Letter: T-S Misc.20.153
Letter T-S Misc.20.153Tags
Description
Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, no earlier than 1425 CE because it mentions gold ashrafī coins (first minted under Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay in this year). The letter is addressed to a certain Yiṣḥaq addressed as ha-Sar. The addressee's letter arrived with al-Ḥajj Ḥasan al-Bābā. The writer went together with al-Bābā to the amir, the deputy of the citadel, and read to him the decrees (marāsīm) and some sort of declaration of allegiance (? אעטא אלסמע ואלטאעה). A Genoese Frank was summoned (an ambassador, per Goitein, Med Soc, I, 43) and the decree was read to him as well. The decree is in two versions (maktūbayn), one according to sharʿī law and one according to Genoese. The remainder of the letter is damaged and difficult to follow; the "masṭūr" of the decree is mentioned; 100 Ashrafīs; and a consultation of a qāḍī. Merits further examination.