The Medieval Mediterranean

Islamic and Norman Sicily (800–1200)

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Aims

This site has three basic objectives. It is partly designed to offer a framework for undergraduate teaching. Much of the content is therefore to be used in conjunction with lectures and seminars. While we aim to make available as much material as possible in an open-access format without knowingly infringing copyright legislation, there are numerous links to restricted access study materials that are found on intranet or subscription sites, and that cannot otherwise be made available to a wider audience.

The site also has the capacity of being extended to provide a medium for higher level debate and research. We actively encourage those researching in this field to make known new findings and publication, and to donate suitable materials for the benefit of the wider subject area.

Finally, the site is intended to serve as a digital resource centre. The first phase of construction, in which the basic data for the site will be uploaded, is expected to be completed by early summer 2010. Further phases of augmentation and revision are anticipated in the months thereafter.

Regional coverage

Broadly, the central Mediterranean including the south Italian Peninsula, Sicily and Ifrīqiya (between modern eastern Algeria, Tunisia, and western Libya). Also included are important, but more peripheral, areas such as the Ligurian maritime states of Pisa and Genoa as well as the islands of Sardinia, Malta and the Balearics. The primary focus of attention is the island of Sicily.

Chronological span

At its very widest, from 535–1302 AD; that is to say, from the beginning of the Byzantine period in Sicily until the end of the Sicilian Vespers. However, the main focus of attention is between the Islamic and Normans periods in Sicily, i.e. from 827 to c. 1194

Contributions and mailing list

We welcome academic contributions which can be posted to the Discussion Board. These might include publications, images, charter transcriptions, translations, notifications of recent publications, calls for papers, forthcoming conferences, shorter notices or research questions and answers. Please contact us via email with your contributions.

If you wish to be added to our mailing list, simply send an email to medievalsicily@gmail.com with the word 'subscribe' in the 'Subject' field. To be removed from the list, send an email with 'unsubscribe' in the 'Subject' field.

 

List of topic areas

1. Early history of the central Mediterranean

2. Sources for medieval Mediterranean history

3. Introduction to Mediterranean historiography

4. Geography of Sicily and the central Mediterranean

5. Arab-Muslim North Africa (647–827)

6. Late Byzantine Sicily and the Muslim conquest

7. Christians under Muslim rule

8. The Amirate of Bari

9. Law and learning in Muslim Sicily

10. Rebellions in the Fatimid period

11. Taxation, land tenure, the army and administration

12. Ibn Hawqal In Sicily

13. The Muslim Civil War (c.1030–60)

14. South Italy before the Normans

15. Al-Mujāhid's attack on Sardinia

16. The rise of the Normans in south Italy

17. The Hilalian ‘invasion' of Zirid Ifrīqiya

18. The Norman conquest of Sicily (1061–72)

19. The Norman conquest of Sicily and Malta (1072–91)

20. Muslim responses to the Norman conquest

21. Ecclesiastical lordships

22. The rise of new administrators

23. The early Norman administration of lands and men in Sicily

24. Rebellious lords and the incastellamento question

25. The regency of Adelaide

26. Christodoulos and George of Antioch

27. Roger II as Count of Sicily

28. Sicily and the Mediterranean (1118–28)

29. Formation of the new kingdom

30. Consolidation and development of the kingdom

31. Law, authority and kingship

32. Art and architecture of the royal palaces

33. The royal fiscal administration of lands and men

34. The trial of Philip of Mahdiyya

35. The Norman conquest and loss of Africa

36. William I and the crises of 1155–6

37. The History of Hugo Falcandus

38. The revolts of 1161–2

39. Stephen of Perche and the French contingents

40. Science, translation and patronage

41. The familiares regis

42. External relations and overseas diplomacy

43. The foundation of Monreale

44. Ibn Jubayr in Sicily

45. Abū l-Qāsim and the Muslims

46. The reign of Tancred

47. Markward and the 'amirate in the mountains'

48. The Norman legacy

49. Frederick II and the Staufen dynasty

50. The Sicilian Vespers

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