The Tunis Crusade of 1270: A Mediterranean History
by Michael Lower
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Why did the last of the major European campaigns to reclaim Jerusalem wind up attacking Tunis, a peaceful North African port city thousands of miles from the Holy Land? In the first book-length study of the campaign in English, Michael Lower tells the story of how the classic era of crusading came to such an unexpected end. Unfolding against a backdrop of conflict and collaboration that extended from England to Inner Asia, the Tunis Crusade entangled people from every corner of the show more Mediterranean world. Within this expansive geographical playing field, the ambitions of four powerful Mediterranean dynasts would collide. While the slave-boy-turned-sultan Baybars of Egypt and the saint-king Louis IX of France waged a bitter battle for Syria, al-Mustansir of Tunis and Louis ́s younger brother Charles of Anjou struggled for control of the Sicilian Straits. When the conflicts over Syria and Sicily became intertwined in the late 1260s, the Tunis Crusade was the shocking result. While the history of the crusades is often told only from the crusaders ́ perspective, in The Tunis Crusade of 1270, Lower brings Arabic and European-language sources together to offer a panoramic view of these complex multilateral conflicts. Standing at the intersection of two established bodies of scholarship - European History and Near Eastern Studies - The Tunis Crusade of 1270, contributes to both by opening up a new conversation about the place of crusading in medieval Mediterranean culture. show lessTags
Member Reviews
I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get out of this book, but it turned out to be one of the more informative monographs I've read in awhile. Basically, Lower had an issue with how the history of Medieval Europe and Near Eastern Studies were not in conversation with each other, particularly as it related to the Crusades, and resolved to do something about it. What this means is that Lower weaves together a lot of disparate threads into an organized tapestry examining the state of play of international and cross-cultural relations as the classic crusades ended.
While the book essentially begins and ends with the crusading career of St. Louis, the fulcrum point is the relationship between period Sicily and Muslim Tunis. Both were show more necessary foundation pieces for the wider schemes of more powerful princes in Christendom and the Islamic world, but Charles of Anjou and Emir Al-Mustansir were not compromising their own intertwined interests, with the ultimate irony being that the Crusade of 1270 saw a new agreement over social and commercial intercourse between the Muslims and Christians being negotiated. It might have taken the death of St. Louis, an interregnum between pontiffs, and Sultan Baybars of the Mamluks concentrating on repulsing Mongol offensives, but more pragmatic souls who were mostly interested in reviving business as usual got their chance to concentrate on business.
Apart from this, Lower gives you a kaleidoscopic take on the diplomacy of the time, and how this last crusade was a "Pan-Eurasian" affair, before delving into how St Louis could convince himself that North Africa would be fertile ground for bringing Muslim souls to Christ. show less
While the book essentially begins and ends with the crusading career of St. Louis, the fulcrum point is the relationship between period Sicily and Muslim Tunis. Both were show more necessary foundation pieces for the wider schemes of more powerful princes in Christendom and the Islamic world, but Charles of Anjou and Emir Al-Mustansir were not compromising their own intertwined interests, with the ultimate irony being that the Crusade of 1270 saw a new agreement over social and commercial intercourse between the Muslims and Christians being negotiated. It might have taken the death of St. Louis, an interregnum between pontiffs, and Sultan Baybars of the Mamluks concentrating on repulsing Mongol offensives, but more pragmatic souls who were mostly interested in reviving business as usual got their chance to concentrate on business.
Apart from this, Lower gives you a kaleidoscopic take on the diplomacy of the time, and how this last crusade was a "Pan-Eurasian" affair, before delving into how St Louis could convince himself that North Africa would be fertile ground for bringing Muslim souls to Christ. show less
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Michael Lower is an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the Chinese university of Hong Kong.
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