Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany
But Europe was not limited to the classic and patristic writers for information about the Orient. The points of con tact between the Eastern and Western world were numerous even before the Portuguese showed the way to India. Alex andria was the seat Of a lively commerce between the Roman Empire and India during the first six centuries of the Chris tian era; the Byzantine Empire was always in close relations, hostile or friendly, with Persia; the Arabs had settled in Spain, Southern Italy and Sicily; and the Mongols ruled for almost two centuries in Russia. All these were factors in the trans mission of Oriental in?uence.' And, as far as Germany is concerned, we must remember that in the tenth century, owing to the marriage of the emperor Otto II to the Greek princess Theophano, the relations between the German and Byzantine Empires were especially close. Furthermore the Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick II, it will be remembered, was a friend and patron of the Saracens in Italy and Sicily, who in turn supported him loyally in his struggle against the papacy. Above all, the crusades, which brought the civilization of the West face to face with that Of the East, were a powerful factor in bringing Oriental in?uence into Europe. The effect they had on the European mind is shown by the great number of French and German poems which lay their scene of action in Eastern lands, or, as will be shown presently, introduce persons and things from India and Persia.'
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