1. Sources on the status of the non-Muslim minorities are collected and analyzed by Tritton, A.S., The Caliphs and Their Non-Muslim Subjects: A Critical Study of the Covenant of' Umar (London, 1930;reprint ed., London, 1970)Google Scholar, and by Antoine, Fattal, Le stalut legal des non- Musulmans en pays d Islam (Beirut, 1958).Google Scholar See also Encyclopaedia of Islam 2d ed., s.v. “Dhimma.” For some representative sources in English translation, see Bernard, Lewis, ed., Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, 2 vols. (New York, 1974), vol. 2, nos. 74 and 75.Google Scholar

2. Salo Baron, W., A Social and Religious History of the Jews 2d ed., 16 vols. to date (New York and Philadelphia, 1952), 5: 6–7.Google Scholar See Mingana, Alphonse, “A Charter of Protection Granted to the Nestorian Church in A.D. 1138, by Muktafi II, Caliph of Baghdad, ” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 10 (1926): 127–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. See Goitein, S.D., A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza 3 vols. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1967–78). 2: Iff. (hereafter Med. Soc).Google Scholar

4. Adolph, Neubauer, ed., Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1887–95), I: 115–17.Google Scholar

5. Solomon Ibn Abi Zimra, David b., She'elot u-teshuvot ha-RaDBaZ (reprint ed., New York 1967), vol. 3, no. 944 (509); cf. also vol. 2, no. 622.Google Scholar

6. The legendary character of Sambari's story was convincingly demonstrated by David Neustadt (Ayalon), “Some Problems oncerning the 'Negidut' in Egypt during the Middle Ages” [Hebrew], Zion 4 (1938–39): 126–34. The motif of a Jewish noble summoned by a gentile ruler and invested with authority over a Jewish community in his realm appears in othermedieval Jewish “religious foundation stories” see IbnDaud, Abraham, Sefer ha-Qabbalahed. and trans. Gerson, D. Cohen (Philadelphia, 1967), p. 79 and especially Cohen's comments on pp. 138–39 (supplementary note to line 297).Google Scholar

7. The text of Megillat Ahimaas was first published by Neubauer in his Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles 2: 111–32. The “life” of Paltiel begins on p. 125. “Nagid” passages: Ibid., p. 125, line 26; p. 129, line9;p. 131, line l;cf.alsop. 130, line 4 and Neubauer's note 2. For a critique of the Paltiel evidence see Neustadt, “Some Problems, ” pp. 135–43.

8. Mann, Jacob, The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fdfimid Caliphs, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1920–22; reprint ed., 2 vols. in one, New York, 1970), 1: 251–57.Google Scholar

9. Goitein, S.D., “The Title and Office of the Nagid: A Reexamination, ” Jewish Quarterly Review n.s. 53 (1962–63): 93–119; Med. Soc, 2: 23–40. The important Geniza document proving that the Fatimids originally recognized and chartered the Palestinian Gaon as head of the Jews in their domain was published and analyzed by Goitein in Eretz-Israel 10 (1971): 100–6, and translated by him into English in “New Sources on the Palestinian Gaonate, ” in Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume ed. Saul Lieberman in association with Arthur Hyman, 3 vols. (Jerusalem, 1974), English section, 1: 523–25. Cf. also Med. Soc, 2: 16–17.Google Scholar

10. See Ashtor, Eliyahu, “Some Features of the Jewish Communities in Medieval Egypt” [Hebrew], Zion 30 (1965): 141–47Google Scholar; Hirschberg, H.Z., A History of the Jews in North Africa 2d rev. ed. trans, from the Hebrew, 1 vol. to date (Leiden, 1974), 1: 2O5ff. Cf. also Encylopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971), s.v. “Nagid”: “Most scholars accept the view that the first nagid of Egyptian Jewry was Paltiel, an Italian Jew who was brought to Egypt by al-Mu'izz, the Fatimid conqueror of Egypt (969), and was part of the ruler's officialdom …; it stands to reason that the Shi'ite Fatimids, who decreed themselves caliphs, did not wish to depend in any way upon the Sunnite Abbasid caliphs, preferring to appoint a separate head for the Jews under their ruler, rather than have them acknowledge the authority of the Babylonian exilarch, an official who was part of the Abbasid hierarchy”Google Scholar

11. See, for instance, Stanley, Lane-Poole, A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages 2d ed. (London, [1913]; reprint ed., New York, 1969), pp. 143–57, 160–65.Google Scholar

12. Ibn, al-Qalanisi, Dhail ta'rikh Dimashq [History of Damascus 363–555 A.H.], ed. H.F., Amedroz (Leiden, 1908), pp. 98, 120.Google Scholar

13. The work is accessible in an excellent new edition by a team of learned scholars, published by the Society of Coptic Archaeology in Cairo. Relevant to our period are vol. 2, pt. 3, ed. and trans. Aziz Suryal Atiya et al. (Cairo, 1959) (hereafter Patriarchs 23) and vol. 3, pt. 1, ed. and trans. Antoine Khater and O. H. E. [Khs-]Burmester (Cairo, 1968) (hereafter Patriarchs 31). Citations below are to the pages of the English translation. Readers can locate Arabic passages easily by referring to the manuscript folio pages given in the margins. In quotations a few stylistic changes have been made where the printed rendition has appeared somewhat stilted.

14. On the work and its authors, see Otto F. A. Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life (Cairo, 1970), pp. 203, 211. On Ibn al-Muqaffa' see Encyclopaedia of Islam 2d ed., s.v. “Ibn al-Mukaffa', ” and Farag, F.R., “The Technique of Research of a Tenth-Century Christian Arab Writer: Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa', ” Le museon 86 (1973): 37–66.Google Scholar

15. Patriarchs. 23: 279–80.

16. Ibid., pp. 298, 303, 313, 351

17. Ibid., pp. 369–70; 31: 12; cf. below n. 42. Glosses: Ibid., 23: 285, 365–69.

18. In the absence of a substantial modern treatment of the political vicissitudes of the Coptic minority under the Fatimid Caliphs, the narrative presented below has had to be reconstructed directly from the primary source. Reflecting in 1968 on the state of Coptic historical scholarship, Aziz S. Atiya (A History of Eastern Christianity [London, 1968], pp. 14–15) commented: “On the whole, it may be said at this juncture that the definitive and comprehensive history of the Coptic church is still pending. Its source material is only partly published, and Coptic archaeological research is in its infancy”

19. Patriarchs 23: 260–62

20. Ibid., pp. 263–64.

21. Ibid., pp. 267–71, 303–4. On the persecution, see also Lane–Poole, Egypt pp. 143–44.

22. Patriarchs, V: 314–15

23. Ibid., p. 279.

24. Ibid., p. v (editors' introduction).

25. The History of the Patriarchs (2³: 312–13) describes an attempted coup against Patriarch Christodulos which was perpetrated by a monk named Jacob. The latter is said to have solicited and obtained the support of Nasir al-Dawla Ibn Hamdan, the strong-armed commander-in-chief of the Turkish regiment in the Fatimid army who virtually ruled in the Egyptian capital beginning in 1067. In 1069 internecine conflict within the Turkish ranks forced Nasir al-Dawla to flee to Alexandria, where he openly rebelled against the Caliphate; see al-Maqrizi, , llti'az al-hunafa ed. Jamal, al-Din al-Shayyal, 3 vols. (Cairo, 1967–73), 2: 275–76, 278–97, 302–3Google Scholar; Ibn, uyassar, Akhbar Misr (Annales d' Egypte) ed. Henri, Masse (Cairo, 1919), pp. 17–20.Google Scholar According to our Egyptian-Christian source, the would-be usurper, the monk Jacob, died in Alexandria while awaiting the arrival of Nasir al-Dawla Ibn Hamdan “so that he [i.e., Nasir] might do for him [i.e., Jacob] what he had promised him”(Patriarchs.23: 313). Shortly thereafter the Muslim general reached Alexandria, where “his position became so great that he was addressed as our lord al-Nasir” (Ibid.), an allusion to his open rebellion in 1069 in the port city. Two paragraphs later the Coptic chronicler returns to his main subject: “As regards the father Christodulos, he went, after the death of Abba Jacob, the monk, to [Old] Cairo and remained there a long time until the honored Amir al-Juyush [i.e., Badr al-Jamali] arrived in Egypt from Acre” (Ibid., p. 314). Since Badr-al-Jamali reached Egypt at the end of 1073 (Ibn Muyassar, pp. 22–23), we may confidently fix the date of Patriarch Christodulos's arrival in the Egyptian capital around 1070.

26. For two surveys of Badr's rule and accomplishments see Lane-Poole, Egypt pp. 150–54, 161, and Gaston Wiet, L'Egypte arabe de la conquite arabe a la conquete ottomane 642–1517 de I'ere chretienne vol. 4 of Histoire de la nation egyplienne ed. Gabriel Hanotaux (Paris, n.d.), pp. 245–54.

27. Patriarchs, 21: 332–40.

28. Burmester, O.H.E., “The Canons of Cyril II, LXVII Patriarch of Alexandria, ” Le museon 46 (1936): 245–88.Google Scholar

29. Patriarchs, 21: 316–18. The event took place “when Amir al-Juyush was on his journey to Upper Egypt to conquer it, ” an allusion to Badr's punitive expedition in 1076 against rebellious Arab tribesmen. See Lane-Poole, Egypt p. 151, and Maqrizi, Hti'az al-hunafa”, 2: 316.

30. Patriarchs 23: 329.

31. Ibid., pp. 347–56.

32. See the texts included in Lewis's anthology, cited above, n. 1.

33. See the last three references given in n. 9, above.

34. Patriarchs, 23: 327–28. “Sultan” is used explicitly of the vizier Badr al-Jamali, e.g., Ibid., p. 337 (cf. p. 33). This Coptic usage provides additional support to D. S. Richards's contention that the title “Sultan” in a petition to the Fatimids from the monks of St. Catherine's monastery in the Sinai peninsula refers to the vizier, rather than to the Caliph, reflecting popular parlance; Richards, D.S., “A Fatimid Petition and 'small Decree' from Sinai, ” Israel Oriental Studies 3 (1973): 145.Google Scholar

35. Patriarchs 23: 334.

36. Ibid., 31: 4–6.

37. Ibid., V: 394–95.

38. Baron, Social and Religious History of the Jews 2d ed., 5: 7.

39. This suggestion about the return from Samarra is made by Heribert, Busse, Chalifund Grosskonig: Die Buyiden in Iraq (945–1055) (Beirut, 1969), p. 485, in his chapter on the Jews, noting that the head of the Nestorian church moved to Baghdad at that time (cf. also p. 455).Google Scholar As his source for the relocation of Pumbedita, Busse cites Jacob Mann, “The Last Geonim of Sura, ” Jewish Quarterly Review n.s. 11 (1920–21): 420 and idem, “Addenda to 'The Responsa of the Babylonian Geonim as a Source of Jewish History, '” Ibid., p. 435, wherein Mann comments only that “the reason for this change of residence is not known.” Busse's plausible proposal demonstrates the usefulness of the comparative approach to non-Muslim communal history

40. Patriarchs 31: 13 (emphasis added).

41. Ibid., 23: 385–88, 395–97. On the Church of St. Sergius, see Meinardus, Otto F.A., Christian Egypt: Ancient and Modern (Cairo, 1965), pp.188–90.Google Scholar

42. The correspondence between the Patriarch and the Cairenes concerning this matter, from which the passage quoted above was taken, has been preserved in the History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church (31: 11–32). This is thanks to the happy coincidence that the compiler of Macarius's vita, John Ibn Sa'id al-Qulzumi, was also the scribe who wrote the epistles on behalf of the Cairenes and received (and preserved) the Patriarch's replies. Together, these letters provide a fascinating glimpse of inner church politics, one which is thoroughly reminiscent of the quarrels depicted in so many Geniza letters. Their data further attest to the possibilities inherent in the comparative approach to non-Muslim communal history.

43. Ibn Muyassar, p. 62 (top).

44. Patriarchs 3': 43.

45. The earliest dated reference in an Islamic source to the title ra'is al-yahud known to me is the above-mentioned (n. 43) passage in Ibn Muyassar's chronicle depicting the inaugural reception for al-AfdaFs successor as vizier in 1122. The ra'is al-yahud and the Jewish katibs followed immediately behind their Coptic counterparts in the procession of well-wishers. The only extant formulary for the appointment of a ra'is al-yahud bearing an indication of date is from the Ayyubid period (cf. C. E. Bosworth, “Christian and Jewish Religious Dignitaries in Mamluk Egypt and Syria: Qalqa'shandi's Information on their Hierarchy, Titulature, and Appointment, ” International Journal of Middle East Studies 3 [1972]: 211–14). In the Geniza documents, the holders of many offices and leadership positions are designated ra'is reflecting the extreme flexibility of the term in Islamic society. Problematically, the Heads of the Jews in Egypt are almost always called in the Geniza by the nebulous shorthand, ra'is (or, as it is usually spelled, rayyis), which could allude to their official Fatimid title, to their leadership status in general, or to any one of a number of titles or categories with which ra'is was associated. In all the Geniza documents known to me to bear a reference to Judah b. Saadya, the title ra'is (rayyis) occurs only twice. The first instance dates from the period prior to his receiving the Hebrew title of Nagid and evidently alludes either to his Babylonian honorific, Rosh Kallah (“Head of the Kallah”), or to his status as a court physician; TS (Taylor Schechter Collection, University Library, Cambridge, England) 13 J 9, fol. 3r. The second occurrence is a docket on the back of an undated letter recording its receipt at the majlis (audience hall) of “our lord [Arabic: sayyidnd] the illustrious Rayyis Abu Zikri [Judah's honorific byname, or kunya] son of lord Saadya … may God perpetuate his strength and increase the splendor of his power”; TS Box K 6, fol. 36v. Here Judah is obviously in a position of high authority, though we still cannot say for certain that the “Rayyis” in his name represents the Fatimid investiture as ra'is al-yahud

46. In a Geniza letter alluding to Mevorakh's return to power in 1094, after some twelve years of political exile, the writer speaks of “the restoration of the riyasa (Headship) to him”; MS Bodl. Heb. d 66, fol. 79v, line 3 no. 31 in Murad A. Michael, “The Archive of Nahrai ben Nissim: Businessman and Public Figure in Egypt in the 11th Century” [Hebrew] (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University, 1963). Furthermore, another Geniza document mentions a governmental decree interdicting prayers in the name of the deposed Rayyis, which was promulgated during the reign of Mevorakh's rival, the Nasi David b. Daniel (r. ca. 1082–94); TS 12.657, trans. Goitein, S.D., Letters of MedievalJewish Traders (Princeton, 1973), pp. 173–74.Google Scholar Since it is difficult to imagine that the Fatimid authorities would have appointed Mevorakh ra'is al-yahud during his political exile, he must have achieved this dignity during his first (albeit short) term, following his brother Judah's death in ca. 1078.

47. TS 18 J 4, fol. 6, the relevant section of which is translated by Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders pp. 253–55.