Summary: This article examines how medieval Christian and Muslim chroniclers sought to create unified accounts of world history. It compares the religious and historical frameworks they used to organise the past, highlighting differences in their approaches to chronology, geography, peoples and cultures. It also explores how political and intellectual changes after 1000 challenged these traditional frameworks and encouraged new ways of interpreting world history.
Our thanks to the editors of Historical Reflections for their permission to republish this article. Top Image: The writings of Otto of Freising – Munich. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 1001
World History Sacred and Profane: The Case of Medieval Christian and Islamic World Chronicles
By Ernst Breisach
Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, Vol. 20:3 (1994)
Summary: This article examines how medieval Christian and Muslim chroniclers sought to create unified accounts of world history. It compares the religious and historical frameworks they used to organise the past, highlighting differences in their approaches to chronology, geography, peoples and cultures. It also explores how political and intellectual changes after 1000 challenged these traditional frameworks and encouraged new ways of interpreting world history.
Click here to download this article
Our thanks to the editors of Historical Reflections for their permission to republish this article. Top Image: The writings of Otto of Freising – Munich. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 1001
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts