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The Lions Of Al-Rassan
''The Lions of Al-Rassan'' is a historical fantasy novel by Canadian writer Guy Gavriel Kay. It is set in a peninsula of the same world in which '' The Sarantine Mosaic'' and ''The Last Light of the Sun'' are set, and is based on Moorish Spain. The novel concentrates on the relationships between the three peoples: the Kindath (analogous to the Jews), the Asharites (analogous to the Muslims), and the Jaddites (analogous to the Christians), although the religions of the Kindath, Asharites, and Jaddites, as described in the novel, bear no relation to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The three protagonists in the novel are from each of these three races and religions: Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath physician in Fezana (loosely based on Rebecca of York); Rodrigo Belmonte, a Jaddite captain of a company of cavalry (loosely based on El Cid); and Ammar ibn Khairan, an Asharite poet, mercenary, and advisor to King Almalik of Cartada (loosely based on Muhammad ibn Ammar). Plot summary Lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay (born November 7, 1954) is a Canadian writer of fantasy fiction. The majority of his novels take place in fictional settings that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid. Kay has expressed a preference to avoid genre categorization of these works as historical fantasy. , Kay has published 15 novels and a book of poetry. , his fiction has been translated into at least 22 languages. Kay is also a qualified lawyer in Canada. Biography Kay was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, in 1954. He was raised and educated in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Manitoba in 1975. When Christopher Tolkien needed an assistant to edit his father J. R. R. Tolkien's unpublished work, he chose Kay, then a student of philosophy at the University of Manitoba, because of a family connection. Kay moved to Oxford in 1974 to assist Chris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rebecca Of York
''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more recent past. ''Ivanhoe'' became one of Scott’s best-known and most influential novels. Set in 12th-century England, with colourful descriptions of a tournament, outlaws, a witch trial, and divisions between Jews and Christians, Normans and Saxons, ''Ivanhoe'' was credited by many, including Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin, with inspiring increased interest in chivalric romance and medievalism. As John Henry Newman put it, Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the Middle Ages". ''Ivanhoe'' was also credited with influencing contemporary popular perceptions of historical figures such as Richard the Lionheart, King John, and Robin Hood. Composition and sources In June 1819, Walter Scot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with Wawel Royal Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the first 12 sites granted the status. The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported by Ibrahim Ibn Yakoub, a merchant from Cordoba, as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and social science. The company publishes approximately 1,800 journals and 5,000 new books each year and their backlist encompasses over 70,000 titles. Routledge is claimed to be the largest global academic publisher within humanities and social sciences. In 1998, Routledge became a subdivision and imprint of its former rival, Taylor & Francis Group (T&F), as a result of a £90-million acquisition deal from Cinven, a venture capital group which had purchased it two years previously for £25 million. Following the merger of Informa and T&F in 2004, Routledge became a publishing unit and major imprint within the Informa "academic publishing" division. Routledge is headquartered in the main T&F office in Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfords ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492, in which the Christian kingdoms expanded through war and conquered al-Andalus; the territories of Iberia ruled by Muslims. The beginning of the ''Reconquista'' is traditionally marked with the Battle of Covadonga (718 or 722), the first known victory by Christian military forces in Hispania since the 711 military invasion which was undertaken by combined Arab- Berber forces. The rebels who were led by Pelagius defeated a Muslim army in the mountains of northern Hispania and established the independent Christian Kingdom of Asturias. In the late 10th century, the Umayyad vizier Almanzor waged military campaigns for 30 years to subjugate the northern Christian kingdoms. His armies ravaged the north, ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to recover Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Islamic rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the recovery of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of Crusades were fought, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for Byzantine emperor AlexiosI against the Seljuk Turks and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in western Europe, there was an enthusiastic response. The first Crusaders had a variety of motivations, including religious salvation, satisfying feudal obligations, opportunities for renown, and economic or political advantage. Later crusades were c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muhammad Ibn Ammar
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAmmār al-Quḍā'ī ( ar, أبو بكر محمد بن عمّار;1031–1086), known as Ibn Ammar, in Spanish sources found as Abenámar, was an Arab poet from Silves. Ibn Ammar became vizier to the '' taifa'' of Seville. Though he was poor and unknown, his skill in poetry brought him the close friendship of the young Abbad III al-Mu'tamid. However, Al-Mu'tamid's father, Abbad II al-Mu'tadid disapproved of the relationship and sent him into exile. Al-Mu'tamid named him prime minister some time after the death of his father. Ibn Ammar was reputed to be unbeatable at chess; according to Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, his victory in a game convinced Alfonso VI of Castile to turn away from Seville. He engineered the annexation of the taifa of Murcia The Taifa of Murcia () was an Arab '' taifa'' of medieval Al-Andalus, in what is now southern Spain. It became independent as a ''taifa'' centered on the Moorish city of Murcia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El Cid ("the lord"), and the Spanish moniker El Campeador ("the valiant"). He was born in Vivar, a village near the city of Burgos. As the head of his loyal knights, he came to dominate the Levante of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 11th century. He reclaimed the Taifa of Valencia from Moorish control for a brief period during the ''Reconquista'', ruling the principality as its Prince () from 17 June 1094 until his death in 1099. His wife, Jimena Díaz, inherited the city and maintained it until 1102 when it was reconquered by the Moors. Díaz de Vivar became well known for his service in the armies of both Christian and Muslim rulers. After his death, El Cid became Spain's celebrated national hero and the protagonist of the most s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moorish Spain
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula and a part of present-day southern France, Septimania (8th century). For nearly a hundred years, from the 9th century to the 10th, al-Andalus extended its presence from Fraxinetum into the Alps with a series of organized raids and chronic banditry. The name describes the different Arab and Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. These boundaries changed constantly as the Christian Reconquista progressed,"Para los autores árabes medievales, el término Al-And ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historical Fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthurian, Celtic, or Dark Ages could just as easily be placed in historical fantasy. Stories fitting this classification generally take place prior to the 20th century. Films of this genre may have plots set in biblical times or classical antiquity. They often have plots based very loosely on mythology or legends of Greek-Roman history, or the surrounding cultures of the same era. Overview Historical fantasy usually takes one of four common approaches: # Magic, mythical creatures such as dragons or other supernatural elements, such as magic rings co-exist invisibly with the mundane world, with the majority of people being unaware of it. In this, it has a close similarity to contemporary fantasy. This commonly overlaps with the secret hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Light Of The Sun
''The Last Light of the Sun'' is a 2004 fantasy novel by Canadian writer Guy Gavriel Kay. Like many of his books, it is set in a world that draws heavily upon real times, events, places and people. In this particular book, the period is the Viking invasions of Saxon England. The story concerns a young Erling's attempt to prove himself as a warrior, his father's attempts to make amends for his mistakes, a young prince searching for revenge and a King's attempt to transform his realm into a more civilized one that will resist attacks from the Erlings forever. The books main themes are revenge, violence, the passing of an era, clash of cultures, and love, especially between father and son. Connections to other works by Kay The novel is set in the same world as Kay's ''The Lions of Al-Rassan'' and ''The Sarantine Mosaic'', taking place at an indeterminate time. A passing reference to the mosaic Crispin created at the end of ''The Sarantine Mosaic'' and to the works of Rustem implies t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sarantine Mosaic
''The Sarantine Mosaic'' is a historical fantasy duology by Canadian writer Guy Gavriel Kay, comprising ''Sailing to Sarantium'' (1998) and ''Lord of Emperors'' (2000). The titles of the novels allude to works by poet W. B. Yeats. The story's setting is based on the 6th-century Mediterranean world, and the looming conflict between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy that had replaced the Western Roman Empire. Varena, the capital of Batiara, alludes to Ravenna, the Ostrogothic capital, while Sarantium, the capital of Bataria, is inspired by Byzantium or Constantinople. The novels '' The Lions of Al-Rassan'', '' The Last Light of the Sun'', and '' A Brightness Long Ago'' also take place in that unnamed world, although in different settings. In the series the audience is also briefly acquainted with the character Ashar ibn Ashar, who is the creator of the Asharite religion seen in '' The Lions of Al-Rassan''. The seeds of change for the great empire base ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
