Publisher's Synopsis
War and peace are deemed as inseparable and in pertinent interactivity in this multidisciplinary work, which brings together European, American and Arab historians and archaeologists. The papers published in this book show that this interactivity was particularly salient in the Arab and Muslim Middle East of the 10th-16th centuries, where a class of non-Arab warriors created new political regimes characterized by a strong militarization of power. These warriors used war and peace as means to manage territories and men in order to consolidate and entrench their power. However, the activity of these warriors was not restricted to the military field. The papers collected in this book refute the idea, often still put forward by the specialists of the Arab and Muslim Middle East, that they formed a caste wholly detached from other social groups. Admittedly, they make up a singular body that takes charge of the fight against the Crusaders, who threatened D?r al-isl?m. Nevertheless, these warriors were not secluded from other social groups, with whom they share cultural values and practices. Their activity was multifaceted and not only limited to the political and military field. They were also involved in religious, economic and cultural activity. They gradually shaped the societies that they ruled with the support of the civil and religious elites on whom they relied to govern. This book shows that medieval Middle Eastern societies were neither socially segmented nor compartmentalized.
