Christians and Muslims in Early Medieval Italy: A Sourcebook [1 ed.] 1032100907, 9781032100906

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CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ITALY

In the early Middle Ages (ninth to eleventh centuries), Italy became the target of Muslim campaigns. The Muslims conquered Sicily, ruled her for more than two centuries, and conducted many raids against the Italian Peninsula. During that period, however, Christians and Muslims did not always fight each other. Indeed, sometimes they traded with the ‘other’ and visited the lands of the ‘other’. By presenting the annotated English translation of the early medieval primary sources about how Muslims and Christians perceived each other, the circulation of news about them, and their knowledge of their opponents, this book aims to clarify the relationship between Muslims and Christians in early medieval Italy. Moreover, it proves that in that period the faithful of the Cross and those of the Crescent were not so ignorant of one another as is commonly believed. Christians and Muslims in Early Medieval Italy: A Sourcebook is the ideal resource for upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars interested in the relationships between Christians and Muslims in medieval Italy and the Mediterranean. Luigi Andrea Berto is Professor of History at Western Michigan University, USA. His research focuses on medieval Italy and the Mediterranean, with a special interest in the use of the past in the medieval and modern periods, and the relationships between Christians and Muslims.

CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ITALY A Sourcebook

Edited and translated by Luigi Andrea Berto

Designed cover image: The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154 World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 Luigi Andrea Berto The right of Luigi Andrea Berto to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Berto, Luigi Andrea, editor, translator. Title: Christians and Muslims in early medieval Italy: a sourcebook/edited and translated by Luigi Andrea Berto. Description: New York: Routledge, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022060758 (print) | LCCN 2022060759 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032100913 (paperback) | ISBN 9781032100906 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003213628 (ebook) Classification: LCC DG503.A2 C49 2023 (print) | LCC DG503.A2 (ebook) | DDC 945/.02—dc23/eng/20230118 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022060758 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022060759_ ISBN: 978-1-032-10090-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-10091-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-21362-8 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628 Typeset in Bembo by codeMantra

CONTENTS

List of maps List of abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction

vii viii ix 1



vi Contents

Appendix: Primary sources Maps Bibliography Index

153 156 161 167

MAPS

1 2 3 4 5

The Mediterranean Area Sicily Southern Italy Central Italy Northern Italy

156 157 158 159 160

ABBREVIATIONS

BAS = Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, Italian translation by M. Amari, 2 vols. (Turin and Rome, 1880–1881) MGH = Monumenta Germaniae Historica

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank Laura Pilsworth for accepting this volume for publication and the staff at Routledge, Delfinas, Stephanie Falkowski, and Matthew Trojacek for their help.

INTRODUCTION

Muslim expansion into the western Mediterranean had a great impact also on Italy. Indeed, Muslims conquered Sicily, created several independent dominions in southern Italy, and frequently raided some parts of the Peninsula. Most of the primary sources about this period are narrative sources that focus above all on the events of war (war and violence have always been popular news), and therefore, the image of adversaries portrayed in them is, not surprisingly, negative. After all, what can one expect from descriptions of enemies who pillaged the authors’ country and either killed or enslaved relatives and friends? It is from this point of view that these accounts must be understood. For this reason, it is necessary to give due consideration to the existence of a few nuances in these texts and to try to contextualize the most negative images of the other. Moreover, several Christian authors do not depict the Muslims as evil incarnate and as their worst enemies. Actually, some of these Muslims proved to have humanitarian principles, that, on the contrary, several Christian rulers lacked. The latter were also guilty of having created the very conditions for the Muslims’ victories. The presence of strong criticism directed towards those who had relationships with the Muslims that were not exclusively based on either rejection or elimination is proof of the existence among the Christians of different ways of dealing with the Muslims. When the roles of the faithful of the two religions changed—that is, when the Christians attacked Muslim lands—all these same features came to characterize Muslim texts as well. Considering these negative descriptions and violent behaviors to be innate qualities of either the Muslims or the Christians and portraying this period as exclusively marked by a clash of civilizations are therefore misleading interpretations, influenced by motivations that have nothing to do with History. Moreover, without minimizing the amount of destruction that took place in these DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-1

2 Introduction

centuries, it is necessary to remind ourselves that the idea of an unceasing state of belligerence between Muslims and Christians is simply inaccurate. Besides presenting the English translation of primary sources describing effects of wars and raids, this volume therefore also mentions primary sources reporting what was known about the other and the relationships between them during peaceful times. Thanks to this topical approach, I hope that this collection of sources will demonstrate the existence of a panorama of life and interaction more diversified than that usually depicted between Christians and Muslims. This volume has a structure very similar to my book Christians  and  Muslims in Early Medieval Italy: Perceptions, Encounters, and Clashes (Abingdon and New York, 2020). Those wishing to have a more-in-depth-analysis of the topics here presented and the sources should consult it. The chronological period under examination ranges from the first part of the ninth century to the late eleventh century, thus completing a cycle that begins with the Muslim conquest of Sicily and ends with the return of the island to Christian hands. Because the approach will be both thematic and comparative and the Muslim primary sources about the Norman conquest of Sicily are very brief, I will also present Muslim works about Sicily and North Africa in the twelfth century, as they provide more detail. In this way, it will be possible to make comparisons with texts in which the Muslims were those who suffered the attacks of Italian Christians. An overview of the main events will guide those unfamiliar with early medieval Italian history through this volume. Information about the sources and a timeline are present in the appendix.

The events The Muslims’ arrival to Sicily in 827 was nothing new to the western Mediterranean. They had conquered easily almost all the Middle and Near East by taking advantage of the poor resistance of the local peoples and of the weakening of the Persian and Byzantine empires (the latter being the heir of the Eastern Roman Empire); Mohammed’s (d. 632) successors, however, could not overcome the powerful defenses of Constantinople. Instead, they met greater success moving westward. The Muslim warriors arrived on the Atlantic coast of northwestern Africa near the end of the seventh century, and at the beginning of the following century easily conquered almost all the Iberian Peninsula. From these lands, they launched several incursions against Sicily and, above all, Sardinia. A famous precedent to these raids occurred shortly after 663, when, taking advantage of some conflicts among the Byzantines in Sicily, a Muslim fleet sailed from Alexandria and pillaged Syracuse. Upon the Muslims’ arrival in Sicily in 827, the political situation in Italy was stable. The earthquake had taken place in the previous century, when the King of the Franks Charlemagne conquered the northern area of the kingdom of

Introduction  3

the Lombards, who had settled in Italy at the end of the sixth century. During the eighth century, Rome and some parts of central Italy became independent from Constantinople’s authority. In the South, the Lombards of the Duchy of Benevento (consisting of the hinterland of Campania, Salerno, and some areas of Apulia, Basilicata, and Calabria) created an independent principality, while, on the Tyrrhenian coast, Naples became autonomous from the Byzantines. The remaining areas of southern Italy and Sicily belonged to Constantinople. As in other cases, in the Muslim campaign of 827, the faithful of Islam benefited from the dissensions among the Byzantines; on that occasion, a rebel imperial officer invited them to join him in fighting the Byzantines. The lack of a strong cohesion among the Christians on the island and the failure to send a large army from Constantinople, too busy on the eastern front, led the invaders to stay and conquer Sicily. It was not a quick war. Unlike the subjects of the southeastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, most of the Sicilians did not have a strong grudge against the authorities of Constantinople, did not perceive the Muslims as liberators, and therefore decided to resist the invaders. They did not face them in the open field, however, but preferred to lock themselves in their well-fortified cities. The Muslims had to besiege them, sometimes for many months, and conquer these cities one by one. Palermo fell in 831 and northwestern Sicily was subjugated in the following ten years. From there, the Muslims moved eastward along the coast and took Messina in 842/843; six years later they occupied the southwestern part of the island and Ragusa. Thanks to the conquest of Castrogiovanni (present day Enna), gained in 859 after several attempts, the Muslims controlled the central area of Sicily. The powerful defenses of the cities on the eastern coast, several insurrections, the help of the imperial fleet, and disagreements among the Muslims slowed the completion of the conquest of the island. After repeated attacks, Syracuse fell only in 878 and Taormina in 902 (the latter subsequently returned to imperial control and was finally taken around 964). In the same period, the Muslims’ presence grew stronger in other areas of Italy as well. The quarrelsome Christian rulers of the South of the Peninsula often employed Muslim mercenaries in their struggles against each other. The further fragmentation of the power in that region, the near complete disappearance of the Byzantines from that territory, and the wars among Charlemagne’s grandchildren favored some enterprising Muslim military leaders. As soon as they discovered how weak their Christian employers were, they did not hesitate to create independent dominions in Apulia. They also established some strongholds on the coasts of Campania and Calabria. The most famous domains were those of Bari and Taranto, created in the 840s. The settlement at the mouth of the Garigliano River between Latium and Campania, on the other hand, was founded forty years later. Contacts between these centers and the Muslims in Sicily likely took place, but their leaders acted independently from the Muslim authorities of the island, who were still engaged with the

4 Introduction

conquest of Sicily. Moreover, they only created small dominions from which no attempts were made to seize other areas. Their formation and survival were due more to the Christians’ weakness than to the Muslims’ power in those territories. The faithful of Islam used these bases to carry out raids along the coasts as well as throughout southern Italy. The victims of the Muslim incursions were not exclusively the inhabitants of southern Italy. In the 840s, the Muslims carried out two expeditions through the Adriatic Sea: they pillaged several coastal cities and defeated the Venetian fleet twice. Thirty years later, they conducted another raid in the northern Adriatic Sea, then entered the Po River delta and set Comacchio on fire. The most spectacular incursion in these years was, however, the one carried out in 846 against Rome. The city was not taken, but the assailants looted St. Peter and St. Paul basilicas, which were located outside the city walls. This raid against the heart of western Christianity had a great resonance in western Europe. The Frankish emperor Lothar, who until then had been engaged in defending his dominions beyond the Alps, arranged an expedition led by his son Louis II against the Muslims of southern Italy. The only result, however, was the reconquest of Benevento from the Muslims’ control. Louis II, king of Italy since 844 and emperor since 855, had always lived in the Peninsula and demonstrated a great commitment to fighting the Muslims, but the lack of a large army and the ineffective collaboration on the part of the suspicious Christian rulers of the South prevented him from intervening effectively for several years. Only in 871 did he succeed in ending the Muslims’ control over Bari, thanks to the help provided by the Byzantine fleet and the southern Lombards. There were no further successes because, fearing that Louis II would demand his submission, the prince of Benevento imprisoned him shortly afterward; he released the emperor only after extorting from him the promise that he would never enter those regions again unless invited. The Muslims took advantage of the Christian front’s disintegration to launch a large-scale attack against Salerno, an event that previously had never happened. The city was saved only because the Lombards managed to persuade Louis II to help them against such a powerful enemy. The death of the sovereign in 875 without an heir led to the struggle for the crown, and, after Louis II, no king of Italy had the interest or strength needed to deal with the Muslims in the South. The strengthening of Byzantine power in these years allowed them to regain Apulia, Basilicata, and Calabria, and to prevent the creation of other Muslim dominions in the Lower Adriatic. The weakness of and the conflicts between the Lombards and the duchies of the Tyrrhenian coast, as well as the need for the Campanian city-states to enjoy peaceful relationships with the Muslims to ensure a certain degree of safety for their trade activities in the Tyrrhenian Sea, permitted the Muslims to continue their incursions in this region as well as in Latium. It was in this chaotic period that the great monasteries of St. Vincent at Volturno and Montecassino, which until then had been kept safe by giving

Introduction  5

tributes to the faithful of Islam, were plundered and burned by the Muslims in 881 and 883, respectively. In 915, during an unusual moment of cohesion, the pope and the main Christian powers of southern Italy formed an alliance and, with the help of a Byzantine fleet, managed to eliminate the Muslims’ base on the Garigliano, thus ending their raids in that area. The Muslims from Sicily kept attacking the Campanian coast, but more sporadically. The last serious assault occurred in 1016 against Salerno. The most frequent and destructive raids were those carried out in Apulia and especially in nearby Calabria; the latter region was even the subject of attempted conquest. After taking Taormina in August 902, Emir Ibrāhīm II crossed the Strait of Messina and conquered Reggio Calabria, causing great apprehension in the South. His death by natural causes in the autumn of that year, during the siege of Cosenza, however, put an end to the campaign. Starting in 976, Abū al-Qasim led several attacks into the South of the Peninsula, resulting in the intervention of the German emperor Otto II, who was eager to enlarge his influence in that area. His disastrous defeat in Calabria in 982, however, ended his ambitions. Though defeated, this battle was not a total loss for the Christians, as the death of the Muslim commander persuaded his coreligionists to end their campaigns. In the tenth and early eleventh centuries, the Muslims made their presence felt even further north. Sardinia was repeatedly assaulted and some areas of the island were occupied for several years. Raids from Sardinia, Spain, and Sicily struck the coasts of Tuscany and Liguria. Genoa and Pisa were pillaged twice. Thanks to their base at Fraxinetum in Provence, the Muslims managed to attack some points of the northwestern Alps and western Po Valley. The famous abbey of Novalesa, located in northwestern Piedmont, was abandoned by its monks for fear of the Muslims, who pillaged and burned it. On one occasion, they came within sixty kilometers of Pavia. As was the case for the Garigliano base, the stronghold of Fraxinetum could survive only thanks to the political fragmentation and rowdiness of the Christian rulers of southern France and northern Italy. When these dissensions were temporarily set aside, the base was easily eliminated in 973. During the eleventh century, however, the tide had changed. The end of the political unity of the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily was accompanied by the economic and military growth of Pisa and Genoa, which started attacking effectively throughout the Tyrrhenian Sea and in Sardinia. A clear sign of the change was the raid they carried out in 1087 against al-Mahdīya, one of the most important cities in Tunisia. Venice proved her power in the Adriatic Sea by stopping the Muslim siege of Bari in 1002. In the 960s, Constantinople tried unsuccessfully to regain Sicily. In 1041–1042, the Byzantines, hoping to profit from the political instability of the island, made a new attempt. Led by the skillful general Maniakes, the imperial army easily conquered several cities. The commander, however, fell into disgrace shortly afterward and

6 Introduction

was recalled to the capital. His achievements were thus wiped out and the army withdrew. Troubles for the Muslims, however, did not end there. Among Maniakes’s troops were some Norman mercenaries, captained by William of Hauteville. They had come in small groups from Normandy and soon became the new protagonists of the political scene in the South. After providing their services to the various rulers of the area, they managed to create their own dominions by using both weapons and marriages with members of the families ruling that area. The numerous members of the Hauteville family were the most successful of these Norman mercenaries. Driven by the impossibility of acquiring new territories in the South of the Peninsula, the youngest among them, Roger, invaded Sicily. In 1061 what had already happened in 827 took place again. The roles, however, were reversed. The Norman leader accepted the invitation of the Sicilian emir Ibn al-Thumma to move to the island to fight his opponents, but the Muslim ruler had few supporters and Roger took care of his own interests. His conquest of Sicily was slightly quicker than that accomplished by the Muslims in the ninth century. A faster occupation of the island was prevented by interference from the Muslims of northwestern Africa and, especially, the small number of troops in his service. Except for a couple of large-scale battles, raids and sieges characterized this war. A vital turning point took place in 1072 with the occupation of Palermo, gained through the help provided by Robert Guiscard, Roger’s brother. Further conquests followed: Trapani (1077), Syracuse (1085), Castrogiovanni (1086), and Agrigento (1087). The last area of resistance, located near Syracuse, was defeated in 1091. Unlike his brother Robert, Roger preferred to consolidate what he had acquired, refusing to undertake campaigns outside of Italy. He rejected the summons of the First Crusade, and he did not attack the Muslims in northwest Africa, with whom he had established peaceful relations. On the contrary, his son Roger II and his grandson William tried to conquer that area.

1 DEFINITIONS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE OTHER

Definitions According to some medieval Christian authors, the Muslims used to call themselves Saracens, claiming to be descendants of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Other writers believed that the Muslims descended from Ishmael, the son whom Abraham had by Agar, Sarah’s handmaid, and therefore called them Agarens and Ishmaelites. Italian writers are not an exception and employed these words as well (especially the term Saracens). about thirty thousand Saracens immediately went to Salerno. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 35) you would have thought that the whole people of the Saracens had come together there. (Epistola Theodosii monachi, p. 276) Seeing that they had obtained a victory against the Christians, the Saracens did not hesitate to go as far as the city of Ossero. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book II, chapter 51) In the meantime, the Agarens, who lived in Bari, began to plunder Apulia and Calabria… (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 20) God then called an Agaren from Africa, born of the royal lineage of his people, and sent him to Agropolis, then to the Garigliano, where a host DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-2

8  Definitions and information about the other

of Ismaelites resided. He inflamed the minds of all and, on his incitement, all the Saracens, both of the Garigliano and Agropolis, gathered together and went to Calabria. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 51) Only in some cases do the authors mention the biblical account from which these terms come. While describing an incursion, the biographer of Saint Vitalis points out that a paradox was created when the children of the ‘slave’, that is, Agar, reduced the children of the ‘free woman’, namely Sarah, into slavery. The author refers to the fact that Sarah subsequently gave birth to Isaac from whom the Jews and then the Christians would descend. Pope John VIII (872–882) defines them as ‘false children of Sarah’ and ‘children of the fornication’, that is, the fruit of the relationship between Abraham and Agar. false children of Sarah ( John VIII, Registrum, number 32, p. 31) The descendants of Agar took possession of it. (Neilos, Vita di san Filareto di Seminara, p. 33) children of Ishmael ( John VIII, Registrum, number 22, p. 20) That region was occupied by the pagan children of Ishmael, who are called with another name Saracens. (Translatio Marci Evangelistae Venetias, chapter 1) It happened that a man of Saracen blood served as a baker in the Brescian monastery… and for some unknown but trivial reason nourished a grudge against the abbot. So at the instigation of the devil he put poison in his food, imitating his father Ismahel, who in an ominous game tried to harm the unsuspecting Isaac. (Orderic Vitalis, Historia ecclesiastica, book VII, chapter 5, p. 22) sons of the handmaid ( John VIII, Registrum, number 279, p. 246) The sons of the handmaid enslaved the sons of the free woman. (Vita Vitalis, chapter 23) The word ‘Arabs’, which indicates the knowledge that Islam originated in Arabia, was used very rarely. It was sometimes utilized for Muslims from the Middle East.

Definitions and information about the other  9

The Arabian people wanted to assault the flock of the saint and to devastate, destroy, and burn the monastery. (Vita S. Eliae Spelaeotae, chapter 69) Send ten good and fast chelandia to our port for expurgating our shores of those Arab thieves and pirates. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 47, p. 45) Arabs and Africans, who had come from Arabia and Africa to bring help to the Sicilians… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 32) Even rarer are the terms ‘Mauri’ (from which the word ‘Moors’ comes) and ‘Fusci’, that is, ‘dark’, which probably refers to the dark color of the skin of some Muslims. Then, by his order, his army liberated the island of Corsica which was oppressed by the Moors. (History of the Lombards of Gotha’s Codex, chapter 11) Then, at the time of the empire of Caesar Augustus Charles and the pope of the city of Rome Leo, it happened that the most nefarious people of the Moors left Mauritania with a large fleet. (Vita Walfredi, p. 60) At the time in which the Fusci resided in the fortified center of Frascenedello… (Cronaca di Novalesa, book V, chapter 18) Two authors use the term ‘Ethiopians’ for some warriors in the Muslim armies, thus indicating individuals probably coming from sub-Saharan Africa; Muslim sources confirm this presence. rough and fierce Ethiopians escorted us (Epistola Theodosii monachi, p. 276) Three fast Ethiopians… attacked them. (Sermo de virtute Sancti Constantii, chapter 10, p. 1018) The term ‘Africans’ appears in some Christian texts, but it is used for the raiders coming from the coasts of northern Africa, which is called ‘Ifrīqiya’ (Africa) in Muslim sources.

10  Definitions and information about the other

A great number of Africans then decided to devastate all that region. (The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, chapter 60) At the same time, the Saracens came out from Africa with some ships and occupied Apulia, Benevento, and almost all the cities of the Romans so that the Romans occupied half of each city and the Africans the other half. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, book II, chapter 44) In the twenty-fourth year of emperors Leo and Alexander, the Saracens, who resided in Palermo, rebelled against the king of the Africans. (Translatio sancti Severini, chapter 1) In the year of the incarnation of the Lord 1061, having gathered a large multitude of Africans and Sicilians, Belcamet then offered to his enemies the war that he had been preparing for a long time. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 17) Some authors used more specific geographical definitions such as Lybian and Hispanic. Siconolf called Hispanic Hismaelites against the Libyan Agarens of Radelchis. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 17) The Libyans, the Sicilians, and the Africans are known by them (the Amalfitans) (William of Apulia, Gesta Wiscardi, book III, line 483) The Italian writers derogatorily defined the Muslims as ‘barbari’ (barbarians), but in the medieval translation into French of the chronicle by Amatus of Montecassino (second half of the eleventh century) (the original Latin text went missing), this word seems to refer to the northwestern African people of the Berbers. The history of this seventh book tells us and recounts that the Arabs and the Barbares (= Berbers?) often came to the city of Palermo. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book VII, chapter 1) The well-educated Liudprand of Cremona (d. 972) called the Muslims of Mediterranean Africa ‘Phoenicians’ and those from the Middle East ‘Assyrians’, probably because he wanted to create parallels with the enemies of the ancient Romans and of the Jews of the Bible.

Definitions and information about the other  11

When the Phoenicians observed that the Christian side was prevailing… (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, book II, chapter 52, p. 99) In that same year, the Phoenicians with a multitude of ships arrived there… entered the city, slaughtered everybody, except the children and women, and putting all the treasures of the city and of churches of God in their ships, went back to Africa. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, book IV, chapter 5) Another reason also compelled Nicephorus to lead his army against the Assyrians at this moment. (Liudprand of Cremona, The Embassy to Constantinople, chapter 44) These men Nicephorus has released from prison, and dressing them in the most costly garments has made them his bodyguard and defenders, to go with him against the Assyrians. (Liudprand of Cremona, The Embassy to Constantinople, chapter 45) Pope John VIII called the Muslims Idumenites (traditional opponents of the ancient Jews). the sword of Idumenites, Hismaelites, and Agarens… ( John VIII, Registrum, number 32, p. 31) In the Middle Ages, Muslim writers named the Byzantines ‘Rūms’ (Romans) and used that term for the Italian peoples, including those who were not subject to the Byzantines anymore. Here there is the mosque… which once was a church of the Rūms. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 11) He established with the Rūms that the Muslims were allowed to keep this mosque open. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 421) Aware that a part of southern Italy had been occupied by a non-Latin population, the Muslim authors called Lombards the inhabitants of that part of Italy. the Lombards are characterized by great courage and defense capabilities. (Al-Mas’udi, Murug) The Lombards have a large kingdom which is located between the Rums and the Franks. (al-Mas’udi, Ahbar)

12  Definitions and information about the other

The remaining Europeans were named Franks. Muslim authors adopted this term to identify the Norman conquerors of Sicily, thus demonstrating that they knew that they were not natives of southern Italy. Roger respected Muslims greatly, had great familiarity with them, and defended them from the Franks. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 450) The Franks took possession of the island ( Jerba). They pillaged everything and captured women and children. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 461)

Information about the other Among the very few texts composed by the western European pilgrims who visited the Holy Land in the early Middle Ages, none were written in Italy. Christian authors from this area did not write ethnographic descriptions (not only about the Muslims) in their works either. A few Italian texts, however, contain brief information about the Muslims, thus proving that the Christians were not completely ignorant about these dangerous opponents and suggesting that further information about them might have been known. In the account of the transfer of Saint Mark’s relics from Alexandria in Egypt to Venice (ca. 828), the anonymous author emphasizes that the Venetian merchants went to the Egyptian city only by chance (trade with the Saracens was forbidden). The Venetians, however, demonstrated their familiarity with Muslim habits by hiding the precious remains under pork, a food forbidden to the Muslims. Then the Venetians… took Saint Mark’s body and put it into a basket, covering it with leaves, such as cabbage and other vegetables, and above it put pork meat. As they rushed to the ship, some Saracens approached them to see what they were carrying. But as soon as they saw pig meat, which was a dirty thing for them, they started screaming: ‘Canzir! Canzir!’, that is: ‘Pig! Pig!’, and they moved away spitting. (Translatio Marci Evangelistae Venetias, chapters 13 and 14) Most of the Christian authors describe events that took place in Italy or in nearby areas; sometimes, their horizons widened to include the rest of the Mediterranean, and these writers prove to have some information about the Muslim world. For example, the biographer of a pope knew that the Muslims who had invaded the Iberian Peninsula came from north Africa. Some writers were also aware that the capital of Muslim Iberia was Cordoba.

Definitions and information about the other  13

In the same period, the unspeakable people of the Agarens crossed from a place, which is called Septis (Ceuta, Morocco), and entered Spain. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 1, p. 401) The kings of the Franks began to fight among themselves. The news reached Cordoba and Carthage of Africa. (Benedict of St. Andreas, Chronicon, p. 147) At this time King Hugh made peace with the Hungarians… and expelled them from Italy, supplying them with a guide to show them the road to Spain. The reason that they never got to that country and to the city of Cordoba, where your king has his lodging, was that for three days they had to traverse a waterless district, barren with drought. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis (Tit for Tat), book V, chapter 19) Several Christian authors mentioned the names of some Muslim leaders that were probably written as they were pronounced. These names constitute important information because most of them were either local leaders or had a low rank, and the Muslim sources therefore mention them very seldom. Some Christian sources also recorded the names of the very few important rulers who led expeditions in the South: they are Boulambès, that is, Abû al’Abbâs, and his father, Emir Ibrāhīm II (d. 902), who is indicated as Brachimos, Habraam, and Abrami. There is also a reference to the Caliph of Cordoba, Abd ar-Rahman III. They are tributaries of your king, that is, Abderahamen. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, book I, chapter 2) When he let Louis go, (the Prince of Benevento) Adelchis kept all the treasure with him, along with Saugdan, Annosus, and Abdelbachi… In that period Utmagnus, who had been exiled by Saugdan, came from Africa with Annosus, entered Taranto, was made king there. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 38) The King of the Agarens, Abdila, about whom we have talked before, came to Salerno. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 111) The Agarens immediately created a king by the name of Abemelec. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 112)

14  Definitions and information about the other

Meanwhile, the King of the Franks, Louis, went to the principality of Benevento and, after capturing the enemy Abomasale with his men, returned to Rome ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book II, chapter 52) On this year the King of the Saracens, Habraam, descended upon Calabria. (Annales Barenses, year 902) The King of the Saracens, Abrami, descended to Calabria. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 901) Apolaffar… attacked them with his warrior named Alim. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 83) In the territory of Benevento the Augustus, lord Louis, experienced much harassment from the people of the Saracens, but he always stood up against them. He killed their leader, Amalmasser, along with many Saracens who were there. (Andreas of Bergamo, Historia, chapter 15) Guy killed the Ishmaelite Arrane, a cruel tyrant, together with about three hundred of his followers. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 79) At that time, a certain Saracen by the name of Bechus… (Geoffrey of Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 12) Roger was met by Betumen, an emir of Sicily, who had been put to flight in a battle with Belcamedus, a certain prince. Betumen had killed Benneclerus, a young man of honorable lineage and the husband of his sister. (Geoffrey of Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 3) Meanwhile Benarvet assembled a large army of select knights… (Geoffrey of Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 10) Boalim, the duke of that nefarious army… (Sermo de transito Sancti Constantii, chapter 9) the destruction of Reggio [Calabria] at the hands of Boulambès was revealed to him… (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 41) Elias heard of the arrival of the most hateful Brachimos from Africa… (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 49)

Definitions and information about the other  15

He fought the King of the Saracens, Bulchassinus. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 967) Forty thousand pagans died with their king named Bullicassinus. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 981) also Busa, the son of Emir Chagebis, who commanded his death, was filled with great admiration. (Epistola Theodosii monachi, p. 275) The first king of those iniquitous was called Kalfon. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 2) Their (the Saracens) king, whose name was Calfo, had dishonorably fled alone. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 16) All the powerful men of Sicily had been subdued and no one, except Chamutus, remained. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 5) When their prince, named Cincimo, heard these things, he departed from the city of Amantea and went towards them fully armed. The Franks found this out and met the Saracens, the former on one side and the latter on the other. There was a great slaughter of Saracens, who fled. The Christians went after them, killing them up to the city gate. (Andreas of Bergamo, Historia, chapter 17) The sons of Helim were four. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 114) Ismael was killed. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 975) The Saracens, whose king was Massar, resided in Benevento. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 18) Duke Peter then had sixty war-ships prepared quickly and sent them to Taranto where the Prince of the Saracens, Saba, stayed with a very large army. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book II, chapter 50) Sagittus, a very bad and impious Saracen. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, book IV, chapter 4)

16  Definitions and information about the other

They went to one who was named Sausane, who had been elected amiral in Palermo. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 13) In the meantime, the most dissolute and most wicked king of the Ishmaelites, Saugdan, cruelly devastated all the land of Benevento (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 29) At this time, the Prince of the Saracens, Saudan, who had been previously captured in the city of Bari and had stayed in prison until that time, was released by the Duke of the Lombards, Adelchis. After some time, (Saudan) returned again to Taranto and then brought many evils on the Christians. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book III, chapter 15) Louis obtained so great a victory from heaven that, after having exterminated the Agarens by hunger and sword and having captured their king Seudan, he took away from them the cities, which they had conquered, and restored the previous rule there. (The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, chapter 64) the prelate sent ambassadors to Sicily and insisted on the help of King Suchaymus. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 49) Here the impious Saracen, Timinus, ruled. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, p. 599, stanza 5) Muslim writers record this kind of information very rarely. For example, they mention Roger of Hauteville, the Norman conqueror of Sicily. In that period Roger the Frank ruled in that country. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 447) Roger ruled over the entire island (Sicily). (BAS, vol. 1, p. 449) King Bardwil, a relative of that Roger the Frank who made himself king of Sicily… sent an embassy to Roger. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 451) His son, Roger II of Hauteville, who became king of Sicily and fought against the Muslims in northwestern Africa, is mentioned more often.

Definitions and information about the other  17

In this year ‘Abù ‘Abd ‘Allah ‘ibn Maymùn, commander of Ali ‘ibn Yùsuf… attacked Sicily, took the town of Nicotera, that belonged to Roger, prince of Sicily… (BAS, vol. 2, p. 34) the army of Roger, king of the Franks in Sicily, arrived in the city of Bona… (BAS, vol. 1, p. 479) The German Emperor Otto II, who was defeated by the Muslims in Calabria in 982, was the subject of an interesting mistake in a text written in the fourteenth century. He is, in fact, called Baldwin, a name five Christian kings of Jerusalem bore in the twelfth century. In the memories of the period when the Christians occupied some Muslim territories, different characters and episodes were evidently mixed up. Emir ‘Àbù ‘al Qàsim moved from Palermo with the army against the enemy… The Franks informed their King Bardùwìl (Baldwin) who moved forward with his men… Bardùwil barely survived taking refuge in his tent. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 198)

Titles and offices Christian authors usually indicated the Muslim leaders with Latin titles such as rex (‘king’), princeps (‘prince’), and dux (‘duke’). He fought the King of the Saracens, Bulchassinus. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 967) The first king of those iniquitous was called Kalfon. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 2) The Saracens, whose king was Massar, resided in Benevento. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 18) Duke Peter then had sixty war-ships prepared quickly and sent them to Taranto where the Prince of the Saracens, Saba, stayed with a very large army. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book II, chapter 50) Boalim, the duke of that nefarious army… (Sermo de transito Sancti Constantii, chapter 9)

18  Definitions and information about the other

Some Christian writers, however, proved to be more knowledgeable about the Muslims and used the Latinization or Greekization of Arabic titles like amīr (emir) (admira, admiraldus, admiratus, ameras, amiratus) and ka’id (gaytus). The admira died. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 1020) The admiraldus of Sicily, Betumen, went to him. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 3) The admiraldus of Sicily, Belcamet… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 8) He received a great amount of gifts from the admiratus of Palermo. (Chronica Monasterii Casinensis, book III, chapter 15) Busa, the son of Ameras Chagebis… they took us to the ameras, who had encamped in the old cathedral… we were brought before the chief ameras. (Epistola Theodosii monachi, pp. 275–76) Robert (Guiscard)… left a knight of the same name at Palermo who was given to the Sicilians as their amiratus. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 341–43) In the great city of Palermo, in Sicily, there was an amiral who was called Vultumine. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 8) They went to one who was named Sausane, who had been elected amiral in Palermo. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 13) Their caytus was called Bucoboli. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 972) Caytus Sapi besieged Bari. (Lupus Protospatarius, Annales, year 1002) An officer from Messina, who was called Caito because of that office and was familiar with the land, came from Palermo. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 16)

Definitions and information about the other  19

The gaytus, who ruled the city and the island (of Malta)… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 16) A Muslim ruler is referred to with the proper title of ‘Prince of the Believers’. The chiefs of the Ismaelites accused him before the Prince of the Believers. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 17) In one case, the consonance between two words induced a chronicler to consider an office as a name. Andreas of Bergamo, in fact, called Sawdān, the emir of Bari, soldanus, that is, sultan (‘ruler’ in Arabic). From his men and with the help of his fatherland, Cincimo gathered a multitude of Saracens, who undertook the trip and went to Bari with him to repair the many losses of the ‘soldanus’… The pagans turned their backs and began to flee. The Christians went after them and did not stop until they had killed a multitude of pagans and taken the money intended for the ‘soldanus’. Hearing this, the ‘soldanus’ began to be sad with great fear. In the following month of February, in the twenty-first year of his rule, in the fourth indiction, having passed the fifth year since the siege of Bari, the lord emperor captured the ‘soldanus’ and killed the Saracens who ­remained there. (Andreas of Bergamo, Historia, chapters 18 and 19) Muslim writers seldom mentioned this type of information. One of them correctly recorded that local Lombard rulers held the title of duke. the Lombards are characterized by great courage and defense capabilities; they rule many cities and are reunited in one kingdom. The titles of their kings are always dukes. (Al-Mas’udi, Murug)

Languages and words Arabic was not completely unknown among the Christians. A churchman at the service of Robert Guiscard spoke like the ‘Saracens’, while the crew of a ship in the Norman fleet was fluent in Arabic. (Robert Guiscard) sent one who was called Peter the Deacon, who understood and spoke the language of the Saracens very well, like the Saracens, to thank the amiral for the gift he had received. He ordered

20  Definitions and information about the other

him not to speak like the Saracens but to listen and to understand so that he could tell him of the condition of the Saracens and the city. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 24) They sent Philip, son of Patrician Gregory, to Syracuse… to reconnoitre all the land. He carried out the orders faithfully, and sailed around at night into the fleet of the Saracens as if he were one of them; in fact, he and all the sailors, who were with him, were very skilled in their language as well as in Greek. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 2) Some authors mentioned the Latinization of the Arabic words for mosque (meschita/muscheta), fortified place (cassarum; this word derives from qasr), and wet dock (darsana; a similar word (darsena) is used in modern Italian); as has been already emphasized, a Venetian wrote in his Latin work the Arabic term for pig. Others went to the ‘meschita’… (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, line 205) He (Robert Guiscard) destroyed every structure of the temple of iniquity, and where there had previously been a ‘muscheta’ he built the church of the Virgin Mother. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 332–33) A multitude of pagans held this ‘cassarum’ (they call ‘cassandi’ this type of palace). (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, lines 225–26) Others assaulted the marvelously made port and demolished the ‘darsanas’ and all the towers. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, lines 209–10) As (the Venetians) rushed to the ship, some Saracens approached them to see what they were carrying. But as soon as they saw pig meat, which was a dirty thing for them, they started screaming: ‘Canzir! Canzir!’, that is: ‘Pig! Pig!’. (Translatio Marci Evangelistae Venetias, chapter 14) The fact that the monk Theodosius recounted that after the fall of Syracuse, a Muslim had addressed the archbishop of the city in Greek indicates that the languages of their adversaries were not completely unknown to the Muslims.

Definitions and information about the other  21

He (a Muslim) looked at the bishop and asked him in Greek who he was. As he was informed about that, he asked: ‘Where are the sacred vessels of the Church?’ (Epistola Theodosii monachi, p. 275) In a chapter dedicated to diverse types of writing, Ibn-al Nadīm (second half of the tenth century) states the following observations. The writing of the Lombards and the Saxons… Their writing is called epistulic and includes twenty-two letters. They start writing from left to right, but the reason for this is different from that of the Rūms. They say that this happens because the writing should start from the heartbeat and not in opposition to it. (Ibn al-Nadim, Index)

Italy and her inhabitants in Muslim texts In the Muslim world, geographic and encyclopedic works were quite popular genres, and some authors did not fail to include some information about the Italian Peninsula which they often called the ‘Great Land’. On the west, there is a province called the Great Land… Here, by the sea, there is a city called Barah (Bari); its population is Christian but does not belong to the Rūms. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 390) The territories of the Lombards are adjacent to Maghrib and their settlements are located in the north. They own many peninsulas in which different populations live; the Lombards are characterized by great courage and defense capabilities; they rule many cities and are reunited in one kingdom. The titles of their kings are always dukes. The largest of their cities, their capital, is Benevento. A large river crosses that city and divides it into two parts. This river is one of the waterways in the world that are famous for their flow and wonders; it is called Sabato… Their neighboring Muslims, coming from the lands of al-Andalus and Maghrib, conquered many of their cities, such as the cities of Bari, Taranto, and the city of Sardinia and many other great cities; the Muslims settled there for a certain time. Later the Lombards grew braver and attacked the Muslims who lived there and drove them out after several long wars. At present, that is in the year 336 (947), the cities that we mentioned earlier are in the hands of the Lombards. (Al-Mas’udi, Murug)

22  Definitions and information about the other

A text refers to the situation before Charlemagne’s conquest of the northern and central part of the Lombard kingdom in 774. The Lombards have a large kingdom which is located between the Rums and the Franks; their king is very powerful and they have many cities… They have to fight against the Franks and the Slavs who surround and oppress them. (al-Mas’udi, Ahbar) Venice is mentioned in the account of the journey from Constantinople to Rome by Hārūn b. Ya ḥya (late ninth century through the beginning of the tenth century), but his comments are very synthetic and stereotypical. In fact, he uses the same words to describe both the area inhabited by the Venetians and the territory between that region and Rome. The lifestyle of those who resided in the latter region is also reported with the same sentence used to describe the Balkan area. They (the Venetians) live in a large plain, but do not have villages or towns and their houses are made of wood cut into planks… they (the inhabitants of the area between Venice and Rome) live in the Kurdish way, since they live in tents throughout the plain. (Hārūn b. Ya ḥya, Description of Venice) More accurate, instead, is the description of Verona. Verona, one of the Lombard cities, is built with good stone blocks arranged with a building technique which resembles that of Tarragona. Its buildings are all beautiful and impressive, and there is a considerably large amphitheater with a remarkable structure. The city of Verona has a wide territory, with numerous fortifications and copious resources. It is located on a river whose mouth is in the sea at a site which is two days away. (al-Himyari, al-Rawd) This author mentions another unidentified urban center in a very flattering tone (some scholars suggest it might be Pavia, while others believe that it is Benevento). Among the reasons for the splendor of that city, he mentions clearly exaggerated information with the probable intent of exalting the superiority of Muslim civilization. ‘B.w.b.y.h.’, the main city of Longobardia, which is built of stone, lime, and bricks, is very large and populous. Water springs are within it… it possesses a fine castle near the gate of which stands a bronze statue of a knight of imposing size; it had been sent in ancient times to Longobardia by the king of Constantinople. Three hundred jurists reside in this city to whom the people of the Lombards bring their legal controversies. They

Definitions and information about the other  23

(the jurists) also draw up their business (or sale) documents. There are rich Muslim merchants in this city, I would add more than four hundred, who own wonderful buildings and have a flourishing trading activity. (al-Himyari, al-Rawd) There are numerous descriptions of Rome, which, however, is often confused with Constantinople, ‘the second Rome’. For example, the account by Ibn Khurrādhbih (ninth century) is one of the earliest and most copied. The details he quotes clearly indicate that the place he describes is the capital of the Byzantine Empire. It has three sides (the eastern one, the southern one, and the western one) on the sea. The northern side is connected to the mainland… It is surrounded by a double stone wall with walls separated by a space which is sixty arms long. (Ibn Khurrādhbih, Kitab) On the contrary, it is certainly Rome, the city other Muslim writers mention. Noteworthy is how a Muslim merchant described it to the geographer of ­Damascus, al-Walīd (d. 810). One of the merchants told me: ‘We went on a sea voyage and the ship dropped us on the shore of Rome’. And we sent to them: ‘We have intended [to deal with] you and so send us an escort’. After this we went out with him. We climbed a mountain on our way and, lo and behold, there was something green like the sea. So we said: ‘God is great!’ The escort said to us: ‘Why did you say ‘God is great’?’ We said, ‘This is the sea, and it is our custom to say ‘God is great’ when we see the sea’. So he laughed. And he said: ‘These are the roofs of Rome, and all of them are made of lead’. (al-Walīd, Description of Rome) Rome is about forty square miles in area. The western part is crossed by a river, which also crosses the streets; its bed and its banks, as well as the bridges spanning it, are all of bronze. In the middle of the city stands a great church, about two parasangs long, with three hundred and sixty doors; in the middle of this church there is a tower one hundred cubits high, surmounted by a bronze dome. At the top of the dome there is a bronze starling; at olive-picking time, the wind blows into the sculpture of this starling, making crying sounds, and all the starlings of the city gather together. Each one carries an olive in its beak, which it drops inside the tower. These olives are gathered and pressed, and sufficient oil is obtained to light the churchlamps until the following season. (Hār ū n b. Ya ḥya, English translation in Borruso, ‘Some Arab-Muslim perceptions of religion and medieval culture in Sicily’, p. 137)

2 RELIGIOUS OTHERNESS

Muslims in Christian texts Anti-Muslim treatises were not composed in Italy during the early Middle Ages, and there are no ethnographic overviews about them in the narrative Italian works. This does not mean, however, that all the Christians of the Peninsula ignored the religious otherness of the Muslims. It is obviously impossible to determine what the average person and rulers of that period knew of these dangerous neighbors, but it is likely that they had at least some simple notions about the religious differences of the Muslims (a situation not unlike today). Christian authors demonstrate that they recognized this diversity and that they were, therefore, aware that Muslims were ‘special’ adversaries. This knowledge is underlined, above all, by the widespread use of the term ‘pagans’ for the Muslims, a term probably used to compare these new persecutors to those of Christianity’s first centuries. He obtained such a victory that few of the innumerable number of the pagans barely managed to escape to tell those who had remained in the city the fate of those who had died. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 16) In the meantime, Consul Sergius died and, while his son Gregory was holding the duchy, the ferocity of the Saracens in those regions was such that many towns and fortified centers were destroyed every day. Prompted by the pleas of the Lombards, Emperor Louis then led a powerful army there to free them, stating that he would have to account for it

DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-3

Religious otherness  25

if, in favor of those for whom Christ came down from the bosom of the Father to suffer a bodily death, he would have not freed those who were oppressed by that pagan yoke. (The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, chapter 64) Then, for three consecutive days, they pressed the Saracens hard, now with swords, now with flaming arrows. On the third night, the army of the pagans retreated in silence. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book IV, chapter 67) More rare, but extremely significant are other appellations such as infidels: Who has been so glorified and honored as this blessed man?… even by the infidel tyrants, I speak of the Saracen rulers… (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 14) God is powerful enough to give us, a small and faithful people, victory over the multitude of unfaithful. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 23) Unbelievers: having taken away the church from the jaws of the unbeliever people… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis, book IV, chapter 7) Gentiles: From that day onwards, the gentiles did not enter the already mentioned church at all. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 112) They appeared in the flagship of the gentiles… (Vita Antonini abbatis Surrentini, chapter 21) Godless: At the time of the incursions of the godless Agarens… (Vita S. Eliae Spelaeotae, chapter 69) godless pirates (Vita e fatti del nostro padre Bartolomeo, chapter 24)

26  Religious otherness

God haters: Like children to a father, they narrated him the sufferings and the torments of captivity that the Ismahelites, God haters, had inflicted on them. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 44, p. 66) People rebellious to God: This people is rebellious to God… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 33, p. 44) the people, rebellious to God, was defeated (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 35) Ignorant of God: a different and ignorant of God people… (Landulph the Elder, Historia Mediolanensis, p. 100) Enemies of God: Do not dare to remain in the alliance with the enemies of God. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 246, p. 215) wishing to exalt the Holy Faith in which we all live, Roger always fought the Sicilians, enemies of the Divine Name. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 199–201) Enemies of Christ: … the enemies of Christ, Saracens, and Moors… (Capitularia regum Francorum, vol. 2, number 203, chapter 9, p. 67) We were glad to hear that… the emperor sent fleets and a strong army for the defense of the Christendom and against the enemies of Christ’s cross. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 47, p. 45) God-hated: at the times of this most holy father and pope, the impious, nefarious, and God-hated people of the Agarens… (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 81)

Religious otherness  27

Hateful to God Campania has been completely devastated by the Saracens, hateful to God. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 31, p. 29) Impious: the last time this place was profaned by the impious people of the Saracens. (Cronaca di Novalesa, p. 62) the Pisan people destroyed a most impious people (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, stanza 1) According to a late-eleventh-century author, the Muslims in Sicily were idol worshippers. restore that land, which was devoted to idols, to divine worship… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 1) The Muslim faith is called a vain religion, superstition, and madness. He induced some of those men to renounce the vain religion of the Ismahelites. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 16) Your superstition of Ismahelites is composed of several heresies. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 24) they [the Muslims] confirmed their fidelity with an oath on the books of their superstitious law [in this case law means religion]. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 13) to destroy the detestable folly of the Saracens… (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book I, chapter 5) Several sources mention Mohammed and ‘the prophet’. The first reference can be found in an ecclesiastical council, which was probably held at Benevento between 840 and 880. their pseudo-prophet Muameth, who is called with the corrupted name Machameta… (Histoire des conciles d’après les documents originaux, vol. 3/2, chapter 9, p. 1229)

28  Religious otherness

References to Mohammed and the prophet of the Muslims can be found in the letter of the Sicilian monk Theodosius (878). This man was of Tarsian family, most wise and brave in war, and during the siege he used daily to heap many curses upon Mohammed, who is held by that people to be the greatest of the prophets… The attendants made the bishop stand forth, and through an interpreter the emir asked: ‘Hast thou our manner of praying to God?’ Our most wise superior would not admit that. ‘Why in that manner?’ asked the bishop; ‘since I am the high priest of Christ and the leader of the mysteries of the servants of Christ, of whom the prophets and the righteous prophesied of old.’ ‘They are not prophets to you, in truth,’ answered the emir, ‘but only in name, since by them you would not be led away to your false doctrines, nor turned from the right path. For why do you assail our prophet with blasphemies?’ ‘We do not blaspheme the prophets at all,’ returned the bishop, ‘seeing that we have learned not to inveigh against prophets, but to speak in their behalf and to feel proud of them; but we do not know that one who is revered among you.’ (The Epistle of the Monk Theodosius, pp. 90, 95) According to the biography of Elias the Younger, the chiefs of the Ismaelites accused him [Elias the Younger] before the Prince of the Believers saying that… he despised the prophet… (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 17) Describing the conquest of Palermo by the Normans in 1071, a chronicler narrates that (Robert Guiscard) destroyed every structure of the iniquitous temple, and where there had previously been a mosque, he built the church of the Virgin Mother, and what had been the seat of Machamatus and the demon, he made the house of God and the gate to Heaven for the worthy. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 332–36) In the description of the expedition against al-Mahdīya in 1087, it is narrated that The Agaren nobles invoked Machumata who confused the world with his perfidy; he was an enemy of the Trinity and of the holy faith and denied that Jesus the Nazarenus had become the word of God…

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they maimed a thousand priests of Machumata, who had been a heresiarch more powerful than Arius, whose error remained on the world for a very long time. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, lines 125–28, 206–08) Around 1100, in Calabria, Luke of Bova emphasized that if the dead person is one of our adversaries, because they do not have our faith, they can bury the dead person after the mourning like the friends of Muhammed… ( Joannou, ‘La personalità storica di Luca di Bova attraverso i suoi scritti inediti’, pp. 214–15) The twelfth-century Beneventan Annals report (year) 616… In this time… Mamucha, who is called Machamata, was born. (Annales (Beneventani), p. 205) Elias the Younger, claims his biographer, preached Christianity successfully in Islamic territories. To convert some Muslims, the saint explained the fallacies and errors of their religion, resorting to typical arguments from anti-Islamic Byzantine treatises. Though presenting the Muslim religion as a sum of heresies and distorting some of their beliefs and practices, these passages nevertheless display a certain knowledge of Islam. Having yourselves circumcised, you follow the rules of the Jews, and having sexual intercourse with multiple women, you oppose God, because God gave man only one woman as a help, not many… in fact, your prophet, whom you divinize, by gathering the thorns of every heresy, passed down to you, and deceived you with the worst beliefs that are most widely held by sensual men. And you, observing them, think you are living a good life. And while, for every fact, which should be documented, you do not accept one testimonial, but two or three, and sometimes even more, instead in matters of your superstition, you are not ashamed to have only one testimony. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 24, pp. 34–37) There is further confirmation of the awareness of the Muslims’ religious otherness in accounts of conflicts with them, where the various ethnic and political allegiances of the inhabitants of the Peninsula are often replaced with the term ‘Christians’ and sometimes with similar definitions such as faithful, ‘followers of Christ’ and ‘people of God’.

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As they arrived in a certain valley, where the Saracens, confident and without any fear, were harvesting together with the captives they had, the Christians rushed upon them, killing all of the Saracens they found there, and freed the captives… There was a great slaughter of Saracens, who fled. The Christians went after them, killing them up to the city gate. (Andreas of Bergamo, Historia, chapter 17) The Agaren people held for a while, but could not endure to the end against the followers of Christ. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 218–19) He (a Muslim ruler) devised a mischievous deception against the people of God. (Neilos, Vita di san Filareto di Seminara, pp. 44–5) Fight for the love of the Christian faith in order to eliminate the Saracens from all the territory of the apostles and the Beneventan area… fight with all your strength against the Saracens for saving the Christian people… (Vehse, ‘Das Bündnis gegen die Sarazenen vom Jahre 915’, p. 203)

The ‘contaminating’ Muslims and the attacks against the Christian religion The danger represented by the Muslims’ otherness and especially the fear that their deeds could contaminate the holy spaces and objects of the Christians, thus making them ineffective, can be seen in some accounts about the Muslims and in the terminology sometimes utilized by writers in their descriptions of Muslim attacks. the unclean and most dirty Agarens came pillaging and devastating the land… (Vita Vitalis, chapter 23) And they went to Reginna Maior and there contaminated all the churches. Then, they went to Reginnulae Minores and they similarly destroyed all the churches and altars. O, what a dolor, it is a shame to speak of such a contamination and it is awful to hear about it. (Sermo de virtute Sancti Constantii, chapter 10, pp. 1017–18) [the Saracens] polluted the holy place of the mother of God with their unclean feet… (Vita s. Lucae abbatis, chapter 10)

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the churches have been filled with asses and mules and have been defiled. (Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 24) it would have been better for the abbot and for the monks [of Novalesa] all to stand firmly and courageously in the abbey and not to be afraid to submit their heads to the sword for the love of God. In this way, with the death of the body, all the territory of the abbey and all the furnishings and the place would have remained uncontaminated and preserved rather than to have fled thus and to have lost everything. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book IV, fragment XXII, pp. 239–40) their cruel rabies already defiled almost the entire world. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book V, chapter 1) who goes to Pisa can see the monsters that come from the sea; that city is dirtied by pagans, Turks, Libyans, and Parthians as well. (Donizo, Vita di Matilde di Canossa, lines 1370–72, pp. 120–21) The most explicit account can be found in an anonymous Salernitan text about Saint Fortunatus, Saint Caius, and Saint Anthes (its composition date is unknown). According to this work, during the siege of Salerno in 872, in contempt of the saints, [a Muslim] tried to defile the altar using it as a loo… (Acta Fortunati, Caii, et Anthae, p. 168, chapter 7) Having conquered Palermo in 1071, He [Robert Guiscard] went weeping with great reverence to the church of St. Mary; this church had been the temple of the Saracens. He had all the rubbish and filth driven away. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book VI, chapter 19) On another occasion, Robert Guiscard incited his men to attack Castrogiovanni by saying that we shall take this mountain, which is not made of stones and earth, but of dirt of heresy… (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 23) These ideas concerning contamination also touched the sexual sphere. Sawdān called the Beneventan Prince Adelchis and said: ‘Take me under your protection because, God is witness, I have your daughter, who is

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uncontaminated, in my hands.’ He recently received her as a hostage and although he was an infidel, he had not contaminated her at all until that moment. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 108) There are also descriptions of Muslims committing clear acts of disrespect for the Christian religion, which only enemies of God could carry out. The most nefarious King Sawdān drank from the sacred chalices and he ordered incense to be made for him with the golden incense burners. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 28) Rome was besieged, the city of Leo was taken, the church of St. Peter was captured and plundered, and their horses were in its monasteries and churches… The barbarians danced around the altar waving their hands and one of them hit with a small lance the chest of the image of the Lord, which was portrayed in the mosaic in the apse. (Benedict of St. Andreas, Chronicon, p. 149) The impious Agarens went to that place and saw that the sepulcher of the saint was closed and believed that a treasure was hidden in it. They broke it and found the body of Saint Arsenius, which was intact… They began to say: ‘These are those who deceive the mad and infidel Christians by saying that the Son is equal to God… Let us burn the body of the deceiver’. (Vita S. Eliae Spelaeotae, chapter 35) The tyrant king of the Agarens lodged with his men in the most holy church of Fortunatus, Gaius, and Anthes. And they were so inflamed with lust and several impurities that Abdila ordered to have his bed prepared over the most holy altar and there he deceived the girls whom he had wickedly pillaged. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 112) Benarvet prepared some ships at Syracuse and came with the fleet to Nicotera, devastated it and razed it to the grounds. He took away everything he could and carried away men and women as prisoners. He then came to Reggio, pillaged the church in honor of St. Nicholas, which is not too far from there, and also another one in honor of the blessed George. He trampled upon and defiled the holy images and took away the sacred vestments and vessels for the use of his men. Going further, he attacked and devastated an abbey of nuns, dedicated in honor of the blessed Mother

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of God and Virgin Mary, in a place of Squillace, which is called Rocca Asini. He dishonored the kidnapped nuns with an indecent rape. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 1) In the year 6011 (903), having come from Africa in the middle of the Holy Fasting (i.e., Lent), the Cadi started to devastate the churches of Palermo and of that region, to destroy books, and to imprison churchmen. In the year 6014 (906), the monk Argentius was martyred in Palermo. (Cronaca Cassanese del X secolo, p. 61)

Holy war against the Muslims A few Christian authors portray the clashes with the Muslims as holy war, thus further pointing out the religious otherness of the Muslims. On this subject, it is necessary to clarify what I mean by this definition. First, for this period, it is completely anachronistic to use terms like ‘crusade’ or ‘pre-crusade’. By holy war, I mean episodes of war where the writers clearly state that God supported the Christians against their adversaries who were considered God’s enemies. One of the first and best examples of these descriptions can be found in the chronicle by Andreas of Bergamo (second half of the ninth century), who recorded some episodes of Emperor Louis II’s campaign against the Muslims in southern Italy (866–871). It was reported to the Saracens that the Christians would celebrate a great day, as it was a feast day, that is, the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore they said: ‘They are worshiping their god on that day. They will neither fight nor take up arms. Let us go upon them and take them all in their guilelessness!’… The emperor then ordered that, at dawn, at the cockcrow, the bishops and the priests would celebrate solemn masses, and that the people would receive communion and the benediction, and they did so… the faithful of Christ prayed, saying: ‘O Lord Jesus Christ, you said: ‘He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will remain in me and I in him.’ So, if you are with us, what is against us?’ (Andreas of Bergamo, Historia, chapter 18) The fact that there were no other reports of this kind in that period further emphasizes that Louis II’s campaign represented one of the few times between the ninth and tenth centuries in which the Christians were successful against the Muslims. Almost as if he wanted to indicate the exceptionality of the elimination of the Muslim base on the Garigliano in 915, Liudprand of Cremona (ca. 920–972) did not limit himself to saying that the victory was obtained thanks to God’s help, but added that

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in that battle the most holy Peter and Paul were seen by the pious faithful, and we believe that it was by their prayers that the Christians deserved that the Phoenicians (i.e., the Muslims) should flee and that they should deserve victory. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 54) A progressive strengthening of western Christians and a simultaneous weakening of the Muslims took place in the new millennium. The description of the Venetian Duke Peter II Orseolo’s expedition to free Bari from the Muslims’ siege in 1002 symbolizes this change very well. The ‘spirit’ of holy war is certainly not very strong in this account. It, however, assumes particular significance if we take into consideration the context in which it was written and the place where that clash occurred. The Byzantines nurtured a special veneration for Mary and maintained that the Mother of God had protected Constantinople from enemies many times. Although Venice had been independent from the Byzantines for a long time, it still had strong ties to that world, and it should not be overlooked that Bari was, at that time, the capital of the Byzantine territories in Italy. a multitude of Saracens invaded the land of Apulia and besieged the city of Bari from all sides… When the mighty Duke Peter learned of this… he sailed from Venice to fight the Saracens… and, on the sixth of September, approached the aforesaid city. When both Saracen forces saw that this unexpected assistance had come to the Christians, some mounted horses and lined up on the beach, while others boarded the ships and boldly provoked the Christians to fight. With the help of God, his lordship Duke Peter nevertheless succeeded in entering the port of the aforesaid city unharmed and with all his men… for three consecutive days, they pressed the Saracens hard, now with swords, now with flaming arrows. On the third night, the army of the pagans retreated in silence… I do not think the miracle should be omitted, whereby God’s will was shown to a Saracen on the day that the Christians celebrated the Assumption of the Mother of God. While he was in a very strong tower in the monastery of St. Benedict, not far from the city, he saw a bright star quickly cross the sky from the west, falling in the port of that same city. When this was reported to Jerome, the spiritual father of the aforesaid monastery, he knew immediately that the help of Saint Mary, who is considered the star of the sea, would come to help the citizens. And thus, without a doubt, the Virgin Mother brought about the arrival of the Duke of the Venetians, Peter, who had come from the west on the Feast of her Nativity, and she granted him triumph over the enemy. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book IV, chapters 66–68)

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According to a German chronicler of that period, Travelling by ship, the Saracens came to Lombardy and seized the city of Luni whose bishop was barely able to escape. Then, without opposition and in complete security, they occupied the whole region and abused the occupants’ womenfolk. When news of these events reached Pope Benedict, he summoned all the rectors and defenders of holy mother Church, and both asked and commanded them to join him in an attack on these presumptuous enemies of Christ. With God’s help, they could annihilate them. Furthermore, he secretly sent a powerful fleet to eliminate any possibility that the enemy might retreat. When informed of these developments, the Saracen king was initially disdainful, but then, with a few members of his entourage, chose to escape the approaching danger on a ship. Yet his forces rallied and, attacking first, quickly put the approaching enemy to flight. Sad to say, the slaughter continued for three days and nights. At last, placated by the groans of the pious, God relented and put those who hated him to flight. (Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, book VII, chapter 45) Describing the victory of the Byzantine general, Maniakes, against the Muslims in Sicily (ca. 1042), the biographer of Saint Philaretos, on the other hand, employs explicit references to the Old Testament, comparing this campaign to the Jews’ wars to liberate their land. And the Romans (Byzantines) easily crossed the strait of Reggio with their nimble ships. The God of Israel was leading them… What did the God of wonders do? He who parted the waters of the sea and led the fleeing people of Israel to safety; he who confounds the wise in their cunning?… O my Christ, your wonders! The stranger (the Muslim ruler) is at once turned to flight, failing to resist even the first assault; he succumbs like dust before the feet of the Romans… Two were the forces that fought against him: the army of the Romans and the blowing of a violent wind that blew fiercely against him, thus showing the wrath of God that had come upon him for his arrogance. (Neilos, Vita di san Filareto di Seminara, pp. 45–7) After enduring the catastrophic Muslim raids between the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh century, the Pisans and the Genoese began to fight the Muslims on the Tyrrhenian Sea successfully and even attacked them in Tunisia in 1087. A Pisan writer celebrated that event by composing a text dedicated exclusively to the episode.

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I praise the very strong hand of the Redeemer by which the Pisan people destroyed a most impious people. This was completely similar to the miracle of Gideon, which God completed in the space of just one night. Gideon went to war with trumpets and lamps and went in the midst of the action with neither weapons nor shields. It was the power of God alone that fought terribly and wondrously among the Madianites who were slain… This happened in the ancient, noble festival of Saint Sixtus, the day on which the victories of the Pisans come from Heaven… Do not be afraid of their high number… Nor should their high buildings trouble you; in fact, Jericho was prostrated with its very high walls. They are enemies of the Maker who created everything, and they hold Christians captive for empty glory. Remember the famous giant named Goliath, whom David, a little child, knocked down with a stone. Trusting in the Lord, the famous Maccabeus did not get scared at the view of very many men; he did not confide in his very strong valor, but only in the greatness of most powerful God… Michael sounded the trumpet to help them, just as he did when he fought the dragon. Peter, on the other hand, encouraged the Genoese and the Pisans with the cross and sword. The Prince led an apostolic gathering there; indeed, one could see his sign placed on their pouches… The God of Heaven sent that most strong angel who had struck the army of Sennacherib at night. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, lines 5–12, 89–90, 97–108, 131–36, 141–42) The chroniclers of the Normans present their expeditions in Sicily as fought against the enemies of God, and the ‘spirit’ of holy war sometimes characterizes the descriptions of the clashes with the Muslims. The duke (Robert Guiscard) told the Normans, Calabrians, Barese, and Greeks, whom he had captured, to fortify themselves with the Body of Christ. After they had received this and the blood, he ordered them to engage in war. Protected by this nourishment, the multitude of the faithful moved forward with ships furnished with all the necessary equipment. The perfidious people filled the whole sea with the sound of their trumpets and clarions and with their shouting. The Christians, on the contrary, sought the help only of the Eternal Prince, on whose Flesh they had fed. They were not frightened by any noise and harshly resisted them, manfully hurting and hitting the enemies. At first the African and Sicilian ships resisted but eventually were forced by the divine will to give in. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 235–47)

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Seeing his knights demoralized by the long battle, Robert asked them to persevere with what they had begun. He said: ‘Men, your courage has stood up to various efforts, but it will deserve either praise or blame. This city is an enemy to God, does not know anything of the Divine worship, and it is ruled by demons. Deprived of its old strength, it now trembles as if it was broken. If it sees you continue bravely, it will not dare to make any resistance. But, if you cease your efforts, then tomorrow, with its strength renewed, it will resist you more harshly. Hurry, while you have the chance! This city that is so hard to take, with the mercy of Christ, will be open. Christ makes difficult work easy. Trust in His leadership and let us put an end to this war and go all together to occupy the city!’ (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 282–95) In the description of the only great field battle of that period, the spirit of holy war emerges quite forcefully. seeing that their men, normally so brave, were frightened by the great multitude of enemy forces, tried to shake the fear from them with exhortations like the following: ‘Arouse your hearts, O most valiant young soldiers of the Christian army. We are all inscribed with the name of Christ, who would not desert his sign unless offended. Our God, the God of gods, is omnipotent: and it is his hand that places flesh on everyone, even those who, not trusting in God, place their confidence in men. All the kingdoms of the world belong to God, and he bestows them upon whomsoever he wishes. This people [of the Saracens] has rebelled against God, and power which is not directed by God is quickly exhausted. They glory in their own power; we, on the other hand, are secure in the protection of God. There is no room for any doubt: it is certain that, with God leading us, the enemy will not be able to stand before us. Gideon wiped out many thousands of the enemy with only a few men because he never had any doubts about God’s assistance.’ After these things had been said and the Norman forces were rushing toward the battle, there appeared a certain knight, magnificent in his armor, mounted on a white horse and carrying a white standard with a splendid cross on it tied to the tip of his lance. It was as if this knight were advancing with our battle line and rushing at the enemy where they were the thickest with a most valiant attack, so as to make our men more confident and ready to fight. Seeing this, our men were elated, and they called out again and again, ‘God and Saint George.’ Struck with the joy of such a vision to the point where they were shedding tears, they eagerly followed the horseman who preceded them. Many also saw a banner

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containing a cross hanging from the top of the count’s lance, a banner which only God could have placed there. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger, book II, chapter 33) Roger of Hauteville’s biography is not the only text to emphasize the special features of some of the clashes that Norman leader had with the Muslims in Sicily. After the island’s conquest, Roger did not neglect to mention his victories in his donations to ecclesiastical institutions. He describes his gesture with great religiosity, presenting it as the fulfillment of a vow. The Muslims are depicted as enemies of God who had devastated Sicilian churches with their tyranny, while Roger and his warriors are shown fighting those perfidious enemies to defend the Christian faith and to bring it back to the island. Roger attempted to grant himself and his men a sort of remission of sins, stressing that the clergy receiving his generosity should pray for the salvation of his soul and for those of his soldiers, including those who had died fighting the Muslims, so that God would pardon their sins and give them eternal life. I, Count Roger, since I committed in my person, once I vanquished the enemies of the divine name, to restore the holy churches of God, devastated by the tyranny of those who used to dominate Sicily, to their ancient state so that the name of God is exalted and the followers of Christ can perform their divine offices in those churches, and can pray to God more efficiently and comfortably, to the advantage of all Christian people; for this reason, I had a church built in the castle of Troina, and I adorned it with pious objects and necessary decorations. I endowed it with properties for its financial support and appointed priests to administer the divine and most holy sacraments to the faithful and to me, and to instruct everyone in the divine doctrine and dogma of the sacrosanct Catholic faith, so that the Christian believers would grow through their preaching. I therefore entrust you this church so that you administer it along with the priests ordained to it, and you pray to God for the salvation of my soul and all my warriors who came with me to acquire the island of Sicily, and also of those who died fighting the perfidious Saracens for the defense of the Christian faith, so that the merciful God will forgive us all the sins that we and they had committed and will lead us to eternal glory. (Documenti latini e greci del conte Ruggero I di Calabria e Sicilia, number 2, p. 41) Not only warriors fought against the Muslims. According to his biographer, Saint Luke of Demenna (tenth century), complaining that God was allowing the Muslims to humiliate, kill, and enslave Christians, begged the Lord for divine intervention.

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in the same way that in the Old Testament God spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Why do you call me? Lift up your staff and strike the sea and cross it, you and the children of Israel,’ so He spoke to the blessed man, saying, ‘Why do you call me? Speak to your brothers, let them all take up arms. Take your staff and go and drive out those dogs; for they cannot stand before the splendor of the grace of the spirit that has been granted to you…’ Hearing these things, the most blessed Luke armed himself like a strong man, stood at the gate, carefully examined all his monks, chose the strongest, and left the others in the castle. Protected by the sign of the cross and accompanied by those he had chosen, he went out the gate with great courage like a leader of strong warriors. He took his example from Gideon who had chosen a few men from a great multitude and with whom he had defeated endless hosts of enemies… and said to his monks, ‘You will have to offer your souls for your brothers. Go out hoping for victory and fight hard against the very dangerous enemies of Christ and Christianity. God will deliver them into your hands’. Having said these things, he extended his hand and blessed them and prayed and sent them out against the Agarens. As the latter were preparing to defend themselves, they saw a great thunderbolt of fire surrounding the very white horse on which the most holy father stood; and as the flashing flame moved toward their faces, they fled in great terror, and all ran to fight. A great many were then slain by the sword, others were captured, still others, having thrown down their weapons, fled shamefully… The most holy servant of the Lord then began to sing this psalm: ‘May God appear and disperse all His enemies and may all who hate Him flee before Him’. (Vita S. Lucae abbatis, chapter 11) A similar account can be found in the deeds of Saint Martin of Monte Massico. Hear me, my brothers and servants of my Lord Jesus Christ, see that I am Martin who lies in this cave… You should know that I am here with my body and soul that I had before in this world. Let us all take comfort and not be afraid. In fact, there are the arms and horses that you have had until now and that have been kept in your reverence and none of them (the Muslims) have seen them. Go and arm your bodies with cuirasses, helmets, shields, swords and spears, mount your horses and fight without having any doubt for I go before you while you watch me and you will have a full victory’. About three hundred monks went, all on horseback and armed, and Saint Martin was seen in front of them striking the Agarens with his sword and the monks behind him were doing the same thing. One thousand nine hundred and nine Agarens were killed and the

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few who were left fled to the sea, embarked and returned to their homes in great confusion. (Moretus, ‘Un opuscule du diacre Adalbert sur S. Martin de MonteMassico’, chapter 8, pp. 254–55) The popes did not produce any theoretical works about how fighting against the Muslims should be perceived. Some details in their letters, however, show that such clashes were given special significance. Hadrian II (867–872) wrote that … while (Emperor Louis II) was fighting the enemies of the Christian name… and was defeating a multitude of Saracens by fighting the wars of the Lord… (Hadrian II, Epistolae, number 21, p. 725) Despite not referring specifically to the Muslims, two ninth-century popes provided detailed information about the celestial benefits for all those fighting against non-Christians to protect the Church. Leo IV (847–855), elected shortly after the Muslim sacking of Saint Peter’s in 846, wrote To the army of the Franks. After putting aside every fear and terror, strive to act manfully against the enemies of the holy faith and the adversaries of every region… if you die in this war faithfully, the Kingdom of Heaven will not be denied to you. Indeed, the Omnipotent knows that if any of you dies, he will obtain the above-mentioned award because he died for the truth of the faith, the salvation of the soul, and the defense of the fatherland of the Christians. (Leo IV, Epistolae Selectae, p. 601, number 28) The fight against the pagans is also mentioned in the correspondence between several Frankish bishops and John VIII (872–882), another pope who was very concerned by the Muslim presence in Italy. because you asked whether those who recently fell in war for the defense of the holy Church of God and for the status of the Christian religion and commonwealth (‘res publica’) or those who may in the future fall for the same cause, can obtain indulgence for their crimes… we reply that those who will fall in battle with the mercy of the Catholic religion, harshly fighting against pagans and infidels, will receive eternal life. ( John VIII, Registrum, p. 126, number 150)

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The popes of the second half of the eleventh century strongly underlined their role as leaders of the Church and used the instructions left by their ninthcentury predecessors to promote wars against the Muslims. Once Roger of Hauteville had demonstrated the strength of his commitment against the Muslims in Sicily by vanquishing them on the battlefield, Pope Alexander II (1061–1073) sent his apostolic blessing and, by the power which he exercised, absolution for their sins – provided that they were in the future repentant – to the count and to all those who aided him in taking Sicily from the pagans and keeping what had been conquered for the Christian faith in perpetuity. By his apostolic authority he sent a banner from the Roman see, decorated with the papal authority; with this reward, and trusting in the protection of Saint Peter, they would in future be able to fight the Saracens in greater safety. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger, trans Loud, book II, chapter 33) Pope Victor III performed the same actions for the members of the expedition to al-Mahdīya in 1087. He gathered an army of Christians from almost all the populations of Italy, gave them the banner of the blessed apostle Peter, granted them the absolution of all their sins, and sent them against the Saracens dwelling in Africa. (Chronica Monasterii Casinensis, book III, chapter 71) In this regard, it should be noted that the popes of this period behaved in this way with all those who fought the enemies of the Papacy and the Church, even in cases where the adversaries were not Muslims.

Christians in Muslim texts In Muslim Sicily, no text about Christians has survived and comments about Christianity are absent in all Muslim works. In them, however, the term ‘polytheist’ is often employed to describe the Christians in order to emphasize the idea that their belief in the Trinity meant that Christians did not have only one God. Let us go back to Africa because the life of a single Muslim is more important than all the polytheists. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 308)

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the lord of Sicily went for a raid and clashed with the polytheists, who fled before him. He then returned to Palermo. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 7) The epithet ‘slaves of the crosses’ has a similarly derogatory meaning. This city (Messina)… crammed with slaves of crosses… (Ibn Jubayr’s account of Messina and Palermo (1184–85), p. 234) A derogatory definition is also used for the churches. According to a Spanish Muslim pilgrim, who visited Palermo, Christian women parade to their churches or (rather) their dens. (The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, p. 350) In the twelfth century, the Muslims of northwest Africa had to defend themselves from Christian attacks, and Muslim authors consequently used harsh terminology to describe their adversaries. A band of our army and some Arab auxiliaries attacked the Christians and hit the enemies of God. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 72) God did not allow that the victory was not yours and that the faith (Islam) did not destroy the edifice of misbelief. (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, number 143, stanza 1) The theme ‘we are right, while they persist in their error because they are ignorant’ is present as well. Referring to a victory against the Normans, Ibn Ḥamd ȋs wonders ironically: Why did ignorance keep these barbarians in error for so long? Was there not one wise man among them? (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, number 143, stanza 40) According to Iraqi geographer and traveler Ibn Ḥawqal (tenth century), who visited southern Italy, [Palermo] has a large congregational mosque. It was a church belonging to the Rūms before the conquest. In [the mosque] is a great sanctuary. A certain logician says that the doctor of the Greeks, that is Aristotle, is in a wooden [coffin] suspended in this sanctuary, which the Muslims have converted into a mosque; and that the Christians attached great importance

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to his tomb and sought cures from him, because they observed how the Greeks esteemed and revered him. The reason that he is suspended between heaven and Earth is that people address to him prayers for rain, cures, and for [all] serious matters that cause one to turn to God and to approach Him in time of adversity, fear of death, and civil strife. I myself have seen there a wooden [coffin] that is probably this tomb. (Ibn Ḥawqal, Description of Palermo) This writer does not criticize these beliefs, but he probably mentions them as a sort of strange custom in a foreign land. Nevertheless, such an anecdote also seems to hint at the superstitious nature of the Christians and, therefore, their inferiority. On the other hand, a derogatory intent can certainly be perceived in Hārūn b. Ya ḥya’s description of what the pope would do with the hair and nails of Saint Peter’s body. In the church there is the golden tomb of two apostles: one called Peter and the other called Paul. Every year, at Easter, the king (i.e., the pope), comes and opens the door of the sepulcher; he descends into the tomb with a razor in his hand. There he shaves the head of the dead Peter, and also cuts his nails; when he returns, he gives a hair to every person present. This rite has been celebrated every year for nine centuries. (Hārūn b. Ya ḥya, Description of Rome) A similar goal can be seen when this author attributes the practice of shaving, which he probably observed among some ecclesiastics, to all of Rome’s inhabitants. The Romans of humble condition shave off their beard entirely, leaving not a single hair on their chin; they also shave the top of their head. I asked them why, saying, ‘Man’s greatest ornament is his beard: why do you do this?’ And they replied: ‘He who does not shave is not a good Christian: for Peter and the other apostles came to us with neither stick nor bag, as poor and humble men, when we were richly dressed kings and rich men, and they urged us to take up the Christian faith. We did not obey, on the contrary we arrested them and martyred them, and we cut off their hair and their beard. And now that the truth of their preaching has shown itself to us [to] be manifestly true, we behave like this in order to atone for our sin’. (Hārūn b. Ya ḥya, Description of Rome) The reference to the fact that some of the Lombards did not have any religion during their rule in Italy was probably the result of the echoes of papal criticism for that people and of rituals the Lombards performed when they were still pagans.

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Currently the Lombards are mostly Christian, but among them, there are some with no religion at all… Their practices are the same as the Rūms, and some of them incinerate the bodies of the dead. (al-Mas’udi, Ahbar) There is no doubt about how the Muslims perceived the campaigns against the Christians in Italy. They were jihad, which, in those centuries, was considered a fight against the infidels in the dār al- ḥarb (The House of War), that is, the territories governed by non-Muslims. For example, describing the campaigns of a Muslim leader, a chronicler points out that he carried out many expeditions in the House of War, so that the countries overseas, belonging to the Franks, Genoa and Sardinia, would fear him and pay tribute. (Italian translation in Stasolla, ‘Arabi e Sardegna nella storiografia araba del medioevo’, p. 197) An epitaph in verse, on the other hand, praises the deceased as Happy thou, fallen martyr, on the field of jihad, surrounded by wretched barbarians. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 409) This feature can be found in the descriptions of the conquest of Sicily and the rest of southern Italy. Ibrāhīm (II) went to Sicily to carry out jihad. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 403) Before attacking Taormina, Emir Ibrāhīm II had ordered two verses of the Quran to be recited and said: O great God… today I confront the infidels for you. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 394) More detailed accounts are present in the descriptions of the fights against the Normans in the Maghreb during the twelfth century. For example, Ibn Ḥamd ȋs praised the victory of the governor of al-Mahdīya against the army of Roger II in 1124 in this way: God would not allow the victory not to be yours, or our faith not to destroy the edifice of misbelief, or the barbarians to return without being humiliated after such treatment, vilified by the defeat, which was the

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fruit of their guilt. Praise be to you for a victory in which the sword’s thirst is quenched by their blood, the memory of which quiets the face of religion… it was the duty of God’s armies to fight them… Groups of warriors from every tribe obeyed the call to jihad, no one could excuse himself from not taking a part in this. The Lord of the Throne exalted them through Mohammed’s religion and welcomed them in the womb of his protection. (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, number 143, stanzas 1–3, 16, 64, 65) Some authors specify that the Muslims attacked the enemy shouting ‘Akbar Allah’ (God is great). He moved with all of them against the Rūms who were already sacking and capturing women. Raising the cry ‘Allah Akbar’ against the Rūms who had prepared for battle… He attacked them, and God defeated them with his own hand. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 311) At night the Muslims emitted a dreadful cry so that the earth was shaking and attacked saying Akbar Allah. Scared by this, the Franks (i.e., the Normans) thought that all of the Muslims were about to fall upon them and they quickly ran towards their ships to board them. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 475) At the same time, those who did not demonstrate enough fervor in their fight against the Christian invaders, or who had lost against them, were accused of showing a weak faith. It happened that a certain tyrant and chief of Arab bandits, motivated by his corrupt religious conscience and feeble faith, treacherously gave the enemy a castle. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 73) In his description of Palermo, Ibn Ḥawqal emphasized that there are more than three hundred school teachers who educate the kids. If you listen to them, they are in the country of the God’s people and are the most virtuous and worthy persons… The truth is that they do that job to avoid jihad and any military duty. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 24) This observation suggests the existence of a great difference between theories, aspirations, praising tones, and reality.

3 PERCEPTIONS

Muslims in Christian texts Derogatory definitions for Muslims frequently appear in all the narrative works of this period. A commonly utilized term, ‘barbarian’, immediately evokes the image of ferocious and destructive invaders. When the emperor (Louis the Pious) heard that, he ordered the borders of that province to be protected by the bishops of the Lombards so that the cruelty of the barbarians (the Muslims) could be calmed down. (Vita S. Venerii, chapter 23) They (the Muslims) tried to cross the river in any possible way, but there was no passage allowing them to go to the monastery (Montecassino). As it is typical of their barbarity, they chewed their fingers, gnashed their teeth, and ran to and fro raging. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, book II, chapter 5) The emperor (Otto II) then reached the coast passing through the barbarian ranks (the Muslims) with great difficulty, and, frightened by the cruelty of the enemy, entered the waving sea. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book IV, chapter 23) The main reference work for the writers of this epoch, who one should always keep in mind were all churchmen, was the Bible. In the Holy Scriptures, the worst persecutors of the chosen people were the Pharaoh and the Egyptians. It is not surprising, therefore, that some authors compare the Muslims to them. DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-4

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As it once submerged your prince with his cavalry in the Red Sea, i.e. that tyrant, the pharaoh with a hard heart, similarly the wrath of God will immediately come against you if you do not stop attacking the Christian people. (Vita Vitalis, chapter 14) The Muslims are also described in more obviously disparaging terms. We therefore believe that it was the protection of the Blessed Constantius that drove those iniquitous peoples out of his parish. (Sermo de virtute Sancti Constantii, chapter 12, p. 1019) I want thus to prove the efficacy of the virtue of Euphebius, that is, whether he will be able to protect me while I diligently obey him amid the swords and spears of those iniquitous enemies. (Miracula S. Euphebii episcopi Neapolitani, chapter 2) After these things, the augustus deigned to enter Capua. Knowing of his arrival, the Saracens abandoned Salerno, went to Calabria and, finding it deeply divided, devastated it so much that it seemed empty as if there had been a flood. Before that nefarious people (the Muslims) escaped, however, the Lord showed many persons a sign from heaven in this way… (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 35) They are even called dogs and compared to locusts, well known for their voracity and destructivity, and a swarm of bees, insects extremely dangerous when they attack in large groups. As the most blessed Luke had predicted that the province of Calabria would have been devoured by the bites of those dogs (the Muslims)… he departed from his cave. (Vita s. Lucae abbatis, chapter 5) All the Agarens gathered again, immediately went to the Beneventan and Salernitan territories, and destroyed, like very many locusts, anything they could find. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 93) Around this time the people of the Agarens came out, like a swarm of bees, from Babylon and Africa with a strong army and went to Sicily devastating everything in every place. They took possession of a beautiful city, called Palermo, where they have lived until now, and destroyed so

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many cities and fortified centers of that island that almost all Sicily groans under the dominion of those peoples. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 11) Besides being terrible destroyers, the Muslims could also be sly and perfidious. At that time, through the Gastald of Bari, Pando, Prince Radelchis invited the Saracens from beyond the sea to come to his help. They stayed for a long time near Bari, afterwards they took possession of the city at night in the usual manner. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 2) In those days a certain Pando held Bari, and, obeying Radelchis’s orders, had Saracens come to his aid and had them reside in a place between the walls and the seashore. The Saracens, however, because they are by nature cunning and more expert than others in doing evil, carefully examined the fortifications of that place and late at night, while the Christians were sleeping, entered the city through hidden passages and partly killed the innocent population with swords and partly destined it to imprisonment. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 16) Having become much stronger, the Capuans, however, severely tore Naples apart, devastating the surrounding parts of the city by themselves and with the Saracens. They destroyed everything like fire, so that, by a just divine judgement, he who had delivered countless Christians to swords and imprisonment with the Saracens and had enriched himself with their goods would be not undeservedly scourged, consumed, and plundered by the Saracens. As Solomon said, ‘Who will medicate the enchanter once the serpent has struck?’ (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 77) It happened that an immense multitude of Agarens went to Salerno, officially to make peace but, in reality, to occupy the city fraudulently. Because they wanted to enter through the gates of the city with arms, the most intelligent Radoalt, who knew their cruelty, made this known to the princes. They therefore did not act with laziness and the Salernitans lit fires in the squares and spent the whole night without sleeping. The next day they took away the arms from the Agarens and the Agarens entered the city without any arms. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 151) Liudprand of Cremona emphasizes the slyness and perfidiousness of the Muslims in his description of the creation of their stronghold at Fraxinetum.

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the aforementioned Saracens, who were no less clever than perfidious… (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book I, chapter 4) Trusting a Muslim too much cost Serlo of Hauteville, Roger’s nephew, his life. A certain Saracen… by the name of Brachiem had arranged a pact with Serlo. In an effort to make it easier to deceive him, Brachiem made Serlo his adopted brother, according to their custom, while Serlo in turn did the same to him. Then, after conspiring with his men, Brachiem deceitfully sent small gifts of greeting to Serlo along with some friendly words, including the following: ‘May my adopted brother know that seven Arabs have boasted that they plan to go into your land for plunder on such and such a day.’… The Arabs who had organized the trap left Castrogiovanni with seven hundred knights and two thousand foot soldiers and prepared an ambush in a hidden place not far from Cerami. From there they sent seven knights – just as Brachiem had indicated to Serlo – on ahead to plunder in the vicinity of Cerami and thus draw out Serlo… trusting his adopted brother more than he should have, Serlo rashly pursued the seven. Without thinking, he headed right into the trap… since no one was coming to help him, Serlo fought in vain. Ultimately he was pierced through and he died. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger, book II, chapter 46) The same fate awaited the Muslim ruler who allied himself with Roger of Hauteville. While he was looking for allies among his coreligionists in Sicily, he fell into a trap set for him by one of his warriors. Meanwhile Betumen travelled through Sicily and, as he had been asked by the count [Roger], he drew into fealty to our people whomever he could. He did not desist from attacking those whom he could not persuade at all. While he was going to attack the fortified center of Entella, which had previously been his, a certain Nichel, a powerful man who had once been one of Betumen’s warriors of this fortified center, deceitfully sent him words of peace. He asked that Betumen should come with a few of his warriors to a predetermined place to talk implying that the Entellans wanted to be reconciled to him. Because the Entellans had already given him very many good things when relations between them had been good, Betumen did not suspect any treachery and did not delay to go to the meeting in the way he had been told. So, following the suggestion devised by their chief Nichel with a poisonous heart, the Entellans first transfixed his horse with a javelin… then stabbed him while he was on the ground, making him to exhale the last breath of his life with blood. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 22)

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The first contact Saint Neilos (ca. 910–1004) had with the Muslims provides the most detailed account of the degree of terror they inspired. a barbarian leaped out from the underbrush and just like Paul’s viper seized the holy man by the hand… A little further along, behold, on his right-hand side there was a crowd of Saracens—black Ethiopians with wild eyes, evil faces, all appearing like demons… Realizing that he had fallen into a multitude of snares, he was unable to move his feet forward on the path. Instead he frequently looked behind him in a state of total agitation, expecting the sudden and treacherous slash of a sword, as was the barbarian manner. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 6) In the Life of Elias the Younger, Muslims are accused of being as lecherous as animals, differing from them only because they perform homosexual acts. Being libertines, you are incontinent in your pleasure, and you are different from animals, that have no reason which rules passions, only because they know the limits of their natural impulse, while you look for femininity in the male and for virility in the female. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 24)

Christians in Muslim texts When it happened that the Christians attacked and the Saracens defended themselves, the roles were reversed, and several derogatory definitions for the Christians appear in Muslim narrative works. The enemies attacked our homeland in such number that [they looked like clouds of ] locusts or [knots of ] worms. / Twenty thousand of them gathered together from everywhere; alas, what an evil gathering! / They suddenly plummeted on a handful of men, inexperienced in war, rookies, / used to a mellow and care-free life: but Destiny does not have languid eyes!/ Waking up from their morning sleep, they saw threatening stares and sharp swords before them./ They came on galleys that looked like mountains, but their summits were bristled with spears and swords. / … They came upon us like snakes. (BAS, vol. 2, pp. 62–63) ships came like a cloud of locusts that darkened the sky… In their jihad the Bedouins fought the barbarians, pigs to be crushed by furious lions. (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Il Canzoniere, number 143, stanzas 20, 61)

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The ferocity of the enemies and the consequences of their attacks Somewhat confusing his geography and occasionally exaggerating, Liudprand of Cremona (ca. 920–972) makes the unusual comparison between what had occurred in the north and south of the Peninsula. At that same time, the Saracens, leaving Africa by boat, so occupied Calabria, Apulia, Benevento, and almost all the cities of the Romans, that the Romans everywhere held only half of the city and the Africans the other half. Indeed, they built a fortification on Mount Garigliano in which they kept, quite safe, women, children, prisoners, and all stolen goods. Also, no one could travel from the west or the north to pray at the thresholds of the most holy apostles in Rome without being captured by them or released at the cost of no small ransom. Although wretched Italy was oppressed by many misfortunes of the Hungarians and of the Saracens from Fraxinetum, still it was shaken by no devastations or epidemics like those brought by the Africans. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 44, pp. 94–95) According to this writer, the Muslims of Fraxinetum proved to be a true and persistent thorn in the side of northwestern Italy. But also the Saracens who, as I said, inhabited Fraxinetum, after the destruction of the Provençals, quite thoroughly devastated those upper parts of Italy close to them; to such an extent that, having depopulated many cities, they reached Acqui, which is a city some 40 miles from Pavia… Such great fear had filled everyone that there was no one who would await their arrival unless in very heavily defended places. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 43, p. 94) They were not the only ones who hit northern Italy either. About the same time at Genoa, a city in the Cottian Alps eight hundred furlongs from Pavia on the African Sea, a fountain ran copiously with blood, plainly showing that some disaster would soon befall all the inhabitants. In that same year indeed the Africans with a huge fleet arrived there, and taking the people by surprise burst into the city, massacred every one except the children and women… and sailed back to Africa. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis (Tit for Tat), book IV, chapter 5, p. 144)

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According to Pope John VIII (872–882), the land of the faithful is sadly consumed by the enemies of the cross of Christ who rejoice in it. The blood of the Christians is shed, and the people devoted to God are ravaged by a continual slaughter. Those who escape the sword and fire become prey, are carried away into captivity, and exiled forever. Deprived of their inhabitants, cities, fortified centers and villages perish and the bishops are scattered here and there; only the churches of the princes of the apostles are left as shelter for them, while their bishoprics are reduced to dens of beasts. They wander and are homeless, and they are no longer allowed to preach, but only to beg. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 22, p. 20) At the beginning of the tenth century, recounts the chronicler of Novalesa, after the third destruction, that holy place, devoted to God, remained for […] years with any man living in it. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book II, chapter 19) After the monks had fled from the monastery, the most ferocious Saracen people immediately arrived at that place and, having plundered everything they could lay their hands on, set fire to all the churches and houses. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book IV, fragment XXIV) They (the Muslims) found two old monks who had been left there to guard the churches and houses. They seized them and beat them, wounding them to death. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book IV, fragment XXIV) At the time when the Saracens were captured at Frascenedello, two of them were being held in chains in Turin… So the Saracens saw the house of God and bold and full of food and wine, although they were locked up in the castle, began to think what they should do to free themselves… they burnt the doors of the church… the sacred temple is wrapped in fire… So the house of God is destroyed by flames… There we lost many possessions, wills and also books, which today appear scorched. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book V, chapter 1) The flood of the Saracens, who lived on a mountain surrounded by extensive forests and inextricable underground tunnels, came from Fraxinetum. They devastated the province of Arles, Burgundy, and Cimella and also submerged the entire Subalpine Gaul in blood and fire. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book IV, fragment XX, p. 236)

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The serious situation created by Muslim raids in several parts of Piedmont in the tenth century is also documented in a papal letter. We have actually heard that the Bishopric of Alba has been so ruined by the Saracens that Bishop Fulcard, currently in charge of that Church, is without clerks and population, and he is furnishing his daily expenses not as a bishop from the resources of the Church, but as a peasant from his agricultural work. ( John XII, Letter [c. 969]) One of the most detailed accounts of Muslim ferocity is that by the monk Theodosius about the fall of Syracuse in 878. The barbarians took those whom they had captured with the patrician (they were all born in Syracuse and of high status), and some other captives out of the city, and made them stand together within a circle. They attacked them with a rush like wild dogs and killed them, some with stones, some with clubs, some with the spears that they had in their hands, and others also with tools that they found by accident, pressing upon them most cruelly. And still furiously raging in their hearts, they consumed their bodies with fire. I cannot pass over with silence the barbarous cruelties they perpetrated upon Nicetas. He was of the Tarsensis people, most learned in war, and brave, and during the siege, he every day insulted with many curses the impious Mohammed, who is held by that people to be the greatest of the prophets. They separated him from the group of those who were to be killed, and they stretched him upon the ground supine, and (God, I implore your clemency) they flayed him alive from the chest to the pubes. They tore to pieces his protruding entrails with spears and moreover, with their hands they tore the heart out of the man while he was still breathing, lacerated it with their teeth most cruelly, and afterwards threw it upon the earth and stoned it. Then at last, they were satiated and left. (Epistola Theodosii monachi, p. 275) Muslim texts on the Norman conquest of Sicily are very concise and do not mention massacres of civilians or the killing of prisoners by Christians, but this detail may be due a dearth of coeval chroniclers. The tone of the Muslim writers, however, changes in their accounts of the Norman leaders’ campaigns in Tunisia during the twelfth century. The men of Zawīla who were left were charged by the Franks and retreated towards Zawīla, whose gates they found closed. They turned

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to fight below the walls and held firm until most of them were slain… The Franks entered Zawila and killed any women and infants they found there. (The chronicle of Ibn al-Ath īr for the crusading period from al-Kāmil fīl-taʼrīkh, part 2, p. 77)

The leaders of the ‘other’ Although they are quite rare, there are also accounts of extremely brutal Muslim leaders. One of the worst depictions concerns Emir Ibrāhīm II (d. 902), who was planning to conquer the southern part of the Italian Peninsula at the beginning of the tenth century. 2… That most dangerous tyrant broke the gates and, hungry like a fierce animal, entered with all his warriors and took and devoured the soft cattle (i.e. the Christians). Who can narrate the ruin of that city, the unheard-of sufferings, and the indescribable tortures? 3. Among all the innumerable acts of violence that this most cruel man perpetrated everywhere in rage, we will nevertheless consign one to the memory of posterity… After the most wicked king had slaughtered all the males, females, and even the children, and had also ordered the whole city to be set on fire, the still insatiable beast sent some men to search the caves of the valleys, the ditches, and the bushes, so that they might find those who had escaped and bring them to him so that they might receive a worthy punishment. And since they were very swift, they carefully searched everywhere, and found the very strong and holy athlete of Christ Procopius, the bishop of that city, who had hidden himself with some clerics and some citizens; they immediately tied them with great rejoicing and quickly brought them to their lord… (the emir asked Procopius to become his priest but the bishop laughed at him) The irate king then trembled with rage and said: ‘O prisoner, you laughed at these words? You laugh and you do not understand before whom you are?’ The most steadfast servant of Christ immediately replied, ‘I laugh, and I laugh a lot, because the one who stirred you up to say the things of which you have spoken is a demon.’ Hearing these things, the bloodthirsty man turned furiously to his guards: ‘Now,’ he said, ‘open his chest immediately and take out his heart so that we may see and understand the secret of his mind’… That impudent king gritted his teeth and put his heart in his mouth to eat it and, while Procopius was still alive, ordered him to be beheaded along with the others. But these things were not enough for that rabid dog; having made a great fire, he also ordered all their corpses to be burned…

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4. After all these things had been accomplished, as we have described, that man, a child of paganism, indeed a rare example of cruelty, who attributed nothing to the judgment of God, but everything to his own strength, behaved like a madman with such pride that he disdained to speak to the ambassadors of the Italian cities who had come to him to make an agreement. After a few days, however, through a messenger he sent them these words: ‘Go away from here, go to your peoples, and report to them that the rule of all Esperia (i.e. Italy) will depend on me; and I will dispose of them as my subjects as it will please me. Perhaps they hope that either the little Greek or the little Frank may oppose me. I wish I could find them all gathered together; I would show them my strength… But why do I hold them back? Go and be more certain than certain that I will not only destroy you but, in truth, also the city of the little Peter (i.e. Rome). It will then remain only an enemy. I will go to Constantinople and pulverize it with my strength.’ ( John the Deacon, Translatio Sancti Severini, chapters 2–4) The invective of the southern Lombard chroniclers is, in large part, directed against Sawdān (857–871), the last emir of Bari. Such rancor was probably motivated by his excessively violent behavior in comparison with his predecessors and the danger he accordingly represented. In the meantime the most dissolute and most wicked king of the Ishmaelites, Sawdān, cruelly devastated all the land of Benevento with fire, swords, and captivity in such a way that there was no breath of life left in it. For this reason the army of the Gauls often came to suppress their ferocity, but, having achieved nothing, it returned by the way it had come. It happened then that the Prince of Benevento, Adelchis, granted a tribute and some hostages to Sawdān and signed a peace treaty with him… Since, for that reason, from that day on, his audacity had increased, Sawdān completely destroyed Benevento and its territories, so that, except for the main cities, no place escaped his cruelty. In those days he took the fortified center of Venafro, plundered the monastery of the martyr saint Vincent, and received three thousand gold coins for the buildings he had not burned. Having done that, he received as many coins from the vicar of the blessed Benedict. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 29) That ungodly and most cruel thief, may the Lord smite him with the sword of his mouth and destroy him with the manifestation of his coming, that pestiferous Sawdān, who came out of Bari, utterly devastated Capua, Conza and Liburia, and settled with his most iniquitous throne in the plain in front of Naples. Not a day passed that he did not kill five

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hundred or more men and therefore he claimed that this was God’s will, so that the gospel passage would be fulfilled: ‘Whoever kills you thinks he is doing God a service’. Like a putrid dog, that cruel tyrant ate while sitting upon the corpses of the dead. (Cronicae Santi Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 25) In this spine-chilling description, impurity, that is, chaos, is an important element—the ingestion of nutrients necessary for life is occurring in the very face of death. This episode may, therefore, be understood as symbolic for the excessively violent behavior of this Muslim ruler, who refused to honor previous treaties with Christians—especially with the abbeys of the South. In breaking these treaties, he represented a powerfully disturbing element in that region. The portrayal of an extremely fierce Muslim can also be found in one of the chronicles about the Normans in southern Italy. Furthermore, he was very deceitful. His words, explains the chronicler, never reflected his thoughts. Benarvet, who was hostile to the Christian name in Sicily, caused many problems. Indeed he was very cunning, devoted to military matters, audacious, and sly; he said one thing with his tongue keeping another thing silently hidden in his chest. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 30) He then came to Reggio, pillaged the church in honor of St. Nicholas, which is not too far from there, and also another one in honor of the blessed George. He trampled upon and defiled the holy images and took away the sacred vestments and vessels for the use of his men. Going further, he attacked devastated an abbey of nuns, dedicated in honor of the blessed Mother of God and Virgin Mary, in a place of Squillace, which is called Rocca Asini. He dishonored the kidnapped nuns with an indecent rape. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 1) An anonymous Pisan writer depicted the governor of al-Mahdīya, Timun, very negatively. The impious Saracen, Tamimus, ruled there: he was similar to the Antichrist and to a most cruel dragon… He was stupid and very haughty and proud of his glory… He devastated Gaul with his Saracens, captured all the peoples who held Spain, and harassed all the coasts of Italy. He pillaged Romania until Alexandria. There was neither a place in all the world nor an island in the sea that the horrendous perfidy of Taminus had not harassed. Rhodes, Cyprus, Crete, Sardinia, and Sicily with them were all tormented. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, lines 17–18, 23, 25–32)

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In Muslim texts, the only negative descriptions of Christian rulers are in the accounts describing the Norman sovereigns’ attacks against Tunisia in the twelfth century. The only one portrayed without any nuances is King William (d. 1166). At the death of Roger (II), his son William was raised to the throne: he was a man of evil conduct and sinister appearance. His miserable rule pushed to revolt some castles in the island of Sicily and Calabria and the revolt extended to Africa. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 480)

Violent like, and more than, the Muslims For some authors, Muslim devastation and ferocity were such that they became a point of reference against which to measure any violent act or evil behavior. According to Pope Benedict III’s (855–858) biographer, an ex-communicated churchman suddenly and boldly intruded into the prince of the apostles’ basilica, which he ought not to have entered. The extent and nature of the evil and hapless activities he carried out were such as the Saracen horde had not presumed or thought to carry out therein; he broke the images and burnt them with fire. He destroyed the painting of the synod which Pope Leo of blessed memory had had made above the sanctuary’s doors, and with an hatchet he hurled down to the ground the icon of our Lord Jesus and his ever-virgin mother. (The Lives of the Ninth Century Popes, p. 172) In 876, in a letter to Emperor Charles the Bald, Pope John VIII emphasized that the Christians do nothing better than what I have said about the pagans. They are our neighbors and those who come from the neighboring territories where the margraves live. In fact, following the prophecy, we say ‘the caterpillar devours what the locusts leave’ and what by chance is left by the infidel Saracens, who are the handmaid’s children, is devoured down to the earth by those who by their faith should be the children of the free woman (i.e. Sarah). What is there of what the Saracens do that these do not do worse? Those occupy the land; these ones leave nothing in the cities and countryside. The Saracens kill with the sword; these ones slaughter with hunger by taking everything away. The Saracens take away people in captivity; these ones reduce them to slavery. And when you ask for someone to fight against the enemies, none is found for they are held back by their abuses. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 22, p. 20)

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Towards the end of his chronicle, Erchempert stresses his aversion to the Byzantines very harshly, observing that at that time the Greeks arrived from Constantinople with a fleet in the region of Reggio, where the Ishmaelites also went, coming from another direction, from Africa and Sicily. They met between Messina, a city in Sicily, and Reggio. They clashed for some time. The Greeks were beaten and the Achivi who remained were so frightened that both men and women and children abandoned both cities with all their possessions and sought help without anyone starting to fight. The reason why divine justice allowed such things to happen to that beastly people, I will tell you briefly. The Achivi are similar to beasts both in their habits and their souls. They are Christians by name, but are more cruel than the Agarens by their habits. They kidnapped all the faithful and bought them for the Saracens. They sold some of them and filled the ocean shores with them, and kept the others as servants and female servants. Seeing such things, God consigned the Greeks to ignominy and destruction, that they might perish, reflect, and understand that with their horrible deeds they had struck God. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 81) According to Saint Vitalis’s biographer, the people of Turris reacted sorrowfully to the order of the governor of that region to transfer that saint’s relics from Turris to Armento (Basilicata). what a great injustice, what a great harm has happened to us; we cannot express it in words. Indeed, today we have not been dispossessed by the Agarens, or by some other people, but (oh, what a dolor) by our own lord. (Vita Vitalis, chapter 24) The Milanese chronicler Arnulf, who was a supporter of the archbishop of Milan, and as such, adverse to any reform of Church customs, wrote this caustic observation about the Normans who, in the second half of the eleventh century, had become the defenders of the reformist popes. (the Normans) eventually filled the entire province of Apulia, took possession of it… and became crueler than the Greeks and more ferocious than the Saracens. (Arnulf of Milan, Liber gestorum recentium, book I, chapter 17) Similarly, another Milanese chronicler of this period, Landulph the Elder, mentions the Muslims as a point of comparison for criticizing adversaries of the Milanese and of his own party.

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In that period, because the citizens of Milan saw that their city had been harshly besieged again… they accepted that… the king (Lambert), who was worse that a Saracen, entered the city with his men… (Landulph the Elder, Historia Mediolanensis, p. 46) Meanwhile, on more than one occasion, (the leaders of Pataria) incited the populace… not to care about the citizens who were against them, thus behaving like Saracens… (Landulph the Elder, Historia Mediolanensis, p. 87)

The pleasure of narrating violence inflicted on the other In the previous pages, it has been shown that both Christian and Muslim writers describe the violence and destruction committed by their adversaries in vivid detail to emphasize their evil. Authors also recall their coreligionists’ attacks against their enemies, but, in these cases, they tend to provide fewer details, probably because they did not wish to portray their compatriots as bloodthirsty monsters. In addition, for the Christian writers, because they were all churchmen, they perhaps perceived lingering on the enemies’ suffering inappropriate. Moreover, many writers, especially Muslim chroniclers, lived many years after the events they narrated, and their emotional involvement with those episodes was therefore less intense. For example, in one of his most detailed descriptions of fighting between his coreligionists and Christians, ‘Alī ibn al-Athīr (ca. 1160–1230) reports the following account: Muslims suffered their worst defeat. The enemy pushed them back to their tents, already certain of their victory. In such a situation, the Muslims, after deliberating that death was their only means of salvation, started to recite the saying of the poet: ‘I pulled back to save my life, but my soul does not live if it does not march on. / Our heels are not bloodied with wounds; our blood seethes at the tips of our feet’… then the Rūms fled, shamefully vanquished, and the Muslims massacred them. Reaching the verge of a cliff, as deep as a pit, the fugitives fell into it fearing their enemies’ swords. In so doing, they killed each other, as they fell one on top of the other, and the pit filled up with corpses. The battle lasted from dawn to dusk; Muslims killed their enemies for the entire night. (BAS, vol. 1, pp. 426–27) A greater narrative involvement can, instead, be found in some authors contemporary to the events narrated in their works. The satisfaction and, at times, the pleasure of exalting what had been inflicted on their adversaries offer some insights into the mentality, the tastes, and, sometimes, the frustrations of those authors and their audience.

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In the description of the campaign against al-Mahdīya in 1087, an anonymous Pisan author wrote When those who were within the walls saw what had happened, they barred the gates to which those wretches were fleeing. They were all killed and maimed almost like cattle… married women, virgins, and widows were killed, and children were crushed so that they could no longer live. In all Sibilia, there was neither a house nor a street that was not reddened and dirty with blood: the wretched corpses of the Saracens were so many that they were already giving off a stench that could be smelled for a hundred miles… Others went to the elaborately decorated mosque; they maimed a thousand priests of Machumata. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, lines 143–45, 151–56, 205–06) Reading these passages, the fact should be taken into account that this work is pervaded by the spirit of holy war and that the writer was probably influenced by the biblical episodes in which the Hebrews massacred all those who had occupied Israel. His account about the indiscriminate killing committed on that occasion attempts to show that the Christians completely eliminated the enemies of God (the absence of such details in the Muslim versions of this episode suggests that he could have exaggerated what had happened). In the case of the Pisan writer, it is incorrect to use the words ‘pleasure’ and ‘ joy’ to describe his feelings, but the presence of some details reflects his satisfaction with the amount of harm his fellow citizens and their allies inflicted on all the Muslims. Pleasure and joy, on the contrary, clearly emerge in the brief poems by Ibn Ḥamd ȋs for his Maghreb patrons. In them, it is possible to perceive the deep satisfaction of the exile, obliged to leave his native Sicily because of the Normans, in recounting the massacres Muslims carried out against their enemy when the Christians attacked North Africa. Since he made a living writing verses, a very popular genre at the Muslim courts, it is very likely that his audience appreciated those descriptions as well. And so many tried to escape death by paying in gold, but gold was not accepted! / Here Islam quenched its burning thirst for their blood, breaking and chopping with spear and sword. (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, number 143, stanzas 36–37) On the island of Pantelleria you see the skulls of their ancestors; still today the dust is filled with the shards of their skulls. (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, number 143, stanza 47)

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Managing to capture the women of the enemy was a way of underlining that victory had been completely achieved, and the poet stresses this with humiliating words. Has not our invading army enslaved their sweet girls? So many women were taken away from their husbands, in whose footsteps the little virgins were dragged away! (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, number 143, stanza 46) A twelfth-century Muslim writer, on the other hand, mentions an anecdote where, besides recording the killing of Normans who surrendered in exchange for their lives, he also makes fun of the enemy. At Roger’s court I saw a Frank with a long beard, who, touching the tip of his beard, swore on the gospels not to cut a single hair of it before taking revenge against the people of al-Mahdīya. Having asked news of him, I was told that during his flight he tore his beard so much that his chin was bleeding. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 36)

Macabre trophies of victory In describing the killing of Serlo of Hauteville (ca. 1065), Geoffrey Malaterra also explains the end of the Norman’s corpse and those of his men. After disemboweling Serlo, the Saracens extracted his heart and it is said that they ate it so that they might take his bravery thanks to which he made many things. They sent the severed heads of those who had been killed to Africa as a gift for their king. But the head of Serlo was placed on a pole and carried through the streets of the city… (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 46) This story was told as evidence of Muslim cruelty; in addition to treacherously killing Serlo, they also savaged his corpse. Furthermore, this episode implicitly emphasizes how brave and feared that Norman warrior was. This passage is, however, based on a fairly common practice. Some Muslim authors mention the exhibition of the heads of Christians killed in battle as well. The Muslims chased the Rūms until night killing and making prisoners. ‘Al Hasan sent the heads of the killed to the cities of Sicily and Africa. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 423)

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Celebrating a victory over the Normans in Africa, one Muslim author narrated that, if the Muslims had hung all the heads of their enemies around the walls of a certain fortress, they would ornament the neck of the fortress like a jewel. (BAS, vol. 2, pp. 400–01) This, moreover, was the same punishment reserved for other adversaries, including other Muslims. The use of such rituals for rebels in Byzantine Italy and the Lombard Kingdom during the seventh century and in Venice around 830 indicates that this practice was not unknown among Christians.

Are you what you look like? Some episodes mentioned in the biographies of saints are significant both to describe the atmosphere of suspicion and fear existing in that period and to underline that because many Muslims were descendants of Christians who had converted to Islam, in southern Italy and the Mediterranean it was sometimes difficult to recognize an individual’s identity immediately. Having left Taormina, the holy fathers [Elias and his disciple] navigated to Butrinto… As he [a Byzantine officer] saw the holy fathers… he called them impious Agarens and spies… and ordered to jail them… (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 28) In the biography of John Terista, too, it is said that some Calabrian Christians mistook him for a Muslim because of his clothes. Because they saw him wearing barbarian clothes, they believed that he was a barbarian. (Vita di San Giovanni Terista, chapter 3, p. 139) In this case, however, the accusation was understandable. According to this text, John was the child of Christian parents from the Calabrian town of Stilo. Conceived in Calabria, he was born in Palermo after the Muslims had killed his father and taken his mother to that Sicilian city where a Muslim married her. Neilos recognized the Christian inhabitants of a small Calabrian town, who had dressed as Muslims, only after they removed their turbans. Neilos went forth… expecting the Saracens to pass by. Ten horsemen arrived there with the garb and weapons and turbans and all the other trappings of a Saracen… Removing their turbans and uncovering their

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faces, they were recognized by the father as men from the fortress who had disguised themselves in order to reconnoiter the place. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 30) Some Muslims adopted this strategy during the riots against them in the early 1160s in Sicily. the few who experienced a better fate (either by escaping by secret flight or by assuming the guise of Christians) fled to less dangerous Muslim towns in the southern part of Sicily. (The History of the Tyrants of Sicily by ‘Hugo Falcandus’, 1154–69, chapter 21, p. 122) Probably wishing to underline that, despite more than a century of Christian rule, the inhabitants of Palermo were still strongly influenced by Muslim culture (a clear indication of the superiority of Muslim civilization), the Muslim traveler Ibn Jubayr reports the following observation: The Christian women’s dress in this city (Palermo) is the dress of the Muslims; they are eloquent speakers of Arabic and cover themselves with veils. They go out at this aforementioned festival [Christmas] clothed in golden silk, covered in shining wraps and colorful veils, and with light gilded sandals. They appear in their churches bearing all the finery of Muslim women in their attire, henna and perfume. (Ibn Jubayr’s account of Messina and Palermo (1184–85), p. 240)

4 SOME ‘LIGHT’ IN THE ‘DARKNESS’

Reading between the lines of the zealots’ criticism In the previous pages, it has been noted that some authors were extremely critical of those who established friendly relationships with Muslims instead of rejecting or annihilating them. We have no record of these peoples’ points of view, but these criticisms are themselves proof of the presence among Christians of different opinions about dealing with the faithful of Islam. According to Erchempert, the fact that the Emir of Bari, Sawdān, was not executed brought the wrath of God on Emperor Louis II, who was thus guilty of having forgotten the Bible’s lesson concerning the infidels. Indeed, the prophet Samuel ordered King Saul to kill all the Amalekites in order to cleanse Israel of all idolaters. Tired of massacres, the Jewish king had spared the life of his enemies’ king, and, for this reason, he was cursed by Samuel, who then slit the Amalekite’s throat. Having captured Bari and Sawdān, the most despicable of all men, Louis did not have him killed without mercy, as the Lord wanted, because he deserved it. Instead, Louis forgot Samuel’s treatment of Saul over the affair of the fat king of the Amalekites, Agath, and that Samuel tore him to pieces. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 37) This comment is probably only an interpretation of events filtered through Scripture; nevertheless, the real existence of a group among Christians, especially among the clergy, in favor of giving no quarter to the Muslims should not be ignored. It should also be remembered that the emperor’s decision to spare the emir of Bari was almost certainly determined more by practical DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-5

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considerations than by a spirit of clemency. In this period, Muslims had not yet been expelled from the Italian peninsula, and, in subsequent diplomatic bargaining, or as a simple deterrent against reprisals, Sawdān would prove more useful alive than dead. Indeed, he was later released to end the attacks of the Muslims of Taranto. The warning of Neilos to Bishop Blatton not to have any relationships with the Muslims underlines the Calabrian monk’s intransigent position on this topic. Do not return to that brood of vipers; for after they (the Muslims) excessively flatter and honor you, they will kill you with a sword and drink your blood. Also, you should not toil for the peace of Calabria, nor insist on it, for the Lord of all things is not in favor of this. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 69) Neilos’s biography, therefore, seems to express the viewpoint of the Christians opposing any form of peaceful contact with the Muslims. At the same time, this work also emphasizes the existence, among both Christians and Muslims, of people who were in favor of friendly interactions. When Saint Neilos first met the Muslims, one of them took some loaves of dry white bread and began to run after Neilos, shouting at him, ‘brother’, and calling out for him to wait so that he could catch up. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 6) Such charitable qualities as well as the desire to respect religious buildings and a famous monk, like Neilos, are also evident in the episode concerning the Sicilian emir who wrote him that the suffering of your monks is your fault, because you did not make yourself known to me before. For if this had been the case, I would have sent you my banner, and if you had hung it outside the monastery you would not have needed either to flee from your monastery or to be disturbed at all. If you should ever deign to come visit me, you would have permission to reside in the entirety of my territory and you would receive from us much honor and reverence. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 71, p. 217)

Christian nuances Up to this point, the image of the Muslims that has emerged from this analysis has been extremely negative. In some of the texts examined, however, there are relevant nuances that render the general picture more varied and that suggest

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the existence of relationships between Christians and Muslims that were not based purely on conflict. The anonymous ninth-century Cassinese author, who began his chronicle by stating that he wanted to explain why the Muslims were dominating Campania and Apulia, mentions two episodes that have such features. Both concern Massar, the Muslim leader who took possession of Benevento around 848. After a while, the Saracen chieftain Massar, who resided in Benevento, went to the aid of Prince Radelchis, devastated the monastery of the Blessed Mother of God Mary in Cingla and then took possession of the castle called St. Vitus. He also came into possession of the fortified center of Telese, prostrated Sitis, and devastated all of Apulia and other places as well. When he arrived at the monastery of the good Benedict, his mind was so changed by divine will that when one of his dogs wanted to catch a goose in the meadow, he himself chased it with a stick and forced the predator to throw the goose from its mouth. As he arrived in front of the gates of the monastery, he immediately ordered them to be closed, so that the apostates, who were about to arrive, would not dare to enter it. After this had occurred, he went to Aquino and plundered Arce and nearby places. Eight days later, in the month of November, he returned to Benevento. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapters 8, 10) In the month of June, throughout the region of Benevento, there was an earthquake so strong that it destroyed the city of Isernia to the foundations and killed a large number of people; even the prelate of that city died. An equal destruction of buildings took place at St. Vincent and an earthquake of equal strength occurred at the monastery of the Blessed Benedict, but not a single stone moved from its place. As this was reported to Massar so that he might go and plunder Isernia, which was in ruins, he said, ‘In that place the Lord of all is wrathful. Shall I rage on it even more? I will not go there.’ (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 10) Massar’s behavior towards Montecassino is attributed to divine intervention rather than to the Muslim leader’s own desire to respect a holy place like that abbey. In the second episode, however, the chronicler ascribes deep religiosity and other humane qualities to Massar, qualities which are difficult to find in any epoch (including our own). Therefore, it is doubly significant that he chose to mention them, especially since Massar was not only an enemy but a Muslim. In connection with this, the expression ‘Lord of all’ is particularly relevant because it implies the existence of a single divine entity common to both Christians and Muslims.

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Nonetheless, one should bear in mind that this account still represents a strictly Cassinese viewpoint. The difference between Massar and Sawdān is that the former did not do any damage to the monks of Montecassino. If the stories of any of his victims (among whom were many clerics, according to the same chronicler) had been taken into account, his characterization would probably have been worse. That Louis II had Massar executed after his capture indicates how dangerous he was considered to be. That anonymous Cassinese author was not, however, the only one to express this kind of ideas. In 1076, in a letter to the Emir of Bougie (Algeria), am-Nā ṣir, who had freed some Christian captives, Pope Gregory VII emphasized that although in a different way, we (the pope and the emir) believe in and acknowledge one God… we (the pope) ask with the heart and mouth that, after a long life, God himself takes you to the bosom of the beatitude of the most holy patriarch Abraham. (Gregory VII, Registrum, book III, number 21, p. 288) There is also a range of views in the accounts about the Emir of Bari, Sawdān. Sawdān called the Beneventan Prince Adelchis and said: ‘Take me under your protection because, God is witness, I have your daughter, who is uncontaminated, in my hands.’ He recently received her as a hostage and although he was an infidel, he had not contaminated her at all until that moment. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 108) This author seems to imply that on this occasion Sawdān did not behave as one would have expected of a Muslim. On the other hand, another source portrays Sawdān as a wise man and a cunning person. The city of Bari and the country and all the prisoners were taken by the emperor of the Romans, but Soldan (Sawdān) and the rest of the Saracens were taken by Lewis (Emperor Louis II), the king of Francia, who carried them off to the city of Capua and the city of Benevento. And no one saw Soldan laughing… Later, someone saw him laughing and reported it to King Lewis. He summoned Soldan and asked him, how he had come to laugh? And he said: ‘I saw a cart and the wheels on it turning round and therefore I laughed because I too was once at the top and am now lowest of all, but God may raise me up again’. And thereafter Lewis would summon him to his table and would eat with him. And the nobles of Capua and Benevento used to go to Soldan and ask him questions about the treatment and care of cattle and other matters, because of his age and experience.

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And Soldan, who was cunning and crooked, said to them: ‘I would like to say a thing to you, but I fear to be betrayed by you to the king and I shall lose my life’. But they swore to him, and he took heart and said to them: ‘The king is minded to banish all of you to great Francia, and if you disbelieve it, wait a little, and I will satisfy you’. And he went off and said to Lewis: ‘The nobles of this place are evil, and you cannot be master of this country unless you destroy the powerful men who oppose you; but do you bind the first men of the city and send them off to your country, and then the rest will be submissive to you, as you desire’. When he had won him to carrying out his advice, and the king had instructed that chains of iron should be made for their banishment, Soldan went off and said to the nobles: ‘Do you still not believe that the king is sending you into banishment, and that all remembrance of you will vanish from among men? Yet, if you will be perfectly satisfied, go and see what all the smiths are making by order of the king. And if you do not find them making the chains and fetters, know that all I have told you is lies; but if I speak truth, look to your safety and reward me for my valuable and salutary advice to you’. The nobles obeyed the word of Soldan, and when they had seen the chains and fetters, they were completely satisfied, and thereafter began to devise the destruction of King Lewis… The nobles said to Soldan: ‘What, then, would you have us do for you, in return for the salvation wrought for us by you?’ And he requested them to dismiss him to his own country, which they did, and he went off to Africa, to his own country. (Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperio, vol. 1, chapter 29) The anonymous Salernitan chronicler lived in a tragic period for the history of Salerno. The family who had ruled the city for over a century was deposed because of the betrayals of some of the prince of Salerno’s relatives. Moreover, the neighbors of the Salernitans profited from this moment of weakness to take possession of the principality. The influence of these events can be seen clearly in several of this chronicler’s accounts, as he sometimes uses the past as a sort of parable to indicate what could happen if promises were broken or if someone’s honor was offended. Such concerns, however, were valid in any occasion, even when the ‘dangerous’ Muslims were involved. In these episodes, the Muslims therefore lose the features of ferocious raiders against whom anything was licit and assume those of persons to be respected. During the siege of Benevento by the Salernitans and their allies, the Muslim chieftain Apolaffar, who was at the service of the Prince of Benevento, Radelchis, humiliated Guy of Spoleto, the prince of Salerno’s brother-in-law, in combat. The next day, Guy, Siconolf, and the other nobles gathered to decide how they might avenge the offense against Guy. When they were all

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assembled, Guy then said these words, ‘Say,’ he said, ‘O my faithful and my kinsmen, what shall I do about the great shame that has befallen to me today?’ And they immediately said such words, ‘We will assault the city with various siege machines until by force we place it under our rule, destroy it from the foundations, and thus also avenge the offense done to you.’ Count Guy said, ‘Let us not do these things at all, but, instead, let us first send them an embassy so that they will immediately place the Agarens under our authority. If they refuse this, we will try by all means to do the things you have proposed. If they consent to our will, we will cut off the necks of the Agarens and make peace with them.’ After Guy’s ambassadors had entered the city and reported to Prince Radelchis all that we have already said, Radelchis held a council with his men and, after the council, said to the ambassadors these words, ‘We cannot do today the things you have proposed, but we will try in every way to do them tomorrow because we want to fulfill your will.’ The next day he sent some soldiers to the bed in which Apolaffar was sleeping, and they seized him and took him barefoot to the city’s gate. Because Radelchis saw him barefoot, he immediately said such words to his soldiers, ‘Are you bringing him barefoot?’ Turning his head and looking grim, Apolaffar said these words and spat at Radelchis, ‘You do not care about my head and you ask about my feet?’ Radelchis blushed immediately and sent Apolaffar with all his subjects to Guy. He ordered them to be punished at once. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 83) The insult to the warrior honor of a Christian was thus cleaned up ignobly. Yet, the Salernitan author did not stop his narrative here. Indeed, unlike the Christians, Apolaffar lost his life but not his honor; moreover, he had the moral satisfaction of shaming his betrayer. The chronicler was so sensitive to treachery and the necessity to keep faith to any agreements that he recounts the following episode: After the Agarens had gone here and there, stripping everything, and destroying and devastating especially the territory of Salerno, they chose to live in a place called Cetara, not far from the city of Salerno. As we have said, they harassed the said city from all sides until the Agarens and the Salernitans made a pact between them. But the Salernitans made an unfair decision. In fact, they took up arms and boldly went to the place where the Agarens resided without having provoked the Salernitans, in order to completely annihilate the profane (the Muslims). But the Lord, as a just judge, did not give the Christians the victory at all, for they had forgotten the oath they had sworn to the Agarens. In fact, the Agarens immediately thrust a spear in front of an aedicule where it was written:

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‘to the Most Holy and Inseparable Trinity,’ and spoke in this way: ‘Oh Jesus, son of Mary, we will know that you are truly the king of heaven and earth and the lord of every creature if you prostrate these perjurers powerfully.’ And immediately, though there were few of them, they went towards the Salernitans and began to fight. However, the Salernitans turned their backs, and a part of them, driven into the sea, drowned, and a part of them were killed with swords; the remainder returned confusedly home by hidden paths and woods. There most of the Salernitans died; thinking they were acting for the best, they ran into the worst. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 126) Thus, for this author, keeping one’s word was even more important than eliminating dangerous infidels. The chronicler also presents positive examples; that is, he insists that one should act uprightly not only in wartime but also in daily life. Prince Guaiferius went to the baths. As he was returning to the palace with his men, an Agaren, who resided in the forum of the city of Salerno, called Guaiferius and said, ‘Please, give me the headgear you are wearing on your head.’ Denuding his head, Guaiferius immediately gave his headgear to the Agaren. As this Agaren returned to Africa, his land, he saw that the whole fleet was preparing for a war on the other side, to go to Italy, to encamp at Salerno, and to conquer it with various siege machines. Because some of the Amalfitans were there, that Agaren said these words to one of them, ‘Did you ever see the prince of the Salernitans, Guaiferius, or know him?’ The Amalfitan answered him, ‘I know him, and when I am there, I stay very often with him.’ The Agaren said, ‘I beseech you by the son of Mary, whom you revere as God, to report my words to him faithfully. He should have his city rebuilt everywhere and in every way… Moreover, he should prepare for war for all that multitude which you see will go there. And if he asks you who communicated these things to you, tell him that “the Agaren, to whom you gave your headgear reported such things to me”, and he will believe you immediately.’ The name of that Agaren was Arrane. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 110) The setting of this story well highlights the absence of rigid ‘physical barriers’ between Christians and Muslims. Arrane was probably living in Salerno as a merchant, and the Amalfitans were certainly in northern Africa for the same reason. Similarly, the behavior of Guaiferius and of Arrane indicates that even ‘mental barriers’ between those two groups could be sometimes overcome. This is emphasized especially by the gesture of Arrane, who reciprocated the prince’s courtesy to an extreme degree, thus showing a well-defined scale of

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values. According to these values, before an ethnic or religious solidarity, there was a respect for friendship and one’s word. Such nuances are absent in the chronicles of the Norman campaigns in southern Italy. This absence does not mean, however, that the image of the Muslims in these sources is completely monochromatic. In the account of the Normans’ assault on the walls of Palermo, William of Apulia observes that Then he (Robert Guiscard) ordered his men to climb up. They all together rushed to scale the walls; against them the people of Palermo manned the walls, spreading out along the ramparts. Both peoples made the same effort, but for different reasons—one to take the city, the other to defend it. One side fought for themselves, their children and their wives; the other wished to please the duke by conquering the city. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 308–14) The author does not therefore conform to the view that one had to fight against the Muslims because they were enemies of God; rather he attempts to show the true motives for the conflict. The chronicler’s explanation is all the more important because he puts aside the glorious martial aspects of the campaign. Geoffrey Malaterra often praised the military talents of Roger and the other Hautevilles. Underlining the martial skills of certain Muslims was probably a way to embellish further the qualities of the Norman heroes, who had succeeded in defeating their worthy adversaries. Such descriptions, however, also seem to suggest a certain respect for the Muslims by the author and probably by the Normans as well. For example, the people of Messina doggedly resisted Roger’s attacks. Roger set off to attack Messina, which was almost depleted of its forces. But, because the Messinese, who had survived, although few in number, defended with their wives in arms their towers, ramparts, and themselves as if they were fighting for their lives, the count, worried that the whole of Sicily, incited by this deed, would attack him, returned to his tents and began to consider crossing to Reggio. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 6) Respect for the honorable behavior of the enemy clearly appears in the case of a Messinese Muslim. Among those [who fled] was also a certain young man from among the more noble citizens of the city of Messina who had a most beautiful sister whom he tried to take with him while he was flying. However, the girl, a delicate little virgin, weak by nature, and without energy, began to flag out of fear and the unaccustomed running. Her brother encouraged her

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to fly with most sweet words, but he did not succeed at all. So, seeing her exhausted and not wishing her to remain among the Normans, he drew his sword and killed her so that she would not be corrupted by one of them. And although he shed tears for his sweet sister - she was his only one-, he preferred to be the slayer of his sister and to mourn her death as well, rather than the sister might contravene her law [i.e. religion] and be raped by someone not content with her law. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 11) The chronicler does not express any judgment in response to this action, but it is extremely revealing that he devotes an entire chapter to this person, who was after all still an enemy, and that the chronicler also mentions the inglorious behavior of his own compatriots. Such a presentation of events seems to reveal a desire to give ample room to the defense of one’s family honor, even if this went against his great affection for his sister, a fundamental principle for the audience Geoffrey Malaterra addressed. A variegated image of the Muslims is also present in the Syracusan monk Theodosius’s account about his captivity. In the celebration of this day, a peculiar madness, they (the Muslims) decided to burn the archbishop and to offer the most holy pontiff of Christ as a sacrifice to the evil demons. Indeed, one of them, who ruled over the people and had a mouth that breathed like an open sepulcher, addressed those staying around him and said: ‘O fellow citizens, let us celebrate this feast of Easter as joyfully as may be and make it more famous than ever, by laying hands upon this chief of the Christians for our own salvation, for so I am sure that things shall turn out well for us and shall obtain even a better increase.’ Thus he spoke. But, having heard these things, some old men, with white hair like that one… turned to the people and disapproved that counsel. Indeed, they said that these things were not true. (Epistola Theodosii monachi, pp. 276–77) Saints’ biographies obviously aim to exalt those ‘champions’ of Christianity who were able to interact successfully with, and to gain the respect of, dangerous enemies such as the Muslims (sometimes this respect was reciprocal). These works are particularly relevant, however, because they also present a diversified image of the Muslims and the relationships between Christians and Muslims. Noteworthy is the fact that the nuances are recorded in the lives of the Calabrian and Sicilian saints, who lived in areas characterized by frequent and close contacts with Islam’s believers. In the course of his stay in Africa, Elias the Younger earned the admiration and respect of an emir for healing a Muslim who had been seriously wounded

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by a Christian. The saint’s intervention also saved the aggressor from the death penalty, thus avoiding tensions between the faithful of the two religions. Two men, a Christian and an Ishmaelite, were quarreling with each other. The Christian took a club and broke the head of the Ishmaelite. The relatives of the victim grabbed and tied the Christian, and laid the other one, in agony, on a stretcher. Then they brought both of them before the emir. The latter, surprised by the unusual affair, ordered the Saracen, already at death’s door, to be taken home, and the Christian to be beheaded. The admirable man (Elias) heard about the episode, went swiftly to the wounded and, by holding his head with his two hands and secretly marking him with the sign of the cross, restored him to health, so that the latter could immediately get up, go to the emir and announce the miracle to the people. Having seen this and having his indignation turned into admiration… the emir absolved the culprit and allowed the saint to carry out his work freely. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 15) The biographer of Saint Bononius narrates that The fame of his fragrant good scent spread throughout Egypt, and the princes of Egypt and the best part of the people began to embrace him with such great fondness that they gave him the opportunity to do what he wanted. And because they did this frequently, the holy father Bononius rejoiced and gave thanks to God for calming and silencing the ferocity of those barbarians and turning it into meekness, and especially for making him remain intrepid amidst the cruelty of the barbarians so as to do all the works of the Christians. And so he laid the spiritual foundations of his virtues by working on the repair of the churches that had been destroyed by the barbarians. There he repaired many of them, founded a monastery in which he ordained an abbot and some monks and established that they live according to the rule of Saint Benedict. (Vita et miracula sancti Bononii abbatis Locediensis, chapter 4) While one day the king of Babylon was strolling with great pleasure in the park…, since God had inspired them, his most influential courtiers in agreement with the little queen, begged the king to satisfy the wishes of Bononius, that is, that he would free the Christian prisoners from prison, hand them over to him, and mercifully grant them permission to return home with that most blessed faithful of God. Moved by the wishes of Bononius, the king then complied with the entreaties of his wife and courtiers, gave him the prisoners he held and also gave them a ship with which they could return home and everything that was necessary for navigation. (Vita et miracula sancti Bononii abbatis Locediensis, chapter 8)

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On the other hand, an anonymous Christian subject contrasts the maliciousness of a Muslim officer who falsely accused the Christian court physician John of having insulted Mohammed and the barbarity of the Muslim crowd who, in addition to lynching John, burned and ate his body, with the integrity of Palermo’s ruler. the Sicilian instructor of the youths told me that in Sicily, together with them, there was a Christian physician in the service of their ruler Ibn Abī’l-Ḥusayn, who was appointed to (attend) the sultan. He was succeeded by a son who, like his father, served the sultan; his name was Yū ḥannā. In the times of his father an evil “šarīf ” was appointed with (the grant) of a horse each year, but when his father died, (the “šarīf ”) was not satisfied with (only one) horse from his stables. Then Yū ḥannā granted him two horses, and (so it happened that) the “šarīf ” began to treat him with great favor (in consideration) of his concession. One day (the “šarīf ”) said: ‘Convert through my good offices and believe in that which my ancestor Mu ḥammad carried’. But Yū ḥannā answered: ‘I stay with the word of God, the Messiah is better than your ancestor!’ So the “šarīf ” became angry with him and presented a report (stating that Yū ḥannā) has committed blasphemy against his ancestor Mu ḥammad, and testified on this matter giving testimony, and (the “šarīf ”) gathered the populace and met them. The account (came before) to the sultan, and having received the report, (the sultan) called the parties and interrogated Yū ḥannā, and let him know about their discussion. And (the sultan) was aware that (Yū ḥannā) was saying the truth, that is, that he had not committed blasphemy. (But) the “šarīf ” continued to threaten him with death, and asked him to repeat the profession of faith (as pronounced by) a subaltern person which (the “šarīf ”) had won (in conquest); and (the subaltern) began to recite his profession of faith. But ‘Yū ḥannā’ answered: ‘No, I would profess your profession of faith (only) if it were honorable and reasonable!’ So the “šarīf ” stirred up the country (inciting) the populace, and the sultan became frightened and ordered Yū ḥannā to flee. But he answered: ‘No, in truth the grace that I have wished for has arrived!’ Yū ḥannā went out towards the populace and was stoned and killed; his flesh was (burned) and eaten in a barbaric manner. (Mandalà, ‘The Martyrdom of Yū ḥannā’, pp. 93–94) Even these terrible adversaries were sometimes perceived as fellow people who could be helped by the Christian saints. Returning good for evil, Saint Gregory of Cassano healed his Muslim torturers’ arms that had been paralyzed by God and because one of them was harshly affected by teeth pain, he completely healed him with the sign of the cross. (Vita S. Gregorii abbatis Porcetensis prior, chapter 9)

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Muslim nuances Muslim authors showed greater interest towards Christians when the latter either occupied some parts of the ‘House of Islam’ or launched attacks against it. In general, their tone is fairly harsh and their accounts aim to emphasize the destruction caused by their enemies. Even these accounts, however, possess remarkable nuances. Roger (II) followed the customs of the Muslim kings, instituting in his court aide-de-camps, chamberlains, squires, bodyguards and other offices of this type. He therefore distanced himself from the customs of the Franks, among whom none of these positions was known. Under Roger, a court of injustices was established, to which any plaintive could bring his case, and the king granted them justice, even if he had to go against his son. Roger respected Muslims greatly, had great familiarity with them, and defended them from the Franks. (BAS, vol. 1, pp. 449–50) Particularly noteworthy is the description of Roger’s irreverent answer to the proposal of participating in a crusaders’ campaign against the Muslims of northwestern Africa. 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. ‘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 Tamim will say that I have broken faith 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.’ (Arab Historians of the Crusades, pp. 3–4) This text represents a clear example of the realpolitik adopted by the Norman leader towards his Muslim neighbors, according to which peaceful coexistence, trade, and economic interests could not be compromised by a military campaign even if motivated by religious ideals. That this type of account is present in a Muslim text shows that its author wanted to describe Roger as a ruler

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ignorant of good manners, yet it indicates above all that the Muslims were aware that the ‘Franks’ of Sicily had a different mentality from those who had conquered Jerusalem in 1099. The desire to highlight both the arrogance of the Normans and the wisdom of one of their kings and his admiration for Muslim scholars emerges from the following account: The king of Sicily sent a naval expedition that ravaged Tripoli in North Africa. Now there was in Sicily a learned, God-fearing Muslim whom the king held in great respect, relying on his advice rather than that of his own priests and monks; so much that the people used to say that the king was really a Muslim. One day, as the king was standing at a window overlooking the sea, he saw a small boat come into the harbor. The crew told him that his army had invaded Muslim territory, laid it waste and returned victorious. The Muslim sage was dozing at the king’s side. The king said to him: ‘Did you hear what they said?’ ‘No.’ ‘They told me that we have defeated the Muslims in Tripoli. What use it Muhammad now to his land and his people?’ ‘He was not there,’ replied the old man, ‘he was at Edessa, which the Muslims have just taken.’ The Franks who were present laughed, but the king said: ‘Do not laugh, for by God this man is incapable of speaking anything but the truth.’ And a few days later news came from the Franks in Syria that Edessa had been taken. (Arab Historians of the Crusades, pp. 52–3) Although Ibn Jubayr’s wish to praise the superiority of the Islamic religion and civilization probably conditioned his writing, his description of his stay in Sicily is noteworthy. His work is structured as a diary, and the author clearly communicates the change from his first, extremely negative, impressions to those of surprise at the unexpected atmosphere of tolerance he found at the court of King William II (d. 1189) in Palermo and in other parts of Sicily. To tell the truth, the suspicious traveler describes this friendly manner as a subtle form of behavior used by the Christians to allure simpletons. It is no coincidence that he sometimes added an invocation to Allah, asking him to prevent Muslims from falling prey to such seductions. This city (Messina) is inundated with infidel merchants… No Muslim has settled there; it is grim with godlessness and crammed with slaves of crosses… (Ibn Jubayr’s account of Messina and Palermo (1184–85), p. 234) Their King, William, is admirable for his just conduct, and the use he makes of the industry of the Muslims, and for choosing eunuch pages

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who all, or nearly all, concealing their faith, yet hold firm to the Muslim divine law. He has much confidence in Muslims, relying on them for his affairs, and the most important matters, even the supervisor of his kitchen being a Muslim… His ministers and chamberlains he appoints from his pages, of whom he has a great number and who are his public officials and are described as his courtiers. In them shines the splendour of his realm for the magnificent clothing and fiery horses they display … William is engrossed in the pleasures of his land, the arrangement of its laws, the laying down of procedure, the allocation of the functions of his chief officials, the enlargement of the splendour of the realm, and the display of his pomp, in a manner that resembles the Muslim Kings… He pays much attention to his (Muslim) physicians and astrologers, and also takes great care of them. He will even, when told that a physician or astrologer is passing through his land, order his detainment, and then provide him with means of living so that he will forget his native land. May God in His favour preserve the Muslims from this seduction… One of the remarkable things told of him is that he reads and writes Arabic… It was told to us that when a terrifying earthquake shoot the island this polytheist in alarm ranged round his palace, and heard nothing but cries to God and His Prophet from his women and pages. At the sight of him, they were overcome with confusion, but he said to them: ‘Let each invoke the God he worships, and those that have faith shall be comforted’. (The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, pp. 340–41) We noticed on this road churches prepared for the Christian sick. In their cities they have them after the model of the Muslim hospitals… We marvelled at such solicitude… (The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, p. 346) The people… began their festival of the ending (of the month of fasting)… We prayed, on this holy feast-day, in a mosque in Trapani with a group of its inhabitants who had refrained, for a proper reason, from going to the musalla [place of prayer, where the khutbah was recited]… The remainder of the people, with timbal and horn went to the musalla with their magistrate. We marvelled at this, and at the Christian’s tolerance of it. (The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, p. 353) One of the strangest examples of seducement into waywardness that we witnessed happened as we left the castle, when one of the Christians

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seated at the gate said to us: ‘Look to what you have with you, pilgrims, lest the officials of the Customs descend on you.’ He thought, of course, that we carried merchandise liable to customs duty. But another Christian replied to him saying, ‘How strange you are. Can they enter into the King’s protection and yet fear?… Go in peace, you have nothing to fear.’ Overwhelmed with surprise at what we had seen and heard… (The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, p. 347)

5 SUPERNATURAL EVENTS

The interventions of God and his saints Influenced by the expectations of their audience and by the atmosphere of the period in which they lived, Christian authors did not fail to report the miracles of the saints and God’s intervention; these miracles served to reassure the Christian faithful of the divine presence, even during dramatic circumstances, and, sometimes, to protect them from Muslim assaults. Moreover, the saints, that is, the champions of Christendom, provided models for imitation. These accounts are, therefore, useful for reconstructing the fears, frustrations, and hopes of the authors and their audience, thus revealing important aspects of their mentality. In the ninth and tenth centuries, the scarcity of Christian troops rendered the defense of churches and monasteries, which were typically located outside fortified centers, very problematic. Their lack of defense and abundance of precious items made these places ideal targets for Muslim raiders. The accounts about God’s and the saints’ intervention under these circumstances clearly emphasize the incompetence of the secular rulers as well as the deep dissatisfaction of the churchmen, who thus highlight that only the Lord and his emissaries did not abandon the Christians. the Saracens arrived and surrounded the ship carrying the apostle’s body (Saint Bartholomew) in such a way as to leave no hope of escape. Very thick darkness then immediately descended in front of the Saracens’ ships to such an extent that they did not know where to go, and so that ship was freed. (Translatio corporis sancti Bartholomei apostoli Beneventum et miracula, p. 12) DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-6

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The furious people (the Muslims) then tried to go to the island of Capri. But although the sky was very clear, there was immediately a great upheaval and a very great storm broke out and rain and hailstones like stones came. A very strong wind arose, and the Agarens were terrified, could never get to Capri and were driven away to the parts of Lucania. Think, Oh dearest brethren, how strong is the power of the most blessed Constantius… For while all the inhabitants of this island had been hiding here and there for fear of the Saracens, a little old woman had remained in her little house because she could not escape. As she was sitting full of fear, she heard a noise like footsteps coming. Then, while she, who was trembling and full of fear, thought that the Saracens were coming to her, thanks to the mercy of God, she saw at the door of her little house two elders who said to her, ‘Fear not, Oh old woman, for the Saracens will not come here’. The trembling woman said to them, ‘Who are you, oh my lords?’ They answered and said, ‘We are Constantius and Severinus, inhabitants of this island. And now we will fight against your enemies and confront them at sea so that they cannot come here’. Having said this, they left. Another man remained hidden on the island. He heard the sound of a very sharp trumpet and like a large group of people coming out of the church of St. Constantius. He then thought that the island was surrounded by Saracens. Wanting to hear that sweetest trumpet well, he heard instead a voice saying, ‘The Saracens have been driven out of here.’ We therefore believe that it was the protection of the Blessed Constantius that drove those iniquitous peoples out of his parish. (Sermo de virtute Sancti Constantii, chapters 11 and 12, pp. 1018–19) They (the Muslims) saw that the holy mountain of the most blessed confessor of Christ was near (the monastery of Montecassino). They tried to go there immediately, but the rather late hour prevented them from going. At that time the sky was so clear and the land was so dry that anyone who wanted to cross the river on foot could have done so. The monks of the most Blessed Father Benedict, seeing death so close to them, immediately exchanged the sign of peace, praying to the merciful Lord to receive graciously in peace their souls, who were waiting to migrate immediately in the immediacy of death. Barefoot and with their heads sprinkled with ashes, singing litanies, they all immediately went to their patron, the blessed Benedict. Great was the fear and terrible the waiting and while a great number of prayers were being addressed to the Almighty Lord, his predecessor, Abbot Apollinaris, appeared in a vision to Abbot Bassacius. Apollinaris said, ‘What is the matter with you? For what reason are you burdened with sadness?’ And to such words Bassacius replied, ‘Oh father, death is upon

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us, and shall we not fear?’ Apollinaris said, ‘Do not be afraid. The pious father Benedict has obtained your salvation. So pray insistently to God with litanies and with the celebration of masses. The Lord will immediately hear the voices of those who call upon him. We will also be with you in the churches and will not cease together with the inhabitants of heaven to invoke the Lord Jesus Christ on your behalf.’ After Pastor Bassacius awoke from sleep and revealed this to the brethren, they all together with an exalted voice blessed God, who mercifully saves those who hope in him. Then suddenly it began to rain abundantly with lightning and thunder so loudly that even the Carnello river, swelling up, came out of its banks. And of that river which on the previous day the enemies could have crossed on foot, the next day, repelled by God, they could not even reach the banks… As they (the Muslims) reached the vicinity of their land to the point where they could now see the mountains close by, they rejoiced, as is their custom, according to the custom of the sea. Then there suddenly appeared among them a little boat, carrying two men. One had the appearance of a cleric, the other the attire of a monk. They said to them, ‘Where do you come from and where are you going?’ They answered saying, ‘We are returning from Peter. In Rome we completely devastated his church and plundered the inhabitants and that region; we defeated the Franks and burned Benedict’s cellae’. ‘And you,’ they asked, ‘who are you?’ They said, ‘Who are we, you will get to see’. Immediately a very strong storm and violent gale broke out. All their ships were wrecked and all the enemies died, and there remained none of them who could report these things. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapters 3–5) After occupying many castles and publicly selling Christians, the Agarens came to the castle whose name is Near the Mount, surrounded it on all sides, and began to attack it. But the Christians who dwelt within it resisted them in every way. After the Agarens had besieged it for a long time and afflicted it severely, they eventually cut off even its water so that the inhabitants would ask for mercy. They said, ‘We will besiege that castle until we obtain it by force, and we will strike with the sword all who dwell in it’. Then the Christians prayed to the Lord, by whom they were wonderfully liberated. In fact, suddenly a dove of great beauty came from the side of the enemies and flew around the whole castle, then entered and stopped over the church. After it had stopped on it for a long time, suddenly God Almighty brought a small cloud over the castle. Then, it rained so heavily and abundantly on the Christians that all on that side satisfied themselves of it and filled their tanks. And, in order that the Agarens might know more surely than certain that this had happened by divine will, not one drop fell outside that castle. Having seen that thing

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so clearly, they were greatly impressed and said, ‘The great God defends them’. For that reason they granted them peace. This miracle was done on the solemnity of Saint Vitus. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 139) God also protected the saints and the particularly devoted and brave churchmen. A multitude of barbarian plunderers attacked and Calabria was harshly taken. Then some of them, eager for prey, occupied the venerable monastery of Saint Vitalis. The monks therefore fled and only the most holy man remained. The blessed Vitalis was captured by the Agarens who inflicted him many harsh and ferocious tortures. While they were questioning him about the goods and animals of the monastery, their appearance turned into that of demons… Since they had not found anything of the things they lusted after, they decided to cut off his head. When the sword of the barbarian who was to decapitate the saint was raised, suddenly a fog like smoke enveloped that Agaren, whom a terrible thunderbolt of fire struck… Immediately dropping the sword from his hand, he fell to the ground without saying a word. Having seen that a miracle had been performed by God, Saint Vitalis had compassion on his soul and, since he was good, he took pity on him and marked the barbarian with the sign of the holy and life-giving cross and made him stand up, saying, ‘In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ stand up healed and go to your companions’. What happened then? The barbarian immediately got up, came to his senses, threw himself on the ground in front of the holy father, asking and begging him that, although he had acted unjustly against him, Saint Vitalis would be merciful towards him and let him go. Seeing what had happened, the barbarians, who were his companions, were greatly surprised, for before them there had been a sign and they had seen a flame standing still and the sky that could be touched. The saint went with that Agaren to them and, trembling much for the fear, they ran to him, they adored him at his feet begging him to forgive them and to pray for them so that they could return unharmed to their companions. Saint Vitalis then admonished them and said: ‘Stop shedding the blood of the Christians and do not take possession of their homes. The almighty God will not allow you to do this…’ Terrified greatly by those words, the barbarians expected to receive the vengeance of divine fire. Genuflecting at the saint’s feet, they promised him that they would never again attack the Christian peoples. They would not have been able to attack him since he showed himself to them as a kind of angel. The blessed Vitalis then let them go away. (Vita Vitalis, chapter 14)

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A certain priest often went outside the walls of Naples to the church of St. Euphebius and celebrated holy mass there every day. There was a sudden attack by the Agarens who devastated everything around the city since they had not been able to do so within it. Hearing this, the aforementioned priest said, ‘No terror will be able to keep me from obeying my Father and Lord. I will go without fear and, if I am worthy, I will celebrate mass in the usual way. I want thus to prove the efficacy of the virtue of Euphebius, that is, whether he will be able to protect me while I diligently obey him amid the swords and spears of those iniquitous enemies’. And having said this, putting a staff in a bag full of ecclesiastical objects, he set out without fear… When the prayer was over, a group of Agarens completely surrounded the buildings of that sacred temple. But, by the merits of the most holy prelate Euphebius, Almighty God struck them with such blindness that, inspecting the interior of the church, they did not see the priest celebrating the sacred mysteries. And so, while those wandered outside, the priest finished celebrating mass. When the mass was finished, the said priest heard a voice from heaven saying to him, ‘Do not be afraid, do not be afraid. Steadfastly take up your staff and strike without fear anyone who comes to you. For I will strike them down as you strike them down in some way’. Invigorated by this prediction, he took his staff, as he had been commanded, and bravely went out of the church door and killed those he found outside the church by striking them with his staff. He then headed for the city walls in a straight line and annihilated with his rod any of the enemies who came at him. Seeing the bodies of their comrades falling without being struck by spears, the others were put to flight and returned to the fleet. They quickly cut their moorings with their swords and, halfdead, hurried home plying, as best they could, the sea with sails and oars. Oh, how stupendous was God’s clemency, stupendous and incomprehensible. What the people of an entire city armed with swords and spears did not think they could do, the staff of a single defenseless priest did. With his help, he threw some enemies to the ground and made the others flee. (Miracula S. Euphebii episcopi Neapolitani, chapters 2 and 3) The Lord and the saints provided a fundamental help on the battlefield as well. There, as will be evident in a bit, the glory of the Sorrentines shone through Antoninus and other saints who accompanied him and whose bodies Sorrento preserves. The victory is not undeservedly to be ascribed to them for the rage of the enemies was overcome by those patrons. Three days before the battle, five of them, whose names will later be evident, appeared walking in the flagship of the gentiles (the Muslims).

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The enemies assailed the saints with blind fury… But since the saints had immediately escaped from sight, they stopped doing so not without astonishment. They placed themselves in hidden places with weapons and guarded carefully. Lo and behold, they saw the saints of God again with the previous appearance and gait moving in the same place. They assaulted them with sudden fright and clamor, attacking them furiously one with a spear, one with a sword, and one with a stone, but as the saints had again disappeared, the blows had fallen only on the ship, and, frustrated, they were greatly astonished. But since, blinded in mind, they had again and again tried to make that same attack and had been played by the same deception, the commander and their soothsayer carefully considered the unfolding of this thing. ‘They’, he said, ‘are the gods of Christians who have come either to defend them or to avenge them…’ ‘Let us flee quickly and leave quickly with the ships…’ Lo and behold, the members of the said coalition (the Sorrentines and their allies) suddenly attacked them, killed everyone they could, and took ten ships with the weapons, loot, and prisoners. Those who had survived barely escaped without oars, rudders, and sustenance. (Vita Antonini abbatis Surrentini, chapters 21 and 22) After having gathered his army, their most iniquitous king Sawdān ­decided to swoop down on Nola, Campania, in the temple of the blessed Felix. But how can human wickedness prevail against the power of Almighty God, since Scripture says, ‘There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord’. And the blessed David says, ‘Many miracles hast thou done, Oh Lord God, and for thy thoughts there is none like unto thee?’ The power of God, which is always ready for mercy and go against temptations, was thus dispensed with, and in order that the value of the merits of blessed Felix might be manifested, God deigned to deceive with a marvelous mockery the aforementioned anger of the Agarens through blessed Felix himself. For at night, while all the Christians were resting and sleeping soundly, (Seudan) burst upon them and, in turn, the blessed Felix appeared to them (the Muslims) in various places, shining with marvelous splendor. And in a loud threatening voice of reproach, so that it might be heard clearly by all who heard, he addressed the Agarens on the public street, saying, ‘The king has ordered you to turn back at once and let no one dare to plunder!’ Oh glorious power of God, wonderful and venerable! And so, through the merits and protection of the blessed Felix, all the Agarens were terrified and there they could not take any of the Christians and, ensnared both by fear and error, they returned empty-handed to their base in great confusion

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and reverence. And truly and justly did the holy man of God cry out that the king had ordered those things; no doubt Christ the King, splendid ruler, who neither sleeps nor will sleep, always protects his people: through blessed Felix deigned to turn their boldness and strength into dementia! (Miracula sancti Felicis Nolani, p. 213, paragraphs 30–32) The mother of Christ, for whom the Byzantines had a great veneration, intervened as well. Her preferred weapon against the Muslims seems to have been fire, a likely allusion to the Greek fire that the Byzantines often employed against their enemies. By chance a ship of those impious men (the Muslims) approached this city and seemed to go against the church of St. Fantinus. There, suddenly, the sea was moved by a whirlwind, a great storm broke out, and the ship was struck with force by the winds and the waves, and, driven toward the rocks, it immediately slammed against them and was destroyed. Of those enemies who were in it, some perished at the bottom of the sea, while others were captured by the Christians who rushed there. They said that, as the ship was approaching there, they had seen on the cliff a young man (i.e. Saint Fantinus) holding a lighted torch in his hand and standing near a woman dressed in purple (i.e. Saint Mary). At a nod from her, he had thrown the torch he was holding onto the nearby ship, immediately burning everyone. (Vita et Miracula Sancti Fantini, chapter 53)

This did not happen as a result of human wisdom or assistance, but because of the power and succor of our Lady, the Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary who especially watches over the city. Often when the godless Hagarenes attacked in the night, intending to plunder the citadel, and were close enough to the wall to place their ladders, it is said that she would appear to them from on high as a woman clothed in purple, brandishing in her hands torches with which she would cast down the Saracens and thus drive them away from the wall. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 2) On various occasions, God and his champions punished the Muslims who had committed heinous actions. After perpetrating their wicked and devastating crime (the pillage of Rome in 846) they (the Muslims) all wanted to return to the African region whence they had come, as we know from a sure report, God allowed them to be overwhelmed in the empty vastness of the sea by the

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force of the wind and storms; and lo! The prayer of the apostles was worthy to achieve anew that ancient miracle over the Egyptians. (The Lives of the Ninth-Century Popes, p. 113) Before that nefarious people (the Muslims) escaped, however, the Lord showed many persons a sign from heaven in this way: He threw a huge torch of fire that quickly fell in the middle of their ships. It was immediately followed by a storm that broke all their ships piece by piece. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 35) That tyrant, the king of the Agarens, (Abdila) resided with his guards in the most holy church of the blessed Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes and reveled performing lustful deeds and other pollutions so much that Abdila ordered his bed to be prepared on the most holy altar, and there he enjoyed the girls whom he had wickedly kidnapped. But, with God’s help, such immense contagion, actually presumption, did not last long. As a beautiful Christian girl was brought to him, he immediately ordered to take her to his bed. He tried to rape her, but she resisted him with all her might and in her own language told him, ‘I kill myself before to sully this most holy altar since many sacrifices have been offered on it.’ The tyrannical king scoffed at those words and attacked her with force but, suddenly, through the hands of the angels, a beam broke loose from above, fell on King Abdila and killed him at once. Thanks to the wonderful power of God, the girl was not touched by the beam at all and remained unharmed. And in order that by chance the Agarens might not pretend that this did not happen through the clemency of God, but happened by chance in the same way that we see that in a great many ruined churches because of their old age, not only the beams but also the walls fall to the ground the beam was about almost three cubits from the altar, where the bed was, projected itself where that arrogant and God-hating man was frolicking on the most holy altar and laid him down dead. And to this day, in the eastern part of the church the Redeemer has left a piece of the beam as a testimony for his worshippers. And not only did he remove that tyrant from this light, but he killed a great many of them with a sudden contagion. From that day, although they were gentiles, the Agarens never again entered the said church with those intentions. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 112) Because he (Emir Ibrāhīm II) was reeling due to the great heat, he laid down in a church of the blessed archangel Michael and gave peace to his limbs. Immediately, on that bed, a very furious old man appeared to him from a very ancient image. He said these words to him (Ibrāhīm II) in an

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angry voice: ‘Man’, he said, ‘you have unjustly dared to enter before me. Man, you will die; stand still and do not go outside.’ The old man threw the stick, which he had in his hand, at the furious king, and, after hitting him in the femur, disappeared from his sight. Awakening from sleep, a great fear came over him, and he ordered his men to search the whole camp for one of the Latins, and bring him to him quickly. They quickly found him and immediately brought him to him. Questioning him, he said, ‘Who is the old Peter who before ordered me those things?’ With a troubled voice I replied, ‘Oh sir, I do not know that Peter of whom you speak.’ And he, ‘The Roman one,’ he said, ‘have you never seen him painted?’ Immediately with confidence I said, ‘Oh sir, the old one in the ancient picture with the beard and bald head?’ And he immediately said, ‘That one struck me. While I was lying on my bed and my heart was wandering, thinking about the destruction of Hesperia and the city of Rome, suddenly that old man appeared before me and with great force threw a spear and pierced my side.’ Having said these words, from that day he never got up again. The pain increased every day and in a few days he expelled all his intestines and went into the realm of the Styx (the realm of the dead)… ( John the Deacon, Translatio Sancti Severini, chapter 8) The fact that the Muslims were often able to take prisoners during their raids constitutes further proof of the Christians’ inability to defend themselves effectively. Moreover, only the rich could afford to be ransomed. It is therefore no accident that the liberation of captives, often of low social status, is also among the miracles attributed to God and the saints. There was a certain girl from the village of Centuria, named Anne, who was so burdened with illness that she had lost all bodily functions and looked like a soulless corpse. In fact, every day she vomited blood and being unable to eat or drink, she came close to passing away. As she was nearing the end of life, the blessed Agnellus appeared to her in the guise of a monk and said, ‘Come to me in Naples and I will give you a cure for your health. But, so that you may have no doubt about this and that you may be assured of this promise, I predict that I will free from chains that kinsman of yours who is held captive in Bari by the Saracens and I will quickly bring him to your aid so that he may lead you to me.’ O, wonderful power of God! At that moment the saint appeared to her kinsman who was in chains and as he spoke to him in the vision his chains were broken. (Vuolo, Una testimonianza agiografica napoletana: il ‘Libellus miraculorum s. Agnelli’, pp. 152–53)

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A woman, an acquaintance of the holy father, bothered him with her requests. Her son-in-law had been a prisoner in Africa since the time of the conquest of Reggio. At length she continued to ask him to raise his prayer for him. Then the saint said to her, ‘Return now to your home, and as you have asked, so be it’. The woman departed, for she had faith in the old man’s word, and after thirty days her son-in-law returned from captivity to his home. Asked how he had been able to depart from that region, he thus said, ‘I was in prison and every day waited to die by the sword. And one night around midnight, I saw as if the prison door opened and an old monk entered with shining light that illuminated all that place… He approached me with a happy face and said, Basil (this was the name of that man) get up, leave, and go back whither you came’. Because I hesitated, again he asked me, ‘Do you know who I am?’ I answered him, ‘How could I know if you do not tell me.’ He replied, ‘I am the monk Elias, the one whom your mother-in-law begged to pray for you in the place of the Saline. Come on, fear nothing and hesitate not, but depart and go in peace to your homeland’. I departed and came here escaping every threat. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 55) Elias met a peasant who was going to work in his field… The saint said to him: ‘Friend, since you are going to Africa, please, say hello properly to the chief of the Saracens on my behalf ’. Making fun of those words and not keeping them in any account, the peasant began his journey. When he already arrived to his field and was starting to work, from the ships of the Agarens, that had got near the shore, suddenly disembarked a multitude of men who depredated everything they met. Among the others, alas, was captured also the man, whom we have mentioned, and he was taken to prison. While he was there, he remembered the words that the clairvoyant Elias had said… and asked his abductors to take him to their chief… they took him to their chief… and he said to him: ‘A monk sends very many greetings to your majesty through me.’ God glorified his servant and opened the perceptive capacities of that barbarian and made him ask who said hello to him. The peasant told him what happened. He was pensive for a while then he said: ‘In reality that man he is a true servant of God and, because of his love, I free you from shackles and slavery. So, go back to your people without fear.’ (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 57) The theft of sacred objects by the Saracens or their use as tribute to the Muslims undoubtedly represented material and spiritual harm to the Christians. Indeed, their loss underlined the Christians’ inability to protect an essential component

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of their communities’ identity. Consequently, it is no surprise to see some saints engaged in the recovery of the precious items that had been lost. The Agarens went to the church of St. Constantius, removed one of the doors and took it away with them. The keeper of the church was very sad because he had no doors with which to close the church. And as he prayed to the power of God and the clemency of the saint (Constantius) from the depths of his heart, he fell asleep. The saint then went to him and revealed to him where, in the beach, to find a suitable door for the church… Because the keeper woke up and unveiled to the faithful what he had seen as he had learned it, they all went out at once and, as the saint had promised, found the door. (Sermo de transito Sancti Constantii, chapter 8, pp. 1020–21) The Agarens began to demand gold and silver to make a pact. The citizens (of Naples) then intelligently considered that in that way they could liberate themselves and their city; they immediately handed over to them all the gold and silver vessels from the sacred episcopal residence with the agreement that at a certain time they would send them other gifts and immediately afterwards they would give them the said vessels. This was done. After the Agarens had departed… a great sadness arose among the citizens since on feast days they celebrated solemnities ignobly because they had given away the vessels. Because they had then prayed at length, the servants of Christ Ianuarius and Agrippinus appeared wearing pontifical ornaments to a Parthenopean named John. Wanting to know who were those he had seen in his vision and for what reason they had come, they replied, saying, ‘We are Ianuarius and Agrippinus and, because of the sadness of the Parthenopeans, we are going to Sicily to bring back all the vessels of our see’. Rejoicing at the revelation, the Parthenopean told this to all to the citizens… they immediately sent an ambassador to Sicily… They deserved to receive all the vessels without any hindrance and expense. For that reason, all the inhabitants of the city, having turned from sorrow to joy, gathered and rushed to praise the Lord. (Ex miraculis Sancti Agrippini, chapter 11) Obtaining the spontaneous conversion of Muslims undoubtedly constituted an important achievement that emphasized the power of the Christian faith, and, consequently, gaining converts is another of the miracles attributed to the saints. Two men, a Christian and an Ishmaelite, were contending with each other, and the Christian took a club and broke the Ishmaelite’s head. The

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admirable man (Elias the Younger) learning of the incident, swiftly went to the wounded man and, holding his head with both hands and secretly marking him with the cross, healed him… After this miracle had occurred… those of the people of the Ishmaelites who were ill went to him and were healed. They turned to him as a physician and savior, who had been sent to them by God… He later induced some of these men to renounce the vain religion of the Ishmaelites and approach divine baptism. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapters 15 and 16) One day Bononius and some merchants from that region boarded a ship bound for Alexandria. A violent storm, that could not be avoided, suddenly broke out and greatly stirred up the water. Having no hope of escaping it, they all cried out in the face of such great danger, saying: ‘Oh servant of God, behold, we shall die miserably and you with us, but we will believe your God according to your preaching if you pray to Him and He will deliver you from danger and us with you. Once we are delivered from danger, we vow to receive the sacrament of baptism from you and to follow Him in everything and believe Him perfectly.’ In the face of his prayer the vehement agitation of the sea immediately calmed down and, guided by God with a smooth route, the ship entered the port of Alexandria just as they had intended. The oftenremembered man of God gave the sacrament of baptism to those who had been snatched from the hand of death by God’s intervention. (Vita et miracula sancti Bononii abbatis Locediensis, chapter 5)

Predictions and prophesies At the beginning of his religious experience in southern Italy, Elias the Younger gave moral support to the Byzantine soldiers and the inhabitants of Reggio Calabria by predicting the Christians’ victory over the Muslims and by telling them that God would fight for them. This is an exceptional case, however, because, in the Sicilian-Calabrian saints’ biographies, the predictions about the Muslim attacks are always connected to the theme of the impiety of the Christians, unable, because they were sinners, to understand the warnings of God’s messengers (several biblical prophets had the same experience). In this way, it was also possible to justify the successes of the Muslims in a period in which they were invincible. Elias the Younger distinguished himself in these activities since his childhood. Emphasizing the foolishness of some Christians and the great number of sinners among them, his biographer recounts how, as a young man, the exactitude of his vaticinations earned him a reputation as a soothsayer and prophet of misfortunes, while his words were mocked in his old age.

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At that very time the prince of the Agarens was preparing ships and warriors to attack the inhabitants of Reggio… Elias, then, a discerning mind enlightened by God, foretold the victory of the Romans (Byzantines) and the defeat of the Agarens to all… When then the fleet of the Agarens moved towards Reggio from Palermo, all the inhabitants of that territory, fearing the onslaught of their enemies, determined to retreat into the interior, but the saint, who was full of the graces of Moses, said, ‘Do not be afraid, Oh men! The Lord will fight for you and you will keep silent’. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 25) Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the inspired child (Elias) began to predict the future events of that region; indeed, he stated that three days later the enemies would assault the inhabitants of that place and carry out a slaughter of many citizens, saying the names of those who were to be killed… some people saw him as a prophet… When the predictions came true, the foolish and the amorphous part of the population did not understand that the grace of the Holy Spirit dwelt in him and they called him a soothsayer and a prophet of misfortunes. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 5) Laying down to rest on a bed in the house of Chrysion (an inhabitant of Taormina) because of old age, the saint said to Chrysion, ‘Do you see the bed on which I am lying? It will welcome to sleep the bloody Brachym, and many of this city in this palace will die by the sword’. But Chrysion laughed at his words. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 50) In ca. 850, probably influenced by the crisis that the division of the Carolingian Empire and the ensuing civil war had provoked in western Europe, the Muslim incursion against Rome in 846, and the widespread corruption of the Ravennate clergy, the chronicler Agnellus of Ravenna made the following prediction: The people of the Agarens will rise from the east and will plunder the cities located in the seacoast, and there will not be anyone to get rid of them. For in all the regions of the earth there will be kings needy and desiring wealth, and they will oppress the peoples subject to them, and the empire of the Frankish Romans will perish, and kings will sit on the imperial throne. (Agnellus of Ravenna, The Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna, chapter 166)

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The devil Because the Muslims are often portrayed as a destructive element, it is not surprising to find out that they are often associated with the devil. The Italian authors, however, do not often utilize this narrative device, which is also used for ‘evil’ Christians (some writers never employ it). If you (the Amalfitans) dare to keep remaining in such an impious wickedness at the instigation of the devil and you do not break this pact (with the Muslims) from today, we will order Bishop Dominic excommunicate you. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 250, p. 219 [year 879]) While almost the whole of Italy was being devastated and destroyed by the Saracens at the instigations of the demons, Spoleto too was taken and destroyed. (Proemio della Passione di san Giovanni vescovo di Spoleto, p. 382) That wicked servant of Satan (a Muslim ruler) ordered the imprisonment of the saint (Helias) and he wanted to have him killed the day after. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 16) The enemy of human kind incited that most evil people (the Muslims) against us. (Vita S. Lucae abbatis, chapter 5) As soon as the enemy of all that is good learned of this, he went ahead of him (Saint Neilos) and placed terrible snares along the road… there was a crowd of Saracens… all appearing like demons… (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 6) The connection between the Muslims and Satan can be found in some chronicles as well. According to William of Apulia, This city (Palermo) is an enemy to God, does not know anything of the Divine worship, and it is ruled by demons… (Robert Guiscard) destroyed every structure of the iniquitous temple, and where there had previously been a mosque, he built the church of the Virgin Mother, and what had been the seat of Machamatus and the demon, he made the house of God and the gate to Heaven for the worthy. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 286–87, 332–36)

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Erchempert recounts that after the conquest of the emirate of Bari, because the devil saw that his followers (the Muslims) had been wiped out, that everything had been restored by Christ, and reflecting on his original plans, and being afflicted for the damages to the hell, he urged the Gauls (Franks) to persecute the Beneventans harshly and to vex them with cruelty. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 34) Playing with the assonance between Satan and the name of the Muslim leader Sagdan, the anonymous Salernitan chronicler narrates that Since the legates of the Agarens went to Salerno very often, when the aforesaid Sico and the regent Peter were together at the head of the Salernitans, it happened that a very important Agaren was sent to Salerno by his lord Satan. When he arrived at Salerno, they welcomed him with great magnificence and placed him in the bishopric so that he might reside in the house where the prelate Bernard used to dwell. As this happened, the prelate was deeply saddened by this… and went to Rome. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 99) Thanks to the conquest of al-Mahdīya, writes a Pisan author Hell was plundered and Satan vanquished. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, stanza 46) Geoffrey Malaterra differs from the other authors by assigning Satan a positive role. Indeed, according to the chronicler, the devil wanted to give a miserable death to Benarvet, the worst enemy of Roger of Hauteville, and therefore he instigated the Muslim leader to attack the flagship of the Norman fleet. In the middle of the following night, they pulled out the anchors and, moving silently by moonlight, came to Syracuse where Benarvet was very bitterly waiting with his fleet. They started the fight and both sides joined the battle. At the instigation of the devil who wanted to end his life with a shameful death, Benarvet recognized the count’s ship from afar and rushed toward it advancing with great vigor. He fought fiercely but was received more fiercely. Indeed, he was first hit by a javelin thrown by a certain Lupinus, and was then pursued by the threat of the sword of the count who had boarded his ship. But, as he tried to flee by jumping onto the nearest ship of his men, he sank into the sea because of the weight of his iron armor. Thus he was punished by a

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divine judgment with an appropriate vengeance for the injury that he had arrogantly inflicted upon God. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 2) In two other works, the devil was, on the other hand, the tool used for punishing Saracens who had behaved in a very reproachable manner. Behaving according to his name, that / cunning tempter (the emir of Bari Sawdān) / put the imperial crown on his head and told the people: / ‘Here I am the emperor and I can rule you’. / He was happy with what he had done, / but he fell to the ground, struck by the demon. (Rythmus de captivitate Lhuduici imperatoris, lines 22–26) In contempt of the saints, another man (a Muslim) attempted to defile the altar by shitting on it but he was immediately seized by a demon, he fell to the ground, and died. (Acta Fortunati, Caii, et Anthae, chapter 7)

6 THE ENEMY IS COMING

Why is the enemy attacking us and winning? Divine punishment for the Christians’ sins is the most common explanation in the Italian texts to justify the attacks and victories of the Muslims. As the Lord realized that the Church, which had been redeemed by his blood, was foundering and that there was no Christian who was able to correct such great wickedness or could induce the perpetrators of that wickedness and those who had permitted it to repent, it pleased God that his Church should no longer endure so great a disgrace and that Christians should not avoid making amends, and therefore God sent the pagans to punish them. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, pp. 98–99) At that time, because of the sins of the Neapolitans, the Church of Miseno was devastated by the pagans. (The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, chapter 63) In the introduction to his chronicle, Liudprand of Cremona presents the creation and survival of the Muslim base of Fraxinetum as the perfect example of Christians’ insanity, and he emphasizes that God utilized those Muslims to chastise the inhabitants of that area. Moreover, Fraxinetum could have been created and continue to prosper only thanks to the ineptitude and factionalism of the Christians in that area.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-7

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Meanwhile the Provençals, the people that was closest to them, began to squabble among themselves through envy, to throttle one another, snatch property, and to do whatever evil they could think up. But since one faction could not quite do for itself what envy and pain demanded, it called to its aid the aforementioned Saracens, who were no less clever than perfidious, and with them crushed a faction of neighbors. Nor was it enough to murder neighbors, but truly they reduced to desolation the fruitful earth… The Saracens, since they could do little with their own men, defeating one faction with the help of another, ceaselessly increasing their troops from Spain, began to hunt down by all means those they at first seemed to defend. Therefore they ravaged, they exterminated, they made it so that no one was left. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book I, chapter 4) A similar situation occurred in southern Italy. In the meantime, (the prince of Salerno) Siconolf had been tormenting Benevento with frequent assaults and, as it is customary to say, ‘an evil plant must be struck down with an evil wedge’. Siconolf called Hispanic Hismaelites against the Libyan Agarens of (the prince of Benevento) Radelchis… Up to that moment between Siconolf and Radelchis there had been very frequent fights and conflicts every day, and for this reason those on one side who were dissatisfied with the administration of justice took refuge alternately with one and the other; there were also many robberies and incestuous fornications. All wandered here and there and were ready for evil as if they were animals wandering in the pastures without a shepherd… While they were constantly tearing each other apart with a civil war and there was ruin for all, there was, so to speak, an extreme perdition of soul and heart, especially because the Saracens, whose king was Massar, resided in Benevento and devastated everything from the foundations inside and outside the city to the point that they took no account of the aristocrats of Benevento and harshly whipped them like inept little servants. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapters 17 and 18) When the Christians took the offensive and achieved victories against the faithful of Islam, the themes of the litigiousness and inefficiency of their own rulers appear in the Muslim texts as well. When the third day came the Franks heard a great uproar in the city and the walls were denuded of defenders. This was because a very few days

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before the arrival of the Franks dissensions had broken out among the people of Tripoli. One group amongst them expelled the Banū Maţrū ḥ and appointed as their leader one of the Veiled Ones… After the Franks had begun the siege, the other faction restored the Banū Maţrū ḥ and fighting broke out between the two parties. The walls were left unmanned, so the Franks seized their opportunity, set up ladders and scaled the wall. After fierce fighting the Franks took the city by the sword. (The chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 1, p. 380)

Moving the saints Saints’ relics were very precious for the Christians. They represented a t angible access to God and his saints and constituted a relevant component of the identity of both ecclesiastical and secular communities in the areas where they were preserved. The fear that they could be either taken by the Muslims or lost because of their raids was widespread, and this fear induced secular and ecclesiastical authorities to move them to safe locations. This necessity was felt from the moment the Muslim presence in the western Mediterranean began to become permanent. Indeed, the first provision of that type was taken around 717/725 when, because of the Muslims’ attacks against Sardinia, the King of the Lombards, Liudprand, had the relics of Saint Augustine moved from the island to the capital of his kingdom. Liudprand also, hearing that the Saracens had laid waste Sardinia and were even defiling those places where the bones of the holy bishop Saint Augustine had been formerly carried on account of the devastation of the barbarians and had been honorably buried, sent his men and, by giving a great sum, obtained them and carried them over to the city of Ticino and there buried them with the honor due to so great a father. (Paul the Deacon, History of the Langobards, book VI, chapter 48) Relocations of relics are also recorded in other areas of the Peninsula that were hit by Muslim raids. On the Tuscan coast, this happened for those of Saint Venerius, which were moved twice for this reason. The same thing happened in central and southern Italy. Hearing that in the future (the relics of Saint Venerius) would fall into the hands of those destroyers and that the sepulcher of the saint (Venerius) would be soiled by that impious people, they decided to take the relics of such a great father with them and place them in a safer place. They went to the bishop of Luni, Lintecarius, and reported the cause of their sadness to him. By his consent and order, they built a church in Sarzana, near the bank of the river Macra, eight miles away from the city of Luni. And so he

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boarded the ships together with the clergy and the people, came to the sepulcher of the saint, took his relics, brought them to the aforementioned place, placed them there with all due honors, and assigned some custodians there… Having learned of Venerius’s reputation for holiness, the servant of Christ (Bishop Apollinaris) often visited the places where the saint’s body was and which had been destroyed by the Saracens. One night, while, as usual, he was staying overnight by the relics of the saint, his sleep was interrupted and the blessed Venerius appeared to him and said: ‘Take my bones away from here and hide them in a safer place for the fury and wrath of the Saracens continue to persist.’ Rejoicing at the vision, he got up, immediately called his people, opened the tomb with great care, picked up the bones, which gave off an intense fragrance, brought them with all the honors to Reggio (Emilia) and… placed them in the basilica of the blessed Prosperus. (Vita S. Venerii, chapters 17, 23) The above-mentioned Saracens entered the territory of the county of Fermo to pillage it. For this reason the above-mentioned abbot (of Farfa) was afraid again. Having gathered his monks and warriors, they made a castle on mount Materano, where the body of Saint Victoria was later placed. (Destructio monasterii Farfensis, p. 32) Because the people feared the forthcoming arrival of the people of the Agarens, … the presul (of Salerno) took away their holy relics (Saint Fortunatus, Saint Gaius, and Saint Anthes) from their church near the river that is called Lirino, where they had rested for a long time, and placed them with the due honor within the walls of the city, in the already mentioned church of St. John. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 97) the unclean and most dirty Agarens came pillaging and devastating the land… Then, the Bishop of the see of the Turrense, John… had a meeting with the clergy and the people about how the body of the most holy (Vitalis) could be carried to his city… (Vita Vitalis, chapter 23, p. 33) The transfer of the relics sometimes occurred after the Muslims’ destructions in order to prevent the loss of the saints’ remains. After the body of the blessed Bartholomew the Apostle had rested in the island of Lipari until the 831th year from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saracens came, ravaged the above-mentioned island, broke the sepulcher of the blessed Bartholomew, and scattered his bones

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in different places… the ships of the Lombards went there… took the body of the saint apostle and left… They transferred the body of the saint apostle to Benevento. (Translatio corporis sancti Bartholomei apostoli Beneventum et miracula, pp. 10, 12) Because Formia had been destroyed by an army of Agarens, the Gaetan citizens, fearing that, either through force or theft, they could lose the precious body of the blessed martyr (Herasmus) if they left it there, carried it inside the walls of their city and placed it at the entrance of the church of the saint and glorious mother of Christ and virgin Mary. (Passio Sancti Herasmi, p. 381) The Muslims neither destroyed nor stole relics of the saints. On the contrary, some Christians profited from Muslim raids for taking away those precious remains. Because the Saracens had attacked Campania and had been devastating everything there for a few years, the above-mentioned king (Louis II) went to the above-mentioned province to eliminate the Saracens… One vassal, born from a noble family of Alamannia, was with his lord… He hosted a certain priest and the above-mentioned young man asked him about several things, especially about relics of saints, and if it was possible to find them somewhere that he could take possession… the priest showed him where the bodies of some blessed martyrs, the virgin Fortunata and her brothers Carponius, Evagristus, and Priscianus, were hidden in a very big church. The brothers, who served God there, had already left the church because of the hostile persecution of the Saracens… the above-mentioned young man sent the bodies of the saints to Alamannia, to Reichenau Island, in the year 874 from the incarnation of the Lord… (Translatio S. Fortunatae et sociorum, p. 473) The Agarens went to Larino, destroyed it, and killed its inhabitants with swords. After this, because that city was without inhabitants, the inhabitants of the fortified center of Lesina went there, furtively took the two bodies of Saint Primianus and Saint Firmianus, that laid there, and carried them to Lesina. (Radoynus, Vita S. Pardi episcopi, chapter 9)

Running away The Sicilian–Calabrian monks’ biographies emphasize that, besides creating problems for their security, the Muslims’ incursions rendered it impossible for the saints to lead their secluded lives. So, at the news of the Saracens’ arrival,

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they moved either to nearby fortified centers or to areas more remote than those in which they usually lived. At the time of the incursions of the infidel Saracens, the man (Elias Spelaeota), who loved quietness, hid himself in the mountains near the monastery. (Vita S. Eliae Spelaeotae, chapter 69) As the most blessed Luke had predicted that the province of Calabria would have been devoured by the bites of those dogs (the Muslims)… he departed from his cave. (Vita s. Lucae abbatis, chapter 5) The report of their incursion preceded them, and everyone fled to the nearest fortresses… Stephen… went up with the brethren to the neighboring fortress, since he could not return to the cave on account of the urgent report. Father Neilos observed… the size of the advancing Saracen host, and decided to conceal himself from their malice, so that he would not seem to be testing God’s power… he went to a hiding place and stayed there without fear. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 29) there were still raids by the godless Saracens against those places, and the holy fathers could not remain in the cave – for the route of the armies was nearby – so Neilos decided to leave. After reaching the outskirts of the land of his birth, he took up residence in a place of his own… being confident that the Saracens would not enter there, as the place was remote and difficult to access. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 36) If the danger was too great and lasted for too long, the hermits and, sometimes, entire monastic communities moved to other areas. Because the Agarens occupied all the region and pillaged everything…, there was a lot of hunger, not only among the inhabitants of the cities but also for those who stayed in the mountains… (Sabas) fled to Calabria with his relatives… (Historia et laudes SS. Sabae et Macarii, chapters 6, 9, pp. 13–14, 17) After staying there for a long time, (Elias the Younger) said to his disciple: ‘Let us go away from here because I can see that this city (Taormina) is going to suffer a lot because of the Agarens…’ Having left with his disciple Daniel, he navigated towards the Pelopponese. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 26)

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Foretelling the attack of the Agarens against Reggio (Calabria), the saint (Elias the Younger) abandoned his monastery at Saline… and navigated with his disciple towards Patras. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 38) Because (Elias the Younger) was bothered by many persons…, he found quietness in the mountains of Mesobiano… but God revealed to him about an incursion of the barbarians and therefore he returned to Saline again. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 39) Because the aforesaid abbot (of Farfa) had endured with his monks that oppression (of the Saracens) for seven years in a row… and had seen that they could no longer remain there, he decided to divide the brothers and the treasures of the abbey into three parts. He sent one to Rome, he left another one in the city of Rieti, and himself went with the third one, taking refuge in the county of Fermo. He thus abandoned the monastery completely. (Destructio monasterii Farfensis, p. 31) The Saracens went here and there, depredating and destroying all the provinces… i.e. Burgundy, Italy and others that were nearby. So, as Abbot Domnivert, who then was the head of the sacred church of Novalesa, hearing of their most profane reputation, became exceedingly afraid of them, and fled to the city of Turin with his monks. (Cronaca di Novalesa, pp. 236–38) Churchmen and saints were not the only ones to flee for fear of invaders and raiders. Indeed, in the ninth and tenth centuries, the people living in areas indefensible from the Muslims’ attacks abandoned their homes. As they (the Muslims) arrived in the city of Porto, which was nearby, they found it abandoned by its inhabitants. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 100) Cities, castles and villages are without inhabitants and are in ruins. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 22, p. 20) People sometimes fled at the mere news of the Muslims’ onset and took shelter in cities and strongholds, while others went to areas defended by nature. When the above-mentioned town of Enna was going to be devastated by the Saracens of Carthage, his parents took him (Elias the Younger) with them along with a few of their goods and went to the castle of St. Mary. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 3)

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The Agarens came from Sicily devastating and pillaging all the land… Fear and terror invaded the inhabitants of Italy. And so everybody ran away. To avoid the forthcoming danger, some went to castles, while others went to areas defended by nature. (Vita Vitalis, chapter 23) Some Corsicans, who, terrorized by the Saracens, had abandoned their homes and wandered here and there, went to Rome. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 126) That place (Centumcellae) had remained with its walls destroyed and abandoned by its inhabitants for forty years. They had abandoned their residences until the present for fear of the Saracens and, like beasts, the population, that had been left behind by them, had set up its dwellings in the darkness of forests and unknown mountains. Even in those places, for fear of the enemies, day and night, they could not either sleep or, as it is human habit, have a little bit of rest. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 131) When the Normans assaulted northwestern Africa in the twelfth century, it was the Muslims’ turn to flee, and Muslim authors do not fail to recount that the peoples of that region abandoned their homes at the news of those enemies’ imminent arrival. (The governor of al-Mahdīya) Al-Hasan gathered the leading lawyers and notables and consulted them. They said, ‘Let us fight our enemy, for our city is strong’. He replied, ‘I fear that he will disembark and beleaguer us by land and by sea and cut us off from our supplies. We do not have enough to feed us for a month. We shall then be taken by force. I consider that to save Muslims from captivity and death is better than to continue to rule…’ He ordered an immediate departure and took with him whoever presented himself and whatever was light to carry. The people left in blind panic with their wives and children and any light possessions and furnishings… When the population of Susa heard the news of al-Mahdīya, the governor, ‘Ali the son of Emir al-Hasan, left to go to his father. The people left at the same time and the Franks entered without a fight… (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Ath īr, part 2, pp. 19–20) The army (of the Franks)… took possession of al-Mahdīya without meeting any resistance… Those who remained in al-Mahdīya were better off that those who left because the fugitives had many troubles and had so little water that most of them died. (BAS, vol. 2, pp. 77–78)

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In support of the fact that migrating to another territory was not at all easy and of the good treatment the Normans reserved for Islam’s faithful in Sicily, the Muslim chroniclers report that only the scholars abandoned Sicily. Among them was the learned writer Ibn Ḥamd ȋs (ca. 1056 – ca. 1133) who always felt a great longing for Sicily. The Franks (Normans) took possession of many places, Then, not a small number of learned and virtuous men abandoned the island (Sicily). (BAS, vol. 1, p. 448) I remember Sicily, as agony stirs in my soul all remembrances of her. / An abode for the pleasures of my youth that has been abandoned, where once inhabited the noblest of people. For I have vanished from Paradise, and I [long to] tell you her story. Were it not for the saltiness of tears I would imagine my tears as her rivers. (Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, Diwan, no. 110, stanzas 32–35)

Remaining behind the walls At the news of the Muslims’ coming, the Christians generally preferred not to face their adversaries on the battlefield but decided to stay inside their cities and fortresses, hoping that the attackers would not want to besiege them for a long time. Often used in the early Middle Ages (also against other enemies), this strategy was adopted above all because of the scarcity of troops. The worry of losing everything in a few hours on the battlefield likely played a role in this choice as well. This is what, for example, happened during a Muslim incursion into the Po Valley. The Saracens… quite thoroughly devastated those upper parts of Italy… to such an extent that, having depopulated many cities, they reached Acqui, which is a city some 40 miles from Pavia… Such great fear had filled everyone that there was no one who would await their arrival unless in very heavily defended places. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 43) The threat of Muslim attacks did not result in the construction of many new fortified centers. In general, it was preferred to reinforce existing defenses, works previously made for protection against Christian enemies. In the time of this most holy father and pope, the impious, wicked and God-hating people of the Agarens rose up from their territories and went through almost all the islands and regions of all the lands cruelly plundering people and destroying places, things which have by no means ceased

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to this day. In order to guard against those unusual dangers and fearing that the people, assigned to him by God and by the blessed apostle Peter, who dwelled in the cities of Porto and Ostia, would suffer tribulations and damages from the nefarious Saracens, the great and most merciful prelate (Pope Gregory IV) began, drawing sighs from the depths of his heart, to think prudently how to help the city of Ostia and could free it from that danger. God immediately gave his heart the advice that, if he wanted to save the population, he should build the city anew from the foundations, since the one that had been previously built had been undone by old age and was now in ruins. He then did exactly as God had suggested. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, pp. 81–82) Touched by a heavenly inspiration, this most holy prelate ordered (his people) to reconstruct with stronger and more solid building and to restore better the city of Ostia, that the blessed Pope Gregory of godly memory had built for the safety of many so that the iniquitous people of the Saracens would not capture or kill the people of the Lord around it, and that was lying in ruins. He fortified it also with gates and with very strong towers and placed men ready to fight in it, so that from that moment onwards, no incursion of a foreign people could take possession of it or cause damage to his fellow-citizens anyhow, except through idleness, a thing that may not happen. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 164) And he (Pope Leo IV) ordered that not only the walls of which we have spoken be quickly repaired, but also the gates with which the whole city is often closed… And this was done in view of a future threat from the Saracens and for the salvation of the city of Rome. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 115) On account of the devastation which the nefarious and malicious Saracens had already wrought, all the nobles of the Romans complained greatly because, if the church of the blessed apostle Peter would not be speedily protected everywhere by walls, they might do worse deeds. The amiable pontiff (Pope Leo IV) began to be greatly distressed for all the Romans and to think anxiously how he might remove the rancor and fear from their hearts. While he often labored in these incessant concerns, by a revelation from God, he immediately decided to report clearly to his spiritual son, his lordship the Augustus Lothar, that with the Lord’s assent, he wished, with his help, to make that city, that is, the church of the said apostle, which his predecessor, Pope Leo the

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Third, had begun to build, and of which he had laid the foundations in many places, which, after his death, had been taken away by some men. In this way it would not have been possible to enter where the walls had been previously begun… When the most pious and serene Caesar learned of this, he rejoiced and exulted greatly, and earnestly requested the prelate and spiritual father to complete the construction of such a great work with unceasing labor. He sent along with his brothers not a few pounds of silver for it so that, as has been said, such a useful work would not remain at all unfinished. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, p. 123) (Pope Leo IV) began to have great care about the city of Porto so that it could stay secure and free from enemies and the children of Satan both in his own time and in the future… then the omnipotent and almighty Father, who never fails to help his faithful with rightful and pious thoughts, aroused the spirit of the Corsicans, who, terrorized by the Saracens, were in exile from their own land and were wandering here and there, to go as quickly as they could to the Roman see for shelter and safety; and so it was done. They went to the most sacred home of the prince of the apostles and were presented to our most blessed lord Pope Leo the Fourth… they reported their needs, calamities, and afflictions to him and declared that they would dwell for all their days in his and his successor pontiffs’ service. As he learned this, the benevolent pontiff… thanked God for sending him those men who could dwell forever in the above-mentioned city. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, pp. 125–26) (Pope Leo IV) took care of the Christian population of the fortified center of Centumcellae so that it would not suffer anymore because of the enemies as it often happened. That place had remained with its walls destroyed and abandoned by its inhabitants for forty years. They had abandoned their residences until the present for fear of the Saracens… (the pope) entrusted to the omnipotent Lord the people and the city (Leopolis), that God had shown, so that it would never be captured or invaded by enemies. (Liber pontificalis, vol. 2, pp. 131–32) The above-mentioned Saracens entered the territory of the county of Fermo to pillage it. For this reason the above-mentioned abbot (of Farfa) was afraid again. Having gathered his monks and warriors, they made a castle on mount Materano. (Destructio monasterii Farfensis, p. 32)

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(The prince of Salerno Guaiferius) ordered to fortify Salerno everywhere… (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 111) (Emir Ibrāhīm II) had provoked such a fear in all of them (the Christians of southern Italy) that they rushed to repair the crumbling walls, prepare the defenses, and gather every necessary thing from the fields quickly into the cities. (Translatio Sancti Severini, chapter 4)

7 PRISONERS

Introduction The fate of those who were not able to flee and who were not killed during battles or raids was capture. Death could be their destiny, especially if the inhabitants of a city had defended themselves tenaciously. Such a result was not unusual in the premodern period. In fact, the Old Testament recommends that, upon the capture of a city, all the men be killed and the women and children enslaved. Several Christian writers mention the execution of prisoners by the Muslims. In that period, the king of Africa came with an innumerable army wishing to invade Italy. As he arrived in Sicily he immediately took the city of Taormina, which was well fortified and located on the top of a mount. There, because they had refused to bend to the iniquity of his faith, he locked many Christians, Bishop Procopius and his clergy in a church and cruelly burned them. (De rebus Italiae ex codice Bambergensi E. III. 14, p. 457, note 1) According to the Syracusan monk Theodosius, the Muslims also wrought a terrible carnage after their conquest of Syracuse in 878. With a great rush they opened the doors and entered the church with drawn swords… Then persons of all ages fell in a moment by the edge of the sword: princes and all the judges of the earth, as we sing in the psalms, young men and maidens, old men and young ones, monks, those joined in matrimony, the priests, and the people, the slave and the free man, and DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-8

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even sick persons who had lain a long time in bed… the great patrician, who had withdrawn into a fortress, was captured alive with seventy men on the following day, and on the eighth day after the capture of the city, he was executed. (Epistola Theodosii monachi, p. 274) The list of the twenty-seven monks of St. Modestus of Benevento who were killed by the Muslims during a raid on their monastery (it is explained that only one monk survived) indicates that these accounts were not always exaggerations. Names of the brothers of the monastery of the blessed martyr Modestus. The Saracens came, set fire to our monastery, and killed all the brothers. Only one, Maginhartus, remained. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abbot Cundbart, Peter, John, Radewin, Cesarius, the master of the school Fluduinus, Adalbreht, Promar, John, Heribrant whom the Saracens beheaded, Lantpreht, Radolt, John, Leo, Heriwalt, Asinpertus, David, Crisilpoto, John, Amalihc, Adalkis, Martin, Amalpreht, Ansilurid, Asinpert. (Houben, ‘Il saccheggio del monastero di S. Modesto in Benevento’) Descriptions of prisoners’ executions after the taking of a city or a victory on the battlefield are not lacking in Muslim works either. This is what ‘Alī ibn al-Athīr (ca. 1160 – ca. 1230) narrates in his accounts about the conquests of Syracuse, Taormina, and Rometta, and of other locations. Eventually the Muslims took the city and killed many thousands of men… A few Christians of Syracuse survived here and there. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 396) ‘Ibrāhīm ordered the fighters to be put to death. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 394) (The Muslims) took the city, killed all the men, and imprisoned women and children. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 428) ‘Abu ‘al ‘Aglab had the heads of the prisoners cut off. He sent an army to Pantelleria where he found some Rūms with a (Muslim) of Africa who had become Christian. The army took them to (‘Abu ‘al ‘Aglab) who had them beheaded. (BAS, vol. 1, pp. 370–71) In this year ‘Abù ‘Abd ‘Allah ‘ibn Maymùn, commander of Ali ‘ibn Yùsuf… attacked Sicily, took the town of Nicotera, that belonged to

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Roger, prince of Sicily, and in that town ‘ibn Maymùn took away the women and the children and killed the elders. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 34) The Muslims kept fighting against the castle of al-Dīmās, so much that the Sicilians (the Normans) of the garrison, who were harshly besieged and were without water and food, went out… and the swords of the Bedouins cut them in pieces; of so many of them, not a single man survived. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 70) In the ninth and tenth centuries, the balance of power between the Muslims and the Christians was such that the former were usually those who did the capturing. Roles, however, occasionally changed. In 812, in Lampedusa, writes Pope Leo III in a letter, the Byzantines killed all the faithful of Islam to the last man. The most nefarious Moors went with thirteen ships to the island, which is called Lampedusa and is located near Sicily, and depredated it. Because the above-mentioned fleet of seven ships of the Greeks went there for exploration purposes in order to know the truth, they took the hated-byGod Moors and killed them… they killed those nefarious Moors to the point that they left alive not even one of them. (Leo III, Epistolae, number 6, p. 96) The same detail is mentioned in the description of the battle recounting the elimination of the Saracen base on the Garigliano in 915. not one of the Phoenicians survived who was not put to the sword or captured alive (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis, book II, chapter 54) On other occasions, Muslims fell into Christian hands and were treated in various ways. The biography of Pope Leo IV (847–855) presents the best example of such variety. Many (Muslims) were killed by our men… were taken alive and, to witness to the truth of the event, brought living to Rome…. In case their number might appear too large, the Roman dignitaries ordered that many be hanged… We ordered that some should live, bound in iron, but for one reason only, so that they could know clearer than light both our hope, which we have in God, and his ineffable piety, and also their own tyranny. After this, to stop them living among us idly or without distress, we were bidding them carry out everything, sometimes at the wall which

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we were beginning around St. Peter the apostle’s church, sometimes at various manufacturers’ tasks, whatever seemed necessary. (The Lives of the Ninth-Century Popes, p. 134) After capturing Massar in ca. 849, Emperor Louis II had him beheaded. He was probably the chief of the Muslim mercenaries at the prince of Benevento’s service and proved to be very ambitious (and therefore dangerous to the Christians) by taking possession of his employer’s capital. After very many days, he (Louis II) went to Benevento. Then, on Saturday, on the eve of the Holy Pentecost, the Saracens were killed in the city of Benevento. While Radelchis was holding the Principality, Massar was captured, taken to the emperor, and beheaded. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 14) In the tenth century, after being captured and taken to Turin, two Saracens were crucified, but they were executed because they had managed to set a church on fire. while they were running away, they were immediately captured, not without resistance, by the guards, and then underwent the penalty of the cross. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book V, chapter 1) In another case, the thirst for revenge was so strong that the Christians forgot the biblical precept about using the death penalty only for warriors. Indeed, the members of the expedition against the Muslim ruler, who occupied Luni in ca. 1016, decapitated his wife as punishment for her husband’s deeds. Yet his forces rallied and, attacking first, quickly put the approaching enemy to fly. Sad to say, the slaughter continued for three days and nights. At last, placated by the groans of the pious, God relented and put those who hated him to flight. Indeed, so thoroughly were they defeated, that no one of the murderers remained alive and the victors could scarcely count their abundant booty. Their captured queen was decapitated as payment for her husband’s audacity. (Ottonian Germany. The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, book VII, chapter 45) The Christian warriors had no mercy on other occasions as well. The Franks entered Zawila and killed any women and infants they found there and seized property as booty. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 2, p. 77)

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Most prisoners were, however, destined for the profitable slave trade in the Mediterranean and in western Europe, while some others enriched the raiders through their ransom. Many texts mention this and sometimes clearly indicate that prisoners were considered part of the war booty. Who flees fire or sword is turned into a prey, led into captivity and destined to perpetual exile. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 22, p. 20) (The Prince of Salerno) Siconolf called Hispanic Hismaelites against the Libyan Agarens of (the Prince of Benevento) Radelchis. They clashed both inside and outside the Principality of Benevento and for this reason the overseas locations were enriched by prisoners of our people of both sexes and of all ages. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 17) At the time when the Dark ones [the Muslims] were in the castle of Fraxinetum and, spreading from there into all the regions of the world, were carrying off and robbing everything… they ravaged that land and robbed gold, horses, cows, and various jewels, girls, and children. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book V, chapter 18) Indeed, they (the Muslims) built a fortification on Mount Garigliano in which they kept, quite safe, women, children, prisoners, and all stolen goods. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 44) In that same year indeed the Africans with a huge fleet arrived there, and taking the people by surprise burst into the city, massacred everyone except the children and women, and putting on board ship all the treasures belonging to the city and to God’s churches sailed back to Africa. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis (Tit for Tat), book IV, chapter 5) As evidence that raiding was a way to obtain beautiful and exotic women, in his account of his stay in Sicily, Ibn Jubayr, struck by the beauty of some Christian women, wishes that Allah would let his compatriots capture them. the Rūms have a large town, the women of which are said to be the fairest of all the island. God grant that they be made captives of the Muslims. (The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, p. 351) There are several references to specific individuals captured by the faithful of Islam.

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three of the monks who remained in the monastery… were captured by the Saracens and taken to Sicily. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 71) The Rūms attacked them (the Muslims) and were defeated and the wife and son of the patrician were captured. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 369) An Agarens’ incursion more serious than the previous one occurred. The young man (Elias), who was far from the fortifications of his town …, was captured by them, sold to a Christian again and brought to Africa. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 9) The ransoming of the captives also occurred after they had been carried to the ‘House of Islam’. Once the metropolitan Blatton, returning from Africa with many released war captives… (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 69) three of the monks… were captured by the Saracens and abducted to Sicily… Then Neilos collected from the sale of grain, wine, and other crops up to one hundred gold coins, and together with the mule which Basil, the strategos of Calabria, had given him, gave all this to one of the brethren, who was very trustworthy, and sent him to Palermo. (The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 71) Also, no one could travel from the west or the north to pray at the thresholds of the most holy apostles in Rome without being captured by them [the Muslims] or released at the cost of no small ransom. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 44, p. 94) Pope Benedict IV (900–903) asked all his faithful to help a bishop of the eastern Mediterranean, who had gone to the pontiff telling him that, after having fallen into Saracen hands and having been freed by some coreligionists, he started a journey to collect the necessary money to liberate his thirty companions who were still prisoners of the Muslims. We want it to be known to all that Malagenus here present, venerable bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, was captured together with his faithful by the Saracens and also that some of his men were killed by the same nefarious people of the Saracens for not wanting to celebrate their faith at all.

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The most reverent bishop Malagenus, who had been captured by the Saracens, had then been bought by some God-fearing Christians, but thirty other Christians, who had been captured with him by the Saracens, remained in captivity. We therefore order that, for the love of Almighty God and for the virtue the Lord has bestowed upon you, you will help them, allow them to move safely in peace and without any overpowering, and that from town to town they will be protected through your help and assistance, and that no man will dare to plunder them and or do anything evil to them. For the love of God and in reverence of the blessed princes apostles Peter and Paul to whose churches they went that you may welcome them well and make them travel safely from city to city and that you may lodge them. For we believe that whatever good you do toward them will be paid to you by God, the creator of all, and so you will be rewarded. (Benedict IV, Epistolae, number 3, columns 43–44) Roger of Hauteville’s intervention, on the other hand, saved Montecassino from paying the sum collected to free some monks captured by Muslims. In that year, while our brothers were returning from Sardinia, Saracen pirates attacked them and took them in captivity to Africa. When our abbot heard this, he strove to send the ransom for them there. But those who were carrying the money were pushed by the winds to Sicily. As the magnificent Count Roger heard of this, induced by the love for the most holy father Benedict, he sent his messengers to the king of the city of Calamensis, which is called Alchila by the Saracens, to tell him to allow those captives to go back to the monastery if he wished to benefit from his love and to enjoy his peace. The Calamensis king agreed to this request immediately and gave those brothers to the legates of the count. (Chronica Monasterii Casinensis, book IV, chapter 50, p. 516) When the power relationships between Muslims and Christians changed, the roles reversed more often. (The Pisans and their allies) took away an uncountable amount of Saracen captives. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, line 267) (The ruler of al-Mahdīya) made peace with the Rūms, paying them eighty thousand dinars on condition that they returned to him all the prisoners they had taken. (BAS, vol. 2, pp. 153–54)

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During the Normans’ campaigns in Tunisia in the twelfth century, such episodes became quite common. The Franks took possession of the island ( Jerba). They pillaged everything and captured women and children. Most of the men died. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 461) The Sicilians (Normans) landed in the island ( Jerba), took it… killed the men, captured women and children and took them to Sicily to sell them. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 292) In this year an army of the Franks of Sicily went to the coast of Africa and Maghrib, took the town of Besk, killed the inhabitants, captured women and children and sold them to the Muslims in Sicily. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 463) A Beneventan document from 764 seems to suggest that Muslim slaves were present in Christian territories. In fact, two slaves with names deriving from countries under Islamic rule are mentioned in it: Egiptus and Mauretanus (in Roman times Mauritania included most of northwestern Africa). Because of the lack of further information about them, it is also possible that they were Christians coming from those areas. We… Arigis, Duke of the people of the Lombards, grant you, our Gastald Munculanus, two boys (‘pueri’), i.e. Egiptus and Mauretanus… (Chronicon Sanctae Sophiae (cod. Vat. Lat. 4939), vol. II, p. 528) Many Christians captured in the Italian Peninsula were taken to Sicily and North Africa, but some of them ended up in Egypt. (year) 982. We saw that many of the captives, both laymen and churchmen, returned later. One of them was the bishop of Vercelli who remained in prison for a long time in Alexandria. (Annales Sangallenses maiores, p. 80) This type of misadventure became part of the family memory of the author of Novalesa’s chronicle. Indeed, after having fallen into Saracen hands, the brother of his grandfather and a servant of the latter were put on sale and ransomed by his grandfather. Since in the meantime I remember my relatives and the way they suffered during the persecution of the barbarians, whom I often mention, I entrust them to my writing and to memory so that they will not remain

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unknown to posterity. My uncle was a soldier who, coming from the Maurienne territory, was heading for the city of Vercelli. They heard of the arrival of the barbarians, but did not want to pay attention to them, because they were far from our borders. While he was passing through a wood, located in the jurisdiction of that city, suddenly an endless multitude of Saracens came upon him. They had already reached the territory of Liguria. They immediately engaged in a battle and struck each other from both sides. But not being enough those few against such a great multitude, they hid themselves; some of them were taken alive. Then my uncle was captured along with one of his servants. The master and the servant were put up for sale with the bulls. While this was going on, it happened by chance that my uncle’s brother, my grandfather, went to the bishop’s court. He saw his brother’s servant tied together with the bull. He was suddenly horrified. He asked him how that bad thing happened to him. And it is said that he replied that he had been captured by some scouts, while he was going there, but he maliciously concealed the capture of his master in order to obtain his own release. He at once gave the three-stranded harness with which he was clothed and freed his brother’s servant from his chains. After his liberation, the scoundrel finally revealed that his master had also been captured, just as Terence said: ‘Everyone prefers to be good for himself rather than for others’. The brother was very sorry that his brother had been captured, but he had no more money to ransom him; so he ran to the bishop of the city, whose name was Ingo and who was his godfather, to give him some help. But since he could find nothing there, he begged him to search every nook and cranny, if he could find anything to give. But nothing was found. He then asked his neighbors and friends, and all that he could get he gave for his brother’s ransom, and thus freed him from the specter of death. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book V, chapter 9) This episode indicates that the faithful of Islam sometimes tried to sell their captives right away or to obtain a ransom from their relatives. If this did not happen and the Muslims could not take them to their lands, the prisoners ran the risk of being killed. The risk was lessened if the attackers had ships. For example, this is what happened around 1075 when a Muslim fleet coming from Africa raided a Calabrian town. Saracens from Africa, from the household of King Temin and acting on his instructions, prepared their ships and letting the wind fill their sails, set off on a piratical attack against the coasts of Sicily and Calabria. Hence on St. Peter’s eve in June they landed by night at Nicotera. They caught the citizens unsuspecting, because they were heavy with wine and sleep

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after joyfully celebrating that festival, as was their custom. They slew some while they were half-asleep and captured others. They dragged the women and children, and everything else that could be taken away, as plunder to their ships, and they burned down the entire fortified center. Then they rowed off hurriedly out to deep water. The next day they returned to the seashore and threw from their ships some boys and people of the feebler sort in return for a ransom from friends who wished to redeem them. Some of the people were therefore freed; the others (all those who seemed to have some use) they took away. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria & Sicily, book III, chapter 8) References to Christians fallen in the hands of the Muslims can be found in archival documents when it was necessary to provide legal clarifications. At Naples, in 883, a couple sold its property on behalf of their son, who was held captive by the Saracens. We, Tribune Peter along with my wife Mary, and on behalf of my son John, who was captured by the evil Saracens… give to you, lord Maio, venerable lord abbot of the monastery of St. Vincent… (Chronicon Vulturnense, vol. 2, p. 28) In 872 and 882, two Salernitan women could not dictate their last wills in the presence of their relatives because the Muslims had captured them. I, Walfa, daughter of Walfus and wife of the late Orselgrim, son of Ursus, while I am lying on my bed and having a serious illness that is putting me in danger of death, but I can talk properly… my brother was captured by these evil Saracens who are currently besieging this city of Salerno… (Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis, vol. 1, number 75) … my two sons, one was captured by the Saracens, while the other is not here because he lives in Nocera.. and cannot come here because of this barbarian people of the Saracens; we are currently besieged in this city of Salerno. (Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis, vol. 1, number 86) The most accurate description of a period of captivity can be found in a letter by the monk Theodosius, who fell into Muslim hands along with the archbishop of Syracuse and two clerics after the conquest of that city in 878. We were thrown into the common prison; and this is a den having its pavement fourteen steps below ground, and it has only a little door instead

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of a window; here the darkness is complete, and can be felt, the only light being from a lamp, or some reflection by day, and it is impossible ever to see the light of dawn in this dungeon, nor the rays of the moon. Our bodies were distressed by the heat, for it was summer, and we were scorched by the breath of our fellow-prisoners; and besides, the vermin and the lice, and hosts of fleas and other little insects, make a man miserable by their bites; promiscuously with us there were confined in the same prison, to trade (as it were) with these miseries, Ethiopians, Tarsians, Jews, Lombards, and some of our Christians, from different parts, among whom was also the most holy bishop of Malta, chained with double shackles. (The Epistle of the monk Theodosius, p. 96) It was a special period for female prisoners too, but no exceptions were made for them. The suspicions about their sexual behavior in these circumstances are well portrayed in the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios’s letter to the Calabrian archbishop Leo (880/886). The case of the priests and deacons who have taken back their wives, who were raped by the barbarians during their captivity, is not simple. If the wives acquiesced to the rape, their husbands must either separate from them or give up their ministry. The same applies when the wife did not oppose the rape for fear or another reason, but she can be forgiven. If she was, on the contrary, subjected to it by force, for example with tied legs and hands, she can live with a man who has been ordained. It is however hoped that they break up to arouse admiration, to silence calumniators, and because it is difficult to prove the resistance of the woman. Even if she can live with her legitimate husband, choosing by her will to devote herself to God clearly proves the barbaric violence. (Letter of the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios to the Calabrian archbishop Leo, chapter 2) There is also some rare information about Christians who managed to be redeemed and to return home. Accord to the Novalesa chronicler, this happened to a man captured during a Muslim raid in a valley of the western Alps, who was freed after working for thirty years in Muslim territory; thus, he could see again his old mother. At that time, a widow, named Petronilla, lived in the city of Susa; it is said that she walked all hunched over because of her great old age, and her eyesight was already almost obscured. This woman had a son, named Maurinus, whom the Saracens dragged out of the said valley along with others. As he recounted, he had been a slave in their lands for more than

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thirty years. When his master finally gave him the right to leave, he returned to his home, where he found his mother worn out by old age. (Cronaca di Novalesa, book II, chapter 13) The already mentioned Bishop of Vercelli, Peter, who was in captivity in Egypt, could go back to Italy with several other Christians thanks to the intercession of the Bolognese monk Bononius, who was living in that land and held in great esteem by the Muslims. A great tension occurred between the king of the Babylonians (the caliph of Cairo) and the king of the Romans. As the conflict broke out, very many of those Egyptians died. In truth, many Romans died as well and, because victory did not smail to the Christians, many of them were taken into captivity. Among them was the venerable Bishop of Vercelli, Peter, of divine memory, who was chained with shackles and locked in a prison. Pushed by the great necessity, Peter tried to find out with great prudence if, by accident, there was a Christian in that region. He hoped to be freed thanks to his help. For this reason he complained to God incessantly. But, because it is certain, actually most certain, that God does not abandon those who hope in him, thanks to the Lord, Peter came to know that there was Saint Bononius. He had him called with great devotion and had him know the reason for his captivity and his misery and that of the other prisoners in a detailed manner. Eventually, Peter asked Bononius to go to him and the prisoners for mercy so that, freed by the chains of the pagans, they could leave that most tough captivity and, led by God and Saint Bononius, they could return to their fatherland. Then, the most holy father (Bononius) paid the chief of the prison and accepted the leisure to console the captives. While one day the king of Babylon (Cairo) was strolling in the park…, because God had inspired him, … his courtiers imploringly asked the king to acquiesce the wishes of Bononius, that is to free the Christian captives from the prison, to give them to Bononius, and mercifully to give them the permission to go back to their fatherland with that most blessed faithful of God. Moved by Bononius’s wishes, then the king acquiesced the entreaties of his courtiers and his wife, gave Bononius the prisoners he had, and moreover, he gave them a ship and everything necessary for the navigation. (Vita et miracula sancti Bononii abbatis Locediensis, chapters 7–8, p. 1028) A few references about the liberation of Christians through military action are available as well. In ca. 870 Emperor Louis II’s troops managed to do so during an incursion in Calabria.

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As they arrived in a certain valley, where the Saracens, confident and without any fear, were harvesting together with the captives they had, the Christians rushed upon them, killing all of the Saracens they found there, and freed the captives. (Andreas of Bergamo, Historia, chapter 17) In a letter, Pope John VIII reports that with the help of God, we captured eighteen ships. Many Saracens were killed; we freed nearly six-hundred captives. ( John VIII, Fragmenta registri, number 49, p. 303, year 875) In the expedition of 1087 against al-Mahdīya, They (the Pisans and their allies) freed more than a hundred thousand captives. (Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, line 265) Roger of Hauteville gained the same result with his conquest of Malta (ca. 1090); the account of the joy inspired by that event among the liberated and the liberators is extremely moving and pervaded by spirituality. In accordance with the count’s desires, they first released their Christian captives, a great many of whom they held within the city… Seeing the Christian captives as they left the city – tears of joy at their unanticipated liberation flowing from the depths of their hearts – carrying in their right hands crosses made of branches or reeds or whatever else could be found at hand, shouting ‘Kyrie Eleison’, and bowing down at the count’s feet, our men were themselves covered with tears, touched as they were by the emotion of such a pitiful sight. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger, book IV, chapter 16) The liberation of Christians occurred as a result of diplomatic relationships as well. For example, wishing to maintain friendly relationships with the Christian community of his city and to create some with Pope Gregory VII, the emir of Bougie (Algeria) freed some Christians in 1076. Bishop Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to Anazir, king of the province of Mauritania Sitifensis in Africa… for reverence of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, and for love of us, you let go some Christians, who were held in captivity among you, and you promised also that you will let other captives go… (Gregory VII, Registrum, book III, number 21, pp. 287–88)

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On the other hand, in the ninth century, during the Muslim conquest of Sicily, the Christians freed some Muslims to prevent an attack by their coreligionists. This year (872/873) a contingent of Muslims moved against Syracuse. The inhabitants of that city established a truce with them on condition that they free three hundred sixty Muslims whom the Syracusans had captured. When they were liberated, the troops withdrew. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 389) Except for the two Saracens who managed to flee and set a church of Turin on fire, narrative sources do not report Muslims’ escapes. Such events, however, could occur. According to a letter by Pope John VIII from 872/873, forty Muslims fled from some Byzantine ships and hid in Circeo’s cape (approximately one hundred kilometers south of Rome), and the pontiff asked the Amalfitans to capture them. send strong warriors with some ships to capture forty Saracens who have recently fled from the ships of our Greeks… and are hiding in Mount Circeo. ( John VIII, Fragmenta registri, p. 276, number 5)

8 GOING TO THE ‘OTHER’

Seeking shelter Moving to Muslim territories was certainly an extreme decision for a Christian because it necessitated leaving one’s home, in most cases for good. At the same time, Islamic lands offered a refuge for those who wanted to avoid harsh punishments for their crimes, above all for the instigators of failed revolts, who were probably escaping the death penalty. This was the case for the Byzantine commander of Sicily, Elpidios, who fled to Africa in 781/782 after trying, without success, to become emperor. She (Empress Irene) appointed the Patrician Theodore, an eunuch and an energetic man, as commander and sent him to Sicily against Elpidios. After much fighting Theodore’s men were victorious. On seeing this and taking fright, Elpidios took all the money he had… and crossed to Africa, where he defected to the Arabs after receiving a promise of immunity. They received him and kept him as if he were emperor of the Romans, having conferred an empty coronation on him and invested him with the red buskins and a crown. (The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284–813, p. 628) Having rebelled against Emperor Louis II, Count Ildepert was hosted in the emirate of Bari shortly after 860. Count Lampert, son of Guy, and Count Ildepert attempted to raise their hands against Emperor Louis but, because Louis heard of their deception, DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-9

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he pursued them up to Marsi. Then they ran away before him and went to Benevento to Prince Adelchis. Ildepert went on and went to Bari. He was warmly welcomed by King Sawdān and remained there as long as he wanted. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 17) The son of the former king of Italy, Adalbert, moved to the Muslim base of Fraxinetum after being deposed along with his father by the German ruler Otto in 961. For the holy emperor had so terrified Adalbert, persecutor of the churches of God and of Pope John, that, abandoning Italy altogether, he had gone to Fraxinetum to entrust himself to the faith of the Saracens. (Liudprand of Cremona, Historia Ottonis, chapter 4) Judicial proceedings against Christians guilty of having moved to Muslim lands are not available. We have some information, however, about a couple of proceedings that allow us to know other ‘crimes’ and the motives for making that choice. We… Adelchis, Prince of the people of the Lombards… grant you, Adelpertus, our sub-deacon, son of Radipertus, the small land of our holy palace in this city of Benevento… that Erchempertus held without authorization (the same Erchempertus fled to the Saracens)… (Chronicon Sanctae Sophiae, vol. II, p. 513 [year 867]) I, Guaimar, Prince and imperial Patrician… grant the church of the most blessed Maximus… this servant of our holy palace, Lupus, son of Ragimpert, with his wife, sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren with all their goods… because this Lupus went to the Saracens and entered into a pact with them. (Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis, vol. 1, number 111, pp. 140–41 [year 899]) The reverse sometimes occurred as well. [ca. year 835] Ibn Abd Allah sent an army to Taormina under the command of Muhammad ibn Salim who plundered a lot of booty. But a part of his men rose up against him, killed him, and took refuge with the Rūms. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 369) In the same year [869] Hafàgah died. After making the raid we talked about, he was going back to Palermo from Syracuse and, during a night

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march, a man of the army suddenly attacked him and killed him. The murderer took refuge in Syracuse. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 14) The citizens rose against Yusuf because of his policy of submitting to the Franks … Yusuf fortified himself in the citadel but they assailed it until they overcame it. Yusuf was taken prisoner… ‘Isa, the brother of Yusuf, and Yusuf ’s son fled and made their way to Roger, king of Sicily. They sought protection with him… (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 2, p. 14)

Fighting with the other Among the various problems created by the growing presence of Muslims in southern Italy during the ninth century was the use of Muslim troops in conflicts among Christians. In this case, the precursor was again an officer of Byzantine Sicily. After his revolt against his emperor had failed in ca. 827, he did not limit himself to fleeing to nearby northern Africa but sought military help against the imperial army. The Syracusans, together with the faction of a certain Euthimius, rebelled against this Michael and killed Patrician Gregory. For this reason, the emperor sent a large army against them and the Syracusans were forced to flee because of the considerable number of soldiers. Also Euthimius went to Africa with his wife and children and led the ruler of the Saracens, Arcarius, against the Greeks with numerous ships. Since the Greeks could not resist him, they retreated into the city walls of Syracuse and, after a hard siege, gave him fifty thousand solidi as a tribute. From that day, the Saracens plundered and devastated Sicily without fear. Eventually, they conquered the province of Palermo and took all their inhabitants into captivity. (The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, chapter 54) Perhaps aware of what had happened on that occasion, the Christian leaders of southern Italy chose not to employ large contingents of Muslim warriors and above all, not to turn to overly powerful Muslim rulers. The Prince of the Beneventans, Sicard, son of Sico, attacked Andrew on countless occasions. Angry for these attacks, Duke (of Naples) Andrew sent an ambassador and had a strong contingent of Saracens come. Terrified by them, Sicard immediately made a treacherous agreement with Andrew and returned him all the prisoners. (The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, chapter 57)

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In the meantime, (the prince of Salerno) Siconolf had been tormenting Benevento with frequent assaults and, as it is customary to say, ‘an evil plant must be struck down with an evil wedge’. Siconolf called Hispanic Hismaelites against the Libyan Agarens of (the Prince of Benevento) Radelchis. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 17) Then (the prince of Benevento) Aio left Benevento to go to Bari via Siponto, where he found the courtier and patrician of the Augustus, Constantine, who was harshly fighting those who had rebelled against the emperors. Supported by the help of the Ishmaelites and a group of Apulian infantrymen, Aio attacked him with courage, obtained the victory at the first assault, and killed many enemies… Aio often invited the Gauls and the Agarens in various ways and promised gold coins, but got nothing. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 76) Having become much stronger, the Capuans, however, severely tore ­

(The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 77) King (of Italy) Hugh having now collected his army sent a fleet across the Tyrrhenian Sea to Fraxinetum and proceeded thither himself by land. As soon as the Greeks arrived, they defrayed all the Saracens’ ships with their fire. Moreover, the king forced his way into Fraxinetum and compelled the Saracens to retreat to Moor’s Mountain, where he would have been able to capture them by investment if the circumstance I am about to relate had not prevented him. King Hugh was very much afraid that Berengar would collect a force in France and Swabia, and come down upon him and rob him of his throne. So, following bad advice, he sent the Greeks back to their own country and himself concluded a treaty with the Saracens, arranging for them to stay in the mountains that separate Swabia and Italy, and prevent Berengar from passing if he happened to lead an army that way. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis (Tit for Tat), book V, chapters 16 and 17, pp. 186–87)

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In the early 1060s, the Christian and Muslim citizens of Reggio Calabria attacked their neighbors to avoid being accused by the Normans of collaborating with the Sicilian Muslims. And because Saracens and Christians inhabited in the city of Reggio (Calabria), they wanted to show that they were faithful to the duke (Robert Guiscard). And in order not to be suspected, both the Christians and the Saracens who inhabited there armed themselves against the pagans of Sicily. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 11) During the final phases of the conquest of Sicily, Roger of Hauteville started to bestow lands on Saracen warriors in exchange for their military service (even against their fellow Muslims). In the year from the Incarnation of the Word 1079 the Jatenses… detesting the yoke of our people, refused to pay the agreed service and tribute… He (Roger of Hauteville) ordered the Sicilian knights from Partinico and Corleone, on whom he had already bestowed properties in those parts of the island which he had subdued, to attack the Jatenses. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 20) Roger, his brother Robert Guiscard, and his son Roger II used Muslim troops also against their Christian enemies. In the year 1091, angered at the prolonged rebellion of the Cosentini, Duke Roger (Bursa) gathered an army from all over Apulia… He invited his uncle, the count of Sicily (Roger of Hauteville), to come there without delay to bring him help. Because of the love for his nephew, he raised many thousand Saracens from every part of Sicily and, bringing with him many knights as well, he quickly went to the place where he had been asked to go. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 17) The count (Roger of Hauteville) brought many thousand Saracens from Sicily and Calabria, along with many Christian cavalrymen and footsoldiers, and hurried to meet his nephew there. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 22) the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and goats on the mountains of Calabria could be used for the Saracens who formed the largest part of the army (of Roger of Hauteville). (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 26)

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After gathering a huge amount of people and all the Saracens he could, Robert (Guiscard) entered old Rome… And so that people (the Muslims), which is different, does not know God, is skilled in committing wicked deeds and homicides and accustomed to commit adulteries, various types of fornications and all those crimes that are committed with iron and fire, attacked the population with fury. They even contaminated the nuns, raped the wives of the Romans, and cut the rings from their hands. (Landulph the Elder, Historia Mediolanensis, p. 100) Roger (II) crossed the straits from Sicily, came to Apulia and proceeded to Taranto. Next he went to Nardò with a great army, for it is said that he had three thousand knights and up to six thousand foot soldiers, archers, and Saracens. He captured Nardò, which had been abandoned… Moreover, he ordered the blood of Christians to be savagely shed by Saracens. For instance, they killed old men. They dashed and cleaved with swords children snatched from the bosom of their mothers. They destroyed priests next to crosses and altars. They scattered the Sacraments of the church, the holy chrism, under their boots to be mocked. They defiled wives before the eyes of their husbands. (Romuald of Salerno, Chronicon, pp. 218–19) Almost as if they wanted to underline the futility of criticizing such practices and their widespread use, the ninth- and tenth-century chroniclers did not fault Christian leaders for having employed them. An anonymous Cassinese author harshly blames the prince of Salerno only because he utilized Montecassino’s treasure to pay Muslim troops. On this occasion, Prince Siconolf took away an enormous treasure from the monastery of the most blessed Benedict… this was of no use to him and because of his action he killed his soul… those riches were of no utility, either to him or to his fatherland. From that moment on, in fact, he gained no more victories. (Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis, part II, chapter 7) There are no accounts about Muslim mercenaries who passed to their employer’s enemy because the latter paid better. On one occasion, however, the Muslims present in the opposing armies of Naples and Capua decided not to fight each other in battle. Not long afterwards, at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, (the Bishop and Dule of Naples) Athanasius (II) gathered a large army of knights and infantrymen, a mixture of Greeks, Neapolitans, and Ishmaelites, and sent them to fight against Capua. Atenolf, who had with him

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the troops sent from Aio and also some Saracens, came across them on the other side of the Lanio River, near St. Cartius. The Saracens, who were on both sides, however, got together and did not help anyone. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 73) This episode suggests solidarity among the Muslims who refused to fight against their coreligionists in a battle between two Christian potentates. It also highlights how weak those who had hired them were. Muslims sometimes profited from such weakness, deciding not to serve their ‘employers’ anymore and instead creating independent dominions. This happened above all in the civil war between the Lombards of Benevento and Salerno in the 840s. The most important was the emirate of Bari, which was occupied by the Prince of Benevento Radelchis’s Muslim garrison of the city. Not having enough troops to recapture Bari, that Lombard ruler maintained friendly relations with those Muslims and requested their help to fight Salerno. In those days a certain Pando held Bari, and, obeying Radelchis’s orders, had Saracens come to his aid and had them reside in a place between the walls and the seashore. The Saracens, however, because they are by nature cunning and more expert than others in doing evil, carefully examined the fortifications of that place and late at night, while the Christians were sleeping, entered the city through hidden passages and partly killed the innocent population with swords and partly destined it to imprisonment. They attacked Pando, traitor of his people and of his fatherland, with many and various tortures and finally, which was appropriate, they sealed him in the whirlpool of the sea. Having discovered this, Radelchis, because he was absolutely unable to eradicate them from the city, began to treat them almost like family friends and, little by little, to call them to his aid. First of all, he sent them together with his son Ursus to attack the fortified center of Canne. This was immediately reported to (the prince of Salerno) Siconolf, who, putting aside all hesitation, immediately went to fight them, attacked them with courage, and knocked down with his weapons all those who had not managed to escape. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 16) Islamic mercenaries constituted such a danger that both Beneventans and Salernitans agreed never to use them again when they signed a peace treaty in 849. We will not request either the assistance or friendship for me or the people of my land from any Saracens, both of those who are in any province of the Principality of Benevento and of those who are outside any Beneventan province. And I will never inspire them to attack you. (Martin, Guerre, accords et frontières, p. 212, chapter 24)

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The Muslims employed by the Byzantines presented a similar problem. It happened that Apulia and Calabria, two regions which at that time were subject to him, rebelled. And since the emperor, having sent most of his troops to the east, could not direct a large army there… the emperor, inflamed, quickly sent to the African king, asking him with a bribe to help him and to subdue Apulia and Calabria for the emperor with his forces. The African king, having received this message, sent numberless troops to Apulia and Calabria by boat and very vigorously subdued both regions to the power of the emperor. But when in the course of time they abandoned those regions, they turned their line of battle toward Rome, and they claimed for themselves as the greatest protection Mount Garigliano, and, doing battle, they took by force many strongly fortified cities. (Liudprand of Cremona, Retribution, book II, chapter 45) Reference to Christians fighting for Muslims can be found only in twelfthcentury sources. In that year (842/843), Al Fadl ibn Ga’far… landed with an army in the port of Messina… The people of Naples asked for a pact and joined him. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 374) The chronicler John narrates that in 881 some serfs of St. Vincent at Volturno provided the Muslims with decisive help in destroying that abbey. Seeing that they were exhausted by the huge fight, and that, because of divine protection, no opportunity to move forward was given to the enemies and, moreover, that the troops of the tyrants were stricken down harshly, some of the serfs of the holy monastery deserted their lords, left in secret, abandoned the fight, and went to the king of the Saracens. Beseeching him their freedom and lives, they told him that they could provide him with a better outcome and victory. Very happy because of this, (the king of the Saracens) enticed the minds of the serfs with golden gifts and death threats bringing persuasions and persuaded them to fufill their promise. They then accepted the proposal, established a pact with them and, having become evil guides of the evil ones, led the majority of the warriors on a different path without their lords knowing this. They immediately pounced on the holy monastery, surrounded it everywhere, set fire to it, and also killed with their swords the holy old men whom they found there. (Chronicon Vulturnense, vol. 1, p. 364)

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At the beginning of the tenth century, the prince of Capua and Benevento along with the Neapolitans and the Amalfitans besieged the Muslims of Garigliano. The plan failed, however, because the Gaetans, believing that those Saracens were useful to keep the expansion of Capua and Benevento in check, helped the Muslims. Having gathered not a small army, (the prince of Capua and Benevento) Atenolf went against the Saracens at Garigliano along with the Neapolitans and Amalfitans… Suddenly, the Saracens with the Gaetans attacked them… (Chronica Monasterii Casinensis, book I, chapter 50) Roger of Hauteville feared that, during his son Jordan’s revolt, he might side with the Muslims. This circumstance indicates how in these years the danger that some Norman warriors, unwilling to obey a strong authority, could join the enemy was considered very great. As this was announced to the father, he (Roger of Hauteville) returned quickly. As a wise man, he acted cautiously so that his terrified son would not defect to the Saracens, who were still resisting him. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 36) In the eleventh century, the political fragmentation and factionalism among Muslims in Sicily led to a change in roles. Towards 1061, after being defeated by a rival, the governor of Catania, Betumen, fled to Roger of Hauteville in Calabria and asked for his help. The Norman leader accepted the invitation but was never at Betumen’s service as the latter did not have his own troops; instead, Betumen was under the command of Roger. Betumen, an admiraldus of Sicily, who had taken refuge in Reggio after he had been defeated in battle by Belcamed, a prince, because he had killed the husband of his sister, a honest young man of his people, called Benneclerus, went to Roger. He incited the count (Roger) with many entreaties to attack Sicily. The count was very happy of his arrival and received him honorably. On his advice, when the winter was not over yet, i.e. in the week before Lent, he crossed Farum to Clibanum and invaded Sicily with a hundred and sixty knights and Betumen because he knew the country. He went to pillage Milazzo with Betumen, who had fled to him, as his guide… But when they (the Normans) learned from the scouts of Betumen, the Saracen who had fled to the count at Reggio and now accompanied them

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as their faithful companion and guide, that the battle was not imminent, they moved forward… Aware that the winter was imminent, they (Roger and Robert Guiscard) disbanded the expedition. Because of his loyalty, they left Betumen in Catania – in fact, the city was rightfully his – and meanwhile he could do damage in Sicily… Betumen went through Sicily and, as he had been asked by the count, sought the loyalty to our people of whomever he could. He did not desist from attacking those whom he could not persuade. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapters 3, 4, 16, 18, 22) The Norman kings sometimes used Islamic auxiliaries in their campaigns in Africa. the army of Roger (II), king of the Franks in Sicily, arrived in the city of Bona, under the command of Philip of Mahdia, page of the king. Philip besieged the city and took some Arabs as auxiliaries. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 479) In some cases, the Muslims asked the Normans to fight against their Muslim adversaries. When Rāfi was afraid that ‘Ali might stop him, he sought protection from Roger, King of the Franks in Sicily, and relied on his support. Roger promised to give him aid… (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 1, pp. 185–86) However, not everyone accepted that Christians and Muslims could fight together. Roger II’s offer of troops to some Tunisian emirs to fight against their Moroccan rival was turned down because they wanted only Muslim warriors. Their adversary was a strict Islamist who condemned any agreement with the Christians, and this probably influenced the decision of the Tunisian leaders who wanted to avoid being perceived as bad Muslims by their subjects. As news of this came to King Roger (II) the Frank, prince of Sicily, he sent an embassy to the emirs of the Arabs… urging them to fight against ‘Abd al-Mu’min and proposing to send them 5,000 Frankish horses to fight with them, on condition that they send him hostages. They thanked him but said, ‘We do not need your help and we only want help from Muslims.’ (BAS, vol. 1, pp. 478–79)

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Traitors The most important person involved in treason to the Muslims was Pope Martin (649–653). In those years, the Muslims did not represent a threat to Italy but had conquered all the Near and Middle East, thus creating serious problems for the Byzantines. Constantinople’s authorities accused the pontiff of having sent the Muslims letters, money, and a text about what they had to believe. The fact that Martin openly opposed the religious policy of the emperor leads one to hypothesize that the actions attributed to the pope were fabricated in order to discredit him. I never either sent letters to the Saracens or told them what book they have to believe in. I never sent money, except only to some servants of God who went there for charitable reasons; the money was very little and we forbade them to hand it over to the Saracens. (Anastasius Bibliothecarius, Collectanea, column 587) In the following centuries, examples of people who betrayed their coreligionists—for money, other compensations, or fear—can be found among both Christians and Muslims. (the Muslims) went to that castle with a mercenary shepherd… (Vita S. Eliae Spelaeotae, chapter 69) The ‘thieves’, who, paid by Ibrāhīm II, helped the emir to conquer Taormina, were very likely Christians. Having summoned a few thieves… he offered them enormous gifts if they would enter the city through the part about which no danger of betrayal was feared. (Translatio Sancti Severini, chapter 2) A Muslim writer narrates how this type of collaboration was obtained in a different manner. (year 857/858) When winter came, he sent a contingent of warriors; when they reached Castrogiovanni, they plundered and ruined that area. They returned bringing a man with them who was high-ranking among the Rūms. Al ‘Abbas ordered him put to death, but he replied: ‘Spare my life; I have good advice for you… I will make you the master of Castrogiovanni: and this will be the way. With such a winter and so much snow, the inhabitants believe that you will not attack them; therefore, they will not keep a close watch. If you send troops with me, I shall let you enter the city.’ (BAS, vol. 1, p. 379)

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Probably to defame some of his opponents, in 876 Pope John VIII emphasized that In the quietness of night, they opened the gate of the city, which is called St. Pancratius, with forged keys, fled to the Saracens, who were devastating every place, with their accomplices and all the treasures of the holy Church of God, and left the gates open… undoubtedly to let the Saracens enter. ( John VIII, Registrum, number 9, p. 326) As the roles were reversed in the twelfth century, this kind of behavior can be found among the Muslims in Tunisia. The Christians took possession of the castle, which is called Qasr ‘ad Dimas and which a group of about a hundred Christians entered thanks to some Arab Bedouins, who had been bribed with gifts. (BAS, vol. 2, p. 69) In one case, at the beginning of the tenth century, a Muslim accepted to fight against his coreligionists not for compensation but to avenge an insult. It happened meanwhile that one of the Phoenicians (Muslims), as the result of some wrong done to him, deserted and came to Pope John and under divine inspiration addressed him thus: ‘If you were wise, lord bishop, you would not allow your people and your country to be so cruelly mangled by the Africans. Pick out some young men, nimble and quick of foot, who will obey me readily as master, teacher and general. No one of them must carry anything except one shield each, one javelin, one sword, some simple clothes and a small quantity of provisions.’ Sixty youths answering to his description were found and handed over to him, and with them he hastened to attack the Phoenicians, hiding by the side of the narrow roads which they used. So on several occasions when the Phoenicians were returning from a raid, the young men sprang out from their ambush with a fierce cry upon them, and taking them unawares and off their guard, cut them down with little difficulty. A shout from the lips and a blow from the hand were simultaneous, nor were the Phoenicians aware of what was happening, or who were their assailants, until they found themselves transfixed by their javelins. (Liudprand of Cremona, Antapodosis (Tit for Tat), book II, chapters 49 and 50) For a similar reason—his chief took away a beautiful Christian prisoner from him—a Muslim from Fraxinetum explained to the Christians how to eliminate his companions.

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It happened that the Saracens (of Fraxinetum) drew lots for what they had depredated and that a beautiful woman came as the loot of Aimo. Because of her, a quarrel arose among them. Someone more powerful than him arrived and took her away. Overcome with rage, he turned away from them. Wanting God to free his people, Aimo decided to betray that place and the men who lived there. He then went to Count Robald, in the Provence region, and asked him not to reveal to anyone, not even to his own wife, the secret, that he wished to confide to him. The latter assured him that he would reveal it to no one. Aimo said: ‘Behold, I deliver you your enemies, who are responsible for all the wicked deeds’. Robald rejoiced and promised to give him everything if he fulfilled his promise. He immediately commanded everyone and Arduin to help him in a matter. They all rushed, though in a bad mood, and quarreled among themselves because they did not know where they were going. But he urged them to follow him. When they finally arrived at the castle, Robald urged them on and said: ‘O brothers, fight for your souls because you are in the land of the Saracens’. They fought as valiant warriors and devastated the place. This revenge was accomplished thanks to the treachery of Aimo, whose lineage still endures to this day. (Cronaca della Novalesa, book V, chapter 18) A fight among Castronovo’s Muslims allowed Roger of Hauteville to take possession of that Sicilian town. At that time a Saracen, by name Bechus, possessed Castronovo and dwelt there. He was a man of great excess and arrogance and, due to his frivolity, also afflicted his subjects with various insults thus making them unfaithful to him. One day he got angry with a certain miller of his, summoned him before him, and disfigured him with flogging. The miller dissimulated that this was very serious for him, but he intended to avenge such a dishonor and he quietly told himself various schemes to pay him back his vicissitude either by damaging his things or by inflicting physical injury on him. So, it happened that, after securing some accomplices who could help him, one evening he entered and seized the rock, which overlooked and dominated the entire citadel. He sent a legate to the count at Vicari, telling him that he had done that because of his loyalty to him and that he hastened to help him. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 12) His constant changing of sides cost the life of a Muslim man who had sworn allegiance to Roger and had agreed to rule Catania on behalf of that Norman leader.

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He used all sorts of cunning ploys against a certain pagan called Benthumen whom the count (Roger of Hauteville) had appointed as the governor of the city of Catania, seeking to persuade him to betray the city through many offers of bribes and property. Now this pagan met his co-religionist and blinded by avarice and forgetful of the oaths of fealty which he had made to the count, agreed a date, and treacherously allowed Benarvet and a host of his men into the city at night, thus earning for himself forever the name of traitor. What had happened here resounded through the whole island. The Christians were greatly embarrassed because such a wicked and treacherous deed had been perpetrated among them; however, the Saracens rejoiced far and wide at the mockery such ignominy had brought to the Christian name… Our men then pitched their tents outside Catania and besieged it closely. Benarvet fled the city secretly at night, along with the pagan traitor, and took refuge at Syracuse. But when this pagan traitor demanded the reward he had been promised, Benarvet had him beheaded, in case he betrayed Syracuse as he had Catania. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger, trans. G. A. Loud, book III, chapter 30)

To collaborate with the other Narrative works mainly focus on war episodes and deeds about saints and secular and Church leaders; they therefore lack information about those who held administrative functions and other jobs at the Muslim courts in Sicily. Some rare information suggests that Christian subjects were sometimes allowed to hold such positions. Neilos also wrote a letter to the local ruler’s notary, who happened to be a very pious Christian. This notary displayed the gifts sent by the holy man to the emir, as their ruler was called, and translated that wonderful letter for the emir. (Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, chapter 71) Although it was in theory forbidden by the Muslims, two Christians, father and son, worked as court physicians in Palermo at the end of the tenth century. He told me that in Sicily, together with them, there was a Christian physician in the service of their ruler Ibn Abi ‘l-Husayin, who was appointed to attend the sultan. He was succeeded by a son who, like his father, served the sultan; his name was Yuhanna. (Mandalà, ‘The Martyrdom of Yū ḥannā, Physician of Ibn Abī ‘l-Ḥusayn Ruler of the Island of Sicily’, p. 93)

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At the beginning of the tenth century, there was the rare case of a Muslim in the nonmilitary service of a Christian, the Marquise of Tuscany, Bertha. I Bertha, daughter of Lothar, queen of all the Franks, I salute you my lord king (the caliph of Baghdad)… My ships having gone out took the ships of the king of Ifriqiyah whose commander was a eunuch named Ali: I took him prisoner together with one hundred and fifty men who were with him on three ships and they remained held by me for seven years. I found him to be intelligent and a quick study and he informs me that you are king over all (Muslim) kings; and though many people had visited my kingdom, no one had told me the truth of you except this eunuch that (now) brings my letter to you… Write to me about your well-being and all that you need most from my kingdom and from my country through this eunuch Ali. Do not keep him by your side, so that he can (return and) bring me your answer. I await his arrival. I also entrusted him with a secret he will tell you when he sees your face and hears your words, so that this secret may remain between us, since I do not want anyone to know of it except for you, me and this here eunuch. (Letter of Bertha) During the Norman conquests of Sicily and a part of Tunisia, some local Muslim leaders decided to collaborate with the invaders. A certain pagan, by name Benthumen, whom the count (Roger) had placed as head of Catania. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book III, chapter 30) Al-Hasan prepared an army to attack him and when Yusuf heard of this, he sent to Roger the Frank, king of Sicily, and offered him his allegiance. He said to him, ‘I want you to give me a robe of honor and appoint me governor of Gabès to be your deputy, just as you did with the Banu Matruh in Tripoli.’ Roger sent him robes and a diploma. He donned the vestments and the diploma was read at an assembly of the leading men. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 2, pp. 13–14)

To convert Religious faith constituted an important part of a person’s identity, but it could be used to emphasize the subordination of those belonging to a religious minority or a subjugated people. It should not surprise, therefore, that some persons decided to adopt the religion of their conquerors or masters in order not to be considered ‘different’ and therefore inferior. The available

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sources prevent any assessment about how many Sicilians embraced Islam. The presence of Christians in Sicily between the ninth and the eleventh centuries in both the main cities and small towns clearly proves that not all the inhabitants of the island had chosen that course. (Roger) went to besiege Petralia. Then, after a meeting, its citizens, both the Christians and the Saracens, made peace with the count and gave that fortified center to his dominion. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 20) Afterwards, the multitude of Christians, who inhabited in a place that was called Val Demone, went to be helped by the duke (Robert Guiscard). And because they desired not to be subjects of the pagans, they gave him tribute of gold and a lot of food supplies. (Amatus of Montecassino, Ystoire de li Normant, book V, chapter 25) Except for the term ‘apostate’ applied to a Muslim commander about whom there is no further information, examples of Christians converted to Islam cannot be found in works by Christian authors. The existence of such a phenomenon clearly appears from the answers given by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Photios, to the queries by the Calabrian Archbishop Leo about how to treat the Christians who had been captured by the Muslims. It was decided to forgive the children disfigured by the Saracens’ evil costumes and not to deny them holy communion, unless they had voluntarily committed the sin; in this case, they would undergo the standard punishment. (Letter of the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios to the Calabrian archbishop Leo, chapter 5) According to the Koran, force cannot be used to convert anyone to Islam, but practice could be very different. He offered Islam to the Jews and Christians resident there. Those who converted were left in peace but those who refused were put to death. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 2, p. 104) ten of the Frankish knights came down to ‘Abd al-Mu’min and asked for a guarantee of the lives and property of the Franks within to leave the city and return to their own land… He offered them Islam and called on them to accept it, but they did not respond. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 2, pp. 105–06)

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Some information is also available about Muslims who converted to Christianity. Let us expel all the Saracens from our province… except those who, at the time of the lords (the prince of Benevento) Sico and (the prince of Benevento) Sicard, became Christians and did not become pagans. (Martin, Guerre, accords et frontières, p. 212, chapter 24 [year 849]) The infants of the Saracens, who were presented by their mother, must not be denied baptism because the Church allows the baptism of infants regardless of the behavior that the baptized will adopt when adult, particularly as a result of a barbaric education; it is preferable that their life has good foundations. By granting the babies this pledge of faith, one also incites their mothers to take care of the (Christian) education. By denying the baptism to them, one does a wrong to both the infants and the mothers. (Letter of the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios to the Calabrian archbishop Leo, chapter 3) One of the nobles of the Neapolitans, Gregory Prancacius, was exiled to Sorrento… He brought with him one of the Saracens who had been captured in that battle and had already been baptized. (Vita Antonini abbatis Surrentini, chapter 24) the physician Zachary, who, the year after, went back to his people, i. e. the Saracens, and apostatized, came… ( John the Deacon, Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni, column 233) Elias Carmotensis, who converted from the Saracens to the faith of Christ, was later killed as an enemy by his people at Castrogiovanni because he did not want to deny his faith and become an apostate, and ended his life laudably with martyrdom. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis, book III, chapter 30) (Roger) urged him to surrender the citadel and to convert through the regeneration of Christian baptism. Chamut… quietly moved by the thought of conversion to our faith… Keeping his plans a secret from his own people, he arranged that on a particular day the count and his army would arrive before the citadel and that he himself would then desert to him, bringing with him all his personal possessions… Chamut became a Christian, as did his wife and children, though he did so on one condition, that his wife, to whom he was related by a degree of consanguinity, would not in future be forbidden to him. He was however reluctant, and even fearful, to dwell any longer among his own people, in case the count might be misled into thinking him

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suspect and not trust him, and so he asked the count for land in Calabria in the Mileto district that would be sufficient for his maintenance. The count willingly granted this and he moved there. And thereafter, during the course of a long lifetime, he showed irreproachable conduct, free from any treachery towards our people. (Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger, trans. G. A. Loud, book IV, chapter 6) ‘Abu ‘al ‘Aglab had the heads of the prisoners cut. He sent an army to Pantelleria where he found some Rūms with a (Muslim) of Africa who had become Christian. The army took them to (‘Abu ‘al ‘Aglab) who had them beheaded. (BAS, vol. 1, pp. 370–71) According to the agreement about the mosque built in Reggio Calabria in 952/953, the Muslim prisoners converted to Christianity could take refuge in that building; it is unknown if their coreligionists punished them. ‘Al Hasan returned to Reggio where he built a large mosque in the middle of the city… no Christian would have entered it, even though some Muslim prisoners who professed their faith or who had converted to Christianity had taken refuge there. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 421) Not everyone, however, perceived the Muslim warriors’ conversion as a positive thing. After the conquest of Sicily, Roger of Hauteville forbade any effort to baptize the Muslims of his army who were besieging some of his Christian enemies, thus contravening the request that the pope had sent him some years before. Such a measure was probably intended to avoid any discontent among his Muslim subjects and to ensure the presence of warriors very eager to fight Roger’s Christian enemies. There were indeed some pagans, for the count of Sicily, a vassal of Duke Robert, had brought many thousands of them on the expedition. Some of them, I say, were stirred by the report of his goodness which circulated among them to frequent our lodging. They gratefully accepted offerings of food from Anselm and returned to their own people making known the wonderful kindness which they had experienced at his hands. As a result he was from this time held in such veneration among them, that when we passed through their camp—for they were all encamped together—a huge crowd of them, raising their hands to heaven, would call down blessings on his head; then kissing their hands, as they are wont, they would do him reverence on their bended knees giving thanks

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for his kindness and liberality. Many of them even, as we discovered, would willingly have submitted themselves to his instruction and would have allowed the yoke of Christian faith to be placed by him upon their shoulders, if they had not feared that the cruelty of their count would have been let loose against them on this account. For in truth he was unwilling to allow any of them to become Christian with impunity. (Eadmer, Vita Anselmi, chapter 33, pp. 111–12)

Marrying the other Many Christian women captured by the Muslims were undoubtedly used as concubines and probably some of them married their masters. According to the biography of Saint John Terista, (the Muslims) took his mother, who was pregnant, in captivity into their country, in the city of Palermo. There, one of their arcontes married her. (Vita di San Giovanni Terista, p. 137) Sicilian Muslims also married free Christian women with rules about the religion according to which the children were to be educated. Some of them intermarry with their neighbors among the Rūms of the island (Sicily) on the condition that if they are given a boy child he will retain the religion of the father, and if a girl the religion of her mother. (An Eleventh-Century Egyptian Guide to the Universe, p. 458) In all likelihood, the ‘Saracen’ man, who married a Christian woman and worked in a monastery in Christian land, had converted to Christianity. It happened that a man of Saracen blood served as a baker in the Brescian monastery; he had married a sister of Prior William the son of Ingran… (Orderic Vitalis, Historia ecclesiastica, book VII, chapter 5, p. 22)

9 ENCOUNTERS

Truces, pacts, and diplomatic missions In Antiquity as in the Middle Ages, a way to ensure that the defeated would comply with treaties was hostage-giving, a practice also adopted by Christians and Muslims in early medieval Italy. The lord of Sicily, Roger the Frank, sent a fleet this year to the coast of Ifrīqiya. They captured some ships that had been sent from Egypt to al-Ḥasan, the ruler of Ifrīqiya. al-Ḥasan was betrayed by Roger but later made contact with him and renewed the truce. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Ath īr, part 1, p. 365) In the meantime, the most dissolute and most wicked king of the Ishmaelites, Sawdān, cruelly devastated all the land of Benevento with fire, swords, and captivity in such a way that there was no breath of life left in it… It happened then that the Prince of Benevento, Adelchis, granted a tribute and some hostages to Sawdān and signed a peace treaty with him. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 29) In the following centuries, it was the Muslims’ turn to give hostages. To avoid the rebellion of subjugated regions, the Normans utilized hostage-taking in Sicily in the eleventh century. After taking some hostages and building some fortifications [in Palermo], Robert [Guiscard] returned victorious to the city of Reggio. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, line 340) DOI: 10.4324/9781003213628-10

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The Norman kings preferred to give the government of conquered Tunisian cities to local people, but, to ensure their loyalty, they held hostage one of their relatives. In one case, however, this hostage method failed. When Roger had conquered it (the city of Sfax), he had made his father, Abu’l-Hasan, who was one of the pious ulema, governor there but he was manifestly incompetent and weak. He said, ‘Appoint my son,’ which Roger did and took the father as a hostage to Sicily. When he was about to go to Sicily, he said to his son ‘Umar, I am old and my end is near. When the right opportunity enables you to rebel against the enemy, then do so. Do not worry about them nor consider that I may be killed. Count me as already dead.’ So when he found this opportunity, he called the citizens to revolt… William took his father and crucified him. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Ath īr, part 2, pp. 76–7) A more usual practice to end hostilities or to gain nonaggression treaties was to give tribute. Fearing his (the Emir of Bari Sawdān) arrival very much, the venerable Abbot Bertharius sent him three thousand golden coins trough Deacon Ragenaldus and thus mitigated his ferocity. (Chronica monasterii Casinensis, book I, chapter 35) As the Amalfitan people heard of these nefarious deeds, they wanted to attack them. But the most magnificent duke forbade doing so wishing to convert them to something good rather than incite them to do something bad… He then sent them very many gifts and a lot of food. (Sermo de virtute Costantii, chapter 10, p. 1017) At the beginning of the eleventh century, the Muslims besieged Salerno because its inhabitants refused to give them the customary tribute. Thankfully for the Salernitans, a group of Norman pilgrims defeated the assailants, thus ending that forced payment. Previously Salerno had been tributary to the Saracens, but the people of Salerno delayed each year at the time appointed for paying the tribute. Therefore, the Saracens came to Salerno with numerous ships, killing and slaying and laying waste the land… They [the Norman pilgrims] wished to fight against the Saracens, not for money, but because they were not able to brook such pride on the part of the Saracens. And they asked for horses. When they had secured arms and horses, they fell upon

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the Saracens, killing many of them… Thus, the valiant Normans were victorious, and the citizens of Salerno were delivered from bondage to the pagans. (Amatus of Montecassino, History of the Normans, book I, chapter 17, pp. 49–50) In turn the Sicilian Muslims had to pay tributes to the Normans on several occasions to stop their attacks. (The Muslims of Palermo) told them (Robert Guiscard and Roger) that they did not want absolutely to abandon or to breach their law (= religion). If they were sure that this would not happen and they would not be oppressed with unjust and new laws, then, because their current situation left them with no choice, they would surrender the city, serve them faithfully and give tributes. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 45) The next day, at dawn, he (Roger) went to the city, laid siege to it, and sent out his men all over the island (Malta) to pillage it. Then, the gaytus, who governed the city and the island, and the other citizens, who were not accustomed to military activities at all and were terrified by the presence of the enemies, requested a truce so that they could come to talk freely with the count (Roger). As this was granted by the count, they went to the tent of the count to make peace… At the request of the count, they first returned the large number of Christian prisoners whom they held in the city, and offered the count horses and mules, all the weapons they had, and an infinite amount of money. After establishing what would be given every year, they promised that the city would serve the count. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 16) In the second half of the ninth century and at the beginning of the tenth century, the need to keep the trade routes through the Tyrrhenian Sea free led the dukes of Naples, Amalfi, and Gaeta to establish nonaggression treaties with the Muslims. In the case of the Neapolitans, they also provided logistical support to the Saracens. In a letter dating to 870, Emperor Louis II complained to the Byzantine Emperor Basil that Naples seemed to have become Palermo or Africa. Indeed, the Neapolitans give the infidels weapons, food supplies, and other aids and lead them along the coasts of all our empire… so that Naples does not appear to be different from Palermo or Africa. And when our soldiers chase the Saracens, these, to escape from them, take refuge

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in Naples, and stay there hidden as long as they like, and then suddenly go back to their raids. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 107) There is no information about the pacts between the Muslims and the city-states of the Tyrrhenian coast or how these were formed. The Muslim historian ‘Ibn ‘al ‘Athir, however, mentions some details about an agreement concerning a mosque built in Reggio Calabria during a Muslim campaign in that area in 952/953. ‘Al Hasan returned to Reggio where he built a large mosque in the middle of the city. A minaret was erected in one of the corners. He established with the Rūms that the Muslims were allowed to keep this mosque open, to pray and listen to the mu’aḏḏ in’s call; no Christian would have entered it, even though some Muslim prisoners who professed their faith or who had converted to Christianity had taken refuge there. He also stated that if the Christians would take away one stone from that mosque, all their churches would have been destroyed in Sicily and Africa. These covenants were observed with submission and reverence. (BAS, vol. 1, p. 421) Information about diplomatic missions between Christians and Muslims is also available. The patrician (of Sicily) made a ten-year pact with the legates of the Saracens. (Leo III, Epistolae, number 7, p. 97 [year 813]) Since the legates of the Agarens went to Salerno very often, while the aforesaid Sico and the regent Peter were together at the head of the Salernitans, it happened that a very important Agaren was sent to Salerno by his lord Satan. When he arrived at Salerno, they welcomed him with great magnificence and placed him in the bishopric so that he might reside in the house where the prelate Bernard used to dwell. (Chronicon Salernitanum, chapter 99) At the beginning of his rule, he (the Duke of Venice, Peter II Orseolo [991–1008]), through ambassadors, made the emperors of Constantinople and all the princes of the Saracens peaceful and devoted friends. ( John the Deacon, Istoria Veneticorum, book IV, chapter 31) In the tenth century, the duke of Amalfi sent a precious gift to the caliph of Cairo’s Jewish vizir, Paltiel, who was from Apulia, in order to maintain good relationships with the authorities of an area frequented by Amalfitan merchants.

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journeyed to them with a gift for R. Paltiel sent by the Prince of Amalfi. (Bonfil, History and Folklore in a Medieval Jewish Chronicle, chapter 48, p. 324) Muslim and Christian sources both mention the existence of peace agreements between the Normans of Sicily and the Muslim rulers of northwestern Africa. the Pisans who went to Africa for trade suffered some injuries. Having gathered an army, they attacked the royal city of King Temin and captured it except the main tower which the king defended. But, because they were not numerous enough to hold the city they had conquered, with their forces they sent legates to the count of Sicily (Roger), whom they knew to be very powerful and well-supplied for such things, asking if he wanted to receive it. However, since he said he would preserve the friendship with King Temin, he refused to agree to harm him, thus sticking to his legal obligation. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 3) Al-Hasan, the ruler of Ifriqiya, sent to Roger, king of Sicily, reminding him of the treaties that were between them. Roger made the excuse that these people were not subjects of his [of al-Hasan]. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr, part 1, p. 378) the family of Yusuf, lord of Gabès, went to Roger, king of Sicily, and begged his assistance. This angered Roger, between whom and… the ruler of Ifriqiya, there were treaties of peace for several years. (The Chronicle of Ibn al-Ath īr, part 2, p. 18) The most famous and best documented diplomatic mission between Christians and Muslims was organized in 905/906 by the Marquise of Tuscany, Bertha, who sent gifts and a letter to the caliph of Baghdad. In the year 293 [906] Bertha, the daughter of Lothair, queen of the land of the Franks and its appurtenances, dispatched a gift to al-Muktafi bi-Allah by the hand of ‘Ali, a eunuch of Ziyadat Allah b. Aghlab… The letter was [written] on white silk, the script similar to Greek script but more evenly formed. The message contained a proposal of marriage and friendship with al-Muktafi’… I was in the camp with al-Muktafi’ bi-Allah, having come in person to see Vizier al-Abbas b. al-Hasan, and the Sultan asked for someone to translate the letter. There was in the garment treasury, together with the eunuch Bishr, a Frank able to read the language of the Queen’s people. He was brought in by the eunuch Bishr, and having read the letter, wrote out a translation in the Greek [Rumi]

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script. Then Ishaq ibn Hunayn was summoned to translate the Greek into Arabic. The letter read as follows: (Book of Gifts and Rarities, pp. 91–92) I Bertha, daughter of Lothar, queen of all the Franks, I salute you my lord king. There was friendship between me and the king of Ifriqiyah for until now I did not suspect that there was a greater king than him on Earth. My ships having gone out took the ships of the king of Ifriqiyah whose commander was a eunuch named Ali: I took him prisoner together with one hundred and fifty men who were with him on three ships and they remained held by me for seven years. I found him to be intelligent and a quick study and he informs me that you are king over all [Muslim] kings; and though many people had visited my kingdom, no one had told me the truth of you except this eunuch that [now] brings my letter to you. I have sent with him gifts of various things that are found in my country to honor you and obtain your friendship; they consist of the following: fifty swords; fifty shields; fifty spears (of the type used by the Franks); twenty gold-woven robes; twenty Slav eunuchs; twenty beautiful and graceful Slav girls; ten great dogs against which no other beasts can stand; seven hawks; seven sparrow hawks; a silk pavilion with the associated apparatus; twenty woolen garments produced from a shell extracted from the seabed in these parts, with iridescent colors like those of the rainbow, changing colors throughout the day; three birds (from the land of the Franks) that, if they see poisoned food and drink, throw a horrible scream and flap their wings, so that that circumstance becomes known; glass beads that painlessly draw arrows and spearheads, even if the flesh has grown around it. He [the eunuch Ali] informed me that there is friendship between you and the king of the Rūms (Byzantines) who resides in Constantinople. But my rule is greater and my armies more numerous, for my lordship comprises twenty-four kingdoms, each of which has a different language from that of the kingdom that is near it, and in my kingdom is the city of Rome the Great. God be praised. He told me about you and that your matters are proceeding well, filling my heart with satisfaction as I ask God to help me obtain your friendship

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and an agreement between us for however many years I remain alive: whether that happens depends on you. This agreement is a thing that no one in my family, in my clan or in my lineage has ever sought; no one had ever informed me about your armies and the splendor in which you find yourself until this eunuch that I sent to you so informed me. Now then, oh Lord, by the grace of God, may great well-being be upon you. Write to me about your well-being and all that you need most from my kingdom and from my country through this eunuch Ali. Do not keep him by your side, so that he can [return and] bring me your answer. I await his arrival. I also entrusted him with a secret he will tell you when he sees your face and hears your words, so that this secret may remain between us, since I do not want anyone to know of it except for you, me and this here eunuch. May God’s most great health be upon you and yours and may God humble your enemies and make your feet trample upon them. Salutations! (Letter of Bertha)

Trade Commercial exchanges between Christians and Muslims took place as well, and slaves were the most precious commodity. The biography of Elias the Younger (ca. 823 – ca. 903) indicates that Christian subjects of the ‘House of Islam’ bought their coreligionists, who had been captured by the Muslims, and kept them as their slaves. An Agarens’ incursion more serious than the previous one occurred. The young man (Elias), who was far from the fortifications of his town…, was captured by them, sold to a Christian again and brought to Africa. The Christian sold him there to another Christian, a very rich tanner. (Vita di Sant’Elia il Giovane, chapter 9) While considering possible exaggerations and the writers’ desire to color some stories, these episodes are confirmed by archival sources. According to a document from 928, a Neapolitan bought two slaves named Rose and Leo from the Muslims. Their origin is not recorded, but their names suggest that they were Christians. Because you set free your female slaves and male slave, Wiseltruda, Rosa, and Leo, whom you bought from the Saracens so that they could be free after your death… (Regii Neapolitani Archivi Monumenta, vol. 1, 1, number 13)

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The Muslims did not obtain slaves only through their raids. According to Erchempert, the Byzantines sold Lombards to them. The Achivi (Byzantines) are similar to beasts both in their habits and their souls. They are Christians by name, but are crueler than the Agarens by their habits. They kidnapped all the faithful and bought them for the Saracens. They sold some of them and filled the ocean shores with them, and kept the others as servants and female servants. (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento by Erchempert, chapter 81) To demonstrate that this account was not a complete invention, there is a section of a peace treaty from 836 between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, which had become independent from Constantinople a few years earlier. You will neither purchase any Lombard nor sell him overseas. (Martin, Guerre, accords et frontières, p. 188, chapter 3) News about the slave trade with the Muslims had circulated before. In the 770s, in a letter to Charlemagne, Pope Hadrian states that We found asserted in your mellifluous letter about the sale of slaves that they had, supposedly, been sold to the unspeakable people of the Saracens by us Romans. But we have never (perish the thought!) fallen into such a crime, nor has this ever been done with our permission; but the unspeakable Greeks have constantly sailed along the coast of the Lombards, bought serfs from there, made friendship with the Lombards, and obtained slaves from them. (Codex Epistolaris Carolinus. Letters from the popes to the Frankish rulers, p. 333) A likely reference to this practice is also present in one of Pope Hadrian’s letters to Charlemagne from 783 in which the pontiff described the misdeeds of two of his adversaries. In the insolent obstinacy of their oppression, they did not grant life to the poor and humble of Ravenna in the area of their jurisdiction, since in their venality they sold them to pagan nations… (Codex Epistolaris Carolinus. Letters from the popes to the Frankish rulers, p. 354) The Venetians played a significant role in this type of trade from the eighth century onward. The biographer of Pope Zachary (741–752) reports that

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at that time it occurred that many Venetian traders arrived in this city of Rome; they were prolonging the fair and the markets, and were buying up a crowd of slaves, both male and female; they were trying to export them to the pagan people in Africa. When he (Pope Zachary) heard this, the same holy father stopped it happening, judging it wrong for those washed by Christ’s baptism to be the slaves of pagan peoples. He paid the Venetians the price they were attested to have paid to buy them, redeemed them all from the yoke of slavery and let them live the life of the free. (The Lives of the Eighth-Century Popes, p. 46) A reference to the trade relationships the Venetians had with the Muslims can also be found in the text that recounts the relocation of Saint Mark’s relics from Alexandria to Venice in 827/828. Therefore, after the Saracens had invaded the whole Egypt and Alexandria, Leo, who had become Roman emperor, sent orders to the various regions of his empire that no one was ever to approach the land of Egypt to trade. This order, sent out all around, was also referred to the Venetians, and Justinian, who was duke of Venice at that time, confirming his emperor’s will, reiterated the same order to his citizens. But the Venetians, as usual, were searching for new markets; while some of them sailed offshore with loaded ships in order to go overseas, due to the divine will it happened that a favorable wind blew and they were almost involuntarily brought to Alexandria, a deed which they did not dare to do on their own initiative because of the orders of the rulers… The Venetians were busy in doing their business in that city. (Translatio Marci Evangelistae Venetias, chapters 8 and 9) The reference to a ‘ship of Venice with merchandise’ at Cairo in 1026 represents further evidence of the Venetians’ trade activities in Egypt. The fact that some of them were killed by pirates on the Nile River underlines how these locations could sometimes be very dangerous. a ship of Venice arrived there with merchandise… While they were navigating on the Nile with favorable winds, other ships came towards them and the sailors reported to them that some pirates gathered in those places to plunder and that it was not possible to avoid their swords… the (Venetian) sailors did not stop trusting in their strength and arms… On the following day, the ship ran into the marauders… They first cut the head of the captain of the ship, then cruelly killed the other sailors. (Vita s. Symeonis auctore Eberwino abbate S. Martinis Treveris, p. 91, chapters 10 and 11)

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Amalfitans too played a significant role in these trade ventures. [Amalfi] is a very rich and populous city. None is richer in silver, clothes, and gold, which come from innumerable areas. Very many sailors, able to open their ways through the sea and the sky, live in that city. Various goods from Alexandria, Antioch, and the royal city are carried there. Its people cross many seas. They know the Arabs, the Libyans, the Sicilians and the Africans. This people is well known throughout almost all the world, because they bring their merchandise and love to bring back the merchandise they buy. (William of Apulia, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, book III, lines 477–85) Amalfitans’ presence and economic relevance in Egypt is further confirmed by a Near-Eastern text. A fire broke out and burnt 16 ships. The people suspected that the Rūm Amalfitan merchants who came to Misr (Old Cairo) with merchandise had set fire to the ships. The populace and the Maghrebis hurled themselves on them and killed 160, robbing the House of Mânak, situated in ar-Raffâ’in in Old Cairo, which contained the great riches belonging to these Rūms who lived there… During the pillage Isa b. Nestorius mounted his horse and went down to Old Cairo, where he ordered that the pillaging be stopped and the Rūms be protected. It was announced in the town that everyone should return the goods they had robbed, and some were returned. Then he summoned those of the Rūm merchants who had survived and returned to each of them what they recognized to be theirs. Then he had 63 of the robbers arrested and put in chains. [Caliph] Al-Aziz ordered that a third to be released, a third to be beaten and a third be executed… This took place on 8 Jumada first (May 29, 996). (Yahya al-Antaki, Chronicle, English translation by Skinner, Medieval Amalfi and its Diaspora, pp. 225–26) The Amalfitans traded in Muslim Spain as well. And at the end of Jumada II [22 March] of this year 330 [942], the merchants of Amalfi [al-malafayyin] settled in Cordoba. They came at the request of the sea merchants for the usefulness that would bring them. No other arrival of them was known before the days of al-Nasir li-din Allah [Abd al-Rahman III, r. 299–350/912–961], because there were no warehouses in which to establish themselves either on the sea or inland. They arrived under the protection of the government with extraordinary materials from their country, from brocades to excellent purple [cloths]

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and other precious merchandise. Al-Nasir bought most of these at half price and the remainder were left to the inhabitants of his kingdom and the merchants of the capital. The people praised and benefited from the trade. After that there arrived other merchants in al-Andalus, and derived great profit from it. (Ibn Hayyan, Muqtabis, English translation by Skinner, Medieval Amalfi and its Diaspora, p. 236) Pisa too had trade relationships with the Muslims in Sicily and Tunisia during the eleventh century. The Pisan expedition against al-Mahdīya in 1087 was not due exclusively to the Pisans’ wish to fight the enemies of Christ. Indeed, on that occasion, the Pisans wanted to punish the Muslims of that area, who were guilty of damaging and offending the Pisans who went there to trade. For the same reason, a few years earlier, their ships carried out a symbolic raid against Palermo. the Pisans who went to Africa for trade suffered some injuries. Having gathered an army, they attacked the royal city of King Temin and captured it except the main tower which the king defended. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book IV, chapter 3) The merchants of Pisa, who used to come often to Palermo with their ships for trade, wanted to avenge some injuries which they had suffered from the Palermitans. (Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, book II, chapter 34) Since Calabria is very close to Sicily, that region suffered several attacks by Sicilian Muslims. The relationships between the inhabitants of those two areas, however, were not always of that sort. In fact, some merchants from Calabria profited from their proximity by trading the Sicilian Muslims. He (the Byzantine commander of Calabria) bought cheaply all the resources which the inhabitants (of Calabria) needed for living, and then sold them at a very high price to the Saracens, who, given the indigence and hunger in the cities, agreed to pay them with the gold they owned. ( John Scylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, p. 265) Usually, the Muslims preferred to utilize Christian and Jewish merchants. Some of their coreligionists, however, also carried out such activities. For example, a Muslim writer reports that Muslim merchants were in Rome around 800.

Encounters  151

One of the merchants told me: ‘We went on a sea voyage and the ship dropped us on the shore of Rome.’ (al-Walīd, Description of Rome) Shortly after 1100, a monk recorded disapprovingly that the faithful of Islam were a constant presence in Pisa. who goes to Pisa can see the monsters that come from the sea; that city is dirtied by pagans, Turks, Libyans, and Parthians as well (Donizo, Vita di Matilde di Canossa, book I, lines, 1370–72, pp. 120–21) Although characterized by some exaggerations, the description by al-Turtusi attests the presence of Muslim merchants in a Lombard city as well. There are rich Muslim merchants in this city, I would add more than four hundred, who own wonderful buildings and have a flourishing trading activity. (al-Himyari, al-Rawd)

APPENDIX

Primary Sources Works composed by the vanquished and by subjects ruled by the ‘other’ are not available. All the sources about Christians and Muslims in early medieval Italy were therefore produced in areas that suffered the attacks of the other. The letter by the Syracusan monk Theodosius about the Muslim conquest of his city (878) and his subsequent captivity in Palermo and the account about the killing of the Christian physician John in Palermo at the end of the tenth century are relevant exceptions. For ninth-century southern Italy, there are some chronicles written by authors who lived in that period: the anonymous Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis (Chronicles of Saint Benedict of Cassino) and the Ystoriola Longobardorum Beneventum degentium (The Little History of the Lombards of Benevento) by the Cassinese monk Erchempert. Important for that epoch and rich in details is also the Chronicon Salernitanum (Salernitan Chronicle), composed by an unknown author around 970. The chronicle by Andreas of Bergamo (second half of the ninth century) reports relevant information about Louis II’s campaigns in the South. Brief annals in Greek, the Annales Barenses (Annals of Bari) and the Annales by Lupus Protospatarius contain useful chronological data for the ninth through eleventh centuries. Even though they are focused on a specific period and areas, the biographies of the Calabrian and Sicilian saints (the latter fled to the Italian Peninsula) contain relevant information about Sicily and especially Calabria. Most of these works were written by their disciples a few years after the death of their masters, who are: Elias the Younger (ca. 823–903), Elias Spelaeota (ca. 860 – ca. 960), Sabas (ca. 910–991), Neilos of Rossano (ca. 910 – ca. 1004), Gregory of Cassano (ca. 930 – ca. 1002), Luke of Demenna (tenth century), Vitalis of

154 Appendix

Castronovo (tenth century), Nicodemus of Kellarana (tenth/eleventh century), John Terista (tenth/eleventh century), and Philaretos of Seminara (d. 1076). Texts on the saints’ miracles and their relics, which contain information about the Muslims in the ninth and tenth centuries, were written in Campania as well. The most relevant accounts are those concerning Saint Severinus (Naples), Saint Agrippinus and Saint Ianuarius (Naples), Saint Euphebius (Naples), Saint Constantius (Capri), Saint Antoninus (Sorrento), and Saint Martin of Monte Massico (northwestern Campania). The main source for the Norman conquest of Sicily is the chronicle by the Norman Geoffrey Malaterra, who moved to southern Italy and described Roger of Hauteville’s campaigns. Some information about these events can be found in the biography of Robert Guiscard by William of Apulia and in the Ystoire de li Normant (The History of the Normans) by the Cassinese monk Amatus. For central Italy in the ninth and tenth centuries, there are the chronicle of Benedict of St. Andreas of Soratte (end of the tenth century), the text on the destruction of the abbey of Farfa by Abbot Hugh (ca. 972–1038), and the biographies of Pope Sergius II (844–847) and Pope Leo IV (847–855). For the northern part of the Peninsula, there are the works by Liudprand of Cremona (ca. 920–972), the chronicle of the abbey of Novalesa (composed around the mid-eleventh century), and a Pisan text on the expedition against al-Mahdīya (1087). The Istoria Veneticorum (History of the Venetians) by John the Deacon (beginning of the eleventh century) reports some data about the Muslim raids in the Adriatic Sea and the clashes between the Venetians and the Muslims in the ninth century and at the beginning of the eleventh century. The text about the transfer of Saint Mark’s relics from Alexandria to Venice in ca. 828 focuses on just a single episode but contains precious information. Except for a letter of Emperor Louis II to the Byzantine Emperor Basil in ca. 870, that of the Syracusan monk Theodosius, that of the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios to the Calabrian archbishop Leo, and that of the Marquise of Tuscany Bertha to a caliph in 905/906, the epistles referring to the faithful of Islam are those of the pontiffs, especially those of Pope John VIII (872–882). As for the archival sources, only donations and sales of properties in the territories under Christian rule are available and therefore contain very little information useful for this study. Besides the already noted lack of archival sources in Islamic Sicily, no historical Muslim work written in the early Middle Ages has survived. Indeed, the information about that period is present in texts written by authors who lived two or three centuries after that epoch and probably are summaries of works that went missing; in most cases, they are just lists of events, seldom reporting detailed descriptions. The most important of these accounts is a history of the world titled al-Kāmil fī l-Ta’rīkh (The Perfect History, i.e., The Complete History) by ‘Alī ibn al-Athīr (ca. 1160 – ca 1230) who lived in the Middle East. Some information about the Muslims and the Christians of Italy in that period is

Appendix  155

also contained in geographical works. The most relevant of them is the Kitāb al-Masālik wa l-Mamālik (Book of Routes and Realms) by the Iraqi traveler and geographer Ibn Ḥawqal who visited Sicily around 973. Homesickness for his native land and resentment for Christians are sometimes present in some of the brief texts in verse by Ibn Ḥamd ȋs, who was born in Sicily around 1056, moved to Andalusia in 1078 because of the Norman conquest of the island, and then to the Maghreb. A detailed description of the conditions of the Sicilian Muslims under the Normans’ rule in the late twelfth century is recorded in the Spanish writer Ibn Jubayr’s account of his travel to Mecca, because between late 1184 and the beginning of the following year he had to stay in Sicily for a few weeks after the ship that was taking him home sunk.

Timeline 827: The Muslims begin the conquest of Sicily. 827/828: Venetian merchants steal the relics of Saint Mark in Alexandria and take them to Venice. 846: Muslim attack upon Rome. The basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul are pillaged. 840s: The Muslims create the emirates of Taranto and Bari. 871: Emperor Louis II conquers Bari, thus ending the Muslim rule over that city. 872: The Muslims besiege Salerno without success. 875: The Muslims pillage and burn Comacchio. 878: The Muslims conquer Syracuse. 881: The Muslims destroy the monastery of St. Vincent at Volturno. 883: The Muslims plunder and burn Montecassino. 902: The Muslims take Taormina. Emir Ibrāhīm II dies during the siege of Cosenza. 906: The Muslims destroy the abbey of Novalesa. 915: Elimination of the Muslim base near the Garigliano River. 934/935: The Muslims pillage Genoa. 973: Destruction of the Muslim base of Fraxinetum. 982: The Muslims defeat Emperor Otto II in Calabria. 1002: The Venetians end the Muslim siege of Bari. 1015/1016: A fleet of Pisan and Genoese ships defeat the Emir of Denia (Spain) Mujāhid. 1041/1042: Campaign of the Byzantine general Maniakes in Sicily. 1061: First expedition of Roger of Hauteville in Sicily. 1072: The Normans conquer Palermo. 1087: The Pisans and their allies attack al-Mahdīya. 1091: Completion of the Norman conquest of Sicily.

MAP 1

MAPS

The Med iter ra nea n A rea.

MAP 2

Sici ly.

Maps  157

MAP 3

Souther n It a ly.

158 Maps

MAP 4

Cent ra l It a ly.

Maps  159

MAP 5

Nor ther n It a ly.

160 Maps

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INDEX

‘Alī ibn al-Athīr, Muslim chronicler 59 Abraham, Biblical character 7, 8, 67 Abū al-Qasim, Muslim leader 5 Acqui, Piedmontese town 51, 103 Adalbert, son of the King of Italy Berengar II 122 Adelchis, prince of Benevento 13, 16, 31, 55, 67, 122, 140 Adriatic Sea 4, 5 Africa 2, 6, 7, 9–14, 16, 33, 41, 42, 47, 51, 57, 58, 60–62, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 88, 102, 107, 108, 111–15, 119, 121, 123, 130, 138, 142–44, 146, 148, 150 Africans 9, 10, 51, 111, 132, 149 Agar, handmaid of Sarah, mother of Ishmael 7, 8 Agath, king of the Amalekites 64 Agnellus of Ravenna, chronicler 91 Agnellus, saint 87 Agrigento 6 Agrippinus, saint 89 Agropolis, Campanian town 7 Aio, prince of Benevento 124, 127 Alba, Piedmontese town 53 Alexander II, pope 41 Alexandria 2, 12, 56, 90, 114, 148, 149 Algeria 67, 119 Alps 4, 5, 51, 117 Amalfi 142, 149 Amalfitans 10, 70, 92, 120, 129, 149 Amatus of Montecassino, chronicler 10 Andrew, duke of Naples 123

Anthes, saint 31, 32, 86, 98 Antoninus, saint 83 Apolaffar, Muslim leader 14, 68, 69 Apollinaris, abbot of Montecassino 80 Apollinaris, bishop 98 Apulia 3–5, 7, 10, 34, 51, 58, 66, 125, 126, 128, 143 Arabia 8, 9 Arabs 8–10, 49, 121, 130, 149 Arcarius, Muslim leader 123 Aristotle, Greek philosopher 42 Arles 52 Armento, town (Basilicata) 58 Arnulf of Milan, chronicler 58 Arrane, Muslim who resided in Salerno 70 Assyrians 10, 11 Athanasius II, bishop and duke of Naples 126 Augustine, saint 97 Baldwin, king of Jerusalem 17 Bartholomew, saint 79, 98 Basil, Byzantine emperor 142 Basilicata 3, 4, 58 Bassacius, abbot of Montecassino 80 Benarvet, Sicilian Muslim leader 14, 32, 56, 93, 134 Benedict IV, pope 112 Benedict, saint 81 Benevento 3, 4, 10, 14–17, 21, 22, 27, 51, 55, 66–68, 96, 99, 108, 110, 111, 122, 124, 127, 140, 147 Berbers 10

168 Index

Berengar, marquis of Ivrea 124 Bertha, marquise of Tuscany 135, 144, 145 Bertharius, abbot of Montecassino 141 Betumen, Sicilian Muslim leader 14, 18, 49, 129, 130 Blatton, Calabrian bishop 65, 112 Bononius, saint 73, 90, 118 Bougie, Algerian city 67, 119 Boulambès, Muslim leader, son of Ibrāhīm II 13, 14 Brachimos, emir 13, 14; see also Ibrāhīm II Bulchassinus, Muslim leader 15, 17 Burgundy 52, 101 Butrinto (Albania) 62 Cairo 148, 149 Caius, saint 31, 86 Calabria 3–5, 7, 8, 14, 17, 28, 38, 47, 51, 57, 62, 65, 82, 100, 101, 112, 115, 116, 118, 125, 128, 129, 138, 150 Campania 3, 27, 66, 84, 99 Capri 80 Capua 47, 55, 67, 126, 129 Capuans 48, 124 Carolingian Empire 91 Carthage 13, 101 Castrogiovanni, Sicilian town 3, 6, 31, 49, 131, 137 Castronovo, Sicilian town 133 Centumcellae, town in Latium 102, 105 Charlemagne, Frankish king, emperor 2, 3, 22, 147 Charles the Bald, Frankish king, emperor 57 Circeo (Latium) 120 Comacchio 4 Constantinople 2, 3, 5, 22, 23, 34, 55, 58, 117, 131, 136, 137, 143, 145, 147 Constantius, saint 47, 80, 89 Cordoba 12, 13, 149 Corsica 9 Corsicans 102, 105 Cosenza 5 Damascus 23 Egiptus, slave living in Beneventan territory 114 Egypt 12, 73, 114, 118, 140, 148, 149 Elias Spelaeota, saint 100 Elias the Younger, saint 14, 28, 29, 62, 72, 73, 88, 90–92, 100, 101, 112, 146 Elpidios, Byzantine commander of Sicily 121

Erchempert, chronicler 58, 64, 147 Erchempertus, Beneventan who fled to the Muslims 122 Ethiopians 9, 50, 117 Euphebius, saint 47 Euthimius, Byzantine Sicilian rebel 123 Fantinus, saint 85 Farfa, abbey 98, 101, 105 Felix, saint 84 Firmianus, saint 99 Formia (Latium) 99 Fortunatus, saint 31, 32, 86, 98 France 5, 124; see also Gaul Fraxinetum 5, 48, 51, 52, 95, 111, 122, 124, 132, 133 Fulcard, bishop of ALba 53 Gabès, Tunisian city 135, 144 Garigliano river, Muslim base 3, 5, 7, 33, 51, 109, 111, 128, 129 Gaul 52, 56; see also France Genoa 5, 44, 51 Genoese 35, 36 Geoffrey Malaterra, chronicler 61, 71, 72, 93 George, saint 37 Gideon, Biblical character 36, 37, 39 Goliath, Biblical character 36 Gregory IV, pope 104 Gregory VII, pope 67, 119 Gregory of Cassano, saint 74 Guaiferius, prince of Salerno 70 Guy, count of Spoleto 68, 69, 121 Hadrian, pope 147 Hadrian II, pope 40 Hārūn b.Yaḥya, Muslim writer 22, 43 Herasmus, saint 99 Hugh, king of Italy 13, 124 Hungarians 13, 51 Ianuarius, saint 89 Iberian Peninsula 2, 5, 12; see also Spain Ibn Ḥamdȋs, Muslim writer 42, 44, 60, 103 Ibn Ḥawqal, Muslim geographer 42, 45 Ibn Jubayr, Muslim traveler, writer 63, 76, 111 Ibn Khurrādhbih, Muslim geographer 23 Ibrāhīm II, emir 5, 13, 44, 54, 86, 106, 131; see also Brachimos Ifrīqiya 9, 140 Ildepert, probably count of Camerino 121

Index  169

Isernia, Molisan town 66 Ishmael, son of Abraham and Agar 7, 8 Jerba, Tunisian island 12, 114 Jerusalem 17, 76, 112 Jews 8, 10, 11, 29, 35, 117, 136 John Terista, saint 62, 139 John VIII, pope 8, 11, 40, 52, 57, 120, 132 John, Christian physician of Palermo’s Muslim court 74 John, monk of St.Vincent at Volturno, chronicler 128 Justinian, duke of Venice 148 Lampedusa, island 109 Lampert, count of Spoleto 121 Landulph the Elder, chronicler 58 Larino, Molisan town 99 Latium 3, 4 Leo III, pope 9, 109 Leo IV, pope 40, 104, 105, 109 Leo, Calabrian archbishop 117, 136 Leo, slave of a Neapolitan 146 Lesina, Apulian town 99 Libyans 10, 31, 149, 151 Liguria 5, 115 Lipari, island 98 Liudprand of Cremona, chronicler 10, 33, 48, 51, 95 Liudprand, king of the Lombards 97 Lothar, emperor 4, 104 Louis II, king of Italy, emperor 4, 13, 14, 16, 24, 33, 40, 64, 67, 99, 110, 118, 121, 142 Louis the Pious, emperor 46 Luke of Bova, saint 28 Luke of Demenna, saint 38, 39, 47, 100 Luni, Ligurian town 35, 97, 110 Lupus, servant of the prince of Salerno who ‘went to the Saracens’ 122 al-Mahdīya 5, 28, 41, 44, 56, 60, 61, 93, 113, 119, 150 Maghreb/Maghrib 21, 44, 60, 114 Maniakes, Byzantine general 5, 35 Mark, saint 12, 148 Martin of Monte Massico, saint 39 Martin, pope 131 Mary, church of St., Gaeta 99 Mary, church of St., Palermo 31 Mary, mother of Christ 33, 34, 70, 85 Massar, Muslim leader 15, 17, 66, 96, 110

Mauretanus, slave living in Beneventan territory 114 Messina 3, 18, 42, 58, 71, 76, 128 Michael, saint 36, 86 Michael II, Byzantine emperor 123 Middle East 8, 10, 131 Milan 58, 59 Misr (Old Cairo) 149 Modestus, abbey of St., Benevento 108 Mohammed, prophet 2, 27, 28, 45, 53, 74, 76 Montecassino, abbey 4, 46, 66, 80, 113, 126 Moses, Biblical character 39, 91 Naples 3, 48, 55, 83, 87, 89, 116, 124, 126, 128, 142, 147 Neapolitans 95, 126, 129, 137, 142 Neilos, saint 50, 62, 65, 92, 100, 112, 134 Nicephorus, Byzantine emperor 11 Nicotera, Calabrian town 17, 32, 108, 115 Nile river 148 Nocera, Campanian town 116 Nola, Campanian town 84 Novalesa, abbey 5, 31, 52, 101, 114, 117 Ostia (Latium) 104 Otto, German ruler, king of Italy 122 Otto II, emperor 5, 17, 46 Palermo 3, 6, 10, 16–18, 28, 31, 33, 42, 45, 47, 62, 63, 71, 74, 76, 91, 92, 112, 122, 123, 134, 139, 140, 142, 150 Paltiel, Jewish vizir of the caliph of Cairo 143, 144 Pando, Lombard governor of Bari 48, 127 Pantelleria, island 60, 108, 138 Parthians 31, 151 Paul, basilica of St. 4 Paul, saint 34, 43, 50, 113 Pavia 5, 22, 51, 103 Peter, banner of saint 41 Peter, basilica of St. 4, 32, 40, 104, 110 Peter, bishop of Vercelli 118 Peter, duke of Venice 15, 17 Peter, saint 34, 43, 113 Peter II Orseolo, duke of Venice 34, 143 Petralia, Sicilian town 136 Philaretos, saint 35 Phoenicians 10, 11, 34, 109, 132 Photios, patriarch of Constantinople 117, 136, 137 Piedmont 5, 53 Pisa 5, 31, 150, 151

170 Index

Pisans 35, 36, 113, 119, 144, 150 Po Valley 5, 103 Porto (Latium) 101, 104, 105 Primianus, saint 99 Provençals 51, 96 Provence 5, 133 Radelchis, prince of Benevento 10, 48, 66, 68, 69, 96, 110, 111, 124, 127 Ragusa (Sicilian town) 3 Ravenna 147 Red Sea 47 Reggio Calabria 5, 14, 32, 35, 56, 58, 71, 88, 90, 91, 98, 101, 125, 129, 138, 140, 143 Reggio Emilia 98 Robert Guiscard, Norman leader, brother of Roger of Hauteville 6, 18–20, 28, 31, 36, 37, 71, 92, 125, 126, 130, 136, 138, 140, 142 Roger Bursa, son of Robert Guiscard 125 Roger of Hauteville, Norman leader, brother of Robert Guiscard, father of King Roger II 6, 12, 14, 16, 26, 38, 41, 49, 71, 75, 93, 113, 119, 125, 129, 130, 133–38, 142 Roger II, son of Roger of Hauteville, king of Sicily 6, 16, 17, 44, 57, 61, 75, 123, 125, 126, 130, 135, 140, 141, 144 Rome 3, 4, 9, 14, 22, 23, 32, 43, 51, 55, 81, 85, 87, 91, 93, 101, 102, 104, 109, 112, 126, 128, 145, 148, 150, 151 Rometta, Sicilian town 108 Rose, slave of a Neapolitan 146 Saba, Muslim leader 15, 17 Sabas, saint 100 Sabato, river 21 Salernitans 48, 68, 69, 93, 127, 141, 143 Salerno 3–5, 7, 13, 31, 47, 48, 68–70, 93, 98, 106, 116, 126, 127, 141, 143 Samuel, Biblical character 64 Sarah, wife of Abraham, mother of Isaac 7, 8, 57 Sardinia 2, 5, 21, 44, 56, 97, 113 Saul, Biblical character 64 Sawdān, emir of Bari 16, 19, 31, 32, 55, 64, 65, 67, 94, 140, 141 Septis (Ceuta, Morocco) 13 Sergius, duke of Naples 24 Serlo, nephew of Roger of Hauteville 49, 61

Severinus, saint 80 Sfax, Tunisian town 141 Sicard, prince of Benevento 123, 137 Sicily 1–3, 5, 12, 14–18, 27, 35, 36, 38, 41, 42, 44, 47, 49, 53, 56–58, 60, 61, 63, 71, 74–76, 89, 102, 103, 107–09, 111–16, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 129, 130, 134–36, 138–44, 150 Siconolf, prince of Salerno 10, 68, 96, 111, 124, 126, 127 Sixtus, saint 36 Slavs 22 Solomon, Biblical character 48, 124 Sorrentines 83, 84 Sorrento 83, 137 Spain 5, 13, 56, 96, 149; see also Iberian Peninsula Spoleto 92 Syracuse 2, 3, 6, 20, 32, 53, 93, 107, 108, 116, 120, 122, 123, 134 Taormina 3, 5, 44, 62, 91, 100, 107, 108, 122, 131 Taranto 3, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21, 65, 126 Tarsians 117 Trapani, Sicilian town 6, 77 Tripoli 76, 97, 135 Tunisia 5, 35, 53, 57, 114, 132, 135, 150 Turks 31, 151 Turris (Basilicata) 58 Tuscan coast 97 Tuscany 5 Tyrrhenian Sea 4, 5, 35, 142 Venerius, saint 97, 98 Venetians 12, 20, 22, 34, 147, 148 Venice 5, 12, 22, 34, 62, 148 Victoria, saint 98 Vincent at Volturno, monastery of St. 4, 55, 66, 116, 128 Vitalis, saint 58, 82, 98 al-Walīd, Muslim writer 23 William, king of Sicily 6, 57, 141 William II, king of Sicily 76, 77 William of Apulia, chronicler 71, 92 William of Hauteville, Norman leader 6 Zachary, Muslim physician who converted to Christianity and who later reconverted to Islam 137 Zachary, pope 148