| |
| author |
Nathaniel Howard
| | title |
Saracens and the Sea: Reactions to Contact and Conflict between Muslims and Christians in the Early Medieval Mediterranean
| | abstract |
The rise and expansion of Islam throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Southern Europe has long been considered by historian of
the early medieval period as a significant shift in the trajectory of European and Near Eastern history alike. Seen from the longue durée, and in the reports of
contemporary chroniclers, the full effects of this turning point in world history take centuries to germinate. As Saracen forces and individuals moved into what
had been a largely uncontested, Christian Mediterranean, each side sought to create definitions, stereotypes, and categories that would contextualize and provide
a model for interaction between peoples of different religions and cultures. Yet even as Christians saw Saracens in terms both biblical and classical, as Phoenician
scoundrels and desert-dwelling barbarians, and as Saracens saw in Christians the old order giving way to the new, easy categorizations and generalizations were
never satisfactory. Such was the scope of interaction and contact between Saracen, Latin, and Greek, that individuals broke the mold of antique classifications
as often as they reified them. The real history of this nuanced period of the early medieval era is not one of clashing ideologies or civilizations thrown into
conflict; rather a history of individuals acting in local contexts, often independent of or with no consideration for the political and cultural power holders who
attempted to phrase the difference in simplistic terms. This thesis examines the history of representations of Saracens created by Christians, and of Christians
created by Saracens, in attempting to trace the development of stereotypes, preconceptions, and categories which are still used to define our understanding of
the interconnected Mediterranean world today.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2018)
|
| advisor |
Jesse Mann
|
| committee |
John Lenz
Christopher Taylor
|
| full text | NHoward.pdf |
| |
