John Julius Norwich's The Middle Sea provides the third selection. The introduction uses it to argue that medieval Europe cannot be understood apart from the Mediterranean. Even a history centered on China would encounter the sea through the spice trade. The book supplies the setting for the Sicilian, Genoese, papal, crusader, and Mamluk material that follows.
Chapter · 9:30-9:51
The Mediterranean as a framework for medieval history
The third book treats Mediterranean connections as essential to medieval European history and to long-distance trade.