The Near West

Tells stories of interaction, conflict and exchange in North Africa and Latin Europe Viewing the history of North Africa and Europe through the eyes of Christian kings and Muslim merchants, emirs and popes, Sufis, friars and rabbis, this book argues that they together experienced the twelfth-century renaissance and the commercial revolution. In the midst of this common commercial growth, North Africa and Europe also shared in a burst of spirituality and mysticism, instigating a Second Axial Age