Böcker av David (University of Cambridge) Abulafia

This is the first account of a medieval Spanish kingdom that was of vital importance in the trade of the Mediterranean and beyond. Combining lands in southern France with the Balearic Islands, the Catalan kingdom of Majorca was home to Christian settlers, Jews and Muslims, and enjoyed maritime links as far afield as England and the Canaries.

The fifth volume of The New Cambridge Medieval History offers a standard work of reference on the thirteenth century covering, comprehensively, the whole of Europe (east and west, including the Byzantine and Islamic worlds) with thematic articles on developments in the arts, religion and the economy.

A study of the economic development of the Norman kingdom of Sicily and the maritime ports of Genoa, Pisa and Venice. Dr Abulafia argues that the kingdom was a major exporter of wheat and raw cotton, and that in the twelfth century the northern merchants gained a substantial hold over these exports.