Battle during the Muslim conquest of Sicily
The
siege of Melite
was the capture of the
Byzantine
city of
Melite
(modern
Mdina
,
Malta
) by an invading
Aghlabid
army in 870 AD. The siege was initially led by Halaf al-H?dim, a renowned engineer, but he was killed and replaced by Saw?da Ibn Mu?ammad. The city withstood the siege for some weeks or months, but it ultimately fell to the invaders, and its inhabitants were massacred and the city was sacked.
Background
[
edit
]
The Maltese islands had been part of the
Byzantine Empire
since 535 AD, and archaeological evidence suggests that they probably had an important strategic role within the empire.
[1]
When the
early Muslim conquests
began in the 7th century, the Byzantines were threatened in the Mediterranean, so probably efforts were made to improve the defences of Malta. At this point, they might have built a
retrenchment
which reduced Melite to one third of its original size.
[2]
[Note 1]
A Muslim reconnaissance raid to Malta might have taken place in 221
AH
(835?36 AD).
[3]
Of all the islands around Sicily, Malta was the last to remain in Byzantine hands, and in 869 a fleet under Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Ubaydallah ibn al-Aghlab al-Habashi attacked it. The Byzantines, having received timely reinforcements, resisted successfully at first, but in 870 Muhammad sent a fleet from Sicily to the island, and the capital Melite fell on 29 August 870. The local governor was captured, the town was plundered?Ahmad al-Habashi reportedly took along the local cathedral's marble columns to decorate his palace?and its fortifications razed.
The fall of Malta had important ramifications for the defence of what remained of Byzantine Sicily: with
Reggio Calabria
and now Malta in their hands, the Muslims completed their encirclement of Sicily, and could easily interdict any aid sent from the east.
Ibn Khaldun
reports that the conquest of Malta by the Aghlabids happened as early as 868.
Ibn al-Khatib
dates the conquest of Malta, and the capture of its "
king"
between 11 February and 12 March 875, while
Al-Nuwayri
refers to the same general period, without giving a specific date.
Ibn al-Athir recounts that in 869-870, the
Emir of Sicily
sent an army to Malta, as the island was being besieged by the Byzantines who then fled.
This date is also confirmed by a Greek chronicle from
Cassano
,
Calabria
, saying that the island of Melite surrendered on 29 August 870. This date is again confirmed in another Arab source, the
Kitab al-'Uyun
, which says that Malta was conquered by Abdallah I, and gives the date for the conquest to be three days before
Ramadan
256
AH
, that is, 28 August 870. Historians explain the slight discrepancy due to uncertainties in lunar observations relating to the
Islamic calendar
.
Al-Himyar?'s account
[
edit
]
Most details about the siege of Melite are known from
Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar
, which was written by Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Himyar? in the 15th century. This account states that the attack on Melite was initially led by an engineer Halaf al-H?dim, who was killed during the siege. The invaders wrote to the Aghlabid ruler
Abu ‘Abd All?h
, who ordered Mu?ammad Ibn Haf??a, the governor of
Sicily
, to send a new leader. The
wali
Saw?da Ibn Mu?ammad was sent, and he continued the siege and captured Melite. Its ruler Amros (possibly Ambrosios) was taken prisoner, and the invaders "demolished its fortress, and they looted, and desecrated whatever they could not carry." Marble from Melite's churches was used to build the castle of
Sousse
(in
Tunisia
) and the bridge leading to it.
[9]
Al-Himyar? further states that the island of Malta remained an uninhabited ruin after the siege, at times being visited by shipbuilders, fishermen, and those who collect honey. The island was repopulated by Muslims in 440 AH (1048?49 AD),
[
clarification needed
]
who built a settlement known as Medina on the ruins of Melite. The Byzantines
besieged the new settlement
in 445 AH (1053?54 AD) but were repelled.
[9]
Analysis
[
edit
]
Al-Himyar?'s account was discovered in 1931, and the first full edition was published in 1975 in
Beirut
. The passage relating to Malta remained unknown until being translated to English in 1990. It is the most detailed source about the siege, and it contains some information which is not found in any other sources.
[9]
The account suggests that the siege lasted for a few weeks or possibly some months. The rulers mentioned in the source confirm that the siege took place sometime between 255 and 257 AH (between 868 and 871 AD).
[9]
Some other sources state that in 870 Malta was already a Muslim settlement, and at the time it was besieged by a Byzantine fleet. After an Aghlabid relief force was sent from Sicily, the fleet retreated without a fight on 28 Ramadan 256 (29 August 870). This resulted in ill-treatment of the island's Greek population, and the bishop was arrested and imprisoned in
Palermo
, while the island's churches were destroyed.
[3]
The use of marble from the churches of Melite in the castle of Sousse is confirmed by an inscription on the castle which translates to:
[9]
[10]
[
clarification needed
]
Every cut slab, every marble column in this fort was brought over from the church of Malta by ?aba?i ibn ‘Umar in the hope of meriting the approval and kindness of All?h the Powerful and Glorious.
Although al-Himyar? states that Malta remained an "uninhabited ruin" after the siege and it was only repopulated in 1048?49, archaeological evidence suggests that
Mdina
was already a thriving Muslim settlement by the beginning of the 11th century, so 1048?49 might be the date when the city was officially founded, possibly the date of construction of the
city walls
.
[11]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
According to tradition, the city was reduced to its present size during Arab rule, after the siege.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Cassar, Carmel (2000).
A Concise History of Malta
.
Msida
: Mireva Publications. p. 58.
ISBN
1870579526
.
- ^
Spiteri, Stephen C. (2004?2007).
"The 'Castellu di la Chitati' the medieval castle of the walled town of Mdina"
(PDF)
.
Arx ? Online Journal of Military Architecture and Fortification
(1?4): 4. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 15 November 2015.
- ^
a
b
Bosworth, C. E.; Van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch., eds. (1987).
The Encyclopedia of Islam
.
Leiden
:
E. J. Brill
. p. 295.
ISBN
9004086595
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Brincat, Joseph M. (1995).
"Malta 870?1054 Al-Himyari's Account and its Linguistic Implications"
(PDF)
.
Valletta
: Said International: 1?52.
- ^
Wettinger, Godfrey
(1986).
"The Arabs in Malta"
(PDF)
.
Malta : Studies of its Heritage and History
.
Valletta
: Mid-Med Bank. p. 90.
Also available at:
[1]
- ^
Blouet, Brian W. (2007).
The Story of Malta
. Allied Publications. p. 41.
ISBN
978-9990930818
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Brown, T.S. (1975). Luttrell, Anthony (ed.).
Byzantine Malta
(PDF)
. London: The British School at Rome. pp. 71?87. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2016-02-15.
- Metcalfe, Alex (2009).
The Muslims of Medieval Italy
. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN
978-0-7486-2008-1
.
- Rossi, E. (1991).
"Malta 1. History"
. In
Bosworth, C. E.
;
van Donzel, E.
&
Pellat, Ch.
(eds.).
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition
. Volume VI: Mahk?Mid
. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 395.
ISBN
978-90-04-08112-3
.
- Vasiliev, Alexander A.
(1968).
Byzance et les Arabes, Tome II: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes a l'epoque de la dynastie macedonienne (les empereurs Basile I, Leon le Sage et Constantin VII Porphyrogenete) 867-959 (253-348). Premiere partie: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes a l'epoque de la dynastie macedonienne. Premiere periode, de 867 a 959
. Corpus Bruxellense Historiae Byzantinae (in French). French ed.:
Henri Gregoire
,
Marius Canard
. Brussels: Fondation Byzantine.
OCLC
1070617015
.
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