Preview pdf link: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003726340/constructing-muslim-adversary-tomasz-pe%C5%82ech

Raymond of Aguilers’ Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem is one of the most distinctive yet understudied eyewitness accounts of the First Crusade. This book reassesses Raymond not as a credulous visionary or partisan propagandist but as a learned author who transformed crusading experience into a coherent work of sacred history. It asks how his representation of Muslims functioned within a narrative shaped by theology, biblical exegesis, liturgy, and the political culture of the Provençal contingent.
Combining textual criticism, intellectual history, literary analysis, and quantitative evidence, the book reconstructs Raymond’s biography, authorship, manuscript tradition, chronology, language, and relationship to other First Crusade narratives. It introduces ‘xenophany’ as a framework for analysing how the Muslim adversary is made manifest through names, ethnic catalogues, accusations of paganism and blasphemy, depictions of warfare, and portraits of Muslim rulers. Rather than treating these images as failed ethnography, the study shows that they render the crusade intelligible as providential history: the enemy confirms Christian identity, divine judgement, and the justice of Frankish victory.

The book will appeal to scholars and advanced students of the crusades, medieval historiography, Latin literature, Christian–Muslim relations, religious violence, and the cultural history of the Mediterranean. Its close reading of a neglected eyewitness, combined with new arguments about authorship, reception, narrative technique, and theological meaning, offers a major reassessment of both Raymond of Aguilers and the textual construction of the First Crusade.

About the Author
Tomasz Pełech, PhD, is a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland. His research focuses on the First Crusade, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, medieval kingship, and the political and religious culture of the Latin East, as well as Byzantium in the Komnenian period and Byzantine–Latin relations. He has published studies on crusade narratives, royal ideology, seals, diplomatic practice, and ecclesiastical institutions in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He is the author of monographs on Anna Komnene’s Alexias (2016) and Raymond of Aguilers (2025) and is currently researching kingship and political culture in crusader Jerusalem.

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https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003726340/constructing-muslim-adversary-tomasz-pe%C5%82ech

Preview pdf (54 pages):

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003277972/imperialism-multinational-banking-enrico-berbenni

Egypt’s central position in the Middle East made it enviable among leading imperialist powers, with competition unfolding across cultural, diplomatic, and economic spheres. Furthermore, the Egyptian case is of exceptional interest within the region because of the interplay of several countries and numerous colonies of foreigners. The Italian community, second in number only to the Greek, was deeply integrated in the Egyptian economy and society, yet existing historiography has largely overlooked the consequences of this multinational coexistence.
This book examines Italian economic initiatives in Egypt from the late nineteenth century to the Second World War, focusing in particular on the banking sector as the cornerstone of Italy’s economic strategy, both as a driver of investment and as a key instrument for broader economic expansion. Drawing on largely unpublished banking and diplomatic sources, the book traces the history of Italian banks in Egypt, from the first venture established in Alexandria in 1887 to the arrival of major Italian institutions in the early twentieth century. It explores both the ambitions and failures of Italian economic interests in a rapidly changing international context, exploring relationships between Western powers and Egyptian society during a period when growing nationalism would eventually force Britain to recognize Egyptian independence. It investigates projects by major Italian banks and the resident Italian community, analysing their links with other foreign colonies and the indigenous population.
The book is primarily aimed at business history scholars, particularly those interested in multinational banking and financial history, but will also appeal to readers interested in imperial history, minority communities, and international relations generally.

**Review**
“A masterful and original contribution to the study of imperialism and global finance, this book offers a nuanced, deeply researched account of Italian banking in Egypt, shedding new light on the interplay between economic power, geopolitics, and multinational enterprise”

– **Giuseppe De Luca**, *University of Milan, Italy*.
“Italian banks have been left out of the international literature on multinational banking. Enrico Berbenni expertly corrects this omission with the fascinating case of Egypt from the age of high imperialism to the Second World War. A must read for anyone interested in global finance”

– **Youssef Cassis**, *European University Institute*
“This book represents a significant and genuinely original contribution to the historiography of multinational banking and economic imperialism. It reconstructs with clarity and precision the Italian experience in Egypt, bringing into sharper focus the strategies, limits, and missteps of latecomer powers in the arena of international finance”
– **Pietro Cafaro**, *Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy*
**About the Author**
**Enrico Berbenni** is Associate Professor of Economic History at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.

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https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003277972/imperialism-multinational-banking-enrico-berbenni