The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the ReformationRichard Fletcher is one of today’s most renowned medieval historians. In his latest book, he offers a brilliant survey of the relationship between the Islamic and Christian worlds from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries. He shows how, despite long periods of coexistence and overlap, religious misunderstanding between “the peoples of the book” has been present since their earliest encounters. He argues that though there were fruitful trading and cultural interactions between Islam and Christianity during the period when Arabs controlled most of the Mediterranean world, neither side was remotely interested in the actual religion of the other. Christians portrayed Muslims as bloodthirsty pagans and Muhammad as a false prophet while Islam viewed Christianity as a jumble of sects and conflicting stories. Fletcher’s lucidity, scholarship, and gift for compression make this one of the most elegant and clear-sighted contributions to its subject for many years. It will appeal to readers of Karen Armstrong’s bestselling Islam: A Short Historyand to all readers looking for a better understanding of the Islamic world’s relationship to the West. |
Contents
An Elephant for Charlemagne | 30 |
Crossing Frontiers | 67 |
Commerce Coexistence and Scholarship | 100 |
Copyright | |
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Abbasid Adelard Adelard of Bath al-Andalus Alfonso antiquity Arabic Aragon Asia Minor attitudes authority Baghdad Battle bishop Byzantine Empire caliphate capture Castile Castilian Chapter Christ Christendom Christian and Muslim Christian communities Church composed conquered conquest Constantinople Córdoba course culture Dār al-Islām death defeated Digenes Akrites diplomatic early east eastern Egypt eleventh century emir Emperor Europe European example faith Fatimid Frankish frontier Genoese Gerard of Cremona Granada Greek historians holy Iberian Peninsula Ibid imperial intellectual Islamic world Jerusalem John of Damascus King Koran La Garde-Freinet lands later Latin learning London medieval Mediterranean world merchants Middle Ages military Mongols mosque Mozarabic Muhammad Muslim Nicopolis North Africa northern Ottoman Outremer Oxford Palestine Persian Pirenne Pope Prophet Quoted in translation raids religious Roman Empire rule ruler Saracens scholars Seljuk Turks Sicily Spain Syria taifa tenth century thirteenth century Toledo travels twelfth century Umayyad Valencia Venetians Venice West western Christendom