12
337–445/948–1053
Governors in Sicily
|
337/948 |
al-Hasan b. ‘Abdallāh b. Abi ’l-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī |
|
342/953 |
Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan, Abu ’l-Ḥusayn |
|
359/970 |
‘Alī b. al-Ḥasan, Abu ’1-Qāsim |
|
372/982 |
Jāhir b. ‘Alī |
|
373/983 |
Ja‘far b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alī |
|
375/985 ‘Abdallāh b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alī |
|
|
379/989 |
Yūsuf b. ‘Abdallāh, Abu ’l-Futūḥ Thiqat al-Dawla |
|
388/998 |
Ja‘far b. Yūsuf, Tāj al-Dawla |
|
410/1019 |
Aḥmad al-Akḥal b. Yūsuf, Abū Ja‘far Ta’yīd al-Dawla, d. 429/1038 |
|
431–c. 445/1040–c. 1053 |
al-Ḥasan al-Ṣamṣām b. Yūsuf, Ṣamṣām al-Dawla |
|
436–/1044– |
Disintegration of Arab Sicily into various principalities, with the Norman conquest beginning from 452/1060 onwards |
The Byzantine province of Sicily was conquered by Arab forces sent by the Aghlabids of Ifrīqiya (see above, no. 11) over a period of more than seventy years from 212/827 onwards, culminating in the capture of Taormina in 289/902. The Aghlabids appointed their own governors to the island, as did their successors in North Africa after 296/909, the Fāṭimids (see below, no. 27). The lengthy period of rule by the Kalbid governors began with the caliph al-Mansūr’s nomination of al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī al-Kalbī, although their succession was not recognised as implicitly hereditary until al-Mu‘izz’s caliphate in 359/970. The Fāṭimids’ transfer of their centre of power to Egypt meant, in practice, more freedom of action for the Kalbids, who nevertheless remained firmly loyal to their masters, receiving from them honorific titles and, latterly, resisting pressure from the Zīrids (see below, no. 13) in North Africa. In the early decades of their rule, the Kalbids combated the Byzantines and led frequent raids on Calabria and other parts of the Italian mainland, reaching as far as Naples. After c. 421/c. 1040, however, the power of the Kalbids was in decline, with attacks from the Byzantines and from Italian city-states like Pisa. All these led to a period of disintegration of Arab rule in Sicily into a series of tawā’ if resembling those in Spain (see above, no. 5), paving the way for the first appearance of the Normans in 1060 and the subsequent reincorporation of Sicily into Christendom.
It does not seem that the Kalbid governors ever minted coins in Sicily on behalf of their suzerains, but a puzzling point is the large number of glass weights of their period which have been found in Sicily, these being far more numerous than would have been needed for weighing out small quantities of precious metals. It has accordingly been suggested that these glass weights may have served as a purely local currency for minor transactions.
Sachau, 26 no. 64; Zambaur, 67–9.
EI2 ‘Kalbids’ (U. Rizzitano); ‘Sikilliya’ (R. Traini, G. Oman and V. Grassi).
M. Amari, Storia del Musulmani di Sicilia, 2nd edn, C. A. Nallino, Catania 1933–9, II, 241–490.
Aziz Ahmad, A History of Muslim Sicily, Edinburgh 1975, 30–40.