*The Krak fell to the Mamluk warrior Baybars in 1271.
EPILOGUE
The medieval sea of faith crashed loudest on the shores of Anatolia and Iberia, but its waters were troubled all around the Mediterranean basin. Few places were spared the clamor of armies or the sight of enemy fleets, few peoples left alone to tend their own gods. Over time Islam and Christianity have softened behavior in benign ways, but their past role as the willing accomplice of belligerence cannot be wished away, and neither can their sometimes vicious rivalry. This dual legacy disturbs, and darkens the bright moments of understanding and tolerance that also characterized the sea of faith. True, the Templar knight and the white-robed Janissary cut more dashing figures than the Mozarab scribe and the Cairene merchant, but all deserve equal seating in the gallery of collective memory. Perhaps the Córdoba, and Palermo of convivencia will one day take their proper place alongside the bloodshed of the crusades and Poitiers as conversational commonplaces to describe the relationship between Muslim and Christian in the Middle Ages.
But perhaps not, for the conflict and suffering bred of that relationship have scorched memory more indelibly. Fear of the Turk, that spectral presence in western folk culture, today haunts many of the reactions to Turkey's candidacy for membership in the European Union. The phantasm of confessional peril has been resurrected in panicked predictions of a Muslim tide from Anatolia engulfing what is still described in some quarters as Christian Europe. Secular Europeans, however much they deplore or snicker at such anachronisms, cannot deny their atavistic pull. Faced with the threatening or the unfamiliar, the children of the Enlightenment may yet come to resemble the creatures of the sea of faith. In the Balkans in recent years, modern nationalism turned even more murderous than usual when admixed with religious resentment. If the geography of belief once again becomes subject to discussion, then this book, rather than highlighting a shared memory worth recovering, will be merely the first installment in a series that picks up the action in the present day and ranges far beyond the Mediterranean. Religion, for all its solace, will always be a ready-made grenade to be hurled by those seeking to inspire terror or wage war.
Nowhere is the volatile interplay of past and present experienced more powerfully than in the reality of contemporary Jerusalem. In one sense this is only to be expected, as the city remains the wellspring of the fantastic stories behind the stories in this work: on one of its hills, a man rose from the dead; from another, a man rode a horse to heaven and back; nearby, a temple once stood that housed a covenant linking God to man. Beyond the Mount of Olives stretches the unearthly Judean wilderness, a hinterland so operatic as to compel tale-tellers to practice their craft with supernatural brio. If classical Athens, then Rome, gave rise to the idea of a mare nostrum, Jerusalem—not Damascus or Constantinople—gave voice to the preeminent narratives of the sea of faith.
The Temple Mount, Jerusalem, 2004. In the foreground, the Western (Wailing) Wall; beyond it, the Dome of the Rock.
Yet, in another sense, the great old city provides an altogether new reminder of the changeling essence of confessional rivalry. Although medieval Jerusalem spurred generations to violent ecstasy, by the time of Ottoman rule it had slipped into a provincial slumber, the only real bickering occurring within rather than between its resident faiths, as evidenced by the glorious and eclectic mess that is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A charged atmosphere of convivencia enveloped the place, the capital of monotheism fitfully celebrating its god in different ways.
Today, however, the city does not slumber so peacefully. Approaching the Wailing Wall or the Dome of the Rock is akin to negotiating an airport, so thoroughly are possessions checked and the wand of metal detectors waved about unpleasantly. The tension, palpable and electric, might well have been borrowed whole from some of the sadder moments in the millennial chronicle stretching from Yarmuk to Malta. Wounds are fresh, changed circumstances undigested, boundaries still fluid. One can only wish, piously perhaps, that the day will come when the story of modern Jerusalem can be accepted dispassionately by everyone and that a new and more exemplary convivencia will take hold there. True, these are troubled times, and not only in Jerusalem—the language of jihad, even crusade, no longer seems so comfortingly archaic. Yet Valette's hat hangs motionless in Malta, Saladin sits forever on horseback in Damascus, and children jump on the chessboard of Poitiers and leap lightly over the cannons of Istanbul, in vivid demonstration of past chaos rendered innocuous through the curative workings of time. Awestruck crowds shuffle through the dim light of the Mezquita and the Ayasofya, relieved and gladdened, one suspects, that in at least these two sanctuaries the matter has been settled, magnificently.
GLOSSARY
Abbasids: caliphal dynasty, ruling from Baghdad (749-1258)
al-Jazeera: "island"; upper Iraqi Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates
amsar: early Muslim settlement, often at the edge of the desert near a preexisting city
Arianism: a belief holding that Jesus was a creation of God the Father
asabiyya: group solidarity, often through kinship, that aids in the capture and expansion of power; important concept in the work of Ibn Khaldun
ashura: shia festival mourning the death of Huseyn in 680
atabeg: regent of local Seljuk prince wielding effective power
basileus: Greek term for king or emperor; leader of the Byzantine Empire
bashi-bazouk: Ottoman irregular infantryman; perhaps related to modern Turkish's basiboiuk, meaning unruly and rebellious and usually applied to youth
caliph: successor of Muhammad charged with ruling the faithful
convivencia: intelligent coexistence of different communities of faith within the same state
dar al Islam: the totality of countries under Muslim rule
devshirme: Ottoman system of enforced removal, conversion, and education of Christian boys to serve the state
dhimmi: protected non-Muslim monotheistic communities in the dar al Islam subject to certain restrictions
emir: governor
Fatimids: shia caliphal dynasty of Cairo (909-1171)
filioque: controversy over the origin of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity
funduq: trading center, often with lodgings, for merchants; called a khan in the Ottoman world
ghazi: frontier warrior fighting for the faith
hadith: a non-Quranic story of Muhammad's life or sayings checked for authenticity through scholarship
hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
hammam: bathhouse
haram: sacred enclosure where bloodshed is forbidden; in pre-Islamic Arabia, the dwelling place of the gods
henotheism: belief system holding that there is a supreme god and several lesser gods
hijra: Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Madina in 622, the Year One of the Muslim calendar
imam: prayer leader at a mosque; in a larger sense, the spiritual leader and guide of Islam
jihad: to strive in the way of God, either through self-purification or war to extend the dominion of Islam
littoral: shoreline
madrasa: boarding school run on an endowment for study of Quran, law, hadith, etc.; not necessarily attached to a mosque
mahdi: envoy of the divine sent to purify Islam, often with an eschatological mission to usher in the final days
mamluk: military slave; later the name of a Cairene dynasty founded by such men (1250—1517)
mawali: non-Arabian "clients" or affiliates of Arabian Muslim clans, converts to Islam
mihrab: niche in mosque indicating direction of Mecca
minaret: tower adjoining mosque
minbar: pulpit used for sermon during Friday prayers
monophysitism: belief holding that Jesus had but one nature (usually divine)
monotheism: religious belief system based on the premise that there is but one god
monothelit
ism: compromise belief holding that Jesus possessed two natures but only one will
Mozarab: Iberian Christian living under Muslim rule
Mudejar: Iberian Muslim living under Christian rule
muezzin: cleric who calls the faithful to prayer from a minaret
mujahadeen: fighter, usually a volunteer, in a jihad war
Nestorianism: belief holding that Jesus was two distinct persons, one human, one divine
parias: payments made by Spanish Muslim rulers to their Christian counterparts
pasha: Ottoman viceroy or, more generally, grandee
polytheism: religious belief system positing the existence of several gods
poulain: a native Latin of Outremer; criticized for adopting local customs
qadi: a magistrate charged with interpreting Islamic law and adjudicating disputes in a Muslim city; trained in a madrasa
qibla: the direction of Mecca
razzia: raid, often over a long distance Rum
Seljuks: Turkish dynasty ruling Anatolia from Konya (1077—1307)
sayyid: overlord; also, descendant of the Prophet
Seljuks: Turkic dynasty in Iran and Iraq (1038-1194)
Sephardim: Jews of al-Andalus; later, their descendants
sharia: law and code of ethical conduct based on the Quran and the hadith
sharif: descendant of the Prophet; guardian of Mecca
shia: partisans of a caliphal genealogy that passes through Ali and Huseyn
souk: bazaar or commercial district
Sufi: practitioner of a form of Islamic mysticism
sultan: deputy of caliph, effective ruler of the state
sunni: partisans of an acceptance of the usages and leadership of Islam as developed over time, with special attention given to precepts derived from Muhammad's habitual behavior
sura: chapter of the Quran
taifa: Muslim city-state of Spain after the fall of the Córdoba, caliphate
Umayyads: caliphal dynasty ruling from Damascus (661—750); Iberian branch ruled from Córdoba, (756-1031)
umma: the community of Muslim believers
vizier: first minister of Islamic state wadi: seasonal stream
PEOPLE OF THE SEA OF FAITH
Dates of death, where appropriate, are given in parentheses at the end of an entry. (Many birth years are conjectural and irrelevant.) Names are given as they are habitually spelled in the narrative. Many other variant spellings exist. Emphasis is given only to those accomplishments germane to the events described.
Abd Allah ibn Yasin: founder of the Almoravid movement in Africa (1059)
Abd al-Malik: powerful Umayyad caliph who suppressed Islam's centrifugal strife; built the Dome of the Rock (705)
Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi: emir of al-Andalus; defeated and slain at Poitiers (732)
Abd al-Rahman I: first Umayyad emir of al-Andalus; escaped slaughter in Syria; commissioned the Mezquita (788)
Abd al-Rahman II: Umayyad emir of al-Andalus in ninth century; patron of Ziryab (852)
Abd al-Rahman III: Umayyad caliph of al-Andalus at its apogee; constructed Madinat az-Zahra (961)
Abélard, Pierre: influential French Aristotelian schoolman (1142)
Abu Bekr: first caliph of Islam; second or third convert to the faith; father of Aisha (634)
Abu Sufyan: rich Quraysh merchant reluctant to accept Islam; fought Muslims at Badr; fought Byzantines at Yarmuk; father of Muawiya, the first Umayyad caliph (641?)
Abu Yusuf Yaqub: Almohad caliph; victor at Alarcos in 1195 (1199)
Adelard of Bath: translator of twelfth-century Toledo; early English scientist (1160)
Afsin: Turcoman brigand in Anatolia (1098)
Aisha: child-bride of Muhammad; daughter of first caliph (Abu Bekr); vanquished at the Battle of the Camel (678?)
Alexius I Comnenus: capable Byzantine basileus (reigned 1081—1118) whose call for help against the Turks precipitated the First Crusade
Alfonso I Batallador (the Battler): Aragonese king; captured Muslim Zaragoza in n 18 (1134)
Alfonso VI: Leonese king; captured Toledo in 1085 (1109)
Alfonso VIII: Castilian king; victor at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 (1214)
Ali (Ibn Abu Talib): fourth caliph; cousin, son-in-law, and adopted son of Muhammad; married Fatima, the Prophet's daughter; murdered in 661
Almanzor: absolute ruler of Umayyad al-Andalus; usurper (1002)
Alp Arslan: Seljuk sultan; victor at Manzikert in 1071 (1072)
Amalric: king of Jerusalem; defeated in Egypt (1174)
Amr Ibn al As: victor at Dathin; Muslim conqueror of Egypt and much of north Africa; fought for the Umayyads in first civil war (663)
Aquinas, Thomas: foremost Aristotelian scholastic of the west (1274)
Arnold Amaury: Cistercian monk; leader of Albigensian Crusade; archbishop of Narbonne; fought at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212
Arzachel (Az-Zarqali): astronomer; mathematician; astrolabe and clepsydra engineer of Toledo (1087)
Attaliates, Michael: Byzantine chronicler and statesman; eyewitness at Manzikert in 1071
Averroes (Ibn Rushd): Andalusi physician, philosopher, commentator of Aristotle (1198)
Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Persian physican, scientist, philosopher, polymath (1037)
Baldwin IV: leper king of Jerusalem (1185)
Baldwin of Boulogne: first Latin count of Edessa; subsquently king of Jerusalem (1118)
Barbarossa: Muslim pirate; ruler of Algiers; later in charge of Ottoman navy (1547)
Basil II Bulgaroctonus (Bulgar-Slayer): longest-reigning Byzantine emperor (976—1025); expanded and consolidated empire
Basilacius: Armenian commander at Manzikert in 1071
Baybars: Mamluk sultan; victor over the Mongols of Ayn Jalut; hastened the disappearance of Outremer (1277)
Belisarius: brilliant Byzantine general; fought Ostrogoths and Vandals; reestablished Byzantine control in parts of Italy and Africa (565)
Bernard of Clairvaux: greatest churchman of twelfth century; promoter of Templars and Hospitalers; preacher of the Second Crusade (1153)
Beyazit I ("Yilderim" or Thunderbolt): Ottoman sultan; victor over crusaders at Nicopolis; vanquished by Mongols at Ankara (1402)
Bohemond of Taranto: first Latin prince of Antioch; son of Robert Guiscard (1111)
Brankovic, Vuk: combatant, charged with treason by posterity, at the first battle of Kosovo in 1389
Bryennius, Nicephorus: Byzantine general at Manzikert in 1071
Callinichus: Greek Syrian inventor of Greek fire, seventh century
Charles Martel: uniter of the Franks; victor at Poitiers in 732 (741)
Chosroes II: Persian shah; attacked and occupied, for a time, much of Byzantine Near East (628)
Comnena, Anna: Byzantine princess; memoirist of the life of her father (Alexius I Comnenus) and the crusading period in the Alexiad (1153)
Conrad III: German monarch of the Second Crusade (1152)
Constance of Antioch: child-widow of Raymond of Poitiers; remarried, amid much scandal, to Reynaud of Chatillon (1163)
Constans II: Byzantine emperor; moved capital to Syracuse (668)
Constantine I the Great: Roman emperor; founder of Constantinople; legitimized Christianity in the empire (337)
Constantine IV: Byzantine emperor; successfully defended Constantinople from attack by Caliph Muawiya (685)
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (Born in the Purple): Byzantine emperor renowned for his scholarship (959)
Constantine IX Monomachus: Byzantine emperor; patron of scholarship; failed to prevent the Great Schism in 1054 (1055)
Constantine X Ducas: unpopular Byzantine emperor; lost much of southern Italy to the Normans; failed to stem the Seljuk advance (1067)
Constantine XI Dragases: last Byzantine emperor; failed to repulse the Ottoman Turks at the siege of Constantinople (1453)
Cyrus of Alexandria: Orthodox patriarch of Egypt during the Arab conquest in the seventh century
Dandolo, Enrico: doge of Venice; diverted Fourth Crusade to sack Constantinople in 1204 (1205)
Doria, Andrea: Genoese statesman and admiral; employed to combat Ottomans and Muslim pirates by Habsburg monarch Charles V (1560)
Dragut Rais: intrepid Muslim corsair; died at the siege of Malta (1565)
Ducas, Andronicus: of a Byzantine noble family; enemy of Romanus IV Diogenes; thought to have been the agent of betrayal at Manzikert
Duqaq: early-twelfth-century atabeg of Damascus; enemy of his brother Ridwan of Aleppo, both of the descendance of Alp Arslan
El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar): minor nobleman of Burgos; hired warrior of Castile and Muslim Zaragoza; conqueror of taifa state of Valencia (1099)