Synopses & Reviews
A study of the evolution of hostelries for travellers throughout the medieval Mediterranean world.
About the Author
Olivia Remie Constable is an associate professor in the History Department at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula 900-1500 (CUP, 1994) and Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (1997).
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. 'Accepting all comers': a cross-cultural institution in late antiquity; 2. The transition from Byzantiumto the Dâr al-Islâm; 3. Commerce, charity, community, and the Funduq; 4. Colonies before colonialism: western trade and the evolution of the Fondaco; 5. Conquest and commercial space: the case of Iberia; 6. Fondacos in Sicily, South Italy, and the crusader states; 7. Changing patterns of Muslim commercial space in the later middle ages; 8. Christian commerce and the solidification of the Fondaco system; 9. The Fondaco in Mediterranean Europe; Conclusion.