Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought (Harvard Historical Studies)

Meserve, Margaret

ISBN 10: 067402656X / ISBN 13: 9780674026568

Published by Harvard University Press, 2008

About this Item

Hardcover in dust jacket. Exellent condition. . Clean text - NO writing, NO highlighting to text. Very good. A touch of edgewear to dust jacket. VG+/VG-.

Seller Inventory # mon0000231717

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought (Harvard Historical Studies)
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067402656X
• ISBN 13: 9780674026568
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

Renaissance humanists believed that the origins of peoples could reveal crucial facts about their modern political character. Margaret Meserve explores what happened when European historians turned to study the political history of a faith other than their own.

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.

This groundbreaking book offers new insights into Renaissance humanist scholarship and the longstanding European debates over the relationship between Christianity and Islam.

About the Author

Margaret Meserve is Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean for Humanities and Faculty Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.