EBOOK Saint Francis and the Sultan:The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter

In September, 1219, as the armies of the Fifth Crusade besieged the Egyptian city        of Damietta, Francis of Assisi went to Egypt to preach to Sultan al-Malik        al-Kmil.Although we in fact know very little about this event, this has        not prevented artists and writers from the thirteenth century to the twentieth,        unencumbered by mere facts, from portraying Francis alternatively as a new apostle        preaching to the infidels, a scholastic theologian proving the truth of        Christianity, a champion of the crusading ideal, a naive and quixotic wanderer, a        crazed religious fanatic, or a medieval Gandhi preaching peace, love, and        understanding. Al-Kmil, on the otherhand, is variously presented as an        enlightened pagan monarch hungry for evangelical teaching, a cruel oriental despot,        or a worldly libertine.Saint Francis and the Sultan takes a detailed look at these        richly varied artistic responses to this brief but highly symbolic meeting. Throwing        into relief the changing fears and hopes that Muslim-Christian encounters have        inspired in European artists and writers in the centuries since, it gives a uniquely        broad but precise vision of the evolution of Western attitudes towards Islam and the        Arab world over the last eight hundred years.