Hadith Bayad wa Riyad

Hadīth Bayāḍ wa Riyāḍ (Arabic: حديث بياض ورياض, "The Story of Bayad and Riyad") is a 13th-century Arabic love story. The main characters of the tale are Bayad, a merchant's son and a foreigner from Damascus; Riyad, a well-educated slave girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib (vizier or minister) of 'Iraq (Mesopotamia); and a "Lady" (al-sayyida).^[1]

Hadith Bayad wa Riyad

Hadith Bayad wa Riyad, Arabic manuscript for Qissat Bayad wa Reyad tale (late 12th century)
Original title	حديث بياض ورياض
Language	Arabic
Subject	Love story
Genre	Arabic literature
Published	13th century
Publication place	Al-Andalus
Media type	Manuscript

Manuscript

The Hadīth Bayāḍ wa Riyāḍ manuscript, Vatican City, Vatican Library, Codex Vat. Arabo 368, is one of three surviving illustrated manuscripts from medieval al-Andalus (in modern Spain and Portugal).^[2] Many non-illustrated Andalusi books do survive, so illustrated manuscripts may have been rare.

Possession history

The manuscript of Hadith Bayad wa Riyad is currently in the Vatican Library, labeled as Vat. Ar. 368, and it is the only surviving manuscript that contains both text and images of this story. In addition, it is one of the very few surviving Arabic manuscripts from Al-Andalus. The early possession history of the manuscript is unknown, and there is no direct evidence of when or how it arrived in the Vatican Library. Some scholars have hypothesized that it may have come to Rome together with other Arabic manuscripts taken from Tunis in 1535 as spoils of war, but this remains only a hypothesis.^[3] The first clear record of the manuscript inside the Vatican appears in an inventory arranged by the brothers Marino and Federico Ranaldi in the late 17th century, under the title “Gesta vetulae,” which also notes that the manuscript is missing some of its beginning and end, which agrees with current status of the manuscript.^[3] Today, through the Vatican Library’s DigiVatLib website, anyone can access and view digital scans of this manuscript.

Linguistic context

The Hadith Bayad wa Riyad manuscript is written in Arabic. Although the original manuscript, is written in Arabic, context for the writing involves a history of poetry and spoken word that merged Hebrew, Arabic, and the Romance Languages in Al-Andalus. The Muwashshah is one example of art that was developed that included ending verses that merged the three languages in word and poetic technique. This technique more often happened during the Taifa, Almoravid, and Almohad periods. During the 12th century, al-Andalus saw a falling out of the Romance Languages for replacement with Arabic. Evidence shows that Muwashshah written during this time, despite the reference to the Romance languages and Hebrew, they do not communicate that the authors had a strong understanding of the spoken languages they were writing.^[4] Instead, they seem to be attempts at replicating the writings of the past, showing a strong cultural and literary use of Arabic around the 13th century.

Visual analysis

The Hadith Bayad wa Riyad is important to Islamic art history because it is one of few manuscripts that have survived. What’s interesting about this piece is that the story takes place in Mesopotamia but visually takes place in Spain. The manuscript has a restrained palette, for example, pink, dark green, grey-blue, and light green which are typical of the Spanish textile traditions. The Baghdad-school to the east typically uses colors including red, bright blue, and light green. The color visually relocates the story to Al-Andalus. The architecture that is shown on some of the pages of the manuscript, like the colors, confirms this is an Al-Andalus piece. The minarets and peaked roofs are a style associated with some architecture seen in Seville, Spain. The miradors which are viewing points or windows are common features of the citadels of Málaga and Granada. In all, visually this is an Al-Andalus piece, and the colors and architecture presented confirm that. The artist places his cultural reality in Mesopotamia. The importance of the architecture visually is because the artist in his story textually places it in Mesopotamia, but the architecture gives us the artists current reality.^[5]

Related pieces

Similar works or pieces to Hadith Bayad wa Riyad would include multiple pieces from Al-Andalus. Al Andalus pieces would include multiple types of art including ivories, pyxis, inscriptions and manuscripts. To find related pieces to the Hadith Bayad wa Riyad main features would include the use of turban representation as it is a representation of a higher social class.^[6] In Andalusi pieces the way they dress signifies the social backgrounds of the piece. Modesty specifically was prioritized.  A specific piece to consider would be Le Répertoire narratif arabe médiéval. This piece, similar to Hadith Bayad wa Riyad, has features from Andalusian Courtly Culture.^[7] Al-Andalus pieces include details such as focusing on the classist aspects and adding it to the piece. Features such as polychromatic features are there as Al-Andalus pieces give a vision of depth. The piece The Arabian Nights focuses on courtly love similarly to Hadith Bayad wa Riyad which focuses on Arabic love and Medieval Europe. It features Medieval Iraq and Western literature.

Gallery

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See also

• Arabic epic literature
• Arabic literature

Further reading

• Alois R. Nykl. Historia de los amores de Bayad wa Riyad: Una chantefable oriental en estilo persa (Vat. Ar. 368). New York: Hispanic Society of America, 1941.
• Arianna D'Ottone, Il manoscritto Vaticano arabo 368: Hadith Bayad wa Riyad. Il codice, il testo, le immagini: alcune note, «Rivista di Storia della Miniatura» 14 (2010): 55-70
• La storia di Bayad e Riyad (Vat.ar. 368). Una nuova edizione e traduzione, ed. and trans. Arianna D'Ottone. Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2013 (Studi e Testi 479). ISBN 978-88-210-0908-2.
• The Story of Bayad and Riyad - Qissat Bayad wa Riyad.
• Cynthia Robinson, Medieval Andalusian Courtly Culture in the Mediterranean: Hadith Bayad Wa Riyad. New York: Routledge, 2007. ISBN 978-0415595926.