Cutting and Running from the (Medieval) Middle East: The Mises-hors-scène of Kingdom of Heaven’s Double DVDs

Kingdom of Heaven (film)

Cutting and Running from the (Medieval) Middle East: The Mises-hors-scène of Kingdom of Heaven’s Double DVDs Richard Burt 15 | 2007 : Le Moyen Âge mis en scène : perspectives contemporaines Abstract “There is no escaping the parallels with our time, when leaders who try to make peace are admired, but their efforts are subverted by […]

Bodies, Saracen giants, and the medieval romance : transgression, difference, and assimilation

Knight fighting a monster

Bodies, Saracen Giants, and the Medieval Romance: Transgression, Difference, and Assimilation explores the treatment of the bodies of three Saracen giants in the romances of Roland and Vernagu (c. 1330), Sir Beues of Hamtoun (c. 1330), and The Taill of Rauf Coilyear (c. 1513-42)

Church Reunification: Pope Urban II’s Papal Policy Towards the Christian East and Its Demise

First  Council  of Nicaea - Emperor Constantine 381 AD

What separates this brief work from that of previous historians is that it focuses on the formation and changes of papal policy in regards to the Eastern Orthodox Church during the First Crusade, exclusively.

The Dragon and the Storm The Saracen anti-knight in Orlando furioso and Gerusalemme liberata

gustave-dore-orlando-furioso-illustrated-by-gustave-dore

The Dragon and the Storm The Saracen anti-knight in Orlando furioso and Gerusalemme liberata  Cam Lindley Cross University of Chicago, March 8 (2011) Abstract When Peter the Venerable commissioned Robert of Ketton to translate the Qur’an in 1142 CE, under the title Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete, it was with done for the express purpose of refuting Islamic doctrine […]

That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds

Medieval Birds - This folio from Walters manuscript W.659 depicts a starling, a quail, and a royal falcon.

That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds Cam Lindley Cross University of Chicago, December 8 (2010) Abstract “Birds,” writes Albertus Magnus, “generally call more than other animals. This is due to the lightness of their spirits.” Although Albertus here employs “lightness” (levitas) as a technical term, the broader valences of the word […]

Glass Bridges: Cross-Cultural Exchange between Florence and the Ottoman Empire

Mohammed entering Constantinople

During the medieval period, the main aim of the crusades was recovery of the Holy Land. However, this changed in the fifteenth century for various reasons.

Plagues, Epidemics and Their Social and Economic Impact on the Egyptian Society during the Mameluke Period

Burial of plague victims - The Black Death

The study aims at shedding light on plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt during the Mameluke period through describing the plague disease and the plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt, and their social and economic effects on the Egyptian society, The study is based on some historical sources contemporary of the Mameluke period, especially the book “Al-Suluk li-marifatiduwal Al-muluk” by Al Maqrizi.

‘Defending the Christian Faith with Our Blood’. The Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the Venetian Eastern Adriatic: Impact of a Global Conflict on the Mediterranean Periphery

The Battle of Lepanto 1571

The battle of Lepanto, which took place on the 7th of October 1571, was the greatest naval battle of oar driven vessels in the history of the Mediterranean1. It was then that the mighty Ottoman navy suffered its first and utter defeat in a direct confrontation with Christian forces, joined in the Holy League. Its purpose was to help Venice in the defence of Cyprus, stormed by the Ottoman troops in July of 1570, but to no avail, as on the 3rd of August 1571 the island was taken by the Ottomans.

Ibn Jubayr: The Rihla

Ibn Jubayr - Mulim and Christian playing chess

Abu ‘l-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jubayr (1145-1217) was not an exceptional man. As a relatively ordinary, middle-aged Muslim, Ibn Jubayr was neither the first nor the last to leave Al-Andalus to perform the hajj. Admiring kings only from afar, the closest that Ibn Jubayr came to royalty were encounters with imperial tax collectors. Paradoxically though, it is precisely Ibn Jubayr’s lack of distinction that helped earn him repute throughout the Islamic world in his time. It also makes him the ideal subject of the present study.

Avicenna’s Concept of Cardiovascular Drug Targeting in Medicamenta Cordialia

Medieval Islamic medicine

Avicenna (980 – 1037 AD) known as the prince of physicians in the west was one of the most prominent Persian thinkers, philosophers, and physicians. Owing to his interests in cardiology, he authored considerable works on different aspects of cardiology.

The Roots of Rhythm: The Medieval Origins of the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Beignet

New Orleans' Mardi Gras Beignet

This paper argues that the beloved Mardi Gras beignet, eaten in advance of the Lenten fast, derives from deep-fried pastries used to break the Ramadan fast by medieval Muslims living in Spain.

Woman-Woman Love in Islamic Society

Islamic women - medieval

Women have only recently become visible at all in Islamicist/Orientalist discourse. Within most present-day Islamic states, where representation of even married heterosexual conduct is heavily censored, woman-woman sexuality remains thoroughly submerged.

Al-Maqrizi and the Fatimids

Fatimids

There are other less dramatic examples. Only a small section of the massive history by al-Musabbih ̋| (d. 420/1029)2 has been recovered and it is now in the Escorial. On the title page of that manuscript is the signature of al-Maqr|z|, indicating apparently that he once possessed and/or used it.

Blood-brothers: a ritual of friendship and the construction of the imagined barbarian in the middle ages

blood_brotherhood_ritual

My reflections are part of a broad stream of inquiries into the world of medieval rituals which has proved to be very fertile during the last two decades, but which also has its limits. For more than twenty years now, medievalists have discovered and analysed the importance of personal relationships for the organization of societies before the existence of states in a modern sense of the word.

The Trebuchet

Byzantine Trebuchet - 11th century

Recent reconstructions and computer simulations reveal the operating principles of the most powerful weapon of its time

Early Islamic Maritime Technology

Arabic ship

This paper examines the extent to which the events of the 7th century were actually responsible for alterations to the maritime technology and associated practices of the Mediterranean during the early Islamic period.

Christmas in the Qur’än: the Qur’änic account of Jesus’s nativity and Palestinian local tradition

Medieval Nativity Scene

The confluence of this evidence strongly suggests that the traditions associated with Kathisma church gave rise to the rather peculiar account of Christ’s Nativity found in the Quran.

Querimonia desolacionis terre sancte – The fall of Acre and the Holy Land in 1291 as an emotional element in the Teutonic Order tradition

Teutonic Order - Coat of Arms

Those Military Orders − the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights, along with other Military Orders, had shed their blood across the Latin Kingdom and suffered many casualties in the final siege which took place in Acre between March and May 1291.

Jacopo da Firenze and the beginning of Italian vernacular algebra

Jacopo da Firenze

Whatever the reason, nobody seems to have taken an interest in the treatise before Warren Van Egmond inspected it in the mid-seventies during the preparation of his global survey of Italian Renaissance manuscripts concerned with practical mathematics.

“We Have Met Devils!”: The Almogavars of James I and Peter III of Catalonia-Aragon

Almogavars

Who were these Almogavars, who were able to defeat these heavily-armed and highly-trained knights? Why were they consistently effective against all who came before them? How were they utilized by James I the Conqueror (1213-1276) and his son Peter III the Great (1276-1285), count-kings of Catalonia-Aragon, to further the interests of their realm? These are the questions that this paper will attempt to answer.

Ibn Hazm on homosexuality

Ibn Hazm

The most commonly used term for homosexual contacts between men in Arabic is fil (or amal) qawm Lût (“the act of the people of Lot”), from which is derived the substantive liwàt. The man who indulges in such acts is called lufl.

The Indigenous Christians of the Arabic Middle East in an Age of Crusaders, Mongols, and Mamlūks (1244-1366)

Mongol Archers - 1305

The chronological period of study is highlighted by the usurpation of the Ayyūbid-ruled Sultanate by the Baḥrī Mamlūks, while the two most important political-military events in the region were the collapse of the Crusader States and the invasion of the Mongols. This thesis will examine how events impacted on the nine Christian Confessions, treating each separately.

Transylvanian Identities in the Middle Ages

Medieval Transylvania

Identity has become a subject of historical exploration as it is also one of the themes examined from the perspectives of various disciplines belonging to the social sciences such as sociology, psychology or anthropology.

The Evolution of the Saladin Legend in the West

Saladin

William of Tyreʼs account of the history of the Crusades stops suddenly in 1184. As he lays down his pen he is in despair at the inevitable outcome which he foresees for the struggle with Saladin. It was fortunate for him that he did not live to see the triumph of Saladin at Hattin and Jerusalem. Williamʼs judgement of Saladin, there- fore, is one of fear and admiration but he is also able to criticize his faults, especially his ruthless ambition.

Light through the dark ages: The Arabist contribution to Western ophthalmology

Cheshm_manuscript

Because blindness was a major cause of morbidity in the medieval Arab world, as is the case in the developing world today, Arabist physicians developed much exposure to ophthalmological conditions, and nearly every major medical work written at the time had a chapter on diseases of the eye.

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