Matters of Humanities

Muslims have been living in eastern parts of Europe for centuries. Since the 1970s, the presence of Muslims has also become a fact of life in other parts of Europe. In this last episode we will discuss where Europe and its Islam stand in the twenty-first century. Is it a continuation of the past, or are Europe and its Muslims sharing different worlds?Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music• Radio Tarifa: 'Lamma badda' (Spain) • Amina Alaoui, 'Lamma badda' (Morocco) • Elina Duni: 'Lamma badda' (Albanian-Swiss) • Stefano Battaglia: 'Lamma badda' (Italy) • Maria del Mar Bonet: 'Lamma badda' (Spain) • Abdel Karim: 'Lamma badda' (Egypt) • Natacha Atlas: 'Lamma badda' (Belgian-Egyptian) • Hamza el Din: 'Mwasha' (Sudan)

By the end of the first world war, the Ottoman Empire had ceased to exist, and few Muslims still lived in Europe. That changed in the 1970s, when new Muslim communities were established in Europe by means of migration.Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music• Marika Fratzeskopolou: 'Sto Kafe Aman' (Asia Minor) • Dobri Hristov: 'Mercy of Peace' (Bulgaria) • Isidor Bajic: 'Tears for the perished avengers of Kosovo' (Serbia) • Anton Pann: 'Pesrev Adjem Yeghia' (Wallachia) • Dora Pejacevic: 'Longing' (Croatia) • Loxandra Project: 'Ti Se Mellei Esenane' (Greece) • Cahit Berkay: 'Alyazmalim' (Asia Minor) • Giannakis Ioannidis: 'Apo Kato ap'tis Ntomates' (Greece)

In the eighteenth century, the Europeans became infatuated with all things 'Oriental' and 'Turkish'. At the same time, there was an increase in trade and diplomacy with the Ottoman empire. Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music• Jordi Saval: 'Hisar Buselik Sarki' (Ottoman) • Jean-Baptiste Lully: 'Marche pour la Ceremonie Turque' (France) • Mozart: 'Rondo alla Turca' (Austria) • Beethoven: 'Turkish March' (Austria) • Giovanni Battista Donado: '2 Turkish love songs' (Venice) • Valentin Bakfark: 'Fantasia No.6' (Hungary) • Rossini: 'Che bel Turco!' (Italy) • Peter Cornelius: 'The Barber of Baghdad' (Germany) • Schubert / Goethe: 'Suleika I' (Germany)

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries one could hardly speak of Christian or European unity against a Muslim enemy. We have seen that this was because of the political divisions in Europe. In this episode we will discuss another reason for the lack of European unity, and that is religious divisions.Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music•Johannes Sebastian Bach: 'Erhalt uns, Herr' (Germany) • Lamekan Ensemble: 'Nikriz Peşrev' (Ottoman) • Gustav Duben: 'Veni sancta Spiritus' (Sweden) • Jan Dismas Zelenka: 'Miserere in C minor' (Czech) • Heinrich Biber: 'Harmonia Artificioso' (Germany) • Ensemble Renaissance: 'Cry no More' (Croatia)

In the next three episode we will take a closer look at the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. That period was dominated by the presence of the Ottomans, and in today's episode we will take a closer look at this new player in Europe, and how this empire related to other European states, and how its religiously mixed society looked like.Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music• Jordi Saval: 'Uskudar' (Ottoman) • Bulgarian Female Choir: 'Schopska Pesen' (Bulgaria) • Johannes Caioni: 'Codex Caioni: Czardas' (Transylvania) • (France)Julian Belin: 'Second Trio'• Cornelis Schuyt: 'Bewaert, O heer, holland' (Netherlands) •Adam Jarzebsk: 'Tamburetta' (Poland)

King Otto had thrown out the Arab warlords from southern France. As a thank you, the pope crowned him king of the Christians in Europe, and Otto would build an enormous empire in central Europe that became known as the Holy Roman Empire. This same king Otto was trying to establish good relations with the Arab Muslims in Spain.Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music• Amina Alaoui: 'Li Ayyi Sabab' (Andalusia) • Maria del mar Bonnet: 'Tonada de Treball' (Catalonia) • New Orleans Musica da Camera: 'Ja nus hons pris…' (England/France) • Al Qantarah: 'Vicarotia' (Sicily) • Monks of abbey of Notre Dame: 'Dignus Deus Est' (Western Europe) • Begona Olavide: 'Leilun Ayib' (Andalusia) • Juan Martin: 'Lamento Morisco' (Spain) • Karolina Cicha, 'Jaz Cite' (Tatarastan) • Robert Lawaty et al.: 'Exultet hodie' (Poland)

What did Europeans think of the Muslims who had been entering Europe since the eighth century? Was it just another group of warriors, like the Vikings in the north and the Huns in the east? Or were they seen as a new religion, perhaps even a challenge to Christianity? In the previous episode we talked about the wars of conquest and raids undertaken by the Muslim Arabs. We have seen that raiding and conquering was done by everyone, everywhere. But a question that has been preoccupying many academics and observers is whether the Muslims were perhaps conquering for another reason, and that is: to spread Islam.Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music score• Ghada Shbeir: 'Ya Oumm Allah' (Middle East) • Amina Alaoui: 'Lamento de Tristan' (Florence) • Troevere Medieval Minstrels: 'Rassa tan creis' (France/Italy) •   Jordi Savall, 'Saltarello' (Spain) • Josef Foerster et al.: 'Svatý Václave (St.Wenceslas)' (Czech / Slowakia) • Nawa Shanbar:'Danzas Medievales Espanoles' (Spain) • Al-Firdaus Ensemble: 'Waslat Taba Li' (Andalusia)

Were the Muslims set on conquering Europe? And how did Europeans respond? In this first episode, Maurits Berger tells the stories of the first encounters between Europe and Islam.  Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in EuropePeople are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.Music scoreIlias Valaris, aka DJ Valeron: 'Moroccan Night' (Europe) • Nay - Arabian Music: 'Hijaz' (Middle East) • Aicha Redouane: 'Allahu ya'lamu anna n-nafsa' (Andalusia) • Jordi Saval: 'A chantar m'er de so' (France) • Maria del mar Bonnet, 'Se Nuaven Alhasmarilon' (Balearic Islands) • unknown: Ukranian Middle Age Music (Ukraine) • Christodolous Halaris, Byzantine secular music - Master Lambadarios (Byzantine)

People are often surprised that the history of the Islam in Europe is so much more than a history of wars. It's also a story of diplomacy and trade, knowledge and arts, from Muslims living together with Christians and Europeans for centuries. Muslims and the Islam are not things that just 'happened' to Europe, they are part of Europe. In this podcast series, professor Maurits Berger talks about the history of the Islam in Europe: going back to the first Muslim who set foot in Europe, and seeing what kind of interactions have taken place between Muslims and Europeans since then.