Arabic-Islamic views of the Latin West : tracing the emergence of medieval Europe

Arabic-Islamic Records on Latin-Christian Europe DISPUTED CATEGORIZATIONS ‘Arabic-Islamic’‘Latin-Christian’‘Islam’ and ‘the West’ in ‘the Middle Ages’SOURCES Range of Available Sources Range of Genres Dealing with Fragmentary Records STATE OF RESEARCH Range of Available Studies A Focus on ‘Muslim’ Stereotypes Reconstructing Multiperspectivity An Evolving Information Landscape (7th-15th Centuries)WORLDS APART BECOME ACQUAINTED (5TH-8TH CENTURIES)The ‘Arab Factor’ in the History of the Roman Empire An Arab World-View Limited to the Middle Eastern Sphere?Into the Unknown NEIGHBOURS (8TH-15TH CENTURIES)Under Muslim Rule Diplomacy and Political Interaction Military Confrontation and Forced Migration Commercial Traffic Infrastructures of Travel and Communication ENTANGLED SPHERES AND THEIR ARABIC-ISLAMIC CHRONICLERS Scholars at Work ABSORPTIVE CAPACITIES Emerging Intellectual Infrastructures Geographies of Transmission and Reception THE LINGUISTIC HURDLE The Latin Dimension of ‘Frankish’Latin in al-Andalus Latin in Muslim North Africa and the Middle East Scholarship and Language Skills ACQUIRING RELIABLE DATA ON LATIN-CHRISTIAN EUROPE Accessing the Pre-Islamic Past Gathering Data on Contemporary Affairs Assessing the Value of Acquired Data CONTEXTUALIZING, ORDERING, AND INTERPRETING DATA Foreign Words and Concepts Evoking the Correct Context Ordering and Interpreting OBSTACLES OF TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION Discovery of the Roman West DISCLOSURE OF IMPERIAL HISTORY (5TH-10TH CENTURIES)The Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Period Earliest Expositions of Roman History Development of an Early Standard Narrative EXPLAINING THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN WEST (10TH-15TH CENTURIES)Middle Eastern Theories Muslim al-Andalus and its Roman Past Compilations of the 13th and 14th Centuries FROM BYZANTIUM TO ROME The Visigoths. History of a Conquered People RODERIC’S FALL: THE CONQUERORS’ PERSPECTIVE (7TH-10TH CENTURIES)Before the Invasion Earliest Arabic-Islamic Records on the Visigoths Origins and Diffusion of the Early Standard Narrative SUCCESSORS OF ROME: THE LATIN-BASED NARRATIVE (9TH-11TH CENTURIES)Challenges to the Early Standard Narrative Diffusion of Translated Latin Sources in al-Andalus The Visigothic Past within an Arabic-Islamic Framework Visigothic History and Regional Identity in al-Andalus CONFLICTING TRADITIONS: LATE COMPILATIONS (13TH-15TH CENTURIES)Earlier and Later Diffusion of the Latin-based Narrative The Latin-based Narrative in the Late Medieval Muslim West Claiming the Visigothic Heritage A HERITAGE GAINED LOSES APPEAL From the Franks to France EARLIEST RECORDS ON THE FRANKS (7TH-9TH CENTURIES)The Early Muslims and the Frankish Sphere Direct Contact in the Era of Expansion NEW VANTAGE POINTS (8TH-10TH CENTURIES)Andalusian Records on Frankish-Umayyad Relations Middle Eastern Records on Frankish-Abbasid Relations EXTENSIONS OF FRANKISH RULE (9TH-14TH CENTURIES)Catalan ‘Franks’ on the Iberian Peninsula Norman ‘Franks’ in the Mezzogiorno THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GENERIC TERM (10TH-15TH CENTURIES)Theories of the Pre-Crusade Era Theories in Reaction to Latin-Christian Expansionism DIVERSIFICATION: FRANCE AND THE FRANKS (13TH-15TH CENTURIES)France and the French King France and the Franks ARABIC-ISLAMIC VERSIONS OF FRANKISH ‘ETHNOGENESIS’From the Patriarch of Rome to the Pope EARLY LACK OF RECORDS (8TH-9TH CENTURIES)Early Encounters between the Muslims and the Bishop of Rome Neglected Traces?Dominance of Late Antiquity in the Earliest Records FRESH INFORMATION FROM THE BORDER ZONES (10TH-13TH CENTURIES)Via Byzantium: ‘The Pope’, Local Ruler of Christian Rome Via al-Andalus: Chief of Religious Affairs Via Sicily and Hungary: Supreme Christian Authority NEW DATA THANKS TO LATIN-CHRISTIAN EXPANSIONISM (12TH-15TH CENTURIES)Popes and Muslim Rulers The Papacy and the Crusading Movement The Papacy’s Conflict with the Staufen Dynasty Papal Involvement in the Muslim West THE POPE’S POSITION WITHIN (LATIN) CHRISTENDOM (13TH-15TH CENTURIES)The Roman Patriarch of Late Antiquity From the Ruler of Rome to the Leader of Christendom Papal Means of Exercising Power THE RISE OF AN INSTITUTION The Expanding Latin-Christian Sphere THE DOCUMENTARY EFFECTS OF EXPANSIONISM (12TH-15TH CENTURIES)‘Trauma’ and Perplexity The Rise of Knowledge about Western European Geography An Updated Political Map of Western Europe NEW PLAYERS ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SCENE (9TH-15TH CENTURIES)From the British Isles to England From Slavic Territory to the Realm of the Germans The Rise of the Italian City-States: The Example of Genoa EMERGING CHRISTIAN REALMS OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA (9TH-15TH CENTURIES)Annalistic Records from al-Andalus (10th-11th Centuries)A Fragmentary Middle Eastern Echo (12th-l4th Centuries)Andalusian and Maghrebian Efforts at Synthesis (13th-l4th Centuries)Aragon’s Contribution to Middle Eastern Reception (13th-15th Centuries)A NEW GEOPOLITICAL CONSTELLATION A Re-evaluation of Arabic-Islamic Records on Latin-Christian Europe THE RECORDS’ ORIGINS: A SCHOLARLY MILIEU MENTAL BARRIERS AND THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY VARIABLES OF TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION THE DYNAMICS OF RECORD-KEEPING ESSAY IN COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE LATIN-CHRISTIAN SPHERE Bibliography