Medieval Sicily

annis · Post by **annis** » Tue February 24th, 2009, 6:40 pm

Btw, I've just discovered that Cecelia Holland wrote a novel about Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Pub. 1970, it's called "Antichrist: a novel of the Emperor Frederick II" For some reason I've never come across this title before.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue February 24th, 2009, 6:48 pm

[quote=""annis""]You might find something if you trawl through the Islam section of the Medieval Sourcebook, Richard
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1d.html

There are also a lot of links to further information about Islamic invasions tthroughout history here ( scroll down to the bottom of the page):
http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-i ... 0-1-b.html[/quote]

Thanks annis! I did check these sources and they and others (most particularly Hugh Kennedy's "When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World") were instrumental in writing about the Abbasid Caliphate. However, it was a different Muslim emprire that invaded Sicily, and there seems to be much less information about the Aghlabids from North Africa at that time.

annis · Post by **annis** » Tue February 24th, 2009, 7:19 pm

Sorry that was no use to you, Richard. My bad for not realising that the Aghlabids were a separate entity. The only reference to original sources relating to the Aghlabids that i noted was this mention, but I imagine you've already investigated them.

"It is possible to see an account of the Aghlabid invasion of Sicily from 827 in al-Nuwayri's book "Kitab nihayat l'adab" (the book of the ultimate goal in the art of humanities), his work is highly gobbetable. Al-Nuwayri's work can also be cross referenced with the 'Cambridge Chronicle', an account of the Aghlabid invasion of Sicily by an unknown Christian author. The 'Cambridge Chronicle' is also, highly gobbetable."

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue February 24th, 2009, 7:49 pm

Thanks! I will try to find those two books, that's just what I was after. I think I've read a secondary source that references al-Nuwayri.

By the way, what means "gobbetable"?

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed February 25th, 2009, 4:51 am

Posted by Richard

By the way, what means "gobbetable"?

Lol - it's new word for me as well- sounds positively nausea-inducing, doesn't it? My dictionary tells me that "gobbet" can have the meaning "an extract, especially for translation or comment" , so I'm assuming that "gobbetable" is related to this, perhaps meaning something like "useful for taking extracts from"?

*Edit
You might find this book interesting
"Muslims and Christians in Norman Sicily" (See section "Sicily before 1100")

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Wed February 25th, 2009, 9:14 pm

I think that's a palpable hit, Annis. Metcalfe's book looks like exactly the right place to start! Thanks for digging in for me.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat February 28th, 2009, 5:35 pm

You're welcome, Richard. It's in my own interests- I want to read your book someday (especially after reading the first couple of chapters on your website)

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sun March 1st, 2009, 8:45 pm

Just got the 3-volume "A History of Sicily" from the library - by Finney and Denis Mack Smith. The entire invasion and conquest I'm interested in for my next book takes up two pages in the whole set - but I can get a lot of "color" material and there is always the bibliography for next steps. Still trying to locate a library copy of the book Annis recommended.

Volgadon · Post by **Volgadon** » Sun March 1st, 2009, 9:49 pm

Plus it does help extrapolate earlier events.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon March 2nd, 2009, 7:45 pm

Richard- while doing some background browsing to go with my current read (Martin Davies' "The Unicorn Road"), I came across a couple of articles which might be of interest to you:

Sicilian Peoples: The Arabs
Vincenzo Salerno

Muslim Sicily
Gian Luigi Scarfiotti and Paul Lunde

Timeline: Arab Invasion of Sicily and Italy

Islam in Sicily ( Can be downloaded as a PDF doc. as well)
Alwi Alatas