Religious diversity on Sicily, 1091-1189
The Muslim community under Norman rule
"Perhaps no other land
has seen the arrival of so many conquerors and invaders, or been colonized by
so many incomers, leading to heated debates on the nature and depth of
consequent social or psychological changes on the inner being of Sicilian
people."
(Joseph Farrell, Sicily: A Cultural History (Oxford: Signal Books, 2012), 17) The quotes above show how diverse the island of Sicily is, not only ethnically speaking but also culturally and religiously. The island has a diverse history with for example the Vandals, Greeks and Arabs all ruling the island for a period of time. In my essay I especially focused upon the Norman rule and their reign over the Arabs, who were still a large group on the island. Because before the Normans arrived, the Arabs had conquered the island and ruled over the Christian community. This was an unique situation in 12th century Europe because two different ethnicity 's and religions had to live next to each other. In the light of current events, f.e. the multicultural tensions in Europe, revisiting this situation can provide some interesting views. In the historiography certain historians see the situation of Normans coexisting with the Arabs as the first real 'melting pot' where different kind of communities lived peacefully together in a multicultural setting. Whereas other historians , such as Joshua C. Brink, nuances this situations and thinks that the cultural balance under the Normans quickly shifted towards an Latin kingdom instead of Christianity existing next to the Islam. Within this debate I situated my research. Where the main question was: whether we could really speak of religious tolerance under the reign of the Normans (1091-1189) pertaining to the Muslim minority? |
"The island of Sicily, divided from Italy by the narrow strait of Messina, is almost a geographical extension of the Italian peninsula. On the other hand, it is also situated at easily navigable distance from North Africa where Islam established itself as a religion and as a state in the seventh century and where Islam remains entrenched to the present day."
(Aziz Ahmad, A History of Islamic Sicily (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,1975), 1) |
The history of diversity on Sicily
To make sense of Middle Ages Sicily and the situation created under Norman rule, I have to explain how this situation came about. Central in explaining this, is the book by Hugo Falcandus : The History of the Tyrants of Sicily. Falcandus is a Christian insider at the Norman court. It is therefore interesting to see how he looked upon the situation in his own time-frame. In my essay I started my prehistory with the arrival of the Arab army on 827 where they conquered Sicily from the Byzantines . In 969 the Arabs had the whole island under their control and defeated all the local warlords.
In 948 Hassan al-Kalbi declared himself to Emir of Sicily. From this time on-wards t he Emirate began to integrate into the Islamic world and Muslims from North-Africa and Spain began to migrate to the island. With this migration Sicily incorporated itself inside the intellectual Muslim networks already in place in other countries such as Spain. Arab rule in Sicily passed through three dynasties: the Aghlabids, the Fatimids and then the Kalbids. Under them the island got divided into three administrative districts, whose names are still in place today: Val di Noto, Val di Mazara and Val di Demone. The word 'val' comes not from the English word valley but it is the Arabic word for province.
Under Muslim rule the Christians were threaten as almost equal, but were also given the status 'dhimmi' which means that they had to pay more taxes than a Muslim person. So the Christian community were allowed to keep living the same way as they did before. Under Muslim (or Arabic) rule the political center and capital became Palermo. Everyone also had to pay an poll tax and land tax. But instead of this causing uprisings, everyone agreed because the island prospered. This growth and diversification of the Sicilian economy continued throughout the 11th and 12th century.
Around the year 1050 most of Sicily was speaking Arabic or at least understanding the language. But, as happens to all great kingdoms in history. The Emirate also had to contend with internal conflicts and uprisings. When the ruler Hasan as-Samsam got overruled for lacking authority the Kalbids dynasty came to an end. In the following fragmentation the Normans came to the forefront. Already in 1060 they held their first raid on the mainland of Sicily. Roger I held his first expedition on the city Messina in 1061. Eventually their military campaign began to gain great a success when they captured Palermo in 1072 under a combined force of Roger I and Robert Guiscard. Because of the small armies and lots of mercenaries the military campaign wasn't completed until 1091.
In the period of Norman rule from 1091 till 1089 (death of William II) the island got ruled by Roger I, Roger II, William I and finally by William II. Over the Muslim minority freedom of religion was given and also to right to be judged according to their own rules and by Muslim judges. The process of centralization was continued by Roger II and he gave patronage to several Islamic writers and poets. After him, William I ('William the Bad') and William II ('William the Good') to the forefront. Their period of reign is described by Hugo Falcandus in "The History of the Tyrants of Sicily". A book written with irony but also very reliable given the fact that it was written by an court insider. He thinks that with the end of the Roger's all the peace and harmony inside the kingdom has disappeared. Certain anti-Muslim sentiments began to strive in this period. The politics of tolerance provided fuel for a reaction of intolerance against the wider Arabic community. After the death William II in 1189 there were already riots against the Muslims in Sicily, because of their distinctive look (clothes, customs, habits) than Christianity.
To make sense of Middle Ages Sicily and the situation created under Norman rule, I have to explain how this situation came about. Central in explaining this, is the book by Hugo Falcandus : The History of the Tyrants of Sicily. Falcandus is a Christian insider at the Norman court. It is therefore interesting to see how he looked upon the situation in his own time-frame. In my essay I started my prehistory with the arrival of the Arab army on 827 where they conquered Sicily from the Byzantines . In 969 the Arabs had the whole island under their control and defeated all the local warlords.
In 948 Hassan al-Kalbi declared himself to Emir of Sicily. From this time on-wards t he Emirate began to integrate into the Islamic world and Muslims from North-Africa and Spain began to migrate to the island. With this migration Sicily incorporated itself inside the intellectual Muslim networks already in place in other countries such as Spain. Arab rule in Sicily passed through three dynasties: the Aghlabids, the Fatimids and then the Kalbids. Under them the island got divided into three administrative districts, whose names are still in place today: Val di Noto, Val di Mazara and Val di Demone. The word 'val' comes not from the English word valley but it is the Arabic word for province.
Under Muslim rule the Christians were threaten as almost equal, but were also given the status 'dhimmi' which means that they had to pay more taxes than a Muslim person. So the Christian community were allowed to keep living the same way as they did before. Under Muslim (or Arabic) rule the political center and capital became Palermo. Everyone also had to pay an poll tax and land tax. But instead of this causing uprisings, everyone agreed because the island prospered. This growth and diversification of the Sicilian economy continued throughout the 11th and 12th century.
Around the year 1050 most of Sicily was speaking Arabic or at least understanding the language. But, as happens to all great kingdoms in history. The Emirate also had to contend with internal conflicts and uprisings. When the ruler Hasan as-Samsam got overruled for lacking authority the Kalbids dynasty came to an end. In the following fragmentation the Normans came to the forefront. Already in 1060 they held their first raid on the mainland of Sicily. Roger I held his first expedition on the city Messina in 1061. Eventually their military campaign began to gain great a success when they captured Palermo in 1072 under a combined force of Roger I and Robert Guiscard. Because of the small armies and lots of mercenaries the military campaign wasn't completed until 1091.
In the period of Norman rule from 1091 till 1089 (death of William II) the island got ruled by Roger I, Roger II, William I and finally by William II. Over the Muslim minority freedom of religion was given and also to right to be judged according to their own rules and by Muslim judges. The process of centralization was continued by Roger II and he gave patronage to several Islamic writers and poets. After him, William I ('William the Bad') and William II ('William the Good') to the forefront. Their period of reign is described by Hugo Falcandus in "The History of the Tyrants of Sicily". A book written with irony but also very reliable given the fact that it was written by an court insider. He thinks that with the end of the Roger's all the peace and harmony inside the kingdom has disappeared. Certain anti-Muslim sentiments began to strive in this period. The politics of tolerance provided fuel for a reaction of intolerance against the wider Arabic community. After the death William II in 1189 there were already riots against the Muslims in Sicily, because of their distinctive look (clothes, customs, habits) than Christianity.
Intellectual networks
In my essay the networks based on literary and scholarly work done by Arabs and Muslims played a central role. I wanted to look not only at the religious diversity (whether or not we could speak of such), but also look at how the intellectual Muslim networks operated on Norman Sicily. During the Arabic reign on the island the Arabic scholars arrived from North-Africa and Spain. After the Norman victory a lot of Muslims traveled back to other free-havens such as Spain. But a considerable group of Arabic intellectuals stayed and received active patronage by Roger I and II. Among them the famous cartographer Idrisi. In the Muslim Orient Roger II received great attention and was popular for stimulating the harmony between Christianity and Islam. But as the social tolerance disappeared, the intellectual tolerance also slowly fragmented. Already under the reign of Roger II particularly intellectual areas had his interest and received patronage, such as the sciences of nature and philosophy. David Abulafia said about this: "The relative openness of Roger II had not resulted in the removal of existing cultural barriers; after him, interest in Greek and Arabic culture became more and more selective, with an emphasis on the acquisition of ancient texts preserved by Byzantines or Muslims rather than on the achievements of contemporary scholars outside the Latin orbit." So, with the arrival of William I and II the migration process began again. Here I would like to quote Aziz Ahmad: "For most of the Arab belletrists, philologists, anthologists grammarians and poets Norman Sicily offered no intellectual stimulus, no security of livelihood and no promise of a future ; and most of them left the island." The cultural production was already in the period 1180-1190 back in the hands of the Latins (Lombards and Normans). So, the intellectual networks quickly shifted back although there were no great prosecutions, especially during the reign of Roger II. |
Conclusion
On this page I analysed the religious diversity of Sicily, especially how this situation came into existing under the Normans. Therefore I had to sketch the context and the arrival of the Arabs on Sicily and their conquest of Sicily. When the Normans came to the forefront I explained how they ruled over the Muslim community. The main conclusion is that there was certainly a time of an active tolerance policy (Roger I and II) but that it was quickly gone when they leaved the scene. I have also sketched the movement of the intellectual networks away from the island back to Spain and North-Africa. After the death of William II there came immediately an anarchistic situation where Muslims were prosecuted by the other communities in Sicily. |
Selected further reading:
Abulafia, David. Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean, 1100-1400. London: Variorum Reprints, 1987.
Ahmad, Aziz. A History of Sicily. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1975.
Borstner, Bojan (eds.). Historicizing Religion: Critical Approaches to Contemporary Concerns. Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2010.
Farrell, Joseph. Sicily: A Cultural History. Oxford: Signal Books, 2012.?
Henry, Barbara. Medieval Sicily: The First Absolute State. New York: Legas, 1994.
Loud, G.A. and Alex Metcalfe. The Society of Norman Italy. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
Metcalfe, Alex. The Muslims of Medieval Italy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
Illustrations on this page:
Figure 1: Wikipedia (no copyright): "Map of Italy at the arrival of the Normans, who eventually conquered Sicily and all the territory on the mainland south of the Holy Roman Empire (the bold line), southern regions of the Papal States and the Duchy of Spoleto." Mapmaster made in 2007.
Figure 2: Wikipedia (no copyright): "Arab-Norman architecture (Probablement il s'ajit de LA Zisa à Palermo)." Print from 1830.
Figure 3: Wikipedia (no copyright): "An example of Arab-Norman architecture, combining Gothic walls with Islamic domes: Saint-John of the Hermits built in Palermo by Roger II around 1143–1148." Lithography from 1840.
Figure 4: http://www.gettyimages.nl/detail/foto/italy-sicily-palermo-streets-name-is-written-in-three-stockfotos/127032396
By: J.J. Markus
Abulafia, David. Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean, 1100-1400. London: Variorum Reprints, 1987.
Ahmad, Aziz. A History of Sicily. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1975.
Borstner, Bojan (eds.). Historicizing Religion: Critical Approaches to Contemporary Concerns. Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2010.
Farrell, Joseph. Sicily: A Cultural History. Oxford: Signal Books, 2012.?
Henry, Barbara. Medieval Sicily: The First Absolute State. New York: Legas, 1994.
Loud, G.A. and Alex Metcalfe. The Society of Norman Italy. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
Metcalfe, Alex. The Muslims of Medieval Italy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
Illustrations on this page:
Figure 1: Wikipedia (no copyright): "Map of Italy at the arrival of the Normans, who eventually conquered Sicily and all the territory on the mainland south of the Holy Roman Empire (the bold line), southern regions of the Papal States and the Duchy of Spoleto." Mapmaster made in 2007.
Figure 2: Wikipedia (no copyright): "Arab-Norman architecture (Probablement il s'ajit de LA Zisa à Palermo)." Print from 1830.
Figure 3: Wikipedia (no copyright): "An example of Arab-Norman architecture, combining Gothic walls with Islamic domes: Saint-John of the Hermits built in Palermo by Roger II around 1143–1148." Lithography from 1840.
Figure 4: http://www.gettyimages.nl/detail/foto/italy-sicily-palermo-streets-name-is-written-in-three-stockfotos/127032396
By: J.J. Markus