An in-depth portrait of the Crusades-era Mediterranean world, and a new understanding of the forces that shaped it
In Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors, the award-winning scholar Brian Catlos puts us on the ground in the Mediterranean world of 1050–1200. We experience the sights and sounds of the region just as enlightened Islamic empires and primitive Christendom began to contest it. We learn about the siege tactics, theological disputes, and poetry of this enthralling time. And we see that people of different faiths coexisted far more frequently than we are commonly told. Catlos's meticulous reconstruction of the era allows him to stunningly overturn our most basic assumption about it: that it was defined by religious extremism. He brings to light many figures who were accepted as rulers by their ostensible foes. Samuel B. Naghrilla, a self-proclaimed Jewish messiah, became the force behind Muslim Granada. Bahram Pahlavuni, an Armenian Christian, wielded power in an Islamic caliphate. And Philip of Mahdia, a Muslim eunuch, rose to admiral in the service of Roger II, the Christian "King of Africa." What their lives reveal is that, then as now, politics were driven by a mix of self-interest, personality, and ideology. Catlos draws a similar lesson from his stirring chapters on the early Crusades, arguing that the notions of crusade and jihad were not causes of war but justifications. He imparts a crucial insight: the violence of the past cannot be blamed primarily on religion.

Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad

History

Catlos, Brian A.

Europe

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

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.

Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain

Basic Books

The Sea in the Middle presents an original and revisionist narrative of the development of the medieval west from late antiquity to the dawn of modernity. This textbook is uniquely centered on the Mediterranean and emphasizes the role played by peoples and cultures of Africa, Asia, and Europe in an age when Christians, Muslims, and Jews of various denominations engaged with each other in both conflict and collaboration. &nbsp; Key features: <ul> <li>Fifteen-chapter structure to aid classroom use &nbsp;</li> <li>Sections in each chapter that feature key artifacts relevant to chapter themes</li> <li>Dynamic visuals, including 190 photos and 20 maps</li> </ul> The Sea in the Middle and its sourcebook companion, Texts from the Middle, pair together to provide a framework and materials that guide students through this complex but essential history--one that will appeal to the diverse student bodies of today.

The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650–1650

Literature & Fiction

Meyerson, Mark D.

Burman, Thomas E.

Ancient & Medieval Literature

University of California Press

Texts from the Middle is a companion primary source reader to the textbook The Sea in the Middle. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the textbook, providing an original history of the Middle Ages that places the Mediterranean at the geographical center of the study of the period from 650 to 1650.\nBuilding on the textbook’s unique approach, these sources center on the Mediterranean and emphasize the role played by peoples and cultures of Africa, Asia, and Europe in an age when Christians, Muslims, and Jews of various denominations engaged with each other in both conflict and collaboration. The supplementary reader mirrors the main text’s fifteen-chapter structure, providing six sources per chapter.\nThe two texts pair together to provide a framework and materials that guide students through this complex but essential history—one that will appeal to the diverse student bodies of today.\nFrom the Back Cover\n"Brilliantly contextualized and judiciously selected, this collection of documents is a magnificent and indispensable companion to The Sea in the Middle. The extensive number of primary sources provides a vivid road map to the Mediterranean’s complex historical and cultural history between ca. 650 and 1650. An important achievement and a major contribution to Mediterranean studies." —Teofilo Ruiz, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Los Angeles\n"This superb selection of texts offers students an invaluable first-hand encounter with how and why the Mediterranean was such a shaping force during this millennium of history. Texts from the Middle vividly brings to life a diversity of peoples from across the Mediterranean world, ranging from violent border lords, proud queens, officious bureaucrats, energetic business women, hopeful migrants, fiery polemicists, and enslaved Africans to disappointed brides, lazy students, and artful tax dodgers."—Amy G. Remensnyder, Professor of History, Brown University

Texts from the Middle: Documents from the Mediterranean World, 650–1650

This revisionary study of Muslims living under Christian rule during the Spanish "reconquest" delves into the subtleties of identity under the thirteenth-century Crown rule of Aragon. Brian Catlos uncovers a social dynamic in which sectarian differences comprise only one of the many factors in the causal complex of political, economic and cultural reactions. Beginning with the final stage of independent Muslim rule in the Ebro valley region, he traces the subtle and often surprising transformation of Islamic society into mudéjar society under Christian domination.

The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series)

Cambridge University Press

Through crusades and expulsions, Muslim communities survived for over 500 years, thriving in medieval Europe. This comprehensive study explores how the presence of Islamic minorities transformed Europe in everything from architecture to cooking, literature to science, and served as a stimulus for Christian society to define itself. Combining a series of regional studies, Catlos compares the varied experiences of Muslims across Iberia, southern Italy, the Crusader Kingdoms and Hungary to examine those ideologies that informed their experiences, their place in society and their sense of themselves as Muslims. This is a pioneering new narrative of the history of medieval and early modern Europe from the perspective of Islamic minorities; one which is not, as we might first assume, driven by ideology, isolation and decline, but instead one in which successful communities persisted because they remained actively integrated within the larger Christian and Jewish societies in which they lived.

Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom c. 1050–1614 (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (Paperback))

Religion & Spirituality

The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, Series Number 59)

"This compelling account of the Crusades era debunks the clash-of-civilizations paradigm in which the period is typically cast... Catlos does not overlook the violence of the period but argues that it was stoked more often by money and power than by religion and ideology." The New Yorker (6 October 2014) ====== An in-depth portrait of the Crusades-era Mediterranean world, and a new understanding of the forces that shaped it In Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors, the award-winning scholar Brian Catlos puts us on the ground in the Mediterranean world of 1050-1200. We experience the sights and sounds of the region just as enlightened Islamic empires and primitive Christendom began to contest it. We learn about the siege tactics, theological disputes, and poetry of this enthralling time. And we see that people of different faiths coexisted far more frequently than we are commonly told. Catlos's meticulous reconstruction of the era allows him to stunningly overturn our most basic assumption about it: that it was defined by religious extremism. He brings to light many figures who were accepted as rulers by their ostensible foes. Samuel B. Naghrilla, a self-proclaimed Jewish messiah, became the force behind Muslim Granada. Bahram Pahlavuni, an Armenian Christian, wielded power in an Islamic caliphate. And Philip of Mahdia, a Muslim eunuch, rose to admiral in the service of Roger II, the Christian "King of Africa." What their lives reveal is that, then as now, politics were driven by a mix of self-interest, personality, and ideology. Catlos draws a similar lesson from his stirring chapters on the early Crusades, arguing that the notions of crusade and jihad were not causes of war but justifications. He imparts a crucial insight: the violence of the past cannot be blamed primarily on religion.

Prior accounts have portrayed Islamic Spain either as a paradise of enlightened tolerance, or as the site where civilisations clashed. Award-winning historian Brian A. Catlos taps a wide array of original sources to paint a more complex picture, showing how Muslims, Christians, and Jews together built a sophisticated civilisation that transformed the Western world, even as they waged relentless war against each other and amongst themselves. Religion was often the language of conflict, but seldom its cause—a lesson we would do well to learn in our own time.\nKingdoms of Faith rewrites Spain’s Islamic past from the ground up, evoking the cultural splendour of al-Andalus and the many forces that shaped it.

Kingdoms of Faith History Islamic Spain

Hurst Publishers

The Rough Guide to Languedoc and Roussillon\nMake the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides. 
World-renowned 'tell it like it is' travel guide, now with free eBook.\nDiscover Languedoc and Roussillon with this comprehensive and entertaining travel guide, packed with practical information and honest recommendations by our independent experts. Whether you plan to navigate your way through the region along the Canal du Midi, explore Cathar country, or simply visit a vineyard or join in on a truffle hunt, The Rough Guide to Languedoc and Roussillon will help you discover the best places to explore, eat, drink, shop and sleep along the way.\nFeatures of this travel guide to Languedoc and Roussillon: Detailed regional coverage: provides practical information for every kind of trip, from off-the-beaten-track adventures to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas Honest and independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, our writers will help you make the most from your trip to Languedoc and Roussillon Meticulous mapping: practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Montpellier, Perpignan and many more locations without needing to get online Fabulous full-colour photography: features inspirational colour photography, including water-jousting in Sète and kayaking under the Pont du Gard Time-saving itineraries: carefully planned routes will help inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of the best sights and top experiences to be found in Carcassonne, Montségur, and Toulouse Travel tips and info: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more Background information: comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter provides fascinating insights into Languedoc and Roussillon, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary The ultimate travel tool: download the free eBook to access all this from your phone or tablet Covers: Toulouse and around, Carcassonne, Upper Aude and Ariège, Albi and Haut Languedoc, Nîmes and around, Montpellier and around, Narbonne, Béziers and around, Roussillon You may also be interested in: Rough guides to France, Dordogne and the Lot, Provence and the Côte d'Azur\nAbout Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

The Rough Guide to Languedoc & Roussillon (Travel Guide with eBook) (Rough Guides)

Travel

Guides, Rough

Rough Guides

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Catlos, Brian A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Catlos, Brian A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Catlos, Brian A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad

Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain

The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650–1650

Texts from the Middle: Documents from the Mediterranean World, 650–1650

The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series)

Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom c. 1050–1614 (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (Paperback))

The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, Series Number 59)

Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad

Kingdoms of Faith History Islamic Spain

The Rough Guide to Languedoc & Roussillon (Travel Guide with eBook) (Rough Guides)