The conflict and contact between Muslims and Christians in the Middle Ages is among the most important but least appreciated developments of the period from the seventh to the fourteenth century. Michael Frassetto argues that the relationship between these two faiths during the Middle Ages was essential to the cultural and religious developments of Christianity and Islam—even as Christians and Muslims often found themselves engaged in violent conflict. Frassetto traces the history of those conflicts and argues that these holy wars helped create the identity that defined the essential characteristics of Christians and Muslims. The polemic works that often accompanied these holy wars was important, Frassetto contends, because by defining the essential evil of the enemy, Christian authors were also defining their own beliefs and practices. Holy war was not the only defining element of the relationship between Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages, and Frassetto explains that everyday contacts between Christian and Muslim leaders and scholars generated more peaceful relations and shaped the literary, intellectual, and religious culture that defined medieval and even modern Christianity and Islam.
Author(s): Michael Frassetto
Publisher: Lexington Books
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 312
City: Lanham
Cover
Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages
Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages: From Muhammad to Dante
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Notes
Chapter 1
Christianity and the Early History of Islam
Notes
Chapter 2
Initial Christian Response to the Rise of Islam
Notes
Chapter 3
Convivençia
Notes
Chapter 4
Islam and the Early Medieval West
Notes
Chapter 5
New Beginnings and New Attitudes
Notes
Chapter 6
Spain and the Reconquista
Notes
Chapter 7
Crusade and Counter-Crusade
Notes
Chapter 8
Islam and the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century
Notes
Chapter 9
Christians and Muslims in the Thirteenth Century
Notes
Conclusion
Bibliography
PRIMARY TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Modern Studies
Index
About the Author
