Christian-Muslim Relations 600 - 1500
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Subject: Middle East And Islamic Studies
General Editor: David Thomas, Alex Mallett
Associate Editors: Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala, Johannes Pahlitzsch, Barbara Roggema, Mark Swanson, Herman Teule and John Tolan
Christian-Muslim Relations, a Bibliographical History Online is a general online history of relations between the faiths. It covers the period from 600 to 1500, when encounters took place through the extended Mediterranean basin and are recorded in Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin and other languages. Christian Muslim Relations Online comprises introductory essays on the treatment of Christians in the Qur’an, Qur’an commentaries, biographies of the Prophet, Hadith and Sunni law, and of Muslims in canon law, and the main body of more than two hundred detailed entries on all the works recorded, whether surviving or lost.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Associate Editors: Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala, Johannes Pahlitzsch, Barbara Roggema, Mark Swanson, Herman Teule and John Tolan
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Christian-Muslim Relations, a Bibliographical History Online is a general online history of relations between the faiths. It covers the period from 600 to 1500, when encounters took place through the extended Mediterranean basin and are recorded in Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin and other languages. Christian Muslim Relations Online comprises introductory essays on the treatment of Christians in the Qur’an, Qur’an commentaries, biographies of the Prophet, Hadith and Sunni law, and of Muslims in canon law, and the main body of more than two hundred detailed entries on all the works recorded, whether surviving or lost.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Pamet’ i Žitie blaženago učitelja našego Kostantina Filosofa prěvago nastav’nika sloven’sku jezyku
(1,516 words)
Vita ConstantiniMemory and life of our blessed teacher Constantine the Philosopher, the first educator of the Slavonic peopleThe Life of Constantine-Cyril
Unknown author Date: Between 873 and 880 Original Language: Old Church Slavonic
Description The
Life of Constantine-Cyril describes the life of the Christian missionary to the Slavs who became known as St Cyril. Born in 826/27 in Thessaloniki, Constantine was ordained in Constantinople, where he became widely known for his erudition. The greatest achievement for which he is rem…
Panoplia dogmatikē
(551 words)
Armour of doctrines
Euthymius Zigabenus Date: About 1110 Original Language: Greek
Description Following a prologue addressed to Emperor Alexius I, the
Panoplia dogmatikē is divided into two parts (these do not agree with the division into two books given by the author): the first is devoted to the exposition of faith, while the second contains a refutation of various errors. Ch. 22, against the Iconoclasts, signals the change from past to present heresies, and Ch. 28, the last, is dedicated to Muslims; following chap…
Panoplia dogmatikē
(1,559 words)
Thesaurus orthodoxiae‘The armour of doctrine’
Nicetas Choniates Date: About 1206 Original Language: Greek
Description This work comprises 27 books (i.e. ample chapters) on Christian heresies, starting with paganism and up to the author's time. Two books deal with Islam: Book XX is a compilation based mostly on earlier sources, and Book XXVI is an original composition. In the
pinax of the
Panoplia, the title of Book XX is: ‘On the Agarenes’ religion and on the
ordo (
taxis) for those who convert from Islam to our pure and immaculate faith’ (van Dieten,
Zur Überlieferung und Veröffentlic…
Pascal of Vitoria
(401 words)
Paschalis de Victoria, Pascal of Vittoria Date of Birth: Unknown; late 13th century Place of Birth: Spain, possibly Vitoria Date of Death: 1339 or 1340 Place of Death: Almaliq, Central Asia
Biography Nothing is known of Brother Pascal’s life before his travels. There is much evidence that he was from Spain but, whilst Vitoria was definitely the location of the Franciscan monastery to which he belonged, it is not known whether it was also his birthplace. He left Spain around 1333, in the company of Gonsalvo Transtorna, for Avig…
Passio Pelagii
(1,091 words)
The Passion of Pelagius
Raguel Date: Before 967 Original Language: Latin
Description The
Passio Pelagii tells the story of the young Pelagius, nephew of Bishop Ermogius of Tuy in Galicia. In 920, Ermogius was captured in battle, and his ten-year-old nephew Pelagius was sent to Cordova as a hostage in his place, only to be martyred in 925, when he was not yet 14 years old, because he refused to yield to the advances of the emir. The
Passio Pelagii (
BHL 6617) is a fairly short text of about six pages in modern editions. It is conserved in at least six manuscripts, all Spanish…
Passio Sancti Maximiliani
(430 words)
The Passion of St Maximilian
Unknown author Date: 8th or 9th c. Original Language: Latin
Description This passion purports to describe the trial at Tebessa in the Roman province of Africa of a young conscript by the name of Maximilian who refused to accept military service and so was condemned to death on 12 March 295. It is an extremely short work (3-4 pages) whose simplicity has generally led to its acceptance as a reliable account of the death of a genuine Christian martyr in 295.
Significance While the passion does not mention Islam, it has recently been argued that it is bett…
Passio sexaginta martyrum qui passi sunt a Sarracenis (the original Greek title is lost)
(689 words)
Legenda Sancti Floriani et sociorum suorumThe Passion of the sixty martyrs who suffered under the SaracensThe Story of Saint Florian and his companions
Unknown author Date: Mid-7th c. Original Language: Greek
Description The original Greek text seems to have described the execution of sixty Byzantine soldiers who refused to convert to Islam following their capture in Gaza, probably in 639. An Arab commander called Ammiras, perhaps identifiable as ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ, ordered the execution of a first group of ten …
Passio Thiemonis Archiepiscopi
(818 words)
Passio beati Thiemonis, juvanensis archiepiscopi Martyrdom of Archbishop Thiemo
Martyrdom of Bishop Thiemo Date: Early 12th century Original Language: Latin
Description Three hagiographical texts narrate the martyrdom of Archbishop Thiemo of Salzburg, who died in the crusade of 1101. The versions vary slightly, but accord in the events narrated. Thiemo, we are told, along with Duke Welf of Bavaria, led a group of Bavarians and Swabians toward Jerusalem, which was already under the rule of crusader Godfrey. As they a…
Patmut‘iwn Aghuanits‘ ashkharhi
(1,776 words)
History of Aghuank
Movsēs Daskhurants‘i / Movsēs Kaghankatuats‘i Date: Compiled early 10th c., incorporating 7th and early 8th century elements Original Language: Armenian
Description The
History of Aghuank‘ can be accessed through Aṛakelyan’s modern critical edition and Dowsett’s older English translation. It is a composite text which was put together in the early 10th century. This relatively late date of compilation does not mean that it did not exploit and preserve much older materials, and herein lies the value of the text. Following a famili…
Patmut‘iwn Ananun Zruts‘agir
(1,390 words)
‘History of pseudo-Shapuh Bagratun'i ‘History of the Anonymous Story-teller’
The Anonymous Story-teller Date: Late 10th or early 11th century Original Language: Armenian
Description This is a little-studied composition, best known for its misidentification in 1921 as the
History of
Šapuh
Bagratuni, a 9th-century text that remains missing. It comprises a series of unreliable tales featuring well-known figures from the past, loosely woven together. It is divided into two parts which were transmitted together and separately, although individual sections also circulated. Part …
Patmut‘iwn Ghewondeay
(1,686 words)
History of Ghewond (excluding the Letter of Leo III to the Caliph ʿUmar II, [q.v.])
Ghewond = Łewond = Lewond Date: Late 8th or late 9th c. Original Language: Armenian
Description Traditionally, the
History has been treated as a product of the late 8th century, largely on the basis of its chronological scope, which extends to the year 789, the identification of its sponsor Shapuh Bagratuni as the shadowy son of Smbat Bagratuni, who was killed in 775, and quite simply in the absence of any other evidence. A minority of scholars,…
Patmut‘iwn Hayoc‘
(835 words)
'History of the Armenians'
Kirakos Ganjakec‘i or Arewelc‘i Date: 1265-66 Original Language: Armenian
Description The tenth chapter of Kirakos’ history presents the martyrdom of Grigor, an Armenian nobleman from the eastern region of Xač‘en, against the complex background of inter-ethnic and religious tension in southern Caucasia at a pivotal transitional point between Georgian and Mongol suzerainty in the 1220s. A contingent of Kipchak Turks sought a place to settle in Georgia from King Giorgi IV Lasha (r. 12…
Patmut‘iwn Sebēosi
(1,056 words)
The History of Sebeos
Sebēos, pseudo-Sebeos Date: In or shortly after 655, with short updating notices appended to the conclusion, advancing the chronological scope to 661 Original Language: Armenian
Description The work offers a wide-ranging overview of Near Eastern history between 572 and 661. The final third of the text, comprising 41 pages of Abgaryan’s critical edition, records the emergence and expansion of a new and dynamic Islamic polity. It sketches key beliefs, tracing them back to Muḥammad, a preacher and legislat…
Patmut‘iwn tann Artsruneats‘
(1,121 words)
History of the House of Artsrunik‘
T‘ovma Artsruni Date: After 903 and before 908 Original Language: Armenian
Description The work offers an extended study of the history of the Artsruni family from the time of Noah down to 904. Of this, some three-fifths, extending to 162 pages of Patkanean’s edition, is relevant to Christian-Muslim relations. After a brief and highly individual biography of the Prophet Muḥammad, according to which he was taught by an Arian monk named Sargis Baḥīrā and influenced by Salmān the P…
Patriarch Cyril III ibn Laqlaq
(1,092 words)
Dāʾūd ibn Yūḥannā al-Fayyūmī, Ibn Laqlaq, Patriarch Kīrillus III Date of Birth: Unknown; late 12th century Place of Birth: Al-Fayyūm, Egypt Date of Death: 10 March 1243 Place of Death: Dayr al-Shamʿ, Giza, Egypt
Biography We know very little about the early life of the man who would eventually become Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Kīrillus (Cyril) III (the 75th Coptic Orthodox patriarch, 1235-43). His name was Dāʾūd ibn Yūḥannā and he hailed from the Fayyūm oasis, where he became a monk (and where he counted among his fellow monks the great theologian Būlu…
Paul Alvarus (Albar, Alvaro)
(534 words)
Paul Alvarus Date of Birth: Unknown, probably early 9th c. Place of Birth: Unknown, probably Cordova Date of Death: Unknown Place of Death: Unknown
Biography What little is known of Alvarus’ life comes entirely from his own writings and those of his friend Eulogius of Cordova (q.v.), with whom he studied under Abbot Speraindeo (q.v.). Those of Alvarus’ writings for which we have firm dates fall between 840 and 859. He was most likely a noble-born layman and man of letters. In an obscure passage, Alvarus seems to claim J…
Paul of Antioch
(508 words)
Būlus al-Rāhib al-Anṭākī Date of Birth: Unknown; possibly mid-12th century Place of Birth: Presumably Antioch Date of Death: Unknown; possibly early 13th century Place of Death: Unknown; maybe Sidon
Biography For an author who stirred up such a great deal of controversy with his writings, surprisingly little is known about Paul of Antioch. Outside his own works almost nothing is said about him, and it is even difficult to give him accurate dates. Paul’s works give a few scant details about him: he was from Antioch, a Melkite Christian, he became a monk, and at some s…
Pbios auō tpolutia mpenpetouaab neiōt ettaiēu nanankhōritēs auō narkhēmatritēs (sic) apa Samouēl peiōt ntkinonia etouaab ntparthenos mptoou nkalamōn hmptosh piom
(1,251 words)
The Life and conduct of our holy and revered father, the anchorite and archimandrite Apa Samuel, the father of the holy community of the Virgin of the mountain of Kalamon in the province of Fayyūm, The Life of Samuel of Qalamūn
Isaac the Presbyter Date: Late 8th or 1st half of 9th c. Original Language: Coptic
Description The
Life of Samuel of Qalamūn tells the story of the saint from his upbringing by wealthy and pious parents in lower Egypt, through his tumultuous career as a monk and organizer of a monastic community at Qalamūn, until his death at the ag…
Pedro de la Cavallería
(648 words)
Biography The Cavallería family converted from Judaism to Christianity as a result of the Dispute of Tortosa. It is known that King Fernando I acted as godfather to Pedro’s brother Bonafós, and that Bonafós married the Christian Leonor de la Cabra. The only known details about Pedro’s own early life are given in the introduction to his
Zelus Christi. This says that he was trained in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, and that he had already participated in disputes. So it must be assumed that by the year 1414, when he wrote this, he was already an adul…
Pedro Pascual
(469 words)
Biography Pedro Pascual became bishop of Jaén in 1296; he was consecrated in Rome by Cardinal Matthew of Aquasparta, and in his bull of confirmation Pope Boniface VIII praises the new bishop’s erudition and character. In 1298 he was taken captive by Naṣrid troops and imprisoned in Granada. Despite efforts to raise the ransom of 5,000 gold
doblas that Sultan Muhammad II demanded for his release, Pedro died in captivity in 1300. It is not clear whether he was executed or died of natural causes, but he was subsequently recognized as a martyr for the fait…