Un beau jour de décembre 875, le tisserand Umar b. Musa, épousa Halima bint Nafis devant d'illustres témoins de Fus a . Quelque six siècles plus tard, au printemps 1411, Dame Fa ima bint Fath al-Din convola en secondes noces avec u an, un mamelouk à l'avenir prometteur, et l'accueillit avec sa suite dans son palais de la capitale égyptienne. Les historiens d'aujourd'hui n'en auraient rien su si leurs actes de mariage n'avaient pas résisté au passage du temps, à l'instar de la centaine de pièces documentaires dont Mathieu Tillier et Naïm Vanthieghem offrent pour la première fois l'édition, la traduction et l'étude. Riches ou indigents, libres ou esclaves, les hommes et les femmes d'Égypte médiévale prirent l'habitude, dès le VIIIe siècle au moins, de faire consigner leurs unions par écrit, afin d'en expliciter les clauses et les modalités. Les ruptures par répudiation ou divorce à l'amiable étaient elles aussi confiées au calame des notaires. Les actes inédits ici réunis, s'échelonnant sur les périodes abbasside, fatimide, ayyoubide et mamelouke, ouvrent une fenêtre d'observation unique sur les stratégies matrimoniales, tant dans la capitale que dans les campagnes égyptiennes, sur les relations conjugales, sur les femmes et les hommes du commun comme de l'aristocratie, et sur les normes juridiques qui présidèrent à leurs unions. Après une première partie consacrée à l'édition de ces actes et de pièces annexes, les auteurs offrent une étude générale des pratiques matrimoniales dans l'Égypte médiévale d'après la documentation arabe.

Autorentext

Mathieu Tillier , Sorbonne Université, Paris, France; Naïm Vanthieghem , IRHT-CNRS, Paris, France.

Klappentext

One day of December 875, the weaver Umar b. Musa, married alima bint Nafis before illustrious witnesses from Fus ä. Some six centuries later, in the spring of 1411, Lady Fäima bint Fat al-Din celebrated a second wedding with ugan, a promising Mamluk officer, and hosted him with her retinue in her Cairene palace. Present-day historians would know nothing of them had their marriage contract not withstood the ravages of time, as have the hundred or so documents that Mathieu Tillier and Naïm Vanthieghem are publishing, translating and studying for the first time in this volume. Rich or poor, free or enslaved, the men and women of Medieval Egypt adopted the habit, from at least the eighth century CE onwards, of having their unions recorded in order to lay down the terms and conditions of their marriage. Dissolution by repudiation ( alaq) or amicable divorce ( ul ) were also entrusted to the care of notaries. The hitherto unpublished documents collected here, which span across the Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, provide a unique insight into matrimonial strategies among commoners as well as elite members, and into marital relationships and legal practices, both in the capital and in the Egyptian countryside. After a first part devoted to the editing of marriage contracts and divorces deed as well as a few related documents, the authors offer a detailed study of matrimonial practices in medieval Egypt based on Arabic documents.

Zusammenfassung

One day of December 875, the weaver Umar b. Ms, married alma bint Nafs before illustrious witnesses from Fus. Some six centuries later, in the spring of 1411, Lady Fima bint Fat al-Dn celebrated a second wedding with n, a promising Mamluk officer, and hosted him with her retinue in her Cairene palace. Present-day historians would know nothing of them had their marriage contract not withstood the ravages of time, as have the hundred or so documents that Mathieu Tillier and Naïm Vanthieghem are publishing, translating and studying for the first time in this volume. Rich or poor, free or enslaved, the men and women of Medieval Egypt adopted the habit, from at least the eighth century CE onwards, of having their unions recorded in order to lay down the terms and conditions of their marriage. Dissolution by repudiation (alq) or amicable divorce (ul) were also entrusted to the care of notaries. The hitherto unpublished documents collected here, which span across the Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, provide a unique insight into matrimonial strategies among commoners as well as elite members, and into marital relationships and legal practices, both in the capital and in the Egyptian countryside. After a first part devoted to the editing of marriage contracts and divorces deed as well as a few related documents, the authors offer a detailed study of matrimonial practices in medieval Egypt based on Arabic documents.