Medieval Arab historiography is essentially a matter of compilation. Using the representative corpus of reports on the Zang uprising, Franz examines the compilation of chronicles in its three aspects: compiling (as a process of selecting, ordering and textualising material), compilation (the resultant individual text) and the process of compilations (as the succession of various stages in transmission). He develops comprehensive evaluative criteria and with them creates a basis for clear recognition of the significance of authorship, individuality of texts, and disciplinarity for the long neglected compilatory chronicle tradition. His emphasis on the tension between the kernel of the historic event and the intertextual redefinition of the subsequent records opens up a new perspective for the literary and historical investigation of the primary sources.

Kurt Franz is a Research Fellow at the Department of Oriental Studies of the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.