This book is a collection of milestone articles of a leading scholar in the study of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, a crossroads of Latin-Christian, Greek-Byzantine, and Arab-Islamic cultures and one of the most fascinating but also one of the most neglected kingdoms in the medieval world. Some of his articles were published in influential journals such as English Historical Review, Viator, Mediterranean Historical Review, and Papers of the British School at Rome, while others appeared in hard-to-obtain festschrifts, proceedings of international conferences, and so on. The articles included here, based on analysis of Latin, Greek, and Arabic documents as well as multi-lingual parchments, explore subjects of interest in medieval Mediterranean world such as Norman administrations, multi-cultural courts, Christian-Muslim diplomacy, conquests and migrations, religious tolerance and conflicts, cross-cultural contacts, and so forth. Some of them dig deep into curious specific topics, while others settle disputes among scholars and correct our antiquated interpretations. His attention to the administrative structure of the kingdom of Sicily, whose bureaucracy was staffed by Greeks, Muslims and Latins, has been a particularly important part of his work, where he has engaged in major debates with other scholars in the field.

From the 12th century onwards merchants from the north Italian and southern French towns were able to take advantage of Christian conquests in southern Italy, Sicily and the Levant to penetrate and dominate the markets of these regions and of North Africa. The articles collected in this volume examine the economic, social and religious impact of this combination of trade and conquest . They include studies of the survival of Jews and Muslims in Sicily, of the debate about the 'under-development' of medieval southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia, of relations between the rulers of those regions and the merchants, and of mercantile penetration into the kingdom of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Tunis in the wake of Crusaders and Sicilian kings. A partir du 12e siècle, les marchands venant des villes du Nord de l’Italie et du Sud de la France étaient devenus à même de tirer avantage des conquêtes chrétiennes en Italie du Sud, en Sicile et dans le Levant et de pénétrer, ainsi que de dominer les marchés de ces différentes régions et de l’Afrique du Nord. Les articles rassemblés dans ce volume examinent l’impact économique, social et religieux de cette association entre la conquête et le commerce. Le recueil comprend des études sur la survie des Juifs et des Musulmans en Sicile, sur le débat à propos du ’sous-développement’ de l’Italie méridionale, de la Sicile et de la Sardaigne au Moyen Age, sur les rapports entre les dirigeants de ces régions et les marchands, ainsi que sur la pénétration mercantile du royaume de Jérusalem, de Chypre et de Tunis, dans le sillon des Croisés et des rois de Sicile.

Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily, King of Jerusalem, has, since his death in 1250, enjoyed a reputation as one of the most remarkable monarchs in the history of Europe. His wide cultural tastes, his apparent tolerance of Jews and Muslims, his defiance of the papacy, and his supposed aim of creating a new, secular world order make him a figure especially attractive to contemporary historians. But as David Abulafia shows in this powerfully written biography, Frederick was much less tolerant and far-sighted in his cultural, religious, and political ambitions than is generally thought. Here, Frederick is revealed as the thorough traditionalist he really was: a man who espoused the same principles of government as his twelfth-century predecessors, an ardent leader of the Crusades, and a king as willing to make a deal with Rome as any other ruler in medieval Europe. Frederick's realm was vast. Besides ruling the region of Europe that encompasses modern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, eastern France, and northern Italy, he also inherited the Kingdom of Sicily and parts of the Mediterranean that include what are now Israel, Lebanon, Malta, and Cyprus. In addition, his Teutonic knights conquered the present-day Baltic States, and he even won influence along the coasts of Tunisia. Abulafia is the first to place Frederick in the wider historical context his enormous empire demands. Frederick's reign, Abulafia clearly shows, marked the climax of the power struggle between the medieval popes and the Holy Roman Emperors, and the book stresses Frederick's steadfast dedication to the task of preserving both dynasty and empire. Through the course of this rich, groundbreaking narrative, Frederick emerges as less of the innovator than he is usually portrayed. Rather than instituting a centralized autocracy, he was content to guarantee the continued existence of the customary style of government in each area he ruled: in Sicily he appeared a mighty despot, but in Germany he placed his trust in regional princes, and never dreamed of usurping their power. Abulafia shows that this pragmatism helped bring about the eventual transformation of medieval Europe into modern nation-states. The book also sheds new light on the aims of Frederick in Italy and the Near East, and concentrates as well on the last fifteen years of the Emperor's life, a period until now little understood. In addition, Abulfia has mined the papal registers in the Secret Archive of the Vatican to provide a new interpretation of Frederick's relations with the papacy. And his attention to Frederick's register of documents from 1239-40--a collection hitherto neglected--has yielded new insights into the cultural life of the German court. In the end, a fresh and fascinating picture develops of the most enigmatic of German rulers, a man whose accomplishments have been grossly distorted over the centuries.

This book presents an innovative and detailed study of the ports of the Crown of Aragon in the initial stage of the maritime expansion of medieval Catalonia, comparing them to the Tuscan coast and port-city of Pisa in the decades that witnessed the apogee of its power in the Mediterranean, and looking for common, or contrasting, traits and patterns of development. The approach is multilevel and multidisciplinary, stressing geomorphological, geographical, political, and commercial factors, and drawing on archaeological investigations as well as published ad unpublished historical documents.

The Arabo-Islamic heritage of the Islam is among the richest, most diverse, and longest-lasting literary traditions in the world. Born from a culture and religion that valued teaching, Arabo-Islamic learning spread from the seventh century and has had a lasting impact until the present.In The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning leading scholars around the world present twenty-five studies explore diverse areas of Arabo-Islamic heritage in honor of a renowned scholar and teacher, Dr. Wadad A. Kadi (Prof. Emerita, University of Chicago). The volume includes contributions in three main areas: History, Institutions, and the Use of Documentary Sources; Religion, Law, and Islamic Thought; Language, Literature, and Heritage which reflect Prof. Kadi’s contributions to the field. Contributors:Sean W. Anthony; Ramzi Baalbaki; Jonathan A.C. Brown; Fred M. Donner; Mohammad Fadel; Kenneth Garden; Sebastian Günther; Li Guo; Heinz Halm; Paul L. Heck; Nadia Jami; Jeremy Johns; Maher Jarrar; Marion Holmes Katz; Scott C. Lucas; Angelika Neuwirth; Bilal Orfali; Wen-chin Ouyang; Judith Pfeiffer; Maurice A. Pomerantz; Riḍwān al-Sayyid ; Aram A. Shahin; Jens Scheiner; John O. Voll; Stefan Wild.

Series: Short Oxford History of Italy