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 | | A Mediterranean Emporium: The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca (Cambridge Iberian & Latin Amer) by David Abulafia ISBN-10: 9780521322447 ISBN-10: 0-521-32244-8 ISBN-13: 9780521322447 ISBN-13: 978-0-521-32244-7 Hardcover 1994-05-27 Cambridge University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description The Catalan kingdom of Majorca was established under the will of King James I of Aragon, who conquered Majorca in 1229, but it was ruled from 1276 to 1343 by a cadet dynasty. The kingdom included the key business centers of Montpellier and Perpignan, and other lands in what is now southern France. It was home to important Jewish and Muslim communities, and was the focus of immigration from Catalonia, Provence and Italy. This book emphasizes the major transformations in the trade of the Balearic Islands from the eve of the Catalan conquest to the Black Death, and the effect of the kingdom's creation and demise on the economy of the region. | ||
Reviews | ||
Interesting Analysis of a Small Medieval Kingdom After reading A Short Oxford History of Italy: Italy in the Early Middle Ages 476-1000, edited by Cristina LA Rocca, I decided I wanted to read the next book in the series A Short Oxford History of Italy: Italy in the Central Middle Ages 1000-1300, edited by David Abulafia. It was not readily available, but I was curious about what other work Abulafia had done. In my search, I came upon A Mediterranean Emporium: The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca. Intrigued, I picked up a copy from the local library and read through it. First, I will admit that I knew very little about the Balearic islands before I read the book. I found the history to be rather informative. It spoke about the political, economic and cultural aspects of the Kingdom of Majorca. The book divided the subjects into chapters, addressing each issue separately. The chapters are as follows: Part I Unity and Diversity 1 The Balearic setting 2 The kingdom and its historians 3 The constitutional problem 4 One kingdom, three religions: the Muslims 5 One kingdom, three religions: the Jews Part II 6 The rise of the trade of Mallorca City 7 Commerce in the age of Vespers 8 Towards economic integration: the early fourteenth century 9 The trade of the autonomous kingdom in its last two decades 10 From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 11 Thereshaping of Mallorca's ecomony, 1343-1500 Conclusion Appendices I Mallorca and Sardinia, 1267-1343 II The Montipellier inquest, 1338-1339 Through the course of the book, Abulafia aims "to see how coherently this kingdom functioned, particularly as a commercial crossroads between Europe and Africa. This is, then, a study of the kingdom's external connections, its `international status', both in trade and politics, rather than an attempt to describe its internal features: its agrarian development, its administration, both lay and ecclesiastical, its social relations." (p. xi, A Mediteranean Emporium). He does so effectively, depicting a full image of the lands and the rulers involved in its fate. My main complaint is the use of quotes in the book. It is definitely an academic work, but Abulafia uses a number of untranslated quotes. While I see how providing the original language allows the more learned reader to interpret the language themselves, I would have appreciated a translation to have been provided in a footnote. I believe I could have taken more away from the book if he had done so. In the end, I learned a lot from the book. Abulafia was thorough in his analysis. I am pressing on to read Italy in the Central Middle Ages 1000-1300 next. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand a little more of the economics of the Mediterranean in this period as well the history between Spain, France and North Africa. It definitely requires some perseverance, but it was worth it. | ||