Full Description
"I, Hasan the son of Muhammad the weigh-master, I, Jean-Leon de Medici, circumcised at the hand of a barber and baptized at the hand of a pope, I am now called the African, but I am not from Africa, nor from Europe, nor from Arabia. I am also called the Granadan, the Fassi, the Zayyati, but I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road, my country is the caravan, my life the most unexpected of voyages."
Thus wrote Leo Africanus, in his fortieth year, in this imaginary autobiography of the famous geographer, adventurer, and scholar Hasan al-Wazzan, who was born in Granada in 1488. His family fled the Inquisition and took him to the city of Fez, in North Africa. Hasan became an itinerant merchant, and made many journeys to the East, journeys rich in adventure and observation. He was captured by a Sicilian pirate and taken back to Rome as a gift to Pope Leo X, who baptized him Johannes Leo. While in Rome, he wrote the first trilingual dictionary (Latin, Arabic and Hebrew), as well as his celebrated Description of Africa, for which he is still remembered as Leo Africanus.
Contents
Part 1 I THE BOOK OF GRANADA
Chapter 2 The Year of Salma al-Hurra 5
Chapter 3 The Year of the Amulets 23
Chapter 4 The Year of Astaghfirullah 31
Chapter 5 The Year of the Fall 41
Chapter 6 The Year of Mihrajan 63
Chapter 7 The Year of the Crossing 71
Part 8 II THE BOOK OF FEZ
Chapter 9 The Year of the Hostelries 83
Chapter 10 The Year of the Soothsayers 93
Chapter 11 The Year of the Mourners 101
Chapter 12 The Year of Harun the Ferret 107
Chapter 13 The Year of the Inquisitors 113
Chapter 14 The Year of the Hammam 119
Chapter 15 The Year of the Raging Lions 125
Chapter 16 The Year of the Great Recitation 131
Chapter 17 The Year of the Stratagem 137
Chapter 18 The Year of the Knotted Blade of Grass 143
Chapter 19 The Year of the Caravan 153
Chapter 20 The Year of Timbuktu 161
Chapter 21 The Year of the Testament 169
Chapter 22 The Year of the Maristan 177
Chapter 23 The Year of the Bride 183
Chapter 24 The Year of Fortune 189
Chapter 25 The Year of the Two Palaces 195
Chapter 26 The Year of the lame Sharif 201
Chapter 27 The Year of the Storm 207
Part 28 III THE BOOK OF CAIRO
Chapter 29 The Year of the Noble Eye 223
Chapter 30 The Year of the Circassian 233
Chapter 31 The Year of the Rebels 245
Chapter 32 The Year of the Grand Turk 255
Chapter 33 The Year of Tumanbay 269
Chapter 34 The Year of the Abduction 277
Part 35 IV THE BOOK OF ROME
Chapter 36 The Year of San Angelo 289
Chapter 37 The Year of the Heretics 295
Chapter 38 The Year of the Conversa 303
Chapter 39 The Year of Adrian 311
Chapter 40 The Year of Sulaiman 317
Chapter 41 The Year of Clemency 325
Chapter 42 The Year of the King of France 333
Chapter 43 The Year of the Black Bands 341
Chapter 44 The Year of the Lansquenets 349
