Al-Andalus Flashcards
Governed under Damascus
711-56
Independent emirate
756
Caliphate in itself
929
Collapse of caliphate of Córdoba
1031
Most tangible evidence of importance of Muslim invasion
Irrigation, crop rotation
Islamic water wheels
Córdoba highly sophisticated - Mezquita of Córdoba, The Mirhab
Example of Arab leadership in science and medicine
Pedanius Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, sent to Al-raman III, caliph of Córdoba, and translated by a Jew
Attempt to introduce elements of monastic tradition into Islam. Opening up to sainthood doctrine
Sufism
Beautiful exposition, in poetic form, of the Unity of being, single and indivisible reality which simultaneously transcends and is manifested in all images of the world
Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), Tarjumân al-Ashwâq
Emphasis on striving for union with God through emptying oneself of everything and transcending
Pseudo-Dionysius, Mystical Theology
Main Taifa Kingdoms
Berbers = south coast. Cádiz-Granada Arabs = main cities e.g. Córdoba, Seville, Toledo
Pelayo
Covadonga 732
Alvarus, Life of Eulogius, 859
Eulogius martyred but only when he broke the rules by trying to rescue Christian Leocritia from parent beating her for her religion and then trying to preach the gospel to the ruler’s councillors when brought before them
Symbolism - dove flew and sat on martyr’s body - God on Christians’ side
Muslims described like animals, violent - King’s eunuch slapped Eulogius but he simply turned the other cheek
Bishop Reccafred of Córdoba very anti-martyr
he ‘descended upon churches and clergy like a violent whirlwind, and threw as many priests as he could into jail’
Alvarus, Life of Eulogius, 859
John of Gorze on mission to Spain 953-6
‘I will not for the sake of life… run away from the task of witnessing to the truth’
Converted into church
Mosque of Córdoba, after 1085 conquest by Alfonso VI
Cluniac monk blamed by Christian source for converting the mosque to a church was then…
Made archbishop of Toledo after important church council in Burgos in favour of Roman right to replace Mozarabic right - 1080
Tax paid by Muslim Taifa states to Christian states
Parias
Reconquista key gains 13th Century
Córdoba, 1236
Valencia, 1238
Murcia, 1243
Seville, 1247
‘Poem of my Cid’
El Cid battles Moorish armies and conquers Valencia to impress Alfonso VI of Castile and regain honour lost through exile
Reality of El Cid, as told in an earlier biography
Converted back and forth between religions. Offered services to Muslim dynasty that ruled Zaragoza, loyally served al-Mu’tamin and successor al-Mustan’in II for nearly a decade
Limitations of Christians living in Muslim Spain
Payed jizyah
Koran said should ‘be brought low’
No publicity of worship, bell-ringing, processions, blaspheming of Prophet or Book of Islam
Positives of Christian life in Muslim Spain
Protection
Own bishops, priests, churches, monasteries
Many bishops in responsible positions in service of Emirs of Córdoba
Christians of Spain isolated
E.g. Alvarus, Life of Eulogius, 859:
Eulogius, leading scholar, visited Navarre 848. Got Augustine’s City of God, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal - unobtainable in Córdoba