Constructing the Medieval Maritime State: Identity, Violence, and Connection in the Mediterranean (Oxford Studies In The New Medieval History)

Constructing the Medieval Maritime State: Identity, Violence, and Connection in the Mediterranean explores how the small medieval kingdom of Denia in Spain became a powerful maritime state after the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate.Its rulers built authority, not only through war and seafaring raids but also by connecting Denia to wider Mediterranean trade, diplomacy, and culture. The rise and evolution of the taifa of Denia is a powerful case study for understanding the construction of medieval maritime states in the Mediterranean.Travis Bruce situates Denia within the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate and explores how its rulers forged legitimacy through identity formation, maritime violence, and regional connectivity.Denia's identity was negotiated through rulership, unfreedom, and cultural hybridity, and violence ^-^particularly predatory warfare and maritime jihad ^-^ functioned as both statecraft and economic extraction.At the same time, Denia's entanglement in commercial, diplo