This book, the second volume of proceedings of the international colloquia, organized yearly by the editors at the KU Leuven, contains the revised and sometimes enlarged versions of sixteen papers read at the meetings of 1995 and 1996. They deal with the political, institutional, religious and cultural history of Egypt and Greater Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk eras (10th-15th century), including Druzism, Fatimid poetry, Ayyubid and Mamluk architecture and arts. With contributions by M. Brett, D. De Smet, H. Halm, J. Richard, P. Smoor, J. Van Reeth, A.-M. Edde, L. Korn, J. Thiry, J. Dobrowolski, M. Van Raemdonck and U. Vermeulen.