This paper examines the renewed contact between Europe and the Islamic world during the eleventh through thirteenth centuries, following the decline of the Arab empire. It traces how the fall of the Byzantine Empire and subsequent Islamic dominance over the Holy Land prompted European Christian powers to launch the Crusades, temporarily establishing a Christian state in the region. The paper also explores the cultural and social misunderstandings that arose from commercial encounters between Islamic traders and Northern European markets, drawing on Bernard Lewis and Samar Attar's scholarship to illustrate the deep xenophobia and mutual distrust that characterized this pivotal historical period.
The paper demonstrates the use of secondary sources to contextualize historical events. Rather than simply narrating a timeline, the student draws on Lewis and Attar to interpret why certain events occurred and what they meant culturally. The reference to Attar's "Land of Darkness" anecdote is a strong example of using a specific textual detail to support a broader claim about xenophobia and mutual distrust.
The paper opens with a broad historical overview, then narrows to two focused arguments: first, how European political and religious interests led to the Crusades and a temporary Christian state; second, how everyday commercial contact reinforced cultural misunderstanding. Each body paragraph corresponds to one of these claims, and the paper concludes implicitly through the final paragraph's analysis of xenophobia. The Works Cited follows standard citation format.
At the fall of the colossal Roman Empire, Europe and the Middle East had few of the distinct characteristics and identifications they have today. In fact, many of the lands that are Islamic countries today were at that time predominantly Christian. However, the spread of Islam across the Middle East sharply divided the two areas, and relations between them began to lose strength. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, contact was renewed between Europe and the Islamic world, but with many negative ramifications. This renewed contact witnessed a resurgence of Christian interest in the region, sparked the Crusades, resulted in a temporary Christian state in the Holy Land, and also gave rise to a deep mutual misunderstanding between the two cultures.
The fall of the Arab empire that had controlled the area now known as the Middle East brought forth new European interests in the region. The Arab empire had held a firm grip on power since its defeat of the Christian Byzantine Empire, maintaining a strong presence in the area until the eleventh century. After the Arabs fell from power, new European interests emerged within the Christian government of the Holy Roman Empire (Lewis, 123). This led many in Europe to look toward land in the Middle East.
Many Europeans also had religious interests in what was by then a predominantly Islamic region. The Catholic Holy Roman Empire wished to preserve the Christian religion within the Holy Land as a tribute to the origins of its dominant faith. However, the same region was home to native peoples who had by then converted to Islam. By recapturing the Holy Land, the Holy Roman Empire believed it was saving its sacred lands from infidels. Then, in 1099, Pope Urban II influenced Europe's royalty to embark on the long series of battles now known as the Crusades (Lewis, 117). These battles raged back and forth for hundreds of years and threw the region into turmoil, with power shifting between the two competing empires based on their victories and losses.
After the initial wave of crusaders, Europe had regained the area formerly encompassed by the Christian Byzantine Empire, including Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land. Having driven out the Islamic forces that held the area, Christianity ruled over Jerusalem until the late eleventh century. This formed a new Christian state within an Islamic context, but only heightened tensions between the two regions. Then in 1187, the Turkish kingdom ruled by Saladin — who also ruled over Egypt and Syria — recaptured Jerusalem (Lewis, 134). Over the following century, several additional Crusades were launched in unsuccessful attempts to reclaim the Holy Land.
Attar, Samar. "Conflicting Accounts on the Fear of Strangers: Muslim and Arab Perceptions of Europeans in Medieval Geographical Literature." Arab Studies Quarterly. 27. 2005. pp. 17–35.
Lewis, Bernard. From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. Oxford University Press. 2004.
You’re 72% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 1 section.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.