Object Description

Manuscript

Dublin, Chester Beatty Library. Ms. 3831

title

(Book) on Falconry.

Title (Arabic)

(كتاب) البيزرة
(Kitāb) al-bayzara

date

End of the 4th/10th century, possibly 378/988-386/996

Place/s of Origin

No place mentioned. The historical context suggests Egypt.

Introduction

This unique manuscript contains the only preserved copy of the book on falconry by the falconer of the Fatimid caliph al-ʿAzīz bi’llāh (reg. 975-996). It may have been written by the author himself. The manual covers conventional topics. The book begins with a discussion of benefits of hunting and anecdotes about hunting and hunting enthusiasts. It then presents important details about different birds of prey (sparrowhawk, hawk, saker, peregrine falcon, lanner falcon, eagle, hawk eagle). Information listed includes colors, markings, weights, training for hunting different kinds of prey, diseases, and molting. The author also discusses other hunting assistants (dogs and cheetahs), includes poetic material and autobiographical notes.

Contents

This manuscript contains only a single text, a manual on falconry by the falconer of the Fatimid caliph al-ʿAzīz bi’llāh (reg. 975-996). It contains chapters in which different hunting assistants, mostly birds of prey, but also dogs and cheetahs, are assessed according to their qualities and requirements for training, hunting and care.

Author

The falconer of the Fatimid caliph al-ʿAzīz bi’llāh who was called ʿAbdallāh al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Bāzyār or had a similar name.

Patron of text

Al-ʿAzīz bi’llāh, Fatimid caliph

Scribe

Autograph

Patron of manuscript

Presumably also the Fatimid caliph al-ʿAzīz bi’llāh

Description of physical object

154 folios; 36.5 x 22.5 cm

Bibliography

Arabic edition: Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn, Al-Bayzara, edited by Muḥammad Kurd ʿAlī (Damascus: Maṭbūʿāt al-majmaʿ al-ʿilmī al-ʿarabī, 1953) (reprinted 1988; Beirut 1995).

French translation by François Viré, Le traité de l’art de la volerie (Kitāb al-bayzarah) rédigé vers 385/995 par le Grand-Fauconnier du calife fāṭimide al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh (Leiden: Brill, 1967) [previously published in Arabica 12 (1965), 1-26, 113-139, 262-296 and 13 (1966), 39-76].

An English translation of the anecdotes about famous hunters of the past (with significant parallels in Kushājim) is included in ‘The ‘Founding Fathers’ of Falconry according to Medieval Arabic Literature’, in Charles Burnett and Baudouin van den Abeele (eds), Falconry in the Mediterranean Context during the Pre-Modern Era (Geneva, 2021), 9-37.

Provenance

Bought by Chester Beatty in August 1929 in Cairo from Abraham Yahuda

Licence

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Location of manuscript

Dublin, Chester Beatty library

File names

Original files are retained

Additional Information

https://ksfactumarte-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/teresa_casado_factumfoundation_org/EQsr0ApI81FAl4PhJsN8RRwBsRiLSeH22uMGLFUYgBNI_Q?e=0VRCel

Item Description

Manuscript

Ar3831_001_Upper_cover

Item File Names

Original files are retained

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