Michaud, Montrond, Mazloum and the First History of the Crusades in Arabic

Abstract

This short notice provides a novel and preliminary analysis of the source for the first Arabic history of the crusades, and contributes to the understanding of the penetration of the crusades as a distinct phenomenon into the Islamic world. The Arabic history, Min Taʾrīkh al-ḥurūb al-muqaddasa fī l-mashriq al-madʿūwa ḥarb al-ṣalīb was published in Jerusalem in 1865 under the authorship of the (late) Melkite patriarch, Maximos III Mazloum (d. 1855). The book was a modified translation of the French Les Guerres saintes d’Outre-Mer, ou tableau des croisades, retracé d’après les chroniques contemporaines, published in 1840 by Maxime de Montrond, who was heavily inspired by Michaud's Histoire des croisades. Though created in a Christian Francophile milieu, it seems clear that the Arabic translation was intended not only for a Christian audience, but also for a Muslim readership, as evidenced by examples, provided here, of the modifications of the French original.