History of the Jazira 1100-1150: the contribution of Ibn Al-Azraq al-Fariqi

Abstract

The core of this thesis is the edition of ff.160b-178b of the Tarlkh Mayyafarigin wa Amid by Ibn al-Azraq al-Fariql. This text, hitherto largely unexploited, deals with the history of the - Jazira from c.1100-c.1150, and contains a wealth of local detail - political, prosopographical and topographical. Despite its format of a city chronicle it also sheds much light on the major historical processes of this period, such as the revival of caliphal power, the growth of the atabegate and the rise of minor Turcoman dynasties at the expense of Saljuq power.

The prime aim of this thesis has been to render the text more accessible. This has been done firstly by preparing a critical edition based on the two known manuscripts. Since the text is known to be complex, however, it seemed best to try to solve its many problems by providing translations of both manuscripts and an extensive commentary on the edition itself. In this commentary the fullest possible use is made of other contemporary primary sources to control the information given by Ibn al-Azraq.

Individual chapters then explore some of the issues raised by the text. The chapters on fl-Ghazi and his sons seek by careful selection to establish the significant landmarks of their careers and to assess them as udlitary and civil rulers. The beginning of their transition from semi-nomadic amIra to settled dynasts ia thereby clarified. Chapter II shows how later writers exploited the text of Ibn al-Azraq and thereby examines certain typical Islamic approaches to works of history, biography and topography. Chapter III analyses the text as an interesting source for the study of late medieval Arabic.

The edition itself, then, with its associated critical apparatus, addresses itself to the specific problems of language, history and topography presented by the text. The chapters which follow arise naturally out of the content of the text and demonstrate the wider horizons of this material.