HIST 331,    Medieval Mediterranean
(Also listed as CORE 365, JC)

Spring Semester 2008

Presentation 5:

The Mediterranean as a frontier region

Frederick Jackson Turner created the Turner thesis, which states that America's unique character and democratic institutions originated on the frontier. Historians have also applied this thesis to medieval Spain and other parts of the Mediterranean. This presentation will explore the concept of the frontier and explain how historians define frontiers. 

• Ralph W. Brauer, "Boundaries and Frontiers in Medieval Muslim Geography," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society N. S. 85 (1995): 1-73. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1006658

• Charles J. Bishko, Frontier in Medieval History, http://libro.uca.edu/aarhms/essays/bishko.html?CFID=4759005&CFTOKEN=39864963

• Robert I. Burns; S. J. "Relic Vendors, Barefoot Friars, and Spanish Muslims: Reflections on Medieval Economic and Religious History. A Review Article," Comparative Studies in Society and History 24 (1982): 153-163. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/178726
• Charles J. Halperin, "The Ideology of Silence: Prejudice and Pragmatism on the Medieval Religious Frontier," Comparative Studies in Society and History 26 (1984): 442-466. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/178551

• Archibald R. Lewis, "The Closing of the Mediaeval Frontier 1250-1350," Speculum 33 (1958): 475-483. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2846901

• Idem, "The Islamic World and the Latin West, 1350-1500," Speculum 65 (1990): 833-844. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2863563
• Lynn White, Jr. "The Legacy of the Middle Ages in the American Wild West," Speculum 40 (1965): 191-202. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2855557

Some suggestions for class participation/discussion:

• Ask the class to do some free association with the word "frontier."
• Debate which has more influence upon frontiers: ideology or geography
• Debate if the concept of the frontier as we know it influenced the medieval Mediterranean

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Prepared 27 March 2003
Updated 09 April 2008
T. Vann
Department of History / College of Saint Benedict/St. John's University
www.csbsju.edu
email  tvann@csbsju.edu