The chronicle of Niqula al-Turk as a source on thehistory of the campaign of Bonaparte in Syria in1799

Summary

Abstract

The writing of the Lebanese Christian poet andhistorian Niqula al-Turk (d. 1828), Dhikr tamalluk jumhūr al-Faransāwīyahal-aqṭār al-Miṣrīyah wa-l-bilādal-Shāmīyah, presents a unique source forresearches on the Ottoman Syria. Being acontemporary and an eyewitness to the events of themilitary expedition of Bonaparte in Egypt and Syriain 1798–1799, Niqula al-Turk describes not only theactual course of the hostilities, but also relationsbetween the conquerors and the local population andits reaction to the actions of the French army andits commander in chief. Al-Turk does not hide themilitary merits of Bonaparte's troops, nor thecruelties they committed in Syria. The chroniclergoes far beyond the traditional confessionalworldview of the inhabitants of the Syrian provincesof the Ottoman Empire, although his loyalty to theOttoman authorities and his master, the Lebaneseemir Bashir II, can hardly be in doubt. The sourcecomplements and expands the information ofal-Jabarti's chronicle and allows the researcher tocompile a more comprehensive picture of the Syriancampaign of Bonaparte in 1799, which is still lessstudied than the activities of the French army inEgypt.

Keywords: Ottoman Syria, Egypt, Bonaparte,Christians

Niqula bin Yusuf al-Turk (1763–1828) was a Christianscholar, historian, and poet at the court of Amir ofMount Lebanon Bashir Shihab II. He was born in Dayral-Qamar, probably of Greek-Catholic origin (hisancestor were from Istanbul), and was an eyewitnessof Bonaparte's expedition in Egypt and Syria in1798–1799 which he described in his main workDhikr tamalluk jumhūral-Faransāwīyah al-aqṭār al-Miṣrīyah wa-l-bilādal-Shāmīyah (Al-Turk, 1990). Except for the period of1798–1801, al-Turk spent most of his life in MountLebanon where he died, blind, in Dayr al-Qamar in1828.

The writing of Niqula al-Turk presents a unique sourcefor researches not only on Egypt where he probablyperformed assignments of his patron, Lebanese emirBashir II Shihab, but also on the Ottoman Syria atthe turn of the 18^th and 19^thcenturies. Compared to another well-knowncontemporary, the Egyptian chronicler Abd al-Rahmanal-Jabarti, al-Turk describes the events lessemotionally and categorically, his writing ischaracterized by the tone of an outsideobserver.