Armor and weaponry were central to Islamic culture not only as a means of conquest and the spread of the faith, but also as symbols of status, wealth, and power. The finest arms were made by master craftsmen working with the leading designers, goldsmiths, and jewelers, whose work transformed utilitarian military equipment into courtly works of art. This book reveals the diversity and artistic quality of one of the most important and encyclopedic collections of its kind in the West. The Metropolitan Museum's holdings span ten centuries and include representative pieces from almost every Islamic culture from Spain to the Caucasus. The collection includes rare early works, among them the oldest documented Islamic sword, and is rich in helmets and body armor, decorated with calligraphy and arabesques, that were worn in Iran and Anatolia in the late fifteenth century. Other masterpieces include a jeweled short sword (yatagan) with a blade of "watered" steel that comes from the court of Süleyman the Magnificent, a seventeenth-century gold-inlaid armor associated with Shah Jahan, and two gold-inlaid flintlock firearms belonging to the guard of Tipu Sultan of Mysore. Presenting 126 objects, each handsomely photographed and richly documented with a detailed description and discussion of its technical, historical, and artistic importance, this overview of the Met's holdings is supplemented by an introductory essay on the formation of the collection, and appendixes on iconography and on Turkman-style armor.

Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled 'emperors of the Romans'. It underwent kaleidoscopic territorial and structural changes, yet recovered repeatedly from disaster: even after the near-impregnable Constantinople fell in 1204, variant forms of the empire reconstituted themselves. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500-1492 tells the story, tracing political and military events, religious controversies and economic change. It offers clear, authoritative chapters on the main events and periods, with more detailed chapters on outlying regions and neighbouring societies and powers of Byzantium. With aids such as maps, a glossary, an alternative place-name table and references to English translations of sources, it will be valuable as an introduction. However, it also offers stimulating new approaches and important findings, making it essential reading for postgraduates and for specialists. The revised paperback edition contains a new preface by the editor and will offer an invaluable companion to survey courses in Byzantine history.

In this ground-breaking work on the Ottoman town of Manastir (Bitola), Robert Mihajlovski, provides a detailed account of the development of Islamic, Christian and Sephardic religious architecture and culture as it manifested in the town and precincts.

A Source Book for Mediæval History is a scholarly piece by Oliver J. Thatcher. It covers all major historical events and leaders from the Germania of Tacitus in the 1st century to the decrees of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century.

Writers of both fiction and non-fiction have long been fascinated by the Middle Ages, and this guide summarizes and evaluates more than 500 picture books, novels, nonfiction, and reference books that have been written for readers in grades K - 12. It also offers professional resources for educators and suggestions for classroom activities.

Succinctly traces the Byzantine Empire's thousand-year course with emphasis on political development and social, aesthetic, economic and ecclesiastical factors

For some 1,000 years, the Southeastern part of Europe was under the sway of the Eastern Roman Empire, later also known as Byzantium. A watershed in the history of Byzantium was the legislation of the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. Under his reign, a codification of Roman law was achieved, which was to remain not only the bedrock of Byzantine law, but which also, after its rediscovery in Italy in the 11th century, was to become the foundation of the continental European legal tradition. During the 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries, the Byzantine emperors issued privilege acts to the Italian city-republics of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa. This doctoral thesis examines these Byzantine imperial acts from a legal perspective. The book examines such questions as: What is the legal information that these acts provide? What law do they presuppose and apply? Did both parties have law in common and if so, of what does it consist? Is Roman law assumed to be binding in these acts as part of that common law, and if so, in which cases and what are the examples given? Investigating the possible genesis of a common legal understanding in Europe before the 11th century may contribute to an explanation of why Justinian's law became prominent in the West. In the last chapter, common legal issues in these acts - such as grants of immovable property, issues dealing with justice, and shipwreck and salvage provisions - have been subjected to a comparative analysis and in their turn compared with other Byzantine or Western sources. The study of legal acts of the medieval period at a European level may help in answering the question of whether, long before the formation of today's Europe, it was already bound by common legal forms. This study brings together a small piece of the puzzle of how a common European legal heritage was formed. Dissertation.