694 Third Orders
The Heroic Age,with notes and additions by Lesley Smith
and Benedicta Ward (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001).
Third Orders See DOMINICAN ORDER; FRANCISCAN
ORDER.
Thomas à Becket SeeBECKET,THOMAS.
Thomas à Kempis (Thomas Hemerken) (1379/80–
1471)canon near Cologne, writer
Born Thomas Hemerken at Kempen in the Rhineland in
1379, he studied after 1392 at the school of Deventer,
which was greatly influenced by the DEVOTIO MODERNA.In
1406 he entered and took his vows at the convent of
Saint Agnietenberg near Zwolle. He became procurator,
subprior twice, novice master, chronicler, and official
scribe of the convent. He wrote ascetic works and tradi-
tionally composed the Imitation of Christ,for which he
was at least one of the final reviewers. That famous work,
which began to circulate in 1418, promoted an essentially
christologically centered spirituality. He has also been
considered one of the most representative figures of the
movement of the Devotio moderna. He also wrote ser-
mons, devotional tracts, and saints’ lives. He died in the
monastery of Saint Agnietenberg on August 8, 1471.
Further reading:Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of
Christ, trans. Ronald Knox and Michael Oakley (New
York: Sheed & Ward, 1960); Albert Hyma, The Christian
Renaissance: A History of the “Devotio Moderna,”2d ed.
(Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1965); J. E. G. de Mont-
morency, Thomas à Kempis: His Age and Book (1906;
reprint, Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1970); R.
R. Post, The Modern Devotion: Confrontation with Reforma-
tion and Humanism(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968).
Thomas Aquinas SeeAQUINAS,THOMAS.
Thousand and One Nights(The Arabic entertainment,
Alf layla wa-layala) The Thousand and One Nightswas a
collection of Arabic popular narrative tales that encom-
passes adventure, war, trickery, love, animal fables, travel
stories, folktales, and historical anecdotes. Animals speak
and normal humans deal with demons. Scheherazade or
Shahrazad, the daughter of a king’s minister, was its sto-
ryteller who supposedly spontaneously tells tales to delay
her execution. She tells them to King Shahryar, who
loathed women because an earlier wife was unfaithful. He
thus married and killed a new wife every day. In an effort
to induce him to cease this evil practice, Scheherazade
married him and told a story without an ending every
night that must be finished the following night.
The Thousand and One Nights,then, was a narrative
about storytelling with an important lesson. Storytelling
functioned here, and in the stories themselves, to prevent
killing and even to obtain mercy and pardons. In some
versions, it included stories about the seven voyages of
Sindbad and the adventures of Ali Baba and Aladdin. It
was only “discovered” by Western readers in the 18th and
19th centuries, but the tales were known in many and
various ways in Europe earlier. Scheherazade eventually
persuaded the king to abandon his cruel practice.
Further reading:The Arabian Nights,trans. Husain
Haddawy (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990); Ferial Gha-
zoul, The Arabian Nights: A Structural Analysis(Cairo:
Cairo Associated Institution for the Study and Presenta-
tion of Arab Cultural Values, 1980); Richard C. Hovan-
nisian and Georges Sabagh, eds., The Thousand and One
Nights in Arabic Literature and Society(Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1997); Robert Irwin, The Arabian
Nights: A Companion(London: Allen Lane, 1994); Eva
Sallis, Sheherazade through the Looking Glass: The Meta-
morphosis of the Thousand and One Nights(Richmond:
Curzon, 1999).tidjara SeeTRADE AND COMMERCE.Timbuktu(Tombouctou, Timbuctoo) A city in West
AFRICA, Timbuktu is located on the Niger River in
present-day MALI. It was always important because of its
location on the trade routes between north and south,
especially those for GOLD. It started out as a seasonal
camp for nomadic Tuaregs, who used the area around it
for grazing. Named after one of the slaves who worked
there, it quickly became a trading center for SALT, gold,
and TEXTILES. It became Muslim under the Mali Empire
around 1240. The king of Mali, Mansa Musa (r.
1307–37), built the town’s great MOSQUEon his return
from his pilgrimage to MECCA. He also made it the center
of Muslim culture in West Africa. The SONGHAImade it
part of their empire in 1468 and the city continued to
flourish. Muslim and Christian visitors remarked on its
schools, palaces, mosques, markets, and sophisticated
court life. Timbuktu remained prosperous until the late
16th century, when it fell to invaders from MOROCCO.
Further reading:Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah Sadi,
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sadi’s Ta’rikh al-
Sudan down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents,
trans. and ed. John O. Hunwick (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1999); Brian Gardner, The Quest for Timbuctoo(London:
Cassell, 1968); Elias N. Saad, Social History of Timbuktu:
The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables, 1400–1900
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).time and its practical application In the early Mid-
dle Ages time was considered an ordered reality that
monks devised and to which they submitted their life to
introduce order into daily regimens. These canonical