The Emperor and the Elephant : Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne

A new history of Christian-Muslim relations in the Carolingian period that provides a fresh account of events by drawing on Arabic as well as western sources In the year 802, an elephant arrived at the court of the Emperor Charlemagne in Aachen, sent as a gift by the ʿAbbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid. This extraordinary moment was part of a much wider set of diplomatic relations between the Carolingian dynasty and the Islamic world, including not only the Caliphate in the east but also Umayyad al-Andalus, North Africa, the Muslim lords of Italy and a varied cast of warlords, pirates and renegades. The Emperor and the Elephant offers a new account of these relations. By drawing on Arabic sources that help explain how and why Muslim rulers engaged with Charlemagne and his family, Sam Ottewill-Soulsby provides a fresh perspective on a subject that has until now been dominated by and seen through western sources. The Emperor and the Elephant demonstrates the fundamental importance of these diplomatic relations to everyone involved. Charlemagne and Harun al-Rashid’s imperial ambitions at home were shaped by their dealings abroad. Populated by canny border lords who lived in multiple worlds, the long and shifting frontier between al-Andalus and the Franks presented both powers with opportunities and dangers, which their diplomats sought to manage. Tracking the movement of envoys and messengers across the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and beyond, and the complex ideas that lay behind them, this book examines the ways in which Christians and Muslims could make common cause in an age of faith. Cover Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter 1. Introduction Diplomacy Political Context Sources Chapter 2. Perception and Practice in Carolingian Diplomacy with the Islamic World Problems of Perspective Considering the Other Christ and Belial Envoys Travel Reception Gifts Eating the Fish Chapter 3. Carolingian Diplomacy with the 'Abbāsid Caliphate Existential Questions Motivations The Alliance System Patriarchs and Politics Prestige Diplomacy First Contact: Pippin III and al-Manṣūr (767–768) Charlemagne and Hārūn al-Rashīd The Elephant in the Room The End of Carolingian Diplomacy with the ʿAbbāsid Caliphs (831) Chapter 4. Carolingian-Umayyad Diplomacy, Part 1: 751–820 The Frontier The Beginning of Carolingian Relations with the Umayyads, 751–793 Sulaymān, Charlemagne, and the Roncesvalles Campaign, 777–781 An Unusual Proposition My Girona, 781–793 751–793 Conclusion The Franks on the Offensive, 796–812 Useless Peace, 810–820 Conclusion Chapter 5. Carolingian-Umayyad Diplomacy, Part 2: 820–864 Disaster on the Frontier, 820–830 Leaders and Tribunes Lights in the Sky Charles the Bald and Umayyad Spain, 840–864 The Son of Evil, 847–851 Rebels and Vikings, 863–864 The Third King of Spain The Martyrs of Córdoba The End of Carolingian-Umayyad Diplomacy Chapter 6. The Central Mediterranean: The Limits of Carolingian Diplomacy with the Islamic World The Second Part of the World: Charlemagne and North Africa All-Out War: The Emirates of Italy Dogs in the Nighttime Conclusion. Death of an Elephant Bibliography Index