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Cultures of the Mediterranean Area in the Twelfth Century

During the twelfth century, the rift between the rising Occident and the increasingly divided and declining Orient became apparent in the Mediterranean area. The Mediterranean area nonetheless remained a zone of exchange and preserved a natural common identity which has evolved in the course of history, and which enabled an urban and cosmopolitan culture with its unique way of life to flourish. However, at the beginning of the period of expansion, which ensured that the Occident dominated the Mediterranean area over a period of two centuries, the centuries-old cultural bonds proved to be fragile. The ancient centres of cultural exchange in Sicily and Spain were locked in an ongoing quarrel. Settlements set up in Syria-Palestine by people from the Western world were a sign of the decline of the Byzantine Empire and the retreat of the Arabs.


Caption:

Coronation cloak of the Norman king of Sicily, Rogers II (1105-1154).
This silk cloak, woven in the ancient style, is decorated with a palm tree and two lions attacking camels. Gold thread and jewels have also been worked into the cloth. An inscription in Arabic emboidered along the seam recounts the conditions in which the cloak was created by Sicilian Arabic artists along with the year in which it was completed, in 528 (the year of Hedschra, according to the Mohammedan calendar) and 1133 (according to the Christian calendar) – Museum of Art History, Vienna.