Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera

by Julie Taylor

Overview

Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is the history of a Muslim colony in the southern Italian city of Lucera during the Middle Ages. Author Julie Taylor draws on a vast array of primary sources, unpublished manuscripts, and archeological data to provide a detailed account of the lives of Muslims against the backdrop of the social and political complexities of medieval Lucera. Taylor's work illuminates the legal and social status of Muslims in Christendom and the contributions made by Muslims to the economy and defense of the kingdom of Sicily, and it also yields noteworthy insights into Muslim-Christian relations. Muslims in Medieval Italy is a thoroughly researched and absorbing account.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739114841
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	12/13/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.44(w) x 8.96(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

Julie Taylor is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan at Dearborn.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Muslims in Italy Prior to the Thirteenth Century Chapter 2 The Creation of a Muslim Colony in Apulia Chapter 3 Muslim Status, Religious Practice, and Culture Chapter 4 The Administration of the Muslim Community Chapter 5 Muslim Occupations Chapter 6 Lucera Under Manfred Chapter 7 Angevin Lucera Chapter 8 The Fall of Muslim Lucera Chapter 9 Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Taylor makes creative and extensive use of chronicles, archives, coins, and various archaeological sources to reconstruct a history rich in detail.. .. Julie Taylor'sMuslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is a well-documented and original piece of work that constructs a cohesive narrative built on a large and diversified corpus of materials.. .. This work stands among those that provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexities that marked Muslim-Christian relations in southern Italy in the thirteenth century.

The Journal Of Religion - William Granara

Taylor's contribution lies mainly in her analysis of the limited number of diplomatic sources that do exist. Her work represents the first detailed monography on the colony's origins, its inhabitants, and its destruction. As such, historians interested in this anomalous colony ought to be grateful to her.

American Historical Review

The establishment of the Muslim colony at Lucera was an extraordinary and innovative experiment, one of the most unusual of those attempted in the central middle ages as western Europeans tried to come to terms with the indigenous populations now passing under their control. In the first full-length scholarly study of Lucera, Julie Taylor follows the Muslims from their original home in central Sicily to the settlement founded for them on the mainland and traces the history of the colony until its suppression. This first-class study is a must for those interested in Sicily and southern Italy under the Hohenstaufen and Angevin rulers and in the relations between Christianity and Islam in the central middle ages.

Jonathan Riley-Smith

Taylor makes creative and extensive use of chronicles, archives, coins, and various archaeological sources to reconstruct a history rich in detail. . . . Julie Taylor'sMuslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is a well-documented and original piece of work that constructs a cohesive narrative built on a large and diversified corpus of materials. . . . This work stands among those that provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexities that marked Muslim-Christian relations in southern Italy in the thirteenth century.
— William Granara, Harvard University

The Journal of Religion

Taylor makes creative and extensive use of chronicles, archives, coins, and various archaeological sources to reconstruct a history rich in detail. . . . Julie Taylor'sMuslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is a well-documented and original piece of work that constructs a cohesive narrative built on a large and diversified corpus of materials. . . . This work stands among those that provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexities that marked Muslim-Christian relations in southern Italy in the thirteenth century.
— William Granara

The Journal Of Religion

Taylor makes creative and extensive use of chronicles, archives, coins, and various archaeological sources to reconstruct a history rich in detail. . . . Julie Taylor'sMuslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is a well-documented and original piece of work that constructs a cohesive narrative built on a large and diversified corpus of materials. . . . This work stands among those that provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexities that marked Muslim-Christian relations in southern Italy in the thirteenth century.--William Granara, Harvard University "The Journal Of Religion "

Taylor's contribution lies mainly in her analysis of the limited number of diplomatic sources that do exist. Her work represents the first detailed monography on the colony's origins, its inhabitants, and its destruction. As such, historians interested in this anomalous colony ought to be grateful to her.--American Historical Review

The establishment of the Muslim colony at Lucera was an extraordinary and innovative experiment, one of the most unusual of those attempted in the central middle ages as western Europeans tried to come to terms with the indigenous populations now passing under their control. In the first full-length scholarly study of Lucera, Julie Taylor follows the Muslims from their original home in central Sicily to the settlement founded for them on the mainland and traces the history of the colony until its suppression. This first-class study is a must for those interested in Sicily and southern Italy under the Hohenstaufen and Angevin rulers and in the relations between Christianity and Islam in the central middle ages.--Jonathan Riley-Smith, The University of Cambridge

From the Publisher