Glassmaking in medieval Tyre: The written evidence

Journal of Glass Studies

Volumn 45, Issue , 2003, Pages

  Carboni, Stefano ^a   Lacerenza, Giancarlo ^a   Whitehouse, David ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 60950072539     PISSN: 00754250     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Fred Aldsworth and others, "Medieval Glassmaking at Tyre, Lebanon," Journal of Glass Studies, v. 44, 2002, pp. 49-66.
2. I. C. Freestone, Y. Gorin-Rosen, and M. J. Hughes, "Primary Glass from Israel and the Production of Glass in Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic Period," in La Route du verre: Ateliers primaires et secondaires du second millénaire av. J.-C. au Moyen Age, ed. M.-D. Nenna, Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen, no. 33, Lyons: Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen-Jean Pouilloux, 2000, pp. 65-83.
3. W. B. Fleming (The History of Tyre, Columbia University Oriental Studies, v. 10, New York: Columbia University Press, 1915, repr. New York: AMS Press Inc., 1966, pp. 122-124) describes the capture of Tyre and notes the state of the site in and after the 14th century.
4. In 1321, Abū al-Fidā said that the city was in ruins (Guy le Strange, trans., Mukaddasi, Palestine under the Moslems, 1890, repr. Beirut: Khayats, 1965, p. 345)
5. and this is confirmed by William of Bodensele, who visited the Levantine coast in 1332-1333 and reported that both Tyre and Acre had been destroyed (E. Ashtor, Levant Trade in the Later Middle Ages, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983, p. 42).
6. al-Qalqašandī (4.153) noted essentially the same situation in 1418 (M. S. Joukowsky, ed., The Heritage of Tyre, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1992, p. 78).
7. C. J. Lamm, Mittelalterliche Gläser und Steinschnittarbeiten aus dem Nahen Osten, Forschungen zur Islamischen Kunst, v. 5, Berlin, Verlag Dietrich Reimer/Ernst Vohsen, 1929-1930, v. 1, p. 491, nos. 41-45;
8. S. Assaf, "Old Genizah Documents from Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa [I-II])," Tarbiz, v. 9, 1937-1938, pp. 11-34 and 196-218, esp. pp. 196-197, no. 10 (in Hebrew);
9. G. Lacerenza, "Echi biblici in una leggenda. Tiro in Beniamin da Tudela," Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, v. 56, 1996, pp. 462-470.
10. M. J. de Goeje, ed., Descriptio Imperii Moslemici Auctore Schamso'd-dîn Abû Abdullâh Mohammed ibn Ahmed ibn abî Bekr al-Bannâ al-Basschârî al-Mokaddasi, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1876, p. 180.
11. B. A. Collins, reviewed by Mohammad Hamid Alta'i, Al-Muqaddasi, The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions, Reading, England: Garnet Publishing Ltd., 1994, p. 150.
12. P.-A. Jaubert, La Géographie d'Edrisi traduite de l'arabe d'après deux manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1836-1840, repr. Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1975, p. 349.
13. The most recent critical edition of Idrisi's Opus Geographicum was published in Naples and Rome by the Istituto Universitario Orientale and the Istituto per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1970-1984, 9 vv., edited by Enrico Cerulli.
14. W. Wright, ed., Rihla Ibn Jubayr - The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, Edited from a Ms. in the University Library, Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1852, p. 275.
15. R. J. C. Broadhurst, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, Being the Chronicle of a Medieval Spanish Moor Concerning His Journey to the Egypt of Saladin, the Holy Cities of Arabia, Baghdad the City of the Caliphs, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, London: Jonathan Cape, 1952, p. 284.
16. The main analysis of the genizah documents is in the six volumes of S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1967-1993. Of special importance for this article is v. 1 (Economic Foundations, 1967).
17. While some information is provided by correspondence (cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973, p. 18), legal documents provide a richer collection of references (cf. the indexes of Goitein's volumes [note 12], under "Glass" and "Glassmakers").
18. S. D. Goitein ("The Main Industries of the Mediterranean Area as Reflected in the Records of the Cairo Geniza," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, v. 4, 1961, pp. 168-197, esp. p. 186, n. 8) stated that a Jewish craftsman of Tyre recorded in ms. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hebr. C28 (Neubauer and Cowley no. 2876), f. 32, was probably a glassmaker. However, Goitein ([note 12], v. 1, p. 362, n. 2) later described his activity as being connected with the mint.
19. Cambridge, University Library, ms. T-S. 13 J 33, f. 5. The text was first published by Assaf [note 4]. It'was cited by Goitein [note 12], v. 1, p. 421, n. 65, and an English translation of it appeared in A. Engle, Readings in Glass History, Jerusalem: Phoenix Publications, no. 2, 1973, pp. 26-29.
20. On the legal value of the symbolic agreement or purchase (qinyan, lit. "purchase," "ownership"), see M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, New York, 1903, pp. 1392-1393 (s.v.); and Goitein [note 12], v. 2, pp. 329-330.
21. Babylonian Talmud, Ketûbbôt, 85a.
22. S. Assaf, "Tyrian Documents from the 11th Century," Eretz Israel, v. 1, 1951, pp. 140-144, esp. pp. 141-142 and fig. on p. 144 (in Hebrew).
23. The main editions of the text are by A. Asher, ed., The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, London, 1840-1841;
24. and M. N. Adler, ed., The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, London: Oxford University Press, 1907.
25. The Hebrew text is also available in J. D. Eisenstein, ed., Ozar Massaoth. A Collection of Itineraries by Jewish Travellers to Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Other Countries, New York, 1926, pp. 15-44;
26. and A. Ya'ari, ed., Travels in the Holy Land, Tel Aviv: Gazit, 1946, pp. 31-47 (in Hebrew).
27. On the section of interest to us, see also J. Prawer, "The Hebrew Itineraries of the Crusader Period," Jerusalem Cathedra, v. 40, 1986, pp. 31-62, esp. pp. 45-56
28. (in Hebrew; revised in idem, The History of the Jews in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988, pp. 169-250);
29. and H. P. Rüger, Syrien und Palästina nach dem Reisebericht des Benjamin von Tudela, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1990 (annotated translation, without Hebrew text; on Tyre, pp. 6-7 and 32-34).
30. References to Adler's edition (the best one, although not really critical) employed here are to be read in the following way: Hebrew letters = pages of the Hebrew text; Hebrew letters in brackets = pages of Asher edition; and Arabic numbers = Adler's introduction, translation, and notes. A good presenta-tion of the textual tradition (manuscripts, printed editions, and translations) is in G. Busi, ed., Binyamin da Tudela. Itinerario (Sefer massa'ot), Rimini: Luisè, 1988, pp. 85-87.
31. Cf. R. Schmitz, "Benjamin von Tudela 'Das Buch der Reisen.' Realität oder Fiktion," Henoch, v. 16, 1994, pp. 295-314.
32. In addition to the authors quoted elsewhere in this paper, note the description of Tyre in the mid-11th century by Nâscombining dot belowir-e Khosraw: C. Schefer, ed., Nasir-e Khosraw. Sefer Nameh, Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1881, pp. 46-47;
33. W. M. Thackston, trans., Nāser-e Khosraw's Book of Travels (Sefernāma), New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, p. 16.
34. Susan M. Babbitt, "William of Tyre," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. J. R. Strayer, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989, v. 12, pp. 643-644.
35. R. B. C. Huygens, ed., Guillaume de Tyr. Chronique, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, v. 63, Turnhout: Brepols, 1986, pp. 589-590.
36. Y. Gorin-Rosen, "The Ancient Glass Industry in Israel: Summary of the Finds and New Discoveries," in La Route du verre: Ateliers primaires et secondaires du second millénaire av. J.-C. au Moyen Age, ed. M.-D. Nenna, Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen, no. 33, Lyons: Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen-Jean Pouilloux, 2000, pp. 49-63;
37. S. C. Ferruolo, "Jacques de Vitry," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. J. R. Strayer, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986, v. 7, pp. 39-40.
38. Y. Gorin-Rosen, "Excavation of the Courthouse Site at 'Akko: Medieval Glass Vessels (Area TA)," 'Atiqot, v. 31, 1997, pp. 75-85;
39. G. D. Weinberg, "A Glass Factory of Crusader Times in Northern Israel (Preliminary Report)," Annales de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, v. 10, Madrid/Segovia, 1985 (Amsterdam, 1987), pp. 305-316.
40. One of the few recent scholars to recognize the importance of the glass industry of Tyre is A. J. Boas (Crusader Archaeology: The Material Culture of the Latin East, London and New York: Routledge, 1999, pp. 150-151).
41. Stefano Carboni and David Whitehouse, with contributions by Robert H. Brill and William Gudenrath, Glass of the Sultans, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Corning: The Corning Museum of Glass, Athens: Benaki Museum, and New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001, p. 156.
42. George F. Bass, "The Nature of the Serçe Limani Glass," Journal of Glass Studies, v. 26, 1984, pp. 64-69, esp. figs. 2a, b, f, and g, and 5a and h.
43. J. Prawer, "I Veneziani e le colonie veneziane nel regno latino di Gerusalemme," in Venezia e il Levante fino al secolo XV, ed. Agostino Pertusi, Florence: Leo S. Olschi, 1973, pp. 625-656;
44. D. Howard, Venice & the East, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000, pp. 30-31.
45. L. Zecchin, "Materie prime e mezzi d'opera dei vetrai nei documenti veneziani dal 1233 al 1347," Rivista della Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro, v. 4, 1980, pp. 171-176, esp. p. 171.
46. Lamm [note 4], no. 47, quoting E. G. Rey, Recherches géographiques et historiques sur la domination des Latins en Orient, Paris: Typographie Lahure, 1877, p. 42.