SINAI DURING THE CRUSADES

VARIOUS circumstances combined to raise the convent of Sinai to great prosperity during the early Middle Ages. On the one side it received regular contributions in money from Europe; on the other it attracted the attention of the pilgrims owing to the increasing fame of St. Katherine. Further it secured the direct protection of the Moslim rulers of Egypt owing to a development in trade.

When the Arabs conquered Egypt, the desire arose for a direct communication by water to Arabia, and the fresh-water canal which connected the Nile with the Red Sea was cleared. Corn was now shipped on the Nile for Djar, the port of Medina, where goods coming from India and China were disembarked and re-shipped for Egypt. But owing to a dispute between the ruler of Egypt and his uncle at Medina, in the year 775, the port of Djar was closed to the Egyptians. The ships bearing Eastern goods for Egypt for a time landed at Roman Clysma, near Suez, which secured a new lease of life as Arabic Kolzoum. But Kolzoum like ArsinoË, silted up, while Suez as a port was not yet in being. On the west coast of the peninsula of Sinai lay Raithou, near which a landing stage offered the advantages of a natural harbour. Ships therefore landed near Raithou, called Raya by the Arabs, where the goods were transferred to camel-back for conveyance to Cairo and Alexandria.

The monks of the convent of Sinai were in direct connection with the monks at Raithou, who owned large palm groves, and doubtless controlled the landing stage. For the place which here grew up came to be known as Tur, an Arabic word signifying height, which was first applied to the convent of Sinai. Mukaddisi (c. 985) mentioned Tur Sina and noted that the Christians had a convent there, and some well-cultivated fields, and olive trees of great excellence.[239] The Christians called it Porta Santa Katerina or simply Santa Katerina (1383). The use of Tur as a port brought the Sultan of Egypt into relation with the monks, and acted as a safeguard to the convent.

In 1010 the Saracens bore down on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem and destroyed it. They then moved on to Sinai with the intention of destroying the convent also, but they were warned off by seeing the mountain aglow with fire. The chronicler, Ademar, stated that when the report of the proposed attack reached the Sultan, he and his Saracens repented.[240] An attack on the port of Aila may have caused a further deviation of trade to Tur. Makrizi († 1441) recorded that Aila was pillaged by Abd Allah ben Edirs ben Dgofair, governor of El Korah, with the help of the Benu el Garrah.[241] This put a stop to the transit of goods via Aila to Damascus, and the Eastern goods for Syria as well as those for Egypt were now disembarked at Tur. This change is reflected in the fact that Tur, sometime between 1020 and 1050 took the place of Kolzoum as a customs station, although it remained for some time so poor a place that the appointment there was considered equal to a disgrace.

The rule of the Moslim until now had brought endless burdens and oppression to the Christians in Egypt. The churches had been robbed, the convents had been mulcted and their inmates had been disgraced by the emir who acted for the Sultan. But a change now took place. Bononius, a Benedictine monk from Bologne, came to Cairo in 1025, having obtained an interview with the Sultan to request that the Christian prisoners should be set at liberty. Bononius also visited Sinai and Jerusalem.[242] In 1045 the patriarch who had hitherto dwelt at Alexandria, removed to Cairo, and we now hear, in the sparse annals of the convent, of direct relations between the monks and the Sultan.

In the year 1069 John the Athenian, bishop of Sinai, was killed during his stay in Egypt under circumstances that are not recorded. He was canonised at the convent. In the year 1103 the bishop Zacharias was mentioned in a firmÂn (e?? ??a ???s??) of Emir Elmoumne, a term explained as imperator fidelium; perhaps it was Amir Abu Mansur (1101-1130). The next bishop, George, was also recognised by the Sultan in 1133. His successor at the convent named Gabriel, who was mentioned in 1146, was learned in Arabic, and wrote sermons as is shown by an Arabic book in the convent. He was in touch with the Sultan “Kaim Impnes Rhaila,” who was perhaps Zafir Abu el Mansur Ismael (1149-1151). The next prelate was John, whose date is fixed at 1164 by an Arabic letter which he addressed to the monks at Raithou. The next bishop was Simeon.[243]

Of the religious life of the cities along the Mediterranean coast little is known at this period. The last bishop of Ostracine known by name was Abraham, of the year 431. At Rhinocorura called El Arish by the Moslim, later bishops were PtolemÆus and Gregorius. Lequien made the mistake of identifying Rhinocorura with Farma, and mentioned the Jacobite prelates of Farma as prelates of Rhinocorura. Farma, famous for its palm groves, was near the ruins of the ancient Pelusium. El Arish continued an important city under Moslim rule, but its architectural features were not respected. Abu Saleh, the Armenian, who wrote an account of the churches and monasteries of Egypt about the year 1071, mentioned El Arish or Rhinocorura. “In this region there are two large churches which have stood from ancient times and are now in ruins, but their walls remain up to our time; and the wall of the city which ran along the side of the Salt Sea, is still existing. It is said that of all the marble and columns which are to be found at Misr (i.e. Cairo) the greater part and the largest specimens came from El Arish.”[244] (Fig. 18.)

The connection of the monks and the Sultan attracted the attention of Arab writers to the convent. Edrizi (c. 1153), Ibn Zobeir (c. 1183), mentioned its existence in general terms. Benjamin of Tudela, the Jewish rabbi who acted for a time as vizier to Adid († 1171), the last of the Fatimite rulers, held that it was occupied by Syrian monks, who were subject to the Sultan. He also remarked that at the foot of the mountain lay Tur Sina, a large town, the inhabitants of which spoke the language of the Targum (i.e. Syriac). It was close to a small mountain and five days’ journey from Egypt.[245]

The trade via Tur naturally brought the monks into contact with the Further East. Fretellus of Antioch (c. 1130) declared that the monks of Sinai, “from the confines of Ethiopia to the utmost bounds of the Persians, were venerated in every tongue, possessing their property freely and quietly among themselves. They had cells throughout Egypt and Persia, around the Red Sea and Arabia, from which all they required flowed most liberally.”[246] In addition to this, grants were made to them by the Crusaders in the lands which they conquered.

The Pope, from the first, had favoured the Crusades as a means of extending the influence of Latin Christianity. When Jerusalem was conquered in 1099, the Greek patriarch happened to be absent. He was passed over and a Latin patriarch was appointed in his stead. The authority of this prelate was extended with the advance of the Crusaders. Godfrey was proclaimed king of Jerusalem in 1099. He was succeeded by Baldwin, who, in 1115, made an expedition to “Mount Oreb, commonly called Orel,” i.e. Mount Hor near Petra, the present Gebel Haroun. “Starting from here, Baldwin overcame the desert places and vast solitudes by conveying a quantity of food on mules, and reached Aila, which he found deserted, and of which he took possession. Here he heard of the monks, who dwelt in Sinai, and served God, and he desired to go to them across the mountain in order to pray. But he was prevented by a message from the monks who feared that their Moslim master might be annoyed by the king’s visit, so he gave up the idea.”[247] He turned back, and on his way to Syria he conquered Petra, near which he erected the fortress of Monreale. He then moved along the shores of the Mediterranean as far as Farma, where he died in 1117. According to Makrizi he burnt down the mosque and perished in its flames. Roger of Sicily in 1155 completed the work of destruction by a descent on Farma, which he set on fire and pillaged.

When Baldwin, disappointed of his visit to Sinai, seized Petra, this became a Latin bishopric, and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem eventually had under him four bishops, of Tyre, CÆsarea, Nazareth, and Petra.[248] The name of the Latin bishop of Petra is not preserved.[249] According to Jacques of Vitry († 1244) the bishop of Petra had one suffragan, i.e. “the bishop of Sinai, superior to the convent of St. Katherine the Virgin, and the monks of that convent.”[250] In Sinai itself no record of a Latin prelate was preserved. But irregularities in the succession suggest that the Latin bishop of Sinai was Simeon, who advocated the cause of the monks with the Pope.

On the other side of the peninsula, the appropriation of Aila by the Crusaders called for interference. Saladdin, in 1170, had a fleet built, with which he sailed around the peninsula, and attacked and retook Aila. But the enterprising Renaud de Chatillon (the AlaÏris of Makrizi) collected material for ships on the Dead Sea, conveyed them to the Gulf of Akaba on camel-back, and seized Aila from where he pillaged the coast, and made piratical descents on the shipping for over a year. The small island, Iotabe, later Emrag, the present Zigiret el Faraun, lies at a short distance from Aila. It has no harbour, but is almost entirely built over by a castle with squared towers in the mediÆval style. The work was probably begun in Roman times, but was added to by Renaud de Chatillon. But in 1184 Melek el Adel (Abu Bakr, 1199-1218), the brother of Saladdin (1171-1193), came with a fleet to Aila and attacked and finally routed the Franks. Advancing across the country he re-conquered Petra, which henceforth remained under Moslim rule.

In the meantime the monks were profiting by the good graces of neighbouring prelates. In 1203 the archbishop of Crete, described as “a lover of St. Katherine, the Virgin,” bestowed on the monks of Sinai property in Crete which represented an annual income of four hundred ducats,[251] whereupon Simeon, bishop of Sinai went into Crete, where he built a priory (et?????). In 1204 the Venetians acquired the whole island of Crete by purchase from Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, and Simeon went to Venice where losses incurred by the monks, were made good to him.[252] A letter is extant of the Doge Pietro Ziani of 1211, in which he confirmed the ruler of Mount Sinai in the possessions which he held in Crete. It describes the ruler as “archbishop,” which seems to be the earliest use of this title. Crete remained in the power of the city of Venice till 1645, and letters are extant from successive doges which confirm the rights held by the monks in the island.[253]

From Venice Simeon probably went to Rome, where a general synod was convened by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in 1211. Its purpose was to discuss the state of the Holy Land, “where the son of the bondswoman (i.e. Hagar), the most detestable Agarenes, hold our Mother of all the faithful in bondage.”[254] A sermon in Arabic, written by Simeon, “bishop of Sinai,” is among the MSS. of the Vatican.[255] In the Regesta of Pope Honorius III (1216-27) we come across repeated mention of Simeon, bishop of Sinai. A grant of 1217 gave the protection of St. Peter to the Monastery of the Virgin at the foot of the mountain and to its possessions; another confirmed the bishop of Sinai and his chapter in those possessions which they held at the time of the great synod (of 1211) or had acquired since; others advised the bishop of Crete to respect the monks and hold them exempt from paying tithes on the property which they held in Crete.[256] In the year 1226 Pope Honorius granted a bull to Simeon and the monks of Sinai, “of the order of St. Basil.” It is difficult to procure the text; its wording was probably much the same as that of a bull granted in confirmation of it by Pope Gregory IX (1221-41), of which a copy was preserved at the convent. This bull enumerated the possessions which the convent held in those countries over which the Pope claimed authority by virtue of the conquests made by the Crusaders.

The bull[257] first named Roboe, Fucra, Luach, places that have not been identified. Mention was then made of Rayton (i.e. Raithou), with its palm groves and property; of houses and property near the city of Egypt (i.e. Cairo); land on the Red Sea; property and palm groves in Faran; rights (obedientia) in the church of St. Michael in Alexandria, and liberty of transit by land and water; vineyards and olive groves in the valley of Moses (i.e. near Petra); in Monreale, houses, a mill, vineyards and olive groves; property in Croce (not identified); in Jerusalem, rights in the church of St. Michael, houses and a bakehouse; in Jaffa, houses and land; near Acre, houses and the church of St. Katherine; in Laodichea (near the sources of the Orontes), the hospital of St. Demetrios and a house; in Damascus, the church of St. George, houses and property; at Odaverosa (not identified), houses, land and vineyards; near Antioch, a house and a bakehouse; near Constantinople, rights in the church of St. George of Mangana; in Crete, extensive property, including several churches with land pertaining thereto, several mills, vineyards, etc.; in the island of Cyprus, houses, vineyards, woods, rights of pasture and of trading.

Simeon, who secured the Papal recognition to these rights, was bishop of Sinai from 1203 to 1253, according to Gregoriades. But the list of bishops which was compiled at the convent by Nectarius named Euthymius in 1223; Macarius (I) in 1224; Germanus in 1228; Theodosius in 1239; and Macarius (II) in 1248, who was named also in an ancient Arabic MS.[258] In the year 1258 the ruler was again Simeon. Some writers hold that this was the same Simeon who went to Europe, and possibly he was the suffragan of the Catholic bishop of Petra. The statements regarding him are difficult to reconcile. According to Gregoriades, the monks of Sinai, owing to the liberality of the Crusaders, owned property also in Tripoli and Gaza, and the produce of these places and that of Damascus was so plentiful as almost to supply their entire needs.

In the year 1216 a truce was concluded between the Sultan of Egypt and the Christians, which restored freedom of movement to the pilgrims. Magister Thietmar,[259] who was in the Holy Land, availed himself of it “to carry out his fervent wish to visit the body of the blessed St. Katherine which exuded the sacred oil” (c. 8). In order to do so with impunity he adopted the appearance of a Georgian monk (c. 28), and journeyed by way of Mount Abarim, where Moses died, Mount Neb, Mount Phasga (Pisgah) and Mount Phagor in the land of the Moabites and Midian. By way of Roba he reached Crach and Petra, in Gallic Monreal, in Saracenic Scobach, where there was a great fortress that belonged to the Sultan of Babylon, and where Christians and Saracens dwelt in the suburbs. Here a Gallic widow gave him advice and provided him with food, and the Boidiwinos (Bedawyn) undertook to take him to Mount Sinai along a road that was known to none but themselves and to bring him back dead or alive. Leaving Kadesh Barnea on the right, he crossed the desert of Pharan, and reached the Red Sea and a fort (Aila), where captive Franks, English and Latins lived on fishing (c. 17). Three days later he reached Mount Sinai, “which the Saracens called Tur Sin.” He was much impressed by the church of the Virgin which was resplendent with marble, and roofed with lead, and contained many hanging lamps. The monks were Greeks and Syrians, and their food included fish which was brought from the Red Sea and many things from Babylon (Cairo). The original Bush of Moses being no longer in existence, a golden bush (aureus rubus), hung with golden images of the Lord and of Moses, had taken its place. Small stones, engraved with a bush, were cut or dug up (effodiantur) which served against all infirmities. When the Sultan (probably Melek el Adel, 1199-1218) came there, he took off his shoes before entering the chapel (c. 20).

In the convent church stood the tomb of St. Katherine, a small chest of white marble. The bishop, hearing of the arrival of Thietmar and his wish to see the relics, approached the chest with prayer and incense, and had the cover removed. Thietmar saw the relics of St. Katherine and kissed her bared head. The limbs still hung together and were steeped in oil, which “exuded from the bones, not from the sarcophagus, like drops of sweat.”

“When I inquired about her translation from the mountain to the church,” wrote Thietmar, “I was told that a certain hermit who dwelt in another part of Mount Sinai from that on which the body of St. Katherine was laid by the angels, frequently saw, by day and by night, a light of great brightness in or near the place where the body lay. Wondering what it was, he went to the church at the foot of the mountain, and described the sight that he saw and the place where he saw it. The monks, after fasting, ascended the mountain, in a procession that was led by him. When they found the body, they greatly wondered whose it was, whence it had come, and how it was taken there. As they stood there wondering, an aged hermit from Alexandria declared, like Habakkuk the prophet who spoke to Daniel, that the body had been brought to Sinai by the grace of God, and he assured those who doubted, that it was the body of the blessed Katherine, and had been carried there by angels. At his instigation, the bishop and the monks translated the body to the church because the place where it lay was quite inaccessible (c. 19).

Thietmar then asked to be taken to the height on Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Law, and on his way thither he saw the chapel where the Virgin met the monks who, on account of the lack of food, and the verminous condition of the convent, were about to leave, but she bade them turn back (c. 22). He also saw the spot where the Virgin promised the monks a plentiful supply of oil for their lamps; likewise the chapel of Elijah on Horeb; the imprint on the rock of the body of Moses; and the place where the body of St. Katherine was laid by the angels (c. 23). Before leaving the convent he received some of the precious oil (c. 27). His home and the place to which he went are unknown. An account of the Moslim faith which he added to his narrative, reflects a liberal spirit, and, taken together with his Latinity, indicates a man of learning and understanding.

The call of Pope Innocent III, in 1211, stirred up anew the spirit of the Crusaders, but efforts were now directed, in the first place, against the Sultan in Egypt. Damietta, which lay on the Tanitic mouth of the Nile, where the Moslim had a fort, was the scene of many struggles. From January, 1218, to November, 1219, it was occupied by the Franks. In the meantime, the emperor Frederick invaded Palestine on his own account, and in 1229 secured a truce by which the Christian pilgrims were once more enabled to travel to Jerusalem. The advantages which he received were forfeited, however, owing to quarrels among the Christians themselves. The Sultan marched on Gaza in 1244, and attacked Jerusalem, which was finally lost to the Christians. It was in vain that the French king Louis IX, in 1249, occupied Damietta and pillaged Ostracine, which altogether disappeared. But Louis was taken prisoner and the restoration of Damietta was part of his ransom. Changes among the Moslim rulers hurried on events. The Mongols, pressing in from the East, overthrew the Caliph of Baghdad and destroyed the Syrian kingdom. A descendant of the true Prophet was established on the throne of Egypt as a nominal ruler, while the general, Bibars († 1277), with the title of Sultan, extended his authority over the greater part of Arabia and Syria. Bibars successfully led the campaign against the Crusaders. Antioch fell in 1268, Tripoli in 1289, Acre in 1291. By these losses the spirit of the Crusaders was broken.

Of the bishops of Sinai during this period, little is known. In succession to Simeon (I or II), John III ruled from 1265 to 1290, and was followed by Arsinius, who was a book lover. Several books in Greek which are now in the convent library were written at his instigation, and one of them was owned by him.[260] The next bishop was Simeon (II or III), who ruled from 1306 to 1324, and was followed by Dorotheus (1324-1333), who secured a firmÂn from the Sultan,[261] and a bull from Pope John XXII, who was at Avignon at the time. In this bull, dated 1328, the pope called upon Hugh, king of Cyprus, to respect the rights which former kings of Cyprus had granted to the monks of Sinai. He also recognised their right of burial in the church of St. Simeon at Famagusta in Cyprus, and granted one year’s indulgence to pilgrims who visited the shrine of St. Katherine in Mount Sinai.

It was presumably Bishop Dorotheus who received Duke Henry II of Brunswick in Sinai in 1330, who came bearing a letter from the Greek emperor to his “dear relatives,” the Greek prelates. According to the German record, the “archbishop of Sinai” received the duke in person, and bestowed on him, among other relics, a thorn from the crown of Christ, which he had himself received from the king of France to whom he was sent as envoy. Duke Henry received also oil, and perhaps a bone, from the shrine of St. Katherine, which, together with the thorn, he deposited in the church of the monastery of Walkenried after his return to Germany.[262]

The ruler in succession to Dorotheus was Germanus III, and he was followed by Marcus who is named in an Arabic MS., and went to Rome in 1376 to collect alms for his convent. It was probably owing to his influence that a bull had been granted to the monks by Pope Innocent VI in 1360.[263]

Later bishops included Job, whose name appears in an inscription in the convent church, and the following, who were named in a Arabic MS. without record of their date: Athanasius (I); Sabbas; Abraham; Gabriel (II); Michael; Silvanus; Cyrillus. Mention is also made of one Solomon, whose name is not otherwise recorded.