An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades

INTRODUCTION 1
Usamah was a warrior, a hunter, a gentleman, a poet and a
man of letters.
His life was an epitome of Arab civilization as it
flourished during the early crusading period on Syrian soil. He
was a flower of the Arab-Syrian chivalry which found its full bloom
later in his patron and friend, the great Saladin.
The Memoirs of Usamah are a unique piece of Arabic literature.
They open before our eyes a wide and new vista into medieval
times and constitute an invaluable contribution to our knowledge
of Arabic culture, in itself as well as in its relation to Western
thought and practice.
Three months before Urban II delivered his speech at Clermont,
judged by its memorable consequences one of the most effective
speeches in all history, a boy was born, Sunday, Jumada II 27,
488 (July 4, 1095), in Shayzar, northern Syria, to one of the Munqidhite
amirs, the lords of the castle on the Orontes. This boy
was destined to take a prominent part in the future defense of the
castle against the Franks and to become himself the most illustrious
member of a distinguished family, many of whose members attained
national and even international reputation.
This boy was Usamah,
the hero of our story.
About fifteen miles north of Hamah (Epiphania), on the north
end of the rocky slope by which the valley of the Orontes is bounded
on the east, stands the picturesque and strategic Castle of Shayzar.
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The following is a partial bibliography for this Introduction Ibn-al-Athir,
al-Kdmil fi al-Ta'rikh, ed Tornberg (Leyden and Upsala, 1831-74, 13 vols ), vols II,
VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, and in Recueil des histortens des croisades histortens ortentaux
(Pans, 1872-1906, s vols ), vols I—III ,
abu-Shimah, Kttdb al-Rawdalayn ji Akhbdr
al-Dawlatayn (Cairo, 1287 ah, 2 vols), and in Recued des histortens des croisades
fustoriens onentaux, vols IV, V; lbn-'Asakir, al-Ta'rikh al-Kabir (Damascus, 1329-
32 a h , 5 vols ), vol II, ibn-Khalhkan, Ta'rikh (Cairo, 1299 a h , 3 vols ), vols I, II
- de Slane, Ibn-Khalhkdn's Biographical Dictionary (Paris, 1842-71, 4 vols), §&hh
lbn-Yabya, Ta'rikh BayrUt, ed Cheikho (BeirQt, 1902); Yaqut, Mu'jam al-Bulddn,
ed Wustenfeld (Leipzig, 1866-70, 6 vols ), vol III, 'Imad-al-Din al-Katib, Kharidah
al-Qajr, extract by Hartwig Derenbourg (Pans, 1887), al-Dhahabi, Ta'rikh al-Isldm,
extract by Derenbourg (Pans, 1887), Derenbourg, Anthologte de lextes arabes tnidtts
par Ousdma et sur Ous&ma (Pans, 1893), and the same appended to Derenbourg,
Ous&ma Ibn Mounktdh . vie d'Ousdmo (Pans, 1889), pp 499-605
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