Steve Murray

HIST 0647

4-19-99

Ernst Posner, "Archives in Medieval Islam," American Archivist 35 (July/Oct. 1972): 291-315.

Archives-keeping in the Muslim states during the Middle Ages has been overlooked "as a continuation of preceding practices and as a connecting link between these practices and archives-keeping" (pp. 291-92) in western Europe. Attempting to fill this void in archives history is made difficult by the fact that most of the archives of the period have vanished, a lack of scholarly studies of Muslim diplomatics, and the lack of "a comprehensive and comparative study of Muslim administrative institutions" (p. 295).

The Early History of Muslim Archives-Keeping (A.D. 650-750)

• •After conquering the Sassanian and Byzantine regimes in Near East and Egypt, Arabs institute a central military control supported by existing, lower level administrative units; retained Persian and Greek as administrative languages for 50 years.
• •Maintained Roman/Byzantine taxation and record keeping system of Egypt for further exploitation; Umayyad administrator ordered to "milk the cow until it runs dry and drain the blood till it stops running."
• •Muslim record keeping first formalized in dwns ("registers"), central offices that took their names from a subsidiary, recordkeeping function. First dwn was the Military Board, responsible for muster and pension rolls.
• •Umayyad Dynasty (661-750) ruled from Damascus, where it established the chancery dwn for correspondence. Other dwns held taxation, postal, and other administrative functions.

The Iranization of Government Under the Abbasids (749-1258)

• •Abbasid capital at Baghdad was heavily influenced by Persian administrative tradition and raised document preparation to an art form. Administrative secretaries "became one of the most educated and cultured bureaucratic elites that the world has seen" (p. 298).
• •State Chancery in Baghdad was center of elaborate records network with high ideals not always met. After the death of one long-serving caliph, four thousand unopened mailbags were found.

Recordkeeping of the Ftimid State Chancery (909-1171)

• •With capital in Tunisia, Ftimids eventually controlled Sicily, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Ruled commercial empire with great administrative precision.
• •Ibn al-Sayraf (1071-1147) rose through administrative ranks to head the State Chancery, where he wrote a style manual for secretaries that provides the best information we have today on medieval Muslim administrative functions and recordkeeping. Table of organization and job descriptions for respective positions provde a complete administrative blueprint for the Chancery.
• •Archivists were to assume custody of well-organized, abstracted records from chancery registrars and to provide permanent storage that would allow retrieval with "minimum effort in the shortest possible time."
• •The archivist, who "has the reigns of everything in his hands," must be honest and loyal beyond doubt.
• •System was maintained but deteriorated under succeeding Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties.

Recordkeeping in Muslim Spain and Sicily

• •Despite hostile relations with Abbasids, Umayyads based administration of Arabic Spain on the Abbasid (Persian) model, complete with elaborate communication system that made use of carrier pigeons.
• •System did not survive the Christian Reconquista, but it did persist in Sicily, where administrative structures enjoyed the benefit of Byzantine influences and several waves of Muslim innovation. System radiated to the Continent under the Normans and Hohenstaufens, functioning as important link between medieval Islam and early modern Europe.

Perisan Persistence

• •"Persian Privy State and Court Chancery remained essentially unchanged during the Islamic period" (650-19th century) despite occupation by Seljuk Turks and Mongols.

Non-Muslim Archives in Muslim Lands

• •Jewish genizah, intended as temporary storage place, functioned similarly to modern record center. One surviving example is the Cairo Genizah, which apparently abandoned policy of periodically burying old records for disposal and had more of a secular than religious function. Includes records of prominent merchants.
• •Archives of the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai - contains treaties with Bedouin tribes, deeds, administrative issuances of Muslim authoritities, and business records of the monastery.