Anglo-Saxon Perceptions of the Islamic World

Anglo-Saxon Perceptions of the Islamic World
Author: Katharine Scarfe Beckett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2003-10-16
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 113944090X

Download Anglo-Saxon Perceptions of the Islamic World Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

In this book, Scarfe Beckett is concerned with representations of the Islamic world prevalent in Anglo-Saxon England. Using a wide variety of literary, historical and archaeological evidence, she argues that the first perceptions of Arabs, Ismaelites and Saracens which derived from Christian exegesis preconditioned wester expressions of hostility and superiority towards peoples of the Islamic world, and that these received ideas prevailed even as material contacts increased between England and Muslim territory. Medieval texts invariably represented Muslim Arabs as Saracens and Ismaelites (or Hagarenes), described by Jerome as biblical enemies of the Christian world three centuries before Muhammad's lifetime. Two early ideas in particular - that Saracens worshipped Venus and dissembled their own identity - continued into the early modern period. This finding has interesting implications for earlier theses by Edward Said and Norman Daniel concerning the history of English perceptions of Islam.

Universal Chronicles in the High Middle Ages

Universal Chronicles in the High Middle Ages
Author: Michele Campopiano
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 1903153735

Download Universal Chronicles in the High Middle Ages Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

New perspectives on and interpretations of the popular medieval genre of the universal chronicle.

Historical Evolution of Perceptions of Muslims

Historical Evolution of Perceptions of Muslims
Author: Mohd Anas
Publisher: BENEST BOOKS
Total Pages: 133
Release:
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN:

Download Historical Evolution of Perceptions of Muslims Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"Historical Evolution of Perceptions of Muslims" offers a comprehensive exploration of how societal perceptions of Muslims have evolved over centuries. Through a meticulous examination of historical events, cultural interactions, and socio-political shifts, this book uncovers the complexities and transformations in the portrayal of Muslims across different eras. From the early formation of perceptions during the rise of Islam to contemporary global challenges, the book provides insights into how these perceptions have influenced and been influenced by the broader historical and cultural contexts. By delving into the impact of major historical events, including the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire's role, colonialism, and modern geopolitical developments, this work aims to shed light on the nuanced realities behind the often-misunderstood image of Muslims, offering readers a deeper understanding of their place in global history and contemporary society.

Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713

Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713
Author: Gerald MacLean
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2011-05-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199203180

Download Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713 Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Explores the interactions between Britain and the Islamic world from 1558 to 1713, showing how much scholars, diplomats, traders, captives, travellers, clerics, and chroniclers were involved in developing and describing those interactions.

Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages

Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages
Author: Michael Frassetto
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2019-11-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1498577571

Download Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The conflict and contact between Muslims and Christians in the Middle Ages is among the most important but least appreciated developments of the period from the seventh to the fourteenth century. Michael Frassetto argues that the relationship between these two faiths during the Middle Ages was essential to the cultural and religious developments of Christianity and Islam—even as Christians and Muslims often found themselves engaged in violent conflict. Frassetto traces the history of those conflicts and argues that these holy wars helped create the identity that defined the essential characteristics of Christians and Muslims. The polemic works that often accompanied these holy wars was important, Frassetto contends, because by defining the essential evil of the enemy, Christian authors were also defining their own beliefs and practices. Holy war was not the only defining element of the relationship between Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages, and Frassetto explains that everyday contacts between Christian and Muslim leaders and scholars generated more peaceful relations and shaped the literary, intellectual, and religious culture that defined medieval and even modern Christianity and Islam.

Imagining the Jew in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture

Imagining the Jew in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture
Author: Samantha Zacher
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2016-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442646675

Download Imagining the Jew in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The thirteen essays in Imagining the Jew in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture examine visual and textual representations of Jews before 1066.

Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West

Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West
Author: Daniel G. König
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2015-11-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191057010

Download Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West provides an insight into how the Arabic-Islamic world perceived medieval Western Europe in an age that is usually associated with the rise and expansion of Islam, the Spanish Reconquista, and the Crusades. Previous scholarship has maintained that the Arabic-Islamic world regarded Western Europe as a cultural backwater at the periphery of civilization that clung to a superseded religion. It holds mental barriers imposed by Islam responsible for the Muslim world's arrogant and ignorant attitude towards its northern neighbours. This study refutes this view by focussing on the mechanisms of transmission and reception that characterized the flow of information between both cultural spheres. By explaining how Arabic-Islamic scholars acquired and processed data on medieval Western Europe, it traces the two-fold 'emergence' of Latin-Christian Europe — a sphere that increasingly encroached upon the Mediterranean and therefore became more and more important in Arabic-Islamic scholarly literature. Chapter One questions previous interpretations of related Arabic-Islamic records that reduce a large and differentiated range of Arabic-Islamic perceptions to a single basic pattern subsumed under the keywords 'ignorance', 'indifference', and 'arrogance'. Chapter Two lists channels of transmission by means of which information on the Latin-Christian sphere reached the Arabic-Islamic sphere. Chapter Three deals with the general factors that influenced the reception and presentation of this data at the hands of Arabic-Islamic scholars. Chapters Four to Eight analyse how these scholars acquired and dealt with information on themes such as the western dimension of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths, the Franks, the papacy and, finally, Western Europe in the age of Latin-Christian expansionism. Against this background, Chapter Nine provides a concluding re-evaluation.

God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215

God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
Author: David Levering Lewis
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 505
Release: 2009-01-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393067904

Download God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

From the two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author, God’s Crucible brings to life “a furiously complex age” (New York Times Book Review). Resonating as profoundly today as when it was first published to widespread critical acclaim a decade ago, God’s Crucible is a bold portrait of Islamic Spain and the birth of modern Europe from one of our greatest historians. David Levering Lewis’s narrative, filled with accounts of some of the most epic battles in world history, reveals how cosmopolitan, Muslim al-Andalus flourished—a beacon of cooperation and tolerance—while proto-Europe floundered in opposition to Islam, making virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, religious intolerance, perpetual war, and slavery. This masterful history begins with the fall of the Persian and Roman empires, followed by the rise of the prophet Muhammad and five centuries of engagement between the Muslim imperium and an emerging Europe. Essential and urgent, God’s Crucible underscores the importance of these early, world-altering events whose influence remains as current as today’s headlines.

Inhabited Spaces

Inhabited Spaces
Author: Nicole Guenther Discenza
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2017-01-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 148751154X

Download Inhabited Spaces Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

We tend to think of early medieval people as unsophisticated about geography because their understandings of space and place often differed from ours, yet theirs were no less complex. Anglo-Saxons conceived of themselves as living at the centre of a cosmos that combined order and plenitude, two principles in a constant state of tension. In Inhabited Spaces, Nicole Guenther Discenza examines a variety of Anglo-Latin and Old English texts to shed light on Anglo-Saxon understandings of space. Anglo-Saxon models of the universe featured a spherical earth at the centre of a spherical universe ordered by God. They sought to shape the universe into knowable places, from where the earth stood in the cosmos, to the kingdoms of different peoples, and to the intimacy of the hall. Discenza argues that Anglo-Saxon works both construct orderly place and illuminate the limits of human spatial control.