At the time of the First Crusade, the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia were divided into semi-autonomous cities, governorship of which changed relatively frequently. Northern territories were primarily held by various Turkic groups, of which the most prominent were initially the Seljuk Turks. These Turkic groups were relatively recent arrivals from central Asia converts to Islam. To the south-west, Egypt was initially ruled by the Shi’ite Fatimid Caliphate. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Fatimids and Seljuks were succeeded by the Zengids, Ayyubids, Khwarazmians and eventually, Mamluks. The non-Christian Levantine population during this era was made up of ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, Sunni and Shi’a Muslim denominations, and smaller populations of Jews, Druze and Samaritans. They also consisted of Bedouin, Arab nomadic tribes, while groups such as the Mamluks, Khwarazmians, Ayyubids, Zengids, Fatimids, and Seljuks were notably religiously and culturally diverse.
Islamic regional powers in the Levant at the time of the Crusades
Questions
Look at the following quotes and images which depict Muslim and Jewish women during the Crusades. After you have done so, consider and discuss the following questions:
- What roles and positions are medieval Muslim and Jewish women depicted as performing in society and warfare? How does this vary?
- How do medieval Muslim and Jewish women appear to have intersected with the Crusades?
- Who wrote about medieval Muslim and Jewish women? How do you feel this affected how they were viewed and represented?
- Are you surprised these depictions of medieval Muslim and Jewish women? If so, why?
- How do representations of medieval Muslim and Jewish women differ from medieval depictions of Eastern Christian and Latin Christian women?
Muslim and Jewish Women and the Crusades: Quotes and Images
Reverence for Women
Reverence for Women: During Saladin’s conquest of Nur al-Din’s Zengid Attabegate
“Atabeg ‘Izz al-Dīn [heir of Nur al-Din] sent his mother to Saladin along with the daughter of his uncle Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Zankī, others of his womenfolk and a number of the notables of his state to ask him to make peace. They offered an alliance and the support of their troops if he would withdraw. He only sent the women because he and all around him thought that, if they asked for Syria, he would grant them their request, especially as the daughter of his master and patron, Nūr al-Dīn, was with them. When they arrived, he provided lodgings for them, summoned his advisors and asked them what he should do… but the Lawyer ‘Īsā and ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad al-Mashṭūb… said, ‘The like of Mosul is not given up for a woman. ‘Izz al-Dīn has sent them merely because he is too weak to hold the city.’
This agreed with his own inclination so he sent the ladies back disappointed and made various unacceptable excuses. After they had returned, Saladin marched towards Mosul, confident that he would take the city, but things turned out quite differently… The common people volunteered their help, angry and wrathful at Saladin’s rejection of the women. Saladin met an unexpected reception and was regretful, when regret was useless, that he had turned the women away, since he had lost his good reputation and chance to control the city. He turned on those, who had advised that the women be repulsed, with blame and reproach.”
-Ibn al-Athir
Ibn al-Athir (b. 1160, d. 1233). was an Arabic/Kurdish historian and biographer based in Mosul, who accompanied Saladin’s army to Latin territory during the 1180s. His Al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh (Complete History) is an extensive, multi-volume text describing histories of much of Asia, Africa and Europe. This includes extensive descriptions of the Crusades and Latin settlement in the Levant from the First Crusade (1095-99) until his time of writing in the early 1230s.
Ibn al-Athir, 2007. The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh, Part II, The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur al-Din and Saladin. Ed. and trans. by D. Richards. Ashgate Publishing.
Reverence for Women: Usamah’s Grandmother
“We carried off the lion and entered the town as night approached. In the dark of night, my grandmother on my father’s side (may God have mercy upon them both) came to me, carrying a candle before her. She was a prodigiously old woman, nearly one hundred years of age. I had no doubt that she had come to congratulate me on my safety and to inform me of her joy at what I had done.
And so I met her and kissed her hand, but she said to me with annoyance and anger, ‘My boy, what in the world brings you to face these trials where you risk your life and your horse, you break your weapons and you simply add to the bad feelings and ill-will towards you in your uncle’s heart?’
‘My lady,’ I replied, ‘I have only endangered myself today and on similar occasions to bring me closer to my uncle’s heart.’
‘No!’ she said. ‘By God, this does not bring you closer to him, but rather increases his estrangement from you and encourages his bad feelings and ill-will towards you.’
I learned then that she (may God have mercy upon her) was giving me wise counsel with these words and speaking the truth. By my life, these are indeed the mothers of men!”
-Usamah ibn Munqidh.
Usamah ibn Munqidh (b. 1095, d. 1188) was a Syrian Muslim nobleman, knight and poet whose family’s land, Shaizar, bordered the Latin East. Usamah travelled widely and became involved in court intrigue in the Fatimid Caliphate and Damascus. Over the course of his long life, he also served Zengi, Nur al-Din and Saladin in their military campaigns. Usamah wrote and compiled a number of collections of poems, and is best known for his Kitab al-I’tibar (Book of Contemplation), an adab text about life in the Levant intended to entertain and educate readers.
Usāmah Ibn Munqidh, 2008. The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades. Trans. by Paul Cobb. Penguin.
Women and Warfare: Combatants
“On the same day, an old woman named Funun, who had been a servant-girl of my grandfather Sadid al-Mulk ‘Ali (may God have mercy upon him), covered herself with her veil, took up a sword and went out into battle. And she kept at it until we were able to climb up and overpower the enemy. So no one can deny that noble women possess disdain for danger, courage for the sake of honour and sound judgment.“
-Usamah ibn Munqidh
Usāmah Ibn Munqidh, 2008. The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades. Trans. by Paul Cobb. Penguin.
“On that day, the leader of the group of Isma’ilis [the ‘Assasins’], ‘Alwan ibn Harrar, and my cousin Shabib (may God have mercy upon him) encountered one another in the citadel. Shabib was the same age as me and we were born on the very same day, Sunday, 27 Jumada al-Akhira in the year 488 (4 July 1095), though he had not seen battle prior to that day, whereas I had become a master of it.
‘Alwan wanted to put Shabib under his obligation, so he said to him, ‘Go back to your home, carry off whatever you can and get out of here. You won’t be killed. We’ve already taken the castle.’ So Shabib returned to his house and said, ‘If anyone has any valuable things, give them to me.’ He said this to his aunt and his uncle’s women. Every one of them gave him something.
As he was doing this, a figure suddenly entered the house wearing a mail hauberk and a helmet, with a sword and shield. When Shabib saw this figure, he felt certain of death. The figure threw off its helmet and behold! It was his aunt, the mother of his cousin Layth al-Dawla Yahya (may God have mercy upon him).
‘What is it you are intending to do?’ she asked him.
‘I’m taking whatever I can carry and then I’ll climb down from the castle on a rope and go and make my way in the world,’ he replied.
‘What a wicked thing you are doing! You would leave the daughters of your uncle and the rest of your household in the hands of these cotton-carders and just take off? What sort of life would you be living, brought to shame in the eyes of your family and fleeing from them? Get out there and fight for your family until you are killed in their midst! And may God do something with you, and do it again!’
And so she (may God have mercy upon her) prevented him from fleeing. After that, Shabib became one of our most noted horsemen.“
-Usamah ibn Munqidh
Usāmah Ibn Munqidh, 2008. The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades. Trans. by Paul Cobb. Penguin.
Women and Warfare: Victims
Victims of The First Crusade
In France, J., 1997. The capture of Jerusalem. History Today, 47(4), pp. 37-42.
“Upon entering Jerusalem the pilgrims pursued and killed Saracens and other infidels even to the Temple of Solomon and the Temple of the Lord. Gathered there the enemy waged a hot battle until sundown, but our men killed so many that blood flowed through all of the Temple. Finally, after having overwhelmed the pagans, our men grabbed a large number of males and females in the Temple, killing some, and sparing others as the notion struck them. Tancred and Gaston of Btarn gave their banners to a great number of the infidels of
both sexes crowded on the roof of the Temple. Soon the crusaders ran through all the city taking gold, silver, horses, mules, and houses packed with all lunds of riches. Afterwards, all came rejoicing and weeping with joy to the Holy Sepulchre of our Savior. On the next morning Tancred sent forth the command that the Christians go to the Temple to kill Saracens. Upon their arrival some began to draw their bows and to kill. Another group of crusaders climbed to the roof of the Temple and rushed the Saracens huddled there, decapitating males and females with naked sword blades. They caused some to plunge from the Temple roof and others found their death above.“
-Fulcher of Chartres, describing the Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade (1099).
Fulcher of Chartres, 1913. Historia Hierosolymitana (1095-1127). Ed. by Heinrich Hagenmeyer. C. Winter.
Victims of the Mongol Invasions
“The Tatars [Mongols] sent to their ruler Chingiz Khan to ask for reinforcements which he supplied to them in great quantity. When they had reached the city, they made a series of assaults, eventually taking a part of it. The inhabitants gathered to oppose them at the place which they had taken but were unable to expel them. They kept up the fight, although the Tatars were seizing district after district from the,. Every time they took a district, the Muslims fought them in the next one. Men, women and children fought and continued to do so until the whole city had fallen with everyone in it killed and all it contained plundered.“
-Ibn al-Athir
Ibn al-Athir, 2007. The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh, Part II, The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur al-Din and Saladin. Ed. and trans. by D. Richards. Ashgate Publishing.
From Rašīd al-Dīn Fazl-ullāh Hamadānī. Bibliothèque nationale de France. Supplément Persan 1113. Folio: 84R.
Biography
Terken Khatun was the wife of the Khwarazmian Shah, Ala ad-Din Tekish, and the mother of Khwarazmian Shah Muhammed II, whom she co-ruled with and advised. She fled along with the Shah’s harem from the Khwarazmian Empire during the Mongol invasion, but was captured and died in poverty.
Victims of the Crusaders
“In the garrison of the Bridge was a Kurdish man called Abu al-Jaysh, who had a daughter named Raful, who had been carried off by the Franks. Abu al-Jaysh became pathologically obsessed with her, saying to everyone [150] he met, ‘Raful has been taken captive!’
The next morning we went out to walk along the river and we saw a form by the bank of the river. We told one of the attendants, ‘Swim over there and find out what that thing is.’ He made his way over to it, and what should the form be but Raful, dressed in a blue garment. She had thrown herself from the horse of the Frank who had captured her and drowned. Her dress was caught in a willow-tree. In this way were the pangs of despair of her father silenced. “
-Usamah ibn Munqidh
Usāmah Ibn Munqidh, 2008. The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades. Trans. by Paul Cobb. Penguin.
Elite Women: Shajar al-Durr
Biography
Shajar al-Durr (?-1257) was a Sultan of Egypt. A former slave, Shajar became the concubine and then wife of the Ayyubid sultan, As-Salih Ayyub. After her husband’s death during the Seventh Crusade, Shajar became Sultan of Egypt during a time of conflict between the declining Ayyubids and emerging Mamluks. She abdicated in favour of her next husband, Izz al-Din Aybak, whom she later had murdered, after which she was murdered herself.
From Prazeres, R., 2021. Mausoleum of Shajar al-Durr DSCF2771. Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mausoleum_of_Shajar_al-Durr_DSCF2771.jpg. [Accessed 26/06/22].
Elite Women: ʿIṣmat ad-Dīn Khātūn
“In the month of May, scarcely a month after this time, Nur ad-Din, a mighty persecutor of the Christian name and faith, died in the twenty-ninth year of his rule.[1131] He was a just prince, valiant and wise, and, according to the traditions of his race, a religious man. On learning of his death, the king [Amalric of Jerusalem] immediately convoked all the strength of the kingdom and laid siege to the city of Banyas.
Biography
ʿIṣmat ad-Dīn Khātūn (b. early-mid 1100s, d. 1186) was a Turkic noblewoman. The daughter of Mu’in ad-Din Unur, regent of Damascus, she married Nur al-Din when her father recognised his lordship over the city. After his death, she protected Damascus from attack by the forces of King Amalric of Jerusalem, before marrying Nur al-Din’s eventual successor, Saladin. ʿIṣmat purportedly died of a plague epidemic which swept through Damascus in 1186.
At this, Nureddin’s widow, with courage beyond that of most women, sent a message to the king demanding that he abandon the siege and grant them a temporary peace. She promised to pay a large sum of money in return. The king, however, in the hope of extorting a larger bribe, at first pretended to spurn her plea and continued the siege.For about fifteen days he prosecuted the undertaking with vigor and zeal and caused the foe great trouble with his siege engines and in various other ways. Finally he perceived, however, that the ability of the Turks to resist was steadily increasing and began to realize that he had no chance of success. Meanwhile the envoys of the noble lady kept insistently demanding peace. He finally decided to accept the proffered money, and, on the release of twenty captive Christian knights in addition, he raised the siege with the intention of undertaking greater projects later.”
-William of Tyre
William of Tyre (b. 1130, d. 1186), was a Latin Christian chronicler and prelate. Born 30 years after the First Crusade, William lived and died in the Latin East, but travelled widely in Europe to study canon law and literature. William also served as ambassador to the Byzantine Empire under King Amalric, and tutored his son, the future Baldwin II. William died in 1186, just before the Kingdom of Jerusalem was invaded by the forces of Saladin. Though other works by William do not survive, his Historia Rerum in Partibus Transmarinis Gestarum (History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea) does, and describes the twelfth century history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
William of Tyre, 2014. A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. Lulu. Pp. 380-1.
‘Bad’ Women
“One night, I went into town on my way to my house on some errand I had to do. As I approached the town, I could see between the tombstones some sort of shape by the light of the moon, a shape neither human nor beast. So I stopped and stood a way off, in fright. But then I said to myself, ‘I’m Baqiya, am I not? Should I be afraid of some solitary thing?’ So I put down my sword, leather shield and javelin and crept ahead, inch by inch. As I did so, I could hear a voice coming from that shape and some vulgar singing. Once I had got close to it, I pounced on top of it, holding my dagger in my hand. I grabbed on to it and what should it be but Burayka, head uncovered, hair all wild, sitting astride a reed, neighing and traipsing about the tombs. ‘Shame on you!’ I said. ‘What are you getting up to at this hour in such a place?’ ‘I am practising black magic,’ she replied. And so I said to her, ‘May God abominate you and your magic, and out of all the crafts, may He abominate this craft of yours!“
-Usamah ibn Munqidh
Usāmah Ibn Munqidh, 2008. The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades. Trans. by Paul Cobb. Penguin.
Everyday Images of Women
Clockwise from top: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/461158. [Accessed 02/02/2023]; Johnbod, 2020. Bowl, Mina’i. Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowl,Mina%27i(%22enameled%22)ware_MET_DP372046(cropped).jpg. [Accessed 02/02/2023]; PHGCOM, 2009. Coin of Mahmud_II_mint_of_Mossul_female_with_two_winged_victories_1223. Wikimedia Commons. Available: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahmud_II_mint_of_Mossul_female_with_two_winged_victories_1223.jpg. [Accessed 02/02/2023]; पाटलिपुत्र, 2021. Standing guard figure, Seljuk period, Iran, late 12th-13th century. Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standing_guard_figure,_Seljuk_period,_Iran,_late_12th-13th_century.jpg. [Accessed 02/02/2023].
Questions
Now that you have looked at the provided quotes and images depicting Muslim and Jewish women during the crusades, take another look at and discuss the questions at the top of the page.
Further Reading: Individuals
Shajar al-Durr
Levanoni, A., 2010. Shajar al-Durr: A Case of Female Sultanate in Medieval Islam. Medievalists.net. Available at: https://www.medievalists.net/2010/02/shajar-al-durr-a-case-of-female-sultanate-in-medieval-islam/. [Accessed 28/06/22].
Ruggles, D., 2020. Tree of pearls: The extraordinary architectural patronage of the 13th-century Egyptian slave-queen Shajar al-Durr. Oxford University Press.
Gold coin of Shajar al-Durr, Mamluk ruler. The British Museum. Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1849-1121-294. [Accessed 03/10/22].
Kerbogha’s Mother
Hodgson, N., 2001. The role of Kerbogha’s mother in the Gesta Francorum and select chronicles of the First Crusade. Gendering the Crusades. Ed. by S. Edgington and S. Lambert. University of Wales Press.
Zumurrud Khatun
El-Azhari, T., 2019. Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661–1257. Edinburgh University Press.
Dayfa Khatun
Humphreys, R., 1977. From Saladin to the Mongols, The Ayyubids of Damascus 1183-1260. SUNY Press.
Humphreys, R., 1999. Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age. University of California Press.
Tabbaa, Y., 1997. The City: Aleppo Under the Ayyubids. In Constructions of power and piety in medieval Aleppo. Pennsylvania State University Press.
Safwat al-Mulk
Humphreys, R., 1994. Women as patrons of religious architecture in Ayyubid Damascus. Muqarnas, 11. Pp.35-54.
Further Reading: General Histories
Ailes, M., 2020. Desiring the Other: Subjugation and Resistance of the Female Saracen in the chanson de geste. French Studies, 74(2), pp. 173-188.
Cohen, J., 2001. On Saracen enjoyment: Some fantasies of race in late medieval France and England. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 31(1), pp. 113-146.
Cobb, P., 2012. Usama ibn Munqidh: Warrior-poet of the Age of Crusades. Simon and Schuster.
Kahf, M., 1999. Western representations of the Muslim woman: From termagant to odalisque. University of Texas Press.
Ng, J., 2019. Women of the Crusades: The Constructedness of the Female Other, 1100–1200. Al-Masāq, 31(3), pp. 303-322.
Ramey, L., 2013. Christian, Saracen and Genre in Medieval French Literature: Imagination and Cultural Interaction in the French Middle Ages. Routledge.
Schaller, H., 2018. Crusader Orientalism: Depictions of the Eastern Other in Medieval Crusade Writings. Summer Research.