{"id":53,"date":"2018-10-10T12:29:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T12:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.history.qmul.ac.uk\/ruralsocietyislam\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2019-05-03T10:56:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T10:56:11","slug":"levies-for-military-campaigns-and-canal-construction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.history.qmul.ac.uk\/ruralsocietyislam\/database\/levies-for-military-campaigns-and-canal-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"5. Levies for military campaigns and canal construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horsemen for Military Campaigns<\/h3>\n

At the end of the treatise, al-N\u0101bulus\u012b records a levy of four hundred horsemen to be provided by the Arab tribesmen of the villages of the Fayyum as auxiliary forces in the event of a royal campaign. The total of four hundred riders is divided equally between the Ban\u016b Kil\u0101b and the Ban\u016b \u02bfAjl\u0101n, each required to provide two hundred horsemen.<\/p>\n

Giza Dam Levy<\/h3>\n

Al-N\u0101bulus\u012b reproduces a royal decree, dated to the end of 642 (May 1245), ordering the province to raise one hundred dredging units (jurr\u0101fa<\/em>, pl. jar\u0101r\u012bf<\/em>) for the construction of the dam of al-Mu\u1e25raqa in the nearby province of Giza.[1]<\/a> Since most villages were ordered to pay a fraction of a jurr\u0101fa unit, this levy must have been paid in cash or in labour, not in actual dredging equipment.<\/p>\n

According to Ayyubid practice, when a province required a new dam, a levy was divided between the villages of those provinces that would stand to benefit from the dam. Each village was set an amount according to its capabilities at the time and according to the extent of its cultivation.[2]<\/a> The villages had the option of commuting this levy to cash, at a rate of 10 dinars per unit.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Data: Giza Dike Levy<\/a><\/p>\n

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MAP: Relative village size (based on the Giza Dam Levy)<\/p><\/div>\n

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[1]<\/a> On large irrigation projects by the central government, see Sato, State and Rural Society<\/em>, pp.\u00a0227\u201333.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibn Mamm\u0101t\u012b, Kit\u0101b qaw\u0101n\u012bn al-daw\u0101w\u012bn<\/em>, ed. by \u02bfA\u1e6diya, pp.\u00a0342\u201344. A\u00a0later account by al-Qalqashand\u012b describes an annual process of maintenance of royal dikes, led by an amir appointed as the Superintendent of Dikes (k\u0101shif al-jus\u016br<\/em>) at a given province, and supported by a tax levied in dredging units (jar\u0101r\u012bf<\/em>), ploughs and beasts of burden; al-Qalqashand\u012b, \u1e62ub\u1e25<\/em>, iii, 448\u201349. See also Rabie, The Financial System<\/em>, p.\u00a0115; Nicolas Michel, \u2018Travaux aux digues dans la vall\u00e9e du Nil aux \u00e9poques papyrologique et ottomane: une comparaison\u2019,\u00a0Cahier de recherches de l\u2019institut de papyrologie et d\u2019\u00e9gyptologie de Lille<\/em>,\u00a025 (2005), 253\u201376.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Al-Maqr\u012bz\u012b, possibly on the basis of Ibn Mamm\u0101t\u012b, confirms that each village had to pay a certain number of units (qi\u1e6d\u0101\u02bf<\/em>) towards to the royal dikes levy (muqarrar al-jus\u016br<\/em>). The payment was commuted to cash at a rate of 10 dinars per unit; al- Maqr\u012bz\u012b, Kit\u0101b al-mawa\u0304\u02bfiz\u0323<\/em>, ed.\u00a0by Sayyid, i, 288, 297. See also Cooper, \u2018Ibn Mammati\u2019s Rules\u2019, pp.\u00a0313\u201315, on special taxes for the construction of dams in the provinces of al-Gharbiyya and al-Sharqiyya, called al-rus\u016bm al-muwa\u1e93\u1e93afa<\/em>.
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