fe* fe ■V""'** '-* '.» ' " ■ t :«k* #$ .J ,rr-- '"f -' ' \ **y >>*•«', J^SA BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF ftetirg W. Sage 1891 j-XU.LQ.IalU JL3t\mJ.1.0- 9755-2 The date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and give to ,. _. . the librarian. 9 Si-P W 5 HOME USE RULES. All Books subject to Recall. Books not used for instruction , or research are returnable within 4 weeks. Volumes of periodi- cals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much .as possible. For special purposes they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the bene- fit of other persons. Books not needed during recess periods' should be returned to fhe library, or arrange- ments made for their return during' borrow- er's absence, if wanted. Books needed by more than one person are held on the reserve list. B o o k s of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to- circulate. Readers- are asked to- report all eases of books; marked or mutilated; Do Hot deface books &y marks and' writing. Ac-f°2!S" u "'™rsity Library AC9 .A57 2d ser. pt.7 Chur c[jes and monasteries of E' olin 3 1924 029 634 239 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029634239 TEXTS, DOCUMENTS, AND EXTRACTS CHIEFLY FROM MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BODLEIAN AND OTHER OXFORD LIBRARIES SEMITIC SERIES — PART VII THE CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT ATTRIBUTED TO ABU SALIH, THE ARMENIAN EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY B. T. A. EVETTS, M. A. WITH NOTES BY ALFRED J. BUTLER, M.A., F. S.A. ©xfottr AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1895 [Under the general title of Anecdola Oxoniensia, it is proposed to publish materials, chiefly inedited, taken direct from MSS., those preserved in the Bod- leian and other Oxford Libraries to have the first claim to publication. These materials will be (i) unpublished texts and documents, or extracts therefrom, with or without translations ; or (2) texts which, although not unpublished, are unknown in the form in which they are to be printed in the Anecdota ; or (3) texts which, in their published form, are difficult of access through the exceeding rarity of the printed copies ; or (4) collations of valuable MSS. ; or (5) notices and descriptions of certain MSS., or dissertations on the history, nature, and value thereof. The materials will be issued in four Series : — I. The Classical Series. II. The Semitic Series. III. The Aryan Series. IV. The Mediaeval and Modern Series. - ] ^nuAtttn (Bxamtttm THE Churches and Monasteries of Egypt x j ountnes HAN '.S.A. ©xfortr AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1895 [Under the g materials, chiefly i; leian and other materials will be | with or without tn unknown in the f (3) texts which, i: exceeding rarity oi (5) notices and d< nature, and value I II III IV NOTE The Translation of Abu Salih's Churches and Monasteries of Egypt is also published separately, bound in buckram, Price One Guinea. Published at the Clarendon Press, 2 vols., 8vo, linen, with many Illustrations, Price Thirty Shillings. THE ANCIENT COPTIC CHURCHES OF EGYPT A. J. BUTLER, M.A.. F.S.A. AT THE CLARENDON PRESS LONDON: HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AMEN' CORNER, E.C. Qntdntii <©xjor««nsia THE Churches and Monasteries of Egypt AND Some Neighbouring Countries ATTRIBUTED TO ABU SALIH, THE ARMENIAN EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY B. T. A. EVETTS, M.A. TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD WITH ADDED NOTES BY ALFRED J. BUTLER, M.A., F.S.A. FELLOW OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD ©.iforfci AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1895 ^/vitj l& Bonbon •';,_- HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.C. (JU» 2)or& MACMILLAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE CONTENTS. PAGE Preface v-viii Introduction ix-xxv English Translation 1-304 Appendix 305-346 Indexes : — I. Index of Churches and Monasteries in Egypt . . 347-352 II. Supplementary Geographical Index 353-358 III. Index of Personal Names 359-373 IV. Index of General Names 374-382 Arabic Text i-ifr a 2 [I'. 7-] TREFACE. THE History attributed to Abu Salih the Armenian is here edited for the first time, by the kind permission of the Minister of Public Instruction and of the Administrator of the National Library in Paris, from the unique MS. purchased by Vansleb in Egypt in the seven- teenth century, and now preserved in that Institution. The present edition is based upon a copy made by the editor from the original, which he afterwards had the advantage of comparing with another copy most liberally placed at his disposal by M. l'Abbe Hyvernat, together with the results of a collation by Professor Ignazio Guidi. To these eminent scholars, therefore, the editor begs to express his deepest gratitude. Professor Margoliouth has also had the goodness to look through both the copy of the text and the translation, and to elucidate many points of difficulty. Mr. Alfred Butler, whose book on the Coptic Churches forms the only work of importance existing on that subject, has generously consented to aid in the interpretation of an obscure author by his knowledge of Coptic history and archaeology ; and his contributions to the work are by no means limited to the notes which bear his initials. The system adopted in the transcription of Arabic names is similar to that used in Mr. Butler's Coptic Churches. It does not pretend to be perfect, vi PREFA CE. and among other defects does not express the J of the article before the ' solar letters,' or the shortening of the long final vowel in y\ and other words before the article, or the Hamzah except in the middle of a word ; nor are the nuances in the pronunciation of the vowels indicated ; but perhaps no other system is preferable to this. The vocalization of the Arabic forms of names of places is, where possible, that of Yakut, as being in use at the time of our author. In the transcription of the text the original has been closely followed, the diacritical points alone being added where they were wanting. Some of the deviations, however, from classical ortho- graphy and grammar are indicated by foot-notes on the first few pages of the text. The existence of the work has long been known to scholars through the references made to 'Abu Selah,' and the passages quoted from him by Eusebe Renaudot and Etienne Quatremere. Recently also, M. Atnelineau, in his Geographic de l&gypte a le'poque copte, has made some little use of the history of Abu Salih, although he has by no means extracted all the information which the book affords on the subject of Egyptian geography. M. Amdlineau seems to be fully aware of the value of the work of Abu Salih, at least in certain portions. On the other hand, he seems to have an exaggerated idea of the difficulties presented by the MS. 'It is very badly written in point of language,' he says, ' and most of the diacritical points are wanting ; yet I have translated ' the whole of it, in spite of the difficulties which it presents. I believe 'that the MS. is incomplete in several parts, and has been badly ' bound together. The possessor of the MS. has erased the Coptic 'numerical figures at the top of each leaf, in order, no doubt, that 'the absence of part of the MS. might escape notice. Nevertheless, ' the figures are still visible, and enable me to conclude that a con- PREFA CE. vii 'siderable part of the MS. is wanting, and that the leaves are not 'arranged in their proper order. Moreover, it is often impossible to 'translate, because the sense cannot be completed.' The French scholar here seems to overstate the case. From an examination of the MS. made by the authorities of the National Library, the editor is able to say that, while it is true that no less than twenty-two leaves are wanting at the beginning of the book, the rest of the leaves are bound in their proper order, according to the Coptic ciphers, which are still visible, as M. Amelineau states ; with the single exception of the leaf which formed the thirtieth folio of the MS. in its original state, but which is now wanting. The reader, therefore, will understand that there is a lacuna between fol. 8, accord- ing to the new or Arabic pagination, and fol. 9, which bears in the MS. the Coptic number 31 ; and that the words at the beginning of fol. 9, 'This revenue,' &c, do not refer to the preceding estimate of the revenues of Egypt. The owner of the MS. seems to have supplied the first folio himself, and to have given a new pagination in Arabic figures to the remaining portion of the original book, so that folio 23 became folio 2, and so on. It should be added that the Coptic figures are wanting on fol. 38, which formed fol. 60 of the complete MS., and also on the last two folios. The word i-s^ on fol. 12a is translated as 'Extreme Unction,' a meaning which the word bears at least in Africa. In late Arabic, however, i-s^ is also a nomen verbi of -\j , and signifies ' to marry ' or ' marriage,' so that our author may perhaps here refer to a practice of marrying within the prohibited degrees then existing among the Copts. The statements of the Coptic Synaxarium, occasionally quoted in the notes to the present edition of Abu Salih, are not guaranteed as being always historically accurate. For instance, the Emperor Diocletian is usually represented, without reference to his colleagues in viii PREFACE. the empire, as himself carrying on the persecution which goes by his name, although in reality he abdicated two years after the promulgation of the edict which sanctioned and originated it : and, to take another example, St. Theodore is called ' magister militum,' although this office was not instituted until the reign of Constantine. Nevertheless valuable traditions of early Church history, and in particular of the o-reat persecution itself, are embodied both in the Synaxarium and in the Coptic Acts of the Martyrs, on which it is partly founded. INTRODUCTION. The sole indication which we possess of the name of our author is to be found in the title inscribed on the first page of the MS. This title, however, was supplied, as it has already been said, by a later hand ; and it is, moreover, obviously incomplete. No name is there given to the work, beyond the meagre designation of ' chronicle ' or ' history ; ' and this is so contrary to the rule of Arabic literature that it is enough by itself to prove that the original title had been lost. The author is designated by his praenomen only, as 'Abu Salih the Armenian.' It is a recognized fact in Arabic orthography that the proper name Salih (,Jli) is one of those which may by common custom be written defectively without the I ; see Vernier, Grammaire arabe, i. p. 91. Hence there is no reason to adopt the form 'Abu Selah,' used by Renaudot, Quatremere, Amelineau, and others. It must, in the absence of further proof, re- main doubtful whether 'Abu Salih ' can be taken as the true praenomen {kiinyah) of the author of the present work. His nationality, on the other hand, may be inferred, not only from the title, but also from the internal evidence of the book, for the lengthy description of the Armenian churches, and of the affairs of the Armenian patriarch, would tend to show that the writer had a special connexion with the Armenian nation ; and, although he often speaks as though his sympathies and interests were bound up with those of the Copts, we must remember that this very Armenian patriarch, of whom we have spoken, was consecrated in the presence of Gabriel, the seventieth patriarch of the Copts (Renaudot, Hist. Patr. pp. 507-509) ; and there are many other proofs of friendly intercourse between the two races. Moreover, on fol. 3 a, the Armenian form of the name Sergius (U Sharkis, and explained as being equivalent to 4=-^, Sirjah. It may be maintained, therefore, as a proba- 6 [II. 7-] x CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. bility, that the author of the work was Armenian by nationality. It is surprising, however, that M. Amelineau says that ' Abou Selah (sic) visited Egypt at the moment when the Armenians were all-powerful in that country.' It is surely much more probable that Abu Salih, if that was his name, was not a mere visitor to Egypt, but rather a member of the Armenian colony, the ancestors of which had settled there at the end of the eleventh century of our era, under the protection of Badr al-Jamali, the Armenian vizier to the caliph Al-Mustansir ; and that our author had been born and bred in the country. This would explain his Arabic name, the fact of his writing in Arabic, and his familiarity with the history of Egypt. As for his being in Egypt at a time of Armenian preponderance in the state, the facts are precisely the contrary. There is no proof that the Armenians were in special favour under the three last of the Fatimide caliphs, and the greater part of our author's life must have been passed during a time when the Armenians in Egypt had succumbed to the misfortunes which overtook them at the time of the Kurdish invasion, and had been much reduced in numbers. Of these misfortunes our author was an eye-witness. The work itself affords sufficient internal evidence of the date of its composition, for the author constantly refers to events which, he says, happened in his own time, and to incidents in his own life, of which he gives us the date. Thus on fol. 4 b he tells us of an interview which he had at Cairo with the physician Abu '1-Kasim al-'Askalani, in A. H. 568 = A. D. 1173. Again on fol. 61 a he mentions a visit which he paid in A. H. 569 = A. D. 1 1 74 to the monastery of Nahya. But the latest date given in the book is that of the death of Mark ibn al-Kanbar in the month of Amshir A.M. 024 = Jan.-Feb., A. D. 1208. The composition of the work, therefore, may confidently be assigned to the first years of' the thirteenth century of our era, when the writer had probably reached a considerable age. In spite of these distinct indications of date, however, M. Amelineau speaks as if the work had been composed at a much later period, for he begins his account of Abu Salih as follows : ' I must also 'speak of an author who wrote in Arabic, and who has left us a history 'of the churches and monasteries of Egypt, written in the year 1054 of ' the Martyrs, that is to say in the year 1338 of our era. He was called INTRODUCTION. xi ' Abou Selah (sic), and was an Armenian by nationality' {Gt'ogr. p. xxiv). The fact is that M. Amelineau is here speaking of the date at which the copy, now in the National Library, was made ; but his readers may certainly be pardoned if they understand him to be giving the date of the composition of the work. It is quite true that the copy was finished onBa'unah 2, a.m. io54 = Dhu '1-Ka'dah 8, a.h. 738 = May 27, a.d. 1348, as the copyist himself informs us in his note at the end of the book. The title supplied by a later hand on fol. 1 b of the MS. describes the book as a ' history, containing an account of the districts and fiefs of ' Egypt.' As, however, the principal part of the work is taken up with an account of churches and monasteries, with regard to which it supplies us with much original information, I have furnished the new title of ' Churches and Monasteries of Egypt.' This new title is in accordance with the description of the MS. in the catalogue of the National Library, where it is called 'Histoire des eglises et des ' monasteres de l'Egypte.' The object of the author would seem to have been to collect information of all sorts about Egypt and the neighbouring countries ; but he evidently desired above all to describe the churches and monasteries, and to narrate incidents of ecclesiastical history. It is to those concerned with this last-named branch of study that the work of Abu Salih should be of special interest. The only work now existing in Arabic of a similar character to the present work is that portion of the Khitat of Al-Makrtzi which contains an account of the Coptic churches and monasteries, and which is affixed as an appendix to this volume. Other Mahometan writers, however, besides Al-Makrizi, composed works, which are now lost, on the subject of the Christian monasteries, and the most celebrated of them was Ash- Shabushti, who is quoted by our author and also by Al-Kazwini, Yakut, Al-Makrizi, and others. Indeed, one of the most interesting features of the present work is the constant reference which it makes to the relations between the Christians of Egypt and their Mahometan fellow-countrymen. These relations, naturally, varied in their character from time to time. There were periods of disturbance, marked by outrages committed by the stronger race upon the weaker, by riots, incendiarism, murders, or even b 2 xii CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. by systematic persecution, as in the reign of the caliph Al-Hakim. But there were also periods when the two races lived peacefully side by side, and the adherents of the two creeds were on the best of terms with one another. Sometimes the Muslim governors would authorize and even assist in the restoration of the churches, contrary as this was to the written law of Islam. Mahometans were in some places allowed to be present at the celebration of the Christian liturgy, although the stricter among the Copts regarded this as a profanation. One of the most wealthy and magnificent princes that have ever ruled Egypt, Khamarawaih, the son of Ahmad ibn Tulun, used to spend hours in silent admiration before the mosaics, representing the Virgin and Child, attended by Angels, and surrounded by the Twelve Apostles, in the Melkite church at the monastery of Al-Kusair, where, moreover, he built a loggia in order that he might sit there with his friends to enjoy the scenery, and, it must be confessed, also to quaff the good wine, prepared by the monks and fully appreciated by the laxer followers of the Arabian prophet. The present work in its existing form is an abridgment of the original, as the copyist himself informs us in his final note. He adds that his abridgment has been unsuccessfully carried out, and while we may admire his modesty, we must of necessity agree with him on this point. Nothing could be worse than the present form of the work, which resembles rather a collection of undigested notes than a deliberate composition in its finished shape. That feature of the book which it is most difficult to understand is the repetition of passages on the same subject, and sometimes almost in the same words. We meet with a short account of some place, which is then dropped, and the history proceeds to the discussion of other matters, only to recur some pages further on to the subject which it had apparently left. Thus, for instance, the passage on the Fayyum on'fol. 18 is repeated in slightly different terms on fol. 70 ; the description of Bush Bana and other places on fol. 17 occurs again, almost word for word, on fol. 68 ; and often after leaving a place, we are brought back to it and receive further information about it. There appears to be no arrangement or order in the work at all. We do not know what may have been the subjects which occupied the first score of leaves, now lost to us. It may, perhaps, be conjectured INTRODUCTION. xiii that they were filled with an account of the churches of Lower Egypt and Cairo, and of the monasteries of the Wadi Habib, which could hardly be neglected in such a work. Probably also we have lost part of the history of the Armenians in Egypt. The book, as we have it at present, opens with an account of the Armenian monastery and churches at Al-Basatin, a little to the south of Cairo. The latter buildings consisted of a ' Great Church,' or main building, to which a smaller church or chapel was attached after the manner of churches in Egypt. Sometimes these dependent churches were on the same floor as the principal edifice, and sometimes they formed an upper story to it. The mention of the Armenian monastery and churches leads our author to a digression on the recent history of the Armenians in Egypt, and on the misfortunes which had befallen them during his own lifetime. He then starts off upon quite a different matter, namely the revenues of the Coptic church and of the Egyptian rulers ; but this is a subject to which he recurs quite unexpectedly in one or two subsequent paragraphs. Then comes what is almost the only uninterrupted narrative or descrip- tion in the book, that is the account of the so-called heretic Mark ibn al-Kanbar. Next follows a list of certain remarkable features of Egypt and of distinguished men who have lived in that country ; but in the middle of this is inserted a note on the churches of Busir Bana. and other places. Then, after a note on the boundaries of Egypt, comes an account of the city of Al-Fustat and its churches, which would seem to be fairly system- atic and complete were it not for notes on king Aftutis, the revenues of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar and the patriarch Demetrius, inserted in the middle of it without any apparent occasion for them. After describing the churches of Al-Fustat, our author proceeds up the Nile, noticing the churches and monasteries in the towns and villages, principally, of course, on the more populous western bank ; but he does not go straight on in his journey; he frequently dashes from south to north, and then again from north to south in a manner which would horrify us in a modern guide to the Nile ; and he still keeps up his trick of inserting notes from time to time on perfectly irrelevant matters. After reaching Nubia, our author returns again down the Nile for a short visit to certain places in Egypt which he had passed over ; and then he suddenly takes us to Abyssinia, xiv CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. to India, to North-Africa, and even to Spain, and the shores of the Atlantic, ending up with south-western Arabia, and with the mention of certain ancient cities, the foundation of which is referred to the remotest antiquity. The most valuable part of the present work is probably that part which the author based upon his own experience, and did not borrow from other writers. Much of the information with which he supplies us on the churches and monasteries of Egypt seems to be of this character. Thus he himself tells us that great part of his account of the Monastery of Nahya is derived from what he saw and heard during a visit which he paid there for devotional purposes in the year 569 of the Hegira. A young monk whom he met in the monastery on this occasion seems to have been questioned by him, and to have discoursed to him at some length on the history of the place. It may be taken for granted that our author had also visited in person the churches and monasteries of Cairo and its neighbourhood, and had made similar enquiries of the priests and monks as to the foundation and restoration of these buildings and other matters of interest concerning them. But how far our author had travelled up the Nile is doubtful ; and perhaps he had not himself seen the great White Monastery of Saint Sinuthius, opposite to Ikhmim. If he had been in that neighbourhood, he would surely also have spoken of the ' Red Monastery.' Similarly, it is probable that he had not paid a personal visit to the Monastery of Saint Anthony near the Red Sea, for if he had, he would have given a fuller account of the neighbouring Monastery of Saint Paul. Some of our author's statements with regard to these churches and monasteries which he had not himself seen, probably rest upon the testimony of some of his friends and acquaintances whom he questioned on the subject. Part, however, of what he tells us is borrowed from the Book of the Monasteries of Ash-Shabushti, a work in prose and verse much read at the time. The author, Abu '1-Husain 'Ali ibn Muhammad ash-Shabushti, was a Mahometan, and his work is a proof of the constant practice on the part of Muslims of resort- ing to the Christian monasteries, for the purpose of sauntering in their gardens, sitting in their galleries and loggias, and drinking their INTRODUCTION. xv wines. Besides Ash-Shabushti. other writers, such as Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Khalidi, Abu 'Uthman Sad al-Khalidi, and Abu '1-Faraj al- Isfahan!, composed works on the monasteries in the course of the tenth century of our era, and Ibn Khallikan tells us that many other books were written in the Arabic language on the same subject. The work of Ash-Shabushti contained an account of all the monasteries of Al-Trak, Al-Mausil, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt, with all the poems composed on them, and a history of the events which concerned them. It is unfortunate that this work is lost, and only known to us through quotations made from it by other writers. Ash-Shabushti, who is said to have died at Al-Fustat or 'Old Cairo ' in A.H. 388 or 390, was private librarian and reader to the Fatimide caliph Al-Aziz, and his agreeable manners and conversation led the sovereign to make him his constant boon-companion. It is in accordance with this character that he wrote of the monasteries chiefly as places for enjoying pleasant social inter- course and drinking wine. The surname Ash-Shabushti is difficult to explain, and Ibn Khallikan says that he ' repeatedly made researches to ' discover the origin of the surname, but that all his pains were fruitless, ' until he found that the chamberlain to the Dailamite prince Washmaghir ' ibn Ziyar was also called Ash-Shabushti, from which it appears that ' this is a Dailamite family name.' Part of our author's information with regard to the churches and monasteries of Egypt, and to the ecclesiastical history of that country, is derived from the Biographies of the Patriarchs, compiled in the ninth century by Severus, bishop of Al-Ushmunain, and from the continuation of the Biographies by a later writer. The name of this work is well known to scholars, because Renaudot based upon it the greater part of his Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinorum Jacobitarum ; but the work itself has never been published, either in the original Arabic or in a translation, although copies of it are to be found in European libraries. The publication of this work is much to be desired, as it affords a great mass of information on the ecclesiastical history of Egypt, since the schism of Dioscorus, which is not supplied from any other source ; and although Renaudot has revealed to the learned world part of its contents, there is a very large part only to be known xvi CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. at present through a study of the original Arabic MSS. It is from these patriarchal biographies that our author borrows the greater part of what he tells us on the subject of the history of the Coptic patriarchs, and part of what he says on the churches and monasteries. It is thence that he takes, for instance, his account of the visit of Al-Kasim to the White Monastery. The Patriarchal Biographies of Severus of Al-Ushmunain are based in their earlier portion, as he himself tells us, on Greek and Coptic documents preserved in the ancient Monastery of Saint Macarius In the Nitrian Valley. . In the later part the compiler has inserted the works of certain writers almost without change, such as the biography of the patriarch Kha'il or Michael by John the deacon, a contemporary and acquaintance of that patriarch, and a considerable portion of the series written by George, archdeacon and secretary of the patriarch Simon. Many of our author's quotations are taken from the life of the patriarch Michael. Another writer, to whom our author is considerably indebted, is better known to European readers, since his history was published in 1654-6 by Pococke, at Oxford. This is Sa'id ibn al-Batrik, the Melkite patriarch of Alexandria, whose name was translated into Greek in the form Eutychius. He was a famous physician, as well as a priest, and composed a medical work in addition to his historical labours. His chief work, however, was that from which our author quotes, namely the Nazm al-Jauhcir or Row of Jewels, to which the European editor has given the Latin title of Eutycliii Annates. It is a history, beginning with the earliest events narrated in the Bible, and continued down to the author's own time; but its most valuable part is the ecclesiastical chronicle of Egypt which it contains. The author was born at Al-Fustat in A. H. 263 = A. D. 877, became Melkite patriarch of Alexandria in A. H. 321 =A. D. 932, and died in the latter city in A. H. 328 = A. D. 940. Our author makes more references than one to a writer whom he calls Mahbub ibn Kustantin al-Manbaji, that is ' Mahbub, son of Con- ' stantine, a native of the city of Manbaj.' This writer also bore the Greek name Agapius, corresponding to his Arabic appellation. He composed a history of the world in two parts, of which a copy of the first part is INTRODUCTION. xvii preserved at Oxford, and a copy of the second part, relating events from the Incarnation onwards, exists at Florence. The latter work, however, has been carried on by a continuator down to the year A. D. 1312, and this has occasioned the erroneous belief that Mahbub himself lived in the fourteenth century. Mahbub is a writer several times quoted by Al-Makin in the first part of his history. According to the Florentine MS., Mahbub or Agapius was a Jacobite or monophysite bishop of Manbaj. Use was also made in the work now edited of a History of the Councils, of the homilies of the patriarch Theophilus, and of a Guide to the Festivals. It seems that there were several of such Guides in the ecclesiastical literature of Egypt, and the Synaxaria were partly based upon them. Our author was, moreover, acquainted with some at least of the biblical books, and he quotes from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Gospels. He would seem to have read the romance of Aura, which still exists in Arabic, and was probably translated from the Coptic. The curious work called the Book of Clement or Apocalypse of Peter is also quoted by our author at the end of his history. Copies of this work exist in Europe, as, for instance, in Paris and at Oxford. Our author does not tell us whence he derived his accounts of Nubia, of Abyssinia, and of the Indian Christians. Of Nubia he may have read in the work of 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Sula'im, quoted by Al-Makrizi. Of Abyssinia he may have learnt something from the envoys who frequently arrived in Egypt from that country, as bearers of despatches addressed to the Coptic patriarch. Of India he may have received information from the mouths of Christian travellers ; or perhaps those Indian priests who at the end of the seventh century came to Egypt, to beg the Coptic patriarch to send out a bishop to their fellow-countrymen, may have left behind them some account of the state of Christianity in India. In those parts of his work which treat of the general history of Egypt, our author chiefly follows Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam and Al-Kindi. Copies of the Futilk Misr or History of the Conquest of Egypt by the Muslims, composed by the former of these two writers, exist in Paris. c [II. 7.] xviii CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. The author, 'Abd ar-Rahman 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, seems to have written at the end of the second century of the Hegira, but the work was continued by his disciples, and in the Paris MSS. goes down to the end of the third century. There is little legend in the work, which consists chiefly of pure history, and in this respect compares favourably with later histories, such as those of Al-Makrizi and As- Suyuti. Al-Kindi, who is called by Haji Khalfah the first Arab historian of Egypt, died in A. H. 247 = A. D. 860, or according to others in A. H. 350 = A.D. 961. The title of his great work was Khitat Misr or Topography and History of Misr, its object being to describe the foundation of the city of Misr and its subsequent alterations. This work seems to have been the basis and model of the later works named Khitat, such as that of Al-Makrizi. Two other works of Al-Kindi exist in manuscript at the British Museum, namely a History of the Governors of Egypt and a History of the Cadis. Al-Kindi also wrote a book called Fadd'il Misr or Excellences of Egypt, which is quoted by our author more than once. The full name of Al-Kindi is Abu 'Umar Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi. Some of his works were continued by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ibrahim ibn Zulak, who died A. H. 3^7 = A.D. 997, and who is once quoted by our author, through a copyist's error, as An-Nasr ibn Zulak. The great history of At-Tabari had also formed the subject of our author's studies, as he shows by his reference towards the end of the work. Finally, our author, although a Christian, dho..„ on more than one occasion that he is not unacquainted with the Kor,in itself, thus giving a fresh proof of the friendly feeling which existed between Christians and Muslims at the beginning of the thirteenth century of our era. From the account given above of the plan, or rather want of plan, of Abu Salih's work, it will be seen that it resembles a note-book which has not yet been put into order, rather than a formal composition. It is clear then that such a book could hardly be worth publication were it not that, in the words of the author, ' he has here collected information which is not to be found in the work of any other writer.' The present work is full of allusions to the history of Egypt, and INTRODUCTION. xix especially to the more important periods, such as the Mahometan conquest, the overthrow of the Omeyyad dynasty, the rule of Ahmad ibn Tulun and his son Khamarawaih, and the invasion by the Fatimide caliph Al-Mu'izz. The conquest of Egypt began in A.H. 18, when 'Atnr ibn al-'Asi entered the country by the Syrian frontier, and subdued the imperial forces in a battle near Pelusium, where the Arab town of Al- Farama afterwards stood. 'Amr then advanced upon the fortress of Babylon, about ten miles to the south of Heliopolis, which was, after a long siege, ceded to him by the treachery of George son of Mennas, the ' Mukaukis.' After this it was necessary to attack the capital of the country, Alexandria, and here again serious resistance was offered to the Muslims. The siege of Alexandria lasted several months, so that the conquest of Egypt was not completed until the first of Muharram, A.H. %o (a. D. 641). The conqueror did not, however, select Alexandria as his capital, but chose a spot easier of access from Mecca and Medina, namely the Fortress of Babylon and its neighbourhood, as the site of the new city which he founded and named Fustat Misr. From the time of the conquest, Egypt was governed by walls, appointed by the caliphs, who rarely visited the country themselves. The last of the Omeyyad caliphs, however, Marwan II, who reigned from A. H. 126 to 133, took refuge in Egypt from the armies of the new claimant to the caliphate, As-Saffah, the Abbaside. The Khorassanian troops of the latter pursued Marwan, who set fire to the city of Fustat Misr, and, having crossed the Nile, destroyed all the boats upon the river in order to stop the progress of the enemy. A vivid picture of this disastrous conflict is given us by an eye-witness, the contemporary biographer of the Coptic patriarch Michael, whose life is included in the compilation of Severus of Al-Ushmunain. The Khorassanians soon found boats with which to cross the river ; and they pursued Marwan as far as Busir Kuridus, near the entrance to the Fayyum, where they put him to death. His head was sent round the country as a proof of the extinction of the Omeyyad dynasty and the victory of the Abbasides. The Omeyyad caliphs had resided at Damascus, and the Abbasides established their court in A. D. 750 at the newly-erected city of Bagdad, so that Egypt was still ruled by walls, who, on account of their remote- c 2 xx CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. ness from the seat of the central government, soon became practically independent. One of the most celebrated governors of Egypt was Ahmad ibn Tulun, who ruled the country from A. H. 254 to 270. By this time the importance of the city of Fustat Misr had greatly diminished. The Hamras or quarters to the north of Al-Fustat, founded at the time of the Arab conquest, had fallen into decay, and the ground had become bare of houses ; but upon the flight of Manvan into Egypt, the Abbaside troops had settled upon it, and gave it its new name of Al-'Askar, and here the emirs who ruled Egypt resided. It was in this quarter, now called the quarter of Ibn Tulun, that Ahmad built his great mosque. He no longer, however, chose to reside here, but founded the new quarter of Al-KataT, which extended from the lowest spurs of the Mukattam hills to the mosque of Ibn Tulun. Neither Al-'Askar nor Al-Kata'i' was destined to exist long. When the Fatimide caliph Al-Mu'izz sent his general Jauhar to invade Egypt, the latter demolished the houses between Al-Fustat and his own new city of Cairo, which formed these two quarters, and they thus entirely disappeared, save for the Christian monasteries and churches, which, as Abu Salih tells us, still remained in the Hamras, as the antiquaries of Egypt continued to call the place. Between the fall of the Omeyyads and the appearance of the Fatimides, it would seem that the Christians of Egypt enjoyed greater prosperity than had been their lot during the later days of the fallen dynasty. Nor do the Fatimide caliphs appear to have treated their Christian subjects with harshness, with the notable exception of the fanatical Al-Hakim, the great persecutor of the Copts and Syrians. The work now published is full of instances of benevolence shown to the Copts, and practical favours conferred upon them by Mahometan rulers and officials. The work of Abu Salih was composed immediately after a great revolution in the affairs of Egypt, following the invasion of the Kurds and Ghuzz under the leadership of Shirkuh and Saladin. This invasion was due to the unscrupulous intrigues of Shawar as-Sa'di, the vizier of the last of the Fatimide caliphs, Al-'Adid li-dini 'Hah. Shawar had been in the service of a former vizier, As-Salih ibn Ruzzik, who INTRODUCTION. X xi appointed him wall of Upper Egypt, a post only second in importance to the vizierate ; and in this capacity Shawar had shown much ability, and gained great influence over the principal officials of the country. On the death of As-Salih, however, in the year 556 (a. D. 1161), his son and successor in the vizierate, Al-'Adil, jealous of Shawar's influence, deprived him of his office, in spite of the warnings against such a step which had been uttered by Ibn Ruzzik upon his death-bed. Shawar assembled a body of troops, marched to Cairo early in the year 558, and, on the flight of Al-'Adil, pursued him and put him to death, himself assuming the reins of government as vizier, under the nominal supremacy of the Fatimide caliph. In the month of Ramadan of the same year, however, a fresh aspirant to the vizierate appeared in the person of Ad-Dirgham, who, collecting a body of troops, forced Shawar to flee from Cairo, and put himself in his place. Thus, in the course of the year 558, the post of vizier was held by three statesmen in succession. Shawar, however, took the bold step of making his way to Syria, and applying for aid to Nur ad-Din, the most powerful Mahometan prince of his time. Accordingly, in the month of Jumada the First of the year 559, Nur ad-Din despatched a body of Turkish and Kurdish troops to Egypt under the command of a Kurdish general, then in his service, named A sad ad-Din Shirkuh. On the arrival of the army of Nur ad-Din, Dirgham was defeated and slain, and Shawar was restored to his post of vizier. He, however, now refused to perform his part of the contract, and would neither grant money nor land to the troops, nor send to Nur ad-Din that portion of the revenues of Egypt which he had promised. Upon this, the Kurdish general seized the city of Bilbais, and great part of the province of Ash-Sharkiyah. The unscrupulous vizier, however, instead of satisfying the just expectations of his auxiliaries, sent messen- gers to the natural enemy of his countrymen and his religion, the Frankish king of Jerusalem, offering him a sum of money if he would defend Egypt against Nur ad-Din and his troops, who, he said, had formed the design of conquering the valley of the Nile. Complying with this request, Amaury led a body of troops to Egypt and besieged Shirkuh at Bilbais during three months, but without success in spite of the low xxii CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. walls and the absence of a moat. Suddenly the news came that Nur ad- Din had captured Harim, and was marching upon Baniyas. On hearing this, the Franks hastened homewards to defend their own country, after inducing the besieged general, who was ignorant of any cause for the Frank- ish retreat, to make terms by which he bound himself to leave Egypt also. In the year 562, Asad ad-Din Shirkuh was again sent to Egypt by Nur ad-Din, who was now filled with the desire of subduing that country, and had obtained from the Abbaside caliph Al-Mustadi a sanction for his enterprise, which made it a crusade with the object of extinguishing the rival dynasty of the Fatimides. Amaury, however, was again induced by a bribe to come to the rescue of Shawar and his nominal master Al-'Adid, and this time actually entered Cairo, while a sandstorm destroyed part of the army of Shirkuh, who was forced to retreat. In the same campaign, part of Amaury's army was defeated by Shirkuh, and Alexandria submitted to the Kurdish general ; but finally the latter retired from Egypt after a blockade which drove him to make terms with the king of the Franks. The third and final campaign of Shirkuh in Egypt began in the month of Rabf the First of the year 564. The Frankish king had soon broken off his alliance with the Fatimide caliph, on the plea of treachery on the part of the Egyptians, and making a sudden descent upon Al- Farama, the ancient Pelusium, he had put the inhabitants to the sword. Shawar now once more asked for help from Nur ad-Din, whom he had treated so unfaithfully, and Shirkuh with his nephew Yusuf ibn Ayyub Salah ad-Din, known to Europe as Saladin, led an army to the frontiers of Egypt, where they found the Frankish troops who had been detained there by a stratagem on the part of Shawar, and who now had to beat a hasty and disastrous retreat. Shirkuh now took possession of Egypt, under the sanction of the Fatimide caliph, whose nominal rule he for the present maintained. The assassination of Shawar, however, was a natural and rapid consequence of the Kurdish occupation ; and Shirkuh became vizier in his place. After filling this post for two months and five days, Shirkuh died, and was succeeded in the vizierate by his nephew Saladin. The history of Saladin is well known to European readers. He was INTRODUCTION. xxiii the son of Ayyub the son of SMcti, a member of the noble Kurdish tribe of Rawadiyah, natives of Duwin, a town of Adharbaijan, and was born A. H. 532 at Takrit, where his father and uncle were in the service of Bihruz, who was acting as governor of the district under the Seljucide sultan Masud ibn Muhammad Ghiyath ad-Din. When Saladin became vizier of Egypt he at once began to give free rein to his ambition, and to display his capabilities for administration and for military activity. By his amiable demeanour and by promises of money, he won the emirs and the soldiery to his side, and was soon able to carry out the project of extinguishing the Fatimide dynasty, and once more proclaiming the Abbaside in Egypt as the true caliph. In the year 567, on the 2nd day of the month of Muharram, the Khutbah of Al-Adid was stopped by command of Saladin, and the name of Al-Mustadi was put in its place. The last of the Fatimide caliphs, however, was seriously ill at the time of this change, and never knew that his high position had been lost. A few days later the deposed caliph was dead. Saladin now took possession of the palace of the caliphate. Treasures of fabulous value are said to have been found there, hoarded up by the rulers of so large a part of the Mahometan world during two centuries of religious and political supremacy. We read of a carbuncle weighing seven- teen dirhams or twelve mithkals, of a pearl of unequalled size, and of an emerald four finger's breadths in length and one in width. There was also a most valuable collection of books, in spite of the loss of a great portion of the library of the Fatimide caliphs in the reign of Al-Mustansir. Saladin, however, sold all the treasures of the palace. The rejoicings at Bagdad were great when the news came that the Abbaside caliph had been prayed for in the mosques of Egypt, and that the rival dynasty had been overthrown ; and the city was decorated while the revolution was publicly announced during several days. Al-Mustadi sent robes of honour to Nur ad-Din, and to his general Saladin in Egypt. The effect of these political changes upon Egypt in general, and upon the Copts in particular, had been striking. On the approach of the Franks, Shawar ordered that Misr should be burnt, and that the inhabitants should remove to Cairo. The results of this burning of the already decaying city, which had suffered so greatly from the famine xxiv CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. and plague in the reign of Al-Mustansir, are noticed on several occasions in the work attributed to Abu Salih. Churches and monasteries were destroyed, although they were afterwards in part restored. When the Kurdish general Shirkuh had taken possession of Egypt in the name of Nur ad-Din, a considerable part of the land was taken away from its owners and settled upon the Kurds and Ghuzz, who formed the invader's army. In this way the Coptic church lost, for the time, all, or great part of, her landed property. The Ghuzz, who are so often mentioned in this work, and who seem to have formed perhaps the largest and most efficient contingent in the army of Shirkuh and Saladin, were a Turkish tribe whose original home lay ' beyond the river ' of Central Asia, in the region which the Romans called Transoxiana. They removed, however, into the regions of Meso- potamia in the first centuries of Islam, and in the twelfth century entered the service of Nur ad-Din. The theory of land tenure among the Muslims was that all the land had been placed by divine providence at the disposal of the prophet Mahomet and next of his successors the caliphs, who had the right to settle it upon whom they would. Acting upon this principle the prophet himself settled land in Syria upon Tamim ad-Dari, even before the conquest of the country. Some of the titles to landed property in Egypt at the time of our author, and later, were traced back to the earliest caliphs. In general a rent or land-tax was paid to the government in return for such property ; but in later times a system of military fiefs was introduced, similar to those held under the feudal system of western Europe. The present work supplies us with several instances of the rent paid for land held under the Fatimide caliphs. The philological features of the present work form a subject too large to be discussed in an introduction, and would be better treated in a grammar of the Middle Arabic language. It must be remembered, however, that the author is represented in the title as an Armenian, and that his acquaintance with Arabic was probably imperfect. It is also quite clear that the copyist was no more equal to the task of correctly transcribing, than to that of judiciously abbreviating the book. Apart from these considerations, the orthography and grammar of the MS. INTRODUCTION. xxv seem to be those of other MSS. of the same period. Among purely orthographical faults 1 is sometimes written for is, <_,* for u o, and ib for i_^> ; once or twice even -■ for ^i. The distinctions of case have been almost entirely lost, and the accusative is written where the nominative should be, and vice versa. In the case of the word f)*—^) the confusion of cases is especially frequent. Mistakes in gender are also common, especially in the demonstrative pronouns aj.*, for lia, isUi' for eLli, and vice versa. The dual sometimes appears, especially in the numerals, even when they are not in the oblique case or construct state, with the termination ^ for ijl— or a \— ; compare Spitta, Grammatik des arabischen Vulgardialectes von Aegypten, p. 132, where such forms as U £L5 'two-thirds,' l _^» 'two- fifths,' are said to be used in all cases and states in the official language of the Divans, and to have passed thence into the vulgar tongue. At other times the oblique case in ^— is used for the nominative, just as in the plural ^— takes the place of oi — . On fol. 64 b an adjective in the feminine singular is placed in attribution to a dual masculine, according to the rule in modern Arabic, although a few lines afterwards the masc. plur. is used. On fol. 93 a there is a noticeable form of the 2nd pers. plur. masc. of the perf., viz. } } +i^x"' for the classical ( .^^s"', instead of the more modern ^-^^ ; but this may be a proof of the greater purity of the Arabic spoken in the Oases. It is a peculiarity of the present work that in certain parts the language is far more classical than in others ; but this may be because the author has in some places closely followed some writer of the first ages of Islam, such as Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam or Al-Kindi, and in other places has composed his sentences for himself. d [II. 7.] CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. HISTORY Foiib COMPOSED BY THE SHAIKH ABU SALIH, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE DISTRICTS AND FIEFS OF EGYPT. Armenian Monastery and Churches at Al-Basdtin. Section I. Let us begin 1 with the help and guidance of God. In this our own time, namely at the beginning of the year 564 s (Oct. 4, A. D. 1 1 68- Sept. 23, 1 169), took place the rebuilding of the [Armenian] church, named after Saint James, which stands in the district of Al-Basatin 3 , one of the districts of Egypt, in the neighbourhood of the hills. This was in the days of * * * , who was an emir 4 , and ruled Egypt on behalf of the Fol. 2 1 Folio 1 b was not part of the original MS., of which, in reality, the first twenty-two leaves are wanting, but was added by its owner, who perhaps compiled it from mutilated fragments of some leaves now missing, to supply a beginning to the incomplete book. Hence the abruptness, obscurity, and inaccuracy of the text. See Preface. 2 This date must be rejected ; it is the date of the dispersion of the monks (see fol. 2 a), not of the rebuilding of the church, which must have taken place many years before. 3 Or, in the singular, Al-Bustan. It lies a few miles to the south of Cairo, on the right or eastern bank of the Nile, near the Mukattam range, in a region of gardens, as the name implies. It is now included in the district of Badrashain, in the province of Jizah, and in 1885 had a population of 1,698; see Recensement de VEgypte, Cairo, 1885, tome ii. p. 65. (A. J. B.) 4 This first page of the MS. is so little trustworthy in its present form, that it can hardly be determined who this emir was. Since the events here related b [IT. 7-] 2 CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT. caliph. He was a friend to all Christians, whether high or low. He received a monthly revenue of ten dinars 1 from the lands [of the monastery] which he held in fief 2 . He then undertook and carried out the reconstruction of this church of Saint James, which had been burnt down ; he built for it, above the sanctuary 3 , a lofty dome, which could be seen from afar ; he erected arches and vaults ; and he completed the whole by setting up the great doors. These, however, were afterwards carried away, and accordingly he renewed them once more ; the same thing happened a second time, and again he renewed the doors. He also completed the rebuilding of the [adjacent] church, which, however, he did not cause to be consecrated, nor was the liturgy celebrated in it. When the emir died, he was buried in this church. Now the monastery, [in which this church is contained,] stands in the midst of gardens and plots of vegetables and cornfields ; and it is reckoned among the most charming of resorts for pleasure. § When the Ghuzz 4 and the Kurds took possession of the land of cannot really belong to the year a.h. 564, as they would seem to do if the date here given could be relied upon, it may be suggested that this emir was the Armenian Badr al-Jamali, who was vizier to the caliph Al-Mustansir from a. h. 467 to 487 = a. d. 1075-1094, and was known as Amir al-Juyush or emir of the troops, i. e. commander-in-chief. On account of his nationality and religion, Badr was a benefactor to the Christians of Egypt. Cf. Renaudot (Hist. Patr. pp. 459 and 508), who speaks of the Armenian settlement in Egypt in the time of Badr, mentioned by our author on fol. 47 b. 1 The dinar was a gold coin, slightly over 66 grs. in weight. 2 For remarks on the tenure of land in Egypt, see Introduction. 3 The word Askina (llxJLl or ULxJLl), from the Greek ox^, is used in this work in the sense of ' sanctuary,' and appears to be sj'nonymous with Haikal (jiCli). Cf. Vansleb (His/oire de VEglise d' Alexandrie, Paris, 1677, p. 50), who speaks of 'la lampe de VAskene ou du Tabernacle, ce qui est le chceur interieur.' The modern Copts, however, use the word to denote the baldakyn over the altar, such as may be seen, for example, in the church of Abu 's-Saifain at Old Cairo. See Butler, Ancient Coptic Churches, Oxford, 1884, vol. i. p. 114. (A. J. B.) 4 For remarks on the Kurdish conquest of Egypt, see Introduction. Our author, or more probably his copyist, by putting :a!1 and ^\S^\ in apposition ARMENIAN MONASTERY AND CHURCHES. 3 Egypt, in the month of Rabi' the Second, in the year 564 (a. d. 1 168-9), calamities well known to all men overtook the Armenians 1 , who were then settled in Egypt. Their patriarch 2 , together with the Armenian monks, was driven away from that monastery of which we have been speaking ; its door was blocked up, and those churches remained empty, nor did any one venture to approach them. § Al-Bustan [or Al-Basatin] was next allotted as a fief to the Fakih Al-Baha 3 All, the Damascene, who set apart for the Armenians the church of John the Baptist, built over 4 the church of the Pure Lady 5 , in the Harah Zawilah 6 ; and here the patriarch dwelt during the year 564 (A. D. 1168-9). seems to consider them as two names of the same nation. Perhaps there is some confusion between enX