Islamic history Emirate of sicily

[Fabregas]

The Emirate of Sicily was a Muslim state from 948 to 1072. Authority in Sicily had been vested in emirs installed from what is present day Tunisia since 827, the island then gained the status of emirate in 948 with the kalbid dynasty. Byzantine Sicily was frequently the target of raids by Syrians, Egyptians, and Moors from North Africa. As early as 652, Saracens from Kairouan made incursions into the island. In around 700, the island of Pantelleria was captured by Moors, and it was only discord among the Arabs that prevented Sicily being next. Instead, trading arrangements were agreed and Arab merchants established themselves in Sicilian ports. Then, in 827, came the fully fledged Arab invasion.

 

It was sparked by a failed Sicilian coup against an unpopular Byzantine governor. Euphemius, a wealthy landowner, overcame the imperial garrison in Siracusa, declared himself Emperor and invited the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia to help him. The response was a fleet of 100 ships and 10,000 troops under the command of Asad ibn al-Furat, which consisted largely of Arab, Berber and Spanish Muslims. After resistance at Siracusa, the Muslims gained a foothold in Mazara del Vallo. Palermo fell after a long siege in 831, but Siracusa held out until 878. From 842 to 859 the Arabs captured Messina, Modica, Ragusa and Enna. In 902 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold also fell to the Arabs and by 965 all of Sicily was under Arab control and Palermo became one of the largest cities in the world.

 

As a virtually an independent emirate, Sicily played a privileged role as bridge between Africa and Europe. Trade flourished and taxes were low. The tolerant regime allowed subjects to abide by their own laws. Despite freedom of worship, Christians freely converted to Islam and there were soon hundreds of mosques in Palermo alone.

 

The Arabs initiated land reforms which in turn, increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, a dent to the dominance of the landed estates. The Arabs further borrowed Roman engineering and Persian irrigation systems. A description of Palermo was given by Ibn Hawqual, a Baghdad merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb called the Kasr (the citadel) is the center of Palermo until today, with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral. The suburb of Khalessah (Kalsa) contained the Sultan's palace, baths, a mosque, government offices and a private prison. Ibn Hawqual reckoned 7,000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops.

 

In addition to Spanish Moors and Arabs, there were Berbers, black Africans, Persians, Greeks, Jews, Slavs and Lombards. Western Sicily particularly prospered with Berbers settling in the Agrigento area coupled with Syrians and Egyptians in Palermo. In succession Sicily was ruled by the Sunni Aghlabid dynasty in Tunisia and the Shiite Fatimids in Egypt. The Byzantines took advantage of temporary discord to occupy the eastern end of the island for several years. After suppressing a revolt the Fatimid caliph appointed Hassan al-Kalbi (948-964) as Emir of Sicily. He successfully managed to control the Byzantines and founded the Kalbid dynasty. Raids into southern Italy continued under the Kalbids into the 11th century, and in 982 a German army under Otto II was defeated near Crotone in Calabria. With Emir Yusuf al-Kalbi (990-998) a period of steady decline began. Under al-Akhal (1017-1037) the dynastic conflict intensified, with factions within the ruling family allying themselves variously with Byzantium and the Zirids. By the time of Emir Hasan as-Samsam (1040-1053) the island had fragmented into several small fiefdoms.

 

Muslim rule in Sicily slowly came to an end following an invitation by the Emirs of Catania and Siracusa for a Norman invasion. The Normans, under Count Roger de Hauteville (Altavilla) attacked Sicily in 1061, beginning a thirty year struggle against the Saracens. In 1068, Roger and his men defeated the Arabs at Misilmeri but the most crucial battle was the siege of Palermo in 1072. Following the Norman conquest, Arab influence continued to persist creating a hybrid culture on the island that has contributed much to the character of modern Sicily

 

The Arabs (Saracens) in Sicily

 

After the Romans came the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Byzantines. Following them came the Arabs --also called Saracens in the early centuries-- and it was the Arab influence on Sicilian cooking that became the most important, and that has endured to this day. The Greeks colonized and taught methods of farming, the Romans used Sicily as their breadbasket, but it was the Arabs, conquering in 831, who brought food traditions that affected Sicilian cooking. They introduced sophisticated methods of irrigation that made vegetable farming possible; they brought the omnipresent eggplant, oranges and lemons. Today the enduring scent of orange in the air is associated with Sicily. So strong was their imprint that even the language absorbed Arab words. For example, Marsala wine, justly famous, takes its name from the Arab - Marsah el Allah or 'the port of God.' They also brought mathematics, primarily that area known as al gebra.

 

The capitol of the Arab world was Palermo, and the importance of cities shifted from Siracusa to Palermo. The splendor of Palermo was said to rival that of ancient Baghdad. Sicily and Spain were at this time main areas of communication between east and west. Because the Jewish peoples were able to move freely between eastern and western languages and thinking, the Jewish population flourished in Sicily, side by side with the increasingly large Christian population. Christian, Arab and Jew lived in harmony.

 

The most important Arab import was pasta. Scholars now agree that it probably was the Arabs who invented pasta (click to read read our history of pasta). The Arab use of spices and dried fruit, in particular raisins, left an indelible mark on Sicilian cooking. They also brought cous-cous, known in Sicily as 'cuscusu'. Couscous is made of tiny balls of flour and water which are left to dry in the sun, then steamed over a boiling pan of water. The Arabs would use lamb, possibly chicken, to accompany the couscous. With the abundance of fish, this changed, and a classic Sicilian dish in the province of Trapani, is couscous cooked with the broth of the local fish to give it a seafood flavor. The Arabs also brought rice dishes, though rice was considered the food of the sick. Despite this disregard, Sicily has its one classic rice dish - arancini, little round balls of rice with meat in its center, or of rice with cheese at its center.

 

The Arabs also brought a sweet tooth that would lead to the development of Sicilian baked goods - cookies of every type, cakes and sherbets. During Greek and Roman reign, honey had been the sweetener, but the Arabs brought sugar cane and the first rudimentary sugar refinery was established in Trappeto. The Sicilians took to this sweet marvel, and their pastries are today famous throughout Italy. The classic cassata comes from the Arabic qas'ah which word refers to the terra-cotta bowl that is used to shape the cake. The sweet tooth may also be responsible for the taste of agrodolce -sweet/ and tart- that flavors such dishes as zucchini al agrodolce. Marzipan also comes from the Arabic martabãn. There is also torrone, another sweet of Arab origin

 

Like so much of southern Italian life, the Arab invasions of the 8th century heavily influenced the regional cuisine and is the most accepted theory for the introduction of pasta. The dried noodle-like product they introduced to Sicily is most likely the origins of dried pasta and was being produced in great quantities in Palermo at this time. The modern word "macaroni" derives from the Sicilian term for making dough forcefully, as early pasta making was often a laborious daylong process. How it was served is not truly known but many Sicilian pasta recipes still include other Arab gastronomic introductions such as raisins and spices like cinnamon. This early pasta was an ideal staple for Sicily and it easily spread to the mainland since durum wheat thrives in Italy's climate. Italy is still a major producer of this hard wheat, used to make the all-important semolina flour.

 

NOTE:Arab refers to a diverse range of muslims from north africa and the middle east later known as "saracens or moors".

[Centurion]

a joy to read, geeljire.

I'm embaressed to admit i didn't know the 'saracens' reached Sicily. I should've known though, at that time in history much of the mediteranean was under Arab control.

 

i was aware of their invasion of Cyprus ( then later invaded by the Ottomans), but not of Sicily.