Early Modern Narratives of Islam Across Europe

It is often said that the best way to comprehend History is through the lens of competing and cooperating social hierarchies and networks of such, rather than simple binary dichotomies (goodies and baddies, and so forth). The past functions not merely as archival record or mythic construct, but as a generative source shaping contemporary self-narratives and identity formation. Historical memory and myth, then, serve not only as cultural repositories but as dynamic catalysts for the articulation of lived experience and autobiographical meaning.

The aim of this book is to explore the complex historical relationship between the Christians and Muslims of the Mediterranean, largely through an analysis of mostly medieval European archives. As the editors spell out on the opening page, “Europe, in this early attempt to describe the continent, might have been defined in opposition to Islam, but it also could not be defined without Islam.” (p.1)