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The Boundless Sea
A sweeping history of the world through its oceans and seas and their interconnections.
The Mediterranean in History
The Mediterranean has been the meeting-place of the cultures of Europe, Asia and Africa, the battleground of races and nations and the focus of three great religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. David Abulafia, doyen of Mediterranean scholars, has brought together a team of leading specialists from many countries to tell this enthralling and complex story as a connected narrative: from the physical setting, the prehistoric traders and the struggle between Phoenicians, Greeks and Etruscans ending in Roman victory, to the post-Roman nations, the Christian and Islamic powers, domination by England and France, and finally the twentieth century, divided between war and mass tourism. This study covers all of recorded history, incorporating recent research and tools ranging from linguistics to underwater archaeology, accompanied by spectacular illustrations. Here is the only complete and up-to-date overview of one of the great themes of world history.
Frederick II
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily, King of Jerusalem, has, since his death in 1250, enjoyed a reputation as one of the most remarkable monarchs in the history of Europe. His wide cultural tastes, his apparent tolerance of Jews and Muslims, his defiance of the papacy, and his supposed aim of creating a new, secular world order make him a figure especially attractive to contemporary historians. But as David Abulafia shows in this powerfully written biography, Frederick was much less tolerant and far-sighted in his cultural, religious, and political ambitions than is generally thought. Here, Frederick is revealed as the thorough traditionalist he really was: a man...
The Great Sea
Connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea has been for millennia the place where religions, economies, and political systems met, clashed, influenced and absorbed one another. In this brilliant and expansive book, David Abulafia offers a fresh perspective by focusing on the sea itself: its practical importance for transport and sustenance; its dynamic role in the rise and fall of empires; and the remarkable cast of characters-sailors, merchants, migrants, pirates, pilgrims-who have crossed and re-crossed it. Ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, The Great Sea is above all a history of human interaction. Interweaving major political and naval developments with the ebb ...
The Discovery of Mankind
"Emphasizing contact between peoples rather than the discovery of lands, and using archaeological findings as well as eye-witness accounts, David Abulafia explores the social lives of the inhabitants of the Atlantic World, the motivations and tensions of the first transactions and the swift transmutation of wonder to vicious exploitation. Lucid, readable and scrupulous, this is a work of humane engagement with a period in which a tragically violent standard was set for European conquest of the world." --Book Jacket.
The Two Italies
A study of the economic development in twelfth-century Italy of Sicily and the maritime ports.
Cities of Strangers
Cities of Strangers illuminates life in European towns and cities as it was for the settled, and for the 'strangers' or newcomers who joined them between 1000 and 1500. Some city-states enjoyed considerable autonomy which allowed them to legislate on how newcomers might settle and become citizens in support of a common good. Such communities invited bankers, merchants, physicians, notaries and judges to settle and help produce good urban living. Dynastic rulers also shaped immigration, often inviting groups from afar to settle and help their cities flourish. All cities accommodated a great deal of difference - of language, religion, occupation - in shared spaces, regulated by law. When this ...
The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 1200-1500
David Abulafia presents a pioneering account of the dynastic struggle between the kings of Aragon and the Angevin Kings of Naples which shaped the political map of the Mediterranean.
A Mediterranean Emporium
Situated astride the trade routes of the western Mediterranean, the Catalan kingdom of Majorca has long deserved attention. It was established under the will of King James I of Aragon, who conquered Majorca in 1229, but was ruled from 1276 to 1343 by a cadet dynasty. In addition to the Balearic Islands the kingdom included the key business centres of Montpellier and Perpignan, and other lands in what is now southern France. It was also home to important Jewish and Muslim communities, and was the focus of immigration from Catalonia, Provence and Italy. This book emphasises the major transformations in the trade of the Balearic Islands from the eve of the Catalan conquest to the Black Death, and the effect of the kingdom's creation and demise on the economy of the region. Links between the island and mainland territories, and as far afield as England and the Canaries, are analysed in depth.
Sea of the Caliphs
Christophe Picard recounts the adventures of Muslim sailors who competed with Greek and Latin seamen for control of the 7th-century Mediterranean. By the time Christian powers took over trade routes in the 13th century, a Muslim identity that operated within, and in opposition to, Europe had been shaped by encounters across the sea of the caliphs.
