Khatrat al-Tayf fi Rihlat al-Shita wa al-Sayf
- Author died
- 776 AH
- Editions
- Khatrat al-Tayf fi Rihlat al-Shita wa al-Sayf
Khatrat al-Tayf fi Rihlat al-Shita wa al-Sayf (The Passing Fancy on the Journey of Winter and Summer) is an Andalusian travelogue in rhymed prose by the vizier and historian Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib (713–776 AH / 1313–1374 CE), documenting an official royal inspection tour through the eastern territories of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada .
Background and Context
The expedition departed from Granada on Sunday, 17 Muharram 748 AH (May 1347 CE) . Ibn al-Khatib accompanied the Nasrid ruler Sultan Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf I (r. 733–755 AH) on a tour aimed at inspecting the eastern marches and fortified frontier outposts (thughur) of the realm and assessing their defenses . The text opens with an ornate doxology praising God for granting travel and ease, followed by opening poetic verses in which the author responds to an interlocutor requesting an account of the expedition .
Itinerary and Content
The royal entourage traveled northeast from Granada toward Guadix (Wadi Ash) and Elvira (Ilbira), before returning along another route through the Mediterranean port city of Almeria . Ibn al-Khatib describes the Sultan's receptions in various towns as resembling military parades, in which local inhabitants took part alongside the royal troops bearing weapons, reflecting the militarized character of the Granadan frontier outposts . The author also observes the notable presence of women among the crowds greeting the procession and exchanging salutations .
Scholarship and Editions
Early European bibliographers and orientalists, including Michael Casiri, Hartwig Derenbourg, and Carl Brockelmann, erroneously described the work as an account of a journey to North Africa . The Orientalist Marcus Joseph Müller demonstrated that it describes the tour of Sultan Abu al-Hajjaj through eastern Granada, publishing the text in his Beiträge zur Geschichte der westlichen Araber (1866) .
Manuscript copies of the treatise are preserved in the library of El Escorial near Madrid and in Cairo . It was also edited and included by Ahmad Mukhtar al-Abbadi in his collected volume of Ibn al-Khatib's travel writings, titled Mushahadat Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib fi Bilad al-Maghrib wa al-Andalus .
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