840–866: al-Balāḏurī on Muslim Control over Bari

Abstract

This article discusses the establishment of Muslim control over Bari (ca. 225/840 or 232/847) as reported in al-Balāḏurī’s (d. 279/892) Kitāb Futūḥ al-buldān, the earliest extant account to document the enterprise from a Muslim perspective. Drawing on this source, the commentary explores the history of Muslim-ruled Bari, the likely backgrounds and affiliations of its rulers, and their efforts at administrative consolidation, especially under Sawdān (d. after 871). It also considers Sawdān’s interactions with Christian and Jewish actors, as well as Bari’s wider geopolitical context, including Frankish–Byzantine attempts to reclaim the city. While Arabic-Islamic texts only give a cursory narrative of this short-lived episode, southern Italian historiography has long emphasised its regional significance. Taken together, the case of Bari illustrates Christian–Muslim entanglements through warfare, migration, and diplomacy in the ninth-century central Mediterranean.