The 26th Arabic Papyrology Webclass (Summer Term 2026): Mamluk Jerusalem: The City and the Countryside

• Permanent link: http://www.naher-osten.lmu.de/apw

General Description

• We mostly perceive Jerusalem through the eyes of those imagining, and possibily visiting, the city. In this course, however, we will use original documents, marginal notes in manuscripts, inscriptions, architecture and archaeology to understand the life of those actually living in the city and in the villages.
• We will learn how to read and use these sources for historical research on Mamluk Jerusalem, and we will understand the complex interplay in between sources from very different backgrounds.

Mode

• This is an on-line webclass. Scans of documents will be made accessible in advance.
• Communication will be in English. 

Lecturer 

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Kaplony, LMU Munich, Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies

Time

• Monday, 4:15 - 6:00 PM, possibly 2:15 - 6:00 (Central European Time).
• 13 April - 13 July 2026, no teaching on 25 June 2025.

Certificate

• A certificate of participation will be given if students have attended at least twelve meetings and if they have met the expectations as defined at the beginning of the semester.
• The Arabic Papyrology Webclass forms part of the Webinar Initiative in Islamic Material Culture (https://www.islamic-material-culture.uni-hamburg.de). 

Participants

• This Webclass is designed for students of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Cultures and History, Medieval Studies, and Christian Arabic Studies.

Fees

• 250 Euro or an equivalent amount of working time.
• No fees for students of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at LMU Munich, Universität Bonn, Universität Hamburg, and New York University.

Technical Issues

• Technical problems arising during the semester that prevent students from attending the class are the students’ own responsibility; therefore, missed classes will not be substituted. However, if a technical event prevents all students from participating, the class will be substituted. Further information and registration

Further Information and Registration

• To register, please write to andreas.kaplony at lmu.de with your name, academic affiliation, current position, your motivation; let us know, if you would like to participate 4:15-6:00 or rather 2:15 to 6:00.
• Register until 30 March 2026. The webclass usually fills up quickly.

Editions and Readings

• The Ḥaram Documents:

1. al-ʿAsalī, Kāmil Ǧamīl [Asali, K.J.], Waṯāʾiq maqdisīya taʾrīḫīya [Jerusalem Historical Documents], 3 vols. Amman 1983-1989
2. Little, Donald P., A Catalogue of the Islamic Documents from al-Ḥaram aš-Šarīf in Jerusalem, Beirut 1984 (Beiruter Texte und Studien 29)
3. Ṣāliḥiyya, Muḥammad ʿĪsā [Salhiyieh, Mohammed Issa], Min waṯāʾiq al-Ḥaram al-Qudsī al-Šarīf al-mamlūkīya [From the Documents of Al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem], Kuwait 1985 (Ḥawlīyāt Kulliyat al-Ādāb 6,26)
4. Müller, Christian, Der Kadi und seine Zeugen: Studie der mamlukischen Ḥaram-Dokumente aus Jerusalem, Wiesbaden 2013 (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 85)
5. Aljoumani, Said; Bhalloo, Zahir; Hirschler, Konrad, Catalogue of the New Corpus of Documents from the Ḥaram al-Sharīf in Jerusalem, Berlin 2024

• Documents from the Terra Sancta and from the Armenian Monastery of St. James:

1. Pourrière, Leone, Appendice I: Firmani e documenti arabi inediti estratti dall'Archivio della procua di T.S. in Gerusalemme colla traduzione italiana, in: Golubovich, Girolamo (Hg.), Series cronologica dei .. superiori di Terra Santa ..., Jerusalem 1989, 123-187
2. Richards, Donald S., Arabic Documents from the Monastery of St. James in Jerusalem ..., Revue des Études Arméniennes 21 (1988-1989) 455–469

• Geniza Documents:

1. Gil, Moshe, Palestine during the First Muslim Period (634-1099) (Hebr.), 3 vols. Tel Aviv 1983 (Publications of the Diaspora Research Institute 41; 57; 58); and Additions, Notes and Corrections, Teuda 7 (1991) (Studies in Judaica) 281-345;XX
2. Gil, Moshe, In the Kingdom of Ishmael (Hebr.), 4 vols. Tel Aviv 1997 (Publications of the Diaspora Research Institute 117-120)
3. Goitein, Shelomo Dov; Mordechai Akiva Friedman, India Book (Hebr.), 4 vols. Jerusalem 2009-2013

• The Library of Burhān al-Dīn:

1. Aljoumani, Said; Hirschler, Konrad, Owning Books and Preserving Manuscripts in Medieval Jerusalem: the Library of Burhān al-Dīn, Edinburgh 2023 (Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture)

• Inscriptions:

1. van Berchem, Max, Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. Deuxième partie: [b] Syrie du Sud 3, 3 vols. Cairo 1922-1949 (Mémoires de l'Institut Français d' Archéologie Orientale du Caire 43-45)
2. Sharon, Moshe, Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae (CIAP), Vol. 7,2: Jerusalem 1, Leiden 2021 (Handbuch der Orientalistik I.30,7,2)

• Architecture:
• Burgoyne, Michael Hamilton; Richards, D.S., Mamluk Jerusalem: An Architectural Study, Jerusalem 1987 ([Publications of the] World of Islam Festival Trust)
• Hawari, Mahmoud K., Ayyubid Jerusalem (1187-1250): An Architectural and Archaeological Study, Oxford 2007 (BAR International Series 1628)

Archeology:

1. Walker, Bethany J., Life on the Farm in Late Medieval Jerusalem: The Village of Beit Mazmil, its Occupants and Their Industry over Five centuries, Sheffield 2025 (Monographs in Islamic Archaeology)

• General

1. Lutfi, Huda, Al-Quds al-Mamlûkiyya: A History of Mamlûk Jerusalem Based on the Haram Documents, Berlin 1985 (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen 113)
2. Richards, Donald S., Jerusalem under the Mamlūks, in: Burgoyne, Michael Hamilton; Richards, D.S., Mamluk Jerusalem: An Architectural Study, Jerusalem 1987 ([Publications of the] World of Islam Festival Trust), 57-76
3. Friedman, Yvonne; Drori, Yosef (eds.), The History of Jerusalem: The Mamluk Period (1260-1517) (Hebr.), Jerusalem 5773/2012 (The History of Jerusalem)
4. Gil, Moshe, A History of Palestine, 634-1099, Cambridge 1992. Reprint Cambridge 199
5. Hirschler, Konrad, Syrien-Palästina. Regionale, dann von Kairo, dann von Istanbul abhängige Haushalte, in: Kaplony, Andreas (ed.), Geschichte der arabischen Welt, München 2024, 367-381; 788-790

Former webclasses

• 1: Letters from Quṣayr, by Andreas Kaplony (Fall Term 2007)
• 2: Early Letters [from the Yale Collection], by Andreas Kaplony (Spring Term 2008)
• 3: Arabic Contracts of Renting and Buying Real Estate, by Andreas Kaplony(Fall Term 2008)
• 4: Bilingual Greek and Arabic Documents, by Andreas Kaplony and Raffaele Luiselli, Florence (Spring Term 2009)
• 5: Petitions to and Letters from Mamluk Officials, by Andreas Kaplony (Fall Term 2009)
• 6: Authentification Procedures on Arabic Coins, Seals and Letters from Mamluk Officials, by Andreas Kaplony and Lutz Ilisch, Tübingen (Spring Term 2010)
• 7: Documentary Evidence on Childhood, by Andreas Kaplony (Fall Term 2010)
• 8: Lists, Registers, Accounts, by Andreas Kaplony (Summer Term 2011)
• 9: Documents from al-Andalus, by Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term 2011/12)
• 10: Documents from Edfu, by Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term 2012/13)
• 11: Documents from the Berlin Collection, by Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term 2013/14)
• 12: Documents on Rural Egypt, by Andreas Kaplony (Summer Term)
• 13: Petitions on Paper, by Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term 2014/15)
• 14: Documents on Marriage and Divorce, by Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term/16)
• 15: Papyrus Letters from Umayyad and Abbasid Egypt, by Andreas Kaplony (Summer Term 2017)
• 16: Arabic Documents Referring to Jerusalem, by Andreas Kaplony (Summer Term 2018)
• 17: Merchants, Mules, and Misunderstandings: Commercial Letters on Papyrus and Paper, by Ursula Bsees (Summer Term 2020)
• 18: Formal Types and Paleographical Features of Arabic Documents, by Eugenio Garosi (Summer Term 2021)
• 19: A Society in Transition: Property and Law in Arabic Documents from Toledo (11th-14th Centuries), by Rocio Daga Portillo and Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term 2021/22)
• 20: Reading Documents from Rural Fayyūm, by Andreas Kaplony (Winter Term 2022/23)
• 21: Emotions and Legal Norms in Christian and Islamic Legal Documents: Women and Families Through the Prism of Legal Practice, by Rocio Daga Portillo (Summer Term 2023)
• 22: Lending and Borrowing in Fatimid Egypt, by Leonora Sonego (Winter Term 2023/24)
• 23: A Papyrological Circular Economy: Recycling Arabic Documents, by Eugenio Garosi (Winter Term 2024/25)
• 24: Arabic Papyrus Letters (1st-4th/ 7th to 10th Cent.): Style and Phraseology, by Khaled Younes (Summer Term 2025)
• 25: Living Together: The Merging of Cultures and Laws through Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from Toledo and Egypt (12th to 14th Centuries), by Rocio Daga Portillo, in collaboration with Ignacio Sánchez (Winter Termin 25/26)