"He who does not travel will not know the value of men"
(Moorish saying, cited in Bovill, The Golden Trade, p. 91)

The following texts are a collection of episodes in Leo's life, all of which constitute an 'interactive' Leo library. Starting with a global approach to Leo's biography, readers can delve into specific detail for each of his life stages, and read about the different interpretations that generations of scholars have made about him. Thus, my reader is not forced into any 'final' interpretation of Leo's personage, but left free to learn the facts, and witness how these facts have been used to fit one vision or another. For Leo was and still is a very controversial historical figure- one which every nation, every religion, every creed would like to appropriate. Such is the fate of truly ambiguous men!

Biography
Biographical hints
Leo A to Z
The Cosmographia Del' Africa and the 1931 manuscript
The Moroccan Years
Granada
Hassan El Wazzan
The Maristane
The Italian Years
Pirates and Captivity
Conversion
The Pope's Elephant
Leo in History
Leo myths
Interview with Roger Mimo: Leo the Andalusian
Interview with Professor M. Hajji: Fifty years of Leo scholarship

The Leo Project
How it all came to be?
Leo before the Leo project