The Medieval MediterraneanIslamic and Norman Sicily (800–1200) |
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15. Al-Mujāhid's attack on SardiniaGiven its size, resources and location in the Mediterranean, why was Sardinia relatively unimportant in the early medieval period? In terms of political, strategic and economic influence, was Sardinia in the orbit of north Africa, the Iberian Peninsula or the Italian Peninsula in the Middle Ages? What evidence is there for Arab raiding and settlement on Sardinia between 800 and 1100? What are the sources for the Mujāhid expedition? What type of data do they offer and how reliable are they? What were the likely reasons behind the expedition and what was it likely to achieve? What can be said of al-Mujāhid himself and his alleged ethnic, religious and social background? What were the long-term political, social, economic and religious consequences of the expedition for the history of the central Mediterranean and Sardinia itself, as well as for the emerging maritime states of Pisa and Genoa?
Further readingJ. T. Monroe, The Shu'ubiyya in al-Andalus: the Risala of Ibn García and five refutations (Berkeley, 1970). G. Larsson, Ibn García's Shu'ubiyya Letter: ethnic and theological tensions in medieval al-Andalus (Leiden, 2003). T. Bruce, 'The politics of violence and trade: Denia and Pisa in the eleventh century', Journal of Medieval History, 32/2 (2006), 127–42. T. Bruce, 'Legitimacy as a Motivating Factor in the Politics of Eleventh-Century Spain'
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List of topic areas1. 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. Roger II as Count of Sicily 27. Christodoulos and George of Antioch 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 of Africa 36. William I and Maio of Bari 37. The History of Hugo Falcandus 38. The Muslims and the ‘Lombards' 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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