Cosmopolitan Trade Centre or Bone of Contention? Alexandria and the Crusades, 487–857/1095–1453

Abstract

This article examines the position of Alexandria during the crusading period (487–857/1095–1453), seeking to open up the question indicated in the title for discussion. Did Alexandria's importance as a trade centre have an impact on whether or not it became the target of military attacks by the Franks? What other forms of contention was it a focus for during the period? While not claiming to provide conclusive answers, we seek at least to provide a starting point for discussion of this complex issue.     

The Tin Trade and Medieval Ceramics: Tracing the Sources of Tin and its Influence on Mediterranean Ceramics Production

This paper examines the role played by the availability of tin in the development of a commercial, glazed ceramics industry in the medieval workshops of Paterna, in eastern Spain. Tin was an essential ingredient that was used by potters since the ninth century in Iraq to make ceramic glazes opaque. However, it is a relatively scarce raw material, which had to be sourced and imported by many potters; in this paper I explore these possible sources of tin, from the Far East to Iberia and south-west England. Although many factors contributed to the development of a ceramics industry in eastern Spain in the medieval period, I argue that one hitherto overlooked and important stimulus was the expansion of the trade in tin from south-west England – Devon and Cornwall – to the Mediterranean.     

The Unratified Treaty between the Mamlūks and the Franks of Acre in 1268

In 1268, after negotiations with Baybars, King Hugh III rejected several of the sultan's terms and did not take the oath to confirm a truce. Baybars' biographer underplayed the refusal, claiming that Hugh's fear of Charles of Anjou prevented him from making a truce. Based on historical and archaeological evidence, this study draws the borders with the Mamlūks and the inner borders between the Frankish regions in 1268, 1272 and 1283, proving that the Frankish areas in 1268 were reduced to almost half of those that obtained in 1272 and 1283. Thus, this study assumes that Hugh could not have take the oath on terms that, inter alia, reduced the Frankish area to an unacceptable size. The Franks seem to have controlled more territory than they were given in the proposed 1268 treaty and it seems that Baybars' lack of interest in an attack on Acre encouraged the king to reject the truce.     

Pacem Portantes Advenerint: Ambivalent Images of Muslims in the Chronicles of Norman Italy

The goal of this essay is to call attention to some of the more positive and ambivalent depictions of Muslims in a set of historical texts associated with the Norman takeover of Sicily in the fifth/eleventh and sixth/twelfth centuries. To achieve that aim, it considers social vocabulary applied to Muslims in five sources written by Amatus of Montecassino, Geoffrey Malaterra, William of Apulia, Alexander of Telese, and Hugo Falcandus. Although recent scholarship has posited that medieval identity was often felt through a “self versus other” or “Christian versus non-Christian” dichotomy, this essay questions the notion that the actual language contained in these sources ever devolved into such simplistic, binary terms. On the contrary, though the perceptions and definitions applied to this group of people were, admittedly, sometimes based on uninformed stereotypes, they were more often deliberately constructed images that were highly dependent on the cultural milieu in which they were created.     

The Venetian Consul and the Cosmopolitan Mercantile Community of Alexandria at the Beginning of the Ninth/Fifteenth Century

Abstract

Three case studies (Veneto-Cretan shipping of Egyptian-Arab merchandise, Catalan-Venetian cooperation, and Venice acting on behalf of Latin pilgrims) around the activities of the Venetian consul inform an investigation of the cosmopolitan community formed by local groups and foreign nations, and the role of the Venetian consul in this wider community. It will be argued that the Venetian consul was not only a Venetian envoy but also a Mamlūk official and an informal head of the cosmopolitan business community in late medieval Alexandria.     

Did muslim survivors of the 1099 massacre of jerusalem settle in damascus? the true origins of the al-.(S)āli.(h)iyya suburb

This article retraces the genealogy of a mistaken contention, quoted and requoted by a legion of historians of the Crusades; namely, that Muslim survivors of the 1099 massacre in Jerusalem settled in the al-.(S)āli.(h)iyya suburb of Damascus. Actually, the al-.(S)āli.(h)iyya suburb was established some 60 years after the foundation of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1099, by emigrants from Muslim villages in central Palestine, then under Frankish rule. Medieval Muslim sources hold no evidence to the relocation of any Jerusalemites of Damascus in 1099.     

Louis IX in Medieval Arabic Sources: The Saint,the King,and the Sicilian Connection

This article examines the portrayal of Louis IX in medieval Arabic historiography to show the importance of cross-cultural Mediterranean interaction. It argues that the image of Louis was influenced by information originating from the Sicilian Hohenstaufen court and reports that Frederick II sent to Egypt. Arab historians connected to the courts of Frederick and Manfred disseminated a “Sicilian narrative” that shaped Louis's portrayal in Arabic historiography. This argument on the importance of cross-cultural transfer in understanding Arabic historiography is buttressed by reports about the King, the Pope, and the Emperor that are traced back to the entourage of prominent Muslims closely linked to Sicily. Moreover, it is argued that Arab authors were aware of Louis's proto-sanctity and pious reputation. This led to the infusion of medieval Arabic historiography with Western ideas about sacrosanctity. Finally, this research assesses how the portrayal of King Louis during his captivity was used in internal Muslim rivalries.     

Western Medicine for the Masters of Damascus: Benvenutus Grapheus's Experimenta

This article examines a rediscovered work by the thirteenth-century physician Benvenutus Grapheus de Iherusalem. Surviving only in a late medieval German translation, it contains select recipes and medical procedures. The study of this compilation offers new insight into two important aspects of Benvenutus's life: It provides a more precise dating for his activities, and clarifies at least one facet of his connection to the Levant. An analysis of Benvenutus's sources, most notably the Antidotarium Nicolai but also the Circa instans, confirms the assumption of previous scholars that he had studied at the Salernitan school of medicine. This article also shows that, at least in this particular case, practitioners trained within the Arabic medical tradition did not view Western medicine as a priori inferior.