The Sea in the Middle

The Mediterranean World, 650–1650

by Thomas E Burman (Author), Thomas E Burman (Author), Brian A. Catlos (Author), Mark D. Meyerson (Author), Mark D. Meyerson (Author)

Paperback eBook

Price: $49.95 / £42.00

Publication Date: Aug 2022

Edition: 1st Edition

Title Details:

Rights: World

Pages: 496

ISBN: 9780520296527

Trim Size: 8.25 x 10

Illustrations: 91 color, 94 b/w illustrations; 28 maps

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About the Book

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.

Key features:

Fifteen-chapter structure to aid classroom use
Sections in each chapter that feature key artifacts relevant to chapter themes
Dynamic visuals, including 190 photos and 20 maps

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.

About the Author

Thomas E. Burman is Professor of History at University of Notre Dame. He is a scholar of Christian-Muslim-Jewish intellectual and cultural history in the medieval Mediterranean. His book Reading the Qur’an in Latin Christendom was awarded the Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History.

Brian A. Catlos is Professor of Religious Studies at University of Colorado Boulder. He works on Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations in the premodern Mediterranean. His most recent book, Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain, is available in eight languages and as an audiobook.

Mark D. Meyerson is Professor in the Department of History and Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. He works on Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations in the premodern Mediterranean and on the history of violence. His book A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain was runner-up for the National Jewish Book Award, USA.

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Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
A Note on Conventions

Introduction. The Mediterranean: Land, Sea, and People

PART I. THE HELLENO-ISLAMIC MEDITERRANEAN (650–1050 CE):
THE MAKING OF THE HELLENO-ISLAMIC MEDITERRANEAN

1 The Legacy of Empire
The Age of Empires
ARTIFACT: Negotiating Conquest: The Pact of ꞌUmar and the Treaty of Tudmir
Faith and Power
ARTIFACT: Images of Empire: Basil II, Otto III, and ꞌAbd al-Malik

2 Mediterranean Connections
Conflict and Integration
ARTIFACT: al-Qahira (Cairo): The Evolution of an Imperial Capital
Connection and Exchange
ARTIFACT: The Ribat-Funduq of Sousse (Susa): Military, Commercial, and Religious
Infrastructure in the Islamic Mediterranean

3 Conversion and the Consolidation of Identities
Muslim Conquest and Christian Conversion
ARTIFACT: The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
Byzantine Christianity and the Eastern Churches
The Imperial Church under Siege
ARTIFACT: The Church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople
The Latin Church in the West
An Islamo-Judaic Mediterranean

4 Peoples of the Book Reading Their Books
ARTIFACT: Wearing God’s Book in Medieval Egypt
God’s Books
Holy Books and Scholars
Holy Books and Greco-Roman Thinking
ARTIFACT: Medieval Readers: Greco-Roman Texts
Interpretation, Unity, and Power
ARTIFACT: Jewish Responsa and Muslim Fatwas

PART II. AN AGE OF CONFLICT AND COLLABORATION (1050–1350 CE):
THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM THE EDGES

5 Holy and Unholy War
Pilgrims and Predators, ca. 1050–1150
ARTIFACT: Holy War
The Contested Mediterranean, ca. 1150–1250
ARTIFACT: Venice’s St. Mark’s Square and the Plundering of the Past

6 A Connected Sea
Conflict and Integration, ca. 1250–1350
ARTIFACT: Whose Art? Transregional Sensibilities and Itinerant Objects
Mediterranean Connections, ca. 1050–1350
ARTIFACT: To the Sea in Ships
Strategies and Structures, ca. 1050–1350
ARTIFACT: Mapping the Mediterranean and the World

7 Mediterranean Societies
The Politics of Diversity
ARTIFACT: The Many Faces of Roger II
Complex Societies
ARTIFACT: The Mosque and Hospital at Divriği
Cosmopolitan Communities
ARTIFACT: The Architecture of Power in the Iberian Peninsula

8 Reading Each Others’ Books
Translators and Terrific Stories
ARTIFACT: Alexander the Great in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic
Their Scripture, Our Language
Talking Religion
ARTIFACT: Interreligious Conversations, Real and Imagined

9 A Sea of Technology, Science, and Philosophy
Technology
ARTIFACT: Qanat and Noria
Science
ARTIFACT: The Seven Heavens
Aristotle: The Master of All Who Know

PART III. THE CONTEST FOR THE MEDITERRENEAN (1350–1650 CE):
NEW EMPIRES, NEW SECTS, NEW WORLDS

10 Imperial Rivalry and Sectarian Strife
The Rise of Frontier Empires, ca. 1350–1500
ARTIFACT: Papal Propaganda in Renaissance Rome
The Duel of Empires and the Web of Alliances, ca. 1500–1650
ARTIFACT: Dueling Caesars: Representations of Ottoman and Habsburg Imperial Power

11 Minorities and Diasporas
Toward Religious Uniformity in the Catholic Mediterranean
ARTIFACT: The Lead Books of Granada
Religious Pluralism in the Muslim Mediterranean
ARTIFACT: Orthodox Monasteries and the Ottoman Empire
Diasporas
ARTIFACT: The Jewish Ghetto in Venice 326

12 Slavery and Captivity, 650–1650
Medieval Transformations of an Ancient Institution
Life of the Enslaved
ARTIFACT: The Ottoman Harem
Captives and Ransoming
ARTIFACT: Malta Transformed: The Impact of the Order of the Knights of St. John
Slavery and Racism
ARTIFACT: Black Africans in the Art of Western Mediterranean Christians

13 Mystical Messiahs and Converts, Humanists and Armorers
Mediterranean Mystics
ARTIFACT: El Greco: Painting the Mystical across the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Messiahs
ARTIFACT: Mediterranean Predictions of the End, 1450–1650
Converts
Humanists and Philosophers, Scientists and Engineers
ARTIFACT: Optics and Eyeglasses

14 Family, Gender, and Honor, ca. 650–1650
Honorable Families
ARTIFACT: Marriage Issues in the Jewish Diaspora: The Case of the Ottoman Near East
Women Inside, Women Outside
ARTIFACT: Women and Inquisitors in the Early Modern Mediterranean
Men and Violence

15 Mediterranean Economies and Societies in a Widening World
Economy and Society after the Black Death
ARTIFACT: The Venetian Arsenal and Venetian Galleys
Economic and Social Problems in an Age of Empire
The Mediterranean and the Atlantic
ARTIFACT: Profit, Fear, and Fascination: Elizabethan England and the Muslim World

Epilogue: Luís de Torres in Cuba, Ishmael in the South Pacific: A World Grown
Larger, a Sea Grown Smaller?

Index

Learn More

Authors Thomas E Burman, Brian A. Catlos, and Mark D. Meyerson discuss islamic history as history of the west

Reviews

"Written in a clear and engaging style and covering thematically the whole span of Mediterranean history, this is an exemplary textbook, as well as a capacious and engaging example of what three masterful historians can do in writing a 'total' history of the Mediterranean. An extraordinary achievement to be read by students and scholars alike."—Teofilo Ruiz, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Los Angeles

"By focusing on the Mediterranean writ large, this powerful and original book upends traditional views of medieval and early modern history to offer a compelling new master narrative of the millennium from 650 to 1650. The authors reveal the Mediterranean as an integrated space that extended far beyond this sea’s shores to involve Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others in complex patterns of conflict and cooperation. This highly readable tour-de-force of synthesis and analysis is bound to become a classic."—Amy G. Remensnyder, Professor of History, Brown University

"In this ground-breaking work, Thomas E. Burman, Brian A. Catlos, and Mark D. Meyerson have taken care to provide a guide to the complexities of the medieval and early modern Mediterranean that will surprise, delight, and illuminate. Teachers and students will be forever grateful."—Teresa Shawcross, Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies, Princeton University