Emirate of Bari إمارة باري (Arabic) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 847–871 | |||||||||
 Location of the Emirate in present-day Italy | |||||||||
| Status | De jure governorate of theAbbasid Caliphate | ||||||||
| Capital | Bari | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Emir | |||||||||
• 847–c.852 | Khalfun | ||||||||
| Sawdan | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 847 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 871 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Italy | ||||||||
TheEmirate of Bari (Arabic:إمارة باري) was a short-livedIslamic state inApulia (in present-dayItaly), ruled by non-Arabs, probablyBerbers and perhapsBlack West Africans.[1][2][3] Controlled from theSouth Italian city ofBari, it was established in about 847 CE when the region was taken from theByzantine Empire, but fell in 871 to the army of theCarolingian emperorLouis II.
Bari first became the object ofAghlabid raids in late 840 or early 841, when it was briefly occupied.[4] According toAl-Baladhuri, Bari was conquered from the Byzantine Empire by Kalfün around 847, amawla—perhaps a servant or escaped slave—of theAghlabidEmir of Africa.[5] Kalfün (Khalfun) was probably of Berber stock, possibly from theEmirate of Sicily originally. The conquest was seen by contemporaryMuslims as unimportant, having been carried out by a minor figure without the support of any other Muslim state. However, Kalfün's successor Mufarrag ibn Sallam sent requests toAbbasid caliphal-Mutawakkil inBaghdad as well as to his provincial governor ofEgypt asking for recognition of the conquest with the title ofwali, agovernor ruling over a province of theCaliphate, which was granted.[5] Mufarrag expanded Muslim influence and enlarged the territory of the emirate.
The third and last emir of Bari was Sawdan (also known as Soldan),[6] who came to power around 857 after the murder of his predecessor Mufarrag. He invaded the lands of theLombardPrincipality of Benevento, forcingPrince Adelchis to paytribute. In 864 he finally obtained the official investiture requested initially by Mufarrag. In the middle of the 860s, aFrankish monk named Bernard and two companions stopped in Bari on a pilgrimage toJerusalem.[7] They successfully petitioned Sawdan for letters ofsafe-conduct all the way through Egypt and theHoly Land. According to theItinerarium Bernardi, Bernard's record of the event, Bari, thecivitatem Sarracenorum, had formerly belonged to the "Beneventans".[7]
TheHebrewChronicle of Ahimaaz records that Sawdan, the last emir of Bari, ruled the city wisely and was on good terms with the eminentJewish scholar Abu Aaron.[7] Christianmonastic chronicles, however, portray the emir asnequissimus ac sceleratissimus: "most impossible and wicked".[7] Certainly Muslims raids on Christians (and Jews) did not cease during Sawdan's reign.[citation needed] There is evidence for high civilisation in Bari at this point.[8][9] Giosuè Musca suggests that the emirate was a boon to the regional economy, and that during this time theslave trade,[10]wine trade, and trade inpottery flourished.[8][9] Under Sawdan the city of Bari was embellished with amosque,palaces, andpublic works.
In 859,Lambert I of Spoleto joined Gerard,count of Marsi, Maielpoto,gastald ofTelese, and Wandelbert, gastald ofBoiano, to prevent Sawdan from re-entering Bari after a campaign againstCapua and theTerra di Lavoro. Despite a bloody battle, the emir successfully entered his capital.
The emirate of Bari lasted long enough to enter into relations with its Christian neighbours.[7] According to theChronicon Salernitanum, ambassadors (legati) were sent toSalerno where they stayed in the episcopal palace, much to the dismay of the bishop.[7] Bari also served as a refuge for at least one political rival of theCarolingian emperorLouis II, a man ofSpoleto who fled to it during a revolt.[11]
In 865,Louis II, perhaps pressured by the Church, always uncomfortable with a Muslim state in Italy's midst, issued acapitulary calling upon the fighting men ofnorthern Italy to gather atLucera in the spring of 866 for an assault on Bari.[11] It is unknown, from contemporary sources, whether this force ever marched on Bari, but in the summer of that year the emperor was touring theCampania with his empress,Engelberga, and receiving strong urging from the Lombard princes—Adelchis of Benevento,Guaifer of Salerno, andLandulf II of Capua—to attack Bari again.[11]
It was not until the spring of 867 that Louis took action against the emirate. He immediately besiegedMatera andOria, recently conquered, and burnt the former.[12] Oria was a prosperous locale before the Muslim conquest; Barbara Kreutz thus conjectures that Matera resisted Louis while Oria welcomed him: the former thus was razed.[13] This may have severed communications between Bari andTaranto, the other pole of Muslim power in southern Italy.[12] Louis established a garrison atCanosa on the frontier between Benevento and Bari, but retired to the former by March 868.[12] It was probably at about this time that Louis entered into negotiations with the new Byzantine emperor,Basil I. A marriage between Louis's daughter and Basil's eldest son, Constantine, was probably discussed in return forByzantine naval assistance in the taking of Bari.[14] TheChronicon Salernitanum inconsistently attaches the initiative for such talks to Louis and then Basil.
The joint attack was projected for late in the summer of 869 and Louis remained atBenevento planning as late as June. The Byzantine fleet—of four hundred ships if theAnnales Bertiniani are to be trusted—arrived under the command ofNicetas with the expectation that Louis would hand over his daughter immediately.[15] This he refused to do, for no known reason, but perhaps because Nicetas had refused to recognise his imperial title, since Louis later refers in a letter to the commander's "insulting behaviour".[16] Perhaps, however, the fleet simply arrived too late in autumn.[16]
In 870 the Bariot Muslims stepped up their raids, going so far as to ravage theGargano Peninsula including theSanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo.[17] The Emperor Louis organised a response, fighting his way deep intoApulia andCalabria but bypassing major population centres like Bari or Taranto. A few towns were apparently freed of Muslim control and the various Muslim bands encountered were universally defeated.[17] Probably encouraged by these successes, Louis attacked Bari with a ground force of Franks, Germans and Lombards and aided by a fleet ofSclavini.[17] In February 871 the citadel fell and Sawdan was captured and taken to Benevento in chains.[17] The report found in theDe Administrando Imperio ofConstantine Porphyrogenitus that the Byzantines played a major role in the city's fall is probably a concoction.[18] In the siege of Arab Bari (868–871) participated andDomagoj with fleet ofRagusa which, according to Constantine VII transportedCroats and otherArchons of Slavs on their ships to Longobardia.[19]
The following are available as part of Sources of Lombard History at the Institut für Mittelalter Forschung:
See too the letter of EmperorLouis II to EmperorBasil I, written in 871 after the capture of Bari, inEnglish translation.
