Two Faiths, One Banner: When Muslims Marched with Christians Across Europe's Battlegrounds - Hardcover

Almond, Ian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674033973 ISBN 13: 9780674033979

Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr, 2009

Synopsis

When, in our turbulent day, we hear of a “clash of civilizations,” it’s easy to imagine an unbridgeable chasm between the Islamic world and Christendom stretching back through time. But such assumptions crumble before the drama that unfolds in this book. Two Faiths, One Banner shows how in Europe, the heart of the West, Muslims and Christians were often comrades-in-arms, repeatedly forming alliances to wage war against their own faiths and peoples.

Here we read of savage battles, deadly sieges, and acts of individual heroism; of Arab troops rallying by the thousands to the banner of a Christian emperor outside the walls of Verona; of Spanish Muslims standing shoulder to shoulder with their Christian Catalan neighbors in opposition to Castilians; of Greeks and Turks forming a steadfast bulwark against Serbs and Bulgarians, their mutual enemy; of tens of thousands of Hungarian Protestants assisting the Ottomans in their implacable and terrifying march on Christian Vienna; and finally of Englishman and Turk falling side by side in the killing fields of the Crimea.

This bold book reveals how the idea of a “Christian Europe” long opposed by a “Muslim non-Europe” grossly misrepresents the facts of a rich, complex, and—above all—shared history. The motivations for these interfaith alliances were dictated by shifting diplomacies, pragmatic self-interest, realpolitik, and even genuine mutual affection, not by jihad or religious war. This insight has profound ramifications for our understanding of global politics and current affairs, as well as of religious history and the future shape of Europe.

About this title

Product Description

When Muslims Marched with Christians across Europe's Battlegrounds

Review

An excellent history, it is at the same time high drama, with characters noble and base, involved in the adventure of their lives. These are astonishing materials presented through careful and reliable scholarship. A most unusual gem of a book full of human stories told with lucidity and charm.--Nur Yalman

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674033973
• ISBN 13: 9780674033979
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 246