Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, C.1050-1614 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521889391)

Through crusades and expulsions, Muslim communities survived for over 500 years, thriving in medieval Europe. This comprehensive study explores how the presence of Islamic minorities transformed Europe in everything from architecture to cooking, literature to science, and served as a stimulus for Christian society to define itself. Combining a series of regional studies, Catlos compares the varied experiences of Muslims across Iberia, southern Italy, the Crusader Kingdoms and Hungary to examine those ideologies that informed their experiences, their place in society and their sense of themselves as Muslims. This is a pioneering new narrative of the history of medieval and early modern Europe from the perspective of Islamic minorities; one which is not, as we might first assume, driven by ideology, isolation and decline, but instead one in which successful communities persisted because they remained actively integrated within the larger Christian and Jewish societies in which they lived.

Author: Brian A. Catlos
ISBN-10: 0521889391
ISBN-13: 9780521889391
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/20/2014
Pages: 650
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.30lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.20w x 1.60d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2014 pg. 320