayyubids and early Mamlu? ks. In 1261 he went as Baibars' ambassador to Manfred, and ended his career as Grand Qadi of his native city. His greatest work (Mufarrij al-Kuru? b fi akhba? r Bani Ayyu? b, The Dissipator of Anxieties Concerning the History of the Ayyubids) is chiefly concerned with Saladin's career, but first deals with the history of the Zangids, and after Saladin with the Mamlu? ks up to 680/ 1282. It is therefore one of the best sources for the thirteenth-century Crusades (the Fifth Crusade, Frederick II's journey, St. Louis' Crusade); later anthologists have drawn from it. It has long remained unpublished, for no good reason, and an edition is only now under way. 1
Text: MS. Paris Ar. 1702 (photostat from the Caetani collection). SIBT IBN AL-JAUZI
The grandson (sibt) of an earlier chronicler, Ibn al-Jauzi, was a famous preacher who lived for most of his life in Damascus as a friend of the Ayyubid princes (Baghda? d 582/1186- Damascus 654/1256). His enormous and prolix universal history (Mir'a? t az-zama? n, The Mirror of the Times), of which two versions have come down to us, is particularly important
1 Three volumes, edited by M. Shayya? l (Cairo 1954-62) have so far appeared.
xxvi The Authors and Works
because of the period of the author's life and the course of Syrian history at that time. It is to this work, for example, that we owe the fascinating details of Frederick's visit to Jerusalem, as well as some illuminating details of the siege of Damascus by the Crusaders a century before.
Text: a partial edition by Jewett, Chicago, 1907 (covering the years of the hijra 495-654). For the siege of Damascus, see a note in Amedroz' edition of Ibn al-Qala? nisi.
Ta'ri? kh Mansuri
The chronicle, taking us up to 631/1233, of an obscure functionary of the Ayyubid princes of Syria, a certain Abu l-Fada'il of Hama? t; dedicated to al-Malik al-Mansu? r, Ami? r of Hims (from whom the title comes; A Mansurite History). Its importance lies in the facts it gives about Frederick II in the Holy Land, and the end of the Muslims in Sicily as described by Sicilian Arabs who came to Syria as emissaries and refugees. These valuable fragments, from the Asiatic Museum in Petersburg, were edited by Amari.
Text: in Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, Second Appendix, Leipzig, 1887. IBN 'ABD AZ-ZAHIR
Muhyi ad-Din Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir (Cairo 620/1233-692/1293) was secretary to the Mamlu? k Sultans Baibars and Qalawu? n, compiler of their official acts of chancellery and later their biographer, drawing on the material he had collected. Parts of Baibars' biography (Sirat al-Malik az-Zahir) still exist, and so does the anthology edited by his nephew Shafi' al- 'Asqalani. The greater part of the biography of Qalawu? n is to be found in the anonymous Tashri? f al-ayya? m wa l-'usu? r bi-sirat as-Sulta? n al-Malik al-Mansu? r (The Honouring of the Years and the Days, through the Life of the Sultan al-Malik al-Mansu? r). Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir also wrote a life of Qalawu? n's son al-Ashraf, conqueror of Acre, of which a fragment has been published. The rest of this author's work is so far unedited, despite his importance as a contemporary and witness of the events narrated and a transmitter of precious official documents (letters, treaties etc. ). Naturally his obsequious attitude to his masters makes it necessary to use his information with caution.
Text: Shafi''s anthology of the life of Baibars, MS. Paris Ar. 1707, and Tashri? f (Life of Qalawu? n) MS. Paris Ar. 1704 (photostat from the Caetani collection).
See Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir.
Tashri? f
MAQRIZI
Taqi ad-Din al-Maqrizi (Cairo 776/1364-845/1442), a great scholar and antiquarian, collected valuable material on the historical topography of Egypt. His importance for our period lies in one of his historical works which is almost entirely compiled from other
The Authors and Works xxvii
writers (Ibn Wasil, Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi, Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir and other lesser-known sources) but which is indispensable in our present state of knowledge: his Kita? b as-sulu? k fi ma? 'rifa ta'ri? kh al-mulu? k, The Book of Proceeding to the Knowledge of the History of the Kings, which includes Ayyubid and Mamlu? k history from 577/1181 to 840/1436. It therefore covers the two Frankish expeditions to Egypt and the Mamlu? ks' final victory in Syria.
Text: M. Ziyade's edition, Cairo, 1934.
IBN AL-FURA? T
Nasir ad-Din Ibn al-Fura? t (Cairo 735/1334-807/1405) was, like Maqrizi and almost all his contemporaries, a great anthologist whose importance depends on that of the sources transcribed by him. His great Ta'ri? kh ad-duwal wa l-mulu? k, The History of the Dynasties and the Kings, of which parts of an unpublished MS. are in existence, brings us up to the end of the fourteenth century and contains interesting material on the early Mamlu? ks. Another long-recognized value of Ibn al-Fura? t, as of Abu Shama, is his quotations from the lost Ibn Abi t-Tayy on Saladin's life and times.
Text: Wien Ar. 814 A. F. , vols. VI, VII (photostat from the Caetani collection).
AL-'AINI
Badr ad-Din al-'Aini ('Ainta? b 762/1360--Cairo 855/1451) was a Mamlu? k official and courtier as well as a philologist and student of hadi? th. He also compiled a general history ('Iqd al-Juma? n fi ta'ri? kh ahl az-zama? n, The Necklace of Pears concerning the History of the People of the Time) which is usually consulted for sources not yet attributed to known authors or directly accessible.
Text: Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Orientaux, II, Paris, 1887. ABU L-FIDA? '
Abu l-Fida? ' 'Ima? d ad-Din Isma'i? l ibn 'Ali al-Ayyubi, the Abulfeda of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Arabists, is a sympathetic figure, an ami? r who is also a man of letters, rather in the style of Usama. He was a member of the Ayyubid house after it had lost all autonomous power, supplanted in Syria and Egypt by the Mamlu? ks, and he succeeded in getting them to recognize his rights to Hama? t, where he ruled with the title of al-Malik al-Mu' ayyad until his death. His two main literary works, the history (Mukhtasar ta'ri? kh al-Bashar, Historical Compendium of the Human Race) and the geography (Taqwi? m al-bulda? n, Determination of the Longitude of the Lands), happened to be among the first works of Arabic literature to be known and partially edited in Europe since the beginning of the modern Arabist movement here. This led at first to an over estimation of the value of these two anthologies, which have been almost supplanted by the older originals discovered since then. The section of the history dealing with the author's own lifetime retains its interest. He saw service as a young man at the fall of Tripoli and Acre and so was an eye- witness of the tragic ending of the Crusades.
xxviii The Authors and Works
Text: Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Orientaux, I, Paris, 1872.
ABU L-MAHASIN
Abu l-Mahasin Ibn Taghribirdi (Cairo 813/1411-874/1469) was also one of the group of soldiers and scholars who flourished in the Mamlu?
These two eventful centuries, which. brought the whole Christian world into conflict with Islam (although the Greek Church was the innocent victim of Western diplomatic errors) on territory that the Muslims had held for five hundred years, are faithfully recorded by Muslim historians of this and the succeeding era.
We have used the term 'Muslim' because many of the authors are not Arabic by birth, but 'Arabic' would be justifiable on the grounds of the language used (for the Persian historians and those few who had so far written in Turkish, add almost nothing to the history of the Crusades), or 'Arabo-Muslim' on the grounds of the spirit that inspired them, although the Arabic-speaking Christian historians of Egypt also had a part to play.
The Frankish invasions, by which the Muslims meant invasions by European Christians as opposed to the Byzantine Rumi, in spite of the havoc and loss of life that they caused,
Introduction xv
and the cost to Islam of the resistance that led up to the final victory, were never, for Muslim chroniclers, a single subject to be treated in isolation. Although of the greatest importance to them, as to the West, they were always incorporated into the customary literary forms, given their place in annals recording general history, or used in the writing of biographies of the Muslim individuals or dynasties who set themselves up as champions of the Faith. One would search Muslim historical writings in vain for a composite, specific History of the Wars against the Franks.
Such a work can be composed, however, by juxtaposing and interweaving material from the various types of historical writing of the period. First come the general histories of the Muslim world, like Ibn al-Athi? r's classic work, lesser-known annals by Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi and Ibn al-Fura? t and later compilations. Next come chronicles of cities and regions: Ibn al-Qala? nisi's of northern Syria and Kama? l ad-Din's of Mesopotamia, histories of regions and their dynasties like those of al-Maqrizi and Ibn Wasil and purely dynastic ones like Abu Shama's. Finally there are the biographies or records of the deeds of a certain person. Among these are the biographies of Saladin by 'Ima? d ad-Din and Baha? ' ad-Din and the official biographies of the first Mamlu? k Sultans by Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir. A unique work of the greatest historical and literary value is Usama's brilliant autobiography. The range of styles is wide: some works are simply dry lists of events, some are written in turgid rhymed prose (saj'); some are intelligent and accurate, others merely superficial compilations of unsubstantiated facts. What they have in common is, as one would expect, a scornful and hostile attitude toward the impious, fanatical infidels who invaded the territories of Islam.
There are few analyses or discussions of the enemy's military aims. Polemics of this sort had only a brief popularity, during the peace negotiations of the Third Crusade. The presence of an armed enemy on Muslim soil could arouse only one response--the military reprisals enjoined by the Qur'a? n, which commands the faithful to press on into enemy territory until the foe is either exterminated or converted to the True Faith. There could be no real peace (sulh) with the Franks or with any other infidel enemy, only a temporary truce (hudna) when opportune or necessary. The celebrated peace, or truce, of 1192 between Richard and Saladin, was strongly opposed by many Muslims, in principle if not in fact. The two hundred years of the Crusades could not have passed in continuous warfare. There were of course periods of truce, and even, in the twelfth century, cases of 'unholy alliance' between Muslims and Christians against the co-religionists of one side or the other. (Ibn al-Qala? nisi gives a frank account of the most scandalous of these alliances, that between the Franks and Damascus to block Zangi's advance in 1140. )
Peace was not however the favourite subject of the Muslim historians--nor perhaps of any historian. Muslim accounts of the Crusades are endless, often merely monotonous, descriptions of battles, skirmishes, ambushes, raids. Slaughter, pillage and devastation are the most common words in the accounts of the Holy War. Only the names of the combatants change. Where the early historians describe the fall of the coastal cities of Syria to the Franks in a welter of blood and flame, two hundred years later we can read of the same scenes, often in the same words but with the roles reversed. Qui gladio ferit gladio perit, although there is always admiration for valour and self-sacrifice, qualities to be found on both sides. The most intense conflicts of the two centuries took place during the Third Crusade, at Hitti? n and the siege of Acre, when the opposing personalities were thrown into highest relief, the fighting was more widespread and its implications more dramatic. The
xvi Introduction
monotonous military chroniclers sound almost inspired. Their accounts of daily life in the camp of Tiberias, of fights to the death under the walls of Acre, of marches and counter- marches at Saladin's command, have something of the atmosphere of religious epic. Equally important, though sometimes tiresomely detailed and confused, are their accounts of the long peace negotiations. It is a pity that the original text has not been preserved as Qalawu? n's treaties were by the Mamlu? k historians.
For two hundred years Christianity and Islam, face to face in the Holy Land, were officially enemies bound to ceaseless warfare, interspersed only with precarious truces. This official attitude was accepted by the Muslim historians of the time and limited the range and depth of their approach. They reveal no interest in the social, economic or cultural organization of the Frankish states. Occasionally self-congratulation or contempt leads them to mention cases in which Islam's superior culture and way of life have made their mark on the enemy, for example the case of the ruler of Shaqi? f Arnu? n mentioned in biographies of Saladin. He spoke Arabic and studied literature and Islamic law, but the only use he made of his knowledge was to try to deceive the enemy (Saladin, that noble Prince, punished him with nothing worse than imprisonment). The only hint to be found of interest in Frankish customs, ideas and way of life appears not in the serious histories but in the autobiography of the unprejudiced Usama; his accounts have not been forgotten in this volume. When mediaeval Muslims write of Christian beliefs or observances they create a grotesque caricature (see for example 'Ima? d ad-Din on the fall of Christian Jerusalem), based on misconceptions that can only be equalled in Christian accounts of Islamic beliefs and practices. In this respect each side gives as good as it gets and the Crusades were totally ineffective as a means of acquainting either side with the nobler aspects of the other's faith. It is also clear from the Muslim sources that what little exchange there was of men and ideas was almost always the result of Frankish initiative. William of Tyre, who learnt Arabic and who wrote a history of the Orient (now lost) from Arabic sources, had no parallel in the Muslim camp.
The main interest of the Muslim historians is, naturally, their own side and its heroes. It is this aspect of their work, complementing the European sources, that is also of greatest interest to Western readers. In their opening chapters the Arab historians give us frank and lucid discussions of the success of the First Crusade (there is a bitter passage in Kama? l ad-Din accusing the rival ami? rs in Syria of blindly and selfishly welcoming the Frankish invasion and profiting by it). They greet with relief, although sometimes with reservations about the claims to legitimacy that were advanced, the rise of the great champions of the Muslim resistance: Tughtiki? n, Zangi, Nur ad-Din, Saladin. Damascus' brave fight against the besieging Franks is the most distinguished example of resistance in open warfare by local and municipal troops. Not long after this, still in the first stage of the war, Zangids, Ayyubids and Mamlu? ks in succession took over the responsibility for controlling and unifying the defence, theoretically the duty of the Caliph in Baghda? d. The Caliphate, already a mere shadow of its former self, disappeared altogether in the course of the Crusades, having done nothing more effective than issue pious exhortations and homilies, and messages of congratulation to the victorious champions of the Faith. The annals of the Anti-Crusade are those of certain Muslim dynasties--Zangid, Mamlu? k and others--whose members carried the burden of the Holy War for a variety of reasons, both religious and
Introduction xvii
political, and sometimes sacrificed their whole lives to the cause. It is understandable that their chroniclers, out of piety, gratitude and devotion to the dynasty, have been generous with their eulogies.
Towering above them all, wringing admiration even from the enemy, is Saladin himself. His origins were obscure, his rise to power unorthodox and violent. He was destined to become the incarnation, for good or ill, of the power and prestige, and also the humanity and nobility, of the oriental civilization of the Middle Ages. At the same time, he was an inflexibly orthodox defender of its faith. The portrait of him drawn by Baha? ' ad-Din and 'Ima? d ad-Din, clearly that of the Muslim optimus princeps, is that of the pious leader rather than of a gallant knight, and it fails to explain the fascination that this man exerted on his contemporaries and successors, friends and ene-mies alike. But the legend which gives him a place in Dante's Limbo and in so many tales and epics is not to be found in his own country where the deeds of the less humane Baibars are more widely celebrated. There are vivid accounts in Muslim chronicles of both these heroes of the Islamic counter-offensive, as well as of Zangi, Nur ad-Din, al-Kamil and other great defenders of Islam.
Faithful characterization is one of the great merits of Muslim historians and is practised (with other motives) in the brief but illuminating sketches of enemy leaders: Baldwin II's shrewdness, Richard Coeur de Lion's prowess in war, the indomitable energy of Conrad of Montferrat, Frederick II's diplomacy and sceptical irony; all were noted and independently confirmed by Muslim historians. Other judgments carry less authority; for example the description of the saintly Louis IX as a cunning rogue: is it cunning to end a life of austere faith and quixotic idealism in a foolish expedition to Tunisia in the height of summer? (Yet how vividly he springs to life, in all his dignified affability, in Ibn Wasil's account of his conversation with an Egyptian plenipotentiary in the prison at Mansura. )
The Arab histories of the Crusades compare favourably with their Christian counterparts in their rich accumulation of material and chronological information (although this is not always consistent either internally or with the dating given in European sources) and in their faithful characterization. We would not expect from them either serene impartiality in their attitude to the enemy, or originality and depth of understanding. The views expressed are those of mediaeval Muslim historians in general, alternating between pragmatism and mechanical, pietistic theology. One man stands out as a true historian from the ranks of more or less diligent chroniclers: Ibn al-Athi? r. His reputation among Orientalists has recently diminished, because of the free and tendentious use he makes of his sources, but the qualities that reduce his reliability as documentary evidence are those of an original thinker, outstanding among so many passive compilers of facts.
Although for this period the Arabs have no historian of the stature of William of Tyre, their general level of scholarship is probably higher than that of their Christian contemporaries. It is noticeable that the Arabs are for the most part more experienced in the techniques of their art and more professional in their approach. The reason for this has been mentioned: the Arab histories of the Crusades are usually only a section of a general historical panorama.
This volume is by no means the first attempt in the West to show the other aspect of the Crusades. More than a century ago, at the end of Michaud's Bibliothe`que des Croisades, that great scholar Reinaud, Michele Amari's teacher, produced a volume of Chroniques Arabes (Paris, 1829), in which he strung together as a continuous narrative translations and
xviii Introduction
paraphrases of passages from various mediaeval Arab historians. They were taken from the manuscripts of the Bibliothe`que du Roi, then almost entirely unedited. This pioneer work, which is still of use to the non-Arabist, was designed to give a coherent account of the Crusades from Arabic sources rather than to present those sources for their own sakes. This was also the aim of the section called 'Historiens Orientaux' of the great Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, published in the second half of the nineteenth century under the auspices of the Acade? mie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. Most of the Oriental section was edited by Barbier de Meynard, and the five volumes published (Paris, 1872-1906) contain extracts, in the original and in translation, of such historians as Ibn al-Athi? r, Abu Shama and Abu l-Fida? . This imposing work is ill-adapted for reading as a continuous narrative, and has also been criticized for its choice of extracts and for errors in the text and the translations. Nevertheless it remains a standard work of reference for both Orientalists and mediaevalists.
This volume--a very modest work compared with either of these two--of course includes passages from both. Most of the excerpts, however, are taken directly from the original texts, nearly all of which have now been published or are available in the collection of photostats of historical manuscripts at the Fondazione Caetani per gli studi musulmani in Rome. Seventeen authors are represented; certainly not an exhaustive list of all the Muslim sources for the Crusades, but including all the most important ones and as many as possible of the various types of historical literary writings mentioned earlier. The translation is inevitably fairly free, for a literal translation would be impossible to read easily for any length of time. The precise references given will enable Arabists to verify particular points. While acknowledging our debt to earlier translators, where they have existed, and apologizing for our inevitable errors, we hope that the best interpretation of these passages will be found here, based on emendations to the text that will easily be reconstructed by the specialist.
The criteria of choice will be quite obvious: historical importance, human or literary interest and amusing or picturesque detail--without much historical importance perhaps, but the sort of vivid image that remains fixed in the memory, and is almost too appealing to Muslim historians and modern anthologists.
The second section of the book, devoted to Saladin and the Third Crusade, is inevitably, by both these criteria, the largest. We hope that the book as a whole will give a picture of the period that is both clear in outline and accurate in detail, and that as far as space allows the authors' characteristic styles will be revealed.
I have come to the end of several months spent in the company of these Muslim historians of the Crusades, listening again to their fierce and fanatical hostility to our ancestral faith, their zeal and love for their own faith and its traditions, and their admiration for the champions and martyrs who devoted themselves to its defence. I have studied the Muslim world for many years, but I must confess that never before have I experienced such a sympathetic comprehension and respect for a civilization whose faults and failings need no emphasis but which possessed inspiring qualities of endurance, dedication and self-sacrifice, amazing elasticity and powers of recuperation, and an unyielding faith in the absolute and supreme Law. When qualities such as these are shown by an enemy they
Introduction xix tend to be described in terms of their associated defects. It is time for us, without either
denying our own faith or shirking the facts, to give them the name they deserve. Rome, September 1957.
In this second edition certain errors have been corrected and the bibliography brought up to date.
June 1963.
FRANCESCO GABRIELI
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
In transcribing Arabic proper nouns we have ignored, for the sake of typographical simplicity, the distinction between long and short vowels and the normal and emphatic consonants. As a guide to pronunciation where the stress does not fall on the penultimate syllable words have been accented by a bar if long or by an acute accent if short. The titles of the sections are sometimes the author's and sometimes the editor's; it did not seem necessary to complicate the layout by distinguishing between the two.
F. G.
A standard transliteration of Arabic words into English has been used except in a few cases,
where we have kept a very familiar anglicized form.
E. J. C.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
General modern histories of the Crusades written by non-Orientalists who have however made use of Reinaud and the Recueil (see above) are R. Grousset, Histoire des Croisades et du Royaume Franc de Je? rusalem, Paris 91934-36; S. Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Cambridge, 1951-54, both in three volumes with enormous bibliographies (R. Grousset has also produced a popular general outline of the period, L'e? pope? e des Croisades, Paris, 1939); and A. Waas, Geschichte der Kreuzzu? ge, Freiburg, 1956, 2 vols. Two volumes have so far appeared of the great History of the Crusades, the work of many collaborators edited by La Monte and Setton: The first hundred years and The later Crusades, 1189-1311, Philadelphia, 1955 and 1962.
The definitive work on Muslim historiography and its varieties is F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden, 1952; for a review and fundamental evaluation of the Arab historians of the Crusades see C. Cahen, La Syrie du Nord a` l'e? poque des Croisades et la principaute? franque d'Antioche, Paris, 1940, pp. 33-93 ('Les sources arabes'), which has been brought up to date by Cahen in his article on the Crusades in Encyclope? die de llslam, 2nd ed. (1961), pp. 64-67. See also my own chapter Historiography of the Crusades in Historians of the Middle East, Oxford, 1962, pp pp. 98-107. A bibliography of individual authors and subjects would, I think, be too specialized to be useful; I shall only mention H. A. R. Gibb's three important studies: 'Notes on the arabic materials for the history of the early Crusades', in Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, VII (1935), pp. 739-54; 'The arabic sources for the life of Saladin', in Speculum, XXV (1950), pp. 58-72; and 'The achievement of Saladin', in Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, XXXV (1952), pp. 44-60 (for Saladin see also my own profile in Storia e civilta` musulmana, Naples, 1947 and Florence, 1948); also J. Kraemer, Der Sturz des Ko? nigreiches Jerusalem (583-1187) in der Darstellung des 'Ima? d ad-Din al-Ka? tib al-Isfaha? ni? , Wiesbaden, 1952; B. Lewis, 'The sources for the history of the Syrian Assassins', in Speculum, XXVII (1952), pp. 475-89; F. Gabrieli, 'Gli Ospitalieri di San Giovanni negli storici musulmani delle Crociate', in Annuario della R. Scuola Archeologica di Atene, VIII-IX (1929), pp. 345-56.
THE AUTHORS AND WORKS IBN AL-QALA? NISI1
Abu Ya'la Hamza ibn Asad at-Tami? mi? , known as Ibn al-Qala? nisi (Damascus, c. 465/1073- 555/1160). He is the earliest Arab historian to write about the Crusades, in his chronicle known as Dhail ta'ri? kh Dimashq (Appendix to the History of Damascus, referring to a chronicle of that title by Hila? l as-Sabi). This work, which is attached to as-Sabi's in a single MS. , covers the period 363/974-555/1160, the year of the author's death, and deals to some extent with the history of Mesopotamia, but chiefly of Syria and Damascus, where Ibn al-Qala? nisi held various municipal and administrative posts. He writes from first-hand experience of the First and Second Crusades up to the time of Nur ad-Din's entry into Damascus. The narrative is circumstantial and accurate, showing a certain partiality for Tughtiki? n's dynasty in Damascus. The style is dry and objective, apart from a few chapters in more stylised prose. His objectivity about most matters, his eye-witness accounts of events through which he lived and his use of documents make Ibn al-Qala? nisi's chronicle a basic source for the first period of the Crusades.
Text: Amedroz' edition, Leiden, 1908.
IBN AL-ATHI? R
'Izz ad-Din Ibn al-Athi? r (Jazirat Ibn 'Umar, 555/1160- Mosul 630/1233) came of a Mesopotamian family and is the most famous of three brothers, all well known to Muslims of Arabic education. His most important work is Kamil at-Tawarikh (The Perfect History, or The Collection of Histories), an enormous history of the whole Muslim world from Arabic and Hebrew legends and the history of pre-Muhammedan times to the year 628/1231. For the earlier period (to the beginning of the tenth century A. D.
) he reproduces for the most part at-Ta? bari's great collection, but for the last three centuries and in particular for his own period the breadth and balance of his statements, the wealth of material collected and above all his robust and personal view of history make him a very important source; some would call him the only real Arab historian of the period. This marked individuality is also the cause of his defects as an author: a tendency sometimes to favour the Zangid dynasty (Zangi, Nur ad-Din and their successors), inaccurate chronology and sometimes a certain lack of respect for his sources. But with these reservations one can only admire the unity of a work that embraces the whole Muslim world from Transoxiana to the farthest
1 The order of these notes, which in all cases but the first corresponds to that in which the authors appear in the book, is only roughly related to their chronological order.
The Authors and Works xxiii
Maghrib and Spain, one in which the author seeks to trace the causal links of events, and is able to overcome the difficulties of the annalist's technique and present his facts clearly and convincingly.
For his history of the Crusades Ibn al-Athi? r was an eyewitness, although not always a sympathetic one, of Saladin's career, and made use of Ibn al-Qala? nisi, Baha? ' ad-Din and 'Ima? d ad-Din as sources. The clarity and simplicity of his style, which avoids archaisms and embellishments and aims at pre-senting the essential facts, has contributed to his reputation as the chief historian of the later Crusades.
Text: Tornberg's edition, vols. X, XI, XII, Leiden, 1853-64.
KAMA? L AD-DIN
Kama? l ad-Din Ibn al-'Adi? m (Aleppo 588/1192-Cairo 660/ 1262) was the historian of his native city, in particular in an enormous biographical work, not yet published in modern times, (Bughyat at-Talab, The Students' Desire), of which only a part remains, and also in a history of the city (Zubdat al-halab fi ta'ri? kh Halab, The Cream of the Milk in the History of Aleppo), based on material collected for the larger work and extending to 641/1243. This work does for Aleppo of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries what Ibn al-Qala? nisi's chronicle does for twelfth-century Damascus. Its value to historians of the Crusades is as an Arabic account of the events in northern Syria.
Text: Sami Dahha? n's edition, II, Damascus, 1954.
USAMA
Usama ibn Munqidh, Ami? r of Shaizar (Shaizar 488/1095- Damascus 584/1188) is one of the most interesting of the Syrian Arabs living during the Crusades. A man of action and a writer, horseman and huntsman, lover of books and courtier, and an unscrupulous political intriguer, he spent most of his long life in contact with the Franks, the ami? rs of Syria and the Fatimid Caliphs of Egypt, but in the end died in obscurity at the height of Saladin's triumphs. He owes his reputation to his autobiography (Kita? b al-I'tiba? r, Book of Instruction with illustrations), which has come down to us in an incomplete MS. in the Escurial. It is a sincere if rather verbose self-portrait, and a storehouse of anecdotal information about his Muslim and Frankish contemporaries. Only fragments of the rest of his rich literary production are preserved, among them the Kita? b al-'Asa (The Book of the Stick), a collection in the traditional Arabic manner of anecdotes, rhymes, sayings and proverbs on the subject of sticks. The last of our selections from his work is taken from this book.
Text: Derenbourg's edition, Paris, 1886 (and for the last example, H. Derenbourg, Ousama ibn Mounkidh. Un e? mir syrien au premier sie`cle des Croisades, I, Paris, 1893, pp. 528-29).
xxiv The Authors and Works
BAHA? ' AD-DIN
Baha? ' ad-Din Ibn Shadda? d (Mosul 539/1145-632/1234) entered Saladin's service in 1188, was made Qadi to the army and remained a faithful member of the Sultan's household until Saladin's death. Under his immediate successors he was Grand Qadi of Aleppo. His biography of the Sultan (an-Nawadir as-Sultaniyya wa l-mahasin al-yusufiyya, Sultanly Anecdotes and Josephly Virtues, Joseph being Saladin's personal name) is an excellent historical and biographical source, dictated by sincere devotion and admiration unmixed with servile flattery and based for the most part on personal observation. The style is simple and free from literary affectations. Baha? ' ad-Din gives us the most complete portrait we have of Saladin as the Muslims saw him, and a vivid chronicle of the Third Crusade.
Text: in Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Orientaux, III, Paris, 1884. 'IMA? D AD-DIN
'Ima? d ad-Din al-Isfahani (Isfahan 519/1125-Damascus 597/ 1201) was secretary to Nur ad-Din and then to Saladin, whose chancellor he was under the Qadi al-Fadil. He was a scholar and a rhetorician to the marrow and left a valuable anthology of twelfth-century Arabic poetry as well as various historical works, written from start to finish in the most ornate and artificial style of which the language is capable: blank and rhyming verse, uninterrupted sequences of alliteration, metaphors and puns. This difficult and tedious literary form soon led other anthologists such as Abu Shama (see below) to give the gist of 'Ima? d ad-Din's history elsewhere, but there are facts of vital historical importance not included in these synopses for which we must go back to the original. Preserved and published in the same volume is 'Ima? d ad-Din's history of the fall of Jerusalem, which extends as far as Saladin's death (al-Fath al-qussi fi l-fath al-qudsi, which might be translated Ciceronian Eloquence on the Conquest of the Holy City: puns find their way even into the title); we also have a part, still unedited, of the Barq ash-Shami, or Lightning of Syria, which chronicles Saladin's life and deeds from 1175. In these two works modern research is revealing, beneath the impossible style, an important source for Saladin's career and for events in Syria and Mesopotamia, in which 'Ima? d ad-Din was a protagonist and which he describes circumstantially, accurately and faithfully. We have, however, to contend with the fact, clearly revealed in the passages chosen, that the concrete details are almost lost in an appalling mass of verbiage.
Text: Landberg's edition, Leiden, 1888.
ABU SHAMA
Shiha? b ad-Din Abu l-Qasim Abu Shama (Damascus 599/ 1203-665/1267) was a philologist, teacher and industrious anthologist. His Kita? b ar-Raudata? in, The Book of the Two Gardens, concerning the two dynasties of Saladin and Nur ad-Din, brings together valuable material, for most of which we also have his original sources. He quotes (giving his references) from Ibn al-Qala? nisi, 'Ima? d ad-Din (reduced to a more sober and endurable style), Baha? ' ad-Din, Ibn al-Athi? r and others. More important to us are his quotations from the lost
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Shi'ite historian of Aleppo, Ibn Abi t-Tayy, among other things the author of a biography of Saladin. The Two Gardens also reproduces numerous documents from the Sultan's chancellery, most of them from the chief secretary, individual collections of whose letters also exist.
Text: Cairo 1287/1870.
MANAQIB RASHID AD-DIN
We use this name to refer to a writer of the Isma'ilite sect in Syria (the Assassins). The Virtues of our Lord Rashid ad-Din, as the full title of his work may be translated, is a collection of recollections and anecdotes about the Great Master Rashid ad-Din Sina? n, a contemporary of Saladin and thus leader of the sect in Syria at the time of Saladin's greatest power. These records, in which edification is given a much more important place than historical information, were collected in 1324 by an obscure follower of the sect, Shaikh Abu Fira? s of Ma? inaqa, at a time when the influence of the Isma'ilites was on the wane. The passage translated here appears, under its cloak of legend, to be an account of the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat.
Text: 'Journal Asiatique' series VII, IX (1877), pp. 324-489 (S. Guyard, Un grand Maitre des Assassins au temps de Saladin).
IBN WASIL
Jama? l ad-Din Ibn Wasil (Hama? t 604/1207-697/1298) held several offices under the last Ayyubids and early Mamlu? ks. In 1261 he went as Baibars' ambassador to Manfred, and ended his career as Grand Qadi of his native city. His greatest work (Mufarrij al-Kuru? b fi akhba? r Bani Ayyu? b, The Dissipator of Anxieties Concerning the History of the Ayyubids) is chiefly concerned with Saladin's career, but first deals with the history of the Zangids, and after Saladin with the Mamlu? ks up to 680/ 1282. It is therefore one of the best sources for the thirteenth-century Crusades (the Fifth Crusade, Frederick II's journey, St. Louis' Crusade); later anthologists have drawn from it. It has long remained unpublished, for no good reason, and an edition is only now under way. 1
Text: MS. Paris Ar. 1702 (photostat from the Caetani collection). SIBT IBN AL-JAUZI
The grandson (sibt) of an earlier chronicler, Ibn al-Jauzi, was a famous preacher who lived for most of his life in Damascus as a friend of the Ayyubid princes (Baghda? d 582/1186- Damascus 654/1256). His enormous and prolix universal history (Mir'a? t az-zama? n, The Mirror of the Times), of which two versions have come down to us, is particularly important
1 Three volumes, edited by M. Shayya? l (Cairo 1954-62) have so far appeared.
xxvi The Authors and Works
because of the period of the author's life and the course of Syrian history at that time. It is to this work, for example, that we owe the fascinating details of Frederick's visit to Jerusalem, as well as some illuminating details of the siege of Damascus by the Crusaders a century before.
Text: a partial edition by Jewett, Chicago, 1907 (covering the years of the hijra 495-654). For the siege of Damascus, see a note in Amedroz' edition of Ibn al-Qala? nisi.
Ta'ri? kh Mansuri
The chronicle, taking us up to 631/1233, of an obscure functionary of the Ayyubid princes of Syria, a certain Abu l-Fada'il of Hama? t; dedicated to al-Malik al-Mansu? r, Ami? r of Hims (from whom the title comes; A Mansurite History). Its importance lies in the facts it gives about Frederick II in the Holy Land, and the end of the Muslims in Sicily as described by Sicilian Arabs who came to Syria as emissaries and refugees. These valuable fragments, from the Asiatic Museum in Petersburg, were edited by Amari.
Text: in Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, Second Appendix, Leipzig, 1887. IBN 'ABD AZ-ZAHIR
Muhyi ad-Din Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir (Cairo 620/1233-692/1293) was secretary to the Mamlu? k Sultans Baibars and Qalawu? n, compiler of their official acts of chancellery and later their biographer, drawing on the material he had collected. Parts of Baibars' biography (Sirat al-Malik az-Zahir) still exist, and so does the anthology edited by his nephew Shafi' al- 'Asqalani. The greater part of the biography of Qalawu? n is to be found in the anonymous Tashri? f al-ayya? m wa l-'usu? r bi-sirat as-Sulta? n al-Malik al-Mansu? r (The Honouring of the Years and the Days, through the Life of the Sultan al-Malik al-Mansu? r). Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir also wrote a life of Qalawu? n's son al-Ashraf, conqueror of Acre, of which a fragment has been published. The rest of this author's work is so far unedited, despite his importance as a contemporary and witness of the events narrated and a transmitter of precious official documents (letters, treaties etc. ). Naturally his obsequious attitude to his masters makes it necessary to use his information with caution.
Text: Shafi''s anthology of the life of Baibars, MS. Paris Ar. 1707, and Tashri? f (Life of Qalawu? n) MS. Paris Ar. 1704 (photostat from the Caetani collection).
See Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir.
Tashri? f
MAQRIZI
Taqi ad-Din al-Maqrizi (Cairo 776/1364-845/1442), a great scholar and antiquarian, collected valuable material on the historical topography of Egypt. His importance for our period lies in one of his historical works which is almost entirely compiled from other
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writers (Ibn Wasil, Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi, Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir and other lesser-known sources) but which is indispensable in our present state of knowledge: his Kita? b as-sulu? k fi ma? 'rifa ta'ri? kh al-mulu? k, The Book of Proceeding to the Knowledge of the History of the Kings, which includes Ayyubid and Mamlu? k history from 577/1181 to 840/1436. It therefore covers the two Frankish expeditions to Egypt and the Mamlu? ks' final victory in Syria.
Text: M. Ziyade's edition, Cairo, 1934.
IBN AL-FURA? T
Nasir ad-Din Ibn al-Fura? t (Cairo 735/1334-807/1405) was, like Maqrizi and almost all his contemporaries, a great anthologist whose importance depends on that of the sources transcribed by him. His great Ta'ri? kh ad-duwal wa l-mulu? k, The History of the Dynasties and the Kings, of which parts of an unpublished MS. are in existence, brings us up to the end of the fourteenth century and contains interesting material on the early Mamlu? ks. Another long-recognized value of Ibn al-Fura? t, as of Abu Shama, is his quotations from the lost Ibn Abi t-Tayy on Saladin's life and times.
Text: Wien Ar. 814 A. F. , vols. VI, VII (photostat from the Caetani collection).
AL-'AINI
Badr ad-Din al-'Aini ('Ainta? b 762/1360--Cairo 855/1451) was a Mamlu? k official and courtier as well as a philologist and student of hadi? th. He also compiled a general history ('Iqd al-Juma? n fi ta'ri? kh ahl az-zama? n, The Necklace of Pears concerning the History of the People of the Time) which is usually consulted for sources not yet attributed to known authors or directly accessible.
Text: Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Orientaux, II, Paris, 1887. ABU L-FIDA? '
Abu l-Fida? ' 'Ima? d ad-Din Isma'i? l ibn 'Ali al-Ayyubi, the Abulfeda of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Arabists, is a sympathetic figure, an ami? r who is also a man of letters, rather in the style of Usama. He was a member of the Ayyubid house after it had lost all autonomous power, supplanted in Syria and Egypt by the Mamlu? ks, and he succeeded in getting them to recognize his rights to Hama? t, where he ruled with the title of al-Malik al-Mu' ayyad until his death. His two main literary works, the history (Mukhtasar ta'ri? kh al-Bashar, Historical Compendium of the Human Race) and the geography (Taqwi? m al-bulda? n, Determination of the Longitude of the Lands), happened to be among the first works of Arabic literature to be known and partially edited in Europe since the beginning of the modern Arabist movement here. This led at first to an over estimation of the value of these two anthologies, which have been almost supplanted by the older originals discovered since then. The section of the history dealing with the author's own lifetime retains its interest. He saw service as a young man at the fall of Tripoli and Acre and so was an eye- witness of the tragic ending of the Crusades.
xxviii The Authors and Works
Text: Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Orientaux, I, Paris, 1872.
ABU L-MAHASIN
Abu l-Mahasin Ibn Taghribirdi (Cairo 813/1411-874/1469) was also one of the group of soldiers and scholars who flourished in the Mamlu?
