Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is the history of a Muslim colony in the southern Italian city of Lucera during the Middle Ages. Author Julie Taylor draws on a vast array of primary sources, unpublished manuscripts, and archeological data to provide a detailed account of the lives of Muslims against the backdrop of the social and political complexities of medieval Lucera. Taylor's work illuminates the legal and social status of Muslims in Christendom and the contributions made by Muslims to the economy and defense of the kingdom of Sicily, and it also yields noteworthy insights into Muslim-Christian relations. Muslims in Medieval Italy is a thoroughly researched and absorbing account.

"Taylor's contribution lies mainly in her analysis of the limited number of diplomatic sources that do exist. Her work represents the first detailed monography on the colony's origins, its inhabitants, and its destruction. As such, historians interested in this anomalous colony ought to be grateful to her." - American Historical Review

"Taylor makes creative and extensive use of chronicles, archives, coins, and various archaeological sources to reconstruct a history rich in detail. . . . Julie Taylor'sMuslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera is a well-documented and original piece of work that constructs a cohesive narrative built on a large and diversified corpus of materials. . . . This work stands among those that provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexities that marked Muslim-Christian relations in southern Italy in the thirteenth century." - The Journal Of Religion