Usamah ibn munqidh autobiography of malcolm

Cobb, Paul M., trans., The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades (London: Penguin Classics)

Text name(s): Kitab al-I'tibar; Book of Contemplation; Book of the Staff

Number of pages of primary source text: 

Author(s): 

Dates:  -

Archival Reference: 

Original Language(s): 

Translation: 

Translation Comments: 

Geopolitical Region(s): 

County/Region: 

Record Types: 

• Literature - Verse
• Literature - Prose
• Memoir

Subject Headings: 

• Women / Gender
• War - Military History
• Travel / Pilgrimage
• Towns / Cities
• Royalty / Monarchs
• Nobility / Gentry
• Muslims / Islam
• Military Orders
• Medicine
• Family / Children
• Diplomacy
• Crusades
• Byzantium

Apparatus: 

• Index
• Glossary
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Introduction

Comments: 

Muslim chronicler Usama Ibn-Munqidh () was a nobleman, warrior, and scholar, whose life and career intersected with both the first and second crusades.

Usama was born in Shaizar, Syria and spent the majority of his life in the service of some of the most powerful emirs in medieval Islamic history, namely, Zangi, Nur al-Din, and even Saladin. Usama was renowned among his contemporaries for his masterful writing and poetry compositions on a variety of topics.

This volume is primarily comprised of The Book of Contemplation, which was written around and is made up of anecdotal musings on a variety of topics, centering around the theme of the inevitability of God&#;s will in life and in death.

The anecdotes are largely autobiographical, taken from Usama&#;s own experiences in daily life, battle, travels, and at court. Much of the Book deals with warfare, against other emirs and Crusaders. Some anecdotes are from Usama&#;s own experience, while others are stories he heard from characters met on his travels.

Usamah ibn munqidh autobiography of malcolm v Author s : Usamah ibn-Munqidh. So I took her in with me to the bath and washed her head. Because, as Usamah wrote in his memoirs, they "never felt secure on account of the Franks, whose territory was adjacent," this education stressed the arts of war. The falcon would drink from it.

Usama&#;s account is of particular interest for scholars of the Crusades, as interactions with the crusaders (&#;Franks&#;) take up a significant place in Usama&#;s anecdotes, especially in his accounts of his pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Usama describes both battles against the Franks and personal interactions with them, revealing the complicated relationships between Muslims and Crusaders.

For example, Usama documents his participation in multiple skirmishes against the Franks while he also describes the Templars guarding Jerusalem&#;s holy sites as his friends.

The last quarter of the volume is dedicated to other excerpts from Usama&#;s Book of the Staff and Kernels of Refinement, which, like The Book of Contemplation, are also made up of personal and historical anecdotes, legends, and snippets of poetry.

Usamah ibn munqidh autobiography of malcolm I dispatched one of my men to Antioch on business. Comments: Muslim chronicler Usama Ibn-Munqidh was a nobleman, warrior, and scholar, whose life and career intersected with both the first and second crusades. Murshid felt no hesitancy in allowing Usamah, even when he was still a mere lad, to accompany him to the battlefield where he saw the flowing blood and broken bones of the dying, and witnessed the harsh treatment often meted out to prisoners. His sharply critical portraits of the Franks as illiterate brutes and sensualists in the Autobiography preserves a vivid record of the European crusaders from the perspective of a highly literate and cultured Islamic observer, although recent scholars suggest that Usa mah was not above using exaggeration to entertain his Muslim audience.

Book of the Staff is dedicated to anecdotes about famous staves and walking sticks and was composed around The selections in this volume center around Usama&#;s pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Kernels of Refinement, from which the second selections are drawn, was composed in and serves as an instructional guide for courtly manners and devotion with historical anecdotes for illustration.

Introduction Summary: 

The introduction (53 pages) offers a detailed overview of Usama&#;s life and cultural context, beginning with a chronology of the notable events in his life.

Next, Cobb offers a summary of the works included in this volume as well as their composition dates and historical contexts. Lastly, Cobb concludes the introduction with a note on his translation, which is based on a English translation by Philip K. Hitti; however, as Cobb claims, this earlier translation did injustice to the spirit of the text and is riddled with smaller errors.

Cobb&#;s intent with this particular edition is to improve upon the available English editions.

Cataloger: FE