My Writings
Overview
Brian Catlos (Montréal, 1966) earned a PhD in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and currently holds appointments as Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Research Associate in Humanities at the University of California Santa Cruz. His work centers on Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations and ethno-religious identity in medieval Europe and the Islamic World, and the history of the pre-Modern Mediterranean. A board member of various academic journals, he also co-directs The Mediterranean Seminar, a major initiative and a forum for international and interdisciplinary collaboration in the emerging field of Mediterranean Studies, and directs the CU Mediterranean Studies Group at Boulder. He has published a number of books and articles including the The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300 (Cambridge, 2004), Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, 1050–ca. 1615 (Cambridge, 2014), and Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Power Faith and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014), and Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain (Basic, 2018). Awards and distinctions include the Governor-General of Canada's Gold Medal for Academic Achievement, two National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowships, and many other university, national and international fellowships and prizes.
He is also a free-lance travel writer and historical consultant, based near Boulder CO and in Barcelona, Spain. In addition to his Rough Guide: Languedoc & Roussillon he contributes chapters and updates for other guidebooks, and provides historical expertise for book and film projects.
With Sharon Kinoshita, he edits the Mediterranean Perspectives Series, published by Palgrave MacMillan.
News Items
"Historian adds nuance to Mideast religious history" Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine (June 2014)News Items
• Kingdoms of Faith, featured in The New Yorker's "Brief Notices" (23 July 2018)
• "Islam in Spain, the Rise and Fall of al-Andalus": 7 July; panel discussion with Matthew Carr, Bradford Literary Festival (Bradford UK)
• "Islamic Spain Ended in the 15th Century and We Still Can't Agree If It Was a Paradise or Hell?" (HNN: 10 June 2018)
ª Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom wins the Medieval Academy's Charles Homer Haskins Medal for 2018.Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom wins the Medieval Academy's Charles Homer Haskins Medal for 2018.Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom wins the Medieval Academy's Charles Homer Haskins Medal for 2018.Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom wins the Medieval Academy's Charles Homer Haskins Medal for 2018.Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom wins the Medieval Academy's wins the Medieval Academy's Charles Homer Haskins Medal for 2018.
• Infidel Kings & Unholy Warriors given Honorable Mention (2015 American Publishers PROSE Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence)
• “Religious nationalism finds a footing in the Middle East”: Saturday, 3 January The Washington Post
• Muslims of Medieval Latin Chrstendom awarded MESA's 2014 Albert Hourani Prize
• Infidel Kings one of "Five new books on the Middle Ages worth a look!" at medievalists.net
• "A new perspective on the Middle East" on Jeff Schechtman's "Specific Gravity"; aired Friday, October 10, 2014
• "First Impressions #16: Brian Catlos" Marginalia - A Los Angeles Review of Books Channel (Aug 19, 2014)
• "Historian adds nuance to Mideast religious history" Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine (June 2014)
• "Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom," audio interview on New Books in Islamic Studies (July 2014) [stream]
• Cambridge UP ninteenfourteen blog.
Contact
Literary Representation
Latest Works
An Age of Convergence: Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Pre-Modern Mediterranean (Oxford University Press;)
Traces the emergence of the Modern West from the mutli-religious pre-Modrern Mediterranean to the secular nationalism of the the contemrporary Anglo-European world.
The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World 650–1650CE (University of California: 2022)
The first undergraduate medieval history survey with a focus on the Mediterranean world. With Mark D. Meyerson (University of Toronto) and Thomas Burman (Notre Dame University).
Texts from the Middle: Documents from the Mediterranean World 650–1650CE (University of California: 2022)
An anthology of primary sources, to use with The Sea in the Middle or on its own. With Mark D. Meyerson (University of Toronto) and Thomas Burman (Notre Dame University).
Interfaith Dialogue and Disputation in the Medieval Mediterranean (Brill: 2018)
A special edition, of Medieval Encounters, 24 (5-6), edited with Alex Novikoff (Kenyon College).
Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain (Basic Books: 2018) also on audible
A fresh look at the hisotry at the Msulims of Medieval Spain, their interaction with and impact on Jewish and Christian society and culture, and the role in the emergence of the modern West
Can We Talk Mediterranean? Conversations on an Emerging Field in Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Palgrave: November 2017)
Brian Catlos, Claire Farago, Cecily Hilsdale, Peregrine Horden, and Sharon Kinoshita discuss the problems and possibilities, of the Mediterranean paradigm for pre-Modern history and cultural studies.
Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; 2014)
* Honorable mention, 2014 PROSE Award
These case studies of infidel rulers and mercenary paladins reveal the suprising complexities of religious idendtity and the ambiguities of the Muslim-Christian divide in the Age of Crusade (390pp.). Reviews
Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, ca. 1050--1614 (Cambridge UP, 2014)
* 2016 Hourani Prize winner (MESA)
* 2018 Haskins Medal (Medieval Academy)
• 2018 Kayden Book Award (CU Boulder)
The first book-length study of the Muslims of medieval Europe, from the Reconquista to the expulsion of the Moriscos and beyond. (628pp.).
| Vencedores y vencidos. Cristianos y musulmanes de Cataluña y Aragón, 1050-1300 (Universitat de València, 2010) | |
The updated Spanish translation of The Victors and the Vanquished (494 pp.). Reviews
This edited volume collects 13 essays written in honor of the economic historian Andrew Watsion, ranging from studies of Visigothic coinage to Canadian regional economic disparity (263 pp.).
The Rough Guide to Langudoc & Roussillon (Rough Guides, 2000-2010)
The completely reivsed 4th edition of this critically-acclaimed guide book, features detailed information on sites, rich cultural and historical information, and up-to-date and critical reviews of restaurants and accommodation (400 pp.).
The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon (1050--1300) (Cambridge UP: 2004)
* 2006 Premio del Rey (AHA)
* 2005 Fagg Prize (AHA)
A revisionist stiudy of the Muslim minority in Christian Aragon based on detailed archival research and novel methodological approaches (480 pp.).
Cities of Light.
The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain (PBS, 2007)
Featuring interviews with leading scholars and evocative reenactments, this film examines the reiigious diversity of Muslim al-Andalus and its decline. Brian Catlos served as Creative Consultant and appears in interviews. (watch)
“New Approaches to the Study of Muslims in the Medieval West” Scripta Mediterranea (Canadian Institute for Mediterranean Studies) 19/20 (1998/1999).
Twenty-five years on, many of the "new" scholars highlighted here are now established. Includes articles by 22 scholars, including MR Menocal, T Burman, W Granara, and C Burnett. Co-edited with Karla Mallette. ToC
“Pamplona Archivo General MS. A3” in Textos y concordancias electrónicos del Fuero general de Navarra (Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1999)
Edition of a 13th-century manuscript of the Fuero General de Navarra.