Leone Pecorini Goodall

This paper investigates the overlooked topic of maternal ties of kinship in Umayyad history through the case study of ʿĀʾisha bint Hishām ibn Ismāʿīl al-Makhzūmī, the mother of Hishām ibn ʿ Abd al-Malik (r. 105-125/724-743). Using a range of primary sources, including annalistic, adab, and eschatological sources, as well as early Islamic poetry, it investigates the significance of matrilineal kinship and naming practices in the Marwanid period. ʿĀʾisha's representations across sources illuminates how sources discuss caliphal mothers and the role of the matrilineal family in marriage and naming practices. A brief prosopographical analysis also demonstrates the widespread use of maternal names in early Islamic society-ʿĀʾisha is said to have named her son after her father. Early Islamic poets praised maternal kinship ties, indicating an appeal to caliphal constituents from the maternal family. Overall, by incorporating maternal ties of kinship into Marwanid history, we may gain a more complete understanding of early Islamic society.

This article is concerned with the representation of al-ʿAbbās b. al-Walīd's involvement in the Muhallabid revolt (102/720) and the third fitna (126-36/744-54) across Arabic-Islamic and Christian sources. The contribution makes a case for the study of "minor figures" as a means to contend with the eulogizing and historiographical reimagining of the Marwānid past by later ʿAbbāsid compilers. It sheds light on the status of concubine-born sons of Marwānid caliphs, who were unable to become caliph until precisely this period and the generational shift that occurred in the 120s/740s. Al-ʿAbbās appears in Arabic-Islamic sources as foreshadowing the impending fitna, warning of its consequences and attempting to dissuade his brother, Yazīd b. al-Walīd (d. 126/744), from revolting against the caliph al-Walīd b. Yazīd (d. 126/744). Eventually "captured" by his brother Yazīd b. al-Walīd's supporters, al-ʿAbbās' bayʿa (oath of allegiance) turns the tide in Yazīd's favor. In contrast, late antique Christian sources in Arabic, Armenian, Greek, and Syriac see him as instrumental in the fall of al-Walīd b. Yazīd, wanting the caliphate for himself and betraying his cousin. The following analysis will demonstrate how Christian sources employed figures internal to their own traditions to understand and explain caliphal history. The overlapping but competing historiographies of al-ʿAbbās shed light on the source material and agendas of Arabic-Islamic and Christian late antique sources. This study also helps to disentangle some of the conflicting elements of the fitna narrative, while underlining the polycentric nature of Marwānid rule and how members of the imperial elite were legitimized and exerted authority.