Publisher's Synopsis
Dating from the middle of the thirteenth century, Abu 'Uthman al-Nabulusi's Villages of the Fayyum is as close as we get to the tax registers of any rural province. It is a unique, comprehensive snap-shot of one rural society at one, significant, point in its history, and an insight into the way of life of the majority of the population in the medieval Islamic world. Richly annotated and with a detailed introduction, this volume offers the first academic edition of this work and the first translation into a European language. By opening up this key source to scholars, it will be an indispensable resource for historians of Egypt, of administration and rural life in the premodern world generally, and of the Middle East in particular.
