This book is a collection of milestone articles of a leading scholar in the study of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, a crossroads of Latin-Christian, Greek-Byzantine, and Arab-Islamic cultures and one of the most fascinating but also one of the most neglected kingdoms in the medieval world. Some of his articles were published in influential journals such as English Historical Review, Viator, Mediterranean Historical Review, and Papers of the British School at Rome, while others appeared in hard-to-obtain festschrifts, proceedings of international conferences, and so on. The articles included here, based on analysis of Latin, Greek, and Arabic documents as well as multi-lingual parchments, explore subjects of interest in medieval Mediterranean world such as Norman administrations, multi-cultural courts, Christian-Muslim diplomacy, conquests and migrations, religious tolerance and conflicts, cross-cultural contacts, and so forth. Some of them dig deep into curious specific topics, while others settle disputes among scholars and correct our antiquated interpretations. His attention to the administrative structure of the kingdom of Sicily, whose bureaucracy was staffed by Greeks, Muslims and Latins, has been a particularly important part of his work, where he has engaged in major debates with other scholars in the field.
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Transliteration System
Part I Administrative Organizations and Officials
- The Financial and Administrative Organization of the Norman Kingdom
of Sicily
2 Familiares Regis and the Royal Inner Council in Twelfth-Century Sicily
3 The Great Administrative Officials of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily
4 Amiratus in the Norman Kingdom of Sicily: A Leading Office of Arabic
Origin in the Royal Administration
5 The Administrative Organization of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily
Part II Power and Governance
6 The Administration of Roger I: Foundation of the Norman
Administrative System
7 Central Power and Multi-Cultural Elements at the Norman Court of Sicily
8 Confrontation of Powers in the Norman Kingdom of Sicily: Kings, Nobles, Bureaucrats, and Cities
9 Law and Monarchy in the South
Part III Religions and Cross-Cultural Contacts
10 Religious Tolerance in Norman Sicily? The Case of Muslims
11 Frederick II’s Crusade: An Example of Christian-Muslim Diplomacy
12 Migrations in the Mediterranean Area and the Far East: Medieval Sicily
and Japan
13 Classification of Villeins in Medieval Sicily
Appendix I Islamic Sicily
1 The Aghlabid Governors in Sicily: 827-909
2 The Fatimid and Kalbite Governors in Sicily: 909-1044
Appendix II Medieval France
1 Kingdom and States in Medieval France
2 The Local Administrative System of France under Philip IV (1285-1314),
Baillis and Seneschals
Appendix III Book Reviews
- Graham A. Loud, Church and Society of the Principality of Capua 1058-
1197 (Oxford, 1985)
2 Joanna H. Drell, Kinship and Conquest. Family Strategies in the Principality
of Salerno during the Norman Period, 1077-1194 (Ithaca, NY, 2002)
3 Alex Metcalfe, The Muslims of Medieval Italy (Edinburgh, 2009)
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Hiroshi Takayama, professor of history at the University of Tokyo, received his Ph.D. from Yale University with the R. Lopez Memorial Prize in 1990. While comparing medieval polities in Europe, he has been studying cross-cultural contacts in the Mediterranean area, focusing on medieval Sicily, a crossroads of Latin, Greek, and Islamic cultures. He has sole-authored ten books, co-edited eight books, and published about forty articles. He has received the Suntory Award, Collegium Mediterranistarum Award, Premio Marco Polo, and Medal with Purple Ribbon. He has served as an editorial board member of scholarly journals and book series in the UK, US, Italy, Netherlands, and Japan. He is President of the Historical Society of Japan (2016-) and President of the Japan Society for Medieval European Studies (2015-).
