Why did King Offa of Mercia mint a coin copied from the dinar of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 136–58/754–775)? Where can we still find the links between the England and the early Crusades? Which scholars helped translate Arabic works into Latin? Which local landmarks and historical figures from the West Midlands can help us trace this history?

Join us for our first monthly online discussion where historian Dr Neelam Hussain explores the early exchanges between medieval England and the Arab world between the 8th and 12th centuries. This event is the first of a series of six online seminars tracing the history of encounters and exchanges between the British Isles and the Arab world from the 8th century to the present day. Co-hosted by Rend Nawari.

We are grateful to the Arab British Centre for their generous funding and support for this event as part of our 'People, Places, Traces: A Millennium of Arab-British Encounters' heritage project. This project will also contribute to the Arab British Centre's Arab Britain digital story archive. You can find details of the rest of the project here.

This is a free online event (via Zoom), open to the public. Please register your interest in attending and a link will be sent to your email before the event.