| Species | Asian elephant |
|---|---|
| Sex | Male |
| Born | c. 770s or 780s[a] Abbasid Caliphate (possibly) |
| Died | 810 (aged around 30–40) likely nearMünster orWesel,Germany |
Abul-Abbas (c. 770s or 780s – 810) was anAsian elephant brought back to theCarolingian emperorCharlemagne by his diplomatIsaac the Jew. The gift was from theAbbasid caliphHarun al-Rashid and symbolizes the beginning ofAbbasid–Carolingian relations. The elephant's name and events from his life are recorded in the CarolingianAnnales regni Francorum,[1][2][b] and he is mentioned inEinhard'sVita Karoli Magni.[3][c] However, no references to the gift or to interactions with Charlemagne have been found in Abbasid records.[5]
Abul-Abbas was probably born during the 770s or 780s (based on the average age ofAsian elephant maturity) and was brought fromBaghdad, the capital city of theAbbasid Caliphate, by Charlemagne's diplomat Isaac the Jew,[2][6] who along with two other emissaries, Lantfrid and Sigimund,[2] had been sent to the caliph on Charlemagne's orders. That the only surviving member of the group of three, Isaac, was being sent back with the elephant was heralded as advance news to Charlemagne from two emissaries he met in 801: one was sent by the caliph Harun al-Rashid himself, another by Abraham (Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab), who was governor of Africa.[2][7] Charlemagne then ordered a man toLiguria (the province aroundGenoa) to commission a fleet of ships to carry the elephant and other goods.[2]
Researchers have speculated on Isaac and the elephant's route through Africa: Isaac and the elephant began the trek back by following theEgyptian coast intoIfriqiya, ruled byIbrahim ibn al-Aghlab who had bought the land from al-Rashid for 40,000dinars annually. Possibly with the help of Ibrahim in the capital city ofKairouan (now inTunisia), Isaac set sail from port (possiblyCarthage,[8] now in Tunisia) with Abul-Abbas and traveled the remaining distance toEurope via theMediterranean Sea.[9]
At any rate, the strict reading of the historic textAnnales regni Francorum is that "Isaac the Jew returned from Africa with the elephant" (Isaac Iudeus de Africa cum elefanto) and landed inPorto Venere (nearGenoa) in October 801.[1][2] The two spent the winter inVercelli, and in the spring they started the march over theAlps to the Emperor's residence inAachen, arriving on 20 July 802.[2][6][10] Abul Abbas was a full-grown adult elephant.[11]
In the year 810, Charlemagne left his palace and mounted a campaign intending to engage with KingGudfred ofDenmark and his fleet that invaded and plunderedFriesland. Charlemagne had crossed theRhine River and tarried at a place called "Lippeham" awaiting troops for three days, when his elephant suddenly died.[12][13] On the tacit assumption that Abul-Abbas was with Charlemagne when he died, some modern commentators venture that the beast had been brought to serve as awar elephant.[6][14][15]
The location of "Lippeham" is a matter of conjecture,[16] but has been placed at the "mouth of theLippe River"[16] (its confluence with the Rhine), in other words, somewhere near the city ofWesel.[17][18] The claim dates at least as far back as 1746,[19] (or 1735)[20] when J. H. Nünning (Nunningus) and a colleague had published a notice that "Lippeham" was to be identified with Wesel;[21] and that a colossal bone unearthed from the area, in the possession of their affiliated museum, was plausibly a part of the remains of the elephant Abul-Abbas.[22] Another gigantic bone was found in the Lippe River among a catch of fish in theherrschaft ofGartrop [de] in early 1750, and it too was claimed to be a piece of Abul-Abbas.[20]
One detractor to the claim isRichard Hodges who places it inLüneburg Heath, which is nowhere near the Rhine.[23]
TheAnnales regni Francorum contain only short reports about the transport of Abul-Abbas (801),[1] his delivery to the Emperor (802)[10] and his death (810). But modern writers have given various embellished accounts. Some indicate that when Abul-Abbas arrived, he was marched through various towns in Germany to the astonishment of onlookers,[15] that he was shown in "Speyer,Strassburg,Verdun,Augsburg, andPaderborn" as ostentatious display of the emperor's might,[14] and was eventually housed inAugsburg in what is now southernBavaria.[15]
Some added details about the elephant's death, stating he was in his forties and already suffering fromrheumatism when he accompanied Charlemagne in the campaign across the Rhine heading to Friesland.[14] According to these sources, in a spell of "cool rainy weather", Abul-Abbas developed a case ofpneumonia.[14][15] His keepers were able to transport the beast as far asMünster, where he collapsed and died.[14]
Some modern works indicate that Abul-Abbas wasalbino – literally awhite elephant – but the basis for the claim is wanting. An early example claiming that Abul-Abbas was a "white elephant" occurs in a title authored by Willis Mason West (1902).[24] In 1971,Peter Munz wrote a book intended for popular readership which repeated the same "white elephant" claim, but a reviewer flagged this as a "slip" given there was "no evidence" known to him to substantiate it.[25] Mention of "white elephant" also misleadingly occurs in the title of the published catalog from the Aachen exhibition of 2003:Ex oriente : Isaak und der weisse Elefant, however, in this publication is a contributing article by Grewe and Pohle that appends a question mark on it: "Among the famous gifts to Charlemagne was a (white?) elephant".[26]
A number of authors assert that Abul-Abbas was anIndian elephant,[14] though others cast this as an open question with theAfrican elephant being a distinct possibility.[27] No primary source identifies his species directly.[28]
Arguments for Abul-Abbas having been an Indian elephant include that Abbasid sources such asal-Jahiz andal-Masudi record a belief that African elephants were not tamable.[28] Another clue comes from the Irish monkDicuil who mentions Abul-Abbas in his description of India in his geographic workDe mensura orbis terrae ("Concerning the Measurement of the World") in 825.[28][d] Aninhabited initial B from a copy ofCassiodorus'Commentary on the Psalms made at theAbbey of Saint-Denis in the first quarter of the ninth century (now Paris, BnF lat. 2195) incorporates an elephant's head.[31] The realistic portrayal of an Asian elephant suggests that the artist had seen Abul-Abbas.[32]
Evidence put forward for Abul-Abbas having been an African elephant includes the route by which he arrived in Europe, which was via Tunisia.[28] Also, a Carolingian plaque survives which was manufactured fromivory from an African elephant and was from a contemporary source. Ivory was widely used in Carolingian art, but most of this material was re-purposed from Roman sources.[28] This particular plaque, a depiction of theVirgin Mary is too large to have come from the tusk of an Indian elephant,[28] measuring 22 cm (8.7 in) along its longest side.[33]Radio-carbon dating shows that the ivory in the plaque is not of ancient origin.[28] For Carolingian artists to have access to new ivory is so unusual that it makes Abul-Abbas a possible source of the material.[28]
A short story by the German-New Zealand author Norman Franke tells the biography of the elephant from his own point of view.[34]
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