Includes bibliographical references and index.

List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Part One Al-Azraq and James the Conqueror -- 1. Al-Azraq's World -- 2. The Al-Azraq Treaty -- 3. The Al-Azraq Treaty -- Part Two Jativa and James the Conqueror -- 4. Jativa: Key to the South -- 5. The Tightening Noose: A sequence of Sieges -- 6. Expulsion 1248, Removal 1252 -- 7. The Treaty of 1244 Rediscovered -- 8. Latin Text: Witnesses, Reconstruction, Dark Fate -- 9. The 1244 Treaty: Arabic Text and Analysis -- Part Three Cultures in Negotiation: Negotitating a Culture -- 10. 'Ahd : Muslim/Mudejar/Morisco Communities -- 11. Crusader Perspective, Islamic Perspective -- Appendix -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.

James I "the Conqueror", king of Arago-Catalonia, conquered Mediterranean Spain from Islam during fifty crusading years (1225-1276). From his many surrender treaties, only two survive in their interlinear bilingual originals, both presented here. Each reflects the fragmentation of post-Almohad Islam, the warrior heroes of Islam carving recalcitrant principalities out of the confusion, the hard-fought local negotiations and the confrontation between two radically opposed mentalities. The full meaning of these battered and deteriorated bits of parchment emerges only from minute reconstruction of the Arabic and Latinate texts and especially from ever-widening circles of changing contexts in each world, an historical kaleidoscope. Many surprises here await students of medieval Europe, the Islamic West, Spain, the Crusades, diplomacy, Mudejars/Moriscos, and cultural conflict and interchange.

Description based on print version record.