Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West: Tracing the Emergence of Medieval Europe

Synopsis

Arabic-islamic Views Of The Latin West Provides An Insight Into How The Arabic-islamic World Perceived Medieval Western Europe In An Age That Is Often Associated With Violent Christian-muslim Relations During The Rise And Expansion Of Islam, The So-called Reconquista, And The Crusades. A Long And Dominant Scholarly Tradition Claims That Muslims Of This Period Held An Arrogant And Ignorant Attitude Towards Its Northern Neighbours, Merely Regarding Medieval Christian Europe As An Uncivilized And Hostile Cultural Backwater Clinging To A Superseded Religion. The Study Nuances This View By Focussing On The Mechanisms Of Transmission And Reception That Characterized The Flow Of Information From One Sphere To The Other. By Explaining How Arabic-islamic Scholars Acquired And Processed Data On Medieval Western Europe, It Traces The Two-fold 'emergence' Of Latin-christian Europe--a Sphere That Increasingly Encroached Upon The Mediterranean And Therefore Became More And More Prominent In Arabic-islamic Scholarly Literature--jacket. Arabic-islamic Records On Latin-christian Europe -- An Evolving Information Landscape (7th-15th Centuries) -- Scholars At Work -- Discovery Of The Roman West -- The Visigoths : History Of A Conquered People -- From The Franks To France -- From The Patriarch Of Rome To The Pope -- The Expanding Latin-christian Sphere -- A Re-evaluation Of Arabic-islamic Records On Latin-christian Europe. Daniel G. König. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 349-418) And Index.