A Companion to Medieval Palermo Brill’S Companions to European History
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A Companion to Medieval Palermo Brill’s Companions to European History VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bceh A Companion to Medieval Palermo The History of a Mediterranean City from 600 to 1500 Edited by Annliese Nef French and Italian texts translated by Martin Thom LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 The translation of this publication was made possible by the support of the Institut Universitaire de France. Cover illustration: Marble inlay with the acrobat on the floor of the Martorana. ©Photograph by Sergio Aiosa. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to medieval Palermo : the history of a Mediterranean city from 600 to 1500 / edited by Annliese Nef ; French and Italian texts translated by Martin Thom. pages cm. — (Brill’s companions to European history, ISSN 2212-7410 ; volume 5) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-22392-9 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25253-0 (e-book) 1. Palermo (Italy)—History—To 1500. I. Nef, Annliese, author, editor of compilation. Dg975.P21C65 2013 945.8’23101—dc23 2013023215 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 2212-7410 ISBN 978-90-04-22392-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25253-0 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ xiii Abbreviations ................................................................................................... xv List of Contributors ........................................................................................ xvii The Medieval History of Palermo in a New Light ................................ 1 Annliese Nef FROM AN EMPIRE TO ANOTHER EMPIRE (VITH–XITH) 1. Palermo in the Eastern Roman Empire .............................................. 11 Vivien Prigent 2. Islamic Palermo and the dār al-islām: Politics, Society and the Economy (from the mid-9th to the mid-11th Century) ................. 39 Annliese Nef 3. From a Small Town to a Capital: The Urban Evolution of Islamic Palermo (9th–mid-11th Century) ...................................... 61 Alessandra Bagnera 4. Palermo Experienced, Palermo Imagined. Arabic and Islamic Culture between the 9th and the 12th Century ............................... 89 Mirella Cassarino THE HAUTEVILLE’S EXPERIMENT (XITH–XIITH) 5. Norman Palermo: The Capital of a Kingdom or the Dream Scene of an Empire? ................................................................... 133 Annliese Nef 6. Norman Palermo: Architecture between the 11th and 12th Century ................................................................................................ 139 Rosi Di Liberto vi contents 7. Palermo in the 12th Century: Transformations in forma urbis ... 195 Elena Pezzini PALERMO AND THE MEDITERRANEAN AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 8. Palermo in the 14th–15th Century: Urban Economy and Trade ................................................................................................... 235 Henri Bresc 9. Palermo in the 14th–15th Century: The Urban Society ................ 269 E. Igor Mineo TRANSVERSAL APPROACHES 10. Palermo as a Stage for, and a Mirror of, Political Developments from the 12th to the 15th Century ......................... 299 Laura Sciascia 11. The City of Foreigners: Palermo and the Mediterranean from the 11th to the 15th Century ....................................................... 325 Gian Luca Borghese 12. Religious Palermo: A Panorama between the 12th and the 15th Centuries ........................................................................................... 349 Henri Bresc 13. Monreale from Its Origin to the End of the Middle Ages ........... 383 Sulamith Brodbeck 14. Linguistic Cultures and Textual Production in Palermo, from the End of the 11th to the End of the 15th Century ....................... 413 Benoît Grévin 15. The Jews of Palermo from Late Antiquity to the Expulsion (598–1492–93) ........................................................................................... 437 Giuseppe Mandalà contents vii CONCLUSIVE PERSPECTIVES 16. Citizens and Freedom in Medieval Sicily ........................................ 489 Fabrizio Titone Indicative Bibliography ................................................................................. 525 Index ................................................................................................................... 529 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 3.1. Map of Palermo giving the location of the various sites from the Islamic period, and of the monuments mentioned in the text .............................................................................. 87 Fig. 3.2. Map of Palermo showing the location of Norman solacia (12th century) in relation to the Islamic city .................................... 88 Fig. 6.1. Cappella Palatina. Plan of the lower Church ......................... 175 Fig. 6.2. Cappella palatina. Longitudinal section ................................. 175 Fig. 6.3. The floor of the Cappella Palatina ........................................... 176 Fig. 6.4. Plan of the Cappella Palatina .................................................... 177 Fig. 6.5. The wooden ceiling of the Cappella Palatina with muqarnas ..................................................................................................... 177 Fig. 6.6. Cappella Palatina. A pannel of the central nave’s pavement ..................................................................................................... 177 Fig. 6.7. Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (the Martorana). Reconstruction of the various building phases ................................ 178 Fig. 6.8. Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (the Martorana). The dome at the centre of the church ................................................ 178 Fig. 6.9. Plan of the Martorana .................................................................. 179 Fig. 6.10–11. Floor of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (the Martorana). The entrance panel and the central panel beneath the dome ... 180 Fig. 6.12. Plan of the church of San Cataldo .......................................... 181 Fig. 6.13. Church of San Cataldo. View of the apses ............................ 182 Fig. 6.14. Church of San Cataldo. Longitudinal section ..................... 182 Fig. 6.15. The three domes along an axis of the church of San Cataldo ................................................................................................. 183 Fig. 6.16–17. Church of San Cataldo. Plan and photograph of the panel in front of the northern entrance ............................................. 184 Fig. 6.18. Church of San Cataldo. Geometrical schema of the panel in front of the northern entrance ............................................. 184 Fig. 6.19. Maredolce or Favara. Plan of the palace .............................. 185 Fig. 6.20. Section of the church of San Filippo and Giacomo .......... 185 Fig. 6.21. Zisa, reconstruction of the planimetry .................................. 186 Fig. 6.21a. The epigraph in Arabic characters from the Zisa turned into the palace battlements ..................................................... 186 x list of figures Fig. 6.22. Zisa, speculative reconstruction of the plan on three floors .............................................................................................................. 187 Fig. 6.23. Cuba. Longitudinal section and plan .................................... 188 Fig. 6.23a. Cuba. Speculative reconstruction of the plan .................. 188 Fig. 6.24. Plan of the Palazzo dei Normanni showing the medieval parts which survive ................................................................ 189 Fig. 6.25. Torre Pisana. Plan of the ground floor and of the first floor ................................................................................................................ 189 Fig. 6.26. Plan of the al-Manar donjon .................................................... 189 Fig. 6.27. Santa Maria Maddalena. Plan and cross-section ............... 189 Fig. 6.28. San Giovanni degli Eremiti, plan, longitudinal section and axonometric reconstruction of the building phases .............. 190 Fig. 6.28a. San Giovanni degli Eremiti, longitudinal section ........... 190 Fig. 6.28b. San Giovanni degli Eremiti, axonometric reconstruction of the building phases ................................................ 190 Fig. 6.29. San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi,