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Today I found news of a #Crusader lord written within a decade of the events, in an #Arabic geographical source. #medieval #MiddleEast
I'm working through place names in an Arabic index to the source, adding vocalization where I can. It's slow.
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I'm working through place names in an Arabic index to the source, adding vocalization where I can. It's slow.
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The source is Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī’s Muʿjam al-Buldān, edited by Wüstenfeld in 1866-1873. I'm also using a PDF of a 1997 edition which is essentially just a retyping of Wüstenfeld's edition, but easier to read.
So this morning I came across the place name in the list الهنكر.
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So this morning I came across the place name in the list الهنكر.
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The consonants are clear enough: an Arabic definite article al- followed by HNKR. But neither edition I'm using added vocalization.
So the choice: give up, or see if I can figure it out from context?
The name occurs in the phrase ملك الهنكر, "the king of al-HNKR"
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So the choice: give up, or see if I can figure it out from context?
The name occurs in the phrase ملك الهنكر, "the king of al-HNKR"
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It occurs in the entry for Dimyāṭ/Damietta; that becomes important later.
The "king of" made me think perhaps this was a personal name rather than a place name.
So I sat down to read the story being told.
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The "king of" made me think perhaps this was a personal name rather than a place name.
So I sat down to read the story being told.
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The story tells of two "Frankish" kings having an argument. After besieging the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-ʿĀdil in Baysān, they returned to Acre to debate next steps. A division arose:
The king of al-HNKR advocated besieging Damascus, while "the Sleepy King" said Damietta.
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The king of al-HNKR advocated besieging Damascus, while "the Sleepy King" said Damietta.
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(Why was he called "the Sleepy King"? Either because he was asleep while his army captured a castle, or because he besieges for so long...)
The Franks sided with the Sleepy King and went to Damietta in 614 of the Hijri calendar.
End of story in Yaqut.
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The Franks sided with the Sleepy King and went to Damietta in 614 of the Hijri calendar.
End of story in Yaqut.
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This gives us a place and a date, and a group of Crusaders. And since Wikipedia chronicles even minor Crusaders and the movements that they do NOT take, I was able to locate that the Fifth Crusade besieged Damietta in 1218, after a war council in Acre late the previous year.
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Presiding over the War Council was a crusading king who did not accompany the force to Damietta.
His name was Andrew II of Hungary.
al-HNKR must be al-Hunkar = Hungary.
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His name was Andrew II of Hungary.
al-HNKR must be al-Hunkar = Hungary.
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To recap: within a decade of Andrew II of Hungary NOT going to Damietta, Yaqut al-Hamawi in Aleppo recorded the council of war in Acre in his Arabic geographical dictionary.
We need to break out of the silos for studying the medieval Middle East.
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We need to break out of the silos for studying the medieval Middle East.
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