Editing Abul-Abbas (section)

==Contemporary accounts==
===From the Orient to Europe===
Abul-Abbas was probably born during the 770s or 780s (based on the average age of [[Asian elephant]] maturity) and was brought from [[Baghdad]], the capital city of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], by Charlemagne's diplomat Isaac the Jew,<ref name="Scholz081"/><ref name=war>{{cite book |title= War elephants |last1= Kistler |first1= John M. |last2= Lair |first2= Richard |year= 2006 |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn= 0-275-98761-2 |pages = 187–188 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0sqI1fxfnMC}}</ref> who along with two other emissaries, Lantfrid and Sigimund,<ref name="Scholz081"/> had been sent to the caliph on Charlemagne's orders. That the only surviving member of the group of three, Isaac, was being sent back with the elephant was heralded as advance news to Charlemagne from two emissaries he met in 801: one was sent by the caliph Harun al-Rashid himself, another by Abraham ([[Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab]]), who was governor of Africa.<ref name="Scholz081"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|p=82}}, "..and the envoy of Emir Abraham, who ruled on the border of Africa in [[Fustat|Fustât]]"; and {{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|loc=Note 4 to year 801}}, quote:"Harun al-Rashid, emir al Mumenin.. appointed Ibrahim ibn al'Aghlab governor of Africa about 800.  Fustât, his place of residence is Abbasiya near [[Kairouan|Kairwan]] in southern Tunis.."</ref> Charlemagne then ordered a man to [[Liguria]] (the province around [[Genoa]]) to commission a fleet of ships to carry the elephant and other goods.<ref name="Scholz081"/>

Researchers have speculated on Isaac and the elephant's route through Africa: Isaac and the elephant began the trek back by following the [[Egypt]]ian coast into [[Ifriqiya]], ruled by [[Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab]] who had bought the land from al-Rashid for 40,000 [[dinars]] annually. Possibly with the help of Ibrahim in the capital city of [[Kairouan]] (now in [[Tunisia]]), Isaac set sail from port (possibly [[Carthage]],<ref>This reconstructed route (via Carthage) was mapped in {{citation|last1=Grewe|first1=Klaus|last2=Pohle|first2=Frank|contribution=Der Weg des Abul Abaz von Bagdad zu Aachen|title=Ex oriente : Isaak und der weisse Elefant : Bagdad-Jerusalem-Aachen: eine Reise durch drei Kulturen um 800 und heute |place=Mainz am Rhein|publisher=P. von Zabern|year=2003|isbn=3-8053-3270-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UlEVAQAAIAAJ|pages=66–69}} (part of an Exhibition catalog), according to {{cite journal|title=Klaus Grewe – Frank Pohle, ''Der Weg'', etc.|journal=Medioevo Latino|volume=XXV|publisher=Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo|year=2004|page=336|isbn=978-88-8450-136-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EckPAQAAMAAJ}}, quote: "The motives for Issac's particular route from Baghdad to Carthage, via ship from Carthage to Protovenere (near Genoa, and north via Vercelli and St. Bernard's pass to Aachen, are illuminated (I. D.) |2683"</ref> now in Tunisia) with Abul-Abbas and traveled the remaining distance to [[Europe]] via the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name="Sypeck">{{cite book|last=Sypeck|first=Jeff|title=Becoming Charlemagne|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TTBuG23ZBgC&pg=PA172|pages=172–3|isbn=978-0-06-183418-9}}{{ISBN|0-06-079706-1}}</ref>

At any rate, the strict reading of the historic text ''[[Annales regni Francorum]]'' is that "Isaac the Jew returned from Africa with the elephant" (''Isaac Iudeus de Africa cum elefanto'') and landed in [[Porto Venere]] (near [[Genoa]]) in October 801.<ref name="ARF801-116"/><ref name="Scholz081"/> The two spent the winter in [[Vercelli]], and in the spring they started the march over the [[Alps]] to the Emperor's residence in [[Aachen]], arriving on 20 July 802.<ref name="Scholz081"/><ref name=war/><ref name="ARF802">''Annales regni Francorum'' Anno 802 ({{Harvnb|Kurze|1895|p=117}}, [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] edition)</ref> Abul Abbas was a full-grown adult elephant.<ref name=pyrdum/>

===Death===
In the year 810, Charlemagne left his palace and mounted a campaign intending to engage with King [[Gudfred]] of [[Denmark]] and his fleet that invaded and plundered [[Friesland]]. Charlemagne had crossed the [[Rhine River]] and tarried at a place called "Lippeham" awaiting troops for three days, when his elephant suddenly died.<ref name="ARF801-131">''Annales regni Francorum'' Anno 810 ({{Harvnb|Kurze|1895|p=131}}, [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] edition)</ref><ref name="Scholz091">{{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|pp=91}} (Eng. tr. of ''ARB'' = ''Royal Frankish Annals'')</ref> On the tacit assumption that Abul-Abbas was with Charlemagne when he died, some modern commentators venture that the beast had been brought to serve as a [[war elephant]].<ref name=war/><ref name="Dembeck264">{{cite book |last=Dembeck|first=Hermann|title=Animals and men |publisher=Natural History Press|year=1965|isbn= 1-598-84347-8|page=264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LS1AAAAIAAJ}} (Cf. Dembeck, ''Mit Tieren leben'', 1961)</ref><ref name="AiM">{{cite book |last= Kistler |first= John M. |title= Animals in the Military: From Hannibal's Elephants to the Dolphins of the U.S. Navy|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year= 2011 |isbn= 978-1-598-84347-7|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9Bj-kyDi9AC&pg=PA91}}, citing Hodges, Richard. (cf. {{Harvnb|Kistler|Lair|2006}})</ref>

===Place of death===
The location of "Lippeham" is a matter of conjecture,<ref name="becher061"/> but has been placed at the "mouth of the [[Lippe (river)|Lippe River]]"<ref name="becher061">{{cite book|last=Becher|first=Matthias|title=Karl der Grosse|publisher=C.H.Beck|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9jcIprivJUC&pg=PA61|page=61|isbn=978-3-406-43320-7}}, quote:"den Rhein bei Lippeham (an der Mundung der Lippe?)"</ref> (its confluence with the Rhine), in other words, somewhere near the city of [[Wesel]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Barth|first=Reinhard|title=Karl der Grosse|publisher=Buch Vertrieb Blank|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bMMAQAAMAAJ|page=12|isbn=978-3-937-50114-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Newfield|first=Timothy|title=A great Carolingian panzootic: The probable extent, diagnosis and impact of an early ninth-century cattle pestilence|journal=Argos |volume=46|year=2012|page=203|hdl=1893/11909}}</ref> The claim dates at least as far back as 1746,<ref name="nunning1746-p44">{{citation|last1=Nünning|first1=Jodocus Hermann|last2=Cohausen|first2=Johann Heinrich|title=Epistolae IV: De osse femoris Elephantini|work=Commercii literarii dissertationes epistolicae|place=Frankfurt am Main|year=1746|page=44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dps5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA44}}, after Oettermann, ''Die Schaulust am Elefanten'' (1982) p. 98, note 117</ref> (or 1735)<ref name="leidenfrost"/> when J. H. Nünning (Nunningus) and a colleague had published a notice that "Lippeham" was to be identified with Wesel;<ref>{{Harvnb|Nünning|Cohausen|1746|p=44}}, "...&nbsp;os Elephantini femoris, ex inculto ad Rheni ripam agro haud procul Luppiae ostiis, olim Luppemunda, Luppeheim, Lippeham, Lippekant, & Lippia dictis. ubi vetus celebrisque Regum Francorum Carolingicae Stirpis olim fuit curia, hodie VESALIA dicta" ("elephant femur bone unearthed from the field on the banks of the Rhine, at a place not far from the mouth of the Lippe river, aka Luppemunda, Luppeheim, Lippeham, Lippekant, & Lippia, now called Wesel, where the celebrated scions of the Franks kings of the Carolingian dynasty held court." )</ref> and that a colossal bone unearthed from the area, in the possession of their affiliated museum, was plausibly a part of the remains of the elephant Abul-Abbas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Nünning|Cohausen|1746|p=48}}, Itaque os Musei nostri cum Elephantis fit,.. ad exuvias ABULABAZII Carolo M. ab Aarone Persarum Rege dono submissi"</ref> Another gigantic bone was found in the Lippe River among a catch of fish in the ''[[Herrschaft (territory)|herrschaft]]'' of {{Interlanguage link|Gartrop|2=de|3=Gartrop-Bühl|preserve=1}} in early 1750, and it too was claimed to be a piece of Abul-Abbas.<ref name="leidenfrost">{{cite journal|author=J.G. Leidenfrost|title=Nachricht von einigen Überbleibseln des Elephanten Abdulabbas|journal=Duisburger Intelligenz-Zettel|number=XXVII|url=http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/periodical/pageview/458522|date=7 July 1750}}, citing Nünning et al.</ref>

One detractor to the claim is [[Richard Hodges (archaeologist)|Richard Hodges]] who places it in [[Lüneburg Heath]], which is nowhere near the Rhine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hodges|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Hodges (archaeologist)|title=Towns and Trade: In the Age of Charlemagne|publisher=Duckworth Publishers |year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FKGAAAAIAAJ|page=37|isbn=978-0-715-62965-9}}</ref>