Intercultural Diplomatic Relations in the Medieval Mediterranean: Documents from the Almohad Chancellery
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-European Research Council Starting Grant 263361 (Imperial Government and Authority in Medieval Western Islam)
Organizer Name
Travis Bruce
Organizer Affiliation
Wichita State Univ./UMR 8167 ERC StG 263361
Presider Name
Larry J. Simon
Presider Affiliation
Western Michigan Univ.
Paper Title 1
The Text and Its Material Support: For a Renewed History of the Diplomatic Relations between Italy and the Almohad Maghrib (Twelfth-Thirteenth Centuries)
Presenter 1 Name
Pascal Buresi
Presenter 1 Affiliation
CNRS-CIHAM/UMR 5648 ERC StG 263361
Paper Title 2
I Want My Two Dollars: Commercial Conflict Resolution across the Religious Divide in the Thirteenth-Century Mediterranean
Presenter 2 Name
Travis Bruce
Paper Title 3
Relations between the Almohads and Africa: Documents from the Almohad Chancellery (Twelfth-Thirteenth Centuries)
Presenter 3 Name
Mehdi Ghouirgate
Presenter 3 Affiliation
CNRS-CIHAM/UMR 8167 ERC StG 263361
Start Date
9-5-2013 10:00 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1245
Description
"Imperial Government and Authority in Medieval Western Islam" is a five-year research project sponsored by the European Research Council (Starting Grant n° 263361) and housed by the French National Research Center (CNRS – UMR 8167 “Islam Médiéval”). The project group includes members from France, Morocco, and the United States. The aim of the project is to critically edit and translate the entire corpus of extant Almohad chancellery documents as part of the larger aim of understanding the nature of Islamic authority in the medieval West. A sub-corpus of these documents concerns diplomatic and commercial relations with the Italian city-port of Pisa. The research group is currently preparing a specific edition and study of these treaties and letters to be published separately from the larger corpus of administrative documents. These diplomatic documents range from formal treaties signed between the Almohad caliph and Pisan authorities, written in Arabic and often translated into Latin, to personal letters between Almohad officials and Pisan authorities and merchants, also written in Arabic. The pragmatic nature of Almohad-Christian relations emerges clearly through these texts, as does the familiarity that sprang from frequent contact as a result of the intense commercial relations that linked the two Mediterranean shores.
The session sponsored by IGAMWI for the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies includes presentations from three of our members. The papers (in English) will adress the specific nature of Almohad diplomatics and chancellery practices and how they reflect on Almohad-Christian relations, commercial conflict resolution between Almohad and Pisan commercial agents and governmental authorities, and a comparison between Almohad-Pisan relations and those cultivated with Ghana and West Africa. The session will thus address the question of medieval intercultural relations through close analysis of Arabic and Latin chancellery sources.
Travis Bruce, Pascal Buresi, and Mehdi Ghouirgate
Intercultural Diplomatic Relations in the Medieval Mediterranean: Documents from the Almohad Chancellery
Schneider 1245
"Imperial Government and Authority in Medieval Western Islam" is a five-year research project sponsored by the European Research Council (Starting Grant n° 263361) and housed by the French National Research Center (CNRS – UMR 8167 “Islam Médiéval”). The project group includes members from France, Morocco, and the United States. The aim of the project is to critically edit and translate the entire corpus of extant Almohad chancellery documents as part of the larger aim of understanding the nature of Islamic authority in the medieval West. A sub-corpus of these documents concerns diplomatic and commercial relations with the Italian city-port of Pisa. The research group is currently preparing a specific edition and study of these treaties and letters to be published separately from the larger corpus of administrative documents. These diplomatic documents range from formal treaties signed between the Almohad caliph and Pisan authorities, written in Arabic and often translated into Latin, to personal letters between Almohad officials and Pisan authorities and merchants, also written in Arabic. The pragmatic nature of Almohad-Christian relations emerges clearly through these texts, as does the familiarity that sprang from frequent contact as a result of the intense commercial relations that linked the two Mediterranean shores.
The session sponsored by IGAMWI for the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies includes presentations from three of our members. The papers (in English) will adress the specific nature of Almohad diplomatics and chancellery practices and how they reflect on Almohad-Christian relations, commercial conflict resolution between Almohad and Pisan commercial agents and governmental authorities, and a comparison between Almohad-Pisan relations and those cultivated with Ghana and West Africa. The session will thus address the question of medieval intercultural relations through close analysis of Arabic and Latin chancellery sources.
Travis Bruce, Pascal Buresi, and Mehdi Ghouirgate