The original title, assuming there was one, is lost.
Conventional titles: Chronicle of 741, Chronica Byzantia-Arabica (‘Byzantine-Arabic Chronicle’), Continuatio Byzantia-Arabica (being a continuation of John of Biclar’s Chronicle). The most accurate title is Chronica Hispana-Orientalia ad annum 724. DATE After 724, the last date referred to in the text, and possibly after the reign of al-Walīd II (r. 743-44) ORIGINAL LANGUAGE Latin (CHO), Greek or possibly Syriac (CO)
DESCRIPTION
The text opens with the death of the King of the Visigoths, Recared
(601), whose reign is described in the final section of John of Biclar’s
Chronicle. The anonymous compiler also inserts details of Iberian
history, for which he draws exclusively on Isidore of Seville’s Historia
Gothorum. A precise account of the battle of Tolosa in 721, taken
from an unknown source, is also included at the end. But the ‘Spanish
affairs’, as Hoyland calls them, only represent about a tenth of the contents
of the work, and seem to have been interpolated rather artificially
into the framework of another chronicle devoted to affairs of the
east. The final combination of this Chronica Orientalia (CO) and the
details of affairs in Iberia forms the Latin Chronica Hispana-Orientalia
(CHO).
No events after 724 are referred to, apart from the mention of the
caliphate of the Umayyad al-Walīd II (r. 743-44). This could have been
inserted later, and thus the CO must have been redacted soon after
724, and the final CHO compiled after 743-44.
The CO is focused on the eastern Mediterranean (Constantinople,
Syria and Egypt) and shows great knowledge of the history of Byzantium,
including its emperors and its relations with the Arabs. This
is the reason for Dubler’s assertion that it was based on Byzantine
sources, though this has not been proved, and it is surprising that the
CO does not give evidence of a pro-Byzantine bias. The description
of the wars between ‘Romans’ and ‘Saracens’ remains fairly neutral,
except for its disapproval of Maslama ibn 'Abd al-Malik’s slaughter of
the inhabitants of Pergamum during the reign of Sulaymān ibn 'Abd
al-Malik (715-17).
In spite of his Umayyad-centered viewpoint, the author of the CO
is not a Muslim. Even though he shows great respect for Muhammad, he says that his status as prophet was invented by his followers. The birth of Islam is also presented as a ‘rebellion’ against the Byzantines. The CO never defends Islamic faith, and the author seems to think that Mecca is in Mesopotamia – ‘in the desert
between Ur, the city of the Chaldeans, and Carras, the city of Mesopotamia’ (Carrhae or Harrān in the upper Jazīra). It can be assumed, with Collins, that the author of the CO was a Christian, and this chronicle seems to be a rather enthusiastic portrayal of the powerful Umayyad empire through the eyes of a non-Muslim subjecthttps://www.academia.edu/6485616/_The_Chronicle_of_741_dans_D._Thomas_et_B._Roggema_%C3%A9d._Christian-Muslim_Relations._A_Bibliographical_History._Volume_1_600-900_E.J._Brill_The_History_of_Christian-Muslim_Relations_11_2009_pp._284-289
Topic: Qur'anic studies today