Among the many Western works devoted to Saladin, we should single out that of S. Lane-Pool, published in London in 1898 under the title Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, this work has faded into obscurity in recent years. It was republished in Beirut in 1964, by Khayats.
Chapter 12
It seems that in 1219 al-Kāmil had a meeting with Francis of Assisi, who had come East in the vain hope of restoring peace. Al-Kāmil is said to have listened sympathetically to Francis and to have given him gifts; he then had him escorted back to the camp of the Franj. To my knowledge, no Arab source relates this event.
Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzi (1186–1256), an orator and chronicler of Damascus, published a voluminous universal history entitled Mirāt al-Zamān (The Mirror of Time), only some fragments of which have been published.
On the astonishing personality of the emperor, see Benoist-Meschin, Frédéric de Hohenstaufen ou le rêve excommunié, Paris 1980.
Chapter 13
For a history of the Mongols, see R. Grousset, l’Empire des steppes, Paris 1939. The exchange of letters between Louis IX and Ayyūb is reported by the Egyptian chronicler al-Maqrīzi (1364–1442).
Jamāl al-Dīn Ibn Wāṣil (1207–1298), a diplomat and lawyer, wrote a chronicle of the Ayyubid period and the beginning of the Mamluk era. To my knowledge, his work has never been published in full, although quotations and fragmentary translations exist in Michaud and Gabrieli.
After the destruction of Alamūt, the Assassins sect survived in the most peaceable form imaginable: as the Ismā‘īlis, followers of the Agha Khan. It is sometimes forgotten that he is the direct successor of Ḥasan Ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ.
The version of the deaths of Aybeg and Shajar al-Durr reported here is that of a popular medieval epic, Sīrat al-Malik al-Zāhir Baybars, as-Sakafiya, Beirut.
Chapter 14
The Egyptian chronicler Ibn ‘Abd-al-Ẓāhir (1233–1293), secretary of the sultans Baybars and Qalāwūn, suffered the misfortune of seeing his major work, ‘The Life of Baybars’, summarized by an ignorant nephew who left only a truncated and insipid text. The few fragments of the original work that have survived reveal Ibn ‘Abd-al-Ẓāhir’s genuine talent as writer and historian.
Of all the Arab historians and chroniclers that I have cited, Abu’l-Fidā’ (1273–1331) is the only one to have governed a state. Granted, it was a tiny one—the emirate of Hama—and the Ayyubid emir was therefore able to devote most of his time to his many literary works, among them Mukhtaṣar Tarīkh al-Bashar, ‘Summary of the History of Humanity’. Both the original text and a French translation may be found in Recueil des historiens des croisades.
Although Western domination of Tripoli ended in 1289, many names of Frankish origin have persisted down to modern times, both in the city and in neighbouring regions: Anjūl (Anjou), Dueyhi (Douai), Dikiz (de Guise), Dablīz (de Blise), Shanbūr (Chambord), Shanfūr (Chamfort), Franjieh (Franque).
In conclusion, let us mention three other works:
Z. Oldenburg, Les Croisades, Paris 1965, an account sensitive to the Oriental Christians.
R. Pernoud, Les Hommes des croisades, Paris 1977.
J. Sauveget, Historiens arabes, Paris 1946.
Chronology
Before the Invasion
622
The emigration—or hijra—of the Prophet Muḥammad from Mecca to Medina. Beginning of the Muslim calendar.
638
The caliph ‘Umar takes Jerusalem.
Seventh
and Eighth Centuries: the Arabs build an enormous empire, from the Indus River in the east to the Pyrenees in the west.
809
Death of the caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd: the Arab empire at its apogee.
Tenth Century: Although their civilzation is still flourishing,
political decline among the Arabs begins. The caliphs lose their power to Turkish and Persian military officers.
1055
The Seljuk Turks are rulers of Baghdad.
1071
The Seljuks crush the Byzantines at Malazgerd and seize Asia Minor. They soon control the entire Muslim East except for Egypt.
Invasion
1096
Kilij Arslan, sultan of Nicaea, crushes a Frankish invasion army led by Peter the Hermit.
1097
First great Frankish expedition. Nicaea is taken; Kilij Arslan is defeated at Dorylaeum.
1098
The Franj take Edessa and then Antioch, and triumph over a Muslim rescue army commanded by Karbūqa, ruler of Mosul. The incident of cannibalism in Ma‘arra.
1099
Fall of Jerusalem, followed by massacres and plunder. Debacle of the Egyptian rescue army. The qāḍī of Damascus, al-Ḥarwi, leads a delegation of refugees to Baghdad to denounce the lack of action by Muslim leaders in face of the invasion.
Occupation
1100
Baldwin, count of Edessa, escapes an ambush near Beirut and proclaims himself king of Jerusalem.
1104
Muslim victory at Ḥarrān, which checks the Frankish eastward advance.
1108
Curious battle near Tel Bāshir: two Islamo-Frankish coalitions confront one another.
1109
Fall of Tripoli after a 2000-day siege.
1110
Fall of Beirut and Saida.
1111
Ibn al-Khashāb, the qāḍī of Aleppo, organizes a riot against the caliph of Baghdad to demand intervention against the Frankish occupation.
1112
Victorious resistance at Tyre.
1115
Alliance of Muslim and Frankish princes of Syria against an army dispatched by the sultan.
1119
Ilghazi, ruler of Aleppo, crushes the Franj at Sarmada.
1124
The Franj take Tyre: they now occupy the entire coast, except for Ascalon.
1125
Ibn al-Khashāb is murdered by the Assassins sect.
Riposte
1128
Failure of a Franj thrust at Damascus. Zangī the ruler of Aleppo.
1135
Zangī tries, unsuccessfully, to take Damascus.
1137
Zangī captures Fulk, king of Jerusalem, then releases him.
1140
Alliance of Damascus and Jerusalem against Zangī.
1144
Zangī takes Edessa, destroying the first of the four Frankish states of the Orient.
1146
Murder of Zangī. His son Nūr al-Dīn replaces him in Aleppo.
Victory
1148
Debacle at Damascus for a new Frankish expedition led by Conrad, emperor of Germany, and Louis VII, king of France.
1154
Nūr al-Dīn takes control of Damascus, unifying Muslim Syria under his authority.
1163–69
The struggle for Egypt. Shīrkūh, lieutenant of Nūr al-Dīn, finally wins. Proclaimed vizier, he dies two months later. He is succeeded by his nephew Saladin.
1171
Saladin proclaims the overthrow of the Fatimid caliphate. Sole master of Egypt, he finds himself in conflict with Nūr al-Dīn.
1174
Death of Nūr al-Dīn. Saladin takes Damascus.
1183
Saladin takes Aleppo. Egypt and Syria now reunited under his aegis.
1187
The year of victory. Saladin crushes the Frankish armies at Ḥiṭṭīn, near Lake Tiberias. He reconquers Jerusalem and the greater part of the Frankish territories. The occupiers now hold only Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch.
Reprieve
1190–92
Setback for Saladin at Acre. Intervention of Richard the Lionheart, king of England, enables the Franj to recover several cities from the sultan, but not Jerusalem.
1193
Saladin dies in Damascus at the age of 55. After several years of civil war, his empire is reunited under the authority of his brother al-‘Ādil.
1
204
The Franj take Constantinople. Sack of the city.
1218–21
Invasion of Egypt by the Franj. They take Damietta and head for Cairo, but the sultan al-Kāmil, son of al-‘Ādil, finally repels them.
1229
Al-Kāmil delivers Jerusalem to the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, arousing a storm of indignation in the Arab world.
Expulsion
1244
The Franj lose Jerusalem for the last time.
1248–50
Invasion of Egypt by Louis IX, king of France, who is defeated and captured. Fall of the Ayyubid dynasty; replaced by the rule of the Mamluks.
1258
The Mongol chief Hülegü, grandson of Genghis Khan, sacks Baghdad, massacring the population and killing the last ‘Abbasid caliph.
1260
The Mongol army, after occupying first Aleppo and then Damascus, is defeated at the battle of ‘Ayn Jālūt in Palestine. Baybars at the head of the Mamluk sultanate.
1268
Baybars takes Antioch, which had been allied with the Mongols.
1270
Louis IX dies near Tunis in the course of a failed invasion.
1289
The Mamluk sultan Qalāwūn takes Tripoli.
1291
The sultan Khalīl, son of Qalāwūn, takes Acre, putting an end to two centuries of Frankish presence in the Orient.
Glossary
‘ālim (pl., ‘ulamā’). A doctor of Islamic sciences, in particular legal and religious studies. The term is occasionally applied to any learned man.
atabeg. A Turkish title literally meaning ‘prince-father’. Originally the atabegs were guardians appointed for minor princes of the Seljuk clan, but eventually they became de facto rulers.
basileus. The royal title used by ancient Greek kings; adopted by Heraclius in the year 610 and subsequently the official title of Byzantine emperors.
caliph. Anglicized form of the Arabic word khalīfa literally ‘successor’. The title was adopted by the first leaders of the Muslim state after the death of Muḥammad and designated the spiritual and temporal commander of the believers, or ‘prince of the faithful’. By the time of the Crusades, the caliphs were mere figureheads under the domination of other leaders.
dīwān. Although the word has various meanings, the sense here is ‘council’ or ‘court’, and by extension the room in which a council or court would meet.
emir. A Turkish title designating a military commander, derived from the Arabic amīr, originally meaning ‘one who commands’, or ‘prince’.
fidā'ī (pl., fidā'īn, or fedayeen). Literally, ‘one who sacrifices himself’. By extension, fighters who are prepared to risk their lives with abandon.
ḥammām. Public bath; also an important social institution in Arab society.
hijra. The ‘emigration’ of the Prophet Muḥammad from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. It marks the start of the Muslim calendar; the Anglicized form is ‘Hegira’.
imām. The leader of public prayers; also the leader of a Muslim community.
jihād. Holy war against unbelievers. In Islam, jihād is a duty of all Muslims, although there is disagreement about the form it must take and the circumstances in which it is appropriate.
khamsīn. A hot desert wind not unlike the Italian sirocco.
koran. Anglicized form of Qur'ān, the Muslim holy book.
mamlūk. Originally ‘slave’ (the word literally means ‘owned’); subsequently, a slave trained to be a soldier and even military commander; especially applied to those of Turkish or Circassian origin, who later founded a dynasty.
muezzin. Anglicized form of the Arabic mu'adhdhin, the man who calls the hour of prayer, usually from atop a minaret.
mujāhid (pl., mujāhidīn). Fighter, or freedom fighter. The word is derived from the same root as jihād.
mushrikīn. Polytheists. Derived from a root meaning ‘to associate’, it was originally applied to people who ‘associated’ other gods to the One True God.
qādī. A judge administering religious law, which in Islam is the basis of civil law as well.
ra'īs. President or ‘head’. Applied to various posts of civic responsibility.
sāḥil. Coast or coastline.
sharīf. A noble. Originally applied only to descendants of the Prophet, of the Hashemite clan.
Shi‘i. A Muslim who is a member of the religious current founded by the supporters of ‘Alī, the fourth caliph and cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad. Shi‘ism (derived from the word shī‘a, ‘party’ or ‘faction’, meaning the party or faction of ‘Alī) became the major minority religious grouping of Islam. Here, in contrast to Sunni (see below).
souk. A market-place, often consisting of dozens, even hundreds, of stalls and shops.
Sufi. A Muslim mystic, usually a member of a particular religious order with its own distinctive rites.
Sunni. A Muslim of the majority current of Islam. So-called because the Sunnis claim the authority of the sunna, or ‘practice’ of the Prophet.
‘ulamā’. See ‘ālim.
vizier. Anglicized form of the Arabic wazīr, or ‘minister’. Under the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt, the vizier was in charge of the administration of the realm, in the name of the caliph.
A Note on Pronunciation
As Amin Maalouf has said, he intends his work to be accessible to readers with no expert knowledge of the Middle East or the Arab world. At the same time, there seems little doubt that The Crusades Through Arab Eyes will be of special value to the growing number of people whose interest in Arab history and culture is more than merely casual. For this reason, it has been decided to transliterate the Arabic names and words that appear in the text. The standard system of transliteration adopted will be immediately comprehensible to those who know the Arabic alphabet. For those who do not, what follows is a rough guide to pronunciation.
The Arabic letters designated by Ṣ, ḍ, ẓ, and ṭ are known as ‘emphatic’, or ‘velarized’, consonants. Their pronunciation is similar to the equivalent letters without the dots, except that the back of the tongue is raised slightly (towards the velum) and they are articulated more strongly, giving them a somewhat ‘dark’ sound. The ḥ is a very strongly aspirated sound originating in the back of the throat; although it has no equivalent in any European language, its sound is not unlike that of an emphatically articulated h. The symbol ’ represents a glottal stop, the sound that begins each syllable of the English expression ‘uh-oh’ or the Cockney t. The symbol ‘ represents another sound with no European equivalent; phonetically, it is a voiced guttural stop produced in the very back of the throat, by constricting the larynx.
The combination dh represents the sound of the th in the English word then; kh is similar to the ch in the German ach or the Scottish loch, but is somewhat more guttural; gh represents a sound similar to the Parisian r, more or less the sound made when gargling.
Bars over the vowels (ā, ī, ū) indicate that they are to be pronounced long. Classical written Arabic, though rich in consonants, has only six pure vowels, three long and three short. The short ones are similar to the vowels in cat, did, and put; their long equivalents are, roughly, father, seen, and food. The diphthong ay is pronounced like the i in bite, aw like the ow in down.
All the other letters, including combinations of letters (th as in think, sh as in share), are similar to their English equivalents. The q is pronounced further back in the throat than the k.
In general, if the last syllable of a word has a long vowel or a diphthong, that syllable is accented. If the word has no long vowel or diphthong, it is accented on the third syllable from the end. Otherwise, the accent tends to fall on the penultimate syllable.
The hyphen does not stand for a sound, but simply indicates that the two components of a word are closely linked grammatically (for example al-, meaning ‘the’, which is prefixed to the word which follows). It can be ignored in pronunciation.
Index
‘Abaq 150, 151, 152, 153
Abāqā, Il-Khān 251
‘Abbasids 9, 29, 54, 55, 99, 119, 172, 243, 280
al-Abiwardi 268
Abū Bakr 216
Abū Firās 182
Abu’l-Faraj Basil 134, 135, 136
Abu’l-Fidā’ 254, 255, 257, 258, 259, 276
Abū Shama 273
Abū Ṭāhir 101, 102