Around the turn of the 9th
century, after Charlemagne (r. 768-814) had spread his influence over much of
Europe, the great king of the Franks realized there was a certain thing that he
wanted but had not yet obtained—an elephant. Fortunately for Charlemagne, he
had become pen pals with just the person who had the means and knowledge of how
to acquire such a beast. The king of the Franks had begun corresponding with
Harun-al-Rashid (r.786-809), the Caliph of Baghdad, as early as the year 797.
So, after the two rulers had become acquainted, Harun-al-Rashid received an
interesting message: Charlemagne wanted an elephant.
The Caliph of Baghdad
reportedly decided to fulfill Charlemagne’s wish and shipped an Indian or
African war elephant across the Mediterranean to the Carolingian Empire, which
would later be renamed as the Holy Roman Empire. The elephant, allegedly named
Abul Abaz, landed in Italy and was led through the Alps before meeting
Charlemagne at Aachen in July, 802. The king apparently decided to let the
animal keep its foreign name and integrated the elephant into the military. There
is no knowing how much combat Abul Abaz saw, but the elephant would have been
present in Europe to witness the end of Charlemagne’s long war with the Saxons
(c. 772-804) and participated in the Frankish defense against raids from
Denmark. In fact, Abul Abaz died in 810, near the Rhine settlement of Lippeham,
where Charlemagne had stationed troops to defend against invasions from the
Danes.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Picture Attribution: (Depiction
of a military elephant, by Sebastian Münster (1488–1552), [Public Domain] via
Creative Commons).
Sources:
- Two Lives of Charlemagne, by Einhard and Notker the Stammer, translated by David Ganz. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008.
- https://books.google.com/books?id=WGgYDAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA189&ots=W31caJ489R&dq=Abu%20Abaz&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q=Abul%20Abaz&f=false
No comments:
Post a Comment