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

Adémar of Chabannes was born around 989 into a family of the lower nobility from the village of the same name, Chabannes, in Aquitaine. At the age of seven, he entered the monastery of Saint-Cybard d'Angoulême, but in 1007 he transferred to the abbey of Saint-Martial in Limoges, where he completed his novitiate.<ref name="ftn1">Landes, Relics, p. 85.</ref>In 1014 he was ordained priest in Saint-Cybard. Some years later, he began collecting material for his chronicle, from which the passage quoted here is taken.<ref name="ftn2">Adémar de Chabannes, Chronique, transl. Chauvin/ Pon, p. 11.</ref>

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.

Walker, Paul E.: al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam THREE, ''URL:[http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30213 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30213], accessed 09.04.2021.|8=al-Ḥākim, Anti-Judaism, Antisemitism, Apocalypse bathing culture, Bedouins, persecution, Christian-Muslim festivals, ''ḏimmī'', ''dhimmī'', Fatimids, church of the Holy Sepulchre, interreligious, Jews, monastery of St Catherine of Mount Sinai, monasticism, pilgrimage, syncretism, conspiracy theory, destruction, ''zunnār''|3a=''Ipso anno sepulchrum Domini Hierosolimis confractum est a Judeis et Sarracenis, III° kalendas octobris millesimo X° anno ab incarnatione ejus. Nam Judei occidentales et Sarraceni Hispanie miserunt epistolas in Orientem, accusantes Christianos et mandantes exercitus Francorum super Sarracenos orientales commotos esse. Tunc Nabuchodonosor Babilonie, quem vocant Admiratum, concitatus suasu paganorum in iram, afflictionem non parvam in Christianos exercuit, deditque legem ut quicumque christiani de sua potestate nollent fieri Sarraceni, aut confiscarentur aut interficerentur. ''|3b=''Unde factum est ut innumerabiles christianorum converterentur ad legem Sarracenam, et nemo pro Christo morte dignus fuit preter patriarcham Jherosolimorum, qui variis suppliciis occisus est, et duos adolescentes germanos in Egipto, qui decollati sunt et multis claruerunt miraculis. Nam ecclesia Sancti Georgii, que actenus a nullo Sarracenorum potuit violari, tunc destructa est cum aliis multis ecclesiis sanctorum, et peccatis nostris promerentibus, basilica sepulchri Domini usque ad solum diruta. Lapidem Monumenti cum nullatenus possent comminuere, ignem copiosum superadiciunt, sed quasi adamans immobilis mansit et solidus.Bethleemiticam ecclesiam, ubi Christus natus est, cum niterentur destruere, subito apparuit eis lux fulgurans, et omnis multitudo paganorum corruens exspiravit, et sic ecclesia Dei genitricis intacta remansit. Ad monasterium quoque montis Sinai, ubi quingenti et eo amplius monachi sub imperio abbatis manebant, habentes ibidem proprium episcopum, venerunt Sarracenorum decem milia armatorum, ut monachos perimentes habitacula eorum cum ecclesiis diruerent. Propinquantes autem a quatuor fere milibus, conspiciunt totum montem ardentem et fumantem, flammasque in celum ferri, et cuncta ibi posita cum hominibus manere illesa. ''|3c=''Quod cum renunciassent regi Babilonio, penitencia ductus tam ipse quam populus Sarracenus valde doluerunt de his quae contra Christianos egissent, et data preceptione, jussit reaedificari basilicam Sepulchri gloriosi. Tamen redincepta basilica, non fuit amplius similis priori nec pulchritudine nec magnitudine quam Helena mater Constantini regali sumptu perfecerat. Mox e vestigo super omnem terram Sarracenorum fames incanduit per tres annos, et innumerabilis eorum multitudo fame mortua est, ita ut plateae et deserta cadaveribus replerentur, et fierent homines cibum et sepultura feris et avibus. Secuta est eos gladii vastitas. Nam gentes Arabiae super terram eorum diffuse sunt, et qui remanserant fame, gladiis interierunt. Captus est ab eis rex Babilonius, qui se contra Deum erexerat in superbiam, et vivus, ventro dissecto, visceribusque extractis, impiam animam ad baratrum projecit. Venter ejus, lapidibus oppletus, consutus est, et cadaver, ligato plumbo ad collum, in mare demersum est. ''|4a=In the same year, the sepulchre of the Lord in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Jews and Saracens, on the third calends of October in the year 1010 since his Incarnation. This was because the western Jews and the Saracens of Spain had sent letters to the Orient accusing the Christians of having raised a Frankish army and to have this army come upon the Saracens in the Orient. Greatly angered by this information from the pagans, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom they refer to as Admiratus, then inflicted not a little misery on the Christians and issued a law according to which all Christians under his rule unwilling to become Saracens would either be dispossessed or killed.|4b=Hence it happened that countless Christians converted to the Saracen law, and no one was worthy to die for Christ except the patriarch of the Jerusalemites, who was put to death in an agonising manner, and two young men in Egypt, who were brothers, were beheaded and [later] shone in many miraculous manifestations. Finally, the church of St. George, which no Saracen had yet succeeded in desecrating, was destroyed, as were many other churches of the saints, and the church of the Lord's sepulchre was pulled down to the ground because of our sins. [But] they were unable to break the stone of the sepulchre in any way, although they laid a great fire, but it remained immovable and firm as diamond. When they endeavoured to destroy the church in Bethlehem, where Christ was born, a dazzling light suddenly appeared to them, and the whole multitude of the heathen collapsed and died, and so the church of Our Lady remained unharmed. Also at the monastery on Mount Sinai, where more than five-thousand monks were staying under the leadership of the abbot, and where they had their own bishop, ten-thousand Saracens came with weapons to kill the monks and destroy their cells and churches. But when they had come within about four miles, they saw the whole mountain glowing and smoking, and the flames reached up to heaven. But all that was there, with the people, remained unharmed.|4c=When this was reported to the king of Babylon, he and all the Saracen people repented of what they had done to the Christians, and he issued a decree to rebuild the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in all its splendour. But the rebuilt church did not remotely resemble that of the first one which Helena, Constantine's mother, had built with royal funds, in its beauty and grandeur. Shortly afterwards, a famine that lasted for three years took the whole country of the Saracens, and countless of them died of starvation, so that the roads and the desert were filled with corpses, and the people found their burial as food for the wild beasts and birds. This was followed by destructions of the sword, for the nations of Arabia spread over their territory, and those who had survived the famine died by the swords. They [i.e. the peoples of Arabia] took the king of Babylon captive, who had risen up in pride against God, and they cut up his abdomen whilst he was alive, tore out his intestines, and threw his nefarious soul into the abyss. His stomach was filled with stones and sewn up, and his body weighed down with lead and sunk in the sea.}}