Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:09:36. THE BOOK OF ROGER. 

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A PRODUCTION OF THE MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN

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10 th  -12 th  century: a time of multi-cultural interchange in the Mediterranean Norman ruler, Roger II, was both politically and religiously accommodating Norman productions of art spurred an interchange of culture Cecily J. Hilsdale – Notes ‘ the Mediterranean is best understood as a lens or an optic, one that helps define an optimal vantage point for scholarly inquiry.'

Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:23:27. The Kitab Rujar/Book of Roger Arabic Book/Manuscript Unidentified place of publication Publisher not identified 1250-1325 Language - Arabic The oldest known copy made approximately around 1325, kept in the National Library in France as MS Arabe 2221 https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667394/ .. 

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The Kitab Rujar/Book of Roger Arabic Book/Manuscript Unidentified place of publication Publisher not identified  1250-1325 Language - Arabic  The oldest known copy made approximately around 1325, kept in the National Library in France as MS Arabe 2221 https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667394/ .

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Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:30:02. A picture containing text, fabric Description automatically generated. 

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Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:43:49. Folios from the Book of Roger, LOC, 1250-1325 AD. 

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Folios from the Book of Roger, LOC, 1250-1325 AD

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Each of the 70 regional maps were followed by a descriptive text of the regions

Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:32:20. REASON &AUDIENCE. 

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The reason for the commissioning of the Kitab Rujar, may have been for imperial or cultural reason. It may have been Roger’s desire to explore a political geography. It may have been Roger’s message to the local Muslim population of his position of power.  Emily Savage-Smith – finds that Roger II was the ’target audience’, ‘ who could view with amazement the lavish volume and look with longing at the extent of the world he hoped some day to rule .’ Tarek Kahlaoui – ‘Al-Idrīsī’s discourse on the function of cartographic mediation is particularly interesting. His maps were made for those who, for various reasons, including the need to travel to places with different geopolitical realities, cannot see the actual geographic spaces.’

Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:35:27. Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:36:35. 

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Charta Rogeriana –  Konrad Miller’s assembled version of  all of  Al- Idrīsī’s regional maps, 1928, Library of Congress

Audio Recording 5 Nov 2021 at 10:56:40. Why Al- Idrīsī?. 

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Summoned to Roger’s court in 1138 A consequence of Roger’s political interest in him Roger’s interest relating to Al- Idrīsī’s contribution of Arab geographical learning that traversed 300 years Cecily J. Hilsdale – ‘To understand these varied visual cultures as Mediterranean, keeping in mind new thalassal scholarship, is to associate the objects of analysis… as the very adhesive tissue between microregions or local authorities and more distant powers and visual agendas.

THE BOOK OF ROGER

 The Kitab Rujar/Book of Roger Arabic Book/Manuscript Unidentified place of publication Publisher not identified  1250-1325 Language - Arabic  The oldest known copy made approximately around 1325, kept in the National Library in France as MS Arabe 2221 https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667394/ . 

THE BOOK OF ROGER

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