Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??


Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Add MS 23488

Record Id:
032-003477104
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003477104
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100099022943.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100108788577.0x000002
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Add MS 23488
Title:

Kitāb al-suʾl wa-al-umnīyah fī taʿlīm al-furūsīyah كتاب السؤل والامنية في تعلم أعمال الفروسية

Aqsarā’ī, Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsá أقسرائي، محمد بن عيسى

Scope & Content:

A Mamluk manual on horsemanship, military arts and technology, attributed to Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsá ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ḥanafī al-Aqsarāʾī (محمد بن عيسى بن إسماعيل الحنفي الأقسرائي, d. ca 1349). The copy was completed on 12 Rabīʻ II 1257/ 3 June 1841 by a scribe who names himself in the colophon simply as ʻAlī (see colophon, f. 154v, lines 12-20, transcribed below).

Occasional gaps in places, and stacking up of the text at the end of lines in others, suggest lacunae in the exemplar, and an effort on the part of the scribe to reflect its layout faithfully.

The fact that the copy was produced only two years before its previous owner Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852) left his post as Political Resident in Baghdad (1828-43), as well as the absence of indication of prior ownership, makes it possible that Taylor himself commissioned the copy or procured it directly after its creation.

The Almasso countermarks of the present volume's papers indicate the product of the Magnani brothers of Pescia, Tuscany (see Krätli, Graziano and Ghislaine Lydon [eds.], The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa, Leiden: Brill [2011], p. 88).

　

Contents:

  • Preface and introduction, on the virtues of jihad (ff. 2v-19v);
  • Book 1: Instruction in archery (الكتاب الأول في التعليم لرماية النشاب, ff. 19v-24v);
  • Book on the illnesses that afflict the archer's body (كتاب في العلل التي تلحق الرامي في بدنه, ff. 24v-28v);
  • Book 3: Instruction in the lance (الكتاب الثالث في تعليم الرمح, ff. 28v-68v);
  • Teaching 3: Swordsmanship (التعليم الثالث في العمل بالسيف, ff. 68v-87v);
  • Teaching 4: The shield (التعليم الرابع في الترس, ff. 87v-88v);
  • Teaching 5: Using the mace (التعليم الخامس في العمل بالعمود, ff. 88v);
  • Teaching 6: The art of soldiers and cavalrymen (التعليم السادس في صناعة الجنود والفرسان, ff. 88v-93r);
  • Teaching 7: Discussion of weapons (التعليم السابع في ذكر الأسلحة, ff. 93r-112v);
  • Teaching 8: The conscription, assembling and management of troops (التعليم الثامن في عقد الجيوش وجمعها وآلاتها, ff. 112v-120v);
  • Section on the battle lines (فصل في الصفوف, ff. 120v-125r). Add. MS 18866 entitles this chapter 'Teaching 9: Arrangement of battle lines by the general' (التعليم التاسع في تعبية الأمير الصفوف في القتال);
  • Teaching 10: Military strategies with incendiaries (التعليم العاشر في المكايد الحربية من تسليط النيران, ff. 125r-127v);
  • Teaching 11: The division of spoils (التعليم الحادي عشر في قسمة الغنائم, ff. 127v-149v);
  • Teaching 12: What the soldier needs (التعليم الثاني عشر فيما يحتاج إليه المحارب , ff. 149v-154v).

The text includes a number of extracts from other works including poetic verses, passages from the Greek military writer Aelian's (اليانس) treatise Tactica (written ca 106 CE), and a treatise on sword making by the philosopher al-Kindī (d. c. 870), addressed to the Caliph al-Mu‘taṣim (باب في السيوف وأنواعها وسقاياتها وهي رسالة أبي يوسف يعقوب بن إسحق الكندي للخليفة المعتصم, f. 83v).

　

Spaces left for illustrations, with captions written vertically in the fore-edge margins:

  • 'Illustration of two horsemen whose lance-heads are between each other's shoulder-blades' (صورة فارسين سنان كل واحد منهما بين كتفي صاحبه, f. 57v);
  • 'Illustration of a number of horsemen taking part in a contest, their lances on their shoulders' (صورة عدة الفرسان يلعبون ناوردًا ورماحهم على أكتافهم, f. 58v);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman taking part in a game with a lance, the lance-head being in his hand and its shaft to his rear' (صورة فارس يلعب برمح وسنان الرمح في يده وعقبه الى خلف, f. 59v);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman on a steed, brandishing two lances in his hand' (صورة فارس علي جواد وبيده رمحين يلعب بهما, f. 64r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman standing up in his saddle on a black steed and impaling a bear in front of the horse' (صورة فارس قائم في سرجه على جواد أدهم وقد طعن دب من قدام الفرس, f. 69v);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman brandishing his sword, riding a furious steed' (صورة فارس يلعب بسيف على جواد أشهب, f. 70r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with a sword in his hand and his sleeve wound over his hand as he rises out of his saddle and strikes with the sword' (صورة فارس وفي يده سيف وكمه ملفوف علي يده وهو بارز عن سرجه وهو يضرب بالسيف, f. 71r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with a sword in his hand with which he strikes from the horse's ear as far back as its right croup' (صورة فارس وبيده سيف يضرب به من أذن الفرس الى كفله الأيمن, f. 72v);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman on a red steed with the edge of the sword under his right armpit, the hilt in his left hand with the reins' (صورة الفارس على جواد أحمر وذبابة السيف تحت إبطه الأيمن والقائم في يساره مع العنان, f. 73v);
  • 'Description [!] of a horseman with a small shield in his hand and a sword in his [other] hand which he brandishes left and right' (صفة [!] فارس بيده درقة صغيرة وبيده سيف يلوح به يمينًا وشمالاً, f. 75r);
  • 'Description [!] of a horseman with a hide shield over his face, the sword edge under his right armpit and the hilt on his left' (صفة [!] فارس ودرقته على وجهه وذبابة السيف تحت إبطه الأيمن والقائم في شماله, f. 75r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with an iron helmet on his head, with a sword. A fire is lit on the helmet, the sword blade and in the middle of the shield' (صورة فارس على رأسه خوذة حديد ومعه سيف والنار تاجج في الخوذة وفي ذباب السيف ووسط الترس, f. 76r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with a sword in his right hand, its blade on his left shoulder and a sword in his left hand whose blade is under his right armpit' (صورة فارس ومعه سيف في يده اليمنى وذبابته على كتفه الأسر وفي يده اليسرى سيف وذبابته تحت إبطه اليمين, f. 76v);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with a sword in his left hand and its tip under his left armpit' (صورة فارس في يده اليسرى سيف وذبابته تحت إبطه الأيمن, f. 77v);
  • 'Illustration of two horsemen wheeling around, with a sword in each one's hand on the horse's back' (صورة فارسين متجاولين في يديهما سيفين كل واحد منهما سيفه على متنه, f. 78r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with two swords and two small hide shields, one up at his face and the other in his hand with the sword' (صورة فارس معه سيفين ودرقتين صغار درقة على وجهه والأخرى في يده مع السيف الواحد, f. 78v);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with a lance in his hand which he is dragging behind him, and a shield in his other hand' (صورة فارس بيده رمح يجرّه ويرأه وفي يده الأخرى ترس, f. 80r);
  • 'Illustration of a horseman with a lance in his hand which he is brandishing, and bearing a shield, taking part in a contest' (صورة فارس بيده رمح يلعب به ودرقته تحميله يلعب ناورداً, f. 80v);
  • 'Description [!] of four horsemen, each one with a sword and a hide shield, and each [man's] shield on his horse's croup' (صفة [!] أربع فوارس كل منهم معه سيف ودرقة وكل درقة على كفل فرسه, f. 81v).

　

Diagrams, executed in red and black ink, with captions:

  • Space left for a table of the 'dispatches' (تساريح) of Shaykh Najm al-Dīn al-Aḥdab, with caption: و هذه صورة الجذل [!], f. 45r);
  • Twelve diagrams of dressage patterns (ميادين, ff. 52v-55r);
  • Diagram of a parade ground (الموكب, ff. 55v-56r);
  • 'Seven shapes' [of military insignia] (سبعة أشكال, ff. 114r-116v);
  • Three sketches of Euclidean figures (الأشكال التي ذكرها أقليدس, see f. 120, line 12) used by the ancient Greeks as military insignia (ff. 120r-120v);
  • A mangonel missile (f. 126v).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 1-4):

الحمد لله ناصر من أطاعه واتّقاه

وكاسر من حاده وعصاه ورادع من أعرض عنه وعاداه ووادع من اعتقد أن لا إله

سواه أحمده حمد من أيقن بنفعه وضرره وأذعن لقضائه وقدره وبذل مهجته في نصرة

دينه وأقرّ بالوحدانية انقيادًا لتمكينه …

Ends (f. 154v, lines 9-12):

...مرهم النورة المستعملة وحدها يؤخذ نورة وتشد في خرقة

دقيقة وتحرك في إناء فيه ماء حتى يخرج ما فيه من النورة ويبقى التلف وتترك حتى يصفى

ثم يصب الماء عنه ويلقى عليه زيت ويضرب حتى يجتمع ويستعمل وبتمام هذه المراهم تم الكتاب

السؤل والأمنية في تعليم الأعمال الفروسية ...

　

Colophon (f. 154v, lines 12-20):

... وواقف بحمد لله

الفراغ منه عشية ليلة الخميس لإثنى عشر

ليلة مضت من شهر ربيع الثاني

من سنة السابعة والخمسين

غب المائتين والألف

من هجرة من له العز

والشرف

بقلم

علي

Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Additional Manuscripts
Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003477104", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 23488: Kitāb al-suʾl wa-al-umnīyah fī taʿlīm al-furūsīyah كتاب السؤل والامنية في تعلم أعمال…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003477104
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003477104
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

Codex; ff. ii+154+iii

Digitised Content:
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100099022943.0x000001
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Arabic
Scripts:
Arabic
Start Date:
1841
End Date:
1841
Date Range:
12 Rabīʻ II 1257
Calendar:
Hijri qamari
Era:
AH
Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Physical characteristics:

Material: Western laid paper with various watermarks and 'Almasso' countermark

Dimensions: 302 x 207 mm leaf [230 x 125 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah; 21 lines per page; vertical spacing 9 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh, vocalised until f. 29r; the scribe is ʻAlī (see f. 154v, lines 19-20)

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings

Decoration: None; blank spaces left for illustrations

Binding: Full red leather binding with blind-tooled central floral motif with pendants and frame

Condition: Staining to the tail edge towards end of volume; tail-edge corner of f. 135 torn and repaired

Marginalia: A few scribal corrections; other annotations apparently lost through trimming (see for example f. 84r)

Seals: British Museum stamp (ff. 2r, 69r, 104r and 154v)

Custodial History:

Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852), Political Resident in Baghdad (1828-43)

Source of Acquisition:

Purchased from Mrs Taylor, widow of Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852), Political Resident in Baghdad (1828-43), 14 April 1860

Finding Aids:

Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens (London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 1463, p. 667

Publications:

Partial translations:

  • Jensen, Kjersti Enger, The Mamluk Lancer: A philological study of Nihāyat al-suʾl wa-ʾl-ʾumnīya fī taʿlīm ʾaʿmāl al-furūsīya (Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Oslo, 2013)
  • Tantum, Geoffrey, 'Muslim warfare: a study of a medieval Muslim treatise on the art of war', in Islamic Arms and Armour, Robert Elgood, ed. (London: Scolar Press, 1979)

　

Studies:

  • Al-Sarraf, Shihab, 'Mamluk Furūsīyah Literature and Its Antecedents', Mamluk Studies Review, 8 (Chicago: Middle East Documentation Center, The University of Chicago, 2004), pp. 141-200
  • Smith, G. Rex, Medieval Muslim Horsemanship. A Fourteenth-Century Arabic Cavalry Manual (London: The British Library 1979)

　

On ALMASSO papers:

  • Krätli, Graziano and Ghislaine Lydon (eds.), The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa, Leiden: Brill (2011)
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Names:
Aḥdab al-Rammāḥ, Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb, 1238 or 1239-1295
Aqsarāʼī, Muḥammad ibn ‘Īsá, d 1349?
Euclid, fl 300 BC
Kindī, philosopher, d c 873
Subjects:
Military art and science -- Early works to 1800