ANST - Fw: [TY] (Fwd) Fwd: Muslim-Crusader Treaties

Mon Nov 29 09:25:16 PST 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan S McDaniel <kestrel at hawk.org>
To: TY at reashelm.ce.utk.edu <TY at reashelm.ce.utk.edu>
Date: Monday, November 29, 1999 12:02 PM
Subject: [TY] (Fwd) Fwd: Muslim-Crusader Treaties


>I found this on the Atlantian list.  Thought some of you might be
interested
>in it.
>
>Kestrel of Wales
>
>------- Forwarded message follows -------
>From:           Simone89 at aol.com
>Date sent:      Mon, 29 Nov 1999 11:14:37 EST
>Subject:        Fwd: Muslim-Crusader Treaties
>To:             atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
>Send reply to:  Simone89 at aol.com
>
>
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>
>I thought this was pretty fascinating.
>Simone
>
>
>
>  LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 (AScribe News) -- Two UCLA medieval
>>scholars working in the Royal Archives in Barcelona have
>>identified two unique Muslim-Crusader treaties dating from
>>the wars between Islam and Christendom.
>>
>>
>>   The two tattered, blotted documents -- one parchment, the
>>other paper, written in black ink that has oxidized to brown
>>-- are the only Christian-Islamic surrender treaties from
>>the crusader period to survive in their original interlinear
>>bilingual form.
>>
>>
>>   "The discovery of the treaties represents one of the most
>>important archival finds of the century for students of the
>>Middle Ages," said Robert I. Burns, a senior history
>>professor at UCLA who reconstructed the documents with
>>historian Paul E. Chevedden.  "All three cultures of
>>medieval Spain -- Muslim, Christian and Jewish -- played a
>>part in the drafting of these international agreements, and
>>their ratification signaled a new stage in the evolution of
>>Spain's multicultural society that would have dramatic
>>effects both in Europe and in the Americas."
>>
>>
>>   "The Arabic texts of these documents are extremely
>>important," said Chevedden.  "Other than these two texts,
>>there is little documentation in Arabic for crusader-era
>>Muslim society or for Muslim-Christian interaction in Spain
>>in its original artifact form."
>>
>>
>>   Burns and Chevedden have published a full-length study of
>>the documents in their new book, "Negotiating Cultures:
>>Bilingual Surrender Treaties in Muslim-Crusader Spain Under
>>James the Conqueror" (E.J. Brill).
>>
>>
>>   The full meaning of these battered and deteriorated
>>documents emerged only from a minute reconstruction of the
>>bilingual texts by Burns and Chevedden.  Both treaties were
>>part of an epic struggle to subdue Eastern Islamic Spain by
>>King James the First, "The Conqueror" (1213-1276), ruler of
>>federated Aragon and Catalonia.
>>
>>
>>   Of the many surrender agreements negotiated by James
>>during 50 crusading years (1225-1276), only the two studied
>>by Burns and Chevedden survive in their original bilingual
>>form.
>>
>>
>>   "These treaties not only depict how peace emerged from
>>war, but how a major multicultural society developed in the
>>Kingdom of Valencia," said Burns.  "This region formed a
>>crucible for the convergence of cultures in the medieval
>>Mediterranean world," Burns noted, "and the mingling of
>>Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures would define Spain and
>>would color Spain's actions and institutions in the New
>>World."
>>
>>
>>   Though representing different political-military episodes
>>in the same long crusade, the treaties were separated from
>>each other by less than a year during the mid-1240s.
>>
>>
>>   "A kaleidoscope of contexts affected each of the
>>treaties," said Burns, "and provides enough drama for a
>>Hollywood epic.  The exhilarating backdrop to these
>>documents comprises the dizzying changes that issued from
>>the collapse of Islamic Spain; the bitter rivalry of Castile
>>and Aragon; the struggle for southern France involving
>>marriage maneuvers and the attempted abduction of the
>>heiress of Provence; papal embassies to the Mongols; a
>>crusade to the Holy Land that King James aborted for the
>>love of a lady; a queen shunned in the royal chambers but
>>esteemed at the negotiating table; the daring ambush of the
>>king by his Muslim nemesis; and the final end of the great
>>crusader of Christendom and the legendary champion of
>>Islamic Spain in the same year."
>>
>>
>>   The first treaty -- the surrender of the city of Jativa
>>to King James in 1244 -- had mysteriously disappeared during
>>the Middle Ages.  In 1991, archivist Alberto Torra recovered
>>it in the archives of the realms of Aragon-Catalonia in
>>Barcelona among "problem" manuscripts that had not been
>>deciphered.  The director of the Royal Archives, Rafael
>>Conde y Delgado de Molina, alerted Burns and Chevedden about
>>its discovery, and the UCLA scholars edited the text and
>>minutely reconstructed its context.
>>
>>
>>   The second treaty -- the surrender of a Muslim
>>warrior-ruler called al-Azraq to King James and his son in
>>1245 -- was known mostly to local historians and as an
>>isolated oddity, until Burns and Chevedden recently created
>>a critical edition of it with commentary.
>>
>>
>>   In research on both treaties, Burns investigated the
>>historical context of the documents and analyzed the
>>Latinate texts of the treaties.  Chevedden, an Arabist and
>>Middle Eastern historian at UCLA's Center for Near Eastern
>>Studies, edited and interpreted the Arabic texts.
>>
>>
>>   The Arabic text of the Jativa treaty alternates with
>>lines of a Latin text, and the Arabic of the al-Azraq
>>document is interwoven among lines in Romance text.
>>Curiously, however, the Arabic and the Latinate texts of the
>>treaties are not direct translations of each other.  The
>>Arabic texts of the two agreements selected the elements of
>>each accord that were most crucial to the Muslims, while the
>>Latinate texts similarly emphasized those points basic to
>>the Christians' interest.
>>
>>
>>   "The Arabic texts of the treaties approach the two
>>agreements in quite a different spirit than do the Latinate
>>texts," said Chevedden.  "The interlinear arrangement of the
>>documents allows a view of the opposing political
>>psychologies of the two adversaries and reveals two very
>>different understandings of their shared agreement."
>>
>>
>>   The confluence of cultures in Spain can also be seen in
>>the treaties.  As Chevedden pointed out, "The Arabic
>>secretariat of the Christian chancery, which was staffed by
>>Jews, drafted the Arabic texts of both treaties, so that
>>these documents embody the convergence of the three cultures
>>of medieval Spain: Muslim, Christian and Jewish."
>>
>>
>>   Both treaties exhibit unusual terms.  Unlike a
>>conventional surrender agreement in which a victor dictates
>>to an enfeebled enemy, the "defeated" parties of these
>>treaties were bargaining from a position of strength and
>>retained substantial negotiating assets.
>>
>>
>>   "In 1244, Jativa surrendered on a qualified basis and
>>salvaged considerable powers of autonomy," said Chevedden.
>>"The thirty-three surviving provisions of the Jativa treaty
>>reveal that King James was in no position to dictate terms,
>>but was compelled to offer incentives to entice the Jativans
>>to surrender."
>>
>>
>>   "The exemptions, privileges and rights that were
>>safeguarded by the treaty attest to the capacity of the
>>Jativans to preserve their identity and institutions even as
>>the integrity of their society was threatened by political
>>domination," said Chevedden.  "The treaty maintained the
>>city's ruling family in power and left its population, its
>>defenses and its army all intact."
>>
>>
>>   The al-Azraq treaty demonstrates that a surrender
>>agreement can also mask covert action.
>>
>>
>>   "In 1245, al-Azraq cunningly played at surrender with
>>King James in order to gain necessary time to launch an
>>Islamic counter-crusade," said Burns.  "The 'great war' that
>>erupted two years after al-Azraq's 'capitulation' drew the
>>attention of wider Christendom and required a full-fledged
>>papal crusade and a ten-year campaign before the king was
>>able to achieve victory."
>>
>>
>>   A faculty research grant from UCLA and grants from the
>>Institute of Medieval Mediterranean Spain at Los Angeles and
>>from Iberia Airlines enabled the authors to examine the
>>treaties in the crown archives at Barcelona.  The
>>Spectronics Corporation of Westbury, N.Y., contributed two
>>Spectroline magnifying ultraviolet lamps to assist tracking
>>trace amounts of fluorescence in the badly ruined Jativa
>>treaty.  The Program for Cultural Cooperation between
>>Spain's Ministry of Education and Culture and United States
>>Universities provided financial assistance for the
>>publication of "Negotiating Cultures."
>>
>>
>>   "For the history of both Islamic and Christian Spain, the
>>recovery of these treaties is a major event," said Burns.
>>"This discovery may have special significance for our own
>>day, when some twelve million Muslims now reside within
>>Europe, with more arriving daily, so that the Muslim
>>presence and multiculturalism as in King James' day is once
>>again, over seven centuries later, deeply marking today's
>>Europe."
>
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>From: Steven Judd <judd at scsu.ctstateu.edu>
>Subject:      Muslim-Crusader Treaties
>To: H-MIDEAST-MEDIEVAL at H-NET.MSU.EDU
>Message-ID: <199911291025.ARBa15040 at rly-zb01.mx.aol.com>
>
>  LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 (AScribe News) -- Two UCLA medieval
>>scholars working in the Royal Archives in Barcelona have
>>identified two unique Muslim-Crusader treaties dating from
>>the wars between Islam and Christendom.
>>
>>
>>   The two tattered, blotted documents -- one parchment, the
>>other paper, written in black ink that has oxidized to brown
>>-- are the only Christian-Islamic surrender treaties from
>>the crusader period to survive in their original interlinear
>>bilingual form.
>>
>>
>>   "The discovery of the treaties represents one of the most
>>important archival finds of the century for students of the
>>Middle Ages," said Robert I. Burns, a senior history
>>professor at UCLA who reconstructed the documents with
>>historian Paul E. Chevedden.  "All three cultures of
>>medieval Spain -- Muslim, Christian and Jewish -- played a
>>part in the drafting of these international agreements, and
>>their ratification signaled a new stage in the evolution of
>>Spain's multicultural society that would have dramatic
>>effects both in Europe and in the Americas."
>>
>>
>>   "The Arabic texts of these documents are extremely
>>important," said Chevedden.  "Other than these two texts,
>>there is little documentation in Arabic for crusader-era
>>Muslim society or for Muslim-Christian interaction in Spain
>>in its original artifact form."
>>
>>
>>   Burns and Chevedden have published a full-length study of
>>the documents in their new book, "Negotiating Cultures:
>>Bilingual Surrender Treaties in Muslim-Crusader Spain Under
>>James the Conqueror" (E.J. Brill).
>>
>>
>>   The full meaning of these battered and deteriorated
>>documents emerged only from a minute reconstruction of the
>>bilingual texts by Burns and Chevedden.  Both treaties were
>>part of an epic struggle to subdue Eastern Islamic Spain by
>>King James the First, "The Conqueror" (1213-1276), ruler of
>>federated Aragon and Catalonia.
>>
>>
>>   Of the many surrender agreements negotiated by James
>>during 50 crusading years (1225-1276), only the two studied
>>by Burns and Chevedden survive in their original bilingual
>>form.
>>
>>
>>   "These treaties not only depict how peace emerged from
>>war, but how a major multicultural society developed in the
>>Kingdom of Valencia," said Burns.  "This region formed a
>>crucible for the convergence of cultures in the medieval
>>Mediterranean world," Burns noted, "and the mingling of
>>Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures would define Spain and
>>would color Spain's actions and institutions in the New
>>World."
>>
>>
>>   Though representing different political-military episodes
>>in the same long crusade, the treaties were separated from
>>each other by less than a year during the mid-1240s.
>>
>>
>>   "A kaleidoscope of contexts affected each of the
>>treaties," said Burns, "and provides enough drama for a
>>Hollywood epic.  The exhilarating backdrop to these
>>documents comprises the dizzying changes that issued from
>>the collapse of Islamic Spain; the bitter rivalry of Castile
>>and Aragon; the struggle for southern France involving
>>marriage maneuvers and the attempted abduction of the
>>heiress of Provence; papal embassies to the Mongols; a
>>crusade to the Holy Land that King James aborted for the
>>love of a lady; a queen shunned in the royal chambers but
>>esteemed at the negotiating table; the daring ambush of the
>>king by his Muslim nemesis; and the final end of the great
>>crusader of Christendom and the legendary champion of
>>Islamic Spain in the same year."
>>
>>
>>   The first treaty -- the surrender of the city of Jativa
>>to King James in 1244 -- had mysteriously disappeared during
>>the Middle Ages.  In 1991, archivist Alberto Torra recovered
>>it in the archives of the realms of Aragon-Catalonia in
>>Barcelona among "problem" manuscripts that had not been
>>deciphered.  The director of the Royal Archives, Rafael
>>Conde y Delgado de Molina, alerted Burns and Chevedden about
>>its discovery, and the UCLA scholars edited the text and
>>minutely reconstructed its context.
>>
>>
>>   The second treaty -- the surrender of a Muslim
>>warrior-ruler called al-Azraq to King James and his son in
>>1245 -- was known mostly to local historians and as an
>>isolated oddity, until Burns and Chevedden recently created
>>a critical edition of it with commentary.
>>
>>
>>   In research on both treaties, Burns investigated the
>>historical context of the documents and analyzed the
>>Latinate texts of the treaties.  Chevedden, an Arabist and
>>Middle Eastern historian at UCLA's Center for Near Eastern
>>Studies, edited and interpreted the Arabic texts.
>>
>>
>>   The Arabic text of the Jativa treaty alternates with
>>lines of a Latin text, and the Arabic of the al-Azraq
>>document is interwoven among lines in Romance text.
>>Curiously, however, the Arabic and the Latinate texts of the
>>treaties are not direct translations of each other.  The
>>Arabic texts of the two agreements selected the elements of
>>each accord that were most crucial to the Muslims, while the
>>Latinate texts similarly emphasized those points basic to
>>the Christians' interest.
>>
>>
>>   "The Arabic texts of the treaties approach the two
>>agreements in quite a different spirit than do the Latinate
>>texts," said Chevedden.  "The interlinear arrangement of the
>>documents allows a view of the opposing political
>>psychologies of the two adversaries and reveals two very
>>different understandings of their shared agreement."
>>
>>
>>   The confluence of cultures in Spain can also be seen in
>>the treaties.  As Chevedden pointed out, "The Arabic
>>secretariat of the Christian chancery, which was staffed by
>>Jews, drafted the Arabic texts of both treaties, so that
>>these documents embody the convergence of the three cultures
>>of medieval Spain: Muslim, Christian and Jewish."
>>
>>
>>   Both treaties exhibit unusual terms.  Unlike a
>>conventional surrender agreement in which a victor dictates
>>to an enfeebled enemy, the "defeated" parties of these
>>treaties were bargaining from a position of strength and
>>retained substantial negotiating assets.
>>
>>
>>   "In 1244, Jativa surrendered on a qualified basis and
>>salvaged considerable powers of autonomy," said Chevedden.
>>"The thirty-three surviving provisions of the Jativa treaty
>>reveal that King James was in no position to dictate terms,
>>but was compelled to offer incentives to entice the Jativans
>>to surrender."
>>
>>
>>   "The exemptions, privileges and rights that were
>>safeguarded by the treaty attest to the capacity of the
>>Jativans to preserve their identity and institutions even as
>>the integrity of their society was threatened by political
>>domination," said Chevedden.  "The treaty maintained the
>>city's ruling family in power and left its population, its
>>defenses and its army all intact."
>>
>>
>>   The al-Azraq treaty demonstrates that a surrender
>>agreement can also mask covert action.
>>
>>
>>   "In 1245, al-Azraq cunningly played at surrender with
>>King James in order to gain necessary time to launch an
>>Islamic counter-crusade," said Burns.  "The 'great war' that
>>erupted two years after al-Azraq's 'capitulation' drew the
>>attention of wider Christendom and required a full-fledged
>>papal crusade and a ten-year campaign before the king was
>>able to achieve victory."
>>
>>
>>   A faculty research grant from UCLA and grants from the
>>Institute of Medieval Mediterranean Spain at Los Angeles and
>>from Iberia Airlines enabled the authors to examine the
>>treaties in the crown archives at Barcelona.  The
>>Spectronics Corporation of Westbury, N.Y., contributed two
>>Spectroline magnifying ultraviolet lamps to assist tracking
>>trace amounts of fluorescence in the badly ruined Jativa
>>treaty.  The Program for Cultural Cooperation between
>>Spain's Ministry of Education and Culture and United States
>>Universities provided financial assistance for the
>>publication of "Negotiating Cultures."
>>
>>
>>   "For the history of both Islamic and Christian Spain, the
>>recovery of these treaties is a major event," said Burns.
>>"This discovery may have special significance for our own
>>day, when some twelve million Muslims now reside within
>>Europe, with more arriving daily, so that the Muslim
>>presence and multiculturalism as in King James' day is once
>>again, over seven centuries later, deeply marking today's
>>Europe."
>
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>Dilestair fid dy hynt, ac ni rusia ddim rhagot.
>"May your path be unhindered and may nothing hinder you."
>
>Bryan S. McDaniel      SCA aka Kestrel of Wales
>My statements are often my half groat worth.  Any opinions expressed are my
own and not necessarily the
>opinions of my employer, or any group that I am or have been a member.
>http://kestrel.hawk.org        http://kestrelw.webjump.com
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