The Last Revolt of Bashmūr (831 a.d.) in Coptic and Syriac Historiography

Abstract

In 831 A.D., parts of the Muslim and Coptic population in Egypt undertook a major uprising against Abbasid domination and against an oppressive caliphal tax regime in the provinces. The rebellion was aggressively put down by the Abbasid governor in most of Egypt with the exception of the region of Bashmūr. Here, in the northern Nile Delta, Copts were to continue to heavily resisting central rule for a long period. The conflict had revolved around temporal and spiritual powers and was the religious-political issue of the time. Earlier studies devoted to the events have invariably dealt with the onerous Abbasid tax regime as a main reason for the rebellion, which in its aftermath resulted in sizeable conversions to Islam in all of Egypt. In the following, I will focus on another aspect, which is the role of arbitration by the Coptic and Syriac patriarchs, Yūsāb i and Dionysius, in the handling of the conflict. My object of study is the processes of conciliation and the post-conflict outcome (forced migration, deportations and displacements?) as depicted in the Coptic and Syriac narratives of two central historiographical works, the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria on the one hand, and the History of Dionysius of Tell Mahre on the other.1