A new history of Christian-Muslim relations in the Carolingian period that provides a fresh account of events by drawing on Arabic as well as western sources
In the year 802, an elephant arrived at the court of the Emperor Charlemagne in Aachen, sent as a gift by the ʿAbbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid. This extraordinary moment was part of a much wider set of diplomatic relations between the Carolingian dynasty and the Islamic world, including not only the Caliphate in the east but also Umayyad al-Andalus, North Africa, the Muslim lords of Italy and a varied cast of warlords, pirates and renegades. The Emperor and the Elephant offers a new account of these relations. By drawing on Arabic sources that help explain how and why Muslim rulers engaged with Charlemagne and his family, Sam Ottewill-Soulsby provides a fresh perspective on a subject that has until now been dominated by and seen through western sources.
The Emperor and the Elephant demonstrates the fundamental importance of these diplomatic relations to everyone involved. Charlemagne and Harun al-Rashid’s imperial ambitions at home were shaped by their dealings abroad. Populated by canny border lords who lived in multiple worlds, the long and shifting frontier between al-Andalus and the Franks presented both powers with opportunities and dangers, which their diplomats sought to manage.
Tracking the movement of envoys and messengers across the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and beyond, and the complex ideas that lay behind them, this book examines the ways in which Christians and Muslims could make common cause in an age of faith.
Author(s): Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 384
City: Princeton
Cover
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Introduction
Diplomacy
Political Context
Sources
Chapter 2. Perception and Practice in Carolingian Diplomacy with the Islamic World
Problems of Perspective
Considering the Other
Christ and Belial
Envoys
Travel
Reception
Gifts
Eating the Fish
Chapter 3. Carolingian Diplomacy with the 'Abbāsid Caliphate
Existential Questions
Motivations
The Alliance System
Patriarchs and Politics
Prestige Diplomacy
First Contact: Pippin III and al-Manṣūr (767–768)
Charlemagne and Hārūn al-Rashīd
The Elephant in the Room
The End of Carolingian Diplomacy with the ʿAbbāsid Caliphs (831)
Chapter 4. Carolingian-Umayyad Diplomacy, Part 1: 751–820
The Frontier
The Beginning of Carolingian Relations with the Umayyads, 751–793
Sulaymān, Charlemagne, and the Roncesvalles Campaign, 777–781
An Unusual Proposition
My Girona, 781–793
751–793 Conclusion
The Franks on the Offensive, 796–812
Useless Peace, 810–820
Conclusion
Chapter 5. Carolingian-Umayyad Diplomacy, Part 2: 820–864
Disaster on the Frontier, 820–830
Leaders and Tribunes
Lights in the Sky
Charles the Bald and Umayyad Spain, 840–864
The Son of Evil, 847–851
Rebels and Vikings, 863–864
The Third King of Spain
The Martyrs of Córdoba
The End of Carolingian-Umayyad Diplomacy
Chapter 6. The Central Mediterranean: The Limits of Carolingian Diplomacy with the Islamic World
The Second Part of the World: Charlemagne and North Africa
All-Out War: The Emirates of Italy
Dogs in the Nighttime
Conclusion. Death of an Elephant
Bibliography
Index
