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Muslims and Christians in Norman Sicily (Culture and Civilization in the Middle East) 1st Edition

by Dr Alexander Metcalfe (Author), Alex Metcalfe (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
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The social and linguistic history of medieval Sicily is both intriguing and complex. Before the Muslim invasion of 827, the islanders spoke dialects of either Greek or Latin or both. On the arrival of the Normans around 1060 Arabic was the dominant language, but by 1250 Sicily was an almost exclusively Christian island, with Romance dialects in evidence everywhere. Of particular importance to the development of Sicily was the formative period of Norman rule (1061 1194), when most of the key transitions from an Arabic-speaking Muslim island to a 'Latin'-speaking Christian one were made. This work sets out the evidence for those changes and provides an authoritative approach that re-defines the conventional thinking on the subject.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0415616441
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0415616447
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publication date
    January 13, 2011
  5. Part of series
    Culture and Civilization in the Middle East
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.14 x 0.7 x 9.21 inches
  8. Print length
    308 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alex Metcalfe holds degrees in Literae Humaniores from Exeter College, Oxford and Arabic from the University of Leeds. After extensive travel in Europe and the Middle East and employment as a foreign exchange trader, soldier and teacher, he completed a doctorate at Leeds that serves as the basis of this present work.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (January 13, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 308 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0415616441
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415616447
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.23 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 0.7 x 9.21 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

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  1. A. Metcalfe

    A. Metcalfe

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ms. Pen Name
5.0 out of 5 stars Interested In Your Sicilian Heritage And Not Afraid of Heavy Reading?
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2012
Verified Purchase
This was a gift for my father who has always been interested in Sicilian history, dialects and surnames, especially in the sense that they may indicate what bloodlines run through our family. Sicily was a crossroads for and was overrun by many countries so we wonder about our genetic mix. This book did shine some light on the issue--we learned for the first time that Arab influence was heaviest in our ancestors' area of Sicily. If you have similar interests, this book will be of value but be prepared for some heavy reading. My Dad is very literate and can plow through just about anything but, even for him, this was not a light read.
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Paperback version
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent resource material. I got the paperback book due to the high price of a hardcover.
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L. A. Mendola
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Work
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2024
This is a fine work as an overview of the society and status of the Muslims in Sicily from the ninth century into the Norman era. The general trend in latinization and christianization during the Norman period (roughly 1060-1200) was generally known, of course, but some sections, such as the list of smallholdings to the south of Palermo around Monreale, are especially useful.

Most of this material had already been published in one form or another, some with transcriptions of the Arabic accompanied by Italian translations. Here Michele Amari (1806-1889) comes to mind for major narratives. The author also mentions Salvatore Cusa (1822-1893), and while one may not agree with his commentary on Cusa's work regarding specific translations, it is appropriate for this scholar to be acknowledged.

The book's introductory remarks reflect an effort to provide context regarding ancient and pre-Aghlabid Sicily, along with some modern Sicilian perspectives about the past, but here one marvels at how often foreigners are inclined to mention the Mafia ("organised crime") in such discussions. At all events, this is a worthy complement to other works in English, such as Leonard Chiarelli's defining history of the Muslims in Sicily, and my own 900-page book on the Norman-Swabian Kingdom of Sicily, co-authored with Jacqueline Alio and published in 2023.

Though ethnogenesis (the origin of ethnic identity) is far too complex to be considered amply in any single work, several of my books cover it to some degree, with the most recent opus presenting chapters on the Sicilian and Neapolitan languages, and even the cuisine of the first part of the thirteenth century. Very few anglophone historians, however curious and competent, have spent enough time in southern Italy, and especially Sicily, to grasp the nuances of things like the local languages. Sicilian is still spoken in certain parts of Palermo (like Ballarò) and other localities.

A typical criticism, of the publisher rather than the author, is the high list price of a monograph running to just around 300 pages printed on thin paper. Even the ebook is expensive for its length.
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Eric Maroney
5.0 out of 5 stars Much needed light on a little known subject
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2005
Metcalf's study examines the linguistic shift in Medieval Sicily from the time of the Muslim invasion in 827, to around 1100, a few generations after the arrival of Norman led Christian armies that recaptured the island from the Muslims. In this time period, the island went from an essentially Greek speaking area, to the end of the 10th century, when the island became (expect for some pockets in the east) primarily Arabic speaking, to a Latin speaking (or more properly a Romance, or early Sicilian Italian) speaking island. During the golden age of Norman rule, Greek, Arabic and Latin were the three official languages of the Norman court, and Metcalf impressively surveys court documents, travellers accounts, registries of land transfers to churches and monasteries (that used sur-names of occupants of that land, often Arabic, Greek, or Latin, or hybrids of the three, and geographical markers, again, hybrids of all three languages) to show the linguistic shifts in Sicily, and its progressive Latinization during this time period. All too often, the Muslim influence in areas of Europe recaptured from Muslim peoples is forgotten, erased or downplayed. Metcalf's study is an important book that illustrates the deep debt Sicily owes to its Arab period - and despite the attempts by later scholars to wipe clean the historical record -- the large measure of harmonization (social, political, and economic) that existed between Greek, Muslim and Latin Sicilian communities.
7 people found this helpful
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