Social Life in Egypt and the Levant During the Early Reign of Sultan Barquq 784-801 AH / 1382-1399 AD Through the Journeys of the Italian Travelers Frescobaldi and Sigoli

Authors

  • Issam Okleh The University of Jordan
  • Modar Telfah University of Sharjah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54134/jjha.16.1.2

Keywords:

Leonardo Frescobaldi, Simone Sigoli, Mamluk Period; Egyptian Society.

Abstract

This article examines the journeys of the Italian travelers Leonardo Frescobaldi and Simone Sigoli who visited Egypt and the Levant in 786 AH / 1384 A.D. The accounts of their trips provide political, economic, social and religious information about the Mamluk state at that time. The study identifies their sources for information that they did not see themselves and highlights the value of the most important observations about social conditions in Egypt and the Levant, traditions, dress, religious rituals and festivals, and the status of women in the Islamic society. The two travel accounts are important for the study of social conditions in the Levant and Egypt in the Mamluk era. The two trailers relied on sources like consuls, translators, and merchants who transmitted unique information about social life, customs, traditions and dress that other European travelers did not report.

Author Biographies

Issam Okleh, The University of Jordan

Department of History - School of Arts

Modar Telfah, University of Sharjah

Faculty of Arts - Department of History and Islamic Civilization

and Department of History - Yarmouk University

References

ʻAbd al-Sayyid, Ḥakīm Amīn (1996), Qiyām Dawlat al-Mamālīk al-Thāniyah, Cairo: al-Dār al-Qawmīyah lil-Ṭibā‘ah.

‘Awaḍ, Muḥammad Mu’nis (1992); European Travelers in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1187 A.D), Cairo: Maktabat Madbūlī.

al-ʻAynī, Badr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad (d 855 A.H/1451 A.D) (2002); ʻIqd al-Jumān fī Tārīkh Ahl al-Zamān, Īmān Shukrī ed., Cairo: Maktabat Madbūlī.

al-ʻImād al-Aṣfahānī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥāmid (d. 597 A.H/1200 A.D) (2003); al-Fatḥ al-Qussī fī al-Fatḥ al-Qudsī, Muḥammad Ṣubḥ ed., Cairo: al-Ha’ah al-ʻĀmmah li-Quṣūr al-Thaqāfah.

Bibars, al-Dawādār (Rukn al-Dīn Baibars ibn ʻAbd Allāh al-Manṣūrī) (d 725 A.H/1325 A.D) (1998); Zubdat al-Fikrah fī Tārīkh al-Hijrah, Donald Richards ed., Beirut: al-Maʻhad al-Almānī lil-Abḥāth al-Sharqīyah.

Burchard of Mount Sion (d. 630 A.H/1232 A.D) (1995); Description of the Holy Land, Saʻīd al-Bīshāwī, trans., Amman: Dār al-Shurūq lil-Nashr.

Danial, al-Ḥājj al-Rūsī Dāniāl al-Rāhib (d. after 501 A.H/1107 A.D) (2003); Description of the Holy Land in Palestine, Saʻīd al-Bīshāwī and Dāwūd Abū Hadbah, trans. Amman: Dār al-Shurūq lil-Nashr.

Fetellus (died after: 524 A.H/1130 A.D) (2011); Waṣf al-Arāḍī al-Muqaddasah fī Filasṭīn, Saʻīd al-Bīshāwī and Fuʼād Duwaykāt, trans., Amman: Durūb lil-Nashr wa al-Tawzīʻ.

Frescobaldī (d. after: 787A.H/1385A.D) (2010); Riḥlah ilā al-Arāḍī al-Muqaddasah, Shīrīn Ībish, trans., in Kitāb Riḥlāt ilā al-arāḍī al-muqaddasah, Abū Ẓabī: Hay’at Abū Ẓabī lil-Siyāḥah wa-al-Thaqāfah.

Frescobaldi, Leonardo, Giorgio Gucci and Simone Sigoli, Visit to the Holy Places of Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria in 1384. Translated from Italian by Theophilus Bellorini and Eugene Hoade, with a preface and notes by Bellarmino Bagatti (Collectio Maior 6). Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press 1948.

Ibn al-Athīr, ʻIzz al-Dīn ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad al-Shaybānī (d 630 A.H/1232 A.D) (1979); al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.

Ibn al-Qalānisī, Abū Yaʻlā Ḥamzah ibn Asad al-Tamīmī (d 555 A.H/1160 A.D) (1983); Tārīkh Dimashq, Suhayl Zakkār ed., Damascus: Dār al-Fikr.

John of Würzburg, (6th cent. A.H/12th cent. A.D) (1997); Description of the Holy Land in Palestine, Saʻīd al-Bīshāwī, trans., Amman: Dār al-Shurūq lil-Nashr.

John Mandeville, (d. after: 756 A.H/1356 A.D) (2012); Asfār Sir John mandfil wa Riḥlātuh, Anas al-Dhahabī and Ranā Jazāʾirī, trans., Abū Ẓabī: Hay’at Abū Ẓabī lil-Siyāḥah wa-al-Thaqāfah.

Ludolphus von Suchem (d. after: 750 A.H/1350 A.D) (2000); Waṣf al-Arāḍī al-Muqaddasah, Vol. 37, Suhayl Zakkār, trans., from al-Mawsūʻah al-Shāmīyah fī al-Ḥurūb al-Ṣalībīyah, Damascus: (N.P).

al-Maqrīzī, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī (d 845 A.H/1442 A.D) (1997); al-Sulūk li Maʻrifat Duwal al-Mulūk, Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Qādir ʻAṭā, ed., Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah.

Pedani, Maria Pia (2010); Venice, the Gate of the East. Ḥusayn Maḥmūd, trans., Abū Ẓabī: Hay’at Abū Ẓabī lil-Siyāḥah wa-al-Thaqāfah.

Qāsim, ‘Abduh Qāsim (1990); “Mā-Hīyah al-Ḥurūb al-Ṣalībīyah”. ‘Alam al-Ma‘rifah, Vol. 149, Kuwait: al-Majlis al-Waṭanī lil-Thaqāfah wa-al-Funūn.

Shahin, Riyad (2000); “Hudnah al-Ramlah wa al-Ẓurūf al-Muḥīṭah bihā”. Majallat al-Jāmiʻah al-Islāmīyah, Gaza, Vol. 9, No.1, pp: 365-416.

Saewulf (d. after: 496 A.H/1103 A.D)(1997); Description of the Pilgrimage of Saewulf to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Saʻīd al-Bīshāwī,. trans., Amman: Dār al-Shurūq lil-Nashr.

Schiltberger, Johann (d. after: 826 A.H/1427 A.D)(2017); The Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger, Aḥmad Ībish, trans., Abū Ẓabī: Hay’at Abū Ẓabī lil-Siyāḥah wa-al-Thaqāfah.

Sibt ibn al-Jawzī, Yūsuf ibn Qazʼūghlī (d. 654 A.H/1256 A.D)(2013); Mirʼāt al-Zamān fī Tawārīkh al-A‘yān, Ibrāhīm al-Zaybaq, ed., Beirut: Dār al-Risālah al-ʻĀlamīyah.

Sigoli, Simone (d. after: 787 A.H/1385 A.D)(2010); Journey to Mount Sinai, Shīrīn Ībish. trans., from Kitāb Riḥlāt ilá al-Arāḍī al-Muqaddasah, Abū Ẓabī: Hay’at Abū Ẓabī lil-Siyāḥah wa-al-Thaqāfah.

al-Sīlāwī, Samāḥ (N.D); Social Conditions in Egypt and Syria in the Mamluk Period, Cairo: Dār al-Āfāq al-‘Arabīyah.

al-Sīlāwī, Samāḥ (2012); “Views of European Travels about the Customs and Manners of the Muslims in the Mamluk Period (648-923 A.H/1250-1517 A.D)”, al-Majallah al-Tarbiyah, al-Lajnah al-Waṭanīyah al-Qaṭarīyah lil-Tarbiyah wa-al-Thaqāfah wa-al-‘Ulūm, Vol. 178, Pp: 211–242.

Southern, Richard (2006); Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages, Riḍwān al-Sayyid, trans., Beirut: Dār al-Madār al-Islāmī.

Sulaymān, Ibrāhīm (2013); “The City of Alexandria in the Burji Mamluk Period in the Writings of European Travellers”. Majallat Kullīyat al-Ādāb, Qena University, Vol. 2, No. 40, pp: 39 – 89.

al-Tamīmī, Īyād Hishām (1998); “al-Sāmirīyūn wa-Athar al-Bīʼah al-Islāmīyah Fīhim”, Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Āl al-Bayt University, al-Mafraq, Jordan.

Unknown author (6th cent. A.H/12th cent. A.D)(2000); The Third Crusade. (Richard and Saladin), Ḥasan Ḥabashī, trans., Cairo: Al-Hay’ah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻAmmah lil-Kitāb.

Published

2022-02-27

How to Cite

Okleh, I., & Telfah, M. . (2022). Social Life in Egypt and the Levant During the Early Reign of Sultan Barquq 784-801 AH / 1382-1399 AD Through the Journeys of the Italian Travelers Frescobaldi and Sigoli. Jordan Journal for History and Archaeology, 16(1), 29–49. https://doi.org/10.54134/jjha.16.1.2

Issue

Section

Articles