joshua c. birk NORMAN KINGS OF SICILY AND THE RISE OF THE ANTI-ISLAMIC CRITIQUE Baptized Sultans Norman Kings of Sicily and the Rise of the Anti- Islamic Critique Joshua C. Birk Norman Kings of Sicily and the Rise of the Anti-Islamic Critique Baptized Sultans Joshua C. Birk Smith College Northampton, USA ISBN 978-3-319-47041-2 ISBN 978-3-319-47042-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47042-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016962716 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my parents, Raye Birk and Candace Barrett, whose steadfast love and support helped make this book possible A cknowledgments I am indebted to a number of institutions which helped make this research possible. Medieval Academy of America as well as both the History Department and Graduate Division of the University of California pro- vided the financial research to craft the dissertation that served as the foundation for this book. Thank you to the librarians and archival staff at the Archivio di Stato di Palermo, Archivio Storico Diocesano di Palermo, Archivio Storico Diocesano di Catania and Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana who demonstrated enormous patience with and offered invalu- able advice to a confused American graduate student attempting to navi- gate the Sicilian archives. The National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Academy in Rome, Eastern Illinois and Smith College offered the resources, time and support to complete this manuscript. A vast number of friends contributed their thoughts and ideas to this book. I want to give special thanks to Maureen Miller, Joana Drell, Kim Bowes, Jonathan Coit, Sarah Cunningham, Vera Tobin, Suko Toyofuku, Philip Levis and Scott Williamson for reading over various sketches and versions of this project. The conversations that Brian Catlos and Sharon Kinoshita fostered around their Mediterranean Seminar have helped me find broader contexts for the specifics of my research. My colleagues at Smith College, particularly Jeffrey Ahlman, Marnie Anderson, Ernest Benz, Darcy Buerkle, Craig Davis, Daniel Gardner, Sergey Glebov, Jennifer Guglielmo, Suleiman Mourad, Elizabeth Pryor, Ann zulawski and Nadya Sbaiti provided invaluable insight, support and guidance throughout the entire writing process. I have also been fortunate to work with four bril- vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS liant young scholars, Rosie Taylor, Jessa Fries, Elizabeth Haas and Amalia Stark, as research assistants over the course of writing this manuscript. I cannot adequately express my appreciation to my teachers. Amy Remensyder’s lectures enthralled me as an undergraduate and encouraged me to become a medievalist. Stephen Humphreys first directed me to study medieval Sicily. Sharon Farmer has a unique gift for realizing when her students have found something; she recognized that I had stumbled on a wonderful research project well before the thought occurred to me. Ed English and James Brooks through their seminars, readings and gen- erous critiques showed me that history could be an art and gave me the tools to help me pursue this project. Finally, Carol Lansing, my adviser, has been and continues to be a constant source of support, advice and inspiration. I can’t thank all of you enough. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 Saracen Soldiers: Muslim Participation in Norman Military Expeditions 33 3 A “Semi-Pagan Tyrant?” 81 4 T he Case of Philip of Mahdiyya: A Medieval Murder Mystery 139 5 L iminality as Centrality: The Sicilian Eunuch Tradition 173 6 C ommunity as Collateral 207 7 T he End of Muslim Sicily 265 8 Epilogue 303 ix x CONTENTS Bibliography 325 Index 361 A b bbreviAtions for ibliogrAphy ANS Anglo-Norman Studies ASSO Archivio storico per la Sicilia orientale BAS2 Biblioteca arabo-sicula, ossia Raccolta di testi arabici che toccano la geografia, la storia, la bio- grafia e la bibliografia della Sicilia BISIME Bullettino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo EHR The English Historical Review FSI Fonti per La Storia D’Italia HSJ The Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History JMH Journal of Medieval History MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica MGH Ldl MGH. Libelli de lite imperatorum et pontificum (Ldl) MGH SS MGH. Scriptores (in Folio) MGH SS rer. Germ. MGH. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi MGH SS rer. Germ. N.S MGH. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova series RIS Rerum italicarum scriptores xi