Download PDF | Julie Anne Taylor, Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera, 2003.
292 Pages
Introduction
Located in the fertile Tavoliere, Lucera has been an attractive location for settlers for centuries. Excavations completed near the city in the 1990s by archaeologists from the University of Bari provided further evidence not only of Lucera’s historic habitation, but also of its strategic importance and affluence during the Raman era.’ Lucera’s amphitheater, built in honor of Emperor Augustus in the first century B.C., is one of the largest in southern Italy. During the Middle Ages, Lucera had a vital economic and military role to play under both Hohenstaufen and Angevin rulers.
In the early 1220s, the Emperor Frederick II began transferring the Muslim population of Sicily to Lucera, creating an inland Muslim colony not far from Christian towns and cities in Apulia. Tensions between Muslims and Christians had troubled the island for years. Muslim communities in western Sicily, particularly at Iato and Entella, had refused to submit to Frederick. The deportations were possible only after armies had been sent to the island.
The transfers achieved some of Frederick’s goals. At Lucera during his reign, the Muslims did not rebel again against royal authority. A diversified economy was created within the city, enabling the community to pay the heavy taxes which were imposed upon it. Muslims farmed lands at Lucera and elsewhere in Capitanata. The Muslim community provided Frederick’s armies with skilled archers, crossbowmen, and arms. The establishment of the colony created a controlled resource. His treatment of the Sicilians did not jeopardize his relations with Muslim rulers such as Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt with whom he negotiated the Christian possession of Jerusalem.
During the thirteenth century, at three important turning points the decision was made not to expel Muslims from Italy: once when the Muslim rebels in Sicily were suppressed by Frederick, a second time when Charles of Anjou conquered the Kingdom of Sicily in 1266, and on a third occasion when an uprising by the colonists at Lucera was crushed by Charles in 1269. Neither Frederick nor Charles was evidently under papal pressure to expel the Muslim population when considering what course of action to take at those points in time.
According to canon law, Muslims and Jews have a right to live within Christendom unless they pose a threat to the well-being of Christians. Given the uprisings, both Frederick I] and Charles I could have justified expelling Muslims from the kingdom. The Reconquista had long been under way in Spain. Thousands of Muslims had been forced by Fernando I during the eleventh century to leave the Iberian Peninsula. The transfer of rebel Christian populations was not unusual during the Middle Ages, but given the religious identity of the Sicilian rebels and in the light of the crusades and the push for a united Christendom during the thirteenth century, Frederick’s creation and Charles’ retention of a Muslim colony 240 kilometers from Rome is significant. There was Clearly the intention not just to subdue but to preserve the Muslim population, even though both rulers may have hoped for its eventual conversion and assimilation.
The crown’s interest in tax revenues and agricultural production as well as its desire to utilize and preserve a military resource made the retention of the Muslim population an attractive option. Pope Honorius III probably did not voice strong opposition to the transfers from Sicily because his priority was the launching of a crusade to recover the Holy Land in which he wanted Frederick to participate. Interestingly, twice the fact that a crusade was being planned against Muslims outside the kingdom appears to have worked in favor of the local Muslim population. Charles I seems to have decided to spare the colonists after a rebellion at Lucera in 1269 in part because he was preparing to participate in the crusade to Tunis which was being organized by his brother Louis 1X.
Muslim Lucera is of historic importance because of its very creation. The colony’s history is also significant because it expands and enriches our understanding of Muslim-Christian relations during the Middle Ages, particularly within Europe. Lucera’s history sheds light on trends and developments in the Mediterranean during the thirteenth century. The relationship between the servi camerae and the crown, the protected status of Muslims living within Christendom, the day-to-day life of Muslims in southern Italy, the efforts of religious minorities to preserve their identities, the impact of mendicant activity on Muslims and Jews, and the trend toward increasing intolerance in Europe are topics which are understood more fully when the history of the Lucerine colony is considered.
Lucera’s history is rich and interesting because of its complexity. While most of the colonists were farmers, the diversified economy which developed at Lucera included craftsmen, animal and beekeepers, tailors, potters, and doctors. Muslims served as notaries and military captains. A few were appointed to important positions such as custos of the royal camera at Lucera and captain of the island of Pantelleria. Whereas the crown’s employment of Muslims as leopard keepers has only been briefly mentioned in other studies of Lucera, leopard keeping and the trade in wild animals are explored in depth in the present work.
The primary avenue of social mobility for the Muslims of Lucera was military service. As is well-known, Muslim soldiers were knighted by the crown. Some were given fiefs, and many were excused from paying taxes. Muslim involvement in both Hohenstaufen and Angevin military campaigns is given lengthy treatment in this book. With the exception of Joachim Gébbels’ chapter on Muslim soldiery during the reign of Charles I in Das Militarwesen im Konigreich Sizilien zur Zeit Karls I, Von Anjou (1265-1285), studies of the crown’s employment of Muslims as soldiers have not sufficiently taken into consideration the many relevant primary-source materials, particularly the Angevin Registers.” Godbbels’ chapter contains errors, notably with regard to the identity and role of the Muslim knight Riccardo, but it is better researched than other studies.’ Using the Hohenstaufen and Angevin registers as well as medieval chronicles, the crown’s use of Muslims as soldiers and weapons manufacturers has been evaluated for this book.
The experience of members of the Muslim military elite stands in contrast to that of numerous farmers at Lucera, many of whom are known not to have had enough land from which to sustain themselves adequately. Landlords with local holdings were forced to allow Muslim farmers to cultivate their lands in exchange the payment of a tax called the terragium, an arrangement which, judging from the many reported infringements, was considered to be unsatisfactory by many. The competition for resources between Muslims and Christians in Capitanata is examined in this work, as is Muslim flight from Lucera. Muslims began escaping during the reign of Frederick II. So many people left while Charles I was in power that the king repeatedly had to order his officials to stop them. Heavy taxation and the crown’s demands for labor on construction projects drove people to leave. The present study is the first to address the issue of Muslim flight.
An important contribution of this book to the history of medieval Lucera is its incorporation of materials on Christians at Lucera and in Capitanata, both at the time of the transfers and while the colony was in existence. Consideration of such materials is essential for understanding the impact of the creation of the Muslim colony and the nature of Muslim-Christian relations in Apulia. The theory put forth by Pietro Egidi in 1911 that Lucera was chosen by Frederick as the site for the Muslim colony because it was depopulated now appears ungrounded.’ The emperor’s choice of Lucera has been reevaluated in this study in the light of Frederick’s interest and investment in Apulia, particularly in Capitanata, Lucera’s geographic features, and the city’s history.
Many Christians were displaced when Muslims were transferred to Lucera. As Jean-Marie Martin observed, there is evidence of the abandonment of churches and habitations in the vicinity.” In reduced numbers, Christians did continue to live at Lucera, however, and the local Christian presence was increased by the arrival of Provengal settlers during the reign of Charles I. While competition and tension existed between Muslims and Christians, there is also evidence of collaboration. When the city’s castle needed repairs in 1296, people from both communities inspected the structure and contributed their labor.° Funds for the repairs were kept by an individual who was held in esteem by Muslims and Christians alike.’ In addition to such projects, trade brought people into contact. Muslims sold wine along with Christians inside Lucera’s castle.* Muslim merchants traded in the markets of neighboring Christian cities.’ Muslims from Lucera are known to have entered into moneylending arrangements with Christians as far away as Naples." Members of Lucera’s elite even had houses in Christian cities.
In response to the call made for the separation of Muslims and Jews from Christians at the Fourth Lateran Council, some restrictions were imposed. The fact that Christians could not live on lands held by Muslims was probably due to the church’s insistence on the subordination and separation of minority religious populations. Muslims could not relocate at will to other parts of the kingdom, but limitations appear to have been placed on their movement primarily because the crown wanted to maintain control over the community so that services and taxes could be exacted.
Although there were incidents of violence between the Muslims of Lucera and Christians in Capitanata, figures on the staffing of Lucera’s castle and fortress over a thirty-year period analyzed herein confirm that after 1269 Lucera did not pose a threat to regional security. Armed men inundated Lucera’s castle in 1269 after the rebellion, but repeated cuts were subsequently made to the size of the staff. No increases were made in 1299 or 1300 before the dismantling of the colony. Statistics on the personnel assigned to guard Lucera’s castle and fortress are carefully examined in this study.
The Muslims of Lucera, like subjugated religious communities elsewhere in the Mediterranean, strove to preserve their own language, culture, and religious practices. Arabic was evidently spoken at Lucera as long as the colony was in existence, and most Muslims used Arabic names. The colonists were free to practice Islam openly. There are some signs of assimiliation, such as the adoption of Christian names by the colonists. While the Bulliet curve drawn for conversions to Islam has been a useful tool for historians of al-Andalus, a conversion curve based on the taking of Christian names by Muslims at Lucera cannot be drawn.'* Many Lucerines used Christian names while remaining Muslim. Islamic practice and the question of conversion at Lucera are topics which are addressed in this work.
An important development of the thirteenth century which affected Muslims and Jews both within and outside Christendom was the undertaking of missionary work by the mendicant orders.’ The targeting of the Muslims of Lucera by Dominican friars during the reigns of Frederick II and Charles II was explored in part by David Abulafia.'* Evidence that the activities of the friars during the 1290s increased existing tensions between Muslims and Christians in Apulia, setting the stage for the violence which would accompany and follow the dismantling of the colony in 1300, is presented in detail in this work. The identities and activities of inquisitors and the consequences of their actions are also examined as are the attempts made by Charles II during the same decade to reinvigorate the church at Lucera.
The writing of this book on Muslim Lucera was necessary because, while a number of articles have been written recently on the subject, Pietro Egidi’s “La colonia saracena di Lucera e la sua distruzione,” published over eighty years ago, was the only serious, lengthy scholarly work devoted to it.” Books on the history of the city with a wider chronological scope, such as Giambattista D’Amelj’s Storia della citta di Lucera and Giambattista Gifuni’s Lucera contain valuable information, but their accounts of the Muslim colony lack depth and detail.'° Pietro Rivoire’s Lucera sotto la dominazione angioina focuses not on the Muslim colony but rather on Lucera’s history during and after the fourteenth century when the city was inhabited by Christians.'’ Since Egidi published his research, new information on the history of Muslim Lucera has come to light. The present work examines the findings. It also considers the work of contemporary scholars, some of whom have offered compelling theories about the impact of the colony’s creation and the reasons behind its destruction.'* The writing of a new history of Muslim Lucera was needed because of the scholarship published during the last eighty years and because many developments in and important aspects of Lucera’s history had not been addressed. A reexamination of primary-source materials has made the presentation of history which had not been previously explored possible.
Within the last ten years, several important collections of documents on or relevant to the history of medieval Lucera have been published. Armando Petrucci compiled J piu antichi documenti originali del comune di Lucera (1232-1496) which contains information on the Christian community which was created at Lucera after the destruction of the Muslim colony in 1300.'’ Many of the documents included in Petrucci’s collection were not published in Egidi’s Codice diplomatico dei saraceni di Lucera.
In 1994 Giuseppe de Troia published a more complete edition of the Quaternus excadenciarum Capitinate than had been available without visiting the archive of the monastery of Montecassino.”” An inventory of properties in Capitanata which pertained to the fisc of Frederick Il, the Quaternus excadenciarum offers information on the taxes, trades, and agricultural products of the communities surrounding Lucera. It makes reference to the Apulian property holdings of several leading men in the realm, including Giovanni Moro who held a position of power at Lucera during the reigns of Frederick II and Conrad IV. Whereas here he is examined closely, in other studies of Lucera Giovanni Moro has been given at best cursory treatment. Due to its status, the Muslim colony was not included in the Quaternus excadenciarum, but the information contained in the Quaternus excadenciarum confirms the importance of Capitanata during the reign of Frederick II, which in turn helps to explain in part why Lucera was selected as the site for the Muslim colony. Surprisingly, scholars not only of the history of medieval Lucera but also of the Kingdom of Sicily during the Hohenstaufen period have largely ignored the Quaternus excadenciarum as a source.
An important work in progress is the Registri della cancelleria angioina.”' Destroyed on 30 September 1943 by the German army, the Angevin archive in Naples has been in the process of reconstruction since 1949.” Scholars have been reassembling the registers using parchments and fragments of parchments which were not burned as well as materials copied by individuals who had access to the archive before it was destroyed. Published in 1917, the Codice diplomatico dei saraceni di Lucera has been and continues to be for the Registri the main source of documents on Lucera’s history during and after the year 1289. Although Egidi considered materials from the Hohenstaufen and early Angevin periods for his “La colonia saracena di Lucera e la sua distruzione,” his Codice is oriented toward the fall of Muslim Lucera and therefore contains documents issued during the regency of Robert d’ Artois and the reign of Charles II. For the history of Lucera under Charles I, the Registri are consequently important. They and other sources have made possible for the present study a detailed and lengthy examination of Lucera’s history under Charles I. The extent and impact of the rebellion which took place at Lucera between 1268 and 1269 are examined in this book more thoroughly than ever before. The rebellion was of such magnitude that communities not only in Capitanata but throughout the kingdom had to send men and supplies.
Other sources on the history of Muslim Lucera which have been edited recently include three crusade sermons written by Cardinal Eudes of Chateauroux against the Muslim colony between 1268 and 1269. The sermons were transcribed and published by Christoph Maier in 1995.” Eudes’ composition of the sermons is additional evidence of how disruptive the rebellion at Lucera was.
The Registri della cancelleria angioina include documents which were originally published in 1912 by Eduard Sthamer on the construction of the Angevin fortress at Lucera.” Although Arthur Haseloff’s extensive study of the Hohenstaufen castle and the Angevin fortress which was built around it is still the cornerstone of scholarship on subject, he, like contemporary scholars who have written about the fortress such as Nunzio Tomaiuoli, did not address important aspects of the fortress’ history which were recorded in the documents collected by Sthamer.” The manner in which the construction of the Angevin fortress burdened not only the local community but the inhabitants of other regions as well is a topic which is examined in the present study but which was ignored by the historians just mentioned. The demands for labor which were made on the Muslim community during the building of the fortress caused Muslims to flee to other areas. The working conditions were so loathsome to skilled Christian workers who had to come to Lucera from places such as the Land of Benevento and Abruzzo that many abandoned the site.”* Those who did so were brought back to the fortress and forced to work in chains.”’
The findings of archaeological excavations conducted in Sicily and at Lucera since the publication of “La colonia saracena di Lucera e la sua distruzione” are examined in this work.” Excavations at lato and Entella have uncovered the remains of houses, baths, pottery, and coins. The archaeological record in Sicily has yielded information about the conditions under which Muslims may have been forced to leave the island, and it has offered further confirmation of the dates of deportations from certain places. Excavations conducted inside Lucera’s castle have unearthed pottery, weapons, combs, and other items, many of which are believed to have been produced by the Muslim colonists during the thirteenth century. For the history of Lucera prior to the foundation of the Muslim colony, archaeologists working at San Giusto between 1995 and 1997 found paleo-Christian churches and a Roman villa oriented toward wine production.”
Since only some of the parchments of the Archivio Capitolare of Lucera’s cathedral were published by Rivoire and Egidi, I worked in that archive in 1998 to study the collection before completing this book.*® The Archivio Capitolare does not contain any documents from the thirteenth century, but the collection is critical for reconstructing the history of Lucera in the years which followed the colony’s destruction. The references which were made to the Muslim colony in some of the parchments reveal how its abolition was viewed by the successors of Charles II.
While doing research at Lucera’s Biblioteca Comunale Ruggero Bonghi and Foggia’s Biblioteca Provinciale, I found numerous books and articles on Lucera which are particular to their collections. I was able to read the unpublished manuscript of Rocco Del Preite, Breve descrittione della citta di Lucera di S. Maria prima detta Luceria, which includes a map of the city drawn in 1690.°' Whenever possible, I consulted original documents before writing, even when edited versions were available. | did research over the course of several months at the archive of the abbey of the Santissima Trinita of Cava dei Tirreni in order to view parchments pertaining to the monastery’s medieval holdings at Lucera.
Since the modern Italian adjective and sustantive forms used to describe persons or objects from Lucera is Jucerino and the medieval Latin used was lucerinus, | have rendered herein the English adjective as Lucerine rather than as Luceran. The latter form has been preferred by several contemporary scholars.”
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