The Complete History
The Complete History (
Format of The Complete History
The Complete History is organised into several volumes, years, and subsections. Each volume is divided in chronological order into years. For instance, the year 491
.The Rus
Ibn Athir's depiction of the
The first reference in the Kāmil to the Rūs are two entries for the year 943 referring to a raid of the Rūs in the Caucasus. The second entry concerns Rūs participation in the battle of Manzikert of 1071.
The Crusades
A large portion of the history deals with the era of the
Ibn al-Athir characterizes the advent of the crusades as an issue of political intrigue and its historical importance in terms of Frankish conquest, as merely one event within a continuous pattern. He attributes the origin to
Ibn al-Athir attributes the political intrigue behind the immediate origins of the crusade to three sources:
The second source of political intrigue that ibn al-Athir claimed to have shaped the beginnings of the
A third source of political intrigue to which Ibn al-Athir attributes influence over the development of the origins of the crusade is the Byzantine Emperor. Ibn al-Athir describes how the Byzantine Emperor had coerced the Franks to agree to conquer Antioch for him in exchange for permission to pass through Byzantine lands to the Levant.[5] Ibn al-Athir describes how the Byzantine Emperor's "real intention was to incite [the crusaders] to attack the Muslims, for he was convinced that the Turks, whose invincible control over Asia Minor he had observed, would exterminate every one of them."[5] Again, Ibn al-Athir attributes the advent of the First Crusade as a product of the Frankish armies being manipulated by political actors to do their bidding.
In terms of the beginning of the First Crusade, ibn al-Athir describes the siege of Antioch in July 1097 as the starting point. Within his description, Ibn al-Athir discusses how the ruler of Antioch,
Further on, Ibn al-Athir describes the failed Muslim siege of Antioch that ended in defeat. One event that Ibn al-Athir describes during this failed siege was the finding of the Holy Lance by Peter Bartholomew, but framed in the context of Peter Bartholomew having buried a lance in a certain spot prior to such "discovery."[8] Regarding the siege, Ibn al-Athir attributes the failure to Qawam ad-Daula Kerbuqa, who led the Muslim charge and failed for treating the Muslims "with such contempt and scorn" and prevented the Muslims from killing the Franks when given the opportunity.[8] Ibn al-Athir's description of the siege ended in the overwhelming victory of Frankish armies against the Muslims.[9] This was but the first step to the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1099.[10]
Editions
- al-Kāmil fīʾl-Tārīkh, ed. Abū l-Fidāʾ ʿAbdallāh al-Qāḍī (11 vols., Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmiyya, 1987–2003)
- كامل : تاريخ بزرگ اسلام و ايران (Kāmil: Tārīkh-e bozorg-e Eslām va Īrān), ed. Ḥasan Sādāt Nāṣerī (fa), tr. ʿAbbās Khalīlī, rev. Mahyār Khalīlī (27 vols., Tehran: ʿElmī, 1965–1968)
- al-Kāmil fīʾl-Tārīkh (12 vols., Cairo: al-Kubra al-ʻĀmirah, 1873/4; reprinted (?), 12 vols., Cairo: Muḥammad Muṣṭafa, 1885)
- Ibn-el-Athiri Chronicon quod perfectissimum inscribitur, ed. Carl Johan Tornberg (sv) (14 vols., Leiden: Brill, 1867–1876; reprinted with revised notes, Beirut: Dar al-Sādir, 1965–1967)
Translations (partial)
- The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athīr for the Crusading Period from al-Kāmil fīʾl-Taʾrīkh, tr. Donald Sidney Richards (3 vols., Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006–2008; reprinted, London: Routledge, 2016) [for the years 1097–1231]
- The Annals of the Saljuq Turks: Selections from al-Kāmil fīʾl-Taʾrīkh of ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr, tr. Donald Sidney Richards (London: Routledge, 2002) [for the years 1029–1097]
- El-Kamil fî t-Tarîx. Kurd di tarîxa Ibn el-Esîr de, ed. Emîn Narozî (2 vols., Istanbul: Avesta, 2018) [for excerpts on Kurdish history]
- اخبار ایران از الکامل ابن اثیر (Akhbār-e Īrān az al-Kāmil-e Ebn As̲īr), tr. Mohammad Ebrahim Bastani Parizi (Tehran: Dāneshgāh-e Tehrān, 1970; 2nd edn., Tehran: Donyā-ye Ketāb, 1986) [for excerpts on Iran]
- Arabakan Aghpyurner, tr. with notes Aram Ter-Ghevondyan (Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1981) [for excerpts on Armenia]
- Материалы по истории Азербайджана из Тарих-ал-Камиль Ибн-ал-Асира (полного свода истории), tr. Pantelejmon K. Žuze (ru) (Baku: Azerbaijani Affiliate of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1940) [for excerpts on Azerbaijan]
- Annales du Maghreb et de l'Espagne, tr. Edmond Fagnan (Alger: Adolphe Jourdan, 1898; reprinted, Alger: Grand Alger Livres, 2007) [for excerpts on Maghreb and al-Andalus between the years 642–1207]
- Ibn-el-Athirs Chrönika. Elfte delen, tr. Carl Johan Tornberg (2 vols., Lund: Berlingska boktryckeriet (sv), 1851–1853): vol. I, vol. II
See also
Notes
- ^ Arkenberg, Jerome S. (ed.). "Ibn al-Athir: On the Tatars, 1220-1221CE". Internet Medieval Source Book. Fordham University. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06.
- ^ a b c Gabrieli 1969, p. 3
- ^ a b c d Gabrieli 1969, p. 4
- ^ Peters 1971, pp. 24–31
- ^ a b c d Gabrieli 1969, p. 5
- ^ a b Gabrieli 1969, p. 6
- ^ Gabrieli 1969, p. 7
- ^ a b Gabrieli 1969, p. 8
- ^ Gabrieli 1969, pp. 8–9
- ^ Gabrieli 1969, p. 11
References
- ISBN 978-0-415-56332-1
- Peters, Edward (1971), The First Crusade: "The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres" and Other Source Materials, The Middle Ages Series, Philadelphia: ISBN 978-0-8122-1656-1