The Town of Sandwich

So...Sandwich. Most people just think about the food item that shares its name, but it has had more history than that, and not just as a Cinque Port. Its significance as a port in southeast England helped to weave it through many events that have been mentioned in this blog before.

The name Sondwic is mentioned first in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, covering events in England from the 800s to 1154. The Domesday Book, an account of all property in England so the new Norman rulers knew what they had, calls it Sandwice. The suffix -wic is Anglo-Sacon for a fortified place where trade takes place (a town). The name means a market town on sandy soil, appropriate for a coastal location.

When Rome invaded Britain in 43 CE, Sandwich was their landing point (technically, a town called Stonar across the river Stour from Sandwich, but Stonar disappeared in the 14th century).

King Cnut (c.990 - 1035) had history with Sandwich, initially leaving a pile of bodies strewn across the beach when he fled to Denmark after fighting with King Æthelred the Unready, but then later giving special rights to the church at Sandwich.

When Richard Lionheart was released from captivity after the Third Crusade and returned to England, Sandwich was his choice of landing port.

During the First Barons War (mentioned here) against King John, Prince Louis (later King Louis VIII) of France landed at sandwich to support the barons against John. The Battle of Sandwich was part of the First Barons War, and had the participation of Eustace, the Pirate Monk.

In the 14th century, a hospital (an almshouse for the poor) was established, named for St. Thomas Becket and still standing (see illustration).

In 1660, an earldom was created to bestow on Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. The 4th Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty and sponsored the voyages of Captain Jame Cook, who named the Sandwich islands for the Earl. The 4th Earl, John Montagu, is also credited with the naming of a food item when asking for meat between two pieces of bread so that he would not have to stop his activities. It bears mentioning, however, that a 1st century CE rabbi, Hillel the Elder, put the lamb and bitter herbs of the Seder between two pieces of matzoh, so this concept predates Montage by several centuries. (I doubt, however, that you'd get anything but blank stares of you ask for a "roast beef hillel" next time you want lunch.)

In a more serious vein: once again, I find a gap in my reporting: although King Cnut has had several references in this blog going back over a decade, he himself has not had his story told. Stay tuned.

The Cinque Ports, Part 2

The Cinque Ports were, initially, five port towns on the southeast coast of England. Over the centuries, the rights and privileges granted to them in exchange for having ships and men available for the king's purposes were extended to other towns, but three of the original five—Dover, New Romney, and Sandwich—were mentioned as having this royal obligation as far back as the Domesday Book.

That royal obligation was laid out in statistical terms: the five had an annual obligation to provide 57 ships for 15 days of service, if requested. The motivation for the obligation was never put on paper. A chief assumption is that they were necessary as part of the royal navy for military purposes. The evidence, however, suggests that those towns did not contribute proportionately more than any other towns to military efforts.

Because the privileges granted (chiefly of self-governance and the ability to salvage and keep the flotsam and jetsam of wrecked ships) started in the time of Edward the Confessor, one assumption is that he simply wanted to ensure the loyalty of a handful of ports that were essential to control traffic and trade to the continent.

Their importance gave them seats in Parliament. Representatives to Parliament were called Barons of the Cinque Ports. These days, the "Baron of the Cinque Ports" is purely honorary and used for those elected by the mayor to attend coronations. The barons had the right to hold the canopy over the monarch during the coronation, a practice which was last enjoyed in 1821 for George IV. For the coronation of Charles III, 14 barons represented the Cinque Ports (five original ports, two "ancient towns," seven "limbs") in the congregation.

In the centuries that followed their establishment, weather was a strong enemy causing their decline. Floods, especially in 1287 and 1362, changed coastlines radically, silting up harbors or washing towns away. Sandwich and New Romney are now each more than a mile from the coast. Hastings was washed away by the sea in the above-mentioned floods, and the remaining town was raided and burnt by the French during the Hundred Years Wars. Dover is still a major port, but the decline of the significance of the Cinque Ports was fairly total by the time of Elizabeth I. Major shipbuilding sites in Bristol and Liverpool stole some of their thunder as well.

Next time, I'm going to focus on one of the five towns: Sandwich. (And yes, I will mention that story.)

The Cinque Ports, Part 1

The Cinque Ports (Old French: "Five Harbors") were five towns on the southeast coast of England where the distance to the continent was shortest. There are and were, of course, more than five towns in this area, but these five were given a special charter from the king to maintain ships in case of need.

The term "Cinque Ports" for these five was in use by 1135, even though a royal charter designating them as special was not created until 1155, and they were not granted liberties in exchange for their obligations until 1260. They were important enough to be listed as part of the 1297 re-issuing of the Magna Carta. The five were required annually to make available a total of 57 ships for 15 days' duty as needed by the king.

What did they get in return for this support? They could handle their own criminal and civil cases. They had the authority to punish murderers, delinquents, thieves, etc. They could claim unclaimed property, stray animals, and the debris and cargo of ships wrecked on their shores. They also had representation in Parliament.

The original five were Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich. Although the name for the five did not get amended, the number of towns that were part of the arrangement with the king grew over time. Two towns were added in 1190, Winchelsea and Rye. Instead of changing the French name, after these two were included reference was made to the "Cinque Ports and two Ancient Towns."

That was not the end, however. More towns that were near the original five were brought into the confederation and referred to as "limbs" of the original five. Hastings, Dover, and Sandwich each had two limbs. Rye and New Romney each had one limb. Over time, more limbs were added. Eventually, 40 towns were attached to the Cinque Ports, many of whom no longer belong because they have disappeared or are no longer ports due to coastal changes.

So are the Cinque Ports still relevant? Does this designation still have any meaning? Let's talk about the later history tomorrow.

South England Flood of February 1287

We've been looking lately at catastrophic floods of the Middle Ages, like those that took place on the feast days of St. Marcellus and St. Lucia. These floods not only caused great destruction and loss of life, in some cases they also made topographical/geographical changes that persisted into the future.

St. Lucia's Flood in December 1287, along with an event called the South England Flood of February 1287, radically changed the coastline of part of England.

The map shows dotted lines where the current coastline lies, and how previously there were towns linked to the sea that are now far inland. Unlike in the Netherlands where water forced its way inland and created new coastal towns that were formerly landlocked, the storm surge in February 1287 not only did this in some cases but also caused collapsing cliffs and silting that blocked formerly coastal towns from the sea. A cliff at Hastings collapsed, taking part of Hastings Castle with it and blocking the harbor at Hastings from future trade.

Another town, New Romney, used the River Rother as its trade link to the sea. The storm diverted the river, leaving New Romney a mile away from the water. The river's course ran to Rye, increasing its value as a trading port.

Further north along the coast was the town of Dunwich, an important seaport on the North Sea. A storm surge in 1286, followed by the South England Flood and St. Lucia's, so hammered the East Anglian coast that it declined economically as well as geographically. At its peak it was similar in size to London in the 1300s; the census of 2001 put its population at 84.

The flood of 1287 changed the makeup of the Cinque Ports, a designation that has been technically wrong for a very long time. Next time we'll discuss what the Cinque Ports are, and if there really are cinque.

St. Lucia's Flood

St. Lucia's Day, commemorating a 4th century martyr, is 13 December. On that date in 1287, one of the largest floods in recorded history took place in the North Sea. A similar flood in 1953 allows us to look back and ascribe the 1287 event to a particularly high tide and a particularly low pressure system. The North Sea rose enough to pour over dikes and seawalls, flooding the Netherlands and North Germany. Estimates put the death rate at 50,000 in Germany alone, 80,000 people in total.

The flood also made permanent changes to the countryside. The term "Zuider Zee" (Frisian "Southern Sea") begins to be used at this time for the body of water that was created by this flood. The Zuider Zee was expanded by the flood on St. Marcellus day in 1362. The area called the Zuider Zee was already a body of water: the freshwater Lake Flevo (also called Almere). The Flood connected it to the North Sea through a flooded forest and turned it into the saltwater Zuider.

Economic and political changes followed the geographical upheaval. The West Frisian city of Stavoren (officially the oldest city in Friesland, having been granted a charter in the 1060s) was a trade center on the bank of a river (the Vlie). The flood built up a sand bank that interfered with its shipping and started its decline. The Zuider also brought the coastline to other cities that promptly took advantage of it. The formerly landlocked city of Harlingen became a new seaport. The province of West Frisia became separated from the rest of Friesland by a strait that was nine miles wide at its narrowest; it was annexed by the County of Holland (a state of the Holy Roman Empire).

The same storm affected England, where the water rose several feet in Norfolk. It was a year of storms and flooding in England. Several months earlier England experienced the South England Flood of 1287. It likewise caused economic changes, as it crippled one of England's chief seaports, Dunwich. Tomorrow we'll see what happened then and there.

Saint Marcellus's Flood

A year ago, in May 2023, a survey in the Wadden Sea off North Frisia discovered the remains of the sunken church of Rungholt. The town of Rungholt had a population of about 3000 people. It was one of numerous places destroyed on the night of 15 January 1362, during an event called the Grote Mandrenke (Low Saxon: "Great Drowning of Men").

Also known as St. Marcellus's Flood (because the storm surge peaked on the 16th, which was the feast day of St. Marcellus), it was the result of a new moon with high tides and an extratropical cyclone.

A storm surge/tide swept from the North Sea from England and the Netherlands to Denmark and Germany. It battered and eroded the coasts, changing coastlines. Islands were broken up, new islands were created by breaking up the mainland near the coasts, and whole coastal towns were destroyed. An estimated 25,000 people lost their lives in the flooding.

This event is also called the "First St. Marcellus's Flood" because, on the same date in 1219, a storm surge along the coasts of West Friesland and Groningen (most northeastern province of the Netherlands) killed 36,000 people.

The Zuider Zee (Dutch: "Southern Sea"), a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest Netherlands, is believed to have been expanded at this event. It had been called that before this time, however, because of an even greater flood, also named for a saint. Tomorrow I'll tell you about St. Lucia's Flood and the creation of the Zuider Zee.

al-Farghani's Accomplishments

Despite the potentially reputation-damaging error in calculation made by al-Farghani in the case of a canal, he is better known for other accomplishments.

Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī (c.800 - 870) was known as Alfraganus in Western Europe (see illustration, from a 1493 astronomical work). He was described as Arab and as Persian; there is a suggestion that his name comes from being born in Farghana in Uzbekistan.

His best-known work was Kitāb fī Jawāmiʿ ʿIlm al-Nujūm (Elements of astronomy on the celestial motions), a summary of Ptolemey's astronomical Almagest with revised calculations. He concentrated less on the mathematics and more on explaining the concepts in ways that were easy to understand. This work reached the West in translations by John of Seville and Gerard of Cremona. Dante's knowledge of astronomy came from al-Farghani.

One of his first recorded acts is being involved in a team that calculated the diameter of the Earth. This work influenced Columbus in his voyage across the Atlantic. Columbus, however, misunderstood the translation of al-Farghani's use of "mile." Columbus assumed al-Farghani was using the 4856-foot Roman mile; actually, al-Farghani used the 7091-foot Arabic mile. Columbus thought the diameter of the Earth was smaller.

In Cairo, al-Farghani wrote a treatise on the astrolabe earlier than al-Ashraf Umar II and Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi. Also while in Cairo he supervised the New Nilometer. The Nilometer, as you might guess, was designed to measure the height and clarity of the water of the Nile River.

The annual flooding of the Nile was crucial to Egypt's agricultural cycle, but it was unpredictable. Too heavy a flood was destructive; too light could lead to famine. Knowing what was coming was important. Nilometers come in different designs, but the simplest was a vertical column submerged in the river with markings to denote height of the water. Later, more elaborate versions involved shafts with steps that led down. Noting the height and comparing it to previous years helped predict whether the crops would be successful.

Speaking of flooding...next I want to tell you about a flood that killed thousands in more than one country. See you tomorrow.

Al-Farghani's Mistake

While expanding the urban settlements along the Tigris, the 9th century Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil needed a canal to bring water to a new city, al-Jaʻfariyya (after the caliph's birth name). He gave two courtiers the job of finding an engineer to design and build the canal. Two brothers, Muhammad and Ahmad ibn Musa, went for the expertise of al-Farghani (c.800 - 870).

al-Farghani was one of the most famous astronomers in the Muslim world in the 9th century. He had written a summary of Ptolemy's Almagest called Elements of astronomy on the celestial motions with more accurate data. Columbus used al-Farghani's calculations on his voyages across the Atlantic. Under a previous Abbasid caliph, al-Ma'mun, al-Farghani and a team had used the curvature between two points to calculate the diameter of the Earth.

He had also worked as an engineer, and for al-Mutawakkil had successfully created the New Nilometer in Old Cairo (more on that later). So designing a canal was not outside of his abilities. There was something wrong with the construction, however. A miscalculation made the entrance to the canal too deep. Water entering it would have to be abnormally high to be able to enter the rest and flow to its destination.

al-Mutawakkil was angered, and sent someone to figure out how culpable the two brothers were for the error. The investigator was not keen to see Muhammad and Ahmad punished, so he kept delaying his report. In fact, he delayed it long enough that it became a non-issue after the assassination of al-Mutawakkil, saving the lives of the brothers.

al-Farghani was not known for making mistakes, and tomorrow we'll look at some of his accomplishments, as well as explain the New Nilometer, which is exactly what you think it might be based on the name. See you then.

Great Mosque of Samarra

During the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (822 - 861), he commissioned several building projects. Up to 20 palaces are listed as his work, their cost totaling between 258 and 294 million dirhams.

One of his projects was a huge mosque in Samarra along the Tigris River. His desire for ostentatious displays of wealth and devotion made it the largest mosque in the world at the time, and it was completed in only three years.

The minaret (shown here) is 171 feet high and 108 feet wide, the top reached by a spiral ramp. It is all that remains of the original structure. The main building was constructed from baked brick octagon piers with four columns in the corners of imported marble. It had 17 aisles, and the walls were covered with dark blue tiles.

A total of 16 doors allowed the faithful inside, where light was provided by 28 windows, 24 of were oriented by the qibla, the direction to face when praying. A fountain in the center was believed to be carved from a single stone and delivered by elephants. That had been commissioned by al-Mutawakkil's predecessor, his brother al-Wathiq. The baked brick ceiling was 35 feet high, supported by 464 pillars.

In 1278, the mosque (but not the minaret or outer wall) was destroyed when Iraq was invaded by Hulagu Khan's Mongols. A restoration process started in 1956.

The construction of the Great Mosque was part of a plan to make Samarra the center of an expansive urban area, so there were other projects in the area. Part of this expanded area was named al-Mutawakkiliyya for himself. Another new city he founded needed water, and he commanded two courtiers, the brothers Muhammad and Ahmad ibn Musa, to make it happen. They ignored local engineers and turned instead to al-Farghani, an astronomer. He was very smart, and a good mathematician with a good reputation, but he made a tiny mistake with great consequences. That's a story for tomorrow.

Ending Religious Tolerance

The 10th Abbasid caliph was not intended to rise to that position. Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Harun was born in 822 to an Abbasid prince and a slave concubine. His father, al-Mu'tasim, was a court official to Ja'far's uncle, his father's brother caliph al-Ma'mun. Both al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim were sons of Harun al-Rashid, who reigned at the start of Islam's Golden Age.

When al-Ma'mun died in 833, he nominated his brother rather than his son to rule. When al-Mu'tasim died, his eldest son (Ja'far's brother al-Wathiq) became caliph. al-Wathiq had a fairly non-dramatic reign except for ongoing battles with the Byzantine Empire. al-Wathiq ended that conflict for several years after agreeing to a prisoner exchange in 845. His death from natural causes in his mid-30s caught the nation by surprise. His son was fairly young, and so for the second time in that dynasty the succession went "sideways" to a brother rather than a son. Ja'far found himself elevated to the caliphate and taking the regnal name al-Mutawwakil ala Allah, "He who relies on God." He was 26 years old. (The illustration is of hid face on a silver dirham.)

His well-educated brother had been a lover of poetry and the arts, enjoying poets, scholars, and musicians. In contrast, al-Mutawwakil cared more for power and grandiosity. His reign was known for ending the religious tolerance of his predecessors. Whereas dhimmi ("protected ones"; a designation given to those of other faiths) had many privileges, he took steps to revoked or disrespect them. In 850 he decreed that all Jews and Christians had to wear garments that distinguished them from the faithful: honey-colored (yellow) hoods and belts. Moreover, their places of worship were destroyed and they were no longer allowed to hold public office.

An ancient sacred cypress of the Zoroastrians was ordered cut down to be used as timber for a new palace. It was 1400 years old, and legend said it had been brought by Zoroaster from heaven.

He even attacked fellow Muslims. There was on ongoing debate over whether the Koran was created or not. That is (to put it simply): was it produced by a man, or was it divine knowledge that was then "un-created" by a man, because it was eternal? There was a sect that rejected the idea that the Koran was the literal word of and co-=eternal with God, and therefore did not exist until Muhammad wrote it. al-Mutawwakil stomped on this heavily, taking hostile steps to anyone promoting the doctrine that the Koran was created by a man.

al-Mutawwakil had named his eldest son, al-Muntasir, as his successor, but over time was showing favor to his second son, al-Mu'tazz. The two sons had support from different political factions, and the elder was unhappy with his father's shifting attention, especially when the younger was given the privilege of leading prayers at the end of Ramadan. Other humiliations followed, and a faction approached the elder son with a plan to assassinate his father. al-Muntasir was not opposed. The plan was carried out in December 861, and al-Muntasir became caliph. al-Mutawwakil had died before lumber from the Zoroastrian cedar arrived to be used.

Unfortunately, this began a period known as the Anarchy at Samarra, lasting until 870 and almost destroying the Abbasid Caliphate.

Let's turn away from politics and find something good about al-Mutawwakil's reign. How about the Great Mosque of Samarra? I'll bet there are some interesting stories there. I'll check it out and get back to you tomorrow.

The Umma Document

Despite Muhammad's treatment of the Jewish tribe the Banu Qurayza, he was not opposed to tolerance of the Jewish religion. He felt the Qurayza had betrayed him during the Battle of the Trench, and so needed severe punishment.

The Constitution of Medina—more accurately called the Umma Document, since it was not organized as a real constitution—was a series of documents produced during Muhammad's time in Medina that formed the basis of a multi-religion state. Its earliest record is from a few generations after Muhammad's death, but Western and Islamic scholars consider it genuine.

Its supposed origin was this: while Muhammad was still in Mecca, a delegation from Medina approached him. Medina was home to a few large tribes and dozens of smaller tribes. Hostility between the Jewish and pagan Quraysh tribes had been going on for a few generations, and Medina needed a trusted outside arbitrator to come and end the "eye for an eye" style of dealing with disputes. The 12 strongest tribes of Medina offered to protect Muhammad if he came to Medina to help them resolve the ongoing feuds.

Here are some of the points of the document:

(1) This is a prescript of Muhammad, the Prophet and Messenger of God (to operate) between the faithful and the followers of Islam from among the Quraysh and the people of Medina and those who may be under them, may join them and take part in wars in their company.

(12) (a) And the believers shall not leave any one, hard-pressed with debts, without affording him some relief, in order that the dealings between the believers be in accordance with the principles of goodness and justice.

(13) And the hands of pious believers shall be raised against every such person as rises in rebellion or attempts to acquire anything by force or is guilty of any sin or excess or attempts to spread mischief among the believers ; their hands shall be raised all together against such a person, even if he be a son to any one of them.

(14) A Believer will not kill a Believer [in retaliation] for a non-Believer and will not aid a non-Believer against a Believer.

(15) The protection (dhimmah) of Allah is one, the least of them [i.e., the Believers] is entitled to grant protection that is binding for all of them. The Believers are each other’s allies to the exclusion of other people.

In that last point, the word dhimmah literally means "protected person" and was applied to Jews and Christians as well as Muslims—the "People of the Book." I have mentioned it before in its plural form (dhimmi) mostly here and here.

Sharia law allowed Jewish communities to have their own courts in place of some Islamic laws (unless there were a capital offense that violated #s 13 and 14). About 200 years after Muhammad and the Umma Document, one caliph decided tolerance of non-Muslims wasn't to his taste, and he made changes. I'll discuss him tomorrow.

The Banu Qurayza

Once the Confederacy gave up the Battle of the Trench because of discord and mistrust in the alliance, Muhammad turned his attention to the betrayal of the Banu Qurayza.

The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe that settled in an oasis south of Medina. They had offered tools to help Muhammad dig the trench, but wanted no part of the conflict between Muslims and the Quraysh of Mecca. Still, attempts to enlist their support by the Confederacy reached Muhammad's ears, and he felt he could no longer trust them.

They were a potentially powerful enemy, possessing weapons and warriors, and having them so close to him was considered no longer tenable. Muhammad claimed a vision of the angel Gabriel told him they needed to be destroyed. He surrounded them and began a siege. (The illustration is of the siege from a 19th century telling.)

Negotiations began. The Qurayza offered to depart their land, requesting one camel-load of possessions per person. This was rejected, so they offered to depart leaving everything behind. This, too, was unacceptable to Muhammad. Some Muslims—hoping for leniency for the Jews—asked Muhammad for the opportunity to name a judge to handle the situation and decide what was best. Muhammad appointed a loyal Muslim who had been wounded in the Battle and was dying. Sa'd ibn Muadh pronounced that all the Qurayza men should be executed, their possessions distributed among Muslims, and all the women and children given to Muslims as slaves.

Muhammad agreed to this, declaring it to be what God wanted. The Qurayza males who had reached puberty (estimated between 600 and 900) were beheaded. The rest of the population became slaves, some being sent to central Saudi Arabia. (Some of the slaves were bought by Jews and freed.) Some contemporary records state that some men were spared when vouched for by Muslims. Muhammad also chose one of the women, Rayhana, as a companion. (There are conflicting stories about whether she agreed to become his wife or remain a slave and concubine.) Muhammad also personally took 20% of the loot.

Some scholars stress that the Banu Qurayza were not killed for being Jewish, but were an example of collective punishment for treachery. For centuries afterward Muslims and Jews lived on amicable—thought not politically equal—terms. In fact, a multi-religion state was described in the Constitution of Medina, created during Muhammad's time there. Let's take a closer look at religious tolerance in Medina tomorrow.

The Conquest of Mecca—During the Trench, Part 2

During the Battle of the Trench between the Quraysh of Mecca with their Confederacy and Muhammad and the Muslims who had headquartered in Medina, Muhammad was looking for ways to dissolve the enemy's alliance. Fortunately for him, a high-ranking member from Mecca who had converted to Islam approached him, and was given the task of finding ways to sow discord among the Confederacy.

His name was Nuaym ibn Masud of the powerful Ghatafan tribe that had joined the Confederacy because they had been offered a large bribe of half the harvest of the Banu Nadir, a tribe of Jews that had been expelled from Medina by Muhammad. Muhammad had directly tried to barter a third of the date harvest of Medina to get the Ghatafan to leave the Confederacy, but that plan failed.

Masud (pictured above from this article) went to the Qurayza, a Jewish tribe south of Medina who had remained neutral. The Confederacy had approached them and pointed out the overwhelming numbers of the Confederacy and that the Muslims would surely lose. Masud told the Qurayza (speaking as a member of the Confederacy) that if the siege failed the Confederacy would abandon the Qurayza, leaving them at Muhammad's mercy. He suggested that the Qurayza guarantee the Confederacy's support by demanding hostages from them.

Masud then went back to the Confederacy and told its leader, Abu Sufyan, that the Qurayza had defected to Muhammad and should not be trusted if they ask for hostages as a guarantee; that the hostages were really prisoners to turn over to Muhammad as a sign of faith, to become slaves.

The Confederacy then sent a messenger to the Qurayza to discuss a united assault on Medina. The Qurayza took the opportunity to demand hostages as insurance of cooperation and support. This of course fed into the Confederacy's Masud-stoked fears that hostages would be turned over to Muhammad. Abu Sufyan took this news to the leader of the Banu Nadir, who was absolutely shocked that a tribe of Jews would be allied with Muhammad, who had treated the Jews so poorly in Medina. Fears of treachery and distrust between these and the various tribes of the Confederacy made success seem less and less likely.

Also, the Confederacy suffered from the situation on the ground. They were used to battle, not a long siege. The Trench prevented them from attacking and resolving things quickly, and they were getting hungry and thirsty. The weather was also cold and wet (this was October).

By the end of 20 days, the confederacy gave up and went their separate ways. That is when Muhammad turned his attention to the Banu Qurayza, who had at one point aided him and at another chose to support the Confederacy. He decided they had to be dealt with severely, but that's a story for tomorrow.

The Conquest of Mecca—During the Trench, Part 1

While the Battle of the Trench was happening, the outnumbered Muhammad in Medina looked to break up the attacking Confederacy by sending messengers to negotiate with some of the different groups that were allied with the Quraysh of Mecca.

One group he approached was the Ghatafan, a Bedouin tribe that had been enlisted by an offer of half the harvest of the Jewish Banu Nadir, who had been expelled from Medina by Muhammad and were interested in revenge. While the siege of the Battle of the Trench was happening, Muhammad sent word to the Ghatafan that he would give them one-third of Medina's date harvest if they withdrew. Originally they counter-offered by demanding half the harvest, but then agreed to negotiate over the third. Muhammad took this plan to the city leaders of Medina, who were shocked at the idea of giving up a third of the date harvest as a bribe for safety. Although the negotiations went nowhere, the news that the Ghatafan had entertained the idea got out and weakened the resolve of the Confederacy.

A group that was not a part of the Confederacy also played a part. The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe centered in an oasis south of Medina that wanted no part of the battle, but did lend tools to Muhammad to help dig the trench to protect from the approaching Quraysh. Despite this defensive help, the Qurayza did not contribute any men to the defense of Medina, wishing to remain neutral.

The Confederacy thought they might use the Banu Qurayza against Muhammad and the Muslims. A member of the Jewish Banu Nadir was sent to the Qurayza to discuss an alliance. The emissary tried to persuade the Qurayza that Mecca's army would overcome the Muslims, so it was safe to join the Confederacy. The Qurayza agreed to work with the Confederacy. Muhammad sent men to find out if the rumors were true, and to remind the Qurayza of the fate of the Nadir.

Rumors that the Qurayza were now opposed to Medina and could attack the city from the south spread among the Muslims. The Qurayza were a wealthy tribe that had weapons and soldiers. The trench had prevented the Confederacy from marching into Medina, but the siege (although only 20 days long) also blocked any trade. Food was growing scarce, and for the first time since Muhammad had founded Islam, daily public prayers were not being called regularly.

Then Muhammad had a gift handed to him. A high-ranking member of the Confederacy, a Ghatafan named Nuaym ibn Masud who had secretly converted to Islam, came to him to offer help. Muhammad asked him to sow discord among the Confederacy so that it would fall apart. Masud knew just what to do, as I'll tell you next time.

The Conquest of Mecca—The Battle of The Trench

After the Battle of Badr and the Battle of Uhud, the next encounter between the Quraysh of Mecca and the Muslims who followed Muhammad was the Battle of the Trench. This was in January of 627.

Muhammad's Muslims continued to raid and plunder Quraysh caravans, especially at Badr, and so it was decided by the Quraysh to advance on Medina and occupy it. The Quraysh needed military reinforcements, and so negotiated with the Bedouins to join them. A tribe of Jewish Arabs, the Banu Nadir, who had been expelled from Medina by Muhammad, offered to the Bedouins half of their crops if the Bedouins would participate. Other tribes also joined the effort: the Ghatafan, Ased, Salem, Murra, Fuzarah, and Shuja. This alliance was called the Confederacy.

A group of 7000-10,000 men were assembled to march on Medina, led by Abu Sufyan. Muhammad learned of their plans, and at the suggestion of Salman the Persian, Muhammad ordered a deep trench to be dug. Some of the tools used were loaned from the Banu Qurayza, another Jewish tribe. The Banu Qurayza, occupying an oasis near Medina, unlike the Nadir, tried to remain neutral. The material from the trench was thrown up on the Medina side, creating a high embankment from which the Muslims could shoot arrows or throw stones down on anyone trying to cross the trench.

The illustration shows the three contingents of Quraysh and their allies (the red arrows) approaching the trench. Uncertain of how to proceed across the barrier meant the "battle" became more of a siege, an unfamiliar tactic in Arabian warfare. Attempts to fight over a span of 20 days led to a half-dozen casualties among the Muslims and three of the Quraysh. The Quraysh gave up and went home.

That is too simplified, however. Muhammad tried to break up the Confederacy by negotiating with some of the different tribes, even offering bribes. I'll go into detail tomorrow about the Ghatafan, and what happened to the Banu Qurayza when they changed their stance.