Musical Contact/Influence during the Crusades

Dwight Reynolds Discussion

[Apologies for cross-listing from other groups]

It is often claimed that during the Crusades, Europeans came into contact with Middle Eastern musical traditions, and that when they returned from the eastern Mediterranean they brought with them 'influences' (usually very vaguely defined) that then affected the development of Western music.

  Although I think the supposition is quite possibly correct, I have never been
able to find any real evidence to support this idea, particularly in contrast with the abundant evidence of musical contact in al-Andalus.

   Does anyone know of Middle Eastern (or Western) texts that mention music, musicians, performances, etc., from the period of the Crusades? 

  I should note that I am already aware of the musicians' biographies
originally composed by Ibn Naqiya that are partially preserved in Ibn Fadlallah al-'Umari's *Masalik al-absar* and of the relevant treatises on music theory. 

I am hoping that members of Adabiyat might be able to steer me to other texts (historical or biographical, for example) that mention musical performances of any kind.

Many thanks,
Dwight Reynolds
UC Santa Barbara

3 Replies

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Dear Dwight,

An interesting name at the crossroad might be Kamal al-Din ibn Yunus (d.1242), a Muslim philosopher who worked on music theory as well. He was the master of Siraj al-din al-'Urmawi (d.1294), whose "al-Sharafiyyah" is thought to be a key book of what is called "the systematist music theory." The philosopher Qutb al-din Shirazi (d.1311) and many later music theoreticians like al-Maraghi (d.1435), Shirvani (d.1486), Ladikli Mehmed (d.1494), Hajji Buke (d.1500) worked on al-'Urmawi's book. Siraj al-din himself became a close associate of Frederick II Hohenstaufen and wrote a book on logic for him.

Kamal al-din was also the teacher of Jacob of Bartulli (d.1241) and Theodore of Antioch (d.bef.1240). Bartulli wrote "The Book of Church Music in which he discussed hymns, Church melodies, their types, composers and the dates they were used by the Church (http://www.syriacstudies.com/AFSS/Syriac_Scholars_and_Writers/Entries/2008/4/7_228._Jacob_of_Bartulli,_metropolitan_of_St._Matthew_Monastery_(d._1241).html)." For Theodore, see "The Intercultural Career of theodore of antioch." Syrian historian Bar Hebraeus (d.1286)'s Ta'rikh/History is the major source here.

"Muslim-Christian Polemic During the Crusades" (R. Ebied and D. Thomas eds., Brill, 2005) contains the Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi (d.1327)'s response to the letter from the people of Cyprus. The Arabic text itself (p.264) and its English translation (p.265) are available here. Dimashqi's interesting comments on the role of music in the performance of Christian service might be of your interest. "[N]ot only can he talk movingly about the effects of the organ music played in Christian services, but he can also recall word for word the prayers that are recited on specific festivals. He evidently has no trouble remembering what he has almost certainly witnessed at first hand, but is less consistent when he has to remember facts he has come across at some time in books or by other second hand means" (pp.32-33, Ebied & Thomas).

Just some thoughts... Hope it helps. Bests,

aydogan

Aydogan,

Thank you very much for your comments -- Kamal al-Din ibn Yunus indeed sounds like a very interesting figure (I had not heard of him before), and I will follow up on this, as well as the letter of Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi.

However, I think that somehow two separate figures have been conflated into one here:  Siraj al-Din Urmavi (1198-1283) was indeed in the court of Friedrich II von Hohenstaufen in Sicily, but the music theorist who wrote the famous "al-Risala al-Sharafiyya" was Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (1216-1294), who, I believe, was never in contact with Friedrich II.

Did Siraj al-Din also write on music theory?

Regarding Jacob of Bartulli, am I correct that the Book of Church Music has not survived and that we know of its existence only through the mention made of it in the later chapters of the Book of Treasures?  The link that you inluded to the Syrian Studies site does not work, so I am curious to know if a text of the Book of Church Music does indeed exist.

Many thanks,

Dwight

 

 

 

 

Dear Dwight,

 

Many thanks for the clarification. Right, Safi al-din the writer of the Sharafiyyah, and Siraj al-din the student of Kamal al-din ibn Yunus should be different. As far as I know, twelve works are attributed to Siraj al-din, and none of them is on music theory. 

 

Here again is the link for Bartulli: 

 

The link is a bit long, but I hope it will appear in full this time. If it does not, just type "syriac studies, bartulli, book of church music" in your search engine, and it will show up. The entry also refers to "the Dialogue" of Bartulli. Its part on physics, accordingly, contains a discussion on music as well. I do not know which books of Bartulli survived; all I know on his works is derived from the Syriac Studies digital library link given above.

 

The link mentions of Kamal al-din ibn Yunus as Bartulli's teacher of philosophy and logic. "The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy" (Ch.18 "Arabic into Latin: the reception of Arabic philosophy into Western Europe," C. Burnett, Cambridge, 2006, p.370) and "The Intercultural Career of theodore of antioch" also briefly mention of Kamal al-din. The TDVIA encyclopedia has an entry on Kamal al-din (http://www.islamansiklopedisi.info/dia/pdf/c20/c200275.pdf), but it is Turkish. The entry mentions that he studied music when he was in Baghdad until returning Mosul in 1179 without giving any detail. The bibliography of the entry contains a list of the primary sources on Kamal al-din (Ibn Abi 'Usaybi'ah, Ibn Khallikan, Abu al-Fida', Dhahabi, etc.) and a list of his works. I can translate the entry into English if you please.

 

Another quick thought: For Albertus Magnus and many others, might the works on music theory by Falasifa like Ibn Bajja and Ibn Rushd be a source in the period of the Crusades? F. Shehadi's "Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam" (Brill, 1995) cites a 1929 article titled "the Influence of al-Farabi's Ihsa' al-'Ulum (de scientiis) on the Writers of Music in Western Europe," and similar philosophical paths of "influence." Albertus' discussions on music are contained in his commentary on the Poetics, while Averroes' Middle Commentary on the Poetics substituted for Aristotle's own work around mid.13th century.

 

Bests,

 

aydogan