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.     

Fāṭimid Alexandria as an Entrepôt in the East–West Exchange of Islamic Scholarship

Abstract

The arrival in Alexandria of al-?ur?ūshī from Spain and al-Silafī from Iran and the settling there of both early in the sixth/twelfth century created a nucleus of Sunni learning that grew into a full-blown renaissance. Many additional scholars participated, either as students and colleagues of these two, or on their own. As one result, the city itself became, over the first half of that century, a noted entrepôt for the east–west exchange of scholarship in the Muslim world, and all this despite the core Shi‘ism of the Fā?imid dynasty that controlled Egypt, including Alexandria. This renaissance in fact continued to flourish until the Fā?imids were finally supplanted in 567/1171 by the Ayyūbids, a full two decades into the second half of the same century, at which time Cairo became once again a major centre of Sunnism.     

Buddhist pedagogy in teacher education: cultivating wisdom by skillful means

This paper draws on research I have conducted about the cultivation of wisdom in Thailand and Australia. I examine the ancient pedagogy of pavī?aupāya skillful means investigating how this pedagogy can inform contemporary development of teacher educators and teachers. I examine the Panjaawítee Wisdom Method that has its foundations in the Buddhist A??hangika-Magga Eightfold Path. Teaching people to walk this path, the pedagogical pavī?aupāya skillful means described in the Buddhist texts (Various, 2005) has traditionally been underpinned by siinsamaadipanjaa, a series of practices designed to guide the learner to both develop and find balance between morality, concentration, and insight understanding leading to the cultivation of wisdom. I critically discuss the concept of pavī?aupāya skillful means as the key pedagogical skill needed by the teacher educator and teacher in order to know how to develop this balance and thereby create the causes and conditions for wisdom to emerge in their students.     

Solomon ben Joseph ha-Kohen on Fāṭimid Victory: A Hebrew Ode to al-Mustanṣir Billāh and Badr al-Jamālī Reconsidered

Abstract

This article presents a vocalised edition (on the basis of MS T.-S. Misc. 36.174, Cambridge University Library) and a revised translation of a Hebrew ode written on the occasion of the Fā?imid victory over the invading Saljūq army in Cairo in 469/1077. Elaborating on earlier research on the Cairo Genizah treasures starting with Julius H. Greenstone's 1906 paper, the article first of all aims to present whatever historical data can be obtained about the poet, Solomon ben Joseph ha-Kohen, and about the time period and the circumstances in which he must have written his poem, which is addressed to the Fā?imid caliph al-Mustan?ir Billāh and his vizier Badr al-Jamālī. Other major objectives of the article are the identification of other historical persons and events alluded to in the praise poem, a literary analysis of the ode within the conceptual framework of “martial poetry”, and an examination of its laudatory or propagandistic aspects.     

Muslim Rulers Visiting the Imperial City: Building Alliances and Personal Networks between Constantinople and the Eastern Borderlands (Fourth/Tenth–Fifth/Eleventh Century)

This essay explores one of the main tools of Byzantine diplomatic techniques: inviting foreign rulers to Constantinople and establishing bonds of alliance through the bestowal of titles and stipends, with respect to the empire's Muslim neighbours in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries. In particular, it will be explained how and under what circumstances the traditional lines of communication between Constantinople and the caliphal court of Baghdad were gradually transformed into a multilayered network of personal contacts between the emperor and a number of Muslim frontier lords, who partly took on the role of representatives and dignitaries of the Byzantine Empire. Furthermore, I will try to examine the development of these newly established networks with respect to the emirates of Aleppo and Edessa, the Jarrā?id clan in Syria and the Marwānid dynasty in the Upper Euphrates and Lake Van region.     

Narrative Construction,Ideal Rule,and Emotional Discourse in the Biographies of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn and Louis IX by Bahāʾ al-Dīn b. Shaddād and Jean Sire de Joinville

Bahā? al-Dīn b. Shaddād and Jean Sire de Joinville wrote two unrelated but remarkably similar biographies of the rulers they once served, ?alā? al-Dīn and Louis IX. Especially striking are two anecdotes in which both Ibn Shaddād and Joinville rebuke the ruler for excessive crying upon receiving the news of a close relative’s death. This essay explores the narrative logic that drove these authors to write their texts and these anecdotes in particular in such a similar way. By embedding their discourse on emotional restraint in the wider discursive matrix of advice literature circulating in the period, Ibn Shaddād and Joinville actively participated in narrative discussions on ideal rule. In this they did not only stress the importance of emotional restraint for a ruler, but also the necessity of employing good advisors, ideally exemplified by themselves.     

Catégories et fonctions dans l’appareil de l’état au temps des Barmécides: un sondage sur le glissement entre les rôles

This essay is part of a wider research project aiming to define the components of the élite in power during the first ?Abbāsid period. Our present purpose is to verify if, and to what extent, the sliding among different public roles must be related with the “arbitraire” of the caliph or rather if it would be reasonable to discern in it some automatisms, some unregulated, although already applied paths. For this purpose, we carried out a survey of the figures who had offices in the administration of the ?Abbāsid state during the second half of the 2nd/8th century, i.e. the Barmakids and those who evolved with them on the political scene. In the initial stage, we confined our survey to the figures appearing in the Kitāb al-wuzarā’ wa'l-kuttāb by al-Jahshiyārī (d. 331/942), that is, with al-?ūlī's one, the most ancient collection of akhbār devoted to the vizirs. We actually think that this work has a historical as well as a symbolic significance. In our opinion the fact of having been produced inside the official milieu of the 4th/10th century increases its value as a source for the social history of the first ?Abbāsid period. Facing the problem of the sliding among different public roles, we tried to fix some criteria for the statistical analysis of this phenomenon, as well as to deduce how this could be used for the study of the social components of the ?Abbāsid élite.     

风水文献小考

有关风水地理的古典文献,可以称为经典的有《青乌经》和《葬书》(即《锦囊经》),这两个文献最晚形成于唐代末期。在韩国,《葬书》之名常用为《锦囊经》。在《青乌经》和《葬书》中,风水地理方法论同时提到形势论、理气论、选择论。《葬书》是以《青乌经》为基础著述的。《青乌经》在朝鲜时代就受到重视。《青乌经》和《葬书》的主体内容为形势论。理气论的主要著作是清代的《地理五诀》。《青乌经》、《葬书》、《雪心赋》等文献重视风水地理的选择论。风水地理中有关阳宅的理论比阴宅理论更加丰富。《宅经》的整体内容以阴阳气的理论为背景,同时注重方位和形势。