Part 18

The papacy thus encouraged this venture, and as proof of its support and encouragement, the Pope sent to Guiscard a 'holy banner', by the blessing of which Guiscard and his troops might attain victory over the Muslims; he stressed that the hopedfor victories for the sake of Christ were more important than sending gifts to Rome. The island of Sicily was captured in 484 AH, during the reign of Roger I; his forces then pounced on Malta and occupied it in the following year, and began watching for an opportunity to attack North Africa.79 North Africa The North African front faced its own share of Crusader aggression at that time due to the actions of a newly-emerging force: the Italian city-states. These city-states took advantage of the disappearance of the ancient naval powers, represented by the Islamic and Byzantine fleets, from the waters of the Mediterranean. Their presence had faded away at the beginning of the century due to both states being distracted by internal problems. The citystates' fleets began to patrol the Mediterranean waters, close to the European shores at first, for fear of the fleet of Muhajid al-'Amiri, ruler of Denia, which managed to make them freeze their activities for a while, but as soon as the city-states were able to neutralise that danger in the middle of the century, they began to sail the waters of the whole Mediterranean, east and west. These city-states put their naval forces at the service of the Crusader's aims from the beginning, in order to achieve some gains of their own. With the encouragement of Pope Leo IX, a coalition from Genoa and Pisa seized the Muslim island of Sardinia in 442 AH/1063 CE, during which they destroyed its walls and port, and seized a great deal of booty. As these fleets took part in action on the Sicilian front, they were also involved on the Andalusian front, where they played a role in pursuing the Andalusian Muslims by sea, and took their share of booty. A naval siege was imposed on Almeria until the city paid an enormous ransom of 113,000 gold dinars; Valencia was also forced to pay a ransom of 20,000 gold dinars to save itself from pillage.80 The fleet also attacked the Balearic Islands on several occasions. As a result of this, the Italian naval forces gained control of the Mediterranean waters, which motivated them to embark on further campaigns. They directed their activities against North Africa, which still retained some naval power, to prevent it from offering help to their brethren in Sicily and elsewhere on the one hand, and to achieve the goals of the Crusader movement in North Africa on the other. A huge naval force, composed of the fleets of Genoa and Pisa, supported by a group from the city of Amalfi and another military force that was supplied by the Pope, launched an attack on the city of al-Mahdiyah in 480 AH/1087 CE, two years after the capture of Toledo and shortly before the complete takeover of Sicily. They succeeded in capturing al-Mahdiyah, with the exception of its citadel. AlMahdiyah remained under the fleet's control until its ruler, Tameem ibn alMu'izz, paid the coalition forces a huge monetary ransom and made a deal with the conquerors, in which Tameem pledged never to intercept Italian ships in North African waters; he also granted them some commercial concessions in his country, as we shall see below. From the above it is clear that these Crusader attacks directed by the papacy on the western part of the Muslim world from the mid 5th century AH (11th century CE) broke out on three fronts, of which North Africa was one. These attacks were just one facet of the Crusader movement, and confirm that the Crusades started in North Africa before the Crusader march to the East. This fact validates Ibn al-Atheer's observations concerning the events of 491 AH81, as it is clear from the text mentioned that these events were connected, that the force controlling them was one, and that they represent the beginning of the wave of Crusades at that stage of the Crusader movement. Ibn al-Atheer note. The Frankish state emerged, began to consolidate its power and marched towards the Islamic lands, seizing some of them, in 478 AH. [The Franks] seized Toledo and other cities in Andalusia...then in 484 AH they headed towards Sicily and seized it...they headed towards North Africa, where they seized some regions and some regions were wrested from them. In 490 AH, they set out for Syria.82 Even though most of the Crusader forces headed towards the East, that did not erase the idea of occupying North Africa from their minds. Norman hopes of capturing it remained until that was achieved during the reign of Roger II, when most of the coastline, from Tripoli in the east to the city of Tunis in the west was seized in 543 AH/1148 CE. The Crusader wars raged on the North African front at the same time as they were raging on the eastern front.