Medieval Syria and the Onset of the Crusades: The Political World of Bilad al-Sham 1050–1128 By James Wilson

Wilson’s Medieval Syria is a solid general overview, focusing on the region of northern Syria during the later Fatimid, Seljuq, and early Crusader periods. Since it is rather unusual for a monograph to combine the events of the later eleventh and early twelfth centuries as a unit—rather than breaking any discussion at the appearance of the Crusaders in 490/1097—Medieval Syria is quite a refreshing bird’s-eye view.

Starting in ch. 1 with the Byzantine domination of northern Syria as a reality of the mid-eleventh century, Wilson details the interlocking relations between the Byzantines and the shifting Arab nomadic coalitions of Kilāb, Kalb, and Numayr in northern Syria and al-Jazīra. Wilson’s most obvious contribution in this chapter is to emphasize and detail the symbiosis between the Byzantines and the Arab tribal dynasties.

Personally, I was most interested in Wilson’s presentation of Fatimid Syria in ch. 2, an aspect of Fatimid rule that does not receive much scholarly attention. As with ch. 1, his focus is heavily on northern Syria, especially detailing Fatimid weakness due to the defeat at the Battle of Funaydiq (452/1060) (pp. 75–7).

While ultimately this battle led to a Fatimid piecemeal withdrawal from Syria, Wilson is correct to highlight the continuing pro-Fatimid sympathies among the Damascenes at least (p. 89). Such sympathies can be easily documented through reading Ibn ʿAsākir’s Tāʾrīkh madīnat Dimashq (= TMD)¹ or the relevant poetry cited in Yāqūt, Muʿjam al-buldān, praising the Fatimids for defeating Atsiz, and presenting him (and Turks in general) as being barbarians.

Chapter 3, covering the Great Seljuq period, is again heavily tilted towards northern Syria, and the relations between the sultans and the local Arab and Turkmen tribes. While an overview, Wilson’s presentation is nuanced, and demonstrates his grasp of the situation’s complexity just prior to the appearance of the First Crusade.

However, when discussing Seljuq and Turkish rule it is disappointing that Wilson ignores the imposition of Ḥanafism on the part of the Seljuqs, Damascene resentment towards which is quite apparent in both Ibn ʿAsākir’s and Ibn al-Qalānisī’s histories. Citation of this local Damascene material would have moved Wilson’s discussion away from the courtly chronicles that occasionally lead him a bit astray.

For example, on p. 130, he states that

early Seljuq rulers, such as Tutush, Qasim al-Dawla, and Tughtegin, were praised in the Arabic chronicles for acts of good governance and generally improving the fortunes of the people of Aleppo and Damascus.

Aside from the fact that neither Qasim al-Dawla nor Tughtegin were Seljuqs, Wilson incorrectly cites as evidence for this assertion Ibn ʿAsākir’s near-contemporary biographical entry on Tutush (TMD, xi. 35 [no. 989]), which states nothing of the kind. On the contrary, Ibn ʿAsākir gives graphic details of Tutush’s soldiers torturing the chief judge of Damascus (TMD, xliii. 226–7 [no. 5080]), as well as supplying a poem pillorying the corruption of Tutush’s minister in Damascus, Fakhr al-Mulk (TMD, lii. 403 [no. 6316]), who was embezzling funds from the reconstruction of the congregational mosque. Other sources cited for the assertion of good governance are mostly court chronicles or are quite distant from the time-period such as Ibn Khallikān.

Chapter 4 covers the question of the counter-crusade against the Frankish incursions—whether there was a Seljuq or Fatimid initiative in this regard. I found the most interesting section to be the connections between the Fatimid vizier al-Afdal and the Damascene ruler Tughtegin, and the question of coordination between the two in terms of political and military manoeuvres (pp. 165–7). This is an issue which seems to fall through the cracks in other historical presentations of either Egypt or Syria.

With ch. 5, Wilson moves the discussion back to Aleppo for the most part. This chapter, comparing the role of the elites, especially those below the ruling level, in the power equation, I found to be particularly engaging. There are very useful discussions concerning the comparative defensibility of Aleppo as opposed to Damascus, as well as all manner of geographical-political definitions of Aleppo vis-à-vis the Franks in both Antioch as well as the Latin Kingdom.

Medieval Syria is virtually a literary and historical survey of the materials published and the ongoing scholarly discussions of the past half-century until the present. The bibliography is a copious one, and many original sources in a wide variety of languages are cited throughout.

Unlike so many shorter monographs, Wilson gives in-depth endnotes, and engages almost every scholar who has published in the field. Medieval Syria could easily be recommended for a general survey course, and would also be good as an introduction to a seminar. The writing style is easy to follow, and there are a number of maps and diagrams to aid the reader in visualizing the numerous political and military shifts of this time-period.²

Footnotes