Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages - Assignment Example

1) The predicament faced by Riccoldo da Montecroce was the sufferings of the Christians and the victory of the Muslims in Baghdad. He needed God to explain this situation to him and provide a solution to this problem and asks for justice. He expresses his desire through prayers that he wished God would help him resolve this dilemma - “confirm me in the truth and sincerity of the Faith” (Tolan, xiii). He wishes that the treachery of the Saracens would come to a halt and the Christians would be released from captivity.

He could not figure out the cause behind the destruction suffered by the Christians. 2) ‘The myth of Poitiers’ refers to the debate about the fact that the battle of Poitiers brought an end to the Muslim invasion of Europe. However, it may be said that the expansion of the Islamic empire was not a result of conquests and rather a process of “continuous conversion” (Cardini, 4). Also, the halt in the expansion could have been due to the tiredness and absence of energy in the invaders, which prevented them from progressing further.

As observed by Cardini, “it has been claimed that, without Poitiers and the heroism of Charles Martel, the name of Allah would be called by the muezzin over the dreaming spires of Oxford, the Koran would be studied in that famous university and the history of the world would have been quite different” (Cardini, 4). However, later examination reveals that the importance of the battle is not so great. 3)While the West was not united under one power, the East was strong to some extent.

(Southern, 53) The areas of conflicts increased as the years passed.