IBN JUBAYR - THE TRAVELER OF THE CRUSADES
Note: The following article is taken from the Introduction to the work "THE TRAVELS OF IBN JUBAYR - New edition in English", written and translated by Giuditta Andrei in 2025. Therefore, the following information is intellectually property of the author.
Opera del pittore inglese Frederick Goodall (1822-1904)
Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jubayr Al Kinani, known as Ibn Jubayr al-Andalusi, was born in the Emirate (or Taifa) of Balansiya, now Valencia, on September 1, 1145. Under the tutelage of his father, a civil servant (Katib), and other scholars of his time, he studied religious sciences and hadith, and completed his Quranic studies between the cities of Xàtiva and Ceuta. His passion for arithmetic, linguistics, and literature, as well as his poetic and prose talents, soon led him to distinguish himself among the brilliant scholars of Andalusia, eventually serving as secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada, Abu Sa'id ibn Abdul Mu'min.
It is said that the idea for the first of his three journeys arose in 1182, when, one day, the Governor summoned him to write a book about himself and ordered him to drink a glass of wine. Ibn Jubayr apologized for never having drunk wine before—it being forbidden by Islamic law—and was tempted by the Prince to drink seven mugs in exchange for seven cups filled with dinars.
Remorseful for having complied with the request, Ibn Jubayr left and decided to atone for his guilt by spending the money he had received for the Pilgrimage to Mecca. He sold the property the Governor had provided him and embarked from Ceuta on a Genoese ship bound for Alexandria, Egypt. His first journey to the land of Islam began in February 1183 with a friend named Ahmad ibn Hassan, a man of medicine, science, and literature. After completing his pilgrimage in 1184, he joined the caravan of Iraqi pilgrims and visited Baghdad, Mosul, Aleppo, Damascus and, in the overseas lands, particularly in the consolidated Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem, he visited Acre and Tyre. Returning to Andalusia the following year, he devoted himself to teaching Islamic sciences in the cities of Malaga, Ceuta and Fez, acquiring great moral authority and assuming the position of judge (Qadi). Between 1189 and 1191 he made a second pilgrimage on the occasion of the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin (1187). Finally, in 1204, after the death of his wife, he made a third pilgrimage, spending more than ten years between Mecca, Jerusalem and Alexandria in Egypt. In the latter, where he stayed for a time as a teacher, he died on November 29, 1217, at the age of 72. The following diary (Rihla) was written by the author at the end of his three Journeys to the East. Titled by him "Reminder of Information on Travel Arrangements," it recounts the first pilgrimage he undertook.
The journey followed by Ibn Jubayr
The changing historical context in which Ibn Jubayr lived and wrote his iconic work is set amidst the most important historical events that have occurred since the Second Crusade (1147-1150). It is therefore necessary, in this introduction, to provide a clear idea of the temporal and historically relevant circumstances that the author will not fail to mention.
In 1146, only a year after Ibn Jubayr's birth, the decisive event that put an end to Frankish power in one of the first strategic Latin counties ever consolidated in the Levant took place: the Siege of Edessa (now the city of Urfa). Years had now passed since Pope Urban II, at the Council of Clermont held in November 1095, had in fact "invited Western Christians to take up arms" in response to the growing presence of the Seljuk Turks in the Middle East; effectively instigating the First Crusade. Following that first expedition that saw the Franks victorious in the Holy Land, the new territorial acquisitions, greatly supported by the Maritime Republics of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, were divided into four states based on the principle of feudalism, known as the Overseas Lands (Outremer):
-The County of Edessa: the first Crusader state to be created. Despite being the largest in territory, it was also one of the least populated, with approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Its first count was Baldwin I of Boulogne (1060-1118), who later became King of Jerusalem.
-The Principality of Antioch: smaller than the County of Edessa, it had 20,000 inhabitants. Many of the Crusaders who settled here were of Norman origin and came from the Kingdom of Sicily. Its king was Bohemond I (1054-1111), former Prince of Taranto and experienced leader of a Norman contingent.
-The County of Tripoli: one of the most fertile and strategic areas for sea control. Its first count was Bertrand of Toulouse (1112-1112).
-The Kingdom of Jerusalem: the most important consolidated Crusader state, encompassing and controlling several fiefdoms such as Acre, Tyre, Nablus, Sidon, Caesarea, and Ascalon (the latter being the gateway to Egypt). The Kingdom was one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse, as it was inhabited by Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Samaritans. It was itself largely characterized by the presence of Europeans, such as Franks and Italians from the republics of Genoa and Venice. Its first ruler was Godfrey of Bouillon (1060-1100). The established lingua franca in Outremer was Old French, a group of Romance dialects collectively known as the langues d'oil, spoken predominantly in northern France.
image taken from the web
Having now taken a brief look at the formation of these Latin territorial entities that saw their genesis following the First Crusade, let us now see how the main Muslim figures of the time – whom the author will later discuss in his diary – responded to the constant Frankish presence in the lands of the Levant. As mentioned earlier, the preeminent event that undoubtedly threatened the Crusader states and more generally the power that had consolidated them was the Siege of Edessa in 1146. The first successful attempt to wrest Edessa from the Outer Lands had already taken place exactly two years earlier at the hands of the Atabeg – the noble title used by the Seljuk Turks to indicate the governor of a nation or province – a Sunni Turkoman, Imad al-Din Zengi (1085–1146), the founder of the Zengid dynasty, who officially captured Edessa on 24 December 1144, after a four-month siege. Devoted to jihad but not exactly a pious man and at most addicted to alcohol, Imad al-Din died two years later in his attempt to conquer Damascus, assassinated by a Frankish slave. At the same time, Joscelin II (1159–1169), the last Count of Edessa, despite receiving no help from the other Crusader states, managed to recapture the city only a month after the death of his enemy. This victory was short-lived, since only a month later the second son of the deceased Zengid founder, Nur al-Din (1146–1174), Atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, victoriously recaptured it. God-fearing and totally devoted to the anti-Crusader cause in Syria, Nur al-Din forged strong alliances with the neighboring Muslim lands between the Euphrates and the Nile with the aim of eradicating the Frankish presence in the Levant. Meanwhile, in Europe, fearing the consequent fall of further Crusader states, Pope Eugene III officially proclaimed, following the first siege of Edessa in 1146, the beginning of the Second Crusade. The expedition's first objective: to besiege Damascus, a rich caravan city with considerable influence among Muslim lands. The Frankish alliance that was supposed to besiege the city in 1148 was a loosely coupled alliance, and inevitably failed in its intended objective.
Having strengthened his authority and position, Nur al-Din was now inclined to attack the Principality of Antioch. Aided by the fact that the Frankish forces were significantly outnumbered, Nur al-Din stormed into northern Syria, killing the reigning Prince, Raymond of Poitiers (1136–1149). Having reconquered Damascus, Nur al-Din, intending to envelop the Crusader states in a tight grip, set his expansionist sights on Egypt, then under the Shiite Fatimid dynasty, which ruled North Africa, the Hejaz, the Levant, and part of Syria, all of which was predominantly Sunni. Rivals of the existing Sunni Abbasid Caliphate, Fatimid Egypt had long been a vulnerable and crumbling entity. Following the death of the eleventh Fatimid Caliph, Al Hafiz (1132-1149), a series of child caliphs were crowned, the last of whom was Al-Adid (1160-1171) who had ascended to the throne at the age of nine. Understandably lacking any authority of his own, in the final period the power of the state lay entirely in the hands of the viziers. The breaking point came during al-Adid's tenure, when the court chamberlain, one Dirgham (/ 1164), refused to pay homage to the Crusaders and ousted the vizier Shawar (/ 1169), who was known for his constant wavering alliances, first with and then against the Frankish enemy, taking the office for himself. Shawar then asked Sultan Nur al-Din for help, promising to pay all the expenses of the campaign and to offer a third of the state revenue to the Zengids as an annual tribute. At the same time, Egypt also became the target of the new Frankish king of Jerusalem, Amalric I (1136-1174).
At this point, the Atabeg, favoring Shawar's demands, prepared and sent a Syrian army to Egypt led by his loyal Kurdish general Shirkuh, who brought with him his young twenty-six-year-old nephew Yusuf ibn Ayyub, also known as Salah al-Din (1138-1193, Latinized Saladin). Soon, Dirgham was killed and Shawar was restored to power. However, the latter, beginning to fuel quarrels and feuds with Shirkuh, ended up allying himself with the implacable Amalric I. Attempting countless attacks on the Fatimid enemy, who tirelessly appealed for help from the Frankish enemy, Shirkuh finally forced Amalric—whose Knights Hospitallers he led had by then gone bankrupt financing the expedition—to retreat, and then conquered Egypt with his own forces. In 1169, the crusaders withdrew, and Cairo officially fell to Shirkuh. Shawar was personally captured by Saladin and sentenced to death for allying himself with the Christians. After suppressing the Fatimid Caliphate, Shirkuh then became the new vizier. However, his reign lasted only two months, as he died of indigestion, undoubtedly aggravated by his obesity. The new figure appointed to succeed him was none other than Saladin. After the loss of Egypt, the Crusaders, in a desperate attempt to reconquer it with their Byzantine allies, staged a naval assault on Alexandria that same year; an attack that, however, was repelled completely by the capable Kurdish successor.
1171 was the year that saw Saladin officially become the sole ruler of Egypt under the aegis of the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate. Shortly thereafter, supported by Nur al-Din, Saladin attacked Krak des Chevalier, a castle inhabited over a century earlier by the Arab-Shiite troops of the Mirdasids, but by then long in the hands of the Knights Hospitaller on the borders of the County of Tripoli. Krak des Chevaliers was one of the most important strategic military bases of the time and could accommodate a garrison of 2,000 soldiers. Sources state that Saladin actually left the operation unfinished, as, according to sources, the Crusaders offered their surrender; this gesture unleashed the wrath of Nur al-Din. In 1173, the Atabeg again ordered him to attack the castle, but Saladin again withdrew, citing his father's poor health following a fall from his horse—which actually occurred—and requiring him to return to Cairo. Clearly on less than idyllic terms, Nur al-Din, personally defining his own objectives for a campaign against Saladin's Egypt, died of tonsillitis aggravated by fever in 1174. In the same year, Amalric I also died, "after suffering intolerably from fever for several days," as William of Tyre reports.
At this point, Nur al-Din's power passed into the hands of his eleven-year-old son, as-Salih Ismail al-Malik (1163–1181). Under the protection of the emir and captain of the veterans of the deceased Atabeg, Gumushtekin, the youth was taken to Aleppo, while the relevant offices vied for supremacy. Saladin, now politically independent, recognized as-Salih as his lord, and in a letter to the latter promised that he would "act like a sword" against his enemies. Gumushtekin, preparing to overthrow all his rivals, appealed to Sayf al-Din of Mosul—his cousin—for help, but the latter refused, so he was forced to ask Saladin for assistance, who complied. Crossing the desert with 700 elite horsemen, Saladin thus arrived in Damascus. His brother Tughtakin ibn Ayyub, after a brief siege of the city, had become governor of Damascus. Meanwhile, Saladin proceeded to conquer the other cities that had previously belonged to Nur al-Din, now independent. He conquered Hama, and then headed towards Aleppo, which he prepared to besiege following the refusal of Emir Gumushtekin to abdicate. The young As-Salih, fearing capture by Saladin, appealed to his people, saying: "Look at this unjust and ungrateful man who wants to take my homeland away from me with no regard for God or man! I am an orphan and I count on you to defend me in memory of my father who loved you so much." However, although with these words he attempted to warn the people not to surrender to him, ultimately, as one of his chroniclers states, "the people fell under his spell." Gumushtekin then sought help from the leader of the Nizari Shiite-Ismaili sect (also known as the Sect of Assassins) – the author will mention him throughout the work – Rashid al-Din Sinan, who had already been in bitter conflict with Saladin since he dethroned the Fatimids, and was tasked with assassinating him. In 1175, thirteen exponents of the sect intruded into Saladin's camp, but one of his generals, discovering them red-handed, killed them before they could launch the fatal attack. In the same year, after stubborn resistance from its defenders, Saladin entered the city of Homs. He later publicly married Ismat ad-Din Khatun (1186-1186), widow of Nur al-Din and mother of As-Salih, thus "adorning his unadorned government," thus consolidating his power in Syria. That same year, he was proclaimed Sultan of Egypt and Syria by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustadi (1142-1180). Saladin, who had by then established the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt, annexing North Africa, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, and Yemen to his sultanate, only two years later devoted himself to the conquest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The new enemy he would face this time was none other than Baldwin IV of Anjou (1161-1185 AD), also known as the Leper King, son of the late Amalric I.
The presence of the Crusaders and the Hospitallers finally capitulated on July 4, 1187, during the Battle of Hattin. This conflict saw the crushing victory of the Ayyubid army over the Christian army led by Guy of Lusignan (1150-1194), successor to the deceased Baldwin IV. Outremer was now reduced to its lowest ebb. Saladin, now feared and unstoppable, officially entered the Holy Land in triumph on October 2 of the same year.
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