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Ibn Al-qalanisi




He descended from the Banu Tamim tribe, and was among the well-educated nobility of the city of Damascus. He studied Literature , Theology , and Law , and served as firstly a secretary in, and later the head of, the Chancery of Damascus (the ''Diwan al-Rasa'il''). He served twice as ''ra'is'' of the city, an office equivalent to Mayor .

His chronicle, the ''Dhail'' or ''Mudhayyal Ta'rikh Dimashq'' (Continuation of the Chronicle of Damascus) was an extension of the chronicle of Hilal bin al-Muhassin al-Sabi', covering the years 1056 to al-Qalanisi's death in 1160. This Chronicle is one of the few contemporary accounts of the First Crusade and its immediate aftermath from the Muslim perspective, making it not only a valuable source for modern historians, but also for later 12th-century chronicles, inclusing Ibn Al-Athir .


REFERENCES

  • ''The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades, Extracted and Translated from the Chronicle of Ibn al-Qalanisi''. H.A.R. Gibb, 1932 (reprint, Dover Publications, 2002).