The Franks and Byzantines in Arabic Medieval Sources

Arabic authors have preserved numerous valuable accounts concerning Byzantium and the lands of the Franks. While earlier scholarship on Byzantium and its neighboring regions has primarily relied on Greek and Latin sources, Arabic materials have often been overlooked. As the dominant Mediterranean power, Byzantium significantly influenced the political and cultural development of other medieval states. During the Migration Period, various ethnic groups traversed the Roman Empire and contributed to the formation of early medieval polities. In northwestern Europe, the Roman state gave way to a plurality of Germanic kingdoms, while in the northeastern regions, a Slavic advance in the Balkans initiated the emergence of early Slavic states. Arabic historians and geographers described the Frankish realm and its inhabitants. Arabic sources are not precise when it comes to the borders of the Frankish kingdom, but they clearly indicate that the region in question refers to Western Europe. Among the most informative texts are the works of al-Masʿūdī and Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʿqūb, who mention Frankish cities such as Bordeaux, Saint-Malo, Rouen, Utrecht, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Augsburg. During the Crusades, al-Idrīsī—the most renowned Arabic geographer—composed his celebrated geographical treatise at the court of the Norman king Roger II in Sicily. In this work, he documented major European routes and provided detailed descriptions of both Byzantine and Frankish cities. Al-Idrīsī’s geography is considered the first comprehensive work of its kind published in Europe. Many Arabic historians and chroniclers wrote about the Crusades—conflicts in which Byzantines, Franks, Arabs, and Turks participated. These confrontations between Christians and Muslims, and between East and West, played a formative role in shaping the contours of the modern world.