Where the Middle Ages Begin
Beginning in 1170/1171, Salah al-Din built fortifications as the Fatimid vizier of Egypt. His considerations were primarily defensive in this period, following the Frankish campaign of 1168 that led to the siege of Cairo, and the Frankish-Byzantine naval expedition against Damietta in 1169.
This article is in direct contrast to an earlier one by Joseph Gill, in which he utilizes primary sources in an attempt to establish Pope Innocent III’s lack of responsibility in the outcome of the Crusade.
The Ismailis and their Role in the History of Medieval Syria and the Near East By Farhad Daftary and Azim Nanji Syria Medieval Citadels Between East and West, ed. Stefano Bianca (Geneva, 2007) Introduction: Whether overtly or covertly, the Ismailis have played an important role in the cultural history of Islam, particularly in Syria and […]
Masolino’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria: Mystic Saint or Female Role Model? Macdonald, Una (Published Online, 2007) Abstract In 1860 Jacob Burckhardt in his seminal book The civilization of the Renaissance in Italy argued that Renaissance women ‘stood on a footing of perfect equality with men’ and put forward the idea that the Renaissance represented a period […]
Gender, religion and society : a study of women and convent life in coptic orthodox Egypt Jeppson, Karolina M.A. Cultural Anthropology Thesis,Uppsala University, May (2003) Abstract This study deals with the interrelations between gender, religion and society in the context of contemporary Coptic Orthodox Egypt, with a focus on Coptic nuns and convent life. In the […]
Education and training under the Mamluks By Sevak Joseph Manjikian Master’s Thesis, McGill University, 1998 Abstract: This work analyzes the methods the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517) used to train and educate its military and religious elite. Three separate classes of people are examined: the Mamluks, the religious elite (‘ ulama‘) and finally the children of the […]
The Means of Agricultural Production: Muscle and Tools Bryer, Anthony The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington,D.C. (2002) Abstract The principal means of Byzantine production was the muscle of its peasants. The Byzantine state, its administration, defense, even patronage of its arts, eventually depended upon […]
How Eager He Was for the Victory of Islam!’: Saladin’s Strategy Against the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1171-1187) By Jan Vandeburie Paper given at the ISHA Seminar ‘War, Father of All – Warfare in History’, 7-12 June 2010, Nicosia Introduction: After Saladin assumed military command over Egypt as vizier in 1169, he took the opportunity to […]
Saint Peter and Paul Church (Sinan Pasha Mosque), Famagusta: A Forgotten Gothic Moment in Northern Cyprus Walsh, Michael Inferno, Volume IX, 2004 Abstract When Pope Urban II called the Council of Clermont in 1095, and in so doing ordered the start of the Crusades to the Holy Land, it was neither obvious nor predictable what […]
The Letters of Eljigidei, Hülegü, and Abaqa: Mongol Overtures or Christian Ventriloquism? Aigle, Denise (French Institute for the Middle East – Damascus) Inner Asia 7 (2005) Abstract This paper deals with the Great Khans and Ilkhans’ letters, and with the question of their authenticity. Generally, these letters were written in Mongolian, but very few of […]
During the ninth century and the first half of the tenth century, for example, Muslim navies were very active in the Mediterranean and, on the whole, they were successful.
The Debate on the Fourth Crusade Harris, Jonathan History Compass, Volume 2, Issue 1 (2004) Abstract This article examines attempts over the past two hundred years to account for the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople and its sack of the city in 1204. While nineteenth-century scholars dreamed up far-fetched conspiracy theories, their successors […]
The Fatimid Failure against the Crusaders at the End of the First Crusade By Jan Vandeburie Carnival, Vol.12 (2010) Introduction: This paper was presented at the ISHA conference 2010 in Helsinki. The theme of the conference, integration throughout history, gave me the opportunity to look at some important events at the end of the First […]
Funduq, Fondaco, and Khan in the Wake of Christian Commerce and Crusade Olivia Remie, Constable The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. (2001) Abstract The arrival of the Crusaders in the Near East brought warfare to the region, but their coming also encouraged an […]
“Western Islamic Art” Aanavi, Don The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 27, no. 3 (November, 1968) Abstract Islamic art springs from a vast geographic expanse from Spain to Indonesia and its history consists of a dynamic interchange of peoples and ideas. It is scomplex and as with the art of Europe or the Far East, […]
Homoerotic Liasons among the Mamluk Elite in Late Medieval Egypt and Syria By Everett K. Rowson Islamicate sexualities: translations across temporal geographies of desire, edited by Kathryn Babayan and Afsaneh Najmabadi (Harvard University Press, 2008) Extract: The French Dominican William of Adam, writing about 1318, explains “In the Saracen sect any sexual act at all […]
An Egyptian doctor at the Comnenian court By Krijnie N. Ciggaar Nea Rhome Vol. 2 (2005) Introduction: One of the attractions of studying the history and culture of Byzantium is the chance to come across texts which have gone almost unnoticed and which ask for further interpretation. New knowledge about artefacts and historical facts contribute […]
Spiritual Economy and Spiritual Craft: Monastic Pottery Production and Trade By Ivančica Dvoržak Schrunk Paper given at Living for Eternity: The White Monastery and its Neighborhood. Proceedings of a Symposium at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, March 6 – 9. 2003 Abstract: Our present knowledge of the production and distribution of Coptic pottery, greatly due […]
Some notes on the Portuguese and Frankish pirates during the Mamluk period (872-922AH./1468-1517AD.) By Wan Kamal Mujani Journal of General Studies, Vol.8 (2007) Introduction: In Islamic history the word ‘Mamluk’ means a slave, more specifically a white slave, used in the military establishment. In the Ayyubid kingdom, the Mamluks served in the armies and later […]
LETTING THE GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE: EVOLUTION OF AROMATHERAPY THROUGH THE AGES Lyubetska, Valeria (University of Manitoba) The Proceedings of the 11th Annual HISTORY OF MEDICINE DAYS, FACULTY OF MEDICINE THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, March 22nd and 23rd (2002) Abstract In this paper I will trace and highlight the major points in the history of Aromatherapy development. […]
Making Reputation Work: Re-examining law, labor and enforcement among Geniza businessmen By Jessica Goldberg Paper given at the conference Before and Beyond Europe: Economic Change in Historical Perspective, Yale University (February, 2011) Introduction: In this paper, I discuss how labor relationships and reputation worked among the eleventh-businessmen who left us some of their papers in […]
Ibn Wahshiyya and Magic Anaquel de Estudios Árabes X (1999) HÁMEEM-ANTTILA, JAAKKO Magic has always had a role to play in Islamie society’. Its use has often been condemned by religious scholars, yet the efficacy of magic has never been contested; the early tenth-century religious scholar al-Ash ‘arT (d. 324/936), to take but one example, wrote […]
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