They
therefore
sent to invite the Franks to invade Syria and so protect Egypt from the Muslims.
Arab-Historians-of-the-Crusades
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? k era. His great history of Egypt (An-Nuju? m az-Za? hira fi mulu? k Misr wa l-Qa? hira, The Shining Stars concerning the Kings of Egypt and Cairo), is a vast general chronicle of Egyptian history until 857/1453. It is however entirely an anthology of other men's work. His account of the siege and conquest of Acre under al-Ashraf (from a contemporary source), when compared with that of Abu l-Fida? ', is the most interesting Muslim account of the event known to us. In the published fragment of Ibn 'Abd az Zahir's biography of the Sultan there is no reference to this event.
Text: MS. Paris Ar. 1873 (photostat from the Caetani collection). 1
1 The relevant period is not included in the two Western editions of the Nuju? m, those of Juynboll and Matthes and of Popper. I have not been able to consult the Cairo edition.
Part One
FROM GODFREY TO SALADIN
CHAPTER ONE
Our main sources for the First Crusade are Ibn al-Qala? nisi of Damascus and the Mesopotamian Ibn al-Athi? r. Whereas Ibn al-Qala? nisi limits himself to a chronological list of events, Ibn al-Athi? r relates the various stages of the Crusade to the whole picture of Christian uprisings against Isla? m, beginning with the reconquest of Spain and the Norman invasion of Sicily. He gives the most complete and convincing, if not the most strictly factual, account of the fall of Antioch and Jerusalem, the establishment of Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land and the first Muslim attempts at retaliation.
THE FRANKS SEIZE ANTIOCH (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 185-8)
The power of the Franks first became apparent when in the year 478/1085-86 they invaded the territories of Isla? m and took Toledo and other parts of Andalusia, as was mentioned earlier. Then in 484/1091 they attacked and conquered the island of Sicily1 and turned their attention to the African coast. Certain of their conquests there were won back again but they had other successes, as you will see.
In 490/1097 the Franks attacked Syria. This is how it all began: Baldwin, their King,2 a kinsman of Roger the Frank who had conquered Sicily, assembled a great army and sent word to Roger saying: 'I have assembled a great army and now I am on my way to you, to use your bases for my conquest of the African coast. Thus you and I shall become neighbours. '
Roger called together his companions and consulted them about these proposals. 'This will be a fine thing both for them and for us! ' they declared, 'for by this means these lands will be converted to the Faith! ' At this Roger raised one leg and farted loudly, and swore that it was of more use than their advice. 1 'Why? ' 'Because if this army comes here it will need quantities of provisions and fleets of ships to transport it to Africa, as well as reinforcements from my own troops. Then, if the Franks succeed in conquering this territory they will take it over and will need provisioning from Sicily. This will cost me my annual profit from the harvest. If they fail they will return here and be an embarrassment to me here in my own domain. As well as all this Tami? m2 will say that I have broken faith
This date clearly refers to the end of the Norman conquest.
This Baldwin (Bardawi? l) is a mythical character, compounded of the various Baldwins of Flanders and Jerusalem; or else the first Baldwin is mistakenly thought to have been already a king in the West.
It is disagreeable to find the great Count acting like a barbarian on the very first page, but the passage is characteristic of the contemptuous crudity with which the Muslims usually spoke of their enemies, as well as giving a fairly accurate picture of Roger's political acumen.
The Zirid ami? r of Tunisia Tami? m ibn Mu'i? zz.
1 2
1
2
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 3
with him and violated our treaty, and friendly relations and communications between us will be disrupted. As far as we are concerned, Africa is always there. When we are strong enough we will take it. '
He summoned Baldwin's messenger and said to him: 'If you have decided to make war on the Muslims your best course will be to free Jerusalem from their rule and thereby win great honour. I am bound by certain promises and treaties of allegiance with the rulers of Africa. ' So the Franks made ready and set out to attack Syria.
Another story is that the Fatimids of Egypt were afraid when they saw the Seljuqids extending their empire through Syria as far as Gaza, until they reached the Egyptian border and Atsiz3 invaded Egypt itself.
They therefore sent to invite the Franks to invade Syria and so protect Egypt from the Muslims. 4 But God knows best.
When the Franks decided to attack Syria they marched east to Constantinople, so that they could cross the straits and advance into Muslim territory by the easier, land route. When they reached Constantinople, the Emperor of the East refused them permission to pass through his domains. He said: 'Unless you first promise me Antioch, I shall not allow you to cross into the Muslim empire. ' His real intention was to incite them to attack the Muslims, for he was convinced that the Turks, whose invincible control over Asia Minor he had observed, would exterminate every one of them. They accepted his conditions and in 490/1097 they crossed the Bosphorus at Constantinople. Iconium and the rest of the area into which they now advanced belonged to Qilij Arsla? n ibn Sulaima? n ibn Qutlumi? sh, who barred their way with his troops. They broke through1 in rajab 490/July 1097, crossed Cilicia,2 and finally reached Antioch, which they besieged.
When Yaghi Siya? n, the ruler of Antioch, heard of their approach, he was not sure how the Christian people of the city would react, so he made the Muslims go outside the city on their own to dig trenches, and the next day sent the Christians out alone to continue the task. When they were ready to return home at the end of the day he refused to allow them. 'Antioch is yours,' he said, 'but you will have to leave it to me until I see what happens between us and the Franks. ' 'Who will protect our children and our wives? ' they said. 'I shall look after them for you. ' So they resigned themselves to their fate, and lived in the Frankish camp for nine months, while the city was under siege.
Yaghi Siya? n showed unparalleled courage and wisdom, strength and judgment. If all the Franks who died had survived they would have overrun all the lands of Isla? m. He protected the families of the Christians in Antioch and would not allow a hair of their heads to be touched.
After the siege had been going on for a long time the Franks made a deal with one of the men who were responsible for the towers. He was a cuirass-maker called Ruzbih1 whom they bribed with. a fortune in money and lands. He worked in the tower that stood over the river-bed, where the river flowed out of the city into the valley. The Franks sealed their pact
A general of the Seljuqid Sultan Maliksha? h, who in 1076 attacked Egypt from Palestine.
Of course the Fatimids were also Muslims, but they were heretics and so opposed to the rest of sunni Isla? m.
At Dorylaeum.
Literally 'the land of the son of Armenus' as the Arab writers call the Lesser Armenia of the Cilician Roupenians.
Firu? z is an alternative reading.
3 4
1 2
1
4 Arab Historians of the Crusades
with the cuirass-maker, God damn him! and made their way to the water-gate. They opened it and entered the city. Another gang of them climbed the tower with ropes. At dawn, when more than 500 of them were in the city and the defenders were worn out after the night watch, they sounded their trumpets. Yaghi Siya? n woke up and asked what the noise meant. He was told that trumpets had sounded from the citadel and that it must have been taken. In fact the sound came not from the citadel but from the tower. Panic seized Yaghi Siya? n and he opened the city gates and fled in terror, with an escort of thirty pages. His army commander arrived, but when he discovered on enquiry that Yaghi Siya? n had fled, he made his escape by another gate. This was of great help to the Franks, for if he had stood firm for an hour, they would have been wiped out. They entered the city by the gates and sacked it, slaughtering all the Muslims they found there. This happened in jumada I (491/ April/May 1098). 2 As for Yaghi Siya? n, when the sun rose he recovered his self control and realized that his flight had taken him several farsakh3 from the city. He asked his companions where he was, and on hearing that he was four farsakh from Antioch he repented of having rushed to safety instead of staying to fight to the death. He began to groan and weep for his desertion of his household and children. Overcome by the violence of his grief he fell fainting from his horse. His companions tried to lift him back into the saddle, but they could not get him to sit up, and so left him for dead while they escaped.
He was at his last gasp when an Armenian shepherd came past, killed him, cut off his head and took it to the Franks at Antioch.
The Franks had written to the rulers of Aleppo and Damascus to say that they had no interest in any cities but those that had once belonged to Byzantium. This was a piece of deceit calculated to dissuade these rulers from going to the help of Antioch.
THE MUSLIM ATTACK ON THE FRANKS, AND ITS RESULTS (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 188-90)
When Qawa? m ad-Daula Kerbuqa? 1 heard that the Franks had taken Antioch he mustered his army and advanced into Syria, where he camped at Marj Dabiq. All the Turkish and Arab forces in Syria rallied to him except for the army from Aleppo. Among his supporters were Duqa? q ibn Tutu? sh,2 the Ata-beg Tughtiki? n, Jana? h ad-Daula of Hims, Arsla? n Tash of Sanja? r, Sulaima? n ibn Artu? q and other less important ami? rs. When the Franks heard of this they were alarmed and afraid, for their troops were weak and short of food. The Muslims advanced and came face to face with the Franks in front of Antioch. Kerbuqa? , thinking that the present crisis would force the Muslims to remain loyal to him, alienated them by his pride and ill-treatment of them. They plotted in secret anger to betray him and desert him in the heat of battle.
After taking Antioch the Franks camped there for twelve days without food. The wealthy ate their horses and the poor ate carrion and leaves from the trees. Their leaders, faced
The Turkish ami? r of Mosul.
The Seljuqid Lord of Damascus, soon to be succeeded by his general, the Ata-beg Tughtiki? n, whose name comes next on the list and who was to be one of the most active and tenacious opponents of the Crusades during this first phase of conquest.
1 2
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 5
with this situation, wrote to Kerbuqa? to ask for safe-conduct through his territory but he refused, saying 'You will have to fight your way out. ' Among the Frankish leaders were Baldwin,1 Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, the future Count of Edessa, and their leader Bohemond of Antioch. There was also a holy man who had great influence over them, a man of low cunning, who proclaimed that the Messiah had a lance buried in the Qusya? n, a great building in Antioch:2 'And if you find it you will be victorious and if you fail you will surely die. ' Before saying this he had buried a lance in a certain spot and concealed all trace of it. He exhorted them to fast and repent for three days, and on the fourth day he led them all to the spot with their soldiers and workmen, who dug everywhere and found the lance as he had told them. 3 Whereupon he cried 'Rejoice! For victory is secure. ' So on the fifth day they left the city in groups of five or six. The Muslims said to Kerbuqa? : 'You should go up to the city and kill them one by one as they come out; it is easy to pick them off now that they have split up. ' He replied: 'No, wait until they have all come out and then we will kill them. ' He would not allow them to attack the enemy and when some Muslims killed a group of Franks, he went himself to forbid such behaviour and prevent its recurrence. When all the Franks had come out and not one was left in Antioch, they began to attack strongly, and the Muslims turned and fled. This was Kerbuqa? 's fault, first because he had treated the Muslims with such contempt and scorn, and second because he had prevented their killing the Franks. The Muslims were completely routed without striking a single blow or firing a single arrow. The last to flee were Suqma? n ibn Artu? q and Jana? h ad-Daula, who had been sent to set an ambush. Kerbuqa? escaped with them. When the Franks saw this they were afraid that a trap was being set for them, for there had not even been any fighting to flee from, so they dared not follow them. The only Muslims to stand firm were a detachment of warriors from the Holy Land, who fought to acquire merit in God's eyes and to seek martyrdom. The Franks killed them by the thousand and stripped their camp of food and possessions, equipment, horses and arms, with which they re-equipped themselves.
THE FRANKS TAKE MA'ARRAT AN-NU'MA? N (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 190)
After dealing this blow to the Muslims the Franks marched on Ma'arrat an-Nu'ma? n and besieged it. The inhabitants valiantly defended their city. When the Franks realized the fierce determination and devotion of the defenders they built a wooden tower as high as the city wall and fought from the top of it, but failed to do the Muslims any serious harm. One night a few Muslims were seized with panic and in their demoralized state thought that if they barricaded themselves into one of the town's largest buildings they would be in a better position to defend themselves, so they climbed down from the wall and abandoned the position they were defending. Others saw them and followed their example,
Baldwin of Le Bourg, later Baldwin II.
The Church of St. Peter in Antioch, called in Byzantine sources Ka? ? i? vo? ? and in Arabic sources Qusya? n, from the name of the man whose son was raised from the dead by St. Peter.
The Finding of the Sacred Lance, at the instigation of Peter Bartholomew, seen through rationalistic Muslim eyes.
1 2
3
6 Arab Historians of the Crusades
leaving another stretch of wall undefended, and gradually, as one group followed another, the whole wall was left unprotected and the Franks scaled it with ladders. Their appearance in the city terrified the Muslims, who shut themselves up in their houses. For three days the slaughter never stopped; the Franks killed more than 100,000 men and took innumerable prisoners. After taking the town the Franks spent six weeks shut up there, then sent an expedition to 'Arqa, which they besieged for four months. Although they breached the wall in many places they failed to storm it. Munqidh, the ruler of Shaizar, made a treaty with them about 'Arqa and they left it to pass on to Hims. Here too the ruler Jana? h ad-Daula made a treaty with them, and they advanced to Acre by way of an-Nawaqir. However they did not succeed in taking Acre.
THE FRANKS CONQUER JERUSALEM (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 193-95)
Taj ad-Daula Tutu? sh1 was the Lord of Jerusalem but had given it as a feoff to the ami? r Suqma? n ibn Artu? q the Turcoman. When the Franks defeated the Turks at Antioch the massacre demoralized them, and the Egyptians, who saw that the Turkish armies were being weakened by desertion, besieged Jerusalem under the command of al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali. 2 Inside the city were Artu? q's sons, Suqma? n and Ilghazi, their cousin Sunij and their nephew Yaquti. The Egyptians brought more than forty siege engines to attack Jerusalem and broke down the walls at several polnts. The inhabitants put up a defence, and the siege and fighting went on for more than six weeks. In the end the Egyptians forced the city to capitulate, in sha'ba? n 489/August 1096. 3 Suqma? n, Ilghazi and their friends were well treated by al-Afdal, who gave them large gifts of money and let them go free. They made for Damascus and then crossed the Euphrates. Suqma? n settled in Edessa and Ilghazi went on into Iraq. The Egyptian governor of Jerusalem was a certain Iftikha? r ad-Daula, who was still there at the time of which we are speaking.
After their vain attempt to take Acre by siege, the Franks moved on to Jerusalem and besieged it for more than six weeks. They built two towers, one of which, near Sion, the Muslims burnt down, killing everyone inside it. It had scarcely ceased to burn before a messenger arrived to ask for help and to bring the news that the other side of the city had fallen. In fact Jerusalem was taken from the north on the morning of Friday 22 sha'ba? n 492/15 July 1099. The population was put to the sword by the Franks, who pillaged the area for a week. A band of Muslims barricaded themselves into the Oratory of David1 and fought on for several days. They were granted their lives in return for surrendering. The Franks honoured their word, and the group left by night for Ascalon. In the Masjid al-Aqsa the Franks slaughtered more than 70,000 people, among them a large number of Imams
A Syrian Seljuqid, Maliksha? h's brother.
The Fatimid vizier.
If this date were correct the connection with the fall of Antioch would no longer exist. In fact the date given here is wrong: the Egyptians took Jerusalem in August 1098.
The Mihra? b Dawu? d, called the Tower of David in the European sources, in the citadel at Jerusalem. Not to be confused with a small sanctuary of the same name in the Temple precinct.
1 2 3
1
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 7
and Muslim scholars, devout and ascetic men who had left their homelands to live lives of pious seclusion in the Holy Place. The Franks stripped the Dome of the Rock2 of more than forty silver candelabra, each of them weighing 3,600 drams, and a great silver lamp weighing forty-four Syrian pounds, as well as a hundred and fifty smaller silver candelabra and more than twenty gold ones, and a great deal more booty. Refugees from Syria reached Baghda? d in ramadan, among them the qadi Abu Sa'd al-Ha? rawi. They told the Caliph's ministers a story that wrung their hearts and brought tears to their eyes. On Friday they went to the Cathedral Mosque and begged for help, weeping so that their hearers wept with them as they described the sufferings of the Muslims in that Holy City: the men killed, the women and children taken prisoner, the homes pillaged. Because of the terrible hardships they had suffered, they were allowed to break the fast.
** *
It was the discord between the Muslim princes, as we shall describe, that enabled the
Franks to overrun the country. Abu l-Muzaffar al-Abiwardi1 composed several poems on this subject, in one of which he says:
We have mingled blood with flowing tears, and there is no room left in us for pity(? ) To shed tears is a man's worst weapon when the swords stir up the embers of war. Sons of Isla? m, behind you are battles in which heads rolled at your feet.
Dare you slumber in the blessed shade of safety, where life is as soft as an orchard
flower?
How can the eye sleep between the lids at a time of disasters that would waken any sleeper? While your Syrian brothers can only sleep on the backs of their chargers, or in vultures'
bellies!
Must the foreigners feed on our ignominy, while you trail behind you the train of a
pleasant life, like men whose world is at peace?
When blood has been spilt, when sweet girls must for shame hide their lovely faces in
their hands!
When the white swords' points are red with blood, and the iron of the brown lances is
stained with gore!
At the sound of sword hammering on lance young children's hair turns white.
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? k era. His great history of Egypt (An-Nuju? m az-Za? hira fi mulu? k Misr wa l-Qa? hira, The Shining Stars concerning the Kings of Egypt and Cairo), is a vast general chronicle of Egyptian history until 857/1453. It is however entirely an anthology of other men's work. His account of the siege and conquest of Acre under al-Ashraf (from a contemporary source), when compared with that of Abu l-Fida? ', is the most interesting Muslim account of the event known to us. In the published fragment of Ibn 'Abd az Zahir's biography of the Sultan there is no reference to this event.
Text: MS. Paris Ar. 1873 (photostat from the Caetani collection). 1
1 The relevant period is not included in the two Western editions of the Nuju? m, those of Juynboll and Matthes and of Popper. I have not been able to consult the Cairo edition.
Part One
FROM GODFREY TO SALADIN
CHAPTER ONE
Our main sources for the First Crusade are Ibn al-Qala? nisi of Damascus and the Mesopotamian Ibn al-Athi? r. Whereas Ibn al-Qala? nisi limits himself to a chronological list of events, Ibn al-Athi? r relates the various stages of the Crusade to the whole picture of Christian uprisings against Isla? m, beginning with the reconquest of Spain and the Norman invasion of Sicily. He gives the most complete and convincing, if not the most strictly factual, account of the fall of Antioch and Jerusalem, the establishment of Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land and the first Muslim attempts at retaliation.
THE FRANKS SEIZE ANTIOCH (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 185-8)
The power of the Franks first became apparent when in the year 478/1085-86 they invaded the territories of Isla? m and took Toledo and other parts of Andalusia, as was mentioned earlier. Then in 484/1091 they attacked and conquered the island of Sicily1 and turned their attention to the African coast. Certain of their conquests there were won back again but they had other successes, as you will see.
In 490/1097 the Franks attacked Syria. This is how it all began: Baldwin, their King,2 a kinsman of Roger the Frank who had conquered Sicily, assembled a great army and sent word to Roger saying: 'I have assembled a great army and now I am on my way to you, to use your bases for my conquest of the African coast. Thus you and I shall become neighbours. '
Roger called together his companions and consulted them about these proposals. 'This will be a fine thing both for them and for us! ' they declared, 'for by this means these lands will be converted to the Faith! ' At this Roger raised one leg and farted loudly, and swore that it was of more use than their advice. 1 'Why? ' 'Because if this army comes here it will need quantities of provisions and fleets of ships to transport it to Africa, as well as reinforcements from my own troops. Then, if the Franks succeed in conquering this territory they will take it over and will need provisioning from Sicily. This will cost me my annual profit from the harvest. If they fail they will return here and be an embarrassment to me here in my own domain. As well as all this Tami? m2 will say that I have broken faith
This date clearly refers to the end of the Norman conquest.
This Baldwin (Bardawi? l) is a mythical character, compounded of the various Baldwins of Flanders and Jerusalem; or else the first Baldwin is mistakenly thought to have been already a king in the West.
It is disagreeable to find the great Count acting like a barbarian on the very first page, but the passage is characteristic of the contemptuous crudity with which the Muslims usually spoke of their enemies, as well as giving a fairly accurate picture of Roger's political acumen.
The Zirid ami? r of Tunisia Tami? m ibn Mu'i? zz.
1 2
1
2
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 3
with him and violated our treaty, and friendly relations and communications between us will be disrupted. As far as we are concerned, Africa is always there. When we are strong enough we will take it. '
He summoned Baldwin's messenger and said to him: 'If you have decided to make war on the Muslims your best course will be to free Jerusalem from their rule and thereby win great honour. I am bound by certain promises and treaties of allegiance with the rulers of Africa. ' So the Franks made ready and set out to attack Syria.
Another story is that the Fatimids of Egypt were afraid when they saw the Seljuqids extending their empire through Syria as far as Gaza, until they reached the Egyptian border and Atsiz3 invaded Egypt itself.
They therefore sent to invite the Franks to invade Syria and so protect Egypt from the Muslims. 4 But God knows best.
When the Franks decided to attack Syria they marched east to Constantinople, so that they could cross the straits and advance into Muslim territory by the easier, land route. When they reached Constantinople, the Emperor of the East refused them permission to pass through his domains. He said: 'Unless you first promise me Antioch, I shall not allow you to cross into the Muslim empire. ' His real intention was to incite them to attack the Muslims, for he was convinced that the Turks, whose invincible control over Asia Minor he had observed, would exterminate every one of them. They accepted his conditions and in 490/1097 they crossed the Bosphorus at Constantinople. Iconium and the rest of the area into which they now advanced belonged to Qilij Arsla? n ibn Sulaima? n ibn Qutlumi? sh, who barred their way with his troops. They broke through1 in rajab 490/July 1097, crossed Cilicia,2 and finally reached Antioch, which they besieged.
When Yaghi Siya? n, the ruler of Antioch, heard of their approach, he was not sure how the Christian people of the city would react, so he made the Muslims go outside the city on their own to dig trenches, and the next day sent the Christians out alone to continue the task. When they were ready to return home at the end of the day he refused to allow them. 'Antioch is yours,' he said, 'but you will have to leave it to me until I see what happens between us and the Franks. ' 'Who will protect our children and our wives? ' they said. 'I shall look after them for you. ' So they resigned themselves to their fate, and lived in the Frankish camp for nine months, while the city was under siege.
Yaghi Siya? n showed unparalleled courage and wisdom, strength and judgment. If all the Franks who died had survived they would have overrun all the lands of Isla? m. He protected the families of the Christians in Antioch and would not allow a hair of their heads to be touched.
After the siege had been going on for a long time the Franks made a deal with one of the men who were responsible for the towers. He was a cuirass-maker called Ruzbih1 whom they bribed with. a fortune in money and lands. He worked in the tower that stood over the river-bed, where the river flowed out of the city into the valley. The Franks sealed their pact
A general of the Seljuqid Sultan Maliksha? h, who in 1076 attacked Egypt from Palestine.
Of course the Fatimids were also Muslims, but they were heretics and so opposed to the rest of sunni Isla? m.
At Dorylaeum.
Literally 'the land of the son of Armenus' as the Arab writers call the Lesser Armenia of the Cilician Roupenians.
Firu? z is an alternative reading.
3 4
1 2
1
4 Arab Historians of the Crusades
with the cuirass-maker, God damn him! and made their way to the water-gate. They opened it and entered the city. Another gang of them climbed the tower with ropes. At dawn, when more than 500 of them were in the city and the defenders were worn out after the night watch, they sounded their trumpets. Yaghi Siya? n woke up and asked what the noise meant. He was told that trumpets had sounded from the citadel and that it must have been taken. In fact the sound came not from the citadel but from the tower. Panic seized Yaghi Siya? n and he opened the city gates and fled in terror, with an escort of thirty pages. His army commander arrived, but when he discovered on enquiry that Yaghi Siya? n had fled, he made his escape by another gate. This was of great help to the Franks, for if he had stood firm for an hour, they would have been wiped out. They entered the city by the gates and sacked it, slaughtering all the Muslims they found there. This happened in jumada I (491/ April/May 1098). 2 As for Yaghi Siya? n, when the sun rose he recovered his self control and realized that his flight had taken him several farsakh3 from the city. He asked his companions where he was, and on hearing that he was four farsakh from Antioch he repented of having rushed to safety instead of staying to fight to the death. He began to groan and weep for his desertion of his household and children. Overcome by the violence of his grief he fell fainting from his horse. His companions tried to lift him back into the saddle, but they could not get him to sit up, and so left him for dead while they escaped.
He was at his last gasp when an Armenian shepherd came past, killed him, cut off his head and took it to the Franks at Antioch.
The Franks had written to the rulers of Aleppo and Damascus to say that they had no interest in any cities but those that had once belonged to Byzantium. This was a piece of deceit calculated to dissuade these rulers from going to the help of Antioch.
THE MUSLIM ATTACK ON THE FRANKS, AND ITS RESULTS (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 188-90)
When Qawa? m ad-Daula Kerbuqa? 1 heard that the Franks had taken Antioch he mustered his army and advanced into Syria, where he camped at Marj Dabiq. All the Turkish and Arab forces in Syria rallied to him except for the army from Aleppo. Among his supporters were Duqa? q ibn Tutu? sh,2 the Ata-beg Tughtiki? n, Jana? h ad-Daula of Hims, Arsla? n Tash of Sanja? r, Sulaima? n ibn Artu? q and other less important ami? rs. When the Franks heard of this they were alarmed and afraid, for their troops were weak and short of food. The Muslims advanced and came face to face with the Franks in front of Antioch. Kerbuqa? , thinking that the present crisis would force the Muslims to remain loyal to him, alienated them by his pride and ill-treatment of them. They plotted in secret anger to betray him and desert him in the heat of battle.
After taking Antioch the Franks camped there for twelve days without food. The wealthy ate their horses and the poor ate carrion and leaves from the trees. Their leaders, faced
The Turkish ami? r of Mosul.
The Seljuqid Lord of Damascus, soon to be succeeded by his general, the Ata-beg Tughtiki? n, whose name comes next on the list and who was to be one of the most active and tenacious opponents of the Crusades during this first phase of conquest.
1 2
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 5
with this situation, wrote to Kerbuqa? to ask for safe-conduct through his territory but he refused, saying 'You will have to fight your way out. ' Among the Frankish leaders were Baldwin,1 Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, the future Count of Edessa, and their leader Bohemond of Antioch. There was also a holy man who had great influence over them, a man of low cunning, who proclaimed that the Messiah had a lance buried in the Qusya? n, a great building in Antioch:2 'And if you find it you will be victorious and if you fail you will surely die. ' Before saying this he had buried a lance in a certain spot and concealed all trace of it. He exhorted them to fast and repent for three days, and on the fourth day he led them all to the spot with their soldiers and workmen, who dug everywhere and found the lance as he had told them. 3 Whereupon he cried 'Rejoice! For victory is secure. ' So on the fifth day they left the city in groups of five or six. The Muslims said to Kerbuqa? : 'You should go up to the city and kill them one by one as they come out; it is easy to pick them off now that they have split up. ' He replied: 'No, wait until they have all come out and then we will kill them. ' He would not allow them to attack the enemy and when some Muslims killed a group of Franks, he went himself to forbid such behaviour and prevent its recurrence. When all the Franks had come out and not one was left in Antioch, they began to attack strongly, and the Muslims turned and fled. This was Kerbuqa? 's fault, first because he had treated the Muslims with such contempt and scorn, and second because he had prevented their killing the Franks. The Muslims were completely routed without striking a single blow or firing a single arrow. The last to flee were Suqma? n ibn Artu? q and Jana? h ad-Daula, who had been sent to set an ambush. Kerbuqa? escaped with them. When the Franks saw this they were afraid that a trap was being set for them, for there had not even been any fighting to flee from, so they dared not follow them. The only Muslims to stand firm were a detachment of warriors from the Holy Land, who fought to acquire merit in God's eyes and to seek martyrdom. The Franks killed them by the thousand and stripped their camp of food and possessions, equipment, horses and arms, with which they re-equipped themselves.
THE FRANKS TAKE MA'ARRAT AN-NU'MA? N (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 190)
After dealing this blow to the Muslims the Franks marched on Ma'arrat an-Nu'ma? n and besieged it. The inhabitants valiantly defended their city. When the Franks realized the fierce determination and devotion of the defenders they built a wooden tower as high as the city wall and fought from the top of it, but failed to do the Muslims any serious harm. One night a few Muslims were seized with panic and in their demoralized state thought that if they barricaded themselves into one of the town's largest buildings they would be in a better position to defend themselves, so they climbed down from the wall and abandoned the position they were defending. Others saw them and followed their example,
Baldwin of Le Bourg, later Baldwin II.
The Church of St. Peter in Antioch, called in Byzantine sources Ka? ? i? vo? ? and in Arabic sources Qusya? n, from the name of the man whose son was raised from the dead by St. Peter.
The Finding of the Sacred Lance, at the instigation of Peter Bartholomew, seen through rationalistic Muslim eyes.
1 2
3
6 Arab Historians of the Crusades
leaving another stretch of wall undefended, and gradually, as one group followed another, the whole wall was left unprotected and the Franks scaled it with ladders. Their appearance in the city terrified the Muslims, who shut themselves up in their houses. For three days the slaughter never stopped; the Franks killed more than 100,000 men and took innumerable prisoners. After taking the town the Franks spent six weeks shut up there, then sent an expedition to 'Arqa, which they besieged for four months. Although they breached the wall in many places they failed to storm it. Munqidh, the ruler of Shaizar, made a treaty with them about 'Arqa and they left it to pass on to Hims. Here too the ruler Jana? h ad-Daula made a treaty with them, and they advanced to Acre by way of an-Nawaqir. However they did not succeed in taking Acre.
THE FRANKS CONQUER JERUSALEM (IBN AL-ATHI? R, X, 193-95)
Taj ad-Daula Tutu? sh1 was the Lord of Jerusalem but had given it as a feoff to the ami? r Suqma? n ibn Artu? q the Turcoman. When the Franks defeated the Turks at Antioch the massacre demoralized them, and the Egyptians, who saw that the Turkish armies were being weakened by desertion, besieged Jerusalem under the command of al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali. 2 Inside the city were Artu? q's sons, Suqma? n and Ilghazi, their cousin Sunij and their nephew Yaquti. The Egyptians brought more than forty siege engines to attack Jerusalem and broke down the walls at several polnts. The inhabitants put up a defence, and the siege and fighting went on for more than six weeks. In the end the Egyptians forced the city to capitulate, in sha'ba? n 489/August 1096. 3 Suqma? n, Ilghazi and their friends were well treated by al-Afdal, who gave them large gifts of money and let them go free. They made for Damascus and then crossed the Euphrates. Suqma? n settled in Edessa and Ilghazi went on into Iraq. The Egyptian governor of Jerusalem was a certain Iftikha? r ad-Daula, who was still there at the time of which we are speaking.
After their vain attempt to take Acre by siege, the Franks moved on to Jerusalem and besieged it for more than six weeks. They built two towers, one of which, near Sion, the Muslims burnt down, killing everyone inside it. It had scarcely ceased to burn before a messenger arrived to ask for help and to bring the news that the other side of the city had fallen. In fact Jerusalem was taken from the north on the morning of Friday 22 sha'ba? n 492/15 July 1099. The population was put to the sword by the Franks, who pillaged the area for a week. A band of Muslims barricaded themselves into the Oratory of David1 and fought on for several days. They were granted their lives in return for surrendering. The Franks honoured their word, and the group left by night for Ascalon. In the Masjid al-Aqsa the Franks slaughtered more than 70,000 people, among them a large number of Imams
A Syrian Seljuqid, Maliksha? h's brother.
The Fatimid vizier.
If this date were correct the connection with the fall of Antioch would no longer exist. In fact the date given here is wrong: the Egyptians took Jerusalem in August 1098.
The Mihra? b Dawu? d, called the Tower of David in the European sources, in the citadel at Jerusalem. Not to be confused with a small sanctuary of the same name in the Temple precinct.
1 2 3
1
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 7
and Muslim scholars, devout and ascetic men who had left their homelands to live lives of pious seclusion in the Holy Place. The Franks stripped the Dome of the Rock2 of more than forty silver candelabra, each of them weighing 3,600 drams, and a great silver lamp weighing forty-four Syrian pounds, as well as a hundred and fifty smaller silver candelabra and more than twenty gold ones, and a great deal more booty. Refugees from Syria reached Baghda? d in ramadan, among them the qadi Abu Sa'd al-Ha? rawi. They told the Caliph's ministers a story that wrung their hearts and brought tears to their eyes. On Friday they went to the Cathedral Mosque and begged for help, weeping so that their hearers wept with them as they described the sufferings of the Muslims in that Holy City: the men killed, the women and children taken prisoner, the homes pillaged. Because of the terrible hardships they had suffered, they were allowed to break the fast.
** *
It was the discord between the Muslim princes, as we shall describe, that enabled the
Franks to overrun the country. Abu l-Muzaffar al-Abiwardi1 composed several poems on this subject, in one of which he says:
We have mingled blood with flowing tears, and there is no room left in us for pity(? ) To shed tears is a man's worst weapon when the swords stir up the embers of war. Sons of Isla? m, behind you are battles in which heads rolled at your feet.
Dare you slumber in the blessed shade of safety, where life is as soft as an orchard
flower?
How can the eye sleep between the lids at a time of disasters that would waken any sleeper? While your Syrian brothers can only sleep on the backs of their chargers, or in vultures'
bellies!
Must the foreigners feed on our ignominy, while you trail behind you the train of a
pleasant life, like men whose world is at peace?
When blood has been spilt, when sweet girls must for shame hide their lovely faces in
their hands!
When the white swords' points are red with blood, and the iron of the brown lances is
stained with gore!
At the sound of sword hammering on lance young children's hair turns white.
