Història de Jacob Xalabín / History of Yakub Çelebi


Book Description

The Història de Jacob Xalabín, an anonymous novel written in Catalan c.1400, focuses on the figure of the Ottoman prince Yakub Çelebi, son of Murad I and half-brother of Bayezid I. It ends with the first detailed account of the battle of Kosovo of 1389, which left a lasting mark on the history of the Balkans. This text, mixing historical and fictional elements, is one of the earliest depictions in Western Literature of the rising Ottoman empire. Because of this, it is most relevant for Mediterranean studies and debates about orientalism. Juan Carlos Bayo has prepared a new critical edition of this novel, with an introduction and notes, and Barry Taylor offers its first translation ever into the English language. The volume is completed with an appendix of texts and documents on the Turkish connections of the Crown of Aragon.




The Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe


Book Description

This book challenges the premise that a ‘military revolution’ prompted the major European powers to enter into an era of global hegemony during the early modern period, and suggests that this theory is not supported if we closely examine contemporary historical events. The conquests of Mexico and Peru, arguably the two most important colonial acquisitions by a European power during that era, were accomplished without the technology or tactics that are usually associated with the ‘military revolution’. On the other hand, Japan, Korea, some Indian states and the Ottoman Empire implemented military reforms, both tactical and technological, that are commonly associated with what was considered an exclusively Western approach to warfare. By comparing case studies of the Western and the non-Western world, Frank Jacob and Gilmar Visoni-Alonzo show that the concept of such a ‘military revolution’ is a myth perpetuated by a Eurocentric perspective on history.




The Crown of Aragon


Book Description

The Crown of Aragon. A Singular Mediterranean Empire recovers the history of an empire which was of great importance in the late medieval Mediterranean, but which has since been relegated almost to oblivion by the course of history. The Crown of Aragon was a Mediterranean crossroads: between west and east for the economy, and between north and south for culture and religion, drawing in many different peoples, covering Iberia to Greece. A new vision of the Crown of Aragon as a framework of overlapping identities facilitates its historiographical recovery, showcased in the chapters of this volume which analyse the economy, institutions, social evolution, political strategy and cultural expression in literature and art of the Crown of Aragon. Contributors are David Abulafia, Lola Badia, Xavier Barral-i-Altet, Pere Benito, Maria Bonet, Jesús Brufal, Alessandra Cioppi, Damien Coulon, Luciano Gallinari, Isabel Grifoll, Adam J. Kosto, Esther Martí-Setañés, Sebastiana Nocco, Antoni Riera, Flocel Sabaté and Antoni Simon.