The Emperor and the Elephant: Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne

In this scholarly and deeply sourced work, medieval historian Ottewill-Soulsby (Univ. of Oslo) analyzes the complex nature of diplomacy between the Carolingian Franks (primarily 8th–10th century CE) and various Muslim polities in Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The author succeeds in expanding readers’ understanding of Carolingian-Muslim diplomacy by both utilizing Islamic sources and dismantling previous balance-of-power theories. These philosophies were espoused by academics who have long viewed this period as a contest between two power blocks: Carolingians and Abbasids opposing Byzantines and Umayyads. Ottewill-Soulsby injects much-needed context and nuance, demonstrating that the circumstances behind individual diplomatic exchanges, embassies, and gift-giving all reflected local dynamics and should not be treated monolithically, neither temporally nor geographically. The author’s approach to the various Muslim polities also maintains this nuance, which is a necessary corrective to the status quo—even recently in academic writing—in the approach to Muslim populations and their interactions, internally and externally. While the historical record is scant (particularly so among Islamic sources), the author makes the most of it and modern political theories to advance his theses.