L'incursione pisana contro Palermo musulmana in alcuni documenti della Genizah del Cairo (1064)

Abstract

The Pisan Raid against Muslim Palermo in Documentation from the Cairo Genizah (1064)

On August 18^th 1064, the feast day of St. Agapitus, the Pisans, well aware of the political situation of the island of Sicily and the ongoing crisis caused by internal divisions and the Norman invasion, entered the port of Palermo and captured six large ships full of valuable goods. They burned five of the ships and took the remaining one to Pisa. The considerable  income provided by the sale of the ship and its goods allowed them to begin working on the cathedral, as noted in the inscription commemorating the event. The information provided by this inscription and other written sources is now augmented by two contemporary testimonies that describe the Pisan raid on the port of Palermo: these are two letters in Judaeo-Arabic found in the Cairo Genizah. These letters shed light on the effects of the Pisan raid and the looting of the six ships anchored in the port of Palermo, and on the Jewish trade. Moreover, the analysis of the dynamics of the Pisan expedition in 1064 reveals the importance of the Oreto estuary as a point from which to keep under control the city and its inhabitants. Incidentally, this provides a good approximation for identifying the site of the Pisan military camp, perhaps where the complex of San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi will rise.