This volume explores the conceptualization and construction of sacred space in a wide variety of faith traditions: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and the religions of Japan. It deploys the notion of "layered landscapes" in order to trace the accretions of praxis and belief, the tensions between old and new devotional patterns, and the imposition of new religious ideas and behaviors on pre-existing religious landscapes in a series of carefully chosen locales: Cuzco, Edo, Geneva, Granada, Herat, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Kanchipuram, Paris, Philadelphia, Prague, and Rome. Some chapters hone in on the process of imposing novel religious beliefs, while others focus on how vestiges of displaced faiths endured. The intersection of sacred landscapes with political power, the world of ritual, and the expression of broader cultural and social identity are also examined. Crucially, the volume reveals that the creation of sacred space frequently involved more than religious buildings and was a work of historical imagination and textual expression. While a book of contrasts as much as comparisons, the volume demonstrates that vital questions about the location of the sacred and its reification in the landscape were posed by religious believers across the early-modern world.

Marc David Baer proposes a novel approach to the historical record of Islamic conversions during the Ottoman age and gathers fresh insights concerning the nature of religious conversion itself. Rather than explaining Ottoman Islamization in terms of the converts' motives, Baer concentrates on the proselytizing sultan Mehmet IV (1648-87).

The subject of this vast, astonishing and brilliantly readable work of history is the bizarre story of the Ottoman Empire, seen through the lives and actions of its sultans, with their absolute power and terrifying cruelty, their love of pomp and magnificence and their overwhelming venality and corruption. The author describes the men, the events, the daily life, the strange customs of Turkey's court, from her emergence as a great power in the sixteenth century to the death of Kemal Ataturk, who overthrew the Sultanate to establish a new and more modern form of tyranny. This book is a unique and fascinating record of four centuries of glory, debauchery, splendor and cruelty. --from inside jacket flap.

This Book Deals With The Medieval Period Of Indian History. Most Of The Historians Consider This Period As The Dark Period Of Indian History. According To Them, Ancient Period Was The Glorious Period Of Indian History. During This Period Foundation Of Indian Culture And Of Social Structure Was Laid; But During Medieval Period India Did Not Make Much Progress. In Spite Of Historians' Opinion, It Can Be Said That During Medieval Period Also Progress Was Made And Several Buildings Were Constructed During This Period. Great Development Was Made In Art, Painting And Literature. Hindi Literature Made Great Progress During This Period, As Such, Kabir, Tulsi, Surdas, Jayasi, Rahim And Raskhan Are Still Considered Among The Greatest Writers Of Hindi Literature.Urdu, Punjabi And Other Regional Literatures Made Great Progress During This Period. Sikh Religion, Bhakti Cult And Sufism Also Made Great Progress During This Period.This Book Deals With All Aspects Of Medieval Indian History In Detail To Meet The Requirements Of The Students And The Common Readers.The Book Is Divided Into Three Parts. First Part Covers Saltanat Period From 1206 To 1526. Second Part Deals With The Mughal Period From 1526 To 1760 A.D. In Detail. Third Part Covers Period Upto 1857 In Brief. Bhakti Movement, Society And Culture, Art And Architecture, And Economic Aspects Have Been Described In Details In A Very Simple And Lucid Style.

This book explores the role of conversion to Islam in the emergence of the Ottoman Empire, its imperial ideology and Sunni identity, and its relationship with its Muslim and non-Muslim subjects, in the context of the early modern Mediterranean.

The fascinating story of Queen Elizabeth’s secret outreach to the Muslim world, which set England on the path to empire, by The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps We think of England as a great power whose empire once stretched from India to the Americas, but when Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Queen, it was just a tiny and rebellious Protestant island on the fringes of Europe, confronting the combined power of the papacy and of Catholic Spain. Broke and under siege, the young queen sought to build new alliances with the great powers of the Muslim world. She sent an emissary to the Shah of Iran, wooed the king of Morocco, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the Ottoman Sultan Murad III, with whom she shared a lively correspondence. The Sultan and the Queen tells the riveting and largely unknown story of the traders and adventurers who first went East to seek their fortunes—and reveals how Elizabeth’s fruitful alignment with the Islamic world, financed by England’s first joint stock companies, paved the way for its transformation into a global commercial empire.

This historical atlas is devoted primarily to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, while also covering Napal, Bhutan and Ceylon/Sri Lanka. The maps are accompanied by text which illuminates recent political, economic, social and cultural developments.

From the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sharon Kay Penman comes the story of the reign of King Baldwin IV and the Kingdom of Jerusalem's defense against Saladin's famous army. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as Outremer, is the land far beyond the sea. Baptized in blood when the men of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Saracens in the early twelfth century, the kingdom defined an utterly new world, a land of blazing heat and a medley of cultures, a place where enemies were neighbors and neighbors became enemies. At the helm of this growing kingdom sits young Baldwin IV, an intelligent and courageous boy committed to the welfare and protection of his people. But despite Baldwin's dedication to his land, he is afflicted with leprosy at an early age and the threats against his power and his health nearly outweigh the risk of battle. As political deception scours the halls of the royal court, the Muslim army--led by the first sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin--is never far from the kingdom's doorstep, and there are only a handful Baldwin can trust, including the archbishop William of Tyre and Lord Balian d'Ibelin, a charismatic leader who has been one of the few able to maintain the peace. Filled with drama and battle, tragedy and romance, Sharon Kay Penman's latest novel brings a definitive period of history vividly alive with a tale of power and glory that will resonate with readers today.

Mudejarismo and Moorish Revival in Europe offers a critical examination of the reception of Ibero-Islamic architecture in medieval Iberia and 19th-century Europe. Taking selected case studies as a starting point, the volume challenges prevalent readings of interconnected cultural and artistic phenomena.