Adonis Diaries

Chapter 2:  The storm gathering strength (1357-1364)

Childhood of Antoun

About 11 of age Antoun desired to ride a horse after watching a squadron of cavalry crossing the town square.  Youssef felt embarrassed when he was asked point blank by his kid:  “Cannot we afford to buy a horse?”  He replied:  “Suppose you are riding a fine horse and your neighbor friend Amin decided to emulate you and bought an even finer horse then how would you feel?”  Antoun said: “I’ll buy the best horse that money can buy.”  His father retorted: “Thank God we are forbidden to buy horses; otherwise your mother would turn your pink body blue in no time.” Antoun stuttered in astonishment: “Who dares forbid us from owning a horse?” His dad patiently said: “The Emir and his noble class of relatives and associates do not authorize the plain citizens to look at them as equals and they decided that owning and riding horses should be of their prerogatives.” Antoun glared at his dad and after a few seconds said: “How different are these noble people from us?  Are they richer or stronger than us?”  Bou Antoun inhaled deeply and said: “They are somehow richer in lands that they never work with their own hands, but mainly the Viceroy of Tripoli supports them with his army and security men; any recrimination from the people is considered stepping outside the law and order they agreed on among themselves.  Anyway, you’ll have to deal with your mother for expanding your ambitions.”  Antoun got persistent and said: “I like horses and want to raise horses.  Can’t we raise horses like we have cows, goats and chickens?”  His dad replied: “No! We are not allowed to raise horses as owning a horse is out of the question and not because of financial affordability.  We are not a noble class and this privilege is denied us. Now go a play.” Antoun said: “I will own my horse one day and nobody is going to withhold from me what I feel is good.”  His father suddenly burst out and said: “God have mercy on me!  Your granddad is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.” Antoun questioned his dad: “What did my grand father do that was so awful?”  His father flushed and uttered: “It is none of your business. Suffice you to know that since he was permitted to ride horses as the Emir’s cavalry guard he turned to hell the lives of many inhabitants and got in countless troubles. So, I order you to desist in this unlawful project.”  Antoun’s reaction was out of place and banged his right hand on the floor screaming: “I want a horse!” The next second his father hit him for the first time, then Bou Antoun turned his back and stepped out quickly of the house to hide his wet eyes.

In the following week, Bou Antoun tediously managed to convince Jamila to let her son tend the Emir’s stable in the Capital Mtein during the next winter season.  The initial excitements were displaced by the actual tasks that the job entailed, and Antoun grudgingly went about the menial dirty tasks of cleaning the stables, carrying feed and whatever that takes to fill a twelve-hour day’s work without having the right to even lead a horse; but Antoun still loved horses and badly wanted to ride horses.  His tough job cured him though from day dreaming about horses.  

Christmas Eve that year was different for Antoun who spent it at the house of a distant relative by the name Abboud, a renowned carpenter.  A couple of days earlier, a passing makareh (man transporting goods and messages from village to village on a mule or a donkey) delivered to Antoun a well wrapped bundle containing dried raisins, walnuts, molasses, honey, a few apples, a pair of winter galoshes, a headdress and a gift to the Abboud’s family.  It was an evening that many average families celebrated around a covered burning “mankal” filled with charcoal and stacked with crackling roasting chestnuts.  Every now and then, an unconscious kid would forget to peel the head of a chestnut, occasioning a detonation that scattered burning red dust.  The whole family was sitting along the walls on pillows nibbling on mezze, everyone dipping their bread and hands in the varied sizes of dishes. The kids would immediately make a savage run on the bzourat (a mixture of assorted nuts) with side orders of dried figs and raisins to the great sadness of Abboud who could not enjoy his traditional protracted and leisurely dinner. 

A game of card called seven and a half was in full swing and already children were crying and sobbing for the loss of a few wagered dried figs, beans, or round playing stones.  Adults and older kids would go to midnight mass and the rest would sleep in heaps on Jeddo Milad’s (Santa Claus) steadfast promises to bring them gifts by early morning.  It was a very warm and cozy room and a happy night for Antoun who did share the honor of sloshing through the fresh snow with the family for midnight mass; he sauntered into church wearing his new galoshes and headdress like a grown up peacock. 

The first ten minutes of mass were exquisite in novelties but Antoun fell asleep shortly after the liturgy droned on and kept up its monotonous pace and intonation.  He woke up the next day in an unfamiliar perched up bed and then found under his pillow a little black polished wooden horse wrapped in a cloth bundle stuffed with sweets and candies.  He never knew the real offerer of that precious horse which he kept amid his belonging wherever he traveled, though he suspected someone.

At fourteen, Antoun had to leave schooling, as was very common at that period, but his mother encouraged him to buy and borrow books to further his knowledge and made him read aloud in the evening gatherings because she noticed that his bright mind could further the status of the family.  The young Antoun turned out to be well built and tall for his time of about 180 cm in stature. His jaws were strong and square and his cheekbones high; he had large shoulders, long dark hair, large front, big black and spread out eyes, elevated large size ears, a rather long and aquiline nose and long shank legs.  Antoun never lacked an audience when he was ready to show off his talents.

The hard facts

At last Antoun learned the hard facts; although he was not to expect owning a horse he could nevertheless own simple carriages lead by mules or donkeys.  After a bitter period of subdued anger he practiced some carpentry and reverted into tinkering with mending carriages in his barn on his free time from the field.  He enlisted Latifa to help him paint, upholster the interior and embellish the carriages.  Antoun worked hard cultivating the land but with no real pleasure and his father suffered for the unhappiness of his son. However, Bou Antoun discovered a sharp mercantile mind in his son:  he never missed a religious event honoring a saint in the vicinity that he did not set up a booth to sell sweets and varied stuff that children craved instead of wasting his time like the other kids of his age.  By fifteen years of age Antoun was allowed to drive the business carriage, going house to house selling produce, butter, yogurt and cheese and anything that was in demand.  

Finally, at sixteen his father negotiated a deal with a nobleman specializing in breaking and training horses for stage coaches and fancy carriages in the coastal town of Antelias. He learned how to get acquainted with a horse, talking nonsense to him to get the horse used to his voice, slapping and pushing him around gently so that the horse knew he was not going to be hurt, then he would throw an old harness on him and yank it off several times till the horse accepted the harness without flicking a muscle.  Then, teaming with an experienced horse breaker, Antoun would fit the horse with reins or walk in front with the lead rope, speak loud when the horse disobeyed or speak gently when the horse learned the task and then offering him a carrot. Hitching and pairing a horse to a coach was the hardest part in breaking a horse until the novice horse learned to do his share of the pulling in the team and together to step along smoothly.

First love

Generally, males found Antoun imposing and handsome and females could not resist the confidence and manhood radiating from his presence.  If the first impression was not enough to capture an audience then his grave, clear and articulate voice could mesmerize the refractors into taking notice.   Antoun was sought after by many families who desired to wed him with their daughters but, as usual, he had eyes only on a special girl called Zeina the daughter of an upper hierarchical social status father. 

Barhoum Bey, Zeina’s father, would never allow this lower level gentleman to woo any of his girls. Consequently, when he was in his hometown during the extended holidays and the winter period, Antoun made it a duty to assiduously attend church on Sundays and every religious event so that he could steal a glimpse of Zeina wearing a new tunic on every occasion as if her mother was compensating for her inner coquettish temperament.  

Antoun even suffered the pain of Jesus during Great Friday kneeling for hours at each stage of Christ’s march to crucifixion; he was happiest the morning of Great Friday when all families swamped the hills and valleys very early in order to gather flowers in bundles and bring them to the alter so that the bundles could be sanctified and retaken on the next Sunday when Christ would be resurrected, every year on that Holy Day. On Thursday before Great Friday he would visit 12 churches with a group of friends and follow the same route as Zeina and her group and have his feet washed by the priest as Jesus had done to his 12 disciples. 

Cranky old ladies spread sarcastic tales of Antoun’s new found devotion which reached the ears of Barhoum’s wife, Set Shams.  Fearing that his standing in the community might be jeopardized, Barhoum Bey grudgingly debased his pride and indirectly sent word by one of his attendants to the lanky cock to stop his sickly machinations toward his daughter or he would confront his father. Thus, Antoun was spurned from his plan of eternal love and happiness; consequently, his devotion for Jesus, Mary, the Holy Ghost and the Saints waned drastically for a time.

It was about this period that Antoun experienced his first serious bout of anger and desolation.  For weeks sleep was anathema to his troubled and muddled mind and chaos ruled supreme in his previously contended spirit. Politics was starting to mean something tangible to him:  redress in justice and equal opportunities to a decent life for all residents were excellent starting stands. Until now, Antoun spent his free time with a bunch of solid and healthy males, going hunting, fishing, and physically competing during the religious events in the church square such as ringing the heavy bell, lifting a roller stone, dancing and singing. 

There were many rumors and stories in town and the environ about serious breaches to fair play such as humiliation inflicted on families, brides being defoliated by feudal lords before the wedding ceremonies, small girls sold out for small favors, little boys working as slaves from sun up to sun down for a dish of food but Antoun didn’t believe or care to attend to these rumors.  After his disastrous state of affairs Antoun had all the time in the world to listen carefully, question, and query and eventually to have firm opinions on many of these unjust happenings.  Rebellion swept away every cautious tendency in Antoun who decided to deliver love verses to Zeina in the old time tradition of rhetorical gathering and ceremonies. Antoun’s love verses were repeated by the listeners to other groups and so his beloved girl was hastily wed to a Lebanese nobleman from the entourage of the Viceroy of Tripoli a month after this jocose adventure.

Chapter 3: Contraband episode (1364-1371)

So far, Antonios Luca Fares was just exercising an innate right of accumulating information and freely expressing his thoughts. He did not realize that communicating his ideas was a purely political action and that it might have the power to be considered very dangerous to the stability of the status quo and could be a major incentive to diligently apprehending the perpetrator.  The local feudal lord transmitted to his superior the gathered information on Antoun’s discussions, with a noticeable twist, that implicated the superior directly. As tradition required, Youssef, instead of Antoun, was summoned to the local lord because his son was still unmarried and living with his parents and was duly reprobated for his son’s innuendos. The father was taken aback by these developments and promised to have a serious conversation with his son.  Antoun was extremely upset that his father was reprimanded publicly and ordered to get involved in matters that were personal in nature.  A respectful conversation between father and son took place the same evening but Antoun showed a new determination for independence and accepted full responsibility for the unfortunate consequences.  The father had to let go of his son and offered him a little sum of money in order to disappear for some time until the storm died down.

Antoun descended to Beirut, a quaint little sea port with gardens and red brick roofs that was not within the Emir’s province.  The first day, he saw more horses than his entire life and that pleased him.  He saw more carriages and a few exquisite ones that he could imagine existed.  He saw more people in the bazaar that his tiny town contained and such a variety of attires and races. A few days later he strolled toward the seashore and questioned many mariners on their jobs and listened to the exotic stories of the sea and foreign ports and different civilization and felt enchanted with this change in view and way of living. This constant visits to the sea and ports made it possible for the exiled mountain youth to meet Gregorios Bahri who was one of the port’s popular traders.

Gregorios was in his fifties but looked to be in the mid seventies because of the horrors and hard times he had spent on the sea as a Venetian merchant Captain in the service of the Dojo.  The Mediterranean Sea was much safer in that century, unlike two centuries later after the Ottoman Empire had captured Constantinople and vast maritime wars spread across the sea for domination of the merchant traffic.

Adventures in Beirut 

Gregorios, nicknamed The Awful, had a face ravaged by small pox and his upper lips was decorated by well maintained large moustaches that he was wont to twirl upward.  His small and narrow dark eyes were piercing and emanating intelligence and good judgment of character.  He hired Antonios for loading and unloading cargos and then, when he learned that his new hand could read and write he switched his assignments from dockhand to inspecting the merchandize and performing some accounting tasks. A couple of months later, Antonios was accompanying small caravans on night trips to locations in the mountains and then promoted foreman of the employees and supervisor for dubious jobs. Antonios had been exposed to the contraband traffic business of wine, salted pork meat, sugar reserved for armies, tea and expensive silk cloths among other products.  These contraband cargoes arrived at night on small boats from different large ports to the little town of Beirut.

The latent leadership skills of Antonios bloomed; his wrath and initial target was to punish and humiliate his local lord who thwarted his plans for a better and stable life; thus, his determination to put up a resistance to the local lord gelled into a preliminary plan for organizing a few deserters and outlaws whom he met and negotiated with in his dangerous routine night trips. Within six months, Antonios reached a decision to create an organizational structure for his activities; he first associated himself with lawful groups in the cities who gathered information on the social injustices and who came to the rescue of the little people by writing for them petitions to redress injustice peacefully, and according to the law.  His group was also constituted of a separate band of outlaws; the mission of the outlawed gangs in the mountains was to sidetrack the authorities into various problems and distract their vigilance over the real insurrection taking place in their midst.

The mountain outlaws

The majority of the outlaws in the mountains were not just civil criminals by the modern standards but simple village people who did not conform to the norms of society or were reduced to be incensed by the behavior of the many branches of authority such as the clergy, the town chiefs or the noblemen of the district.  The outspoken character of many of the outlawed villagers could irk the influential persons and, usually, their families very often suffered maltreatment or retribution if the person was not chased away.  

Individuals who were declared by the priest or local clergy as crazy and inhabited by Satan were incarcerated in caves adjacent to monasteries, chained by the legs all the time and treated like dogs.  If these testified satanic crazies imprisoned in caves did not behave properly in front of the cross or dirtied the place they were whipped harshly to exorcise their souls. The mildly crazies who could survive on their own were released to the mountains of the outlaws. In early spring many prisons were emptied and the incarcerated were driven in convoys of caravans to be released at the outskirts of the designated outlaws’ domains. Many who were forced out of their towns opted for the mountains because the coastal shores were inhabited mostly by Moslems’ communities with different customs and beliefs and had many mythical taboos attached to them.

 Generally, communications of families with their outlawed relatives were not interrupted or officially forbidden as they could meet them on designated areas; produce and gifts were interchanged through the convoys of caravans laden on the backs of donkeys and mules. The authorities did not make much fuss over these fleeting rendezvous as long as the unwanted persons kept their distances from the town masses.  In fact, many towns and villages relied on the trading with the outlaws who reverted to contraband activities and supplied the essential ingredients at the beginning of each season because of the closer vicinity of the outlaws with the Bekaa Valley than most other caravan traders and merchants.

Elias Hataab was an example of the common sort of outlaws.  His trade in the village was to cut wood and produce charcoal before he was excommunicated by the Bishop and forced by the village to flee.  There were a couple charcoal makers in the vicinity who were popular and gathered villagers around their fires during the long nights drinking locally distilled arak, barbecuing meat, roasting chestnuts and singing the night away but Elias kept aloof ruminating his loneliness.  Elias was twenty six when he traveled to one of the outlawed villages called Baskenta at the base of the Sannine Mountain.  Elias had lost his mother at the age of four and he was twelve years of age when his grandmother who had raised him died. His father turned to be a reckless, uncaring and alcoholic man and Elias was glad to live the independent life and spend his days and most of the nights in the woods.  The name Hattab was a nickname that his great grandfather acquired from the town’s people when he became famous for a timely and dubiously effective advice; a rather large tortoise was spreading havoc to everything that looked green and fresh in the town’s gardens and nobody dared take an individual action to terminate this pet animal until Elias’ great grandfather recommended fencing in the tortoise with heaps of firewood and grilling the oversized herbivore alive.

This isolated life imbued Elias’ mind with the spirit of righteousness and he somehow became a pariah among the villagers.  One Good Friday the Bishop paid a visit to town and delivered his sermon.  He was telling the atoned worshipers that Jesus was their shepherd as he was himself the designated shepherd for this community.  The silent church was suddenly disturbed by a loud voice claiming: “Our shepherd? Look around the sheep in this church and tell us how many are wearing gold, dressed as warmly as you are and in such a good health?  What connection do you have with our Savior who associated himself with the poor and downtrodden instead of eating and gallivanting with the noblemen?”  Two days later Elias was excommunicated and nobody would dare talk to him or buy his charcoal.  In the mountains of the outlaws Elias was seen murmuring to himself and carrying on hard conversations with his scarred soul. He kept an incandescent hatred for the Bishop which eventually spanned to include the clergy as a general rule. Elias barely smiled or fraternized with anyone and was given the nickname of Hardan.

Mariam Al Najjar, a 20 year old orphan when Antoun met her, was one of the early members of the mountain group. She was medium sized for a female, robust, a lightly freckled face and her hair had a reddish shade.  Mariam was six years old when she fled famine with her parents in a small caravan toward Zahle in the Bekaa Valley.  Her parents died from a mysterious disease and she was discovered by a couple of outlaws and adopted as their daughter. Her adoptive father went by the name of Hanna Al Najjar and was a carpenter by trade who had sold all his properties to follow his young banned son to the outlawed areas. Unfortunately, Hanna’s son was too wild and unstable to outlive his twenties. 

Hanna was a born leader and an excellent administrator who allowed Mariam at the age of fifteen to share responsibilities in managing a section of the outlawed areas.  Mariam enjoyed the love, support and dedication of her adoptive parents and eventually convinced the community of outlaws to construct a few facilities for sheltering and raising the found children and thus took the responsibility of educating and caring for the disinherited little kids and assembling them in facilities.  Daily programs of educational lectures to read and write as well as survival training skills for scouring the mountains for edible food provided by nature were instituted. Life in outlawed areas was being regulated and normal patterns for governance taking shape slowly but steadily.  

The little kids were very fond of Mariam and did not mind her tough manners, sensing instinctively that her heart was all dedicated to teaching them how to survive in joy and friendship amidst the loneliness and wilderness of the area.  Little Samar was a skinny and beautiful girl and was especially jealous of the love that the other kids proffered and extended Mariam and would never miss an occasion to raise hell when Mariam shared in the play with the kids, laughed and cajoled a few of them. Samar would stop eating, shout, ruin games, raise tantrums, claiming that she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown; and after spreading havoc she then would start crying loudly in heart wrenching fashion.  It was her tactics to keep Mariam’s attention riveted to her and she was smart to frequently show Mariam her particular affections in gestures and words so that Mariam was ready to consider her as her adoptive kid.  

Mariam was one of the very few who patiently listened to the lucubration of Elias.  She respected his courage and non conforming opinions and trusted him; she recognized his pleasure when meeting toddlers when his face would shine with benevolence and became very meek like a baby.  Mariam decided to allow him to take care of the kids during winter and early spring and allocated a room for him and his beloved donkey, nicknamed Hardani by the outlaws.  During winter, Mariam had plenty of opportunity to encourage Elias to release his anger in endless discussions and hopefully exorcise his troubled soul.

Chapter 4: Planning for the insurrection (1371-1375)

In Beirut, two trusted friends of Antoun were popular and well positioned to gather rumors and information concerning the state of the population humor.  Gergis, nicknamed Al Ustaz (the teacher) because he could read and write in three languages, was a 26 year old bachelor of an unknown origin.  He installed himself in a ramshackle booth in the main trading street or souk where people would approach him to read letters for them and translate papers or write petitions for small fees. The other close friend was Noura Nabatat, nicknamed Al Shafiate (the one who can cure from physical diseases) or Shafiate for short, was a practitioner of herbal remedies. She was 23 years of age and learned this trade from her father who attended to the health of rich landlords.  Noura moved to Beirut after her father’s death and visited her mother and younger sister Salsabeel once a month in the mountain village of Beit Chaar, a day voyage on a mule.  

Noura earned her living reasonably well because she was in great demand from elder people who frequently recovered quickly from their illnesses at the sight of her lovely face and serene demeanor.  Unfortunately, many men exaggerated their sickness in order to see her more often and lingered in bed longer than required which brought the wrath of their wives on Noura.  But the best customers of Noura were the children and young girls who preferred her to those crackly faced and blood letting medicine persons who mostly drove their clients mad with fear from their loud incantations and suffocating the household with fumes.

Gergis and Noura were acquainted with two notable Jewish merchants in the souk.  Ephraim Al Jasheh (The Greedy) was in the trade of jewelry, gold and silver artifacts and lending money.  Haim Al Khayat (The tailor) was in the clothing trade and a renowned tailor.  His shop was a labyrinth of corridors and nooks filled with every imaginable clothing article from buttons to second hand garments of all social status. Anyone could come in and exit a different man vested in the class status he desired provided the price was right. These two Jews were intrinsically familiar with contraband merchandize and on excellent terms with both the rich nobles and thieves. In this period, Jews avoided the Christian strongholds, not only because business was less fruitful there but also because the Moslems were more tolerant with them.  

This tolerance was a reality because, in general, the Moslems did not give a hoot that the Jews were responsible for crucifying Jesus and because they believed that they descended from the same prophet and Patriarch Abraham. The Christian noble houses never admitted Jews to step inside their residences and trade was performed through Christian middle men; Gergis was always ready to be part in a financial transaction either for trading jewelry or cloth.

Antoun, Noura and Gergis became an inseparable trio with a shared passion for reading books that were not related to religions; not that they were atheists or unreligious but because they needed to enlarge their knowledge in matters that might enhance their practice in earning their livelihood.  This trio freely shared what they had been learning in knowledge, information, and intelligence about the state of affairs in their county. Swapping books among themselves was a common practice every time they met in their favorite hangouts for eating or evening gatherings.  Noura and Antoun became fairly conversant in law and politics thanks to their association with Gergis who advised clients on the legal procedures and, occasionally, implicitly litigated cases;  Antoun and Gergis acquired the rudiments in herbal medicine, family behaviors and traditions among the down trodden thanks to their relationship with Noura.  Gergis and Noura became fairly well versed in the business of contraband and the articles that are most sought after among the rich class and they acquired the basics of the values of products traded in the souk. Their friendship was strengthened on the basis of their good taste for poetry and exotic cuisines and the uninhibited atmosphere that reigned in their neighborhoods.

This nucleus of friends generated circles of acquaintances through referrals for business and trades from which a group of close friends, who shared good humors and a serious outlook to their conditions, gelled into a well established small association that met frequently and at appointed places.  A need for secrecy and a low profile existence soon overshadowed their youthful zeal when well founded rumors spread that the authorities were getting interested in their meeting patterns. The nucleus of the three original members decided to form three separate groups and then the three of them meeting clandestinely, mostly off shore fishing, to devise strategies for their business transactions and enlarge their network of referrals.  

These meetings acquired political overtones whenever serious events occurred that hampered the way of life of the companions.  Social purposes for agitating and rallying masses to specific causes enriched their actions in subtlety and cunning.  Divergences in political views and maneuvering were opportunities for lengthy and fructuous discussions that provided Antoun an incentive for sorting out his muddled mind and encouraged him to get organized on a larger scale and on solid ground.

It dawned on Antoun that he could lead separate groups of partisans with different interests though sharing a few basic discontent views on the political status.  The landlord system was considered a heavy burden on the peasants, artisans, and working class along with the inequities emanating from the non contribution of the landlords in the expenses for maintaining the Emirs’ life style and the fickle military expeditions.  It was commonly recognized that there was an established imbalance in the delivering of justice among the classes and the heavy punishments of the judges on the disinherited were spreading havoc in the spirit of the citizens. Consequently, Antoun decided that he would lead 3 groups of partisans, one in the cities, another one among the outlaws in the remote mountains and a third among the pirates of the seas.  

The nagging problem was what political organization to replace the hated old one? Alternative political systems could not be conceived due the enduring feudal, confessional, and representatives of God’s Sultans inherited from divine ancestors for centuries with different names of religions, casts, honors and titles.  Any inherited political format had to be divinely inspired or descending from a prophet’s genealogical tree.  

For the outlaws it really did not matter much as long as their status as outlaws is rescinded and their past sins forgiven so that they could return home unmolested with the accumulated loots. The city partisans’ views were complicated and varied.  The majority could not conceive of a different system but a fairer one where the rotten noblemen and judges are deposed, exiled or incarcerated. This mind set was not based only on tradition but because the religious authorities have always supported the old system and people never considered questioning the fallibility of their clergymen when their proclamations were supported by excerpts from religious Books, mostly taken out of context. A minority contemplated some kind of balance in power with say of the citizens in the taxation laws but had no idea what could be done to bring balance in the power of authority so that responsibilities could be accounted for and remedies enacted. 

A tiny educated nucleus wanted to emulate the Greek form of democracy where the people elect their leaders for the executive and for the members of the legislative House, though they had not the slightest idea of how to proceed and implement these utopian tendencies.  Gergis alone was deeply involved in writing down a rudimentary form of a Constitution with guidelines to a set of laws that should govern the citizens but failed to communicate his endeavor because his work was in the tentative stages and he lacked the necessary information of the Roman codes of law and how they governed their vast multiracial Empire and he knew of no one to translate Latin for him.  Besides, he was not sure any member was educated enough to contribute in his research and rationally discuss his thoughts. 

The sources of these confusions on an important matter as how to be governed was not solely attributable to a widespread illiteracy and ignorance on how they were actually governed but also because Antoun did not yet expand his purposes beyond the Metn County. Since most of the partisans were Christians, and the big majority from the Christian Orthodox denomination, the arguments of the partisans were superficial and lacked inclusion of other religious sects and races in their planning and discussions.  There were however many Moslem Sunni renegades in the mountains that fled from sentences of imprisonment, or tracked down for fraudulent mandates against them; they constituted communities of their own and cooperated with the Christian outlaws in moments of danger; and vice versa, many Christian renegades lived in the coastal cities of majority Moslem communities but did not mingle as openly as city life offered in variety of opinions and customs. 

It was obvious to any sensible partisan that Antoun was and wanted to remain the leader for as long as he could hold on without the need for a formal election and he was willing to accept any political system that would ensure his prime authority.  So the implicit attitude was to wait until the insurrection succeeded; thus any discussion was basically cut short on the political system to agree on.  Nevertheless, Antoun had a pretty good idea on the taxation reforms that needed to be implemented and the inkling to allowing the townships to elect their own leaders and council members in order to check any resurgence of the old influential landlords. 

Separately, Mariam in the mountain outlaws gang and Noura in the city group were outspoken and relentlessly brought forth the topic of what are the purposes for fomenting a call for an insurgency.  They realized that the major burden in any calamity would ultimately rest on the females’ shoulders and that they would have to cater for the children, elderly people and the wounded. They insisted that if a definite action had to be decided then they had the right to discuss openly and at length the requisite changes that need to be enacted and the alternative duties and responsibilities of each committee. 

The fact is both Mariam and Noura made Antoun realize that not much explicit serious discussion had been exchanged within the partisans because, mainly, the males were not that talkative and refrained from bringing topics that would be interpreted as cowardice or ignorance on their part.  Antoun knew that the Emir had infiltrated the outlaws but decided that, by taking judicious precautions, open dialogues among his partisans were necessary to generating the kind of feedback for clarifying the main objectives and problems facing the unity and steadfastness of the insurgents. 

Mariam, Noura and Antoun discussed and devised a rudimentary conversational method to encourage open dialogue among the partisans and would interchange roles when necessary for prompting the partisans into speaking their minds as equals in the decision process.  In the practice of open dialogue Antoun learned a different kind of patience, basically how to listen carefully to opinions and refrain from interposing or delivering his own opinion before all information was proposed, classified and summarized. A series of questions were laid out to be asked and responses expounded upon. Antoun noted down a set of questions that he recapitulated on the many gatherings he had with his partisans such as: “What it is that we want?”, “What is it that we wish to do?”, “What is the most important objective for us all?”, “What is the final big thing we all are decided to fight and die for?”, “What is to be done if we agreed on that objective?”, “How are we to proceed if we win power?”, “What is the most important decision we must implement immediately after we take control?”, “Who is planning to resume his normal life after victory”?, “Who is willing to continue his services as a civil servant?”, “What committee are you willing and capable of serving in?”, “Who is ready to continue the fight and suffer additional hardships in the event things turned badly?”, “What comes first, family security or the achievement of the main objective?”, “Who is willing to learn reading and writing if teaching is provided?”.

Being essentially a business man who got dragged into politics Antoun enjoyed discussing with his down to earth partisans whom proved to be very meticulous to details when prompted to expand on their opinions; however, as the night dragged on a few partisans in the gathering, and in the spirit of companionship, would become sentimental and would divulge profound personal secrets that would throw Antoun into confusion.  One of the partisans declared in a passionate tirade: “I am ready to spell by blood for the movement because you are all my friends, but in case I die during the insurgency then I do not see who will benefit from my sacrifice since I have no relatives left in this world”  Instead of replying with abstract notions or rebuking a well founded and deeply rooted life needs for continuity, Antoun would get busy finding a wife for his distraught partisan and engaging the community into resolving this unhappiness.  The empathy routines were left to his more talented female companions.  

The arguments that rattled Antoun into despair and sudden frenzy, and which were numerous at the start of initiating the gathering sessions, were related to religious affiliations.  Many partisans with limited knowledge felt the urge to show off and could not find any argument in their arsenal but to express the acquired discrimination attitudes toward the Moslems or other Christian denominations and made it a point of honor to display their ignorance and their isolation. A few partisans went as far as accusing Antoun to cohere with the Jews and Moslem infidels and, not just trading on a grand scale but socializing, eating and drinking with them.  They blamed him to bringing a few of the Moslems to the mountains as associates to him and rub it in their noses by inviting them to the meetings. These sessions that dwelt on the sectarian issues were the most trying and delicate to contain and Antoun proved his leadership at these crucial moments, albeit not in a constructive manner. 

The leader was habitually respectful with the clergies, especially those close to the people, but had comprehended that religion could be used as a lethal weapon in politics and, more often, to disrupt the fabric of harmony in society for local petty interests.  Antoun had taken stock of the discredit that the movement would suffer if he played in the hands of the extreme confessionals and decided to respond clearly and categorically to any deviation from unity of all the partisans regardless of sect, or religion, or place of birth.  In the beginning the partisans tried hard to deviate from the problems at hand by steering the discussion to the familiar ground of base discriminating aspects in this confined society but Antoun learned to be firm in directing the discussion and keeping it on the target.  He encouraged confronting the discrimination tendencies and steered the discussion toward fruitful dialogues and thus winning the mind of the vast majority of moderates. Soon the word spread that the quickest way to be cast away from the movement is to indulge in unsubstantiated recriminations based on religious discrimination; consequently, blunt references were transformed into innuendoes or wrapped in benign joking bouts that finally did more harm to the cohesion of the movement than opting for direct confrontation and patient enlightenment.

With the exception of confessional opinions the trio learned never to preempt any position or offer an opinion until everyone had answered the question, extracted clarifications and then offered a summary of the exposed opinions. The kind of answers that the trio would respond to in order to ward off taking definite positions was as follow: “It is not for me to say what should be your position”, or “It is for all of us to agree at the end”, or “We will do what we agreed upon”, or “We need much honesty among ourselves and we will eventually trust to respect each others opinions”, or “We need much information on our enemy”, or “Whoever can provide us with reliable sources it is his duty to strengthen our knowledge”, or “We need much thought; sharing knowledge, information and intelligence will enhance our confidence in victory”, or “I am one of you who also lack much knowledge and information and would not impose any position before you share with me facts and vision”, or “Until everyone feels secure to share with everyone else his difficulties, limitations and capabilities it would be an untenable situation for our struggle which will be plagued with inefficiency and shortcomings”.

Before starting on his trip to the mountains Antoun would send a messenger to inform Mariam of the time and place of his visit and then would huddle with her for hours in secret, and occasionally with Mustafa when he accompanied him, rehashing the topics and the role playing mechanism before the general gathering with the outlawed gangs. Mariam insisted on Elias joining her in the general meetings because she felt that his outspoken character would enrich the conversation with hard topics that should be dealt with ultimately. After three months of frequent meetings, which used on occasions to take the best part of the nights, a short list of positions and desires were condensed.  The renegades of the mountains expressed the following inkling:

The mountain renegades preferred a peaceful and secure life in their own towns.

They demanded compensation be paid for their participation after victory so that they could rehabilitate their shattered business and way of life.

They abhorred any kind of taxes but would eventually share in the expenses of running a government if fair taxes were levied on all citizens and if the city civil officers did not enjoy social or economic privileges.

They adamantly refused forced military recruiting and only voluntary participation with fair wages could be contemplated.

They expressed their staunch right to elect their village chief as well as the enforcers of the laws.

Donations in money or lands to monasteries or to the bishops should be taxed heavily and after the agreement of the community.

Profits generated from pro bono works by the peasants to monasteries and bishops should be taxed and the proceeds invested in schools or anything beneficial to the communities.

The coastal city group expressed different priorities in a mercantile spirit but with the same candor, reflecting a variation in their way of life such as:

The right of every city dweller to own properties in any section of town without any class or religious discrimination but price affordability.

Everyone could rent a shop in any ’souk’ regardless of religious beliefs or artisanal profession.

Any religious denomination should have the right to erect its own center of worship.

Fair taxes should be levied on every profitable business with no exception.

Trade union should be allowed to organize and send petitions for legal demands.

Entrance fees to other coastal towns and cities should be eliminated.

Goods and services should be exchanged freely among towns and cities within the same county and export taxes eliminated to encourage trade and commerce.

The essential advantage of these meetings was that everyone believed that later important decisions would be discussed openly and freely.  This feeling that everyone’s ideas and opinions were important was a new discovery and trends of empowerment were enhanced within the insurgents.

Initially, the coastal city group and the outlaws’ partisans in the mountains were totally separated in the organization and had no communication with each other except through Antoun and one of his close fearless associates called Mustafa Baltaji in the contraband business.  Mustafa, a 26 year old Sunni Moslem, was a de facto right hand man of Antoun and was an eloquent and conversant negotiator. Mustafa infiltrated many garrisons and linked excellent communications with greedy officers and sergeants who enjoyed unavailable goods at reasonable prices. 

The armed group of outlaws and deserters were supplied by contraband military hardware and organized formally into specialized units and indoctrinated to an upcoming uprising with promises of substantial loot and occasional revenge.  Coordination and cohesion among the various gangs were established and trained through small and many tactical attacks that generated loot and high morale among the infant army.  

Gregorios Bahri knew that Antoun was behind some of the looting adventures and he received a sizable share in the looting of the hated and useless noblemen but was kept in the dark from the secret political schemes of Antoun.  In order to safeguard his prosperous contraband business from reprisals Gregorious made a deal with Antoun to publicly go his separate way but keeping secretly close contraband operations for specific items and products. Consequently, Antoun had legally set up a trading center, paid his dues and was recognized as a gentleman among the merchants of the souk. As an honorable citizen, Antoun had to search for a wife.

 A Gentleman (1375-1378)

Antoun met Yasmine on an April of Palm Sunday (Chaanine) accompanied by Noura as her chaperon.  Yasmine was 17 years old, pretty, shy and introverted. She talked little and Antoun barely heard what she was saying and did not pay much attention to her during the procession. Noura later told him that she was the official health provider for Yasmine’s family.  The family members were suffering not so much of any major physical illnesses but mainly from a kind of depression, sadness and isolation.  

Boulos Bakhour, the father of Yasmine, was in earlier times a prosperous merchant who had wide connections with the merchants of the city of Venice. Boulos exported incense and spices to Venice and imported finished woolen cloth (usually imported by the Venice merchants from England through the port of Antwerp in Holland), stone marble, navigation accessories and mechanical wooden toys. Two of his sons had died; one from a ship wreck and another from the plague that devastated Italy on one of his trips. Boulos business went under shortly after and he had to sell his trading facilities at a loss.

Yasmine was highly educated in matters that were considered totally useless, especially for females:  She could write in Latin, speak fluent French and play an exotic musical instrument which resembled a clavecin. She also tried her hand at small aquarelle paintings of landscapes and flowers and had reserved a room for that hobby.

Yasmine could not believe Noura when she assured her that Antoun could procure her an updated clavecin, more Latin books and especially those exquisitely varnished mechanical wooden toys if she could afford the price. This information inflamed Yasmine and set her on a journey of conniving for Antoun’s heart and soul.

Noura became frantic and alarmed at Yasmine’s excitement; she was not thrilled with the development shaping out under her watch; her imprudence and pride prevented her from disrupting the unfolding intimate relationships between Yasmine and Antoun.  Noura was reduced to reason logically that, if they indeed might wed, which eventuality should not be a done deal, this wedding might provide a perfect cover up for Antoun’s dangerous activities. The old merchant Boulos knew about the illegal trading business of Antoun but hard times and the newly discovered excitement of Yasmine for life were irresistible.  

Most often, love has devious ways of punishing the inattentive to its subtle signals, so that Noura reaped a few lame satisfactions imagining Antoun spending his spare time listening to the harpsichord, attending to Latin poem recitations and entertaining a stuffy entourage in endless boring parties.  Four months of studious courting resulted in Yasmine and Antoun getting married; his eldest sister Latifa represented the Fares family because his father could not make the trip while Antoun’s official situation with the Emir of the Metn was still unresolved.  The honeymoon was spent in Cyprus at the request of Yasmine who had never traveled overseas, a request that suited Antoun’s business transactions too.

The first act of change in class status was for Antoun to buy himself a black pure blood Arabian stallion and a fancy coach hitched to two long legged bays to take Yasmine on tours of the city and for official invitations. New rich silk outfits for the couple were remarked with appreciation in town and many households had a hard time imitating the expenditure of the newly wealthy couple.  Yasmine nagged Antoun for clinging to his flat turban and assiduously urged him to change to a Venetian headdress and tight thigh molding pantaloons.  Antoun went along with Yasmine’s extravagances for a month until his closest friends started to shun him in the streets and then uncalled for innuendos flooded the neighborhood.

Three months in his new social status confirmed to Antoun that marriage is anathema to his cherished liberty and freedom but rather a very useful formal social contract to establish credibility as a reliable man and setting valid ground to acquire stable status among the prosperous merchant families. Antoun expanded his business by building carriages and subcontracted the mismanaged postal service in and around Beirut and later on to the Metn region.  The regular postal carriages were served by on board scribes who offered their services of reading delivered letters to the illiterate clients and immediately replying to the returned correspondences.  Abundant intelligence information was accumulated via that service along with immense prestige attached to a client friendly enterprise rarely emulated.

The first born son was named Adhal (muscle) but, to the chagrin of many, Yasmine could only manage the sound of Adl (justice); and thus Antoun’s close friends and associates attributed to him the pseudonym of Abu Adl (father of justice), a name that he grew to like because he thought matched his temperament.  Yasmine hated the name Adhal and screamed recriminations and shed hysterical cries for she hoped her first son would have a French name of Augustin or Christoph as an alternate.

Gergis became a constant fixture at Yasmine study room; he hired her services under the pretense of learning Latin so that she would translate for him passages from the Roman codes of law and books that described how the Romans governed their vast multiracial Empire.  Somehow, Yasmine felt that Gergis made her repeat passages that were connected to Sicily.

 Antoun had different code names among the civilian and the armed groups.  His code name for the civilian association was Abu Adl (father of justice) and for the armed group Abu Ghadab (father of anger). A propitious event offered Antoun the opportunity to expand and affirm his leadership.  The Emirs of the regions were summoned by the Viceroy of Damascus to raise their small private armies and advance to face a renegade Emir from the north around Aleppo.  Antoun was frustrated with the heavy demands levied on his business and the mass forced recruitment of the youth and able bodies.  He started by helping the young males from the Metn who refused to be enlisted in the army to flee into the outlawed areas and he prepared to resist any onslaught of the mercenaries of the Emir of Beirut  

Neighborhood night watch groups were organized to forewarn against any sudden descend of the Emir’s troops. The sea was opened to evacuate distressed families. Many widowed women and orphans joined the insurgents for food and shelter because foodstuffs were seized and the black market prices were exorbitant. Gergis was spared the draft because he was deemed a valuable middleman to the rich Christian class.

At this junction, Antoun had no choice but to join the resistance movement hiding in the mountains. He took his son Adhal with him to visit his grandparents in the mountains. Yasmine, who was pregnant for the second time, stayed home in Beirut with her parents. The married gentleman Antoun was tolerated again in his hometown which was located at a cross road between the Capital Mtein and Zahle in the Bekaa Valley.  He had bought a small cottage in the village of Mrouj, very close to his hometown, where his eldest sister Latifa was caretaker. 

Latifa

Latifa was a looker and an impressive lady that discouraged the weaker hearted eligible men from courting her. By the time Antoun came to riches she could not avail herself to woo gentlemen whom she considered beneath her potentials.  Latifa was in her late twenties and by the standard of the time was considered too old to marry, so that to preserve her dignity she circulated a rumor that she had taken a vow of celibacy.  Her status increased among the town people and was given the nickname of Sit Al Forsan (Lady of the knights) and carried herself accordingly. 

Latifa was in with the secrets of Antoun, or at least what he directly wanted her to know because he made sure not to connect her with his important partners, and she gradually suspected his intentions from her frequent visits to him in Beirut but was unaware of the timing, the seriousness, or the magnitude of the insurrection. Actually, Latifa became his eyes and ears in the mountain region where she received many visitors and received inputs from her benevolent activities in the neighboring villages. 

Jamila started sending her eldest daughter frequently to Beirut after he was exiled to stay with her brother for a week, about once every three months in the first two years, to cater for his household needs in keeping his place neat and well maintained, cooking for him a few of his favorite meals, supplying him with whatever her mother knitted for him; but, basically, she was her parents’ reporter on Antoun’s well being.  As Antoun’s status and wealth increased and thus did not need as much attention, Latifa’s visits to Beirut dwindled to about twice a year, mainly to do some shopping for herself and her family and to forward her mother’s good business advices and recommendations.   The third year of his exile and after learning that Antoun has purchased a house in Beirut, his mother and two daughters descended to Beirut and stayed five whole weeks after a noisy argument with Youssef.  The latter propagated the drastic excuse that this extended trip was related to an unusual health case that Antoun succumb to.  

Once, Antoun decided to build for his father a luxury carriage but the idea was deemed too outlandish and dangerous in local politics.  Instead, his father, at the instigation of his wife, accepted liquid money to buy more lands, expand the family business in the countryside and fulfill Youssef’s promises to his wife Jamila to remodel her residence with new amenities, furniture, and additional rooms that boosted an atmosphere of a higher social standing.  The remodeled house was outlandish within the walls but the exterior was kept as simple as possible and blending harmoniously with the neighboring dwellings.

Before the final preparations for the insurgency attack Antoun commuted for two weeks between his house in Mrouj and his parents’ taking care of family business and being social.  Then he vanished with Adhal, supposedly to return to Beirut.  Antoun headed instead to Baskenta to direct the insurgency activities.  Adhal was delivered to the care of Mariam and her team of volunteers because his son had to learn life from a different perspective, in the fresh mountain air and link friendship with a different kind of kids.

Before the general order to advance at the capital Mtein, the leaders of the insurgent groups met to decide on the list of noblemen that have to be rounded up and the locations of their incarceration.  It was relevant that a number of important noblemen became summer lords because they had residency in the coastal towns and villages at lower altitude and outside the Metn jurisdiction; they rarely visited their properties in the mountain but to collect their rent twice a year.  It was decided that a group would be in charge of locating these summer noblemen and surreptitiously transferring them to the incarceration areas in the outlawed areas, immediately after the Capital fell in the hands of the insurgents.  The coastal guards were bribed to retain men traveling by sea until the group of insurgents could identify them before boarding. A most important decision was to refrain from executing or unduly torturing any prisoner until due legal process was carried out individually.  It was apparent that Antoun had a vested interest in knowing first hand each noblemen and deciding on his worth for helping him tighten his grasp on power.

During the war with the Emir of Aleppo, the insurgents infiltrated the rear guard of the army with a few agents to keep updated on the evolution of the war outcome. Antoun got his insurgent army ready for a decisive attack as soon as news of a defeat was imminent.  Indeed, the armies of the Viceroy of Damascus were badly reduced and, while the remnants of the army was retreating in disorder, Antoun attacked from two fronts and aimed directly at the Capital Mtein where most of the remaining Emir’s strongmen where located. 

The attack

The night before the attack on the Capital Mtein Antoun sensed the anxiety overwhelming his comrades and ordered to set up five bonfires and distributed the leaders to gather with the insurgents around the fires.  He refrained from meeting with his leaders in close quarters and repeated his address to the five encampments separately saying:

“The time is approaching to execute our decision for a better life, a life based on fairness in the laws as worthy equals in our society.  It is time to start erecting a society with the right to elect a government of the people and for the people; a government that understand the wishes and dreams of its people and has experienced the sufferings and injustices of the peasants and working people under the despotic and unfair feudal system.  It is natural to feel scared; otherwise I wouldn’t trust your courage and determination if you didn’t feel apprehensive tonight.  Our project is the life or death of our destiny tailored to our big heart. Our project is the dream and wish of many citizens in the towns and villages whom have been keeping these dreams burning deep in their compassionate hearts.  We know each other; we are friends and we will take care of one another as we had done for many years.  We have planned together our revolution to the minute details, as intelligent and responsible leaders of people should do, to succeed and win against the heartless and irresponsible feudal Cheiks, Beys and Emirs”. 

“You all know by now that I don’t dwell much on abstract notions such as freedom, liberty and self-determination; we have discussed the meanings of these concepts so that we don’t abuse and short hand the intelligence of our citizens.  Opening and creating opportunities for learning and working go hand in hand with empowering the individual citizens to take bold decisions, fortified by laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender, religion and social status.  That is how we give sense to liberty and self–determination and that is what our citizens should demand from us.”

He went on saying: “In a few hours we march boldly toward the Capital of the loathed executioners of our rights; who denied us the joy of life commensurate to our labor, sweat and blood.  Obey the orders and directives of your elected leaders and be steadfast in your fight.  I can see our flags fluttering in the morning wind at the top of the Castle. Victory is whispering sweet songs and the shout of Long Live the Revolution is already deafening my ears.  I can see hundreds of peasants gathering around you in the Capital’ Square and shouting in unison ‘Long Live the Revolution’!  Is Victory singing to you too?  I cannot hear you! Long Live the Revolution! Louder! Louder!”

The insurgent detachment headed by Antoun descended from Baskenta toward Mrouj with 150 fighters while Mustafa and Hanna accompanied by Elias headed for Falougha, in currently the Chouf County, with 200 insurgents. They were advancing at the pace of caravans and looking very much like trading caravans with a few women prominently exhibited and some well know caravan regular leaders perched on their ornamented mules. As soon as the two groups reached their first destinations they would descend on Mtein at sun down helped by the moon light. They were to wait for the combined attack at 5 o’clock in the morning after the peasants had left their homes for the fields.  Supporters in the Capital were ready to guide the insurgents to the residencies of the strongmen and powerful landlords in and around the town.  The insurgents were successful in capturing the targeted noblemen and entered Mtein with no major resistance.

At the same time, two dozen fighters were guarding the entrances to the Bishop Atanasios’ residence, waiting for the fire signal to elevate over the highest hill to enter the residence and have the Bishop and his monks under house arrest.  At every entrance and exit passageway a handful of guards with an officer disguised as a monk regulated the traffic of civilians and clergy.  People coming in to pay a visit to the Bishop were discouraged to resume their trip because of a special conclave for the clergy and the impossibility of meeting anyone for a couple of days.  The peasants working the land of the monastery or traders were allowed in and retained there.  Gergis was leading this group of partisans with the mission of striking a deal with the Bishop after Antoun’s insurgents enter Mtein.  Elias was behind the project of this necessary house arrest coup but was instead assigned another task because he was still officially excommunicated and for fear that his zeal might foil this important mission.

Gergis’ task was to convince the Bishop and his associates in the clergy that the takeover of power was not the work of ruffians and outlaws but of learned gentlemen, citizens concerned with the status of lawlessness and injustices which was fueling a feeling of restlessness among the population of believers.  To convince the clergy that this revolt sought the approval and leadership of their Patriarch Gergis promised that they will receive the proper documents very shortly.  Gergis insisted that he was ready to deal fairly and squarely on behalf of the leaders of this popular movement of believers.

In the mean time, Bishop Atanasios agreed to say mass in the Capital Mtein next Sunday with all the official ceremonies befalling a highly important personality.  The two parties were not duped in their respective intentions but they implicitly agreed that this negotiation was the business of politicians awaiting better circumstances.  The Bishop was convinced that this movement, like other previous revolts, would not survive long, and that life as usual would return under the full control of the clergy and the feudal old political structure.

The official mass was to be held at nine o’clock and the leader was outside by eight accepting the congratulations and respect of the town people and dignitaries while anxiously keeping an eye on the horizon waiting for the Bishop to be sighted.  At twenty to nine a small group of pedestrians wearing black cloaks and following a person perched on a mule was sighted, plodding at an average pace.  Antoun who had become mainly a city man and, relatively removed from the customs of the mountains and the declining economic status of the clergy, did not pay this group much attention and was scrutinizing the horizon for dust generated by a cavalry accompanying the Bishop in pageant procession.  When the black clad group, many bare feet in dirty cloaks, was thirty meters away Elias nudged Antoun and shouted: “The bastard has come”. 

The leader briskly faced Elias and waited for an explanation to his rude comment when someone raised his voice saying: “Let peace be upon you, Antoun my son “.  The Bishop was directly confronting him from the top of his mule with a thin smile across his lips and hard eyes piercing toward the inattentive leader of the peasants.  Antoun was taken aback in total surprise and fumbled down his mount, helped the Bishop to dismount and then kissed the proffered hand.  Elias was beside himself and was ready to wriggle the neck of the Bishop as well as Antoun’s for his vile humility toward this despicable high placed clergy and shouted to the Bishop: “Atanathios, remember me?  I am waiting for you to publicly recant your excommunication to me and everyone in the Metn.”  The cunning Bishop seeing an opportunity to reclaim his power replied: “Son Elias, I am glad to admit you back into the flock. You have already suffered enough and the church is forgiving to human weaknesses”.  Elias was about to retort but was taken away by a gesture of impatience from Antoun. 

The new leader was received as the avenging hero who will strengthen the force of order and prevent violence, injustice, and anarchy. He could deliver his promises since the outlaw men and deserters were part and parcel of his well organized army.

Chapter 5: The new regime (1375-1381)

A week after the success of the insurgency, Antoun gathered his warriors for a day meeting in order to discuss the implementation of agreements and the pact they signed on together. Legal, land, security and political committees were formed to recommend adjustment to grievances, recovering of lost properties and the right of return to the outlaws who wished to come back to their hometown or monetary reward to those preferring to remain in the mountains. It was also decided that the initial core of leaders and committee members would meet weekly as de facto government members for the first three months.

The most critical danger was the constant pressure on Antoun from the insurgents demanding to demobilize the current force of law and order of the ancient regime; the leader begged to differ and regarded the dismantlement of this internal security institution an appeal to chaos and a preparation from the disillusioned citizens to bloodshed.  The committee for security headed by Hanna Al Najjar maintained the former security force in place, raised the allowances of those who served with dedication and brought to court a few of those who committed grievous blemishes and blatant uncivil behavior.

Hanna established security centers in many corners of the county with duties to rescue the helpless, downtrodden and remotely isolated citizens.  His forces toured the streets at night in formal dresses and rushed at appeals of distress or warning dangers; order was to be installed and all citizens, nobles or poor, had to refrain from the use of physical force throughout the land.

Concentration villages

The temporary government hurriedly gathered the toppled Emirs and powerful landlords into two concentration villages far from the Capital Mtein and within the outlaws’ regions: all the Emirs and first level feudal lords were gathered in one tiny remote town under development in the high altitude, the second class of feudal lords and relatives of Emirs in another camping ground a mile to the main security garrison.  These special towns were in reality detention camps with few accesses, closely guarded, and had very limited communication with the outside world.  The two communities were allotted enough lands to cultivate and survive without much intervention from the outside and were allowed to govern themselves.  

Antoun believed that he was familiar with the basic psychology of the so-called noblemen and the differences among the first class and second class feudal nobles; he knew that the Emirs will not attempt to flee the town where they were incarcerated and will wait until they are freed with due honors as long as enough food are provided within a comfort level.  As for the second class nobles he directed the officer of the security garrison to perform routine visits to the camp and harshly punish any disobedience to regulations and even to put to public trials the most virulent elements among them; in fact, two feudal noblemen with minor influence were decapitated and peace was restored for a long time in that camp.

Antoun’s decision not to execute any of his former nemesis was founded mainly on the realization that the balance of power might require judicious use of a few of these former lords in order to maintain his grip on power; he also chiefly wished to relying on the internal feuds that these close quarters might generate among their honorable inhabitants. The main reason he offered for the leaders of the insurgency not to physically harm their captives were that “our mountain counties are not familiar with internal massacres which might upset the inhabitants and hinder their cooperation, especially that they represented important families in major towns.”  Indeed, Antoun looked favorably, in the first three months, on the requests of a few traders, dignitaries, and personalities to pay short visits to the sequestered noblemen in order to allay their fears and confirm his assurances for their safety and security.  Barhoum Bey was not spared confinement but was treated equally as honorably as his inferior colleagues in ranks.

Undercover agents were sent to these concentration camps and Noura was one of them with the avowed purpose to cure and care for the sick.  She paid them biweekly visits carrying her meager load of different herbs on an old mule and stayed overnight in each encampment. Noura empathized with the camp conditions of the less fortunate landlords who were reduced to practical slavery by the more influential Emirs through moral obligations by the old order.  These discontented noble men were a boon to Noura who gathered all the intelligence she needed on the social conditions and political upheaval emerging among these closed communities.

Another undercover agent was Gergis the middleman; he was a fixture in these confined communities given that he was granted the sole permit to organizing caravans for selling and trading goods and information.  This exclusive business grant offered Gergis the break for riches with the cooperation of Haim and a restricted select, now legitimate, contraband leaders associated with Antoun’s past activities.

Chapter 6

The organization of a voluntary army

One of the first tasks for the new government was the organization of a national, united and centralized army.  Since the number of the population was small it was decided to invest on a quality army from the people with attractive incentives for land shares at the end of the commission.  Once the insurrection consolidated its hold on power Antoun decreed that every citizen could own and raise horses.  At the time, he was responding to the trend set by many families who could afford buying a horse, regardless of their class status, which reminded him of his adolescent passion and years of frustration.  This decree which satisfied the implicit dreams of his people for riding horses was returning the favor for the peasants’ support to his regime and it never occurred to him that this decision was the key factor to forming a viable cavalry regiment by permitting society to offering its potentials.

To face these immediate armed hostilities Antoun Fares organized his army in phalanxes.  A phalanx was composed of 36 infantrymen of 4 columns and 9 rows.  All the infantry men carried small swords.  The main weapon for the first 3 rows in the phalanx was a long and heavy kind of ram, ending with a wide semi circular flat scythe shaped head and a large shield with many holes to see through affixed to it; thus, three soldiers in each column carried and handled the ram with the first soldier in charge of directing the attack.  This weapon called the “ram” was designed not to penetrate and pierce a body but to slash, or overturn or scatter enemy lines and be removed easily from the wounded enemy if cut badly; this new weapon was carried by three soldiers on their shoulders in order to ram harder on enemy lines and to stand cavalry attack if necessary.  The fourth row of soldiers was trained to replace the felled members in the teams of rammers; the fifth row was to defend the rear of the phalanx and the last four rows were to protect the flanks of the ramming columns on each side when the attack was in progress. All the infantrymen with the exception of the rammers were equipped with small shields so that when engaged a phalanx would front eight columns if necessary.

The final scheme of four ramming columns was adopted after several test training exercises demonstrated that this formation was best at keeping cohesion among the columns, preventing splitting it in two which would leave the rammers defenseless and also because it allowed the supporting columns in the phalanx to better control and exterminate the enemies in narrower space sections. Every phalanx was supported by eight archers to scatter enemy infantry compact advance or cavalry interference. In the battle field the unit of the army was the “core” of three phalanxes and its supporting cavalry and small catapult units and headed by a Captain. Twenty one cavalry men armed with light long spears to drive back any enemy trying to infiltrate and disturb cohesion were attached to a “core”, 9 horsemen in the rear and teams of 6 at each side outflanked the “core” to prevent encirclement in quick maneuvers and allowing time for reinforcement to come to the rescue. Three small catapults manned by four soldiers each were part of a “core”. The small catapult had 70 meters range and spread 50 gravel sized stones per shot at a rate of three shots per minute to raise enough dust and confuse the enemy line; they were efficiently activated on flat chars for opening routes in enemy lines ahead of the “core” thrust.  The total number of a “core” was thus of 170 soldiers, including the cavalry, archers, Captain and Lieutenants.  

At 35 meters behind each “core” stood a phalanx without ramming columns and 9 cavalrymen to envelop, support and stop any retreat. Depending on the battle tactics a second line of cores could be deployed 150 meters behind to relieve the first line or to prepare for a defensive position if a temporary retreat was sounded. 

A battalion was constituted of three “cores” and headed by a Major and strong of its main and separate cavalry unit of 48 knights trained to archery effective within 40 meters before engaging the body of enemy cavalry.   A unit of heavier caliber catapults of 250 meters range was part of the cavalry unit and took position on higher grounds between the infantry and cavalry.   Whenever a higher ground was not available the army would install ready made platforms that could be assembled within two hours or dismantled in a shorter time for these heavy catapults; the Major of the battalion would have a deeper view of the war maneuvers from these elevated platforms and could command about 600 soldiers.  Nine cavalrymen and a ramless phalanx were assigned to help and protect the heavy catapults redoubts.

This formation of the Army was barely modified for 9 years so that a Colonel commanded three battalions called a division and a General would head two divisions of about 4000 soldiers called a “corps” among them an additional special 300 cavalry unit.  With the exception of the small artillery units and cavalry attached to “cores” to preserve their cohesion the highest ranking commander in the battle field could combine and maneuver all the cavalry units and heavy artillery under his possession according to his plan of attack.  

The Metn managed to raise a cohesive and well trained army of 2 corps within three years and invested freely on small catapults for Antoun knew how to concentrate their power on the most dangerous divisions of his enemies and gain critical leverage in any battle.  At its inception, the army was to be of learned soldiers educated to reading and writing in at least the national Arabic language.  Antoun invested dear time in selecting the officers who enjoyed reading and believed in educating their subordinates by scheduling hours for learning the language within the daily routine; he met individually with the officers and encouraged them to submit to him an education program to eradicate illiteracy in the armed forces and to solicit their subordinates to evening reading sessions within a family environment and form a library with input from the whole phalanxes and cores of the army.

The military research center was immediately enacted; professional soldiers and war specialists were hired with substantial enticements. The purpose of this center was to design equipment and garments that fit the capabilities and limitations of the local soldiers.  The main criterion was to enhance mobility by reducing the mass that need to be carried by a soldier and procuring comfortable and adequate clothing for the two major seasons.  Metal vests were replaced by vests made out of reed one centimeter thick and lined with cotton fabric, allowing a venting space between the body and the vests.  Closing garments were to be worn over the vest. This newly designed vest allowed full flexibility for the arms and was very adequate for both cold and hot seasons: it trapped body heat in winter and permitted the skin to be kept dry much longer in warm seasons.  In addition, the vest proved to prevent 80% of fatal injuries and was as effective as the inconvenient metal vests. Special care was taken for designing foot wear which are the most essential element for infantry men, a fact which was understood but never acted upon previously in order to maintain cast differences among the army units. On the inauguration of the first special center for research and development Antoun delivered in front of the high ranking officers this succinct speech:

“My brothers and sisters officers of our young Metn army; the wind of change is being heard around us; our revolution could not have succeeded if our people were not ready to seek a transition, from a long tradition of injustice, slavery and semi-slavery and the entrenchment of a privileged class of fortunate feudalists at the expense of the hard earned labor of our peasants for subsistence, into a fair society where every citizen feels a natural right to live in security and enjoy life within law and order.  Many neighboring powerful and young nations are waking up and organizing themselves into unified societies and our lot could not maintain its cherished freedom and liberty in our own way of life if we fail to unite as a vigorous nation.”

“This center for military research is meant to provide our soldiers with the means to win in battle fields when the time of reckoning demands from all of us to respond to the call of preserving freedom and liberty. This center is created to learn to survive as a steadfast people, to sustain the hardship of training, long marches, physical privation and mental resistance to emotional pressures with minimum damage, injuries and suffering.  When you graduate as officers of the Levantine army you must retain the motto of our military force:  “Power is courage in dignity until it is used recklessly, then its purpose is wasted”.  I urge you to remember that when military force is engaged against our citizens then the dignity of this government is tarnished and it is a sign of our failure in our duty and responsibilities to maintaining law, order and justice.”

“Power is meant never to have to be demonstrated unless it is directed toward evil purposes targeting the rights of our people to live in peace and prosperity. Every time an officer uses force against his own citizens then all the training and money invested in forming a capable army are then lost because they were invested to the wrong goal.  We are forming an army of the people, from the people and to the benefit of the people and any other deviation from the high moral grounds are tantamount to generating a bunch of murderers trained to kill and abuse the innocents and consequently, the severest punishments will befall the officers who deviate from the purpose of the army.”

“Your strength is in your disciple and organization as an educated and trained group for the well being of our people. All officers have to understand that the army is the nucleus of our society and represents its best elements: Therefore, every soldier has to learn to read and write and be able to present to the citizens the values and image that the army is trying to convey.” 

“Officers of the Levantine Army, you have to transmit to our citizens that education is the cornerstone to our survival and they should strive to acquire what is needed to overcome our weaknesses and the poor state of our economy and social development. Any time a community rises against the local leaders then you must assume that their claims for justice have strong basis and remedies must be provided. As officers of the people you are to refrain from attacking your people until fair negotiations are conducted and a majority of the hearts is won to the cause.  Your disciplined presence should be only a deterrent force against those ready to use force after refusing fruitful negotiations.”

“Officers of the Metn army; you are responsible for helping the people, serve justice and consolidate the dignity of the power lent to you.  It is a huge responsibility that you are shouldering and your duty is to constantly prove your own worth and value toward the people you are serving.”