This latest volume by Jean Richard is concerned with the evolution of the crusading movement and with the interaction between crusaders and indigenous peoples of the Near East. The articles look at changes in the concept of crusading, means of financing it, and forms of indulgence; at how the adoption of maritime transport created a need to control the sea, and how contacts with the Muslims could lead to peaceful means of resolving conflict and dealing with prisoners. In their lands in the east, the Latins accommodated the feudal structures they brought with them to local conditions, especially in the mountains. Both in this and in the religious sphere compromises were made, and in this co-existence each community preserved its individuality. The final section then considers roles played by eastern Christians in the contacts between Europeans and Mongols. Si les origines de la croisade retiennent l'attention, son évolution mérite elle aussi intérêt. La conception de la croisade, les modalités du financement, la forme d'indulgence, se sont modifiées; l'adoption du transport par bateau a nécessité la prise du contrôle de la mer. Les affrontements avec les Musulmans ont provoqueé des contacts, ainsi pour règler le sort des prisonniers; on a cheché des solutions pacifiques au conflit. Dans leurs possessions orientales, les Francs ont adapté le régime seigneurial aux conditions locales et, tout en gardant intacte leur structure féodale, réservé, surtout dans les montagnes, leur place aux chefs indigènes, Les contacts de civilisation sont réels, mais chaque communauté garde some individualité. Il en est de même dans le domaine religieux, où il a fallu adopter des compromis pout permettre une réelle coexistence. Et finalement les chrétiens orientaux ont été les agents du rapprochement entre Francs and Mongols.

The anonymous author who has come to be known as Fredegar put together a collection of historical sources, together with items of his own composing in the second half of the 7th century. His work forms the most important source for the history of France in the period 594 to 642. It was added to in the mid 8th century, in two continuations that provide vital evidence for their own time. Gregory I (590-604) is often considered the first medieval pope; and as fourth doctor of the church, he is the first exponent of a truly medieval spirituality. This book has three parts: a biography concentrates on analyzing Gregory's actions as pope, in the light of spiritual concerns expressed in his literary works; a second section examines individual works and controversies and questions about them, it also provides information about manuscripts and editions; the final section is a select bibliography encompassing the many aspects of Gregorian scholarship.

This volume describes the social and practical aspects of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) across centuries and geographical regions. Its authors seek to transcend ethereal, essentialist and “spiritualizing” approaches to Sufism, on the one hand, and purely pragmatic and materialistic explanations of its origins and history, on the other. Covering five topics (Sufism’s economy, social role of Sufis, Sufi spaces, politics, and organization), the volume shows that mystics have been active socio-religious agents who could skillfully adjust to the conditions of their time and place, while also managing to forge an alternative way of living, worshiping and thinking. Basing themselves on the most recent research on Sufi institutions, the contributors to this volume substantially expand our understanding of the vicissitudes of Sufism by paying special attention to its organizational and economic dimensions, as well as complex and often ambivalent relations between Sufis and the societies in which they played a wide variety of important and sometimes critical roles. Contributors are Mehran Afshari, Ismail Fajrie Alatas, Semih Ceyhan, Rachida Chih, Nathalie Clayer, David Cook, Stéphane A. Dudoignon, Daphna Ephrat, Peyvand Firouzeh, Nathan Hofer, Hussain Ahmad Khan, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Richard McGregor, Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, Alexandre Papas, Luca Patrizi, Paulo G. Pinto, Adam Sabra, Mark Sedgwick, Jean-Jacques Thibon, Knut S. Vikør and Neguin Yavari

The present volume insists on the policies derived from the social ideas generated by myths, the updating of myths as an arsenal of social pedagogy, on the ethnic condition of the relevance of myths, but also on the resumption by mass media of the pejorative sense of the myth. This volume is part of the scientific series “Mythology and Folklore”.

This book studies the Counsel for Kings as an illuminating commentary on the milieu and polity in which it was written and as a composition that seeks to persuade by drawing allusions between the diverse repertoire of wisdom literature available to the author and his audience and the circumstances of the author’s time and place.