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Islamic Civilisation's Role in the Waning of the European Middle Ages

Department of Political Science, Trinity University, 715 Stadium Drive, San Antonio Texas , USA 78212

This essay argues that the experience of acquiring indisputably superior know ledge and technology from Muslim rivals led Latin Christian leaders to seri ously doubt themselves. The essay details various experiences that Latins had with Islamic civilisation between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. These caused a virtual avalanche of doubts in Western Europe over a wide array of topics ranging from political authorities to religious orthodoxies. I further contend that much of the scepticism which allegedly made the European Pen aissance possible, resulted from Western Christendom's intense interaction with Islamic civilisation in those centuries. Conventional Euro-centric read ings of the Renaissance as sui generis notwithstanding, Islamic civilisation played a major role in the death of the Middle Ages and the birth of the Renaissance.

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