King John's Delegation to the Almohad Court (1212)

King John's Delegation to the Almohad Court (1212) Synopsis

Is Matthew Paris's story of an English diplomatic delegation, sent by King John to the caliph of Morocco in the summer of 1212, nothing more than fiction, or does it report actual historical events? In this book, these questions are explored as part of the first full-scale study of Matthew Paris's report. The volume proposes an entirely new interpretation of the text and portrays a multifaceted and inherently complex picture of the interactions between Christians, Muslims, and Jews around 1200 that draws on law, politics, statecraft, history, culture, and religion. This study also prompts a re-evaluation of the delegation story as a 'test case' for John's measures during his reign.