Muslims and Christians in Norman Sicily
Arabic-Speakers and the End of Islam
Routledge – 2002 – 304 pages
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.
Acknowledgements Abbreviation Transliteration Schemes Map of Twelfth-Century Sicily Introduction 1. Sicily before 1100 2. The Muslim Community: Language, Religion and Status 3. 'Normans', 'Lombards', 'Greeks', 'Arabs', 'Berbers' and Jews 4. At the Margins of the Arabic-Speaking Communities 5. Communication Around the Royal Palaces and Arabic as a Language of the Ruling Elite 6. Defining the Land: The Monreale Register of Boundaries from 1182 7. BDe Saracenico in Latinum Transferri: The Mechanics of the Translation Process 8. Arabic-Greek Bilingualism: An Introduction to the Evidence 9. From Arab-Muslim to Latin-Christian: A Model for Change? Appendix A: Index of the Monreale Estates Appendix B: Salvatore Cusa's I diplomi greci ed arabi Appendix C: The Varying Treatment of Professional Names Bibliography Index
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.