Historical
Sources
and
How
to
Exploit Them
Frédéric Bauden
Université de Liège (Belgium)
Description:
The seminar “Historical Sources and How to Exploit Them” will offer students an opportunity to examine a great variety of historical sources. The seminar has a twofold aim: to show students how the scholar should approach such sources and to teach them how they can be used. Two main categories of (mostly handwritten) sources will be examined: 1) historiographic works representing various genres such as chronicles, annals, biographical dictionaries, notebooks, diaries, and 2) documents, either official or private. The common link between these two categories is obviously the material medium: parchment or paper. With this in mind, epigraphy and numismatics will also be touched upon: these disciplines in fact require skills differing from those implied by handwritten material. Several methods of approach suitable
for the various
sources
under
consideration,
will
be
developed during the
seminar.
The
seminar
will
be
structured
as
follows:
An
introductory
session
(session
1):
presentation
of
the
goals
of
this
seminar
Part
A) sessions 2 to 5: presentation and study of the handwritten sources, i.e. manuscripts
Part
B) sessions 6 to 10: general introduction and study of the documents; scrutiny of
specific
examples.
During several of these sessions, students will collaborate in the reading and analysis of the manuscripts and documents.
ANALYTICAL
DESCRIPTION
OF
THE
SEMINAR
Session
1:
INTRODUCTION
Historical sources in all their complexity; layout of the form and content of the seminar; survey
of
the
main
research
tools.
PART
1
:
HANDWRITTEN
SOURCES
Session
2:
Problems
linked
to
the
exploitation
of
handwritten
sources
Locating manuscripts; deciphering a manuscript; the appraisal of a manuscript as an object; dating and identifiying a manuscript; the different versions of a text and how to deal with
them.
Ecdotics*: editions/critical editions and their reliability. A case study: the editions of al-Maqrizi's
al-Khitat.
Session
3:
Chronicles,
annals
and
biographical
dictionaries
Establishing the differences between genres; summarizing, copying, and quoting the sources: the methods of composition (Ibn Tagribirdi) from one genre to another; several works from the same author (how is the material dealt with, from one work to another: al-Maqrizi); reading an autograph
manuscript:
Ibn
al-Furat.
Session
4:
Notebooks
and
diaries
Notebooks: definition and survey; problems raised by this kind of text; their usefulness for history
and
the
study
of Islamic
scholarship:
the
case
of
al-Maqrizi
or
Ibn
al-`Adim. Study
of
a
genre:
diaries;
an example of the genre:
Ibn Tawq
and
his
Ta`liq.
Session
5:
Trusting
the
source
as
far
as
it
can
be
trusted:
an
unambiguous
case
The problem of the Yasa, the law of the Mongols, and its place in the Mamluk state; al-Maqrizi's point of view and his influence on its perception by modern scholarship; how and why
an
author
distorts
a
fact
and influences
opinions on an issue.
PART
2
:
DOCUMENTS
Session 6: Classification of the archival material; the repositories of archives; paleography
of
documents
Survey of the various categories of archival material (official and private) and the places where it is now preserved; study of the paleographical features particular to the documents with
exercises
of
decipherment.
Session
7:
Diplomatics;
official
documents
(1)
Survey of the rules and features observed by the Chancery for the writing of the various kinds of official documents; two case studies: a treaty concluded between the Banu Ghaniya of Majorca (Spain) and the City of Genoa (Italy) will demonstrate the interrelations between Muslims and Latins; an exchange of letters between the Mamluk sultan and the Qaramanid prince of Larende will reveal how two Muslim powers conceived their relations and
also
allow
the
study of
diplomatic
conventions
prevailing
in
the
Muslim
world.
Session
8:
Official
documents
(2)
Reconstruction of an edict regarding the attribution of a fief (iqta`), together with a study of the
system
of
iqta`
in
the
Mamluk
period.
Session
9:
Private
documents
(1)
Shurut works and their usefulness for the reading of documents of a private nature; the role played by the notary and witnesses in the redaction of deeds; the structure and technical features of various kinds of private documents; two case studies: deeds of sale for a slave-girl
and
a
prisoner;
a
contract
of
transport
on
the
Nile.
Session
10:
Reading
notes;
sama`
notes
Reading/sama` notes and their importance for the study of the transmission of texts; their usefulness for an appraisal of some fringes of Muslim society; the role of education/transmission of
Islam.
*This term, derived from Ancient Greek, refers to the field that deals with the problems associated with the critical edition of texts.