The mercenary Mediterranean: sovereignty, religion, and violence in the medieval crown of Aragon

Sometime in April 1285, five Muslim horsemen crossed from the Islamic kingdom of Granada into the realms of the Christian Crown of Aragon to meet with the king, who showered them with gifts, including sumptuous cloth and decorative saddles, for agreeing to enter the Crown's service. They were n...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fancy, Hussein Anwar 1974- (Author)
Format: Print Book
Language:English
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WorldCat: WorldCat
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Chicago London The University of Chicago Press 2018
In:Year: 2018
Edition:Paperback edition
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Aragon / Mercenary / Muslim / Cultural contact / History 1250-1350
Further subjects:B Mudéjares History Spain Aragon
B Foreign enlistment History Spain Aragon
B Muslims History 14th century Africa, North
B Soldiers of fortune History 14th century Spain Aragon
B Muslims History 13th century Africa, North
B Soldiers of fortune History 13th century Spain Aragon
B Aragon (Spain) History, Military 14th century
B Muslims History 13th century Spain Aragon
B Aragon (Spain) History, Military 13th century
B Muslims History 14th century Spain Aragon
Description
Summary:Sometime in April 1285, five Muslim horsemen crossed from the Islamic kingdom of Granada into the realms of the Christian Crown of Aragon to meet with the king, who showered them with gifts, including sumptuous cloth and decorative saddles, for agreeing to enter the Crown's service. They were not the first or only Muslim soldiers to do so. Over the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Christian kings of Aragon recruited thousands of foreign Muslim soldiers to serve in their armies and as members of their royal courts. Based on extensive research in Arabic, Latin, and Romance archives, this book explores this little-known and misunderstood history. Far from marking the triumph of tolerance, the author argues, the alliance of Christian kings and Muslim soldiers depended on and reproduced ideas of religious difference. Their shared history represents a unique opportunity to reconsider the relation of medieval religion to politics, and to demonstrate how modern assumptions about this relationship have impeded our understanding of both past and present
Item Description:Includes bibliographical references (pages [265]-298) and index (pages [299]-310)
ISBN:022659789X