For almost sixty years Professor David Jacoby devoted his research to the economic, social and cultural history of the Eastern Mediterranean and this new collection reflects his impact on the study of the interactions between the Italian city-states, Byzantium, the Latin East and the realm of Islam. Contributors to this volume are prominent scholars from across Medieval Studies and leading historians of the younger generation.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the history, archaeology and architecture of the city of Ramla from the time of its foundation as the capital of Umayyad Palestine around 715 until the end of Ottoman rule in 1917.

The Wrong View of History is a provocative analysis of life, predominately in The Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. It dissects different aspects of daily life, from childhood, education, sex, shame, warfare, torture, cuisine to other, more philosophical views on time, space and ever-present societal changes. It shows the reader, how wrong it is, to judge these past societies through the prism of our understanding, through the values imposed on us by our morals and standards of todays conduct. A libertine openness in sexual practices may belong on some sleazy porn site today, but was the way of life, during the times of Marquis de Sade. This book is full of such examples from all facets of life. All the while, the author is keeping a light, humorous style, making it an easy and enjoyable read.

Unlike traditional references that recount political and military history, this encyclopedia includes entries on a wide range of aspects related to daily life during the medieval crusades. The medieval crusades were fundamental in shaping world history and provide background for the conflict that exists between the West and the Muslim world today. This two-volume set presents fundamental information about the medieval crusades as a movement and its ideological impact on both the crusaders and the peoples of the East. It takes a broad look at numerous topics related to crusading, with the goal of helping readers to better understand what inspired the crusaders, the hardships associated with crusading, and how crusading has influenced the development of cultures both in the East and the West. The first of the two thematically arranged volumes considers topics such as the arts, economics and work, food and drink, family and gender, and fashion and appearance. The second volume considers topics such as housing and community, politics and warfare, recreation and social customs, religion and beliefs, and science and technology. Within each topical section are alphabetically arranged reference entries, complete with cross-references and suggestions for further reading. Selections from primary source documents, each accompanied by an introductory headnote, give readers first-hand accounts of the crusades.

Research on the East Slavs in the medieval period has considerably changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The emergence of new states forced a rethinking of many aspects of the history and culture of the early East Slavs as the subject became increasingly disentangled from the umbrella of Byzantine studies and fruitful collaboration was fostered between scholars worldwide. This book, which brings together scholars from Russia, Ukraine, western Europe and North America, of several generations, presents a broad overview of the main results of the last three decades of research and mutual collaboration. This is important work, providing a much-needed counterbalance to studies of western Europe in the period, which has been the main focus of study, with the lands of the East Slavs relatively neglected.