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 of Aragon; 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 sources; The Mercenary Mediterranean explores this little-known and misunderstood history. Far from marking the triumph of toleration; Hussein Fancy 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.
#893172 in Books 2015-10-21 2015-10-21Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .10 x 6.00l; .0 #File Name: 022628462X256 pages
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