Islamic Crossbow?

[Marc]

Brian,
Just trying to drown you with work, you know...

About the books:
If you manage to take a peek to a facsimile copy of the Cantigas de Alfonso X (the tome in the Monasterio de El Escorial's library, IIRC) you'll find the images (Cantigas number 28, 99 and 187, crossbows in Muslim hands, there may be more). On the other hand, Soler del Campo's book may be easier to get...
The frescoes in the Torre de las Damas in the Alhambra are also shown there, though in the form of a drawing. Said drawing was done long ago by Gomez-Moreno, an Spanish arabist and archaeologist, and I seem to remember (might be wrong, here, but it can be checked) that the original frescoes are almost illegible now. They are also found in Nicolle's book. By the way, given its date of publication, I'm sure that this information must be found in other, later books by Dr. Nicolle dealing with the same subject (like "Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era", maybe, and some others) that might be easier to find.

Sorry, not images of the Nasrid crossbow that I can be sure of. The sites have information about it, one is a reference for a monography and the other is about an old exhibition that displayed it and that probably have a catalogue somewhere.

Oh, and the incident in front of Valencia is told by the King himself in his Crònica ("Chronicle"), that is quite faithful. It's not that strange, if one analyzes the circumstances, the helmet saved him from what it probably was a quite long-distance shot to start with. Besides, Jaume I, called El Conqueridor ("The Conquerer"), was also a formidable man, standing more than 2 m. tall. And he says that he had an horrible headache for several days. Maybe not really the stuff of legends... but a good deal of sheer luck, at least, well, that's for sure.

Oh, and I thought it might be worth mentioning that, IIRC, the Mamluk Sultan Baybars I, who was involved in the coup of 1250 and took later the power in Egypt in 1260 after defeating the Mongols in Ain Jalut, at some point in his career was the commander of the Mamluk units of crossbowmen.

Jens, just a small nitpick, the crossbow was well-established in Europe in the 11th c. There's for example a representation of a crossbowmen in the Beatus of Burgo de Osma dated in 1086.

P.D.

Originally Posted by B.I

but my spanish doesnt get much further than ordering a couple of beers in a bar.

Well, that's not bad at all, don't let you be led to think us Spaniards use our language for anything less important...

[fernando]

Hi B.I.
The "Cuçalarab" shown in the the aquarel nr. 85 is part of the Moors armament in the 12th century, in the occupied peninsula. It is a modern drawing, to illustrate historical research for a miniature making company. It was just to confirm ( and reconfirm ) that the crossbow, in whatever variation, was used by arabs or muslims much before the VXV century.
But certainly this this isn't what you are looking for. Nor even the attached scanning of an illumination on "Chronicles of England" by Jean Wavrin ( 1498 ).
Certainly you are close from finding what you need.

[Aqtai]

Originally Posted by Marc

...
Oh, and I thought it might be worth mentioning that, IIRC, the Mamluk Sultan Baybars I, who was involved in the coup of 1250 and took later the power in Egypt in 1260 after defeating the Mongols in Ain Jalut, at some point in his career was the commander of the Mamluk units of crossbowmen...

I'm not too sure about that. I think this belief has come about because one of Beybars' titles was El-Bunduqdari. This has often been translated as "the crossbowman" in the belief that bunduq means crossbow. Which is reasonable when you consider that the modern Arabic name for rifle is bunduqiyah. However El-Bunduqiyah is also the Arabic name for Venice and bunduq in Arabic means hazelnut. I have seen suggestions that in Mamluk times the name bunduq was actually used for pellet bows, also reasonable when you consider the size and shape of a pellet.

Beybars had this title because his first master was the emir Aydekin El-Bunduqdar, which translates either as Aydekin the pellet-bow bearer, or Aydekin the crossbow bearer, depending on how you translate bunduq. This title was a court position, and referred to the sultan's attendents. There were also silahdars, sword bearers; tabardars, axe bearers and jukandars, polo-stick bearers. Sultan El-Salih Ayyub later purchased Beybars from Aydekin, which is how he came to be one of the Bahri mamluks.

[Marc]

Aqtai:

Ah! Thank you! Learning never stops, indeed. I appreciate very much the clarification on the Baybars issue.

[Aqtai]

Originally Posted by Marc

Aqtai:

Ah! Thank you! Learning never stops, indeed. I appreciate very much the clarification on the Baybars issue.

You're welcome!

I've had a look at the Italian pellet crossbow posted by Jens again. I'm now wondering if during the Mamluk period the term bunduq actually referred to pellet-crossbows.

I'm also struck by the fact that Jens called it an Italian "walnut" crossbow, and that the word bunduq means hazelnut.

Mind you, bunduq is also the Arabic name for the Disney character "Goofy". I don't think the mamluks knew about him though...

[Jens Nordlunde]

Well actually I called it an ‘Italian Walnut Stone Bow’, and the design could suggest, that it was made for shooting stones rather than arrows. Was it?
My knowledge of crossbows is more than limited.

Jens

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Brian,
I've been following this thread with great fascination, as I admit that the crossbow or any bows for that matter, are far outside my field of study. I have learned a great deal from the fantastic and well referenced material that has been posted here, and am intrigued by your topic and especially that what you are researching may be published. It is clear that little material is available on Islamic crossbows, particularly specific references in the West. It seemed quite inevitable that with the well established Moorish/European associations the most relevant material presented would be from Spain and Portugal with the outstanding data from Marc and Fernando. Indeed all the posts have added so much pertinant data that the history of these deadly weapons becomes much more approachable.

While it appears you are searching for specific data on an example noted, I have checked through some resources that may add some data from the historical perspective. In checking "Islamic Arms & Armour" ed. by R. Elgood (London,1980), the chapter titled "Archery in the Lands of Eastern Islam" by J.D.Latham & W.F.Peterson presents interesting discussion of the various bows and thier use, but no mention is made of crossbows. The prior published work of the authors is cited as "Saracen Archery: An English Version and Exposition of Mameluke Work on Archery c.1368 AD" (London, 1970). In the content of this work, the profound religious view of the expertise of a Muslim warrior with the bow seems well qualified, and seems to concur with the reference noted in earlier post where the 'Persian' crossbow is ordered discarded and the Arab bow was to be used.

In checking further in "Armies of the Caliphs" (Hugh Kennedy, London, 2001), there is considerable detailed discussion on warfare, tactics and especially on weapons. In that chapter, while weaponry and armour is well covered, it is noted on p.105 that "...neither in the case of the Khurisaniya nor of the Abna, is there any clear discussion of bows and archery". While this is obviously a somewhat isolated note, it seemed to exemplify the seemingly limited material on this topic.

Although there appears to be considerable absence of reference to the crossbow as noted in the early Islamic literature, whether because of the general terminology or its use being deferred for Orthodox reasons, it does seem likely that the Persians may have developed interpretations. I think that Jens' reference to the technology of siege engines and catapults may hold some of the potential for this thought, as well as a reference I found concerning more ancient origins for the crossbow.
In "The Ancient Engineers" (L. Sprague de Camp, N.Y. 1960) on pp.106-107, the author notes, "...the earliest crossbow was called a 'gastrapheles' or 'belly weapon' because of the curved crosspiece at the butt end, which the arbalester braced against his chest. It was also called a hand catapult and a scorpion. Although the crossbow was well known from the 4th c. AD on, it never attained the popularity in classical times that it achieved in medieval Europe. The only detailed description of an ancient crossbow that we have is by Heron of Alexandria, who describes a rather cumbersome device with a bow of horn and the elaborate working mechanism of larger catapults".

While this material does not provide answers specifically, I am hoping it will provide perspective that will constructively add to the outstanding references already posted in this thread. I also found some additional titles that could possibly be helpful:
"Arab Archery" N.A.Faris & R.P.Elmer , Princeton, 1945
"A Bibliography of Archery" F.Lake & H. Wright, Manchester, 1974
"The Crossbow, Medieval and Modern" Sir R Payne-Gallway, London 1958
"Book of Archery" G.A.Hansard, London, 1840

With very best regards,
Jim