Ibn afs n ou la construction d’un bandit populaire Ibn af n or the making of a popular bandit

Comment Ibn Hafs n, le plus fameux rebelle de l’époque omeyyade (act. vers 880-917) est-il devenu un ‘bandit’ dans l’historiographie du xixe siècle ? La piste mène à deux historiens, José Antonio Conde (1768-1820), qui assimile Ibn Hafs n à ces guérilleros de la guerre contre Napoléon que les Fran ais et leurs partisans, comme Conde, nommaient ‘bandits’ ; et Reinhart Dozy (1821-1881) qui fait d’Ibn Hafs n l’ancêtre des bandits andalous que le voyage et le roman ont popularisés auprès du public du xixe siècle. Compétences philologiques et reconnaissance littéraire s’accouplent ainsi pour engendrer la ‘vérité historique’. The most famous dissenter of the Umayyad times in Spain, Umar ibn Hafs n (act. 880-917) actually turned out to be described as an ‘outlaw’ in the historical works of the xixth century. Why? The path of the inquiry leads to José Antonio Conde (1768-1820) and Reinhart Dozy (1821-1881). According to Conde, Ibn Hafsun’s rebellion echoes to the Spanish popular guerrilla against Napoleon, that the French and their supporters – Conde among them – used to discredit as ‘outlaws’. According to Dozy, Ibn Hafs n is a remote ancestor of the Andalusian outlaw character, made popular by the European writers and travellers to Spain in the first part of the xixth century. In this way, philological craftsmanship was united to literary acquaintance and so paved the way to a self-proclaimed historical truth.