Posts Tagged ‘fiction’
Rainbow over the Levant: Mariam
Posted on: October 17, 2008
Rainbow over the Levant: Mariam (1394-1399). Part 4
Chapter 15: The second revolution (fiction, continue 21)
The political system was relatively stable; order and the rule of law were functional; peace on the borders was lasting longer than in the previous decades; yearly budget for the various ministries were allocated and plans were carried out decently. A few worries were deeply disturbing the First Emir: the system was reverting to a declining cycle of feudal and religious polarization during municipal and parliamentary elections. The old guards were sleeping on their laurels and insidious machinations of grand thefts of the public funds were agitating the population to open criticisms of the validity of the regime. The First Emir suspected that foreign agitators were exploiting some of the valid arguments about the regime and he thought that the best strategy was to adapt taking side with the population against the opportunists and unprofessional officer corps in the various departments.
While fear of instability was a common tendency in the Middle East the underground sectarian organizations were extremely secretive and disturbing. It was in these periods of anxiety that Sect-State behaviors would predominate the political landscape with two variants; the first variant being that a charismatic feudal Lord would take advantage of the particular structural and administrative traditions of his sect and appoint his spiritual leaders in order to further his hold on the temporal and spiritual power of his sect, like for example the Druze sect; the other variant being the supreme cleric usurping the temporal leadership in his sect and imposing the temporal leaders such as in some Shiaa sects. The second variant of Sect-State was usually the more dangerous for any central government than the first variant or the other secretive sectarian organizations.
The Levant government was not immune to these fears in the society and a few Sect-States and secretive sectarian organizations were on the rise and such behaviors were spreading among its public servant members. Nevertheless, rational scapegoats were needed to tame the growing restlessness among the populace so that a closer investigation to the criteria adopted for hiring and assigning government service men were carried out and rumors of fraudulent activities were acted upon. These decisive moves were well promoted and new recruits from disadvantaged families were interviewed and accepted to training facilities.
Besides, the First Emir, who was now in his late forties and was considered old by the standard of the time, had discovered new vocations in writing his memoirs and a hobby in aquarelle painting. Actually, the First Emir was suffering from backache which made horse riding an excruciating exercise while his shortsightedness was an excellent excuse for discarding reading the accumulating documents. For some time, his zest in daily running of the nation and ruling a wily people was waning and he was seriously contemplating taking longer time offs for doing what he enjoyed most. The reality was that the First Emir was experiencing what is currently described as middle age crisis; he was becoming despondent because of subtle recognition that he had grown much older in physical and mental agility and endurance. He was experiencing the nervousness and uneasiness of some kind of chemical addictions which caused many official sessions to be cut short and the tendency to implicitly relegating some of his powers to close associates because he could not shoulder further pressures. The side effects were his harsher invective toward his associates when they failed to adequately carry out the delegated power on specific projects and programs and tended to maliciously blame them on usurping his power and sometimes because he had forgotten his verbal commitments or delegated commissions.
The First Emir would disappear incognito for a couple of days with a reduced group of his personal guards, all attired as normal citizens as to blend easily with the common people, and leaving a short message stating that he has gone on inspection of his kingdom so that to keep everyone of his civil servants on their toes. Actually, a few of his closest and oldest friends knew that the journeys were taking their beloved Emir to locations of his youth that provided him with splendid recollections and relieved the stresses of his conflicting emotions. These short peregrinations were helpful mentally but left the First Emir in no better physical conditions on his returns; he was sick and depressed and used to confine himself in his private rooms claiming quality time to studying important and urgent plans. His oldest friends were worried but the second generation of civil servants was feeling comfortable and secure in its sinecures before political troubles challenged the First Emir into action.
Individually and on many occasions the trio of Mariam, Mustafa and Gergis confronted the First Emir with the state of affairs in the Nations. Mariam offered the First Emir facts on many political organizations already in action and most of them being financed by foreign powers and neighboring Viceroys and disseminating ideas based on religious beliefs to destabilize the State. Mustafa argued that it would be to the advantage of the State to acknowledge the existence of these organizations and allow them to function within the laws of free associations and freedom of speech instead of letting them work underground. At least, Mustafa argued that the State would then be in a better position to recognize these secretive organizations and understand their political positions and be prepared to counter their ideas. With his usual diplomatic tact Gergis hinted that the best alternative would be to organize a grass root political party that would carry the right message to the future generations and sidetrack most of these dubious confessional underground parties.
At length, the First Emir was well prepared by his counselors to listen to the principles of a political party that might be capable of rejuvenating the Nation. Gergis expounded on the principles and articles of the Aram National Party. For two weeks the First Emir felt restless and an ingenious plan of action was rehashed in his mind: start a new revolution from the grass-roots beginning with new adherents of fresh and young officers and out best his earlier successes. It is very credible to assume that organizing from scratch was his best skill but it was more likely that it mould be an opportunity for the First Emir to reinvigorate his purposes to life though any potential successes were less convincing judging from the behaviors of his early decrepit conditions.
The First Emir reasoned from experience that reinventing the same political system would not establish a system that could secure the survival of a society for long. Consequently, he reasoned that the outcome of another revolution must rely on a new vision to guide the process for a stable society that would survive calamities and political upheavals. A new vision was needed but the First Emir could not pinpoint its characteristics and procedures but hinted out to Gergis to unofficially study the restructure of his administration.
In the meantime, Gergis sent Noura an urgent message to Florence summoning her to come back as soon as possible. The message hashed out his new responsibilities as leader of an underground political party and proclaimed that he would be unable to carry out his duties without her support and close proximity. Noura realized that the still bachelor Gergis had never married because she was his first and only love and decided that she would indeed grab this opportunity and join her best friend ever.
Part 3: Gergis’ period (1384-1394)
Chapter 11: A navy in the making
The traders got wind of the wishes of the First Emir to purchase a few vessels and scoured the neighboring ports for potential ships for sale. Two old navy ships were ordered at scrape cost and refurbished for transport of people and produce. The first refurbished ship was done in the port of Tripoli and did not venture deep in the sea and was restricted to hug the coastal line and trade with the neighboring towns and villages; it was basically used for training and propaganda purposes. The renovation of the second ship was contracted out in Beirut with a more elaborate work and designed to test its potential for trading with Cyprus and further away to the southern coastal part of Turkey.
The creation of a navy was foreseen to acquire paramount importance in later conflicts among the Levant neighboring foes, so Antoun fortified his coastal towns of deep water and prepared them to receive medium size embarkation boats; the port of Beirut was readied for large merchant and cargo ships. The next phase was to build construction sites for minor ship repairs and learning of the trade. As better craftsmen were hired medium sized boats were built, more like flat boats meant to carry 40 navy men or a catapult for throwing rocks or an engine for launching multiple long range arrows. Antoun already was planning to tow these flat boats and drop them behind enemy lines because most of the invasions were done along the coastal route. This far sighted decision was based on cost/benefit calculation too.
In the previous wars the Levant army had to adopt the retreat strategy to better defensible positions. In that strategy, the army had to deploy many specialized regiments to evacuate the willing population behind manageable lines of defense. In these cases, the operation was time consuming and very expensive when the war dragged on for months. A nastier responsibility was how to manage a disgruntled people who had been evacuated and were restless to go back to their homes.
Building a navy offered many more alternatives to waging successful and less expensive wars and reduced the constraining time for the evacuees because the invaders had to disperse their forces in order to confront attacking forces from the sea and thus reduced the necessity for large scale evacuations. Another valuable advantage for a navy was the reduction of the size of the standing army: any means of transport that offered variety and speed for moving regiments to areas that needed quickly a concentration of power was a critical edge over the enemy.
Many trained ship builders flocked to Beirut when they perceived that the First Emir had plans for continuous job outlets in that industry and consequently, the presence and availability of skilled sea craftsmen encouraged Antoun to negotiate with sea merchants and traders to be partners in bolder investments. This ship building industry rejuvenated many dying industries that were reopened to supply and support the varied necessary demands. Navy soldiers were trained and regimented as a separate fighting force.
Second expansion
In 1388, the new Sultan of Egypt dispatched a General of his guard as appointed Viceroy of Damascus. The Viceroy Rustom Bey arrived in command of 1,500 fresh cavalrymen with specific instructions from his master: he had to affirm the hold of the Mameluks’ dynasty throughout Syria and increase the tribute levied on the population who were growing more prosperous and more enterprising, especially with the dangerous free trade and intricate communication means between the Levantine Republic and the surrounding “Wilayats”. Within a week, and after the grandiose celebrations in Damascus welcoming the new chief and his army, the Viceroy decreed an increase of 10% tax on the agricultural produce and 5% on the manufactured textile products in addition to having a monopoly to import cotton from Egypt.
Rustom Bey canceled agreements negotiated with the previous Viceroy of Damascus and reclaimed his rights in the Bekaa Valley. He appointed new tax collectors from his protégés who were accompanied by ruthless cavalrymen enjoying a percentage of the money collected as their dues. The cavalry detachment that accompanied Rustom Bey were mostly Cherkessk and from Sunni tribes from nowadays Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and the Caucasus and they were whipped to frenzy for loots and lots of battle actions. At first, the population was ready to pay the difference in taxes but the behavior of the Viceroy’s army sent alarms throughout Syria and the Bekaa Valley. Skirmishes got widespread and armed bands of frustrated citizens took to the hills and harassed the Mameluks’ mercenaries.
The Viceroy accused Antoun of fomenting troubles and unrest in the Bekaa and threatened the Levant with military punitive attacks if peace was not restored. A campaign of economic harassment was launched in order to embarrass the leaders of Mount Lebanon into recognition of the new shift in power and then into direct negotiations. An embargo of agricultural goods from the Bekaa Valley and Syria to Mount Lebanon was ruthlessly enforced in all the main entry points and caravans were searched exhaustively. Gergis was dispatched to Damascus to negotiate an amicable relationship with the new hot headed Viceroy and returned with a gloomy report that the authority in Damascus was intent on a show of force no matter what.
The Levant had already raised a standing army of 150 phalanxes and 1500 cavalrymen with an equal number of standby trained soldiers on call in emergency situations.
Antoun feared that the neighboring Viceroys might support the Viceroy of Damascus more forcefully in putting the squeeze on his economy if he delayed any decisive actions and, most probably, would have no choice but to join forces with the Viceroy of Damascus if an open armed conflict was declared. Since the Viceroy of Damascus would not attempt a military campaign into the Mountain soon enough then war was to take place inside the Viceroy’s territories in the Bekaa.
A month before the Levantine government forces crossed the chains of mountain into southern Bekaa it had already dispatched four special cores of the army trained to guerilla warfare in order to circumvent the paths that would be taken by the enemy army. Two cores would harass the rear guard division and supply lines while diverting it furthers North and the other two cores were to steer the advanced division further south to a battle field prepared by the Levantine army. The Viceroy of Damascus was overjoyed that Antoun finally concurred to his scheme for an open battle which would respond to the oath he gave to his cavalry detachment, and thus failed to ask for any military support from the neighboring Viceroys of Safad and Hama. The two armies met in a plain between Anjar and Machgara.
Battle of Anjar
The sun was peeping from the Eastern Mountain chains and quickly blinding the Levantine army with its glorious shine. The First Emir galvanized his infantry with a short speech: “Soldiers of the proud and united Mount Lebanon; I will not denigrate the daring Mameluks’ cavalry; it is brave, well trained and it outnumbers our young cavalry two to one. As we all know, our present enemy relies on its cavalry to win battles because, unlike our infantry, theirs are mainly mercenaries and little paid compared with a professional army such as ours. Their infantry is mainly of our own people recruited in Syria and Palestine; they certainly have courage but are not trained properly and are not fighting for a just cause as we are. We have got to win this battle clear and neat because the stakes are high for the independence of our young nation. The enemy has to acknowledge our complete reluctance to be subjugated every time a new Sultan comes to power and decides to exercise his new found power through the humiliation of our people as vassals and not worth negotiating with as equals.”
“I am asking you to stand your ground until two o’clock and by night fall I will guarantee you that Rustum Bey will be our prisoner and his cavalry will disperse chased by the strength of the wind of vengeance generated by your courage and your fierceness in holding on to your values and liberty. Soldiers of the people of Mount Lebanon; your fathers and forefathers have longed for generations to send the emancipating message of their right to freedom to their successive persecutors; now is your chance to let their spirit rest at ease and to bless you as the sons they raised to serve their country and families with honor and bravery. Long live the people of Mount Lebanon! Long live its valiant professional army!”
The cavalry of the Viceroy army was larger than the Levant cavalry and its infantry, although more numerous, were not as dedicated or well-trained for sustained frontal attacks. Outnumbered, the First Emir decided on psychological warfare to neutralize his enemy’s advantages in cavalry. Unconventionally, he placed his cavalry behind the infantry instead of on the flanks so that the enemy would conjecture that the Levantine army was not sure of the loyalty of its infantry to hold its ground. This arrangement was also meant to hide a long and wide trench dug out for defensive purposes while the small and long range catapults were located behind the trench.
The infantry of Rustom Bey advanced at a brisk pace and the cavalry of the Levantine army started to retreat behind the trench across makeshift bridges. Thinking that a general retreat was in progress, the cavalry of Rustom Bey rushed in ahead of the infantry to secure a quick and easy victory. The Levantine catapults came into action to allow an ordered retreat of the Levantine infantry across the trench.
The Mameluk’s cavalry was decimated trying to cross a blind ditch guarded by long spikes and archers and they had to retreat to regroup. Meanwhile, special regiments of archers and light small catapult operators maneuvered closer to the heavy catapult position of the Mameluk’s army and engaged in the destruction of the enemy heavy catapult strongholds. The Levantine army had adopted the tactical guideline of focusing first on the enemy catapult regiments before seriously engaging the enemy in a decisive battle; Special Forces were trained and equipped to accomplish such hazardous and primordial tasks.
The Levantine heavy catapult regiment was minor and was used as target baits for the enemy shelling in order to permit the regiments of small catapult and archers to maneuver, guarded by what it takes of phalanxes and cavalry to protect the operation within an adequate range of the enemy’s long range artillery positions. The task of the archer and small catapult regiments was not merely constrained to the initial phase of the battle but used thoroughly as long as the battle is engaged and were supplied with abundance of ammunition. High shields were planted in front of the archers and catapult operators not so much for protection but purposely to obstruct the view of the battlefield from them; the chief sergeants were the maestros for the targeting activities in tempo and orientation of the projectiles and the operators were solely reliant on the orders and coding gestures of their chief sergeants. Once the enemy catapult positions are out of operation the regiments of archery and small catapult would redeploy and target the thick of the enemy infantry and cavalry concentrations.
An untrained observer of the battlefield would not notice much change in the enemy’s concentration even after half an hour of shelling but the retreat from the center toward the rear would happen suddenly. The soldiers in the center would gradually recognize vacuums around them and after some hesitations opt to retreat instead of advancing toward the much farther front lines. Once most of the enemy center is emptied the Levantine army would sound a temporary disengagement order, the time for the enemy front lines to look around and realize the precariousness of their position as thin shells with no substantial backing. Then the Levantine artillery would concentrate their targeting in the middle to split the half circle in order to clear a wide swath for the cavalry to swiftly enter and encircle the two halves of the enemy lines.
Besides reducing the enemy artillery capabilities, the next critical moment was the timing for splitting the enemy lines to capitalize on the psychological feeling of abandonment among the enemy front lines infantrymen. During most of the engagement the Levantine infantrymen were trained and ordered never to venture deeply into enemy ranks no matter great were the temptations to do so and to hold and fight on the perimeters. The cavalry was an intrinsic part of the infantry and its two main jobs were to ensure the containment of the enemy main force and to engage any outflanking attacks from the enemy cavalry.
The Levantine army repulsed two other charges to cross the defensive lines and by the time the sun was facing the Mameluk’s army the Levantine infantry re-crossed the trench in ordered fashion and engaged valiantly an enemy in disarray. The Levantine cavalry had outflanked the enemy army in a vise that did not leave much room for the maneuvering of the Mameluk’s cavalry.
By nightfall, the Viceroy was made prisoner and the remnant of his cavalry was retreating in disorder. The Levantine army had suffered heavy casualties: three hundred cavalrymen and 1000 infantrymen perished and twice this number were wounded or injured. Most of these casualties were suffered during the offensive attack on the heavy artillery positions of the enemy as a necessary phase to insure victory. For a small nation with scares resources this was a crushing toll to sustain but it secured peace for many years to come. The Viceroy was spared execution in order not to provide the Sultan of Egypt any additional excuses to organize another military campaign. For two weeks, the First Emir set up his quarters in the battle field welcoming the populace with their grievances and ordering reparations and executions of the enemy’s perpetrators of crimes and thefts during their tax collection campaigns.
The Viceroy and all his cavalrymen prisoners were forced to share in the burying efforts of the fallen soldiers of both armies and taking care of the injured; they participated in washing the bodies of the dead, the digging of graves, the burial of the corpses in the ditches and even feeding the injured and cleaning out the makeshift hospital. The Viceroy then paid war retribution and offered the Levantine government the responsibility of collecting taxes from the Bekaa Valley all the way to the southern end of the Litany River and then was let free to return to Damascus. The majority of the Syrian prisoners remained behind for another 6 months for war reparation and indoctrination on the new values of the Republic. The Bekaa Valley was thus the responsibility of the Levant authority although not officially attached to it and not completely within its jurisdiction.
Part 2: Noura’s period (1381-1386)
Chapter 8: Preliminary reforms
The first year was very hectic and a learning period for Antoun to behave as Lord of the Metn. A restless person by nature he avoided staying for any length of time in his castle and kept on the road canvassing his County and listening to the demands and needs of his residents. Gergis was given an annex to the castle where he visited Antoun for four days a month. Since Gergis was very secretive about his origin and a coastal native it was inappropriate for Antoun to offer him publicly an official responsibility; but Gergis was indeed his legal counselor and would study the legal cases and submit his recommendations, especially those cases with a heavy political overtone. Consequently, Antoun would preside for two days a month at the justice council for the serious and highly public cases and on Saturday afternoons, when in town, he would be judge for the common claimants.
Hanna Al Najjar was named his administrator of the previously outlawed areas and Mariam was recalled to stay at the Capital for non divulged responsibilities. Mustafa was named general manager for Antoun’s prosperous business in Beirut and channeled the necessary military hardware and professional military trainers to Metn.
Meanwhile, Latifa had established herself in charge of the administration of the castle and the residents referred to her as Sit Al Qasr (the Lady of the Castle). Thus, Antoun felt secure about the good running of the castle and the well being of his frail and yet inefficient wife as per the political life.
Antoun was inundated by the land claims of the multitude of landlords and was urged to perform a few necessary agrarian reforms as a priority. This agrarian reform was contemplated in phases in order not to anger the powerful landlords. The first task was to create a cadastre for the land. Expert surveyors called “geometers” were hired and attracted from as far as Egypt to measure accurately the kingdom’s land properties not yet owned by the citizens and to assist in property litigations.
Agrarian and tax reforms
The next phase was to redistributed cultivable lands from the most powerful landlords to those who worked the lands by subdividing large parcels that belonged to Emirs and princes, especially those lands that were practically stolen to the less fortunate peasants. Legal framework for recuperating properties was enacted; for example, the sizes of parcels of land were proportionate to the size of a family and the duration the family worked the land; females were allotted the same rights as men in land inheritance provided that they resided on and worked the property and widowed families received larger sizes of lands in order to gradually diminish the prevalent taboos in favor of brighter opportunities.
Tax reforms were made more equitable and less burdensome. Feudal tradition taxed only those who owned lands with the exception of feudal lords. The merchants, clergymen and the class of nobility did not share in financing war efforts or entertaining the institutions and the royalty.
This fundamental theological tax logic that only small land owners should supplement to the expenses of the ruling class was seriously questioned. Revenues were thus revised to be taxed regardless of the business of production and expanded to merchants and skilled artisans. Lands that were not cultivated were also taxed in order for the proprietors to sell or rent these unproductive lands. The lands distributed to peasants were taxed higher that those legitimately acquired but for an exceptional duration not to exceed 7 years.
Properties were taxed not only according to size but also to the number of hired manpower who kept the property running and who offered an image of high status to the landlords: the rational for this edict was to encourage landlords to diminish the level of luxury of their old life style and understand the necessity of equality in form and eventually to save for the hard times to come and participate in the investment of small industrial projects.
The tandem of Yasmine and Noura
Noura was the best friend of Yasmine, not on her own volition but because Yasmine insisted that this is fact and wished it so. The combination of Yasmine and Noura was too present and insidious in Antoun’s ears so that many resolutions previously taken without input from the female subjects were modified and amended to secure the rights and benefits of women. One important tax, although negligible to the total fund collected but that would relieve the pressures off Antoun’s chest, was levied on the dowries of married couples within rich families. This duo reminded Antoun of the old feudal system which forbade him to marry Zena, the girl that he thought he was in love with in his youth. This dowry tax encouraged families to marry from lesser endowed families and contributed gradually to the elimination of the concept of dowry as a prerequisite to marriages. In fact, many couples from outside the region took advantage of this climate of tolerance to marry in the Metn Emirate.
The clergy were adamantly warned not to interfere with the decision of the couples to get married: No specific guidelines were yet promulgated on the range of interferences but, since everyone knew about Antoun’s sensitivity about marriage obstacles, the clergy opted to err on the side of tolerance than face his wrath. The duty of the marrying clergy was to submit the marriage certificate to the mayor of the town who was to send a monthly list of the marriage certificates to the central ministry of the interior.
Health counselor
Noura Nabatat, another early coastal city insurgent, had extensive practice in herbal remedies and acquired medical knowledge from her father who was the prime health attendant to a powerful warlord. She counseled Antoun to have hospitals installed in the mansions and great houses of the former Emirs and powerful landlords of the defunct feudal system with the double intentions of precluding any recovery of these properties because of the taboos attached to sick people staying in their homes and also as a grand symbol that the best in the kingdom were for the sick, the poor and down trodden.
Noura managed by this achievement to circumvent the tendency of the new insurgency leaders who contemplated to get installed in comfortable dwellings recuperated from the noblemen. She was apprehensive that any requisition of expensive properties for personal use might have raised many eye brows from the citizens; this decision prevented the spread of rumors that status of lordships had been traded and replaced by others less worthy traditionally for leadership and confidence.
To each major official hospital was attached a reserved spacious room or salon for receiving the families of the sick persons coming from distant places to be near their loved ones and several small dwelling rooms for overnight stay. The spacious room could be transformed into a wake facility on demand for receiving condolences when a dear one had died. These civil annexes replaced the inadequate homes of the bereaved families for receiving condolences and thus, only the very rich residencies could match or outdo these large, well maintained and clean annexes
Noura set in motion the idea of dispatching teams of two medicine men accompanied by three soldiers for their safety to visit districts and hold meetings for the neighboring health practitioners. These meetings could last three days with the objectives of collecting data on the recurrence of certain diseases and sharing procedures and cures among their colleagues. It is doubtful that the rate of mortality decreased substantially but the stubbornness of Noura to proceed with her idea and her initiative to closely monitor the results eventually led to the institution of the first medical school established in the town of Beit-Chabab about 15 kilometers from the seashore. Although Noura was an herbalist she had extensive knowledge in Arabic medicine and surgical instruments; she brought medical books from renowned Arabic scholars, collected, bought, and transferred from libraries dispersed in the Arab World what was useful. In the town of Beit-Chabab she instituted an ophthalmology center that attracted people from as far as the Arabic Peninsula, Iran and Egypt. One of her medical achievement was to secure the Levant with the capability to fabricate state of the art surgical instruments which drawings were mined from ancient manuscripts because the Arabs were the leading surgeons and could perform almost any precision surgery that did not require the use of microscopes not yet invented.
These gatherings of medical men resulted in a list of well qualified professionals who shouldered many administrative duties in the ministry of health. Within seven years, there were about three well managed and funded medical institutions which attracted medical students from all corners of the Arabic world and many visitors came to Mount Lebanon for medical cure, especially the rich and noblemen who turned to be valuable assets in promoting the policies and spirit emanating from this new kingdom.
Noura and Mariam quickly became role models for the new generation of girls because of their successes that exceeded expectation. The new spirit that grew in the new generations of women engendered many tribulations in society that resulted in gradually offering the female group greater equality with men in matters of rights and opportunities. Needless to say that the female counselors suffered immensely from the animosity of their fellow male counselors and from the ruling class and had to fight their ways courageously. This hard fight against a patriarchal tradition could not but promote many educated females to come to the rescue and support the projects of Mariam and Noura. The administrations in the ministries of education and health experienced a high rate of female employees compared to the other ministries.
Census
Not by intention but necessity Antoun formed a reduced cabinet of six official counselors: ministers for defense, internal security, foreign affairs, agriculture and construction, education, and health and social services. A census of the kingdom’s resources in manpower and treasures was of paramount importance and scores of educated people who could write were dispatched to communities to collect the necessary data and information. A preliminary census that was not exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination provided a rough estimate of the population. The county was subdivided into 8 rough districts and census committees were dispatched to meet with the notables of the towns and villages and collect information from available records and recollection on the number of families and average sizes of families and main resources for subsistence. There were in the Metn County ten thousand families in the average of six persons per family, four major towns of more than 3,000 inhabitants, ten towns of more than 1,500 inhabitants. The concentration was heavier below the altitude of 700 meters with agriculture, cattle, goat and poultry raising and textile the main sources of wealth.
Chapter 7: Consolidation of the kingdom; (continue 11)
Antoun had a few rudimentary ideas concerning the organization of the social fabric but he lacked reprieves for consolidating his hold on power. Fortunately, the new leader had good qualities of listening carefully to suggestions and delegating authorities to matters considered not to affect directly his grip on power.
Mariam Najjar was an excellent counselor and was motivated to enlarge her knowledge and participate in the decision units. She suggested that one priority was to establishing elementary schools in every town and argued that without a learned youth the future of the regime would be totally dependent on foreign experts who would deplete the treasury. She advanced the concept that relying on the know-how of other nations was the main reason why so many dynasties had died out or been replaced by dynasties elevated from mercenaries who did not care for the well-being and stability of the societies they governed.
However, there was the realization, experienced by most families living in high altitude of over 1000 meters above sea level, of the high mortality rate in extended families during the winter season that lasted five months. Many died from suffocation, pulmonary diseases, and contagious illnesses. Psychological disorders lead to brutal physical behaviors from close contact in unfit environmental conditions. At the time, and for long time afterwards, homes were simply of one room; the door was the only opening to fresh air. Around ten people on average crowded that cloistered unique room for the duration of winter.
As was the custom, large families usually dedicated their second or third sons to the clergy’s institutions to become priests and a few daughters to turning nuns; thus, avoiding feeding extra mouths and making more space for the other members of the family; many kids were lent to work for free in return for shelter and food and some education during the harsh season.
To return the favor for the outlawed citizens, it was decided that intern or boarding schools be erected for girls and boys separately where children of ages ranging from nine to thirteen would dwell in for 5 months from mid November to mid April.
Boarding schools
The first intern or boarding school was established in Baskinta and demonstrated in its first year that mortality was drastically reduced in winter when the number of family members was cut in half within their reduced dwellings. Consequently, this facility provided during the winter season education and healthier quarters for children and lent longevity to the extended family members. Nuns and monks would run these schools in the beginning until a new generation of trained and learned lay administrators and educators took over gradually.
The teaching was traditional the first two years until tighter administration and teaching procedures were enacted; a single instructor perched on a cushioned flat stone faced half circles of students sitting on the ground and was responsible for all the beginners in the reading class ,regardless of the students’ age and gender. The master’s long reaching stick would not discriminate inattentive heads; heavy physical punishments were the lot of free spirits who dared stand for their rights or argued boldly. A few families would even worry if their kids were not physically disciplined as signs of careless and apathetic behavior on the instructor’s part in guiding their kids’ progress in learning.
Families would rather go and visit their children at school on Christmas vacation and stay with them for a couple of days benefiting from warmer lodging in barns and healthier food varieties. Christmas was a happy period for everyone in the school where children would get busy building mock-up houses, trees, animals and figurines for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the shepherds and the Magi kings and presenting homemade gifts to their parents in return for assorted delicacies.
A typical day at intern schools started at 6 a.m. followed by house cleaning, chicken feeding, cow milking, kitchen food preparation, and carrying necessary supplies for the day; then, at 7:30 mass and breakfast. Classes for reading and writing in both Arabic an Aramaic languages and basic arithmetic would begin at 8:30 and end at 12:30 for lunch. A short recess ,then off to working in the artisanal shops of carpentry, pottery, glass painting, iron forging, cloth making, glass blowing and farm tending until 4 p.m. The children would then head to the supervised study lounge until dusk, followed by diner and Vesper prayer.
By seven everybody was already in bed in order to save on candles and oil consumption. Children less than eleven years of age would sleep ten in a room on hay stacks with spreads of goat skin; the older ones would sleep seven in a room. It was not the sleeping quarters that mattered for the kids but a larger freedom to move around and be outside during the day with three fulfilling meals.
Meat was scarce but the kids were frequently fed “kebbe nayyeh” for Sunday’s lunch and eggs with “kaorma” for Saturday’ breakfast and tabbouli or mjadara on Fridays. The usual staples were cereals, beans, crushed wheat, lentils, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, soup and plenty of breads. Fruits were a delicacy, especially apples which could be stored; sometimes, apricot and blueberry jams; and more often molasses and “rahat el halkoum”.
Most of the toys and game equipments were homemade. They used to fabricate rectangular flat wood plates, mark a number of 3 decimals on it and a string to attach around the forehead. They divided themselves in two groups and scattered in the woods hiding their numbers on tree trunks. If the enemy guessed the hidden number attached to the front head then the opposite member was out of the game until everyone in one team was out. With time, many of these masks would become marked one way or another and the unfortunate wearers soon found themselves guessed out immediately, no matter how tightly they hid their front head closely to a tree trunk.
They also made rudimentary balls and divided themselves into two teams: the member hit by the thrown ball was “killed” and transferred to the opposite line unless he caught the ball and then the thrower was considered eliminated. They fabricated backgammon and tic tac toe gizmos and the like games. The most rewarding type of equipment were sling shots, wooden swords and arches; the kids would go out hunting rabbits and squirrels within a short range because wild beasts were commonly found such as hyenas, wild boars, and wild dogs.
This system of schooling was expanded to towns at lower altitude for a shorter winter season of only 4 months. Somehow, a few of these schools constructed annexes around their grounds with the help of the military garrisons close by and were transformed into major production centers for army supplies and exported objects. In the winter season skilled families of the interned children would manufacture goods and help in the maintenance of the institution while the remaining of the year the school and its annexes would be invaded by skilled workers occupying the living quarters for 6 months.
There were cases of greedy administrators in tandem with local officials abusing children as slave workers and delaying the release of the able and skilled children. Families got wind of these awful practices and stricter monitoring procedures of these institutions were established. Families were encouraged to resume sending their children to the nearest parochial schools for a couple of hours during the busy seasons in return for preferential winter work facilities at the boarding schools. These boarding schools became popular and families from afar trekked their children to Baskinta until new boarding schools were available and mushroomed to every district in Mount Lebanon.
This system of boarding schools developed into more professional institutions : Overseas parents inscribed their children for a substantial sum of money in return for lengthier educational periods and better accommodations for housing different age groups of students. In the newer more professional boarding schools with diverse ethnic and religious affiliations there occurred a few religious frictions among the adult students without any repercussions to the children who found happiness and joy in being together, energetic and secure in their daydreams. Like most institutions in the Levant, the boarding schools experienced traumatic and feverish times but never took roots to grow and then suffered sudden death.
After lengthy discussions, Antoun agreed with Mariam that it would be an excellent decision to offer incentives to municipalities for arranging educational facilities. Instead of villages constructing more churches, the central government offered to incur half the expenses for constructing schools, the wages of the instructors and lunch for all the students. In return for free education for a 4-year period the graduates would refund part of the expenses after securing better employment. This edict would be formalized so that no State investment would be contemplated without local and regional investments and participation. The rational was that if investments were shared by the well to do inhabitants who tend to mind a return on investments then, proper and timely execution of projects were more secured since founded on individual interest.
Within a year Antoun appointed Mariam Najjar as his education counselor. Mariam encouraged many visiting scholars to settle in Mount Lebanon and more opportunities for various disciplines sprouted in education that required specialized higher educational institutions.
Adonis Diaries 