Michael Baizerman Author

  Happy Christmas and New Year for you and your families, As the second year of the coronavirus draws to an end, I am reviewing my work on a new project.  I have made some corrections in Chapter 1, The Galley vs. the Round Ship, to make the comparison between the two breeds of watercraft less straightforward. I also continue collecting material for a second chapter about war galleys. I think it was a good idea to split the narrative into two developments: that of the galley and that of the sailing ship. The description becomes more accurate and the trends more palatable.  I restrict the narrative of galleys to the Mediterranean, excluding the Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.  I try to avoid overloading readers with too many details and focus on the main tendencies. I write for the general public, not for a handful of experts.  I am planning to branch the story of Mediterranean galleys into two channels: about warships and merchantmen. These are two separate developm...

 The present paper completes Unit I of my third project, " Seeking Christians and Spices: The Quest for the Maritime Route to India". You may view the previous chapters on my author's page on the Academia site:  https://www.academia.edu/41214506/How_Wide_Spans_the_Ocean_Sea https://www.academia.edu/42166248/Beyond_the_Pillars_of_Hercules https://www.academia.edu/43517659/The_Rediscovered_Islands_European_Claims_to_the_Canaries The popular trope associates the Late Middle Ages with the incessant strife of antagonistic faiths which took shape of a crusade and a jihad. My research calls this pervasive approach into question due to the presence of the restricted contingents of Latin Europeans on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Giving an account for this phenomenon requires a new set of arguments. Religious fanaticism was not the only platform to drum up support for achieving one’s goals. The first part of the chapter focuses on the involvement of European mercenarie...