The history of the Reconquista - the Christian reconquest of Spain from the Arabs - has proved an increasingly stimulating field of historical research. On the one hand, the struggle forced Spanish society into a mould which then shaped the course of its expansion into the Americas, on the other it gave rise to a unique process of accommodation and acculturation. Dr Lourie here concentrates on the realms of the Crown of Aragon in the 12th-14th centuries. The first articles deal with the evolution of the crusading spirit, with geopolitics, notably the rivalry between Aragon and Castille, and with the progress of Christian colonisation. The next section examines the conflicting demands of ideology, demography and colonisation, and includes one major new study on Christian ambivalence towards the Mudejars, the conquered Muslim population. Dr Lourie seeks to throw this attitude into sharper focus by comparing the Muslim situation with that of the Jews, and it is to the latter and their relations with Christians that her last five articles are devoted.

“A truly extraordinary reevaluation of historical events in light of new theoretical approaches . . . groundbreaking.” —Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies Colonizing Christianity employs postcolonial critique to analyze the transformations of Greek and Latin religious identity in the wake of the Fourth Crusade. Through close readings of texts from the period of Latin occupation, this book argues that the experience of colonization splintered the Greek community over how best to respond to the Latin other while illuminating the mechanisms by which Western Christians authorized and exploited the Christian East. The experience of colonial subjugation opened permanent fissures within the Orthodox community, which struggled to develop a consistent response to aggressive demands for submission to the Roman Church. “Colonizing Christianity's analysis of a number of texts through the lens of colonial and postcolonial theory makes for useful, important, reading. There are significant stakes both for medieval historians and those committed to finding pathways of reconciliation among contemporary Christians.” —David Perry, author of Sacred Plunder: Venice and the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade

Why did capitalism and colonialism arise in Europe and not elsewhere? Why were parliamentarian and democratic forms of government founded there? What factors led to Europe’s unique position in shaping the world? Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, Why Europe? tackles these classic questions with illuminating results. Michael Mitterauer traces the roots of Europe’s singularity to the medieval era, specifically to developments in agriculture. While most historians have located the beginning of Europe’s special path in the rise of state power in the modern era, Mitterauer establishes its origins in rye and oats. These new crops played a decisive role in remaking the European family, he contends, spurring the rise of individualism and softening the constraints of patriarchy. Mitterauer reaches these conclusions by comparing Europe with other cultures, especially China and the Islamic world, while surveying the most important characteristics of European society as they took shape from the decline of the Roman empire to the invention of the printing press. Along the way, Why Europe? offers up a dazzling series of novel hypotheses to explain the unique evolution of European culture.

In the thirteenth century, crusading armies unleashed a relentless holy war against the pagan tribal groups of the Eastern Baltic, whose territories were conquered and reorganized into Christian states run by the Teutonic Order, bishops, and their cathedral chapters. But the changes introduced alongside Christianity not only transformed the culture of eastern Baltic societies, but also had a profound impact on the local environment. This is the first of two volumes, which share the aim of changing our understanding of the environmental impact of crusading and colonization in northeastern Europe. The present volume provides a detailed inter-disciplinary comparison of the environmental transformations associated with the emergence of the crusader states of Livonia and Prussia

The Archaeology of the Prussian Crusade explores the archaeology and material culture of the crusade against the Prussian tribes in the 13th century, and the subsequent society created by the Teutonic Order which lasted into the 16th century. It provides the first synthesis of the material culture of a unique crusading society created in the south-eastern Baltic region over the course of the 13th century. It encompasses the full range of archaeological data, from standing buildings through to artefacts and ecofacts, integrated with written and artistic sources. The work is sub-divided into broadly chronological themes, beginning with a historical outline, exploring the settlements, castles, towns and landscapes of the Teutonic Order’s theocratic state and concluding with the role of the reconstructed and ruined monuments of medieval Prussia in the modern world in the context of modern Polish culture. This is the first work on the archaeology of medieval Prussia in any language, and is intended as a comprehensive introduction to a period and area of growing interest. This book represents an important contribution to promoting International awareness of the cultural heritage of the Baltic region, which has been rapidly increasing over the last few decades.

In the thirteenth century, crusading armies unleashed a relentless holy war against the pagan tribal groups of the Eastern Baltic, whose territories were conquered and reorganized into Christian states run by the Teutonic Order, bishops, and their cathedral chapters. Castles were built, towns established, and colonists encouraged to settle under the leadership of the new Christian theocracy. But the changes introduced alongside Christianity not only transformed the culture of eastern Baltic societies, but also had a profound and--for the Baltic tribes, who saw many aspects of the natural world as sacred--deeply significant impact on the local environment. This seminal period in the environmental history of north-eastern Europe has been the focus of the ERC-funded research programme, 'The Ecology of Crusading', which explored the physical and conceptual ecological transformations associated with warfare, colonization, and religious conversion. This second Terra Sacra volume draws together a series of case-studies on Livonia and Prussia that provide a unique snapshot of recent research into environmental change during the Baltic Crusades and also explore long-term trends in landscape organization and environmental exploitation. The volume covers six key themes: building-construction in the conquered territories; food supply to the houses of the Teutonic Order; life in the multi-cultural towns of the eastern Baltic; transforming the physical landscape; transforming the spiritual landscape; and the Baltic Ordensland in its regional context. It forms a companion to Environment, Colonization, and the Baltic Crusader States: Terra Sacra I.

By the mid-twelfth century the lands on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, from Finland to the frontiers of Poland, were Catholic Europe’s final frontier: a vast, undeveloped expanse of lowlands, forest and waters, inhabited by peoples belonging to the Finnic and Baltic language groups. In the course of the following three centuries, Finland, Estonia, Livonia and Prussia were incorporated into the Latin world through processes of conquest, Christianisation and settlement, and brought under the rule of Western monarchies and ecclesiastical institutions. Lithuania was left as the last pagan polity in Europe, yet able to accept Christianity on its own terms in 1386. The Western conquest of the Baltic lands advanced the frontier of Latin Christendom to that of the Russian Orthodox world, and had profound and long lasting effects on the institutions, society and culture of the region lasting into modern times. This volume presents 21 key studies (2 of them translated from German for the first time) on this crucial period in the development of North-Eastern Europe, dealing with crusade and conversion, the establishment of Western rule, settlement and society, and the development of towns, trade and the economy. It includes a classified bibliography of the main works published in Western languages since World War II together with an introduction by the editor.