Ibn Bassam

Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarīnī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab-Andalusian poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe. He died in 1147.

Ibn Bassam describes how the incessant invasions of the Christians forced him to run away from Santarém in Portugal, "the last of the cities of the west," after seeing his lands ravaged and his wealth destroyed, a ruined man with no possessions save his battered sword.

Especially well known is his anthology (The Treasury concerning the Merits of the People of Iberia), an important source relating to the Almoravid dynasty. In an article about the poet in this work, Ibn Bassam describes the invention of the muwaššaḥ, ascribing the invention to the 10th century blind poet Muhammad Mahmud al-Qabri or Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih.

Editions and translations

• ʼAbÄ« ʼal-Ḥasan Ê»AlÄ« ibn Bassām ʼal-ShantarÄ«nÄ«, ʼal-DhakhÄ«rah fÄ« maḥāsin ahl ʼal-JazÄ«rah, ed. by Iḥsān Ê»Abbās, 4 vols in 8 (BayrÅ«t: Dār ʼal-Thaqāfah, 1978–81), https://al-maktaba.org/book/1035, https://archive.org/details/zakhera_mahasen_jazeera
• 'Ibn Bassām, from Al-dhakhÄ«ra fÄ« maḥāsin ahl al-JazÄ«ra translation, trans. by Ross Brann, in Medieval Iberia, ed. by Remie Constable, 2nd edn (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), pp. 125–27.