The Increase of Good Customs: Muslim Resistance and Material Concerns in Post-Norman Sicily

Smit, Timothy

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-04915-6_7

Timothy Smit⁵

Part of the book series: Mediterranean Perspectives ((MEPERS))

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Abstract

In the unsettled period of Sicilian history between the end of Norman rule in the late twelfth century and the consolidation of Hohenstaufen power under Frederick II in the early thirteenth century, many inland areas of western Sicily operated under independent Muslim rule. Contact with the coast and the broader Mediterranean was necessary for their survival, but Muslim communities tried to free themselves from centralized authority in the same manner as their Christian neighbors. Their struggle has parallels with rural resistance elsewhere in medieval Europe, and they engaged in diplomacy with coreligionists in North Africa as well as various Christian powers. Material concerns about obligations and privileges were central to the violence and cooperation that took place between Christians and Muslims in thirteenth-century Sicily.

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Notes

1.
David Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 84–5.
2.
Richard of San Germano, Ryccardi de Sancto Germano, Notarii Chronica, ed. Georgius Heinricus Pertz (Hanover: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1864), 8–10.
3.
These revolts are discussed in detail by Ferdinando Maurici, L’emirato sulle montagne: note per una storia della resistenza musulmana in Sicilia nell’età di Federico II di Svevia (Palermo: Centro di documentazione e ricerca per la Sicilia antica “Paolo Orsi,” 1987) and Ferdinando Maurici, “Uno stato musulmano nell’Europa cristiana del XIII secolo: L’emirato Siciliano di Mohammed Ibn Abbad,” Acta Historica et Archaeologica Medievalia 18 (1997): 257–80. The unrest is also discussed by David Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor; Joshua C. Birk, Norman Kings of Sicily and the Rise of the Anti-Islamic Critique: Baptized Sultans (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); Alex Metcalfe, The Muslims of Medieval Italy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009).
4.
Un problematico rapporto di convivenzia, Maurici, L’emirato. 27.
5.
Maurici, “Uno stato musulmano nell’Europa cristiana,” 266.
6.
James M. Powell, “Frederick II and the Rebellion of the Muslims of Sicily 1220–1224,” in Uluslararasi Haçli Seferleri Sempozyumu: 23–25 June 1997, Istanbul (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1999), 13–22; Birk, Norman Kings of Sicily.
7.
Birk, Norman Kings of Sicily, 271.
8.
Birk notes the mention of these “good customs,” Birk, Norman Kings of Sicily¸ 283.
9.
Maurici, L’emirato, 50.
10.
Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World (New York: Penguin, 1984), 464.
11.
Geoffrey Malaterra, De Rebus Gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae Comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis Fratris Eius, ed. Ernesto Pontieri, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, 2nd Ed, Vol. 5, Pt. 1 (Bologna: N. Zanichelli, 1928), 69.
12.
Hiroshi Takayama, “Classification of Villeins in Medieval Sicily,” Spicilegium 1 (2017): 16. Maurici, L’emirato, 33.
13.
See Jeremy Johns, “The Boys from Mezzoiuso: Muslim Jizya-Payers in Christian Sicily,” in Islamic Reflections, Arabic Musings: Studies in Honor of Professor Alan Jones, ed. Robert G. Hoyland and Philip F. Kennedy (Cambridge: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2004), 243–56.
14.
Discussed in detail by Johns, “The Boys from Mezzoiuso.”
15.
Annliese Nef, Conquérir et Gouverner la Sicile Islamique aux XIe et XIIe siècles, Bibliothèque des Écoles Françaises d’Athènes et de Rome, vol. 346 (Rome: École Française de Rome, 2011), 493–4.
16.
Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, Being the Chronicles of a Mediaeval Spanish Moor Concerning His Journey to the Egypt of Saladin, the Holy Cities of Arabia, Baghdad the City of the Caliphs, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, trans. Roland Broadhurst (London: J. Cape, 1952), 357.
17.
تحت عهدة الذمة. Michele Amari, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, ossia raccolta di testi Arabici che toccano la geografia, la storia, le biografie e la bibliografia della Sicilia, Arabic Edition (Lipsia: F.A. Brockhaus, 1857), 101.
18.
This follows a dynamic described by James Scott in which the norm is everyday conflict between peasants and the extraction of their agricultural production, James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 29. Everyday resistance in the Middle Ages could take the form of robbery or smuggling, in addition to the withholding of customary payments. See Mark I. Lichbach, “What Makes Rational Peasants Revolutionary? Dilemma, Paradox, and Irony in Peasant Collective Action,” World Politics 46, no. 3 (1994): 393.
19.
Maurici, L’emirato, 28–9.
20.
Alex Metcalfe, The Muslims of Medieval Italy, 289.
21.
Rodney H. Hilton, “Peasant Society, Peasant Movements and Feudalism in Medieval Europe,” in Rural Protest: Peasant Movements and Social Change, ed. Henry A. Landsberger (London: Macmillan, 1973), 76.
22.
Marc Bloch, French Rural History: An Essay on Its Basic Characteristics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), 170.
23.
Innocent III, Innocentii III Romani Pontificis Opera Omnia, ed. J-Migne (Paris: Apud Garnier Fratres, 1890–1891), 1, 786. The Latin text is as follows: universis saracenis in Sicilia constitutis.
24.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 2, 985. The Latin text is as follows: archadio et universis gaietanis, Anteclae, Platanae, Jaci, Celsi, et omnibus gaietanis et sarracenis, per Siciliam constitutis.
25.
Described in the Annales Casinenses, George Pertz, ed., “Annales Casinenses,” in MGH Scriptores, 19 (Hanover: Impensis Bibliopolii Avlici Hahniani, 1866), 314.
26.
Roger of Hoveden, The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, Vol. II: A.D. 1181 to A.D. 1201, trans. Henry T. Riley (London: H.G. Bohn, 1853), 171.
27.
Richard of San Germano, Chronica, 9.
28.
For example, the Liber ad Honorem Augusti of Peter of Eboli, who discusses the campaigns of Henry VI in great detail, in addition to those referenced elsewhere such as the Annales Siculi, Annals of Roger Hoveden, Annales Casinenses, and Chronica of Richard of San Germano. Peter of Eboli, Liber ad Honorem Augusti, Fonti ep la storia d’Italia, 39 (Rome: Forzani e C. Tipografi el Senato, 1906).
29.
Hoveden, The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, 341.
30.
Roger of Hoveden, Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene Vol. III, ed. William Stubbs, Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, 51 (London: Longman & Co., 1870), 269. The Latin text is as follows: satisfacientes illi.
31.
Hoveden, Chronica, 270. The Latin text is as follows: sub ea conditione qua ante fuerat.
32.
Hugo Falcandus, The History of the Tyrants of Sicily by “Hugo Falcandus” 1154–69, trans. and ed. Graham A. Loud and Thomas Wiedemann, Manchester Medieval Sources Series (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998), 254. Hugo Falcandus, La historia o liber de Regno Sicilie e al epistola ad Petrum Panormitane ecclesie Thesaurarium, Fonti per la Storia d’Italia pubblicate dall’Istituto Storico Italiano, 22 (Rome: Forzani e c., tip. del Senato, 1897), 172–4.
33.
Metcalfe, The Muslims of Medieval Italy, 275.
34.
Luigi Tommaso Belgrano and Cesare Imperiale, eds., Annali Genovesi di Caffaro e de’ suoi continuatori, vol. secondo, Fonti per la storia d’Italia (Genoa: Tipografia del R. Instituto Sordo-Muti, 1901), 50.
35.
Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor, 144–5. Maurici, L’emirato, 40.
36.
Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor, 146.
37.
From the Annales Siculi collected in Malaterra, De Rebus Gestis Rogerii, 117. Of the campaign in Djerba the Annales only say: dominus Fredericus imperator misit exercitum suum in Gerbis, et coepit illos, destruxit et captivavit (lord emperor Frederick sent his army into Djerba, and began to destroy and capture them).
38.
Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor, 96.
39.
While the crusading call was limited to just Markward, the association of crusading with Muslim forces under Markward did shift previous Christian attitudes toward them even as Innocent III remained open to diplomacy with Muslim communities. Birk, Norman Kings of Sicily, 282–3.
40.
Paul Oldfield, “Otto IV and Southern Italy,” Archivio Normanno-Svevo 1 (2008): 16.
41.
Georg Waitz, ed., Chronica Regia Coloniensis (Annales Maximi Colonienses) cum Continuationibus in Monasterio S. Pantaleonis Scriptis Aliisque Historiae Coloniensis Monumentis (Hannover: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1880), 231. The Latin text is as follows: Ibi etiam quidam principes Siciliae cum Sarracenis, qui fortissimo castra in montanis tenebant, eum invitantes, totam Siciliam eius ditioni subdendam promittebant.
42.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 1, 780.The entirety of the letter is given in pp. 780–2. The Latin text is as follows: nobilis viris comitibus, baronibus, civibus et universis per Siciliam constitutis.
43.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 1, 782. The Latin text is as follows: Licet enim Saraceni, si in fidelitate praedicti regis permanserint, diligere ac manutenere velimus et bonas eis consuetudines adaugere, sustinere tamen nec volumus nec debemus ut cum Marcowaldo regni excidium machinentur.
44.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 2, 786. The entirety of the letter is given in pp. 786–8.
45.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 2, 788. The Latin text is as follows: Dedimus autem eidem legato et omnibus nuntiis nostris districtius in praeceptis ut vos manuteneant et defendant et in bonis current consuetudinibus adaugere.
46.
Julie Taylor has also noted the emphasis on improvement of conditions in Innocent III’s communications with Muslim communities in Sicily, Julie Taylor, Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera (New York: Lexington Books, 2003), 5.
47.
Maurici, L’emirato, 36.
48.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 2, 985. The lengthy list of Muslim leaders has been discussed previously.
49.
Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 2, 985. The Latin text is as follows: qui tam per nos quam ipsum devotioni vestrae congrua praemiorum intendimus vicissitudine respondere.
50.
Deeds of Innocent III, trans. James M. Powell (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004), 34. Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 1, li. The Latin text is as follows: Sed et quidam Saracenus, nomine Magdad, qui omnium erat magister et dux, ibi quoque truncatus et motuus fuit Marcualdus vero quo.
51.
Deeds of Innocent III, 38. Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 1, lv. The Latin text is as follows: nec titulo quolibet obligetur, nisi eridentissima urgente necessitate.
52.
Deeds of Innocent III, 38–9. Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 1, lv. The Latin text is as follows: pace cum ipsis integre, reformata, eos in gratiam pletatis regiae revocetis.
53.
Deeds of Innocent III, 53. Innocent III, Opera Omnia, 1, lxxiv. The Latin text is as follows: se ab obsequio regis penitus subtraxerunt.
54.
Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor, 108.
55.
Eduard Winkelmann, ed., Acta Imperii Inedita (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner’schien Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1880), 93. Also referenced in: Jean Louis Alphonse Huillard-Bréholles, Historia Diplomatica Friderici Secundi; Sive Constitutiones, Privilegia, Mandata, Instrumenta Quae Supersunt Istius Imperatoris et Filiorum Eius (Paris: excudebant Plon fratres, n.d.), 1/1, 184. The Latin text is as follows: Jati, Celsi et aliis universis per Siciliam.
56.
Winkelmann, 94. The Latin text is as follows: Sarracenos villanos ecclesie sue.
57.
Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor, 140.
58.
Michele Amari, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula: ossia taccolta di testi Arabici che toccano le geografia, la storia, la biografia, e la bibliografia fella Sicilia, Italian Edition (Palermo: Accademia Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 1997), 2, Appendix, 42–65.
59.
Amari, Bilblioteca Arabo-Sicula, Italian Edition, 2, Appendix, 43.
60.
Franco D’Angelo, “La monetazione di Muhammad ibn ‘Abbad emiro ribelle a Federico II di Sicilia,” Studi Maghrebini 7 (1975): 149–53. These coins were likely forged from Sicilian denari that were melted down and reconstituted, as they were an alloy of silver and copper, rather than being from metal provided from North Africa. As well, the coins being round rather than square as Almohad silver coins were at the time, indicates that they were based upon Sicilian coins such as the Hohenstaufen denari.
61.
Metcalfe, Muslims of Medieval Italy, 281.
62.
Discussed in detail by E. Lévi-Provençal, “Une Heroine de la Résistance Musulmane en Sicile au Début du XIIIe Siècle,” Oriente Moderno 34 (1954): 203–88.
63.
Huillard-Bréholles, Historia Diplomatica, 1/2, 800. [u]t civitates, castella, casalia, villas, ecclesias, possessiones, villanos et jura ecclesie Montis Regalis pertinentia, de quibus turbationis tempore tam per Saracenos quam per christianos in diversis partibus regni nostril occupata sunt et illicite detinentur.
64.
Huillard-Bréholles, 1.2.801. Omnia privilegia, dignitates, libertates, homines, bonos usus et approbatas consuetudines et premunitates (sic) et alia jura eidem ecclesie. The (sic) comes from the editor, I have translated it as praemunitates.
65.
Huillard-Bréholles, 2/1, 151. Omnia bonos usus, consuetudines, dignitates, privilegia et jura ipsius illesa.
66.
Alessandra Molinari, “Paesaggi rurali e formazioni sociali nella Sicilia Islamica, Normanna e Sveva (Secoli X-XIII),” Archeologia Medievale 37 (2010): 238.
67.
Huillard-Bréholles, 5/1, 504. Maurici, “Uno stato musulmano nell’Europa Cristiana,” 272.
68.
Huillard-Bréholles, 6/1, 456–7.
69.
See Birk, Norman Kings of Sicily, on the re-imposition of protection in exchange for service, potentially as servants of the chamber.
70.
Huillard-Bréholles, Historia Diplomatica 1/2, 800.
71.
Powell, “Frederick II and the Rebellion of the Muslims of Sicily,” 22.

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Department of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY, USA
Timothy Smit

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Department of History, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, Bayside, NY, USA
Emily Sohmer Tai
Department of History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Kathryn L. Reyerson

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Smit, T. (2022). The Increase of Good Customs: Muslim Resistance and Material Concerns in Post-Norman Sicily. In: Sohmer Tai, E., Reyerson, K.L. (eds) Mapping Pre-Modern Sicily. Mediterranean Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04915-6_7

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04915-6_7
Published: 09 September 2022
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