The
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
conducted a major raid on the
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
n coast in 934–35, culminating in the sack of its major port,
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, on 16 August 935. The coasts of Spain and southern France may also have been raided and the islands of
Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
and
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
certainly were. It was one of the most impressive accomplishments of the
Fatimid navy
The navy of the Fatimid Caliphate was one of the most developed early Muslim navies and a major military force in the central and eastern Mediterranean in the 10th–12th centuries. As with the dynasty it served, its history can be distinguished ...
.
At the time, the Fatimids were based in North Africa, with their capital at
Mahdia
Mahdia ( ar, المهدية ') is a Tunisian coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of Monastir and southeast of Sousse.
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax
Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located ...
. The raid of 934–35 was the high point of their domination of the Mediterranean. They never again raided so far afield with so much success. Genoa was a small port in the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
. How wealthy Genoa was at the time is not known, but the sack is sometimes taken as evidence of a certain economic vitality. The destruction, however, set the city back years.
Sources
There is no strictly contemporary source for the raiding expedition of 934–35, but
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
(Christian) and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
(Muslim) sources broadly agree about the course of events. The earliest source is the ''Antapodosis'' of Bishop
Liudprand of Cremona
Liutprand, also Liudprand, Liuprand, Lioutio, Liucius, Liuzo, and Lioutsios (c. 920 – 972),"LIUTPRAND OF CREMONA" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'', Oxford University Press, New York & Oxford, 1991, p. 1241. was a historian, diplomat, ...
, written in the 960s. After relating a raid by the Muslims of
Fraxinetum
Fraxinetum or Fraxinet ( ar, فرخشنيط, translit=Farakhshanīt or , from Latin ''fraxinus'': "ash tree", ''fraxinetum'': "ash forest") was the site of a Muslim fortress in Provence between about 887 and 972. It is identified with modern ...
on the city of
Acqui
Acqui Terme (; pms, Àich ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is about south-southwest of Alessandria. It is one of the principal winemaking communes of the Italian DOCG wine Brachetto d'Ac ...
, which he describes as fifty miles from
Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
, Liudprand records:
"At the same time, in the Genoese city, which has been built in the Cottian Alps, overlooking the African sea, eighty miles distant from Pavia, a spring flowed most copiously with blood, clearly suggesting to all a coming calamity. Indeed, in the same year, the Phoenicians orth Africansarrived there with a multitude of fleets, and while the citizens were unaware, they entered the city, killing all except women and children. Then, placing all the treasures of the city and the churches of God in their ships, they returned to Africa."
The earliest Islamic account, the ''
Chronicle of Cambridge'', was written after 965 and perhaps as late as the eleventh century. It says only that the Caliph
Muḥammad Abu l-Ḳāsim al-Ḳāʾim bi-amr Allāh, who had succeeded to the throne earlier that year, sent a fleet to Genoa and captured it. Later and generally less reliable Arabic accounts offer greater detail. The most important of these is that of the
Ismāʿīlī
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-S ...
historian
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, who died in 1468. He relied on earlier, now lost, Ismāʿīlī (Fatimid) sources.
Raid
According to the Muslims sources, a fleet of ships left Mahdia under the command of
Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq on 18 June 934 (7 Rajab 322) to attack the ''Rums'' (Christians). The sources do not agree on the number of ships:
Ibn al-Athīr
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...
gives thirty, while ʿImād al-Dīn says twenty. According to ʿImād al-Dīn, "on the way
aʻqūbencountered Rumi ships loaded with merchandise; he captured them and took prisoner those who were on board."
The Fatimid fleet then approached Genoa from the west, from the direction of Spain, having apparently sailed along the coast and across the
Gulf of Lion
The Gulf of Lion or Gulf of Lions ( French: ''golfe du Lion'', Spanish: ''golfo de León'', Italian: ''Golfo del Leone'', Occitan: ''golf del/dau Leon'', Catalan: ''golf del Lleó'', Medieval Latin: ''sinus Leonis'', ''mare Leonis'', Classical L ...
. At some point, Genoa, which ʿImād al-Dīn describes as a "well-fortified city", became the prime target of the raid. Although other cities, including
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, were probably attacked, none are named in the extant sources. Some sources indicate that Corsica and Sardinia were also raided, possibly on the return voyage from Genoa to Mahdia. At Genoa, fighting took place outside the city walls and later in the streets of the city. The Fatimid forces having the upper hand, the city was plundered and burnt on 16 August 935, according to Ibn al-Athīr. The fleet returned to Mahdia on 28 August 935 (26 Ramaḍān 323), twelve days after the sack.
Upon Yaʻqūb's return to Mahdia, the caliph held a triumph for him. According to ʿImād al-Dīn, "the prisoners were exhibited and the fleet was decorated" while Yaʻqūb "entered the city wearing his most beautiful clothes". He then conferred with the caliph al-Ḳāʾim, sitting in a special ''dar al-bahr'' (sea pavilion), and was offered any sum of money asked to be distributed to the soldiers, a request which ʿImād al-Dīn says the caliph honoured.
Legacy
The extent of the destruction in Genoa is known only from literary sources, which tend to exaggerate.
Ibn al-Dhahabī records 1,000 women sold into slavery and ʿImād al-Dīn gives 8,000 prisoners total. Both numbers are too high to be credible. Nonetheless, the city may have been completely depopulated for some years after the sack.
The sack of Genoa in 935 has led to some discussion about whether early tenth-century Genoa was "hardly more than a fishing village" or a vibrant trading town worth attacking.
Benjamin Kedar
Benjamin Ze'ev Kedar (born 2 September 1938)Who's Who in Israel 2001 (Tel Aviv, 2002), p. 214: "KEDAR, Benjamin Z. is professor emeritus of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was president of the international Society for the Stu ...
, who is responsible for drawing scholars attention to the potential relevance of ʿImād al-Dīn on this question, argues that the linen and raw silk mentioned among the loot carried away by the Fatimids are evidence of trade with the Islamic world. He sees these thing as among the "treasures" mentioned by Liudprand. ʿImād al-Dīn, however, is a late source. Contemporary documentary sources are utterly lacking. Genoese charters only survive in significant numbers from the second half of the tenth century onwards, a fact which itself may be a result of the destruction wrought in 935.
In the late thirteenth century,
Jacopo da Varagine believed that the
Genoese fleet had been away when the Fatimids attacked. After returning, it pursued the attackers and rescued the captives.
Notes
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934
935
930s conflicts
Events in Genoa
Military history of the Mediterranean
Naval battles involving the Fatimid Caliphate
Looting
10th century in Europe
10th century in the Fatimid Caliphate