Alessandro Rizzo
For someone who wrote a dissertation under the supervision of Frédéric Bauden on the diplomatic relations between the Mamluk sultanate and Florence and who was trained in the field of Mamluk Diplomatics by reading the works of Malika Dekkiche, DiplomatiCon can only be the best project to join.
My interest in Near Eastern studies had started some years before, during my Bachelor’s (University of Turin) and Master’s (University of Pisa) studies. At that time, I took my first steps into medieval documents in Arabic, studying this language at the University of Damascus and writing a final thesis on a Mamluk scroll (20 meters long!) kept at the Florentine State Archives. As a student of a degree in European History, I became interested in studying the exchanges between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
After completing my Master’s degree, I did my PhD at the Universities of Liège and Aix-Marseille, with a research stay at the University of Chicago. Somehow, the history of my PhD ran parallel to building the academic and friendly relationships that led to the creation of DiplomatiCon. Thanks to another project, the i‐LINK0977 (The diplomatic exchanges between Islamic Mediterranean powers and Christian European powers in the Middle Ages), funded by the CSIC (Spain) in collaboration with the two universities where I did my doctorate, I could meet Roser Salicrú i Lluch, who is also one of the PIs of DiplomatiCon. This collaboration continued in 2018-2020, when I carried out postdoctoral research at the Institució Milà i Fontanals in Barcelona, learning a lot about the relations between the Crown of Aragon and the Mamluks. Right at the end of my PhD, I also met another PI of the project, Isabella Lazzarini, when she visited the University of Liège as a member of my thesis committee. Her works introduced me to the world of the New Diplomatic History.
After discussing my thesis, I started my postdoctoral career at the University of Bonn, a path I have not left since… At the Anne Marie Schimmel Kolleg of Bonn, I found myself in an environment animated by professors and researchers specializing in different aspects of the Mamluk sultanate. For the first time, I identified myself as a “Mamlukist”, as people around me used to say. My research as a Mamlukist specializing in the relations between Cairo and Christian powers continued by working for the CSIC in Barcelona, the University of Liège, and the University of Munich. During those years, I studied diplomacy's symbolic and practical aspects between the sultanate and several European powers. In particular, I focused on concepts such as jihād, or the dichotomy between dār al-Islām (abode of Islam) and dār al-ḥarb (abode of war) that are still evoked today by the mass media in representing the relationship between Muslims and Christians (often in a too simplistic way!). With a perspective on the present, I therefore try to understand what principles made diplomatic and interreligious dialogue possible in the late medieval period.
My role as a postdoc within DiplomatiCon is to learn a lot from the PIs and the other team members, especially in the field of Digital Humanities. Then, I try to share my research experience with the members, providing a comparative perspective with powers that DiplomatiCon does not directly deal with, such as the Kingdom of France, the Republic of Florence, and the Military orders.
Here, I can finally see the northern and southeastern shores of the Mediterranean connected!