Reception of Islam in early modern Europe
There was cultural contact between Europe and the Islamic world (at the time primarily represented by the Ottoman Empire and, geographically more remote, Safavid Persia) from the Renaissance to Early Modern period.
The European Renaissance was significantly triggered by the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 (resulting in a wave of Byzantine scholars fleeing to Italy).
[5] It was not until after the 1469 marriage between Prince Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile that Alhambra, the Nasrid palace of Granada, fell to Spanish forces.
Part of the former Granada nobility tried an intermediate way issuing the Lead Books of Sacromonte, purported paleo-Christian documents establishing a view of Christianity more acceptable to former Muslims.
[citation needed] From 1609 to 1616, England lost 466 ships to Barbary pirates, who sold the passengers into slavery in North Africa.
[13] In 1627, Barbary pirates under command of the Dutch renegade Jan Janszoon operating from the Moroccan port of Salé occupied Lundy.
Under their reigns, the Turks conquered Egypt, Syria, and the North coast of Africa, the Red Sea, the island of Rhodes, and the Balkans all the way to the Great Hungarian Plain.
A large part of the reason for the conversion was probably economic and social, as Muslims had considerably more rights and privileges than Christian subjects.
As a result, Kosovo’s three largest towns were majority Muslim by 1485, where Christians had once formed a dense population before the rise of the Ottoman Empire.
By the 16th century, towns like Prizren, Skopje, and Đakovica had established centers of learning that became crucial in inspiring and educating scholars who would then use their knowledge to benefit the Ottoman Empire and the Muslim world.
From this time onward, many books circulated in the region that had a Persian influence while written in the Albanian language and Arabic alphabet.
Learned Muslim captives played a very important role in the spread of Arabic science and philosophy over the Christian world.
[23] One account of a highly esteemed Muslim slave is of Moroccan geographer al-Hassan al-Wazzan al-Fasi, who made important contributions to geography and Italian texts.
One writer estimates, on the basis that about 8,500 fresh slaves per annum would be required to maintain such a population, that as many as 1.25 million Europeans may have been taken in the 250 years to 1780, though there are no records to confirm such numbers.
[24] The slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages in Italy, Spain and Portugal, and from farther places like France or England, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Iceland and North America, ultimately provoking the First Barbary War of the newly-formed United States.
French scholars such as Guillaume Postel or Pierre Belon were able to travel to Asia Minor and the Middle East to collect information.
[26] Scientific exchange is thought to have occurred, as numerous works in Arabic, especially pertaining to astronomy were brought back, annotated and studied by scholars such as Guillaume Postel.
Transmission of scientific knowledge, such as the Tusi-couple, may have occurred on such occasions, at the time when Copernicus was establishing his own astronomical theories.
[26] In 1561, Gabriel Bounin published La Soltane, a tragedy highlighting the role of Roxelane in the 1553 execution of Mustapha, the elder son of Suleiman.
[39] The turban often represented Muslims in the paintings of Italian and Flemish artists when they depicted scenes of the Ottoman Empire and Biblical lore.
While friendly relations were formed between England and the Islamic civilization of the Middle East in the early 16th century, Turkish fashions became popular for the higher classes.
[42] During the Renaissance, English women disrespected their husbands because they were free to do what they wanted, which society believed led to a moral deterioration.
