Glossary: Sapa

Words related to sapa and saba occur widely throughout insular Southeast Asia as placenames were they are derived from a root having meanings such as "estuary, river-mouth, creek, brook, canal, place where fish enter."

The words sapa and saba may be the origin of the Arabic Zabag. Michael Jan de Goeje and Gabriel Ferrand, followed by Paul Wheatley, Roger Blench, Waruno Mahdi and others, believe that Zabag was derived from an earlier Sabag.

Sabag, in turn, was an Arabization of the word Savaka the Tamil name for the people of Zabag. The suffix "-ka" here would be a common one in Sanskrit and Prakrit used to describe a people from a certain locality, thus Yona-ka means "people or person from Yona (Greece)."

Savaka would then mean "people from Sapa/Saba" or "the people who dwell in estuaries or at river-mouths."

De Goeje and Ferrand suggested that a group mentioned in early Islamic texts known as the Sayabidja or Sayabiga, were pre-Islamic settlers in the Sind and Persian Gulf from Zabag. Sayabiga was stated to be the plural form of Saibagi which in one text is said to be pronounced sometimes as Sabag.

The Sayabiga were described as leaders of "marines" in warships, soldiers, prison and treasury guards and mercenaries. They were noted as faithful to those they served.

Apparently they had come from southern India and settled in the Sind where they became closely associated with another group known as the Zutt or Zott. Others were found at various locations along the Persian Gulf coast during the time of Caliph Abu Bakr.

Eventually the Zutt and Sayabiga, both apparently known as buffalo herders, are found at various locations serving mostly in military or police capacity including Bahrain and Basra. Both groups were devout Shi'as.

Sayabiga and the Assassins

Earlier in this blog, it was noted that Nusantao influence in Europe during medieval times may have flowed significantly through the Templars. The Templar connection in the Middle East might have been through the group famously known as the Assassins, a "fanatical" Shi'ite sect holed up in the mountains of Syria.

The Caliph Muawiya settled groups of Zutt and Sayabiga in Antioch after he had deposed the Shah of Iran. These folk acted mainly as buffalo herders and were again forced to move when the Greeks conquered the area.

Some were said to have ended up in Syria. The Zutt of Syria became the Dom Gypsies.

The possible link between the Zutt and Sayabiga with the Assassins has been suggested by Ivanow who noticed the infusion of "Tantric" elements into certain sects of Islam:

"We find numerous parallels in such widely differing ethnic, linguistic and social groups as the sects of Ali-Ilahi of Kurdistan, Nusayris of Syria, and Tantric cults, more particularly those of the worshippers of Shakti in India, in addition to avowedly mobile and wandering darwish organizations. It looks as if there is, after all, a mysterious connection between all these. The Tantric cults are believed to be the remnants of the ancient, pre-Aryan religion of India, gradually submerged, modified and partly re-modeled by orthodox Hinduism, the religion of the invaders."

Ivanow suggested that this influence might be connected with the migrations from the Sind discussed above although he mentions only the Zutt. "Persian darwishes show remarkably strong ties with similar organisations in India, chiefly in Sind, and it is quite possible that certain ideas could have been imported through such channels. It appears, however, that such importations would have been made at an early date."

When the Assassin holdouts in Syria were destroyed by the Mongols, the vast majority of the group went to India where they placed themselves eventually in the service of the Aga Khan.

If some Sayabiga found their way into the Assassin group it could easily explain the Templar link with Zabag. Although admittedly there is no way to know whether these Shi'ite Sayabiga maintained any ties or loyalty to their old homeland.

However, such a relationship would not be any stranger than that which existed between the Templars and the Assassins. The former were consistently accused of conspiring with the latter even though both groups represented what are generally considered as the most fanatic defenders of their respective religions.

Even the Templar founder Hugh de Payens was accused of responsibility in forging the pact between Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Assassins. When Christian fortunes waned in the Holy Land many in Europe cast a suspicious eye on the Templars.

The historian M. Von Hammer has even suggested that the Templars modeled themselves after the Assassin order. He cites similar organization, dress, and practices. Godfrey Higgins later noted that both groups had certain gnostic and tantric beliefs in common. Both seemed to have deistic and pantheistic leanings.

The two groups had similar colors which had great significance to the heraldry-conscious medieval Europeans. They both wore white garments, the Assassins with a red girdle and the Templars with a red cross. Both orders were divided into three classes: the Assassins into the Fedavee, Dais and Refeek, and the Templars into the knights, chaplains and servers. The Templar master and priors would conform to the Assassin sheik and Dais al-Kebir.

Most controversial was the so-called "tribute" payed by the Assassins to the Templars. Although the latter claimed to have forced the hand of the Assassins in this matter, the question of the payment never failed to raise suspicion.

Whatever the ultimate reason for the destruction of the Templars in France, no doubt their curious relationship with the Assassins had helped in the final decision against them.

If we take it then that the Sayabiga and Zutt were among the members of the Assassins and responsible for Tantric elements in their doctrine, the passing of Nusantao knowledge would have survived mainly in Portugul. It was here that the Templar order was able to persist through nothing more than a subtle name change.

Like the heathen Flegtanis of Toledo who acted as informant of Kyot and, through the latter, Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Sayabiga acted as informants of the Templars.

The Templars of Portugal, or Knights of Christ as they became known after the holocaust in France, constituted the driving force behind the country's advances in maritime navigation.

The Sayabiga hypothesis thus lies on the similarity of the name with Savaka and Zabag, their marine and mercenary nature which closely resembles the behavior of the Luções centuries later in Southeast Asia, their settlements along coastal areas, and their Tantric linkages (Suvarnadvipa/Zabag). The relationship between the Sayabiga and the Assassins and the latter's links with the Templars are fuzzy but this explanation would solve the riddle of Templar and Assassin tantric/Indic influence.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Barber, Malcolm. The Trial of the Templars, Cambridge University Press, 2003.

William and Robert Chambers, "Secret societies of the Middle Ages," Chambers Papers for the People, Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1850.

de Goeje, Michael Jan. Memoires d'histoire et de geographie orientales, No. 3, Leiden, 1903.

Ferrand, Gabriel. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam s.v. "Sayabidja" (p. 200-1), The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1927, 1993.

Ivanow, W. "Satpanth," Collectanea Vol. 1. 1948, Published for the Ismaili Society by E. I. BRILL, Onde Rijn, 33a, Leiden, Holland.

Wasserman, James. The Templars and the Assassins, Muze Inc., 2005.

For Sayabiga, see also: Wheatley, Paul The Places Where Men Pray Together: Cities in Islamic Lands, Seventh Through the Tenth Centuries, The University of Chicago Press, 2001, p. 44; Blench, Robert and Matthew Spriggs. Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts, Language and Texts, London: Routledge, 1999, p. 271.

Sayabiga and Rice Agriculture in the Middle East

The recent posts on irrigation provide an opportunity for a segue to the question of the Sayabiga that has been discussed earlier in this blog.

M. J. de Goeje in 1894 first suggested that the Sayabiga, mentioned in medieval Muslim texts, came from the kingdom of Zabag in Insular Southeast Asia. De Goeje was later followed by and expanded upon by G. Ferrand in 1934. I have located the kingdom of Zabag in the same pampang area discussed in some recent postings.

Now, the medieval records state that the Sayabiga were living along the Persian Gulf coast during the reign of the Sassanian king Bahram V (420-38). After the Muslim conquest, the Sayabiga along with a group known as the Zutt, who were probably related to the modern Jats of Sindh, were relocated by the Caliph to the marshlands around the present-day Shatt-al-Arab. The Zutt and Sayabiga, along with the Zanj from coastal southern Africa, worked on draining the swamps in this area.

The two groups, the Zutt and Sayabiga, were said to raise water buffalo that put the "lion to flight," and to have introduced rice farming into the area. Rice became popular in the area at the time and came to form the staple in the Shatt-al-Arab and nearby areas from that period until the present day. Later on, because of the problems with lions in Antioch, the Zutt and Sayabiga along with their water buffalo herds were moved to that region to rid the area of lions.

What is interesting is the rice agriculture system present today along the Shatt-al-Arab.



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The area around Basra and the Shatt-al-Arab in southern Iraq where the Zutt and Sayabiga were settled.



The irrigation system here is controlled by a system of mud dikes. The areas furthest from the river remained relatively dry and is planted with wheat and barley. The middle area, which was irrigated by the tides, is cropped with millet and maize. The area closest to the Shatt-al-Arab remains wet all the time and is planted with rice i.e. wet rice agriculture.




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Close-up of diked fields, some in disuse, along the Shatt-al-Arab. This area has been famous for its canals since medieval times.

Another interesting area of research here would be to compare tidal fishing methods to see if there is any sign of Sayabiga influence. Some of the fish traps like the valve room trap, the mud dam trap and the milan trap (see: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/MarinaMesopotamica/2006/pdf/2006OL_0101pp001037.pdf), look quite similar to methods used far to the east in Pampanga.

There has also been a suggestion that oculi or boat's eyes painted on the bow as amulets and found on medieval Arab dhows were brought to the region by the Sayabiga (see Peabody Museum of Salem, The American Neptune, p. 42; also Waruno Mahdi "The dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean," IN: Roger Blech, Matthew Spriggs, Archaeology and Language: Artifacts, Language and Texts, Routledge, 1999, 162.)

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

More on millenarian Spain at time of Columbus

In the article Columbus, Magellan and the "Hidden King,"  the millennial environment that existed in Spain during the time of Columbus and Magellan was discussed.

The kingdom of Valencia, where I have suggested that Sayabiga elements had settled during Moorish times, turns out to be an epicenter of influence that created an environment in Spain favorable both the expeditions of both Columbus and Magellan.  Not only did Valencia host the Sayabiga, but it was also a center of post-Templar influence in Spain.

According to the theory presented here earlier, the "Gypsy" peoples known as the Zutt, who were possibly a Jat group from the Sindh in South Asia, and the Sayabiga from Zabag moved along with their rice farming and buffalo herding through the Middle East.  Probably they were the ones that introduced both rice and the buffalo to Egypt, and from there on to southern Spain.  The rice culture there involves a tidal wet system and the Japonica strain, and I have suggested this rice was farmed by the Sayabiga.


Adoration of the Magi, Northern Spain, 1125-40 (Source: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/50921)

Much of the agriculture in Moorish Spain did come from Egypt both dry and irrigated types.  Tidal rice was also planted by the Sayabiga in southern Mesopotamia, but they would have used regular wet rice agriculture in the Nile Valley before leapfrogging across North Africa to use the tidal system again in places like Lake Albufera in Valencia.

These Sayabiga in Spain, I have suggested, were an important link in the diplomatic efforts of "Prester John" of Zabag in Europe.  They would have been the "Indians" or "fairy people" mentioned by Wolfram von Eschenbach and other medieval writers, and linked with the Plantagenet family and the Holy Grail.


Gypsies in Spain 

The Gypsies in Spain are known as Gitano, a word that had been suggested to have been derived from "Jat," but most likely is a shortened form of Egyptiano "Egyptian."

Like the Romani Gypsies in other parts of Europe, the Gitano show linguistic traces of their origin from India.  Therefore it is quite likely that they are descendants at least partly of the aforementioned Zutt.  At one time, it was widely thought in Spain that the Gitano were descendants of Moriscos -- Muslims who had been converted to Catholicism.  However, after the language relationship with the Romani was discovered, many suggested that the Gitano had migrated into Spain after the Romani appeared in Eastern Europe.

However, researchers like Susan G. Drummond have shown that the evidence suggests two streams of Gypsies into Spain.  A Romani one in the north, and an older Gitano one in the south that dates to Moorish times.  The Calo language of the Gitano displays a large number of Hispano-Arabic words, and their Flamenco music shows similar influence, both of which are absent among the Romani.


Adoration of the Magi, Fuentiduena Chapel, Castilla-Leon, 1175-1200 (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/2937556978/sizes/l/)

The presence of the Gitano can be seen as evidence of the migration of Zutt during Moorish times, and their ethnonym would agree with the suggestion that they came directly from Egypt.  Also the fact that they show no signs of Orthodox Christianity would suggest that they converted in Spain, i.e. that they were Moriscos or conversos.

Quite possibly the Gitano were once Zutt buffalo herders, which could explain their wandering ways.  The Zutt and their buffalo were moved to Syria and Anatolia to deal with the lion populations there -- a job that might have required a lot of movement from place to place.  Since the Zutt and Sayabiga tended to move around together, they probably migrated from that region to Egypt with the Sayabiga engaged mainly in farming.  The Sayabiga in Spain would have been rice farmers, and thus sedentary.  Also, the literary evidence would suggest, according to theory suggested here, that they were less endogamous as compared to the Gitano and freely intermarried.


Royal Morisco link from Valencia

Interestingly, both Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs of Spain who supported Columbus' voyage, both descend from a Morisca from Valencia.  Her name was Zaida, the daughter-in-law of al-Mutamid, the emir of Seville.  Zaida is sometimes referred to as the daughter of al-Mutamid in latter works, but contemporary Muslim sources state that she was his daughter-in-law of unknown ancestry. She lived in Denia in the Alicante, which was then part of the Kingdom of Valencia but now forms its own province. Like Valencia, Alicante is noted for its rice production.

Zaida, a contemporary of the first "fairy" count of Anjou, Fulk IV,  converted to Christianity and was either married to or was the concubine of Alfonso IV, king of Castile and Leon.  Both Ferdinand and Isabella descend from Zaida through Alfonso Fernandez, King of Castile, who descends through Constance de Hohenstaufen from Constance de Hauteville, the daughter of Elvira Alphonsez.  The latter was in turn was the daughter of Zaida.

Both monarchs may also descend from Zaida through Henry II's mother, a descendant of Zaida's other daughter Sancha Alfonsez,  but this genealogy is less secure.

A Valencian clan that claimed royal descent was the Borgia family, which rose to great heights during the Renaissance.   Accounts beginning in the early 17th century claim that the Borgias descend from King Ramiro of Spain, but the genealogies differ.  The actual documentation from Valencia and Aragon suggests instead that the Borgias trace their origins to one Gonzalo de Borja, who had no formal title.

The surnames Borja, Borge, Borgia, etc. come from the name of the Moorish town, and the surname is found on lists of Morisco surnames.  Evidence suggests that the Borgia clan, or at least their paternal ancestors, came originally from Borja in Aragon, but had been settled in the huerta of Valencia for some time before rising to prominence.

The first Borgia to gain fame was Alfonso from Canals, Valencia who became Pope Callisto III (Callixtus III) in 1455.  Alfonso had once served as an ambassador for the Aragonese kings.  He and the rest of his family became famed for their corruption and he appointed his nephew Rodrigo de Borgia, from Jativa, Valencia, as cardinal.

Rodrigo would become Pope Alexander VI in the same year that Columbus sailed on his first voyage.  As Pope, he granted the coveted rights to the Americas to Spain after a request from King Ferdinand, who had helped bring Rodrigo to power.

The children of Alexander VI and others in the Borgia clan quickly gained titles of nobility including Duke of Gandia in Valencia, and a number of titles in Italy.  Alexander VI's son Cesare Borgia became Duke of Valentinois, and inspired Machiavelli's work "The Prince."

Annio of Viterbo, possibly with the consent of Alexander VI, created a genealogy for the Borgias that claims the family descends from the Egyptian god-king Osiris -- interesting given the Zutt and Sayabiga's Egypt connection -- although Annio makes these links ancient and extends them to Italy.



The Borgia coat of arms with the bull representing Apis as an aspect of Osiris. (Source: Wikipedia)


Templars in Spain

When the Templars were disbanded, those in Portugal took refuge among the Order of Christ.  The Templars in Spain joined the Order of Montesa in Valencia.  Both of these orders play a part in the navigation to the Indies and the voyages of Columbus. Earlier in this blog, I suggested that the Templars had a political relationship with Prester John via Sayabiga/Assassin intermediaries. 

The Order of Christ knights were used by Prince Henry of Portugal, himself the Grandmaster of the organization, during his voyages of discovery.

An interesting possible direct connection between the Order of Montesa, which was located in the Kingdom of Valencia, and Columbus comes through Carlos de Viana (Charles of Viana). 

Carlos was a prince of Aragon, the son of the future John II, and himself the heir to the crown of Navarre. He also held the title of Prince of Viana.  According to one theory, Prince Carlos was actually Christopher Columbus' father!   A team of geneticists lead by Jose A. Lorente and Mark Stoneking had set out to test whether this theory was valid and they were expected to release results in 2005.  However, I have not seen anything further published on this research.

One of Prince Carlos' sons, Felipe, Count of Beaufort, and possibly a half-brother of Columbus, quit his position as Archbishop of Palermo in 1485 to become Grandmaster of the Order of Montesa.

A member of the Borgia family -- Don Pedro Luis Galceran de Borgia -- would become the last Grandmaster of the Order of Montesa in 1572.


Rise in millenarianism

In Columbus' "Book of Prophecies" (Libro de las profecias), the discoverer claims that he had found the Biblical lands of Tarshish, Cathyr and Ophir.

Likely one of the main reasons that both Columbus and Magellan were able to find fertile ground in Spain while failing elsewhere lies in the millennial environment that existed in the area at the time.  The Valencian alchemist Arnold of Villanova (1235-1311) was probably the first person responsible for popularizing the millenarian views of Joachim of Fiore in Spain.

He modified Joachimite prophecies combining them with earlier material from Pseudo-Methodius and others, and claiming that the Last Emperor who would reconquer Zion would come from Spain.  After Arnold of Villanova, another Valencian, Francesc Eixemensis further popularized these millennial views both in Valencia and throughout Spain.  Peter of Aragon, a member of the royal family and a Franciscan also helped promote the idea in the late 14th century that the King of Aragon would retake Jerusalem.

During the period of King Ferdinand V, the belief that this monarch was the prophesied one were widespread throughout Spain.  Given that Columbus himself was also deeply interested in prophecy, and also apparently considered himself a divine instrument in prophetic fulfillment, he was destined to eventually come to the monarchs of Aragon and Castile.

In the introduction to the Book of Prophecies, Columbus also mentions that the islands he had discovered were the same archipelago of 7,448 islands off the coast of South China (Manzi) mentioned by Marco Polo.  In the millenarian views of the time, islands were seen as important elements in the fulfillment of prophecy.  The conquest of the islands at the end of the earth was widely seen as an important mission of the millennial king in the last days.


Message from Prester John

The millenarian environment helped fuel the thirst for exploration, but it was information from the far east that provided the geographic knowledge necessary for Columbus to set off on his journey.

Nicolo di Conti and the eastern ambassador who came together with the entourage of papal envoy Alberto de Sarteano provided that knowledge.  Previously, I have suggested that the eastern delegate came from the kingdom of Prester John, which Conti claimed to have spent much time at during his Asian travels.  The ambassador claims to have come from a Nestorian kingdom in "Upper India" about 20 days from Cathay, i.e., the kingdom of Prester John.

The knowledge they provided completed a set of influences that appear to have convinced Columbus and others of the feasibility of the western voyages.  The other influences were:

• Marco Polo's account of the eastern islands off South China and their richness in gold, which Columbus apparently equates with Biblical gold of Ophir.
• The book attributed to John of Mandeville in the mid to late 14th century suggests that circumnavigation of the world is possible.  Columbus refers to Mandeville's work as having a great influence on him. Mandeville described Prester John's eastern realm as follows:
  
  

  "Toward the east part of Prester John's land is an isle good and great, that men clepe Taprobane, that is full noble and full fructuous...Beside that isle, toward the east, be two other isles. And men clepe that one Orille, and that other Argyte, of the which all the
  land is mine of gold and silver. And those isles be right where that the Red Sea departeth from the sea ocean."

  Orille and Argyte are the Chryse and Argye, the islands of gold and silver mentioned by Ptolemy who  locates them beyond the Golden Chersonese (Malaya Peninsula).
  
  At the extreme east of the kingdoms was the land of Eden:
  
  
  

  "And beyond the land and the isles and the deserts of Prester John's lordship, in going straight toward the east, men find nothing but mountains and rocks, full great. And there is the dark region, where no man may see, neither by day ne by night, as they of the country say. And that desert and that place of darkness dure from this coast unto Paradise terrestrial, where that Adam, our formest father, and Eve were put, that dwelled there but little while: and that is towards the east at the beginning of the earth. But that is not that east that we clepe our east, on this half, where the sun riseth to us. For when the sun is
  east in those parts towards Paradise terrestrial, it is then midnight in our parts on this half, for the roundness of the earth, of the which I have touched to you of before."

  Mandeville then describes the journeys on the 'other half' of the globe that involve "coasting" from the lands of Prester John:
  
  

  "From those isles that I have spoken of before, in the Land of Prester John, that be under earth as to us that be on this half, and of other isles that be more further beyond, whoso will, pursue them for to come again right to the parts that he came from, and so environ all earth. But what for the isles, what for the sea, and what for strong rowing, few folk assay for to pass that passage; albeit that men might do it well, that might be of power to dress them thereto, as I have said you before. And therefore men return from those isles above said by other isles, coasting from the land of Prester John."

Columbus learned of the testimony of Conti and the eastern ambassador at least from the letter of astronomer Paolo Toscanelli to Fernao Martins in 1474.  If the second letter of Toscanelli to Columbus is authentic, Columbus was also told to expect to find Christians on a journey to the East Indies.  Francis Millet Rogers has suggested that Columbus was additionally familiar with Conti through the work of Pero Tafur. If so, then he might easily have connected Prester John as mentioned in Tafur with the eastern ambassador from the Nestorian kingdom in Upper India.  Conti also mentions Nestorians in India, and in Tafur's account he describes the subjects of Prester John saying that "they know nothing of our Romish Church, nor are governed by it."

Tafur suggests that Prester John had an interest in the Christian world: "I learnt from Nicolo de' Conti that Prester John kept him continuously at his court, enquiring of him as to the Christian world, and concerning the princes and their estates, and the wars they were waging, and while he was there he saw Prester John on two occasions dispatch ambassadors to Christian princes, but he did not hear whether any news of them had been received."  Since the king was interested in making contact with Christendom logically he would have sent an ambassador along with Conti.

Upon analyzing the itinerary of Conti as supplied to papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini, Columbus probably noted that Conti's long sojourn with Prester John must have taken place sometime after the former had visited Champa.  That was the period before Conti began his journey back to India and Europe, and the one in which he spent most of his time in Asia. 

Therefore, Columbus quite logically would place Prester John's kingdom somewhere in Southeast Asia, in the same eastern archipelago mentioned by Marco Polo as lying off the coast of South China.  In this location, Columbus, venturing to an unknown part of the world, could expect to meet the friendly Nestorian Christians of Prester John's kingdom.   And Conti's testimony appears to have convinced many including Toscanelli and Columbus that the East Indies could be reached by sailing west from Europe around the globe.

Thus, Columbus' sailing course toward the equatorial latitudes, of which he expected to land in the East Indies, is not surprising.  Magellan also folllowed a similar course, and we know from his notes that he also appeared to be searching for the islands of Tarshish and Ophir.

By the time of Columbus, Valencia had become the commercial capital of the Crown of Aragon, and it was through the city's port that Spain controlled much of the trade that occurred in the European part of the Mediterranean.  Valencia provided the first round of funding for Columbus voyage as financiers like Jewish converso Luis de Santangel responded to Queen Isabella's call for financial backing.

After Prester John of Zabag sent letters to Western Christendom in the latter part of the 12th century, he became relatively quiet.  Maybe the conquests of the Mongols eased the urgency of dealing with expanding threats along the trade routes. However, by the mid-15th century Islam began to expand quickly in Southeast Asia with the establishment of the Sultanate of Aceh, and with Islamic kingdoms already existing in Kedah and Pasai by 1380.  At this time, the remnants of old Zabag were now consolidated into a kingdom known widely as Luzon. So the interest that "Prester John" showed Nicolo di Conti in the goings on of Christian nations in the West is logical.

Spain, for reasons that extend back to the original Prester John of Zabag, was the natural kingdom to have supported Columbus' millenarian plan to reach the fabled islands of Tarshish and Ophir.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Columbus, Christopher, Kay Brigham, and Kay Brigham. Christopher Columbus's Book of Prophecies. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Clie, 1991.

Constable, Olivia R. Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500. Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought, Ser. 4, 24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Dandelet, Thomas James. Spanish Rome, 1500-1700. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Lorente, Jose A. DNA challenges posed in attempting to solve Christopher Columbus misteries [sic], http://www.promega.com/GENETICIDPROC/ussymp14proc/oralpresentations/Lorente.pdf, 2003.

Reeves, Marjorie. The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages A Study in Joachimism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.

Rogers, Francis Millet. The Quest for Eastern Christians. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1962.

Tafur, Pero and Malcolm Letts (translator). Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), New York: Harper and Brothers, 1926.

Tompsett, Brian. Directory of Royal Genealogical Data, http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/GEDCOM.html, 2005.

Watts, Pauline Moffitt. "Prophecy and Discovery:  On the Spiritual Origins of ChristopherColumbus's 'Enterprise of the Indies'," American Historical Review, Feb. 1985, 73-102.

West, Delno C. "Medieval Ideas of Apocalyptic Mission and the Early Franciscans in Mexico," The Americas vol. XLV, Jan. 1989, no. 3, 292-313.

The Christian Buddha

Returning over the next few blog posts to the theme of the migration of Tantric elements from South and Southeast Asia across the Muslim world into Europe, probably the most noteworthy literary evidence of this transmission of ideas comes in the story of Barlaam and Josaphat.

The Sayabiga, I have suggested in this blog, played an important role in the transmission of Tantric ideas, as they migrated along the trade routes seemingly always accompanied for some reason by another group known as the Zutt (Jats). The Sayabiga originally came from Zabag (Suvarnadvipa) and the king of that country had a great interest in reaching out to far-off kingdoms.  During the Pala dynasty, we hear of Serlingpa, a prince of Suvarnadvipa, bringing a number of Tantric texts including the abridged Kalacakra Tantra from Shamhbala, which can thus be equated with Suvarnadvipa. Even earlier, this same regional king, who was known by Muslims as the Mihraj, had sent correspondence to the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiyah and Umar ibn abd al-Aziz.

Along the trade routes, the merchants and seafarers of Zabag had absorbed Tantric Buddhist and Muslim, mostly Shiite, influences.  In Europe, I have suggested that Sayabiga settled in the areas of the rice fields of Valencia with their tidal rice and fishing culture based on the tropical Japonica rice strain. Some of these Sayabiga may have dispersed along the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in connection with the people known as Agotes and Cagots.


The Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat

Two important texts were transmitted into Europe from the East during the Romanesque period.  These were the books known as the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat and the European versions of the Arabic Kalilah wa Dimnah, based on the Sanskrit Panchatantra.

The Barlaam legend contains the story of the cattari-pubba-nimattani, the "four signs" of the Buddha.  In the story, the Indian prince Josaphat is confined within the wall of the king's palace to keep the prince safe from the evils of the world.  The prince though becomes the subject of a prophecy that declares he will either become a great world conqueror or shall take up the life of an ascetic.  He manages to convince his father to allow him to make excursions to the park outside the walls of the palace escorted by his friends.  There he encounters for the first time in order an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and lastly, an ascetic.  Eventually Josaphat decides to join the ascetic, Barlaam, and renounces the throne to become a hermit himself.  Now, these important elements of the story provide a near replica of the tale of Gautama Buddha.

A sculpture at the Parma Cathedral by Benedetto Antelami (c. 1150 – c. 1230) shows St. Josaphat, i.e., the Christianized Buddha, standing in the Tree of Life after being transported there by angels. (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15762541@N06/2230621003/

According to the text itself, the Barlaam story was written down by one John the Monk of St. Sabas Monastery near Bethlehem.  John reportedly received the legend from "pious men" from India who apparently translated the tale.  However, all Europeans versions of the Barlaam legend that exist today are thought to trace back to a Greek translation of a 10th century Georgian version by Euthymius the Iberian.

The Georgian version in turn is derived from the Ismaili Shi'ite text Kitab Bilawhar wa Budhasaf in Arabic, which dates to about the 8th century. An Old French version by Gui de Cambrai appears around 1215 in Western Europe.  Around 1250, Hebrew and Old Spanish versions of Kalilah wa Dimnah also appear on the European scene, so we can say rather confidently that the transmission of the two texts was linked at least to some extent.

The ultimate source of both the Buddha and Panchatantra stories appears to be Buddhist.  Such a contention is natural enough with the story of the four signs, but the Panchatantra leads us further to make a connection with the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet.

In the Kalilah wa Dimnah cycle we find the story of the interpretation of the king's dreams that has a decided anti-brahmin bias.  The story is completely missing from the Hindu Panchatantra, but is found in the Tibetan Kanjur. 


Flow of knowledge from the East

We know that during Abbasid times the caliphs, probably attempting to imitate Sassanian rulers, welcomed scholars from all directions and particularly from "India" to their courts. In 772, for example, a scholar from Indian brought an astronomical work called the Sindhind to the court of al-Mansur.

However, many of the "Tantric" cultural elements appear to have been transmitted more by groups of wandering ascetics, probably connected with the Zutt and Sayabiga, who it has been suggested eventually helped spawn the Sufi Dervish sects.  The early ascetics appear to have had a Shi'ite bias and we can see that particularly in the mystical orientation of the Ismaili branch of the Shi'a religion.

Zutt and Sayabiga, described alternately as guards, mercenaries, pirates, farmers, and buffalo herders, were already present in the Sassanian empire before the Arab invasions.  Many of these people were forcibly moved to the swamps around Basra to help in creating an agricultural system there.  So, it is worth noting the position of Basra as an early center of Islamic mysticism with its blending of Persian and Indic influences.  Both Sayabiga and the Zutt were later moved to northern Syria, which like Basra also became strongly associated with Ismaili and Sufi mysticism.

At some point also, the "Gypsy" Sayabiga and Zutt appear to have located themselves in Egypt.  A few names provide some evidence of these groups in the history of the region.  For example, from 815 to 820, the governor of Egypt was Yusuf al-Zutti, whose nisba "surname" indicates he was from a Zutt tribe. Salim Bayya' al-Zutti was a Shi'ite faqih and a companion of the Imams Musa ibn Ja'far and 'Ali ibn Musa.

Likewise, the captain of the guard of Caliph Ali was Ma'kal Ibn Kifi al-Zabaji, whose nisba could indicate ancestry from Zabag.  A number of Muslim authors testify that the Sayabiga were widely employed as guards, for example, at the treasury of Basra.   The early Sufi mystic Salim al-Barusi may trace his descent from Barus or Balus in Sumatra, the home of the famous Fansuri camphor, while another Sufi sage Abu Yazid al-Waqwaqi has a nisba that could indicate his heritage from the islands of Waqwaq south of Zabag.

The evidence of a Tibetan Buddhist background to the texts of Kalilah wa-Dimnah and Barlaam and Josaphat would fit in well with the Sayabiga presence as Zabag had established links with Tibet through the Kalacakra doctrine.  Serlingpa was stated by various sources to have brought texts in the historical period (10th-11th centuries) from Shambhala, and other sources claim or suggest that he was himself the author of important texts and commentaries.  Thus, Shambhala was not simply an imaginal location as suggested by some, but a real place identical with Suvarnadvipa (Zabag).

Indeed, the Sufi and Ismaili sacred geographies, also often interpreted as purely imaginal, are geographically located in the same general region as Shambhala-Suvarnadvipa.  In the Sea of China, was sacred Mt. Qaf and the talking Waqwaq Tree (Wakwak).  Many locations like the mystical fortress island Kangdez were even given latitude and longitude coordinates in Islamic geographical tables.

The appearance of the Hebrew and Spanish versions of the Panchatantra tales seem to point toward a southern entrance of these Tibetan Buddhist stories.  Although the earliest Western European variant of Barlaam and Josaphat appears in France, Spain was also an important center for Barlaam tales.  Spain and neighboring southern France experienced a flowering of mysticism during this period.

In the areas inhabited by the Agote-Cagot people, this influence was strongest where it appears together with "Tantric" material of a sexual nature found in both church art and in the literature of the troubadours.  In Languedoc, the Cathars adopted Barlaam and Josaphat as an important book, and according to D.M. Lang they even used the text to defend their rejection of material pleasures, property ownership, and the practice of asceticism among the Perfecti order. Some have even claimed that the Provencal version of Barlaam was a crypto-Cathar document.

In neighboring Provence, the Jewish Kabbalah arises around the same time as Catharism. Like the latter, it shares attitudes towards reincarnation, the transmigration of souls back and forth between humans and animals, and other spiritual beliefs with the Cathars. That the Kabbalah mystics were strongly influenced by Sufism and Ismaili Shi'ism is a standard view in the scholarly world.


Impact of the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat


Even though this story became popular in Europe only in the 13th century, the tale became so widespread that both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches eventually accepted both Barlaam and Josaphat as saints.  Philip Almond describes the story's almost unparalleled popularity:

It enjoyed a popularity attained perhaps by no other legend. It spread into nearly all the countries of Christendom and is extant in over sixty versions...and even at the beginning of the eighteenth century, returned to the East in a Philippine dialect. It was also included in Vincent of Beauvais's thirteenth century Speculum historiale, and in the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine in the same century. It was probably from Caxton's English translation of the latter work, The Golden Legend, that Shakespeare borrowed the fable of the caskets for use in The Merchant of Venice. 

Even as late as the 19th-20th centuries, the book had influenced Leo Tolstoy to renounce materialism in the middle of his life. It may not be a coincidence that the flourishing of monastic orders like the Augustinians, Carmelites, Cistercians, Dominicans, and Franciscans, which helped propagate Romanesque architecture,  occurred after the original translations of the work into Greek and Latin.


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Almond, Philip C.  "The Buddha of Christendom: A review of the legend of Barlaam & Josaphat," Religious Studies, 23, 1987: 391-406.

Ashtiany, Julia. ʻAbbasid Belles-Lettres. The Cambridge history of Arabic literature. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 140-1.

Bīdpāī, and I. G. N. Keith-Falconer. Kalilah and Dimnah. Cambridge: University press, 1885.

Lach, Donald Frederick. Asia in the Making of Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965, 100-111.

Surmelian, Leon Z. Daredevils of Sassoun; The Armenian National Epic. Denver: A. Swallow, 1964, 254.

Tolstoy, L. A Confession and What I Believe, London, 1921, 23-4.

Prester John and the Assassins

In 1145, Otto of Freising wrote that in the previous year Hugh, bishop of Jabala in Syria, came as an emissary of Prince Raymond of Antioch to the court of Pope Eugene III in Viterbo to call for the Second Crusade.

He told Otto, in the pope's presence, that Prester John had routed the brother monarchs of the "Medes and Persia" and captured the city of Ecbatana "not many years ago."

Scholars have generally attributed Hugh's news to the victory of the Karakhitai empire over the Great Seljuk Sultan Sanjar near Samarkand.

However, this interpretation has also been rightly criticized on various grounds. First, the Karakhitai victory occurred a good thousand miles away, as the crow flies, from Ectabana, which is identified as the modern Hamadan in northwest Iran. Hamadan was never in any danger from the Karakhitai. Also, Hugh's account does not mention the victories in the areas where the fighting actually took place between Sultan Sanjar and the Karakhitai.

Sultan Sanjar's brothers were dead by 1141 when the battle with the Karakhitai occurred, so there was no question of any brother monarchs. P. Bruun has rightly suggested that the brother monarchs mentioned by Hugh must have been the Hamadan Seljuk Sultan Mas'ud and his brother Sultan Da'ud.

Mas'ud became sultan in Hamadan and ruled most of the territory of the ancient Medes.

In 1143, the Assassins killed Sultan Da'ud and defeated Mas'ud's army at Lamasar and other areas in the Rudbar. They also assassinated the qadis of Hamadan, Tiflis and Quhistan.

Bishop Hugh may have been referring to these victories, although they would have occurred just the year before his visit. Possibly Sultan Mas'ud after his defeat may have even temporarily withdrawn from Hamadan allowing the Assassins to claim a brief hold over the city. Certainly the Assassin victories come much closer geographically to Bishop Hugh's relation even if the event occurred more recently than suggested by Otto's account.


Assassins and Sayabiga

Now previously in this blog it was suggested that there was a link between the Assassins and the Sayabiga, who would have originated from Zabag. This latter kingdom, according again to the theory laid out here, was the actual realm of "Prester John" as known during this period.

The Assassins belonged to the Nizari sect of the Isma'ili branch of Shi'a Islam. The Isma'ilis had apparently adopted many "dervish" elements that are thought to have come from the East and have been linked by some with the Zutt and Sayabiga peoples who were present in the region when Muslims overthrew the Sassanian empire.

Interestingly, one etymology for the word "assassin" comes from "al-sasani." Farhad Daftary mentions a saying in Tripoli, not far from former Assassin strongholds, that suggests such an origin. However, "sasani" here refers not to the Sassanian rulers but to the Banu Sasan, the Islamic underworld.

The Sasan here is the ancient one, the son of Bahman, who was forced to raise sheep after his father bequeathed his kingdom to his sister. From that point onward, sasan became a word denoting beggars, street entertainers, con-artists and the like.

As noted earlier in this blog, the Banu Sasan had their own jargon that contained words believed to be of "dervish" origin and which have also been linked to the Zutt and Sayabiga. Thus, the same types of spiritual and cultural undercurrents can be found in both among the Isma'ilis, and thus the Nizari Assassins, and the Banu Sasan.

In the One Thousand and One Nights, we hear that one of the main characters, Shariyar, is called "King of Kings of the Banu Sasan, the Isles of India and of China." The term "king of the isles of India" was often used to describe the Mihraj, the ruler of Zabag, who was not of course also the ruler of China. However, if we look at the latter dominion as literary exaggeration, the link of the "King of the Banu Sasan" with the "King of the Isles of India" could be explained by the presence of the Sayabiga as an important element of the Banu Sasan.

In this regard we can also take the text of John Mandeville, whether such a person existed or not, as evidence of a confirming tradition. Mandeville states that the "Old Man of the Mountain," the European term for the ruler of the Assassins was under the "lordship of Prester John." Bruun notes that a German text of this period, latter than that of Otto, calls Prester John the "King of Armenia and India" with Armenia located in the ancient region of the Medes.


Silence of texts

Besides the possible origin of the word "assassin" and the curious account of the Arabian Nights, one might wonder why no Isma'ili or Sunni texts mention a relationship between the Nizaris and the Mihraj.

However, according to the position taken in this blog, the silence is not that problematic. The King of Zabag (Mihraj), known in Europe as Prester John, became involved in the region to protect his interests on the old sea trade routes from Sunni Muslim expansion.

The Shi'ite Nizari Assassins were natural enemies of the Sunnis as were the Christians. The Mihraj then would have naturally desired to acquire these two as allies to help curb Sunni expansion.

As this included bringing on another crusade, it was natural that any such conspiracy be kept secret by the Nizaris. Even though there was no love loss between Sunni and Shi'a, it still may have been viewed as unacceptable to openly cooperate with "infidels" against fellow Muslims.

Previously in this blog it was also suggested that Prester John attempted to work partly through the Knights Templar in reaching Christian Europe. The Templars likewise would wisely have to conceal any relationship that would have involved cooperating with the Assassins, for which they were in fact often under suspicion.

Prester John, the Isma'ilis and Templars all stood to benefit by curbing Sunni expansionism, but the latter two also needed to work secretly.

Islamic merchant ships headed eastward normally sailed from Basra stopping at the port of Daybul in the Sind (modern coastal Pakistan) before venturing on to other parts of India, Southeast Asia and China. The Sind is an important area because of its connection with both the Zutt and Sayabiga. The Fatimid had established an Isma'ili presence in the Sind in 883, which has lasted to this day.

Bernard Lewis has suggested that the Fatimid Isma'ili intended on monopolizing the eastern sea trade by diverting shipping from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. He states that the Fatimids had sent agents to attempt gaining control of the coasts of Baluchistan and Sind for this purpose. Although they did not appear to win over the actual coastlines, a Fatimid Isma'ili principality was established in Upper Sind with its capital at Multan. Ibn Hawqal mentions that Baluchis of Kirman and Sijistan also had accepted the Isma'ili faith. Prester John may have offered the Isma'ili an opportunity to realize their dream of trade dominance at a time when the Fatimid empire had been reduced to the confines of Egypt and when the Nizaris were under heavy persecution.

Now as suggested earlier in this blog, Prester John would have been a patron of Nestorian Christianity along with other religions, and he had no qualms in representing himself as a "Christian king" especially as this also suited his mundane ambitions. A Metropolian of Dabag, the Nestorian name for Zabag, had been established since at least 410 CE.

Possibly Prester John's Christian overtures through Sayabiga-Assassin agents may account for the curious testimony of both William, Archbishop of Tyre (c. 1130 – 1185) and Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre. (c. 1160/70 – 1240 or 1244). Both had claimed that the chief of the Assassins had converted to Christianity. Daftary believes this confusion may have arose from the authors' misunderstanding of the doctrine of qiyama, which relieved believers from the tenets of shari'a law. However, another explanation is that the two clergymen were aware of Templar dealings with the Assassins and had assumed or been led to believe in the latter's conversion.

Now it is worth noting that Raymond of Antioch, who sent Bishop Hugh as his emissary to the Pope, had granted the Amanus Mountains in his territory to the Knights Templar, and John Kinnamos records Templars fighting for Raymond when he was attacked by Byzantine emperor John Comnenus. Raymond apparently was not much liked by his enemies as Nur ed-din had his skull, after the prince was killed in battle, covered with silver and sent as a present to Baghdad's Sunni caliph. Sayabiga families had been previously specifically relocated to Antioch with their water buffaloes to help curb the lion population problem.

Wolfram von Eschenbach directly connects Prester John and the Templars in his historical romance possibly obtaining his information at the Angevin archives, which he claimed to have researched. The Angevins, of course, were heavily-involved both in Jerusalem and directly with the Templars. Albericus of Tres-Fontaines records that in 1165 envoys of Prester John brought letters to the courts of both the Byzantine and Holy Roman emperors. In 1177, Pope Alexander III writes in Indorum regi sacerdotum santissimo of a letter brought to him by his physician Philippus who had encountered emissaries of Prester John while traveling somewhere in the "East." In these letters, Prester John actually claims to have Templars in his service, although he criticizes them or those unfaithful among them who have allied themselves with the Muslims.

There are Frenchmen among you, of your lineage and from our retinue, who hold with the Saracens. You confide in them and trust in them that they should and will help you, but they are false and treacherous...may you be brave and of great courage and, pray, do not forget to put to death those treacherous Templars.

We might view Prester John's disclaimer of the Templars "who hold with the Saracens" as a strategic deception to avoid any appearance of his own connection with the Nizaris.

So to sum up, the Sayabiga had established themselves on the coasts of the Persian Gulf in pre-Islamic times and after the Muslim conquest converted to Shi'a Islam. Many found work as mercenaries while some others drifted into the underworld groups known as the Banu Sasan. Still others later became associated with the Nizaris. These Sayabiga likely still communicated with their former homeland of Zabag via the maritime spice routes.

As the fortunes of the Fatimid Isma'ili empire waned seriously in the late 11th century, the Sayabiga may have helped initiate contact with the Zabag empire and its king. The latter kingdom had already been involved in making alliances with China and India-Tibet as sea changes were occurring along the old maritime trade corridors.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Daftary, Farhad. The Ismāʻı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Howarth, Stephen. The Knights Templar, New York: Dorset Press, 1991.

Maclean, Derryl N. Religion and Society in Arab Sind, Monographs and theoretical studies in sociology and anthropology in honour of Nels Anderson, publication 25. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1989.

The Agotes: A remnant of the Sayabiga?

In a followup to the last post, it might be wondered whether the Sayabiga had left some traces of their existence in the same way that we can suggest that the Gitano are at least partly a remnant of the Zutt.

The best bet for such a population representing a vestige of the Sayabiga may be the Agotes of northern Spain, and related peoples in neighboring lands.  Although I have suggested the Sayabiga were mainly concentrated in coastal northeastern Spain, i.e., Valencia, they could have traveled more broadly into the Muslim-held areas, and even further if they converted to Christianity.

The Agotes belong to a set of peoples known as Cagots, Agotacs, Gafets and Gahets in France; and as Cacous in Lower Brittany.  In Spain, they are known in Asturias as Vaqueiros; as Maragatos in Leon; and as Agotes in Navarre. However these names are mostly of latter origin. In many areas, the Agotes at some point in history became out-castes, which may have helped in preserving them as a separate group.  In the 19th century though, bans were placed on practices that discriminated against the Agotes and they began mixing with the rest of the population.  Although they have mostly disappeared as a separate group there are still people today who can trace their descent back to the Agotes.


A group apart

The textual references of the Agotes and related peoples make it clear that they were seen to be different both culturally and also in terms of their appearance from the rest of their neighbors.  The references about their appearance are late and a bit confused, for example, here is a description of those who lived in the Ribas Valley of northwestern Gerona:

"They never exceed 51 1/2 inches in height, and have short, ill-formed legs, great bellies, small eyes, flat noses, and pale, unwholesome complexions."

Another source states:

"Their language is merely a corrupt form of that spoken around them; but a Teutonic origin seems to be indicated by their fair complexions and blue eyes. Their crania have a normal development; their cheek-bones are high; their noses prominent, with large nostrils; their lips straight; and they are marked by the absence of the auricular lobules."

And yet again:

"In personal appearance almost all may be distinguished by their grey eyes, short noses, thick lips, very short auricular lobes, and sad looks. It has been said that the Agotae are short lived, but instances are cited of centenarians amongst them. They follow chiefly the occupations of carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, turners, and above all of millers; indeed, in certain localities, to be a miller is considered the equivalent of an Agotae."

In some cases they are said to be dark, but other sources describe them as fair.  Dudley Costello, writing in the mid-19th century gives an explanation for the discrepancy:

The most interesting of these tribes are undoubtedly the Cagots of the Pyrenees, so persecuted by the authorities in Bearn in 1596. These have often been confused with diseased idiotic subjects like the cretins of the Alps, from whom they differ in many respects. E.g. the cretin is sually afflicted by goitre, and possesses an extremely small semi-idiotic brain: but the Cagot is apparently a normal example, and the intelligence of many male, and beauty of many female Cagots, have become proverbial. They are specially characterised by a peculiarly formed ear, sessile with, yet brusquely exserted from the head, small bright blue eyes, very large skulls, often of considerable breadth, short necks and frequently bowlegs. Two sorts exist, one with white skin and flaxen hair, the second deeply bronzed, with crisp woolly hair, grey eyes, and high cheekbones.

The Agotes and related peoples were carpenters and masons and tradition states they were responsible for building many Romanesque churches and other buildings including the Jaca Cathedral, Santa Cruz de la Seros and San Pedro de Siresa.  The sculpture of the Romanesque period contains a broad array of physical types that probably includes some sculpture created by Agotes representing their own physiognomy.  Of course, Spain was a highly multicultural and multiethnic region at this time, so one would have to pay close attention to detail in this area.  Also, the Sayabiga do appear to have been as endogamous as the Gitano.  At some point, if the Agote peoples do represent remnants of the Sayabiga, they became out-castes and intermarriage became rare (but not unheard of).


Puerta del Perdón. Tímpano. San Isidoro de León. España from Wikipedia.  
Click here for full size image.  See more images below.


Culturally, the Agote type people once lived in huts, some with thatched roofs, that were often secluded deep in the forest.  Those that practiced transhumant herding or woodcutting often had multiple huts in which they lived in at different times of the year.  They had settled mainly in mountainous areas and the adjoining valleys.  Most were employed as carpenters, woodcutters, masons, and builders


History of the Agote peoples

The precise date at which the Agote and related folk appear is hard to pin down exactly.  They have been variously given Visigothic, Morisco, Viking, Albigenses, Cathar, "Tartar," Jewish/Marrano and other origin.

When they became out-castes, the Agote were forced to wear a dried goose foot painted red on their shoulder; or else a piece of red or yellow cloth cut in the shape of a goose's or duck's foot.  According to some texts, the Agote had webbed feet like a goose.

In relation to this legend, the Basques have myths of the Laminak, a race of fairies with goose feet.  In Toulouse where the Cagots dwell, there is the legend of La reine pédauque "The Goose Foot Queen," and the region is even known as Pays d'Oc "Land of Goose," and the language is Languedoc "Goose Language."

Supposedly, this goose-footed queen was Bertha, the mother of Charlemange who was also known as Berthe aux grand pieds because of her large, broad feet (she is also known as Bertha Broadfoot) that caused her to waddle like a goose.

The goose feet apparently had some ethnic connotations as the Agote peoples themselves were said to have goose-like feet and were also called Canards or "Ducks."  Eventually, the goose foot became a type of esoteric symbol and emblem of the Agotes.  Many of the churches attributed to Agote builders are marked with a goose foot symbol, a crucifix shaped like a goose's foot, or a statue of Bertha Broadfoot on the facade with a crown, a distaff in hand, and goose or swan's feet.


Camino de Santiago

During the Romanesque period, a great pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia became widely popular, as this was said to be the location where the Apostle James was buried.  While there had been other pilgrimage routes like the Via Francigena leading to Rome previously nothing really compared to the "Way of St. James."

The Camino de Santiago running through northern Spain from the Pyrenees to Galicia has been linked by many researchers with the Agote peoples.  Firstly the route runs through the areas closely associated with Agotes and many of the important churches and buildings are marked with the goose foot symbol or have crucifixes in the goose foot shape.  Many esoteric scholars also associate the common scallop shell symbol found along this route with the goose foot.

A photo of a goose's foot beside a photo of a goose foot symbol at Cementerio de Santa María de Adina, Iria Flavia (Source: http://laberintoromanico.blogspot.com/2008/02/el-juego-de-la-oca-la-pata-coja.html)

A crucifix in the shape of the stylized goose foot at the Templo del Crucifijo, Puente la Reina in Navarre along the Way of St. James dating to the 13th-14th century.









Scallop shell symbols are found on fountains, wall and other structures all along the Camino de Santiago.


Various theories are connected with these symbols.  The camino is located along an old Roman trail that was supposed to follow the Milky Way to the sea.  Thus, some esoteric scholars connect the scallop shell and goose foot to constellations.  Others see the scallop as a fertility symbol linked with the goddess Venus, and the shell does have a womb-like shape.

Louis Charpentier in 1973 noted the large number of place names that included the word for "goose" along the Camino, and it has been suggested that the Juego de la Oca or Goose Game originates from the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  In this game, there are 63 squares leading in a spiral-like path to the 64th central square that contains the image of a goose.  There are also images in the other squares including geese, which are auspicious to land on, and less lucky squares containing images of obstacles, prisons and the like. 

The goose connection here may lie in the goose-footed Agotes who built or helped to build many of the important structures along the Camino de Santiago.



Camino de Santiago marked in red (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stjacquescompostelle1.png). Click here for full image.


Geese provide a link with the fairy folk that have been described in many places in this blog.   Bertha Broadfoot herself, who becomes the wife of Robert II of France in latter legend,  was known to tell tales to children while sitting by her spinning wheel, and some believe that "Mother Goose" of the fairy tales is derived from La Reine Pédauque "the Goose Foot Queen."

As geese and swans were interchangeable in medieval lore, we can also see a connection between the fairy Swan Knight, and the goose footed Agotes and Bertha Broadfoot.


Grail connection

In Jüngere Titurel, following Wolfram von Eschenbach's linkage of the Grail family with the Angevins, the author takes the story back to late ancient times.  They come from Cappadocia, which is not far from Antioch where both the Zutt and the Sayabiga were transported in the early 8th century.

According to the story, the pagan prince Sennabor helps the Roman emperor against other pagans and is converted to Christianity.  In return, the emperor grants one of Sennabor's three sons, Parille, some French provinces, while Azubar is granted Anjou, and the third son, Sabbilar, receives Cornwall.   The link in with Wolfram is clear here along with a justification of the Angevin's Gallic claim to England.

In order to bring the Grail family into medieval times, Parille's grandson Titurel, the first Grail King, is said to live past 400 years in age.  Titurel was located in a region between Navarre and Aragon, although the area that was called Salvaterra can be seen as a form of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Titurel marries a daugher of Frimutelle, a king of a Spanish province.  Thus, the Grail family is placed in basically the same area as that associated with the Agote, and which formed a part of the Camino de Santiago.  The doctrine of the Grail is said to have radiated from there to Aragon and then in order to Navarre, Catalonia and eventually beyond Spain.   Wolfram also makes the Spanish connection placing Parzival's mother Herzeloyde, a member of the Grail family, in the country but without giving a precise location.


Eastern influences in Romanesque art


Millard B. Rogers in 1960, and Mercia MacDermot in 2003 have published convincing studies showing Indic influences in Romanesque art.  These findings are summarized at this webpage: http://www.beyond-the-pale.org.uk/column.htm.  Millard concentrated on the art found on the Camino de Santiago.

Most important are the close similarities of the column-swallowers and the foliage-spewer motifs in Romanesque art to the kirtimukha motif in Indic art of South and Southeast Asia.  Indeed some of the reliefs along the Camino de Santiago look more similar to what one would find in medieval Borobudur or Bhubaneswar rather that of pre-Romanesque or even post-Romanesque Europe.

From the aforementioned site:

"What are we to make of this 15th century carving at Candi Sukuh in Java which, apart from the typical Hindu hair-style, could have come from a 12th century church in France ?"  http://www.beyond-the-pale.org.uk/column.htm

In the following photo of a tympanum from Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, we see what could be images of winged monkeys.  These might be derived from Hanuman and his army of flying monkeys, and Hanuman himself was sometimes depicted in text and art as having wings.


Winged monkeys, Santiago de Compostela, the legendary burial place of Apostle St. James.  Click here for full size image. (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecolchesterkid/2925988533/)

Elephants, apparently Asian as evidenced by their head shape, small ears, and squarish bodies, and by the rigging. Sant Joan de les Abadesses, 12th century in northern Catalonia. (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21086430@N00/2451054893/)


Conclusion

If Parzival and Jüngere can be viewed be viewed as semi-legendary "histories" relating to events of the 12th and 13th centuries, as suggested earlier in this blog, then the "Grail family" -- the fairy folk -- would have come from the Near East to Spain. In my view, these travelers would have come along with the other Sayabiga maybe as early as the early 8th century.

While most of this population settled in coastal areas like Valencia, where evidence of their presence can be seen in the tidal rice and related cultural elements that still persist, some would have ventured to other areas of the Moorish kingdoms. Here, the higher elevations, cooler climate and other ecological and social factors would have forced them to abandon rice cultivation and adopt a more local diet.  During the Reconquista, populations in the mountainous northern parts may have adopted Christianity early including the "Grail family" but still keeping contacts with their cousins along the coast, and ultimately in the Indies. For this reason, the Grail and the characters of the Grail epics are repeatedly connected with distant lands to the East and with "Prester John."

The Sayabiga carried elements of Indic and "Tantric" culture with them that can be seen in Romanesque art forms.

An interesting test of this suggestion would be to examine whether the Agotes and related peoples possibly extending to the Bigaudens of Brittany left any linguistic influences on the local languages. Genetic tests might also be able to reveal something, although these people eventually did intermix extensively.

Here are some more examples of Spanish Romanesque art that may include some self representation of the Agote masons themselves, i.e., Sayabiga or more likely mixed Sayabiga physical traits.


Organistrum de Iglesia de Ahedo del Butrón (Burgos) España s. XII (Source: Wikipedia)




Puerta, Santiago de Compostela (Source: Wikipedia)  Click here for full image.




Betanzos (Source: Wikipedia).  Click here for full image.

Sacrifice of Isaac, Cathedral of Jaca (Source: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/zgothic/1romanes/cap-11c/25s_1000.html).

Monasterio de San Pedro de Villanueva, Cangas de Onís, Asturias, Spain. Portada Sur (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/c0ntraband/3958198252/in/photostream). Click here for full image.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Costello, Dudley. "The accursed races of France and Spain,"  Quarterly Magazine of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Manchester Unity Friendly Society, 1860, 92.

Facaros, Dana, and Michael Pauls. Northern Spain. London: Cadogan Guides, 2008, 38.

Gould, George M., and Walter L. Pyle. Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. Teddington, Middlesex: Echo Library, 2007.

MacDermott, Mercia. Explore Green Men, Heart of Albion Press, 2006

Merke, F. History and Iconography of Endemic Goitre and Cretinism. Lancaster: MTP Press, 1984, 199.

Muñoz, Patricia, R. El Camino de la Oca, http://patadeoca.blogspot.com/.

Rogers, Millard B. "An Archeological Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela," Science 22 April 1960: Vol. 131. no. 3408, pp. 1176 - 1182.











Piñuela, M. Garcia, Los Agotes, http://www.portalfarma.com/pfarma/taxonomia/general/gp000012.nsf/voDocumentos/95B978F353404068C1256A49002C4F9C/$File/mitologia.pdf.

 Prosser, Randall P. American Phonetic Journal. Cincinnati: R.P. Prosser, 1855, 162.

 

Catalan surnames, Y-DNA and the Sayabiga?

An interesting  new study may have some bearing on the theories discussed on this blog on the Sayabiga connection of the Agotes and Cagots of Spain, France and other areas of Western Europe.

The study Y-chromosome diversity in Catalan surname samples: insights into surname origin and frequency examines 50 Catalan surnames chosen based mainly on their current frequency in the region.  While most of the Y-DNA haplogroups discovered from the sample of 1375 men were of expected European origin with a significant number of North African/Middle Eastern examples, two haplogroups are of interest regarding the Agote/Cagot theory.

Three individuals, all from the Girona region, shared the C* haplogroup while a single person from Castells has the K* haplogroup.   All the C* individuals had the surname Llach, which translates to "lake."  The sole K* has the surname Ferrer meaning "smith."

The markers used in the test can be found at http://0-www.nature.com.es.library.du.ac.bd/ejhg/journal/vaop/ncurrent/extref/ejhg201514x11.pdf.  From this table, we can see that the study tested for the M8 (C1a1) and M219 (C2) markers, so the absense of these markers translates to a solid identification of C*. 

From the corresponding Universitat Pompeu Fabra website, we can find an analysis of each of the surnames studies. Here is the entry for "Llach":

 Llach. Cognom poc abundant, típic de la Garrotxa, el Pla de l’Estany, el Gironès i Perpinyà. Se’n troba un exemple entre els immigrants francesos al fogatge de 1637.
Hem pogut obtenir resultats de tots els 26 voluntaris d’aquest cognom, que pertanyen a 8 llinatges diferents (llinatge en el sentit de grup homes descendents d’un avantpassat comú). Es tracta d’una diversitat genètica moderadament  elevada per a un cognom relativament freqüent. Veiem que els Llach de les comarques gironines pertanyen a quatre llinatges diferents (precisament, els anomenats de l’1 al 4), i també són de llinatges particulars els Llach pirinencs (el llinatge 6), del Berguedà (7) i de Castelló (8). Cal remarcar que el fundador del llinatge 1 pertanyia a l’haplogrup C*, que es troba en freqüències elevades a l’Àsia Oriental, i que a Europa difícilment es dóna més enllà d’Europa Oriental. Entre els més de 400 fundadors de llinatges que hem analitzat fins ara, aquest és l’únic C* que hem trobat.

 Here is a translation from the Anthrogenica forum (emphasis added):

Llach. An uncommon surname, typical of la Garrotxa, Pla de l’Estany, Gerona and Perpignan. We find an example among French immigrants in 1637 hearth tax.

We were able to get results from all 26 volunteers for this surname, which belong to eight different lineages (lineage group in the sense of people descended from a common ancestor). This is a moderately high genetic diversity for a relatively common name. We see that the Llachs of the Gironne [?] region belong to four different lineages ... and the individual lineages are Llach Pyrenees ( lineage 6 ) of Berguedá (7) and Castellón ( 8). Importantly, the founder of the lineage 1 belonged to haplogroup C * , which is found in high frequencies in East Asia, and in Europe there is hardly beyond Eastern Europe. Among the more than 400 founding lineages that we have analyzed so far, this is the only one we've found C * .

Children believed to be descendents of the Cagots at La fontaine Saint-Blaise à Bagnères

C* strongly linked with ISEA

In fact, we know from previous studies by Karafet et al. and Delfin et al. that C*, known as C-
RPS4Y* and CRPS4Y respectively, are strongly associated with the Insular Southeast Asian (ISEA) region. 

Karafet et al. shows only 17 out of 581 Mainland Southeast Asian samples with C*, while Western Indonesia has 40 out of 960 in Western Indonesia, 145 out of 957 in Eastern Indonesia and 2 out of 182 in Oceania.  Variance is significantly higher in Eastern Indonesia suggesting that as the place of origin in this study. 

In Delfin et al., 8.9% of Negrito peoples in the Philippines have C*, while the percentage among non-Negrito indigenous and Muslim peoples in the same country is 7.1%.

 K* also connects with ISEA

The single K* individual tested negative for L or the MNOPS groups showing a strong association with the K*, a type that also is found mostly in Insular Southeast Asia and particularly with the Philippines.  Delfin et al. also tests for the subgroups L and MNOPS and finds that 32.2% of Negrito Filipinos and  8.1% of Muslim and indigenous non-Negrito Filipinos are K*. 

Conclusion

The Catalan surname study may suggest that a small percentage of Y-DNA haplogroups are of ISEA origin in one of the main areas associated in this blog with the Sayabiga.  Additionally, it was closely linked with the Agotes and the adjoining region of France was connected with the Cagots.

Indeed, Girona (Gerona) was the location of a particular late study on the Cagots at the turn of the 20th century.

Of course, as the Sayabiga did not appear to be endogamous like the Gitano/Roma, we may expect that some paternal lineages may have already been "switched out" during stays in other areas associated with the Sayabiga including Basra in Iraq.  For comparison, no H1 or H1a lineages, common among the Gitano, were found in this study.

Interestingly, no examples of the O haplogroups that are so common nowadays were found in this research.  Possibly, these groups were not as predominant in certain regions as they are today, however, it is difficult to say with such a small data set. 

Unfortunately, the surnames Borja, Borgia, Borge, etc. were not included in the study as the results would have been interesting to see.  Indeed, this opens up quite a bit of territory for future research to confirm whether these findings do indeed confirm a Sayabiga link.

Tidal Farming and Fishing System

Earlier in this blog, I described the water control system in Pampanga, Philippines. This type of tidal farming practice extends along the coastal borders of old Pampanga, which included the coasts of modern Bulacan, Tondo, and the bay shore side of much of the Bataan peninsula. A much smaller version of this system can also be found in and near Lingayen in Pangasinan to the north. Still smaller remnants are seen rarely here and there in the Philippines mostly on the island of Luzon.

I also have suggested that related systems were used by the Sayabiga in Iraq and the Moors, possibly also through a Sayabiga sub-population, in the Spanish autonomous communities of Valencia and Murcia. There is also something that looks quite the same found in the Halong Bay area of Vietnam. Whether this region is actually directly related to the others is unsure. One would think there is at least some idea stimulus involved. I have wondered if there might be a link with the Chinese notices of Fo-lo-an on the Western Ship Route during the Sung Dynasty. However, historically the Halong Bay area should have been squarely under the control of the Dai Viet empire at that time. So I'll have to leave any possible connections for further research.


View Larger Map
Tidal rice farming on Cat Ba island in Halong Bay, Vietnam.


This system of farming and fishing found in Pampanga and other parts of Luzon, and also in Iraq and southern Spain can be described as a Tidal Farming and Fishing System (TFFS).

As the name suggests, the area of agriculture and fishing is located in a tidal zone, and there is dependence on tidal action. The area will extend all the way to the mouth of rivers at the ocean, and upstream so far as there is still sufficient tidal flow. Here is an outline of some of the important features of this specific TFFS:

• The TFFS utilizes reclaimed land, i.e., marshes, swamps, lakes, etc., so very extensive earth works are involved.
• The intertidal zone is also used and dikes, channels, canals, etc., help to extend the system through irrigation beyond the intertidal zone.
• Tides play an important role in irrigation. The flood tide pushes water into the fields and ponds, and sluice gates keep a certain quantity of the water from flowing back to sea during the ebb tide.
• The tides are also important for local fishing practices.
• In some areas, rains help flush saltwater toward the sea allowing seasonal farming in areas where the water is too salty for farming during the dry season.
• The principle crop is short-grain, wet paddy rice (Oryza sativa var. japonica). Probably the type of Japonica rice grown in these regions has a higher salinity tolerance than more typical rice grown elsewhere.

The fishing techniques in the TFFS often revolve around fish and other aquatic/sea creatures that follow the tides in and out of the irrigation system. One trick is to place traps in narrow canals, for example. Fish caught in tidal pools and ditches could be stunned with fish poison, speared, or simply scooped up by hand. Fish poisons used in the Philippines, known as tuba, were usually either of the Derris or Tephrosia species. In Iraq, Digitalis and Datura species were used, while in southern Spain they used Verbascum species.

Much attention is focused on catching migratory fish and crustaceans. In the Philippines, the main catch was the bangus, which migrated from the sea into brackish water to spawn. Eventually, possibly after observing bangus spawn in their rice field ponds, an aquaculture system was developed that was mainly centered around the bangus. In Iraq, whitefish species -- khatan and shabut -- along with pomfret, shad and shrimp are caught during migration periods. In the Albufera in Valencia, they concentrated on migratory eels, which actually live in inland waters and migrate out to sea to spawn.

The water buffalo is associated with the TFFS in the Philippines and Iraq, and possibly also in southern Spain during Moorish times. However, there are some differences between the use of the buffalo in the two former regions. In the Philippines, the buffalo is a draft animal, but in Iraq it is used mainly for milk as in India. The marsh arabs do not train their buffalo as work animals. However, the Iraqi buffalo has many types of characteristics that resemble both the Southeast Asian swamp buffalo as well as the Indian river buffalo.

The older water buffalo shown in this region during Sumerian times looked exactly like a swamp buffalo. The modern Marsh Arab buffalo, which was probably reintroduced during medieval times, looks more like a cross between a swamp and river buffalo. However, its habits are mainly that of the swamp buffalo in that they tend to wallow in the marshes.


Water buffalo along the Euphrates near Najaf (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

Buffaloes swimming in Iraqi marshes
http://www.toreigeland.com/iraq_marsh-arabs/images/W8688-Iraq-Marshes.jpg


Curious culinary link

One interesting correspondence between the TFFS in Pampanga and that found about a third of the way around the globe in Valencia is the popularity of local rice casserole dishes -- Paella or Arroz Valenciana in Spain, and Bringhe in Pampanga.

Many believe that as Pampanga was colonized by Spain, Bringhe must have been adopted from Paella. However, Corazon S. Alvina and Felice Santa María note there are indications that Bringhe is at least partly indigenous.

Bringhe resembles a native dish found among the Muslims of Mindanao known as Koning, which is usually served during special occasions. Bringhe is also primarily a food served during festivals. Koning consists of the sticky form of glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa) cooked with coconut milk and colored yellow either with turmeric or a type of yellow ginger known as galingale.

Now, Bringhe also is made with glutinous rice, known locally as malagkit, that is always cooked with coconut milk and is tinted in modern times also with turmeric. Previously, a spice known as cachumba or safflower as it is known in the West, was probably used. Cachumba, for example, is mentioned as a condiment by Antonio de Morga in the early 17th century.

However, what about all the other ingredients that are mixed together in both Bringhe and Paella, such as meat, vegetables, legumes, etc.?

Well, in the case of Bringhe, another local type of dish may have been combined with Koning to produce Bringhe. According to Bergano's 18th century Kapampangan dictionary, local people would cook rice together with vegetables to make Quisa. Today, legumes, vegetables, sweet potato, etc., are added to rice while cooking to "extend" the rice especially among the poor. However, a dish that more closely matches Bringhe is known as Binulu.

Binulu is an ancient type of cooking still popular among the Aita of Pinatubo. It is also featured yearly at the Binulu Festival in Porac, Pampanga. However, as Bergano lists this type of cooking in his dictionary, it probably was more popular among Kapampangans of those days. Binulu consists of rice and viands stuffed and cooked together in a thin, hollow, green bamboo known as bulu (Schizostachyum lumampao). The variations of Binulu are just as great as those found among Paella and Bringhe dishes and can include meat, vegetables, beans, legumes, fish/shellfish, fruits, etc.

Quite possibly, Bringhe evolved originally out of a fusion of Koning with Binulu for festive occassions, which was instead cooked in clay pots, or possibly in coconut leaf baskets known as patupat. In modern times, Bringhe is usually prepared in a vessel lined with banana leaves. The modern dish can include the addition of completely foreign elements, but the stable ingredients are glutinous rice, coconut milk, and a tinting condiment, usually turmeric.


Bringhe


Arroz Valenciana
(both images from http://www.nestle.com.ph)



Spain's TFFS and the Grail Myths

I have discussed previously how the Sayabiga could have been the mysterious "Indians" mentioned in the Grail literature, and how they might also be connected with the medieval diplomatic contacts of "Prester John" in Europe.

In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the author states that his ultimate source for his story was a mystic known as "Flegatanis" who lived in Spain (Toledo). The envoys from India in Parzival -- Cundrie and Malcreatiure -- apparently come directly to Anjou from Spain. Cundrie, for example, recites the names of stars in Hispano-Arabic.

Albrecht von Scharfenberg, about a half century after Wolfram, places the Grail family in northern Spain, probably Galicia, an area that they migrate to after helping with the conquest of Jerusalem.

Valencia, during this time, was an important center of Eastern medicine and alchemy. A number of important medical/alchemical works were translated from Arabic into European languages, especially by the alchemist Arnaldus de Villanova (Arnau de Vilanova) in the 13th century. Another important alchemist during this period was Ramon Llull (Raymond Lull) who hailed from island of Mallorca to the east off the coast of Valencia. The majority of the population of Valencia during Moorish times spoke Arabic as their primary language. Many elements of the Grail legends show "Eastern" and even Tantric influences that may have filtered in from the Persian Gulf traveling along with the Sayabiga and the TFFS.



Flat-bottomed punt-type boats known variously as barquet, barquetot, pastera, etc. in the Albufera rice-growing area in Valencia. (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14171706)


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Alvina, Corazón, and Felice Sta. María. Halupi: Essays on Philippine Culture. Quezon City: Capital Pub. House, 1989.