Lost History: Isaac the Jew – the diplomat who rode an elephant from Iraq to Germany

Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, was the first emperor to rule Europe since Romulus Augustus in 476 AD. In 797 AD, Charlemagne sent an emissary named “Isaac the Jew” on a diplomatic mission to the Abbasid Caliphate’s capital in Baghdad. Isaac returned in 801 AD astride an enormous elephant – a gift from Harun al-Rashid, the fifth caliph of the Abbasid dynasty.

After the fall of Rome and the expansion of the Umayyads, Europe enjoyed few of the trading advantages that the Western Empire had afforded the continent. Pepper, papyrus, gold and silk became rarities under the Carolingians and the threat of further incursions from Andalusian Muslims into imperial territory concerned policy-makers at Charlemagne’s court.

In 732 AD, an Islamic army had been repelled by the military exertions of Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martell, at the Battle of Tours. Historians consider the event a turning point in European history when the uninterrupted westward enlargement of Islamic domains abruptly came to an end.

The prospect of conquest, however, was merely diminished rather than conclusively vanquished. TEfforts were made to find powerful allies who could assist Charlemagne in curbing Umayyad power in southern Europe. Despite an abeyance in commerce between Christian Europe and the Orient, European jews were still permitted to travel and trade.

Enter Isaac – a jew born in Narbonne, France. He had been selected to negotiate peaceful terms of surrender with Charlemagne when the Emperor lay siege upon Narbonne in 791AD. The meritocratic principles of Charlemagne’s government ensured swift social mobility during his reign, and many unorthodox figures from the myriad of minority groups dwelling in his dominion enjoyed the benefits of imperial service.

To foster friendly feelings between the Caroligians and Abbasids, Charlemagne sent his favourite Jewish subject and two companions called Lantfroi and Sigismond to relay a message to Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad. Lantfrio and Sigismond died during the perilous journey across that vast stretch of the known world. When Isaac arrived in Baghdad, he is said to have asked the Caliph for a local rabbi to return with him to instruct the jews of Narbonne.

The caliph gifted Charlemagne with an Asian elephant, dubbed Abul-Abbas, which roughly and peculiarly translates to ‘father of lions’. Leaving Baghdad, Isaac ventured home with Abul-Abbas via north Africa. They trekked along the Egyptian coast and rode through Algeria before arriving at the city of Kairouan in Tunisia.

From there, Isaac and his elephant gained passage to Europe aboard a vessel that was likely given to Charlemagne’s ambassador by the rulers of the city. They reportedly landed in Genoa in October 801 AD. Wintering west of Milan, Isaac and Abul-Abbas remained in Italy until the spring. They then marched over the Alps and reached the Emperor’s residence at Aachen in Germany on 1 July, 802 AD.

The elephant was displayed in several exhibitions, astonishing members of the Emperor’s court. Abul-Abbas was eventually housed in Augsburg in Southern Bavaria, where he died of pneumonia in 810 AD, apparently after swimming in the Rhine. The description of the animal in Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni and in the Royal Frankish Annals have led some historians to speculate that Abul-Abbas was potentially an albino elephant. However, there is now little chance of adequately confirming or discrediting these claims.

Voyages of that distance and length were increasingly rare in the post-Roman world. The cargo itself is enough to mark out this brief story of a marvellous adventure. But the idea of a southern French jew riding an elephant from Baghdad to Germany, forty years before the birth of Alfred the Great, certainly delights the imagination.