Intercultural Contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean

Book excerpt: This volume of 23 essays by leading medievalists, in honour of Professor David Jacoby on his retirement from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, touches upon many aspects of intercultural links in the medieval mediterranean. The topic is perceived in the widest perspective, and covers not only strictly cultural and religious contacts, but also political, military, ethnic, social, institutional, scientific and technological relationships. The long-lasting convergence, under varying circumstances, between Christians, Muslims and Jews, the intricate interaction of Latin and Byzantine institutions, the interplay between law and custom, between public authority and private legal praxis, the meeting of different medical traditions, and the phenomenon of Christian multiculturalism in the Levant are among the issues dealt with in this book; its main protagonists are Aragonese, Castilians, Arabs, Cypriots, Rhodians, Venetians, Genoese, Cretans, Byzantines, Sicilians and Jews, who all rubbed shoulders in the Mediterranean world during the medieval centuries.