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Fraxinetum
Fraxinetum or Fraxinet (Arabic: فرخشنيط, romanized: Farakhshanīt or فرخشة Farakhsha, from Latin fraxinus: "ash tree", fraxinetum: "ash forest") was the site of a Muslim stronghold at the centre of a frontier state in Provence between about 887 and 972. It is identified with modern La Garde-Freinet, near Saint-Tropez. The fortress was established by Muslims from al-Andalus. From this base, the Muslims raided up the Rhône Valley, into Piedmont and as far as the Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland. Their main business was slave-raiding of Europeans for export to Islamic markets. For a time, they controlled the passes through the western Alps. They withstood several attempts to oust them, but were finally defeated by the combined forces of the Provençal and Piedmontese nobility at the battle of Tourtour in 972.
Christian sources in Latin are more numerous than Muslim ones in Arabic for reconstructing the history of Fraxinetum. The most important contemporary narrative of the Muslims of Fraxinetum is the Antapodosis of Liudprand, bishop of Cremona (d. 972). The bishop also mentions Fraxinetum in his Liber de rebus gestis Ottonis, an account of the reign of King Otto I of Germany. Other contemporary narrative sources in Latin are the Annales of Flodoard, which cover the years 919–966, and the Casus sancti Galli of Ekkehard (d. 973). Documentary sources are few, but the first cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Victor at Marseille, covering the years 838–1000, contains some references in its charters to Fraxinetum.
Several biographies and saints' lives also contain information relative to Fraxinetum. The Vita Iohannis Gorziensis, a biography of John of Gorze written around 960, contains an account of the diplomacy undertaken by Otto I in response to raids in his territory. The two Vitae sancti Maioli, biographies of Maiolus of Cluny written by Odilo of Cluny and Syrus, are important sources for the capture of their subject, which event brought about the downfall of Fraxinetum. The anonymous Vita sancti Bobonis, written in the first half of the eleventh century about a saint who died in 986, describes the downfall of Fraxinetum. Its account appears to be based on that of the destruction of a castrum Fraxenedellum in the Chronicon Novalicense.
Among contemporary Muslim sources that mention Fraxinetum are the Arabic Ṣurāt al-Arḍ of Ibn Ḥawqal (977), which is a revised version of the geographical treatise Kitāb al-Masālik waʿl-mamālik by al-Iṣṭakhrī (951), and an anonymous Persian geography, Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (late 10th century). The Muqtabis of Ibn Ḥayyān (d. 1076) also mentions Fraxinetum.
The fort of Fraxinetum atop the hill Mont des Maures overlooking what is today the village of La Garde-Freinet had existed since the Roman era. Its name is derived from the Latin fraxinus (ash tree) and probably refers to the thick forest of ash that covers the hill. The Muslim geographers al-Iṣṭakhrī and Ibn Ḥawqal call Fraxinetum Jabal al-Qilāl ("mount of timber"). They describe the Muslim enclave as vast, covered with streams and fertile soil and taking two days to cross. Ibn Ḥawqal erroneously considered it an island at the mouth of the Rhône.
Kees Versteegh characterizes the region as being under the control of Arab groups based along the coast near Saint-Tropez, who exercised influence across parts of southern France and the western Alpine regions. Most contemporary Latin sources referred to these groups as "Saracens". Mohammad Ballan characterizes them as Andalusīs or Muslims, not necessarily Arabs or Berbers.
According to Ibn Ḥawqal, the settlement was dependent on the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba. The Muslims of Fraxinetum are described by Liudprand as Saracens (saraceni) from Spain and by the Vita sancti Bobonis simply as Spaniards (hispanicolae). According to Évariste Lévi-Provençal, the Saracen crews described by Liudprand were probably a mix of Arabs, Berbers, muwalladūn and perhaps Christians. Latin sources referred to them by various ethnonyms, usually Saracens, but sometimes Moors and even fusci (blacks), pagani (heathen) or Hagarenes. Manfred Wenner concludes, on the basis that all the sources trace the origins of Fraxinetum to Spain and some mention Africa, that the majority of soldiers in Fraxinetum were likely Berbers.
According to historian Mohammad Ballan, Fraxinetum was not just a settlement, but a frontier state that was regionally important economically and militarily.
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Fraxinetum
Fraxinetum or Fraxinet (Arabic: فرخشنيط, romanized: Farakhshanīt or فرخشة Farakhsha, from Latin fraxinus: "ash tree", fraxinetum: "ash forest") was the site of a Muslim stronghold at the centre of a frontier state in Provence between about 887 and 972. It is identified with modern La Garde-Freinet, near Saint-Tropez. The fortress was established by Muslims from al-Andalus. From this base, the Muslims raided up the Rhône Valley, into Piedmont and as far as the Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland. Their main business was slave-raiding of Europeans for export to Islamic markets. For a time, they controlled the passes through the western Alps. They withstood several attempts to oust them, but were finally defeated by the combined forces of the Provençal and Piedmontese nobility at the battle of Tourtour in 972.
Christian sources in Latin are more numerous than Muslim ones in Arabic for reconstructing the history of Fraxinetum. The most important contemporary narrative of the Muslims of Fraxinetum is the Antapodosis of Liudprand, bishop of Cremona (d. 972). The bishop also mentions Fraxinetum in his Liber de rebus gestis Ottonis, an account of the reign of King Otto I of Germany. Other contemporary narrative sources in Latin are the Annales of Flodoard, which cover the years 919–966, and the Casus sancti Galli of Ekkehard (d. 973). Documentary sources are few, but the first cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Victor at Marseille, covering the years 838–1000, contains some references in its charters to Fraxinetum.
Several biographies and saints' lives also contain information relative to Fraxinetum. The Vita Iohannis Gorziensis, a biography of John of Gorze written around 960, contains an account of the diplomacy undertaken by Otto I in response to raids in his territory. The two Vitae sancti Maioli, biographies of Maiolus of Cluny written by Odilo of Cluny and Syrus, are important sources for the capture of their subject, which event brought about the downfall of Fraxinetum. The anonymous Vita sancti Bobonis, written in the first half of the eleventh century about a saint who died in 986, describes the downfall of Fraxinetum. Its account appears to be based on that of the destruction of a castrum Fraxenedellum in the Chronicon Novalicense.
Among contemporary Muslim sources that mention Fraxinetum are the Arabic Ṣurāt al-Arḍ of Ibn Ḥawqal (977), which is a revised version of the geographical treatise Kitāb al-Masālik waʿl-mamālik by al-Iṣṭakhrī (951), and an anonymous Persian geography, Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (late 10th century). The Muqtabis of Ibn Ḥayyān (d. 1076) also mentions Fraxinetum.
The fort of Fraxinetum atop the hill Mont des Maures overlooking what is today the village of La Garde-Freinet had existed since the Roman era. Its name is derived from the Latin fraxinus (ash tree) and probably refers to the thick forest of ash that covers the hill. The Muslim geographers al-Iṣṭakhrī and Ibn Ḥawqal call Fraxinetum Jabal al-Qilāl ("mount of timber"). They describe the Muslim enclave as vast, covered with streams and fertile soil and taking two days to cross. Ibn Ḥawqal erroneously considered it an island at the mouth of the Rhône.
Kees Versteegh characterizes the region as being under the control of Arab groups based along the coast near Saint-Tropez, who exercised influence across parts of southern France and the western Alpine regions. Most contemporary Latin sources referred to these groups as "Saracens". Mohammad Ballan characterizes them as Andalusīs or Muslims, not necessarily Arabs or Berbers.
According to Ibn Ḥawqal, the settlement was dependent on the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba. The Muslims of Fraxinetum are described by Liudprand as Saracens (saraceni) from Spain and by the Vita sancti Bobonis simply as Spaniards (hispanicolae). According to Évariste Lévi-Provençal, the Saracen crews described by Liudprand were probably a mix of Arabs, Berbers, muwalladūn and perhaps Christians. Latin sources referred to them by various ethnonyms, usually Saracens, but sometimes Moors and even fusci (blacks), pagani (heathen) or Hagarenes. Manfred Wenner concludes, on the basis that all the sources trace the origins of Fraxinetum to Spain and some mention Africa, that the majority of soldiers in Fraxinetum were likely Berbers.
According to historian Mohammad Ballan, Fraxinetum was not just a settlement, but a frontier state that was regionally important economically and militarily.