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Parution :Maria Vaiou, Diplomacy in the Early Islamic World: A Tenth-century Treatise on Arab-Byzantine Relations, I.B.TAURIS, 30 janvier 2015.Arab messengers played a vital role in the medieval Islamic world and its diplomatic relations with foreign powers. An innovative treatise from the 10th Century ("Rusul al-Muluk", "Messengers of Kings") is perhaps the most important account of the diplomacy of the period, and it is here translated into English for the first time. "Rusul al-Muluk" draws on examples from the Qur'an and other sources which extend from the period of al-jahiliyya to the time of the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim (218-227/833-842). In the only medieval Arabic work which exists on the conduct of messengers and their qualifications, the author Ibn al-Farr rejects jihadist policies in favor of quiet diplomacy and a pragmatic outlook of constructive realpolitik. "Rusul al-Muluk" is an extraordinarily important and original contribution to our understanding of the early Islamic world and the field of International Relations and Diplomatic History.Maria Vaiou is Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Byzantine History at Sabanc University, Istanbul. She completed her PhD at the University of Oxford in 2002