Fraxinetum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fraxinetum (Arabic Farahsanit , today La Garde-Freinet ) was a bridgehead of the " Saracens " in the Kingdom of Burgundy near Fréjus from 888/889 to approx. 972 . The meaning of the place name is given as "area with ash trees". Fraxinetum in the sources was only an approximate name for the area between La Garde-Freinet and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. Berbers from al-Andalus , which at that time had largely slipped out of control by the Emirate of Córdoba , are probably hiding behind the term 'Saracens' .

The base occupied in the course of the Saracen raids in 888/889, which appears in the sources as Fraxinetum Saracenorum , was used for the procurement of wood and the slave trade. It is mentioned only five times in Arabic sources, where it appears as an island of about 60 km² and an unclimable mountain. This mountain can possibly be identified with the Massif des Maures , which stretches between Hyères and Fréjus . The construction of pirate bases was favored by the death of the last Carolingian in Provence in 879. But also in Italy, such as on Monte Garigliano, in the “Emirate of Bari” or in numerous raids - the most famous is probably the sack of Rome in 846 - Iberian-North African pirate activity and a policy of destabilization were reflected.

From Fraxinetum, the Moors advanced in 930 to Grenoble , to Vienne , Asti and in 939 even to St. Gallen , occupied the Alpine passes (960 Great St. Bernhard ) and ruled parts of Provence . Alleged forays into the Engadine are considered unhistorical. The sacking of the Saracens led to the extensive de-urbanization of the coastal fringes of Liguria and Septimania .

Initially started as a "private" company by Moorish pirates, the Caliphate of Córdoba began to exert a greater influence from 940 onwards . With the resurgence of the emirate or the caliphate of Cordoba, Fraxinetum came under its control. Probably in connection with negotiations with Otto I and Barcelona , the local ruler received instructions in 940 to spare the Christians in Provence. However, no support came from Córdoba when a Burgundian-Provencal army conquered the Arab bases with the help of a Byzantine naval blockade in 972.

The Saracens, who engaged in the slave trade, were able to fall back on the corresponding structures of Christian slave traders who themselves participated in human trafficking (in part against papal resistance). The Saracens were by no means isolated, as Ekkehard von Aura reports of marriages between local women and the Berbers of Fraxinetum. Local collaborations were also common. It was probably not so much the difference between the religions as the burden of raids on alpine trade that led to conflicts, not unlike those with the Normans and Hungarians. Christian Vogel is of the opinion that the Christian monastic tradition has unduly emphasized what separates them; in this the Saracens appear only as looters, over whom the church had no influence, since the Berbers allied themselves only with lay people. The Berbers also took in refugees.

The Berbers made the said agreements with the Burgundian kings. King Hugo of Niederburgund and Italy († 947), who initially wanted to drive out the Saracens, found allies in them against a competitor. They paid tributes to King Konrad von Hochburgund (937–993), and they joined forces with him to fight together. That this reflects attempts to play opponents off against each other was shown against 954, when Konrad allied himself with the Saracens against the Hungarians, at the same time concluded an alliance with the Hungarians in order to then proceed against both during the battle. While the Saracens are usually portrayed as unreliable and insidious in the sources, this approach was extolled as a ruse. The Vita Bobonis calls a leader of the Saracens a king. Fraxinetum was the subject of negotiation in the diplomatic contacts between the court of Otto I and Córdoba, so that the dependence on Córdoba can be considered secure, but this connection had weakened in the last decades before the reconquest.

The expulsion is described in the Chronicon Novaliciense . It only succeeded with the help of a local ally, Count Haimo. Haimo was considered "one of them" (quidam eorum fuit nomine Aimo), but when it came to a dispute over booty, namely a woman, Haimo allied himself with Count Robald. The Saracens were driven out, the Haimos family stayed. The trigger for the expulsion - although this must by no means have been the target of the military action - was the kidnapping of Abbot Maiolus of Cluny in the years between 972 and 983. However, it was also considered whether the Cluniac historiography had not constructed this connection. Nor were the Saracens physically annihilated, although many of the conquered were killed and enslaved. The converts were allowed to stay. For a long time no pigs were kept in various valleys; also the type of slaughter lasted a long time.

The extent to which the destruction of the local monastic culture and the old feudal structures led to the rise of Old Provencal to the literary language and to the emergence of a class of wealthy citizens is discussed.

A Saracen wreck that was found in the sea area off Cannes is one of the few material relics of Berber piracy.

literature

  • Hans-Rudolf Singer : Fraxinetum . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 882.
  • Christian Vogel: Product of Unorganized Expansion? The Berber enclave Fraxinetum , in: Network Transcultural Entanglement, Mediävistische Perspektiven, Göttingen 2016, pp. 197–202. ( online )
  • Monique Zerner: La capture de Maïeul et la guerre de libération en Provence: le départ des Sarrasins vu à travers les cartulaires provençaux , in: Société scientifique et littéraire des Alpes de Haute-Provence (ed.): Millénaire de la mort de Saint Mayeul , 4e abbé de Cluny, 994-1994. Actes du Congrès International Saint Mayeul et son temps , Dignes-les-bains 1997, pp. 199-210.
  • Kees Versteegh: The Arab Presence in France and Switzerland in the 10th Century , in: Arabica 37 (1990) 359-388.
  • Philippe Sénac: Contribution à l'étude des incursions musulmanes dans l'Occident chrétien. La localization du Gabal al-Qilâl , in: Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée 31 (1981) 7-14.
  • Scott G. Bruce: Cluny and the Muslims of La Garde-Freinet. Hagiography and the Problem of Islam in Medieval Europe , Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2015 (Cluny's tradition of the kidnapping of Abbot Maiolus and Islamic polemics of Petrus Venerabilis ).

Remarks

  1. ^ Michael McCormick: New Light on the "Dark Ages": How the Slave Trade Fueled the Carolingian Economy , in: Past & Present 177.1 (2002) 17-54.
  2. ↑ Ekkehard IV., Casus S. Galli. St Galler Klostergeschichten , ed. and translated by Hans F. Haefele (Selected Sources on German History of the Middle Ages 10), Darmstadt 1980, casus 65, pp. 138–141.
  3. ↑ Christian Vogel: Product of Unorganized Expansion? The Berber enclave Fraxinetum , in: Netzwerk Transkulturelle Verwlechtung, Mediävistische Perspektiven, Göttingen 2016, pp. 197–202: “Unlike in the Provençals, the monasteries had no access to the Saracens, who only confronted them as looters. The Saracens made covenants with laypeople, and the influence that church authorities could exert on the Christian population failed against non-Christians. The separating element of the other faith was also overemphasized by spiritual authors, whose point of view can only be viewed to a limited extent as representative of contemporary society ”(p. 198).
  4. ↑ Review of Daniel King .