SANA’L BARK AL-SHAMI BY QIWAMUDDIN AL-FATH B. ALI AL-BUNDARI, 2004
by Qiwamuddin al-Fath b. Ali al-Bundari,
Edited by Ramazan Şeşen,
introduced by Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu,
Istanbul, 2004, XXXVII+464+III p.
The author Qiwamuddin al-Fath b. Ali al-Bundari al-Isfahani (d. 643/1245) was a historian and a scribe of the imperial council during the Ayyubid period. His work titled Sana’l-Bark al-Shami produced in 622/1225, is the abridgement of al-Bark al-Shami written by Imaduddin al-Katib al-Isfahani (d. 597/1201) which relates the historical events of Saladin al-Ayyubi’s reign.
Al-Bundari’s abridgement titled Sana’l-Bark al-Shami was not known until Prof. Dr. Ramazan Şeşen, Head of the Manuscripts Division of IRCICA, found a copy of its first volume (562-583) in 1967, among the manuscripts in the Esad Efendi Collection at the Süleymaniye Library during his doctoral research. He prepared this copy for publication, comparing it with the existing two volumes of al-Bark al-Shami, with quotations from related sources and documents. Ramazan Şeşen revised the published and unpublished parts of his study and prepared the present book with the necessary corrections and additions.
Al-Bark al-Shami of ‘Imaduddin al-Kâtib, a valuable historian and a famous writer, has both literary and political value besides its historical importance. It has complementary elements with the work titled al-Fath al-Kudsi by the same author where ‘Imaduddin relates the historical events between the years 583-589/1187-1193 during Saladin’s reign. The extant volume of Sana’l-Bark al-Shami covers the historical events between the years 562-583/1167-1187 during the reigns of Nuruddin and Saladin. These two above-mentioned works written by ‘Imaduddin constitute a complete history of Saladin’s reign and cover the events of the year 583/1187, namely, the most significant period of Saladin’s history, occasionally giving complementary information.