''The Complete History'' (, ''al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh)'', is a classic Islamic history book written by Ali ibn al-Athir. Composed in ca. 1231AD/628AH, it is one of the most important Islamic historical works. Ibn al-Athir was a contemporary and member of the retinue of

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

, the Sultan of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

who captured Jerusalem from the Crusaders and massively reduced European holdings in the Levant, leaving the

Principality of Antioch The Principality of Antioch (; ) was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and History of Syria#Medieval era, Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of ...

and

County of Tripoli The County of Tripoli (1102–1289) was one of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria. When the Crusades, Frankish Crusaders, mostly O ...

much reduced and only a few cities on the coast to the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

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 AH starts "then the year one and ninety and four hundred began." Each year has several sections committed to major events, which are not necessarily in chronological order. These subsections may include the deaths, births, and dynastic succession of major states like the

Seljuk Empire The Seljuk Empire, or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a High Middle Ages, high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. ...

. Subsections also include major political events, the appearance of groups such as the Franks or the

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

(

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

), and major battles like the Siege of Jerusalem of 1099.

The Rus

Ibn Athir's depiction of the Rūs is not primarily ethnological, and not dealing with particular customs or detailed geography. Rather, he accounts for the military significance of the Rūs as a people who raided the Caspian region and, importantly, who served the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

as mercenaries. Several references to the Rūs in the ''Kāmil'' are connected with Byzantine military operations. The strategic significance of the

Varangians The Varangians ( ; ; ; , or )Varangian
," Online Etymology Dictionary were

al-Muqaddasī (ca. 945–1000), who had described the Rūs as "two kinds of Byzantines" (''jinsān min ar-Rūmī''). 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 Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. The second entry concerns Rūs participation in the

battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...

of 1071.

The Crusades

A large portion of the history deals with the era of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

; this portion has been translated by D. S. Richards in three volumes, dealing with the arrival of the crusaders up to the time of

Imad ad-Din Zengi Imad al-Din Zengi (; – 14 September 1146), also romanized as Zangi, Zengui, Zenki, and Zanki, was a Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman atabeg of the Seljuk Empire, who ruled Emir of Mosul, Mosul, Emirate of Aleppo, Aleppo, Hama, and, later, Ede ...

, Nur ad-Din, and

. In fact, ibn al-Athir's portrayal of the advent of the crusades is especially informative of the Muslim perspective of the beginning of the Crusades. 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 the happenings of 1085-86, when the Franks first invaded Islamic lands in

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, and connects the crusades with the conquest of Sicily in 1091. Ibn al-Athir attributes the political intrigue behind the immediate origins of the crusade to three sources: Roger I, the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

, and the

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

. According to al-Athir, Roger I manipulated the invasion of Syria and march onto Jerusalem by the crusading armies under Baldwin—a compounding of various "Baldwins" of

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In his account Roger I is said to have "raised one leg and farted loudly" to dismiss the comments of his companions regarding Baldwin's requests to use Sicily as the intermediate station before advancing to conquer Africa. Whatever the plausibility of this account, perhaps ibn al-Athir is indulging in some creative editorial, as even medieval Islamic writers were wont at times to lampoon ones enemy. In Ibn al-Athir's description Roger redirects the Frankish armies under Baldwin to head toward Syria and Jerusalem, instead of North Africa through Sicily, in order to preserve his "annual profit from the harvest," thus demonstrating Roger's political acumen and calculus motivating his decision to launch the first crusade from

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

. In this case, it is unsurprising that ibn al-Athir characterizes the beginning of the crusades to have occurred with the

siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria (region), Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Sel ...

in 1097, as the crusades were simply part of a long historical pattern of Frankish conquests and not conceptualized as a distinct event, as contemporary European chroniclers—such as

Fulcher of Chartres Fulcher of Chartres ( in or near Chartres – after 1128; ; ) was a priest who participated in the First Crusade. He served Baldwin I of Jerusalem for many years and wrote a Latin chronicle of the Crusade. Life Fulcher was born . His appointment ...

—tended to do. In addition, Ibn al-Athir refers to Roger's concern with maintaining friendly relations with Muslim rulers in Africa as another reason why he redirected the Frankish armies to Syria. The second source of political intrigue that ibn al-Athir claimed to have shaped the beginnings of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

was the

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Fatimid Dynasty in Egypt. While Ibn al-Athir claims that it is merely "another story," he suggests fairly clearly that the Fatimids had a role in instigating the Franks to invade Syria because they were threatened by the expansion of

Seljuk Seljuk (, ''Selcuk'') or Saljuq (, ''Saljūq'') may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * S ...

power and wanted to use the Franks to protect

Fatimid Egypt The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, it ...

from a Seljuk invasion. ibn al-Athir seems to suggest that the Fatimids were not "Muslims," demonstrating how Seljuk

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Muslims viewed the "heretic l practices of the non-Sunni Fatimids. 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

had coerced the Franks to agree to conquer Antioch for him in exchange for permission to pass through Byzantine lands to the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. Ibn al-Athir describes how the Byzantine Emperor's "real intention was to incite he crusadersto attack the Muslims, for he was convinced that the Turks, whose invincible control over

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

he had observed, would exterminate every one of them." 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, Yaghi Siyan, expelled the Christians inhabitants of Antioch for fear of internal insurrection. Ibn al-Athir writes of the expulsion as an act of "protection", in which Yaghi Siyan was trying to protect the families of the Christians in Antioch, despite the obvious situation that he was holding these families hostage in an attempt to dissuade Antioch Christians from joining the Crusading armies. Moreover, Ibn al-Athir attributes the fall of Antioch to treachery by an Antioch

cuirass A cuirass ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The term probably originates from the original material, leather, from the Old French word and the Latin word . The us ...

-maker who let in the crusaders through the water gate, and to Yaghi Siyan escaping in panic. Even so, Ibn al-Athir's accounts were still fairly partial, as he seems to suggest that Yaghi Siyan's escape was out of panic, instead of cowardice; he describes Yaghi Siyan to have suffered from great grief and repentance after his flight. Furthermore, Ibn al-Athir describes further acts of Frankish deviousness, in that they had sent messages to the rulers of Aleppo and Damascus "to say that they had no interest in any cities but those that had once belonged to Byzantium" in an attempt to "dissuade these rulers from" coming "to the help 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 The Holy Lance, also known as the Spear of Longinus (named after Longinus, Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is alleged to be the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his Crucifixion of Jes ...

by Peter Bartholomew, but framed in the context of Peter Bartholomew having buried a lance in a certain spot prior to such "discovery." 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. Ibn al-Athir's description of the siege ended in the overwhelming victory of Frankish armies against the Muslims. This was but the first step to the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1099.

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, 1873/4reprinted (?), 12 vols., Cairo: Muḥammad Muṣṭafa, 1885

''Ibn-el-Athiri Chronicon quod perfectissimum inscribitur''
ed. Carl Johan Tornberg ( sv) (14 vols., Leiden:

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

, 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) or 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) or the years 1029–1097 *''El-Kamil fî t-Tarîx. Kurd di tarîxa Ibn el-Esîr de'', ed. Emîn Narozî (2 vols., Istanbul: Avesta, 2018) or 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) or excerpts on Iran *''Arabakan Aghpyurner'', tr. with notes Aram Ter-Ghevondyan (Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1981) or 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) or excerpts on Azerbaijan
''Annales du Maghreb et de l'Espagne''
tr. Edmond Fagnan (Alger: Adolphe Jourdan, 1898; reprinted, Alger: Grand Alger Livres, 2007) or excerpts on Maghreb and al-Andalus between the years 642–1207">al-Andalus.html" ;"title="or excerpts on Maghreb and al-Andalus">or 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:Berlingska boktryckeriet">sv), 1851–1853)
vol. Ivol. II

Notes

References

* * *HALBOT Asma, ''Le pouvoir musulman face à l'arrivée des Mongols : le regard de l'historien arabe Ibn Al-Athir, XIIIe siècle'', Mémoire d'histoire médiévale, Champs-sur-Marne, Université Gustave Eiffel, 2024, 96 p. {{DEFAULTSORT:Complete History Sunni literature 1230s books 13th-century Arabic-language books Literature of the Ayyubid Sultanate Texts about the Crusades