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.