View source for Abul-Abbas

{{Short description|Elephant sent as a gift from Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne}}
{{About|the historic elephant|the Qur'anic figure of the same name|Khidr|the chessman known as Charlemagne's elephant|Elephant of Yusuf al-Bahili}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox animal
| name                    = Abul-Abbas
| image                   = 
| image_size              = 
| caption                 = 
| birth_name              = 
| birth_date              = {{circa|770s or 780s}}<ref group="lower-alpha">Birth date based on the average male Asian elephant maturity age as contemporary documents suggest Abul-Abbas was fully grown when it arrived in [[Europe]].</ref>
| birth_place             = [[Abbasid Caliphate]] (possibly)
| othername               = 
| species                 = [[Asian elephant]]
| gender                  = Male
| death_date              = 810 (aged around 30–40)
| death_place             = likely near [[Münster]] or [[Wesel]], [[Germany]]
| occupation              = 
| years_active            = 
| weight                  = 
| height                  = 
| appearance              = 
| namedafter              = 
}}

'''Abul-Abbas''' ({{circa|770s or 780s}} – 810) was an [[Asian elephant]] brought back to the [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian emperor]] [[Charlemagne]] by his diplomat [[Isaac the Jew]]. The gift was from the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid caliph]] [[Harun al-Rashid]] and symbolizes the beginning of [[Abbasid–Carolingian alliance|Abbasid–Carolingian relations]]. The elephant's name and events from his life are recorded in the Carolingian ''[[Annales regni Francorum]],''<ref name="ARF801-116">''Annales regni francorum'' Anno 801 ({{Harvnb|Kurze|1895|p=116}}, [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] edition)</ref><ref name="Scholz081">{{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|pp=81–2}} (Eng. tr. of ''ARB'' = ''Royal Frankish Annals'')</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">The ''Annales regni francorum'' Anno 802 gives "''venit Isaac cum elefanto et ceteris muniberus, quae a rege Persarum missa sunt, et Aquisgrani omnia imperatori detulit; nomen elefanti erat Abul Abaz''". Harun al Rashid is referred to as either the king of the Persians (ibid 801:116 "rex Persarum") or of the Saracenes (ibid 810:113 "''ubi dum aliquot dies moraretur, elefant ille, quem ei Aaron rex Sarracenorum miserat, subita morte periit''"</ref> and he is mentioned in [[Einhard]]'s ''[[Vita Karoli Magni]]''.<ref>Einhard (tr. {{Harvnb|Thorpe|1969|p=70}})</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Einhard refers to the elephant as the only one Harun al Rashid had ("''quem tunc solem habetat''"), which is regarded an invention.<ref>{{Harvnb|Thorpe|1969|p=184}} (endnotes)</ref>}} However, no references to the gift or to interactions with Charlemagne have been found in Abbasid records.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sherman|first1=Dennis|last2=Salisbury|first2=Joyce|author2-link= Joyce E. Salisbury |title=The West in the World, Volume I: To 1715|volume=1|edition=3|location=New York|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-331669-7|oclc=177823124|page=220|date=6 December 2007}}</ref>

==Contemporary accounts==
===From the Orient to Europe===
Abul-Abbas was probably born during the 770s or 780s (based on the average age of [[Asian elephant]] maturity) and was brought from [[Baghdad]], the capital city of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], by Charlemagne's diplomat Isaac the Jew,<ref name="Scholz081"/><ref name=war>{{cite book |title= War elephants |last1= Kistler |first1= John M. |last2= Lair |first2= Richard |year= 2006 |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn= 0-275-98761-2 |pages = 187–188 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0sqI1fxfnMC}}</ref> who along with two other emissaries, Lantfrid and Sigimund,<ref name="Scholz081"/> had been sent to the caliph on Charlemagne's orders. That the only surviving member of the group of three, Isaac, was being sent back with the elephant was heralded as advance news to Charlemagne from two emissaries he met in 801: one was sent by the caliph Harun al-Rashid himself, another by Abraham ([[Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab]]), who was governor of Africa.<ref name="Scholz081"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|p=82}}, "..and the envoy of Emir Abraham, who ruled on the border of Africa in [[Fustat|Fustât]]"; and {{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|loc=Note 4 to year 801}}, quote:"Harun al-Rashid, emir al Mumenin.. appointed Ibrahim ibn al'Aghlab governor of Africa about 800.  Fustât, his place of residence is Abbasiya near [[Kairouan|Kairwan]] in southern Tunis.."</ref> Charlemagne then ordered a man to [[Liguria]] (the province around [[Genoa]]) to commission a fleet of ships to carry the elephant and other goods.<ref name="Scholz081"/>

Researchers have speculated on Isaac and the elephant's route through Africa: Isaac and the elephant began the trek back by following the [[Egypt]]ian coast into [[Ifriqiya]], ruled by [[Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab]] who had bought the land from al-Rashid for 40,000 [[dinars]] annually. Possibly with the help of Ibrahim in the capital city of [[Kairouan]] (now in [[Tunisia]]), Isaac set sail from port (possibly [[Carthage]],<ref>This reconstructed route (via Carthage) was mapped in {{citation|last1=Grewe|first1=Klaus|last2=Pohle|first2=Frank|contribution=Der Weg des Abul Abaz von Bagdad zu Aachen|title=Ex oriente : Isaak und der weisse Elefant : Bagdad-Jerusalem-Aachen: eine Reise durch drei Kulturen um 800 und heute |place=Mainz am Rhein|publisher=P. von Zabern|year=2003|isbn=3-8053-3270-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UlEVAQAAIAAJ|pages=66–69}} (part of an Exhibition catalog), according to {{cite journal|title=Klaus Grewe – Frank Pohle, ''Der Weg'', etc.|journal=Medioevo Latino|volume=XXV|publisher=Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo|year=2004|page=336|isbn=978-88-8450-136-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EckPAQAAMAAJ}}, quote: "The motives for Issac's particular route from Baghdad to Carthage, via ship from Carthage to Protovenere (near Genoa, and north via Vercelli and St. Bernard's pass to Aachen, are illuminated (I. D.) |2683"</ref> now in Tunisia) with Abul-Abbas and traveled the remaining distance to [[Europe]] via the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name="Sypeck">{{cite book|last=Sypeck|first=Jeff|title=Becoming Charlemagne|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TTBuG23ZBgC&pg=PA172|pages=172–3|isbn=978-0-06-183418-9}}{{ISBN|0-06-079706-1}}</ref>

At any rate, the strict reading of the historic text ''[[Annales regni Francorum]]'' is that "Isaac the Jew returned from Africa with the elephant" (''Isaac Iudeus de Africa cum elefanto'') and landed in [[Porto Venere]] (near [[Genoa]]) in October 801.<ref name="ARF801-116"/><ref name="Scholz081"/> The two spent the winter in [[Vercelli]], and in the spring they started the march over the [[Alps]] to the Emperor's residence in [[Aachen]], arriving on 20 July 802.<ref name="Scholz081"/><ref name=war/><ref name="ARF802">''Annales regni Francorum'' Anno 802 ({{Harvnb|Kurze|1895|p=117}}, [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] edition)</ref> Abul Abbas was a full-grown adult elephant.<ref name=pyrdum/>

===Death===
In the year 810, Charlemagne left his palace and mounted a campaign intending to engage with King [[Gudfred]] of [[Denmark]] and his fleet that invaded and plundered [[Friesland]]. Charlemagne had crossed the [[Rhine River]] and tarried at a place called "Lippeham" awaiting troops for three days, when his elephant suddenly died.<ref name="ARF801-131">''Annales regni Francorum'' Anno 810 ({{Harvnb|Kurze|1895|p=131}}, [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] edition)</ref><ref name="Scholz091">{{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|pp=91}} (Eng. tr. of ''ARB'' = ''Royal Frankish Annals'')</ref> On the tacit assumption that Abul-Abbas was with Charlemagne when he died, some modern commentators venture that the beast had been brought to serve as a [[war elephant]].<ref name=war/><ref name="Dembeck264">{{cite book |last=Dembeck|first=Hermann|title=Animals and men |publisher=Natural History Press|year=1965|isbn= 1-598-84347-8|page=264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LS1AAAAIAAJ}} (Cf. Dembeck, ''Mit Tieren leben'', 1961)</ref><ref name="AiM">{{cite book |last= Kistler |first= John M. |title= Animals in the Military: From Hannibal's Elephants to the Dolphins of the U.S. Navy|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year= 2011 |isbn= 978-1-598-84347-7|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9Bj-kyDi9AC&pg=PA91}}, citing Hodges, Richard. (cf. {{Harvnb|Kistler|Lair|2006}})</ref>

===Place of death===
The location of "Lippeham" is a matter of conjecture,<ref name="becher061"/> but has been placed at the "mouth of the [[Lippe (river)|Lippe River]]"<ref name="becher061">{{cite book|last=Becher|first=Matthias|title=Karl der Grosse|publisher=C.H.Beck|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9jcIprivJUC&pg=PA61|page=61|isbn=978-3-406-43320-7}}, quote:"den Rhein bei Lippeham (an der Mundung der Lippe?)"</ref> (its confluence with the Rhine), in other words, somewhere near the city of [[Wesel]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Barth|first=Reinhard|title=Karl der Grosse|publisher=Buch Vertrieb Blank|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bMMAQAAMAAJ|page=12|isbn=978-3-937-50114-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Newfield|first=Timothy|title=A great Carolingian panzootic: The probable extent, diagnosis and impact of an early ninth-century cattle pestilence|journal=Argos |volume=46|year=2012|page=203|hdl=1893/11909}}</ref> The claim dates at least as far back as 1746,<ref name="nunning1746-p44">{{citation|last1=Nünning|first1=Jodocus Hermann|last2=Cohausen|first2=Johann Heinrich|title=Epistolae IV: De osse femoris Elephantini|work=Commercii literarii dissertationes epistolicae|place=Frankfurt am Main|year=1746|page=44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dps5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA44}}, after Oettermann, ''Die Schaulust am Elefanten'' (1982) p. 98, note 117</ref> (or 1735)<ref name="leidenfrost"/> when J. H. Nünning (Nunningus) and a colleague had published a notice that "Lippeham" was to be identified with Wesel;<ref>{{Harvnb|Nünning|Cohausen|1746|p=44}}, "...&nbsp;os Elephantini femoris, ex inculto ad Rheni ripam agro haud procul Luppiae ostiis, olim Luppemunda, Luppeheim, Lippeham, Lippekant, & Lippia dictis. ubi vetus celebrisque Regum Francorum Carolingicae Stirpis olim fuit curia, hodie VESALIA dicta" ("elephant femur bone unearthed from the field on the banks of the Rhine, at a place not far from the mouth of the Lippe river, aka Luppemunda, Luppeheim, Lippeham, Lippekant, & Lippia, now called Wesel, where the celebrated scions of the Franks kings of the Carolingian dynasty held court." )</ref> and that a colossal bone unearthed from the area, in the possession of their affiliated museum, was plausibly a part of the remains of the elephant Abul-Abbas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Nünning|Cohausen|1746|p=48}}, Itaque os Musei nostri cum Elephantis fit,.. ad exuvias ABULABAZII Carolo M. ab Aarone Persarum Rege dono submissi"</ref> Another gigantic bone was found in the Lippe River among a catch of fish in the ''[[Herrschaft (territory)|herrschaft]]'' of {{Interlanguage link|Gartrop|2=de|3=Gartrop-Bühl|preserve=1}} in early 1750, and it too was claimed to be a piece of Abul-Abbas.<ref name="leidenfrost">{{cite journal|author=J.G. Leidenfrost|title=Nachricht von einigen Überbleibseln des Elephanten Abdulabbas|journal=Duisburger Intelligenz-Zettel|number=XXVII|url=http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/periodical/pageview/458522|date=7 July 1750}}, citing Nünning et al.</ref>

One detractor to the claim is [[Richard Hodges (archaeologist)|Richard Hodges]] who places it in [[Lüneburg Heath]], which is nowhere near the Rhine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hodges|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Hodges (archaeologist)|title=Towns and Trade: In the Age of Charlemagne|publisher=Duckworth Publishers |year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FKGAAAAIAAJ|page=37|isbn=978-0-715-62965-9}}</ref>

==Modern embellished accounts==

===Details of exhibition and death===
The ''Annales regni Francorum'' contain only short reports about the transport of Abul-Abbas (801),<ref name="ARF801-116"/> his delivery to the Emperor (802)<ref name="ARF802"/> and his death (810). But modern writers have given various embellished accounts. Some indicate that when Abul-Abbas arrived, he was marched through various towns in Germany to the astonishment of onlookers,<ref name="AiM"/> that he was shown in "[[Speyer]], [[Strassburg]], [[Verdun]], [[Augsburg]], and [[Paderborn]]" as ostentatious display of the emperor's might,<ref name="Dembeck264"/> and was eventually housed in [[Augsburg]] in what is now southern [[Bavaria]].<ref name="AiM"/>

Some added details about the elephant's death, stating he was in his forties and already suffering from [[rheumatism]] when he accompanied Charlemagne in the campaign across the Rhine heading to Friesland.<ref name="Dembeck264"/> According to these sources, in a spell of "cool rainy weather", Abul-Abbas developed a case of [[pneumonia]].<ref name="Dembeck264"/><ref name="AiM"/> His keepers were able to transport the beast as far as [[Münster]], where he collapsed and died.<ref name="Dembeck264"/>

===White elephant===
Some modern works indicate that Abul-Abbas was [[albino]] – literally a [[White elephant (animal)|white elephant]] – but the basis for the claim is wanting. An early example claiming that Abul-Abbas was a "white elephant" occurs in a title authored by Willis Mason West (1902).<ref>{{cite book|last=West|first=Willis Mason|title=Ancient history to the death of Charlemagne |publisher=Allyn and Bacon|year=1902|page=521n|url=https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryt02westgoog}}</ref> In 1971, [[Peter Munz]] wrote a book intended for popular readership which repeated the same "white elephant" claim, but a reviewer flagged this as a "slip" given there was "no evidence" known to him to substantiate it.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link=H. E. J. Cowdrey|last=Cowdrey|first=H.E.J.|title=Review: Life in the Age of Charlemagne by Peter Munz|journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History|volume=21|number=1|date=January 1970|page=75|doi=10.1017/s0022046900048466|s2cid=164157979 }}, quote: "I know of no evidence that Harun al-Rashid's present to Charlemagne was literally a 'white' elephant."</ref> Mention of "white elephant" also misleadingly occurs in the title of the published catalog from the Aachen exhibition of 2003: ''Ex oriente : Isaak und der weisse Elefant'', however, in this publication is a contributing article by Grewe and Pohle that appends a question mark on it: "Among the famous gifts to Charlemagne was a (white?) elephant".<ref>{{Harvnb|Grewe|Pohle|2003|p=66}}: "Zu den für Karl den Großen bestimmten Geschenken gehörte ein (weißer?) Elefant, "</ref>

===Abul-Abbas' species===
[[File:Charlemagne's elephant.png|thumb|upright=1.25|The elephant in Paris, BnF lat. 2195]]
A number of authors assert that Abul-Abbas was an [[Indian elephant]],<ref name="Dembeck264"/> though others cast this as an open question with the [[African elephant]] being a distinct possibility.{{Refn|"We know very little about the elephant; some accounts say it was African, others an Indian beast."<ref name=war/>}} No primary source identifies his species directly.<ref name="sketchpad">{{cite web |url=https://salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/what-type-of-elephant-did-charlemagne-have/ |title=What Type of Elephant did Charlemagne Have? |last=Ottewill-Soulsby  |first=Sam |date=2021-06-10 |website=The Historian's Sketchpad |access-date=2022-12-26 }}</ref>

Arguments for Abul-Abbas having been an Indian elephant include that Abbasid sources such as [[al-Jahiz]] and [[al-Masudi]] record a belief that African elephants were not tamable.<ref name=sketchpad/> Another clue comes from the Irish monk [[Dicuil]] who mentions Abul-Abbas in his description of India in his geographic work ''[[De mensura orbis terrae]]'' ("Concerning the Measurement of the World") in 825.<ref name=sketchpad/>{{refn | group="lower-alpha" | ''De mensura orbis terrae'', 7.35: "But the same Iulius in speaking of Germany and its islands makes one mistake about elephants when he says that the elephant never lies down, for he certainly does lie down like an ox, as the people at large of the Frankish kingdom saw the elephant at the time of Emperor Charles...."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dicuil |author-link1= Dicuil |editor-last1=O'Driscoll |editor-first1=Liam |editor-last2=Färber |editor-first2=Beatrix |translator-last1= Tierney |translator-first1=James |date=2018-07-18 |orig-date=Work authored in 825. This translation first published in 1967 by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, ''Scriptores Latini Hiberniae'', No. 6 |title=Liber De Mensura Orbis Terrae |url= https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T090000-001.html |publication-place=Cork |publisher=CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts |id=Text ID Number: T090000-001 |access-date=2022-12-26 }}</ref> ("''Sed idem Julius nuntiando de Germania insulisque eius unum de elephantibus mentiens falso loquitur dicens, elephantem numquam iacere, dum ille sicut bos certissime iacet, ut populi communiter regni Francorum elephantem in tempore imperatoris Karoli viderunt....''"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dicuil |author-link1= Dicuil |editor-last1=Parthey |editor-first1=Gustave |date=1870 |orig-date=Work authored in 825 |title=Liber De Mensura Orbis Terrae |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bCpYAAAAcAAJ |publication-place=Berlin |publisher=Friedrich Nicolai |access-date=2022-12-26 }}</ref>)}} An [[inhabited initial]] B from a copy of [[Cassiodorus]]' ''Commentary on the Psalms'' made at the [[Abbey of Saint-Denis]] in the first quarter of the ninth century (now Paris, BnF lat. 2195) incorporates an elephant's head.<ref>[[Rosamond McKitterick]], ''Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity'' (Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 286.</ref> The realistic portrayal of an Asian elephant suggests that the artist had seen Abul-Abbas.<ref>BnF Expositions, Trésors carolingiens, [http://expositions.bnf.fr/carolingiens/grand/028.htm Cassiodore, Commentaire sur les psaumes I-L, Initiale B ornée zoomorphe].</ref>

Evidence put forward for Abul-Abbas having been an African elephant includes the route by which he arrived in Europe, which was via Tunisia.<ref name=sketchpad/> Also, a Carolingian plaque survives which was manufactured from [[ivory]] from an African elephant and was from a contemporary source. Ivory was widely used in Carolingian art, but most of this material was re-purposed from Roman sources.<ref name=sketchpad/> This particular plaque, a depiction of the [[Virgin Mary]] is too large to have come from the tusk of an Indian elephant,<ref name=sketchpad/> measuring {{cvt|22|cm}} along its longest side.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464454 |title=Plaque with the Virgin Mary as a Personification of the Church |author=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=2022-12-26 }}</ref> [[Radio-carbon dating]] shows that the ivory in the plaque is not of ancient origin.<ref name=sketchpad/> For Carolingian artists to have access to new ivory is so unusual that it makes Abul-Abbas a possible source of the material.<ref name=sketchpad/>

A short story by the German-New Zealand author Norman Franke tells the biography of the elephant from his own point of view.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Franke |first=Norman |title=Abul Abbas' orthopedic shoes |publisher=Cloud Ink |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-473-57278-5 |location=Auckland, New Zealand |pages=50–54}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Abbasid–Carolingian alliance]]
*[[History of elephants in Europe]]
*[[List of individual elephants]]
*[[War elephant]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=pyrdum>{{citation|last=Pyrdum |first=Carl S. III |author-link=<!--Carl S. Pyrdum III--> |title=If you can't beat'em, dazzle'm with your elephant |journal=Medieval Warfare |volume=1 |issue=3 The first Saracen campaigns in Europe |date=2011  |page=4 |jstor=48577853}}</ref>

}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Kurze|editor-first=Friedrich|title=Annales regni Francorum (741&ndash;829) qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi. Post editionem G. H. Pertzii|series=Scriptores rerum germanicarum in usum scholarum|volume=6|place=Hannover|year=1895|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxs6AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA116|pages=116–117|isbn=978-3-447-17137-3}}
** [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140616/http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00000759/images/index.html?id=00000759&nativeno=116 digital version]).
* {{cite book|last=Scholz|first=Bernhard Walter|others=Barbara Rogers (co-translator)|title=Carolingian Chronicles:: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories|place=Ann Arbor|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1970|lccn=77083456|isbn=978-0-472-06186-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTzl6wFjehMC&pg=PA81|pages=81–2}} 
*{{cite book|title=Einhard and Notker the Stammerer: Two lives of Charlemagne|first=Lewis|last=Thorpe|edition=7|publisher=Penguin Classics|year=1969|isbn=0-14-044213-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/twolivesofcharle00thor/page/184 184]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/twolivesofcharle00thor/page/184}}
{{Refend}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Matter of France]]
[[Category:Charlemagne]]
[[Category:Harun al-Rashid]]
[[Category:Animals as diplomatic gifts]]
[[Category:Animals in the medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Individual Asian elephants]]