Publications by Ann Zimo
Mediterranean Studies, 2022
A panel discussion on teaching the Mediterranean was convened at the 2021 Annual Congress of the ... more A panel discussion on teaching the Mediterranean was convened at the 2021 Annual Congress of the Mediterranean Studies Association. Three panelists presented their approaches to teaching the Mediterranean. These presentations were followed by a general discussion that included members of the audience.
Crusades, 2019
In this article I closely analyze the vocabulary William of Tyre used in the Chronicon to describ... more In this article I closely analyze the vocabulary William of Tyre used in the Chronicon to describe the groups that opposed and those that supported the kingdom of Jerusalem. William offers a varied and specific vocabulary for the opponents of the Franks, preferring geographic terms like Turci and Egyptii to infideles and Sarraceni. An analysis of hostes reveals that William did not include Christians in the generic category of "the enemy"; however, I argue that, in light of how he uses other terms, this division reflects his acknowledgment of geo-political realities rather than a simple religious bigotry against Muslims. William's use of nostri, Christiani, Latini, and Franci reveals that he possessed a somewhat pragmatic understanding of his own identity. At the core, he considered himself to be an eastern Latin Christian, but throughout the work we can see his self-identity expand to encompass all Christians, or narrow to include only Latins of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The language of the Chronicon does not support the view that the Franks divided the world into two undifferentiated groups of good Christians and bad everyone else. William instead evinces a flexible conception of identity capable of inclusivity and cultural discernment as well as intolerance.
Rethinking Medieval Margins and Marginality, 2020
This paper discusses two events relating to Mamlūk warfare under the Sultan Baybars al-Bunduqdārī... more This paper discusses two events relating to Mamlūk warfare under the Sultan Baybars al-Bunduqdārī (r. 658–676/1260–1277). The first is a failed naval attack on Cyprus in 669/1271 and the second is a prison break of the surviving captains in 673/1274. Although the first event is well documented in both Frankish and Mamlūk sources, the second is found only in the latter. I argue that it is likely that the prison break did occur and was connected to efforts by the sultan to simultaneously engage in psychological warfare against the neighbouring Franks while securing his own defences against an anticipated crusade. A close analysis and comparison of the contemporary and near-contemporary accounts of these events shows a brief period in which Baybars was presented as undertaking serious efforts to build his naval forces, but this did not last beyond the first chroniclers of the shipwreck and prison break.
Conference Presentations by Ann Zimo
Reviews by Ann Zimo
H-Net Medieval, 2019
Christophe Picard's new book, Sea of the Caliphs, is the translation of his La mer des califes: U... more Christophe Picard's new book, Sea of the Caliphs, is the translation of his La mer des califes: Une histoire de la Méditerranée musulmane, VIIe-XIIe siècle (2015). In it, he argues that the importance of the Mediterranean to early Islam has been misunderstood and sets out to demonstrate just how fundamental it was to the thinking of early men of letters as well as to the caliphs who conquered and ruled the vast territory spanning from Central Asia to the Atlantic. Although the Mediterranean did come to be dominated by Latins by the thirteenth century, he pushes back against the perception, created in part by the nature of the sources, that during the first centuries of Islam, the sea was nothing more than a venue for sporadic piracy. Instead he shows how it featured in the shifting ideas of jihad propounded by the Umayyad, Abbasids, Fatimid, and Andalusi caliphates. The book has lofty and important goals but unfortunately falls short of providing a well-organized argument to achieve them.
Papers by Ann Zimo
Mediterranean Studies
A panel discussion on teaching the Mediterranean was convened at the 2021 Annual Congress of the ... more A panel discussion on teaching the Mediterranean was convened at the 2021 Annual Congress of the Mediterranean Studies Association. Three panelists presented their approaches to teaching the Mediterranean. These presentations were followed by a general discussion that included members of the audience.
In Plain Sight Muslims of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Sep 24, 2024
In Plain Sight draws from a wide array of interdisciplinary sources to show how Muslims, seemingl... more In Plain Sight draws from a wide array of interdisciplinary sources to show how Muslims, seemingly hostile to the entire crusading enterprise, integrated themselves into the kingdom founded in the wake of the First Crusade. The book examines how Muslims, whether Sunni or Shi‘a or Druze, fit into society in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, uncovering the daily reality of their experience. Exploring how and to what extent Muslims interacted with the Frankish ruling elite, historian Ann E. Zimo presents a new vantage point from which to reconsider the popularly accepted notion that the crusades, and by extension the crusader states, were a locus of a monolithic clash between West and East or between Christianity and Islam. By untangling the relations between the Muslim communities and their rulers, Zimo offers a more fully realized image of a society too multifaceted to be reasonably reduced to a black-and-white binary opposition.
Zimo not only re-reads the well-known Frankish sources, including narrative chronicles, letters, charters, and legal treatises, but combines them with an investigation of the Arabic documentary base, including chronicles, biographies, fatwa literature, pilgrimage guides, and treaties which are not translated and largely inaccessible to most historians of the crusades. She also draws from the enormous and growing body of scholarship generated by archaeologists whose work can often provide insights into the aspects of the past not recorded in the historical record. By casting such a wide evidentiary net, In Plain Sight sheds new light on Frankish society and how Muslims fit into it, offering major revisions to the current conception of population distribution within the kingdom and the nature of the Frankish polity itself.
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation.July 2016. Major: History. Advisor: Michael Lower. 1 c... more University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation.July 2016. Major: History. Advisor: Michael Lower. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 284 pages.This dissertation is a study of how Muslims fit into the society of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem during the thirteenth century. It examines their roles from multiple perspectives, drawing from extent Latin, Old French, Arabic, and archaeological sources. The first chapter explores where Muslims lived within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and demonstrates that they were not concentrated at the margins or in places where they were easily ignored. The second chapter focuses on the economic contributions of Muslims and argues that their centrality was recognized by the Mamluk regime, which deliberately attempted to sap the kingdom by removing them. The third chapter reviews the legal landscape and the various legal systems Muslims navigated in theory. It argues that while the Frankish legal systems did attempt to disenfranchise Muslims, they were frequently also more concerned with maintaining distinctions between groups of differing social status. The final chapter examines the political landscape, where Muslims can be found exercising political and administrative powers within the kingdom. The evidence, especially from the jointly-held lands, reveals that Muslims played a much bigger role in the administration of the kingdom than hitherto thought
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Publications by Ann Zimo
Conference Presentations by Ann Zimo
Reviews by Ann Zimo
Papers by Ann Zimo
Zimo not only re-reads the well-known Frankish sources, including narrative chronicles, letters, charters, and legal treatises, but combines them with an investigation of the Arabic documentary base, including chronicles, biographies, fatwa literature, pilgrimage guides, and treaties which are not translated and largely inaccessible to most historians of the crusades. She also draws from the enormous and growing body of scholarship generated by archaeologists whose work can often provide insights into the aspects of the past not recorded in the historical record. By casting such a wide evidentiary net, In Plain Sight sheds new light on Frankish society and how Muslims fit into it, offering major revisions to the current conception of population distribution within the kingdom and the nature of the Frankish polity itself.
Zimo not only re-reads the well-known Frankish sources, including narrative chronicles, letters, charters, and legal treatises, but combines them with an investigation of the Arabic documentary base, including chronicles, biographies, fatwa literature, pilgrimage guides, and treaties which are not translated and largely inaccessible to most historians of the crusades. She also draws from the enormous and growing body of scholarship generated by archaeologists whose work can often provide insights into the aspects of the past not recorded in the historical record. By casting such a wide evidentiary net, In Plain Sight sheds new light on Frankish society and how Muslims fit into it, offering major revisions to the current conception of population distribution within the kingdom and the nature of the Frankish polity itself.