Song of the Eight Winds

Song of the Eight Winds

Author: Peter Kerr

Publisher: Oasis-Werp

Published: 2012-11-01

Total Pages: 443

ISBN-13: 9780957306219

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This novel is set during the 13th century Christian 'Reconquest' of Mallorca from the island's Muslim rulers. An action-packed saga of conflict, intrigue and forbidden romance - with a subtle peppering of humour.


Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain

Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain

Author: Joseph F. O'Callaghan

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2013-09-10

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 0812203062

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Drawing from both Christian and Islamic sources, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain demonstrates that the clash of arms between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula that began in the early eighth century was transformed into a crusade by the papacy during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Successive popes accorded to Christian warriors willing to participate in the peninsular wars against Islam the same crusading benefits offered to those going to the Holy Land. Joseph F. O'Callaghan clearly demonstrates that any study of the history of the crusades must take a broader view of the Mediterranean to include medieval Spain. Following a chronological overview of crusading in the Iberian peninsula from the late eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century, O'Callaghan proceeds to the study of warfare, military finance, and the liturgy of reconquest and crusading. He concludes his book with a consideration of the later stages of reconquest and crusade up to and including the fall of Granada in 1492, while noting that the spiritual benefits of crusading bulls were still offered to the Spanish until the Second Vatican Council of 1963. Although the conflict described in this book occurred more than eight hundred years ago, recent events remind the world that the intensity of belief, rhetoric, and action that gave birth to crusade, holy war, and jihad remains a powerful force in the twenty-first century.


The Power of Cities

The Power of Cities

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-09-16

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 9004399690

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The Power of Cities focuses on Iberian cities during the lengthy transition from the late Roman to the early modern period, with a particular interest in the change from early Christianity to the Islamic period, and on to the restoration of Christianity. Drawing on case studies from cities such as Toledo, Cordoba, and Seville, it collects for the first time recent research in urban studies using both archaeological and historical sources. Against the common portrayal of these cities characterized by discontinuities due to decadence, decline and invasions, it is instead continuity – that is, a gradual transformation – which emerges as the defining characteristic. The volume argues for a fresh interpretation of Iberian cities across this period, seen as a continuum of structural changes across time, and proposes a new history of the Iberian Peninsula, written from the perspective of the cities. Contributors are Javier Arce, María Asenjo González, Antonio Irigoyen López, Alberto León Muñoz, Matthias Maser, Sabine Panzram, Gisela Ripoll, Torsten dos Santos Arnold, Isabel Toral-Niehoff, Fernando Valdés Fernández, and Klaus Weber.


Kingdoms of Faith

Kingdoms of Faith

Author: Brian A. Catlos

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-05-01

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 0465093167

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A magisterial, myth-dispelling history of Islamic Spain spanning the millennium between the founding of Islam in the seventh century and the final expulsion of Spain's Muslims in the seventeenth In Kingdoms of Faith, award-winning historian Brian A. Catlos rewrites the history of Islamic Spain from the ground up, evoking the cultural splendor of al-Andalus, while offering an authoritative new interpretation of the forces that shaped it. Prior accounts have portrayed Islamic Spain as a paradise of enlightened tolerance or the site where civilizations clashed. Catlos taps a wide array of primary sources to paint a more complex portrait, showing how Muslims, Christians, and Jews together built a sophisticated civilization that transformed the Western world, even as they waged relentless war against each other and their coreligionists. Religion was often the language of conflict, but seldom its cause -- a lesson we would do well to learn in our own time.


The Sephardic Frontier

The Sephardic Frontier

Author: Jonathan Ray

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780801474514

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Reveals a fluid, often volatile society that transcended religious boundaries and attracted Jewish colonists from throughout the peninsula and beyond.


Crusading in the Fifteenth Century

Crusading in the Fifteenth Century

Author: N. Housley

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2004-11-14

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0230523358

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This collection of essays by European and American scholars addresses the changing nature and appeal of crusading during the period which extended from the battle of Nicopolis in 1396 to the battle of Mohács in 1526. Contributors focus on two key aspects of the subject. One is developments in the crusading message and the language in which it was framed. These were brought about partly by the appearance of new enemies, above all the Ottoman Turks, and partly by shifting religious values and innovative currents of thought within Catholic Europe. The other aspect is the wide range of responses which the papacy's repeated calls to holy war encountered in a Christian community which was increasingly heterogeneous in character. This collection represents a substantial contribution to the study of the Later Crusades and of Renaissance Europe.


El Cid and the Reconquista 1050–1492

El Cid and the Reconquista 1050–1492

Author: David Nicolle

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Published: 1988-07-28

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780850458404

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The very name El Cid sums up much of the special character of medieval Spanish warfare. It comes from the Arabic al sayyid, master or chieftain, and seems to have been given to Rodrigo de Vivar by his Muslim foes. But was it given in recognition of El Cid's victories against Islam in the 'Reconquista' – or because this Castilian nobleman was as content to serve beside the Muslims as to fight them? The story of the Christian conquest of the Iberian peninsula which gave rise to the legend of El Cid, is here examined by David Nicolle, who outlines the history, tactics, arms and armour of the period.


The Saracen Storm: A Novel of the Moorish Invasion of Spain

The Saracen Storm: A Novel of the Moorish Invasion of Spain

Author: J. M. Nunez

Publisher: ISBN Canada

Published: 2019-12-26

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 9781999219703

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Based on historical figures and events, The Saracen Storm is the sweeping saga of one of Spain's best-loved heroes and the role he played in the nation's darkest period: the Moorish invasion of its lands in 711 AD. "An intense, action-packed story that will have you hooked from the moment you start reading it." Readers' Favorite When nineteen-year-old Pelayo, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Asturias, is asked to lead a cohort of soldiers to hunt down a party of Saracen raiders, he seizes on the chance to escape the city and the scandals that have swirled around him for years. Trained in combat since he was a youth, and taught the dark arts of war by a brilliant ex-monk, he is determined to prove wrong those who say he is unfit for command. As he follows the trail of devastation left by the raiders, he discovers that Valentina, his half-brother's betrothed, has been taken captive. The mission that he has viewed merely as an adventure now turns into a personal quest to save the headstrong daughter of his father's closest ally from the slave markets of Arabia. In the capital of Toledo, the sudden death of the monarch unravels old alliances, sparking a fierce competition for the throne. As the country descends into civil war, Musa ibn Nosseyr, Caliph al-Walid's ambitious governor in Carthage, sees the Iberian nation's troubles as an opportunity to expand the reach of the caliphate into Europe. Critical Reviews "The writing is excellent, the prose delectable...It makes for an enjoyable read. Pelayo is a sophisticated character and his character arc defines his development in this beautifully written conflict. The action is strong, and the plot ingeniously done to excite the curiosity of the reader. For those who love adventure and a narrative filled with intrigue and surprises, The Saracen Storm will make for a delightful read." - Christian Sia, critic for Readers Favorite. 5 Star Review "The book got me from its opening pages. The author does an impeccable job of exploring the political climate of the times. The characters are grounded in history, each written with enough background to augment the sophistication. It takes a skillful author to meld elements of fiction with history and Jose Nunez has that gift. The Saracen Storm is written in beautiful prose and has very strong plot points. This is a historical novel that transports the reader back in time and that brings history alive in ones's imagination. A balanced, deftly narrated and engaging read." - Tomual Dzemo, critic for Readers' Favorite. 5 Star Review "This is an intense, action-packed story. The narrative is perfect, the flow simple and powerful. The Saracen Storm will have you hooked from the moment you start reading it." - Rabia Tanveer, critic for Readers' Favorite. 5 Stars Review.


Shards of Love

Shards of Love

Author: María Rosa Menocal

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 9780822314196

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With the Spanish conquest of Islamic Granada and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the year 1492 marks the exile from Europe of crucial strands of medieval culture. It also becomes a symbolic marker for the expulsion of a diversity in language and grammar that was disturbing to the Renaissance sensibility of purity and stability. In rewriting Columbus's narrative of his voyage of that year, Renaissance historians rewrote history, as was often their practice, to purge it of an offending vulgarity. The cultural fragments left behind following this exile form the core of Shards of Love, as María Rosa Menocal confronts the difficulty of writing their history. It is in exile that Menocal locates the founding conditions for philology--as a discipline that loves origins--and for the genre of love songs that philology reveres. She crosses the boundaries, both temporal and geographical, of 1492 to recover the "original" medieval culture, with its Mediterranean mix of European, Arabic, and Hebrew poetics. The result is a form of literary history more lyrical than narrative and, Menocal persuasively demonstrates, more appropriate to the Middle Ages than to the revisionary legacy of the Renaissance. In discussions ranging from Eric Clapton's adaption of Nizami's Layla and Majnun, to the uncanny ties between Jim Morrison and Petrarch, Shards of Love deepens our sense of how the Middle Ages is tied to our own age as it expands the history and meaning of what we call Romance philology.