This Noble House. Arnold E. Franklin
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This Noble House
JEWISH CULTURE AND CONTEXTS
Published in association with the
Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
of the University of Pennsylvania
David B. Ruderman, Series Editor
Advisory Board
Richard I. Cohen
Moshe Idel
Alan Mintz
Deborah Dash Moore
Ada Rapoport-Albert
Michael D. Swartz
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
THIS NOBLE HOUSE
Jewish Descendants of King David in the Medieval Islamic East
ARNOLD E. FRANKLIN
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2013 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Franklin, Arnold E., 1971–
This noble house : Jewish descendants of King David in the medieval Islamic East / Arnold E. Franklin. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Jewish culture and contexts)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8122-4409-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. David, King of Israel—Family. 2. Jews—Nobility. 3. Jews—Genealogy—History. 4. Judaism—Relations—Islam. 5. Islam—Relations—Judaism. 6. Islamic Empire—Ethnic relations. I. Title. II. Series: Jewish culture and contexts.
CS28.F73 2012
296.3'97—dc23
2012002586
People are more akin to their contemporaries than to their ancestors.
—Ibn Qutayba (d. 889), ʿUyūn al-akhbār, 2:1
But one should never dismiss as nonsense things that other people took seriously.
—S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 5:260
Contents
A Note on Transliteration, Names, and Dates
Chapter 1. “Sharīf of the Jewish Nation”: Reconceptualizing the House of David in the Islamic East
Chapter 2. “The Truth of the Pedigree”: Documenting Origins and the Public Performance of Lineage
Chapter 3. Ancestry as Authority: Lineage and Power in Near Eastern Jewish Society
Appendix A. Halper 462: Transcription and Translation
Appendix B. A Tentative List of Davidic Dynasts Datable between ca. 950 and ca. 1450
A Note on Transliteration, Names, and Dates
The transliteration of Hebrew and Aramaic terms follows the system used in the Association for Jewish Studies Review with the following exceptions: “ṭ” is used for ṭet, “ṣ” for ṣade, and “q” for qof. Segol, sheva, and ṣere are all represented by “e,” while ṣere followed by yod marking the construct state is represented by “ei.” Other long vowels are not indicated, nor are final silent alef and he (thus: nasi and yeshiva). Arabic words have been transliterated in accordance with the system used by the International Journal of Middle East Studies. For common biblical names, such as Judah, David, and Daniel, the familiar English rendering has been retained, while less familiar Hebrew and Aramaic names, as well as those in Arabic, have been transliterated phonetically according to the systems above. In cases where a distinctive form of a name is commonly used in the scholarly literature (such as Maimonides and Ibn Daud), I have generally used that form. Familiar Arabic place names and dynasties (such as Baghdad and Abbasids) are given in the usual English form as well. Dates follow the conventional Western system.
Preface
In reviewing the period of the ancient Israelite monarchy, the tenth-century Judeo-Arabic chronicle Kitāb al-taʾrīkh (Book of Chronology) briefly narrates the story of Elijah’s triumph at Mount Carmel over the prophets of Baal:
At the end of the third year [of King Ahab’s reign] all the people of Israel gathered at Mount Carmel, and provoked the idolaters: “Can your god make fire from the heavens descend to consume this sacrifice?” So they cried out to the idol the whole day and made themselves weary, yet nothing happened. Then Elijah, peace upon him, prayed to his God, and the Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, sent fire from the heavens to the sacrifice, which had been soaked with twelve jugs of water. And [the fire] consumed it, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water. The people then fell to the ground prostrate before the Lord and cried out: “There is no god but the Lord [lā ilāha