Where Three Worlds Met: Sicily in the Early Medieval Mediterranean

310 Pages·2017·17.718 MB·English

by  Sarah C Davis-Secord

WHERE THREE WORLDS MET
WHERE THREE
WORLDS MET
SICILY IN THE EARLY MEDIEVAL
MEDITERRANEAN
Sarah Davis- Secord
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review,
this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage
House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2017 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Davis- Secord, Sarah C., author.
Title: Where three worlds met : Sicily in the early
medieval Mediterranean / Sarah Davis- Secord.
Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016048269 (print) | LCCN
2016048732 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501704642
(cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501712586
(epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501712593 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Sicily (Italy)— History— To 1500. |
Mediterranean Region— History—476–1517. |
Chris tian ity and other religions— Islam. | Islam—
Relations— Chris tian ity.
Classification: LCC DG867.2 .D38 2017 (print) |
LCC DG867.2 (ebook) | DDC 945.8/02— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016048269
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Cover illustration: Muhammad al-Idrisi’s map of Sicily
and Mediterranean, from the Kitāb Rujār (the book of
Roger), 1154 CE. Bodleian Library, MS. Pococke 375, fol.
187v–188r, 1553 CE. By permission of the Bodleian
Libraries, University of Oxford.
“Could any soil
Be more agreeable to me, or any
Where I would rather moor these tired ships,
Than Sicily?”
—Virgil, The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fitzgerald, bk. 5, ll. 38b–41a
Contents
List of Maps and Illustrations ix
Acknowl edgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Timeline xv
Introduction 1
1. Sicily between Constantinople
and Rome 29
2. Sicily between Byzantium and
the Islamic World 72
3. Sicily in the Dār al- Islām 111
4. Sicily from the Dār al- Islām
to Latin Christendom 174
5. Sicily at the Center of the Mediterranean 213
Conclusion 242
Bibliography 249
Index 285
Maps and Illustrations
Maps
1. Sicily xvii
2. Sicily, Byzantium, and Rome in the sixth and seventh centuries 31
3. Sicily between Byzantium and Islam in the eighth to
tenth centuries 74
4. Sicily between three worlds, from the mid- eleventh century 176
Illustrations
1. Ponte d’Ammiraglio 19
2. Floor mosaics from the ancient city Panormus 49
3. View of Taormina 120
4. Map of Sicily in The Book of Curiosities 126
5. Southern flank of Mount Etna 129
6. Quarter dinar minted in Sicily during the reign of Fatimid
caliph Al- ‘Aziz 171
7. World map copy based on one attributed to al- Idrīsī, 1553 232
8. Church of San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi 234
9. Psalter world map, ca. 1262–1270 243
10. Hereford Mappa Mundi, ca. 1290 244
ix
Acknowl edgments
Like the many travelers whose voyages form the
basis for this book, I have been on a long and sometimes perilous journey while
bringing this work to completion. This is the type of trip that cannot be under-
taken alone, and along the way I have benefited from the help, advice, support,
and friendship of countless individuals and institutions.
While it began at the University of Notre Dame, this work matured during
my time at the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of New
Mexico. My many friends and colleagues at t hose institutions have been of sig-
nificant assistance to me in my travels. Among others, I particularly thank Jus-
tine Andrews, Cathleen Cahill, Christine Caldwell Ames, Paul Cobb, Caroline
Goodson, Tim Graham, Penny Ingram, Marie Kelleher, Courtney Luckhardt,
Tom Noble, Michael A. Ryan, Andrew Sandoval- Strausz, Alan Stahl, Julia Schnei-
der, John Van Engen, and Robin Vose. I could do nothing without the cheerful
assistance of the administrative staff of the UNM History Department—
Yolanda Martinez, Barbara Wafer, Dana Ellison, and Hazel Mendoza- Jayme.
My parents, Terry and Catherine Davis, and my parents-i n- law, Bill and Linda
Secord, have encouraged, prodded, loved, and supported me throughout. My
parents taught me that I could do anything I wanted with my life, gave me op-
portunities that they themselves had not had, and have always taken an interest
in my work— all of which I appreciate more than words can express.
My editors at Cornell University Press, both Peter Potter and Mahinder
Kingra, have been unfailingly helpful and insightful readers of this work. Beth-
any Wasik and the rest of the team at Cornell University Press have been won-
derful to work with and quick with responses to my many questions. I thank
Romney David Smith for the beautiful maps. The two outside readers for the
press, Clifford Backman and Karla Mallette, provided helpful observations and
suggestions that significantly improved the book. All of its shortcomings re-
main my own responsibility.
I have also profited from being a member of several dynamic and produc-
tive intellectual communities, notably the medievalists of the University of
xi
xii ACKNOWL EDGMENTS
Notre Dame, the History Department and the Institute for Medieval Studies
at the University of New Mexico, and the broad spectrum of Mediterranean
scholars involved in the Mediterranean Studies NEH Summer Institute and
the Mediterranean Seminar. Funding for my research has come from the Me-
dieval Acad emy of Ameri ca, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the
University of Notre Dame, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the Uni-
versity of New Mexico. I could not have done this work without access to g reat
libraries: I have relied upon the collections at the University of Notre Dame’s
Hesburgh Library (in par tic u lar the Medieval Institute library and its librar-
ian, Dr. Julia Schneider), Princet on University’s Firestone Library, and the
University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library, as well as the interlibrary loan
department at the University of New Mexico. Likewise, I have utilized the
Cambridge Digital Library of Geniza texts by Cambridge University Library
and the transcriptions of Geniza documents by the Prince ton Geniza Proj-
ect. I thank Hereford Cathedral (particularly its librarian Rosemary Firman
and the library and archives assistant James North), the British Library, the
University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, and the University of Cambridge’s
Fitzwilliam Museum for permission to reproduce the images included herein.
A special version of thanks is due to Olivia Remie Constable. Remie died
before the book reached its final form, but it has been shaped in countless ways
both by her presence in my life and by her absence. I can only hope that she
would have been proud of this small contribution to the study of the medi-
eval Mediterranean world that she loved so much and did so much to advance.
My greatest thanks are due to the two people who travel with me not only
in scholarship but also in life, my husband, Jon, and my daughter, Sage. Jon is
due double thanks, as he has not only loved and supported me throughout
the pro cess of writing and rewriting this book (at times virtually solo parent-
ing while I wrote, despite his own pressing deadlines) but also read nearly every
word of it and saved me from countless instances of my own convoluted
thought pro cesses and sentence structures. Even more importantly, he is
wonderful—as a partner, a scholar, and a father to our amazing daughter. There
is no one e lse with whom I would want to sail the seas of life, love, and the study
of the Middle Ages.
Abbreviations
AASS Acta Sanctorum
BAS Arabic Biblioteca arabo- sicula, ossia raccolta di testi Arabici che toccano
la geografia, la storia, le biografie e la bibliografia della Sicilia, testi
arabici. Edited by Michele Amari. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus,
1857–1887. 2nd revised ed. by Umberto Rizzitano. 2 vols. Pal-
ermo: Accademia Nazaionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 1988.
BAS Ital. Biblioteca arabo- sicula, ossia raccolta di testi Arabici che toccano
la geografia, la storia, le biografie e la bibliografia della Sicilia, ver-
sione italiana. Edited by Michele Amari. 2 vols. Turin: E. Loe-
scher, 1880–1889. 2nd revised ed. by Umberto Rizzitano et al.
3 vols. Palermo: Accademia Nazaionale di Scienze Lettere e
Arti, 1997–1998.
Ben- Sasson Ben- Sasson, Menahem. The Jews of Sicily 825–1068: Documents
and Sources. Jerusalem: Ben- Zvi Institute, 1991.
BGA Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum. 8 vols. Edited by M. J.
de Goeje. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1870–1894.
BHG Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca. 3rd ed. Edited by François
Halkin. 3 vols. Subsidia Hagiographica 8a. Brussels: Société
des Bollandistes, 1957. Reprinted 1986.
BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina. Edited by Société des Bol-
landistes. Subsidia Hagiographica 6. Brussels: Société des Bol-
landistes, 1898–1901.
EI2 Encyclopædia of Islam. 2nd ed. Edited by P. J. Bearman, Th.
Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs et al.
12 vols. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960–2005.
LP Liber Pontificalis. Edited by L. Duchesne. Paris: E. de Boccard,
1955–1957.
Medit. Soc. Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of
the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza.
6 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967–1993.
xiii