The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades: Extracted and Translated from the Chronicle of Ibn Al-Qualānisī

388 Pages·2002·15.65 MB·English

by  Abū Ya’lá Ḥamzah ibn Asad ibn al-Qalānisī

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The Damascus Chronicle
of the Crusades
Extracted and Translated from the
Chronicle of Ibn Al-Qalānisī
H. A. R. Gibb
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Mineola, New York
Bibliographical Note
This Dover edition, first published in 2002, is an unabridged republi­
cation of the work first published by Luzac & Co., London, in 1932.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ibn al-Qalanisi, Abu Ya'la Hamzah ibn Asad, d. 1160.
[Dhayl tarikh Dimashq. English. Selections]
The Damascus chronicle of the Crusades / extracted and translated
from the Chronicle of Ibn Al-Qalanisi [by] H.A.R. Gibb,
p. cm.
Originally published: London : Luzac, 1932, in series: University of
London historical series.
Includes bibliographical indexes.
ISBN 0-486-42519-3 (pbk.)
1. Crusades. 2. Damascus (Syria)-History. I. Gibb, H. A. R.
(Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen), Sir, 1895-1971. II. Title.
D152 .125213 2002
956.91'4402-dc21
2002031543
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501
C O N T E N T S
PAGE
INTRODUCTION - - - - - - 7
PART I
FROM IO97 TO Ii32 - - - - - 41
PART II
FROM Ii32 TO Ii59 - - - - - 2II
INDEXES - - - - - - - - 359
5

N T R O D U C T I O N
THE DAMASCUS CHRONICLE
THE absence of contemporary Arabic records of
the First Crusade and its immediate sequel has
been generally remarked by historians, though it
is recognized that Ibn al-Athir and the subsequent
Arabic compilers must have utilized contemporary
materials for their work. Some years ago, how­
ever, one of the Arabic manuscripts preserved in
the Bodleian Library (Hunt. 125) was found to
contain the supposedly lost “ Continuation of the
Chronicle of Damascus ” of Ibn al-Qalānisī, a
work which is frequently quoted by later writers,
but which was thought to deal with a period
posterior to the Second Crusade. Examination of
the manuscript showed that more than two-thirds
of the book was devoted to the history of the first
sixty years of the Crusades, and the late H. F.
Amedroz, recognizing its importance, edited and
published the text in 1908, together with a
summary of contents, notes, and extracts from
other unpublished sources. Owing to lack of a
translation the recovery of this chronicle seems to
have passed unnoticed by European historians,
and the extracts contained in the present volume
constitute the first attempt to make it accessible
to Western scholarship.
7
8 THE DAMASCUS CHRONICLE
Of the auther of the " Damascus Chronicle ”
scarcely anything can be gathered from the work
itself. Fortunately, however, brief but sufficient
particulars of his life are to be found both in the
biographical dictionary of famous men of Damas­
cus compiled by his younger contemporary Ibn
‘Asākir, and in the pages of several later historians,
thanks to their pious custom of closing the annals
of each year with short obituaries of notable men
deceased in its course.
Hamza son of Asad, known as Abū Ya ‘lā,
belonged to an old-established and respected family
of Damascus, which boasted descent from the
Arab tribe of Tamim and bore the surname of
al-Qalānisī (“ the Hatter ”). Like most upper-
class citizens, he was weU educated in literature,
theology and law, and went into public service as
a secretary in the Correspondence Bureau or
Chancery {Diwan al-RasaiT), of which, apparently,
he rose to be head ('amid). In addition, he twice
held the highest civil office in the city, that of
ra’ls or Mayor, though the exact functions attached
to this office are not quite clear to us. The same
post was held also by his nephew in later years
(A.H. 548 ; Arabic text p. 325). He died on
Friday 7th First Rabi' 555 (18th March, 1160),
over ninety years of age, his elder brother
Muhammad having predeceased him in January,
1145 at the age of eighty-four (both, of course,
reckoned in lunar years). He was therefore,
already of mature age when the First Crusade
burst upon Syria and though he does not appear
to have taken any part in the actual fighting, his
Chronicle is of exceptional interest as presenting a