Article Review: "What became of medieval Sicily’s Arabs? Genetic Demographic Evidence" by Louis Mendola

 

A street mural from Mazara, one of the original landing points of Muslims from Tunisia. Photo by blog author.

Summary: 
This short research article seeks to answer concisely what happened to the Arabs from the Muslim era of Sicily with genetic evidence, and based on previous research by the author himself, Louis Mendola. The research shows that genetic testing both reinforces the recorded historical facts and fills in some of the question marks. It is known and recorded that the final stand by Sicilian Muslims against the rule of the Normans and the land ownership of the Catholic Church was in the Iato area of West Sicily and resulted in Frederick II deporting an estimated 20,000 Muslims to Lucera in what today is Southern Italy. What the DNA evidence adds and that the historical record suggest is that many more Muslims integrated into Latin Sicily. Effectively, the Arab lineage never left, and continues to be part of the genetic heritage of almost all present-day Sicilians (and by extension, those in the Sicilian diaspora).

Key Quotes, Information, or Chapter:

• “By 1250, there were no Byzantine dioceses in Sicily; only a few Orthodox monasteries remained. Following a series of revolts, a few thousand Muslim Arabs were deported to Lucera in Apulia, while thousands more converted to Catholicism. By 1250, mosques were a rare sight.”

• “The genetic record revealed by DNA haplotyping confirms what historians have always known about the diversity of Sicily’s historic populations.”

• “Sicily’s population, like its culture, has been essentially endogamous since around 1300.”

• “In the case of Sicily, it has validated recorded history rather than challenged it.”

• “In its essence, the genetic evidence suggests that the greater part of Sicily’s Arabs did not simply leave the island (for Tunisia or other Fatimid lands), nor were they deported during the reign of Frederick II. Rather, such evidence as exists implies that the great majority assimilated with the Latin population, adopted Christianity and remained here in Sicily, in much the same manner as the Greek-speakers were Latinized.”

Map from What became of medieval Sicily’s Arabs? Genetic Demographic Evidence © 2016 Louis Mendola

Reflections of il Moro: 
The final quote says it all, “the great majority [of Arabs] assimilated with the Latin population, adopted Christianity and remained here in Sicily.” It is not just the DNA evidence either. It is well documented in the place names, surnames, language, food, art, and culture of Sicily. In my own family, we have the DNA evidence, but also a last name derived from Arabic, and come from a part of Sicily that historically had a large number of Arabs. Part of what Mendola tries to get at is that it is the layers of historical evidence that speak to the enduring presence. Last names alone were not necessarily indicators of DNA heritage (despite what some online sites claim), region alone is not an indicator, DNA alone is only part of the story, having Arab food in culinary tradition is not the full story - it is all of these things together that have been woven through a culture that has been largely “endogamous” (i.e. genetically unchanging) for the last 700+ years that speak to our Arab heritage.

Full article by Louis Mendola

Book Review of "The Peoples of Sicily: A Multicultural Legacy" by Louis Mendola and Jacqueline Alio

 

Summary:
This is a landmark book that concisely put together the unique history and melding of cultures that characterized the Norman Era in Sicily. The scholarship of Arab, Greek, Jewish and Norman history in the early medieval period is not new, but it has gained greater prominence in discussing the history of Sicily. In this book, examples of people that represent the cultures present in Sicily at this time, and their contributions are shared in short vignettes, while also giving a framework of what multiculturalism looked like in a time before this term existed the way it does today. The people and concepts describe cover everything from royal history to language to religion to law, and each chapter describes more about the history of Sicily.

Key Quote, Information, or Chapter: 
One of my favorite chapters was on Abdullah al Idrisi, also known as Muhammad al Idrisi. al Idrisi was a Muslim cartographer, scholar, and poet, and came to Sicily to work in the Norman Kingdom. He is best known his silver planisphere, which was the most accurate map of the world for several centuries, and showed the world as round. Mendola and Alio describe how al Idrisi was born in Morocco, and came from an aristocratic family, which included branches in Cordoba and Palermo. He was educated in Cordoba and Marrakesh, and his work was well-known throughout the Muslim World. In addition to his famous map, he wrote a travel book called the "Book of Roger," published in 1154. This covered everything from watching spaghetti made in Trabia, as described by Mendola and Alio, to the number of lakes along the Nile River, to a description of the weather in London. Mendola and Alio point out that some of his achievements has been suppressed in the West, but that his scholarship placed Norman Sicily "alongside Cordoba, Byzantium, Alexandria, and Baghdad."

Reflections of il Moro: 
It is works like this that vividly and clearly connect the dots of history that have deepened the understanding and impact of the amalgamation of cultures that contribute to Sicily and Sicilian culture today. When I first read this book, it opened the door to looking into other scholarship about the Normans, about the Arabs that preceded them, about the Spanish that came soon after, and about other parts of Sicilian history. Louis Mendola and Jacqueline Alio have made a landmark contribution to Sicilian history and scholarship in writing this book.