1009: Adémar of Chabannes on the Destruction of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: Difference between revisions

Adémar's work is characterised by the widespread expectation of the Last Days in his time. Research even assumes that Adémar's preoccupation with history and chronography was aimed at gaining more precise knowledge about the coming of the Apocalypse and the Antichrist, which were expected for the years between 1025 and 1037.<ref name="ftn7">Landes Relics, pp. 125, 287.</ref> Adémar probably began writing the chronicle around 1025. A first "draft", referred to as Alpha in the edition used here, dates from 1026/1027. It was followed by the Beta version, which Adémar compiled in Angoulême in 1028.<ref name="ftn8">Adémar de Chabannes, Chronique, transl. Chauvin/ Pon, p. 15.</ref> The Gamma version, the most detailed manuscript, was probably completed in 1029.<ref name="ftn9">Landes, Relics, pp. 217-221.</ref> In 1033, Adémar set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to experience the end of the world under the protection of God.<ref name="ftn10">Landes, Relics, pp. 326-327.</ref> He had previously completed his works and left them at the Abbey of Limoges.<ref name="ftn11">Landes, Relics, pp. 324-327, 315.</ref> In 1034, Adémar of Chabannes died, probably near Jerusalem.

This source passage stems from Adémar's chronicle, more precisely it is taken out of the forty-seventh chapter of the third book, and deals with the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In the introductory sentence, this is dated to the third ''calendars'' of October (29 September) 1010, although other sources indicate that the destruction had already taken place the previous year.<ref name="ftn12">As for the various datings in the sources see Krönung, al-Ḥākim, p. 140; Weltecke, Zerstörung, p. 267.</ref> In the same paragraph, Adémar identifies "the Jews and the Saracens" as the responsible perpetrators. The narrative then begins with Adémar explaining the cause of the destruction: "the western Jews" and "the Saracens of Spain" had sent messages to the Orient, claiming that "the Franks" were busy raising an army to occupy the "Saracen lands in the Orient". Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon" was furious at this news and sought revenge against the Christians. The "Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon", as can be concluded from the historical circumstances, refers to the Fatimid Caliph al-Ḥākim (r. 386-411/996-1021), whom Adémar probably gave the name Nebuchadnezzar in reference to the Old Testament kings of Babylon.<ref name="ftn13">Adémar de Chabannes, Chronique, transl. Chauvin / Pon, p. 259.</ref> Babylon, on the other hand, was a common name in Latin sources both for the Abbasid capital Baghdad (near the biblical Babylon on the Euphrates) and, as here, for the Fatimid capital Cairo (near the Roman military fortress of Babylon, the later al-Fusṭāṭ or Old Cairo). Adémar further reports that the ruler was called Admiratus, which could either be translated literally as "the admired one" or interpreted as a Latinisation of the Arabic-Islamic title amīr, which can mean "commander" or "ruler", but in the extended form amīr al-muʾminīn (commander of the faithful) also represents the title of the caliph.<ref name="ftn14">See Al-Dūrī, Amīr; Hamilton, Amīr al-Muʾminīn.</ref>

When the caliph learned of this, he and the entire "Saracen people" were filled with remorse, so that al-Ḥākim issued the decree to rebuild the church. At this point, Adémar emphasises that the new basilica cannot compete with the original church built by Helena (d. c. 329), the mother of Emperor Constantine (r. 306/324-337). Finally, Adémar reports on a three-year famine that blighted "the land of the Saracens" and had claimed countless victims. In addition, "peoples from Arabia" (''gentes Arabiae'') invaded the country and, as executors of a divine judgement, captured the caliph, cruelly murdered him, and sank his body in the sea.

Adémar's account of the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem establishes several multi-layered references between the Latin-Christian West and the Arab-Islamic sphere and connects them with inner-Christian discourses. The following section first discusses the history of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and its significance for Latin Christians and then, against the background of several parallel sources, discusses Adémar's account and justification of the anti-Christian measures of the Fatimid Caliph al-Ḥākim and their consequences. Finally, the focus is on Adémar's knowledge of the intra-Fatimid developments related to the "peoples of Arabia" as well as his potential sources of information.