History and religion of the Arab-Muslim world II

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Frédéric Bauden, Alessandro Rizzo

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Dialogue and interaction between Muslim and Christian powers in the Middle Ages (7th-16th centuries)

The course deals with the history of the relations between Muslim and Christian powers from the first centuries of Islam to the Ottoman sultanate. From the advent of Islam, Muslim authorities interacted for different reasons with non-Muslim political entities and interlocutors. Although historiography has mainly told the story of armed conflict and ideological confrontation, these relations have often been peaceful or at least presented as such by the agents of diplomacy, for political purposes. The course will analyze the modalities and the forms of diplomatic interaction that have made this dialogue possible over the centuries.

The sessions will focus on several political contexts of medieval Islam, to each of which a historical introduction will be devoted. For each context and on the basis of the sources, several significant diplomatic cases will then be studied critically, examining the forms, the actors and the reasons for the dialogue. Through this approach, the course aims to illustrate how Muslim and Christian powers managed and represented diplomatic communication and interaction in different historical circumstances.

 

The course will focus on diplomacy in the following historical contexts:

1) The first centuries of Islam: the debate on the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad and the Pact of Umar

2) The early Islamic world confronts Byzantium: actors and motives for diplomacy

3) The myth of the Crusades between conflict and encounter. Saladin and Saint Francis: models of inter-religious dialogue and respect?

4) The Muslim Iberian Peninsula: between the myth of the Reconquista and political pragmatism

5) The Mamluk Sultanate and its relations with the Mediterranean mercantile powers

6) The Ottomans: interaction with the threatening enemy of the Christian Europe

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of the course, students will have the intellectual tools needed to deconstruct certain commonplaces concerning the interaction between political Islam and non-Muslim entities. This will be achieved through a critical examination of interesting and significant historical cases.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

None

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course will be given ex cathedra.

During the course lectures, questions and possible discussions on the recommended texts in the bibliography will be appreciated.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Masterful presentation with Powerpoint presentations.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège


Further information:

A more specific bibliography will be provided for distinct thematics studied during the course, for students wishing to go further.

The power point of the course will be put on MyULiège at the end of each session.



Recommended Reading

General handbooks and synthesis 

- Ducellier, M. Kaplan, B. Martin et F. Micheau, Le Moyen Âge en Orient. Byzance et l'Islam, Hachette Supérieur, Paris, 2003 (rééd. 2014).

- J.-C. Garcin et alii, États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiéval (Xe-XVe siècles). Tome 1, L'évolution politique et sociale, Paris, Nouvelle Clio, 1995.

- Van Steenbergen, A History of the Islamic World 600-1800: Empire, Dynastic Formations, and Heterogeneities in Pre-modern Islamic West-Asia, Routledge, London, 2020.

- Thomas D. (ed.) Routledge Handbook on Christian-Muslim Relations, Oxon and New York 2018.

 

Readings on specific course topics

1
- Zein I.M., El-Wakil A., The Covenants of the Prophet Mu?ammad. From Shared Historical Memory to Peaceful Co-existence, London 2023.

- Shahid I., "Islam and Oriens Christianus: Makka 610-622", in Grypeou E., Swanson M., and Thomas D. (eds.), The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, Leiden-Boston 2006, p. 9-32.

- Rane H., "Interfaith Actor Reception of Islamic Covenants: How 'New' Religious Knowledge Influences Views on Interreligious Relations in Islam", Religions 2022, 13(9), p. 1-24.

- Levy-Rubin M., Non-Muslims in the Early Islamic Empire. From Surrender to Coexistence, New York 2011, p. 58-87.

 

2
- Drocourt N., "Ambassades latines et musulmanes à Byzance: Une situation contrastée (VIIIe - XIe siècles)", Byzantion vol. 74 (2004) p. 348-381.

- Kennedy H., "Byzantine-Arab diplomacy in the Near East from the Islamic conquest to the mid eleventh century", in Kennedy H., The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, chapter IX, London 2006.

- Beihammer, A. D., "Strategies of Diplomacy and Ambassadors in Byzantine-muslim Relations on the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries", in Becker A. and Drocourt N. (ed.), Ambassadeurs et ambassades au coeur des relations diplomatiques?: Rome, Occident médiéval, Byzance, VIIIe s. avant J.-C.-XIIe s. après J.-C., Metz 2012, p. 371-400.

 

3
- Tolan J. Le Saint chez le Sultan. La rencontre de François d'Assise et de l'Islam. Huit siècles d'interprétation, Paris 2007.

- Freeman, G. P., "Francis of Assisi and the Sultan: Deviance and Normalization", Religion and Theology, 23(1-2) (2016), p. 57-75.

- Harvey E., "Saladin Consoles Baldwin IV over the Death of His Father" in Crusades, 15 (2016), p. 27-33.

- Phillips J.. The Crusades, 1095-1204, Second Edition, New York 2014, p. 145-165.

 

4
- Guichard P., Al-Andalus : 711-1492 : une histoire de l'Espagne Musulmane, Paris 2011.

- Salicrú i Lluch R., Granada and Its International Contacts, in Fábregas A. (ed.), The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada between East and West (Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries), Leiden-Boston 2021, p. 124-152.

- Ženka J., "Diplomatic Relationships between Islamic Granada and Its Contemporary World", in Boloix Gallardo B. (ed.) Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Granada, Leiden and Boston, 2022, p. 273-295.

 

5
- Loiseau J., Les Mamelouks (XIIIe-XVe siècle), une expérience du pouvoir dans l'Islam médiéval, Paris 2014.

- Petry C., The Mamluk sultanate, Cambridge 2022.

- Bauden F. and Dekkiche M. (ed.), Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies, Leiden-Boston 2019.

- Behrens-Abouseif D., Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World, London and New York 2014.

- Holt, P., Early Mamluk Diplomacy (1260-1290). Treaties of Baybars and Qalawun with Christian Rulers, Leiden-New York-Köln 1995.

 

6
- Faroqhi S. The Ottoman Empire and the World Around it, London 2004.

- Barbero A., Le divan d'istanbul : Brêve histoire de l'Empire Ottoman, Paris 2014.

- Yurdusev A.N. (ed.), Ottoman diplomacy: conventional or unconventional?, New York 2004.

- Vogel C., Istanbul as a hub of early modern European diplomacy, "European History Online", 2021.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam


Further information:

Oral examination

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Course director

Prof. Frédéric BAUDEN
Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Place du 20-Août, 7 à B-4000 Liège
Tél. 04 366 53 32 - Fax 04 366 56 55
E-mail F.Bauden@ulg.ac.be
Secrétariat
Valérie ELIAS
Tél. 04 366 55 44

Course lecturer
Dr. Alessandro Rizzo
Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Place du 20-Août, 7 à B-4000 Liège
E-mail arizzo@uliege.be 
 

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online