Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought

Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought
ISBN-10
067402656X
ISBN-13
9780674026568
Category
Business & Economics
Pages
359
Language
English
Published
2008
Publisher
Harvard University Press
Author
Margaret MESERVE

Description

"Meserve investigates the methods and illuminates the motives of scholars negotiating shifting boundaries - between scholarly research and political propaganda, between a commitment to critical historical inquiry and the pressure of centuries of classical and Christian prejudice, between the academic ideals of humanism and the everyday demands of political patronage. Drawing on political oratory, diplomatic correspondence, crusade propaganda, and historical treatises, Meserve shows how research into the origins of Islamic empires sprang from - and contributed to - contemporary debates over the threat of Islamic expansion in the Mediterranean. Humanist histories of the Turks were sharply polemical, portraying the Ottomans as a rogue power. But writings on other Muslim polities include some of the first positive appraisals of Muslim statecraft in the European tradition.".

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