Al Andalus History

  al andalus history: Muslim Spain and Portugal Hugh Kennedy, 2014-06-11 This is the first study in English of the political history of Muslim Spain and Portugal, based on Arab sources. It provides comprehensive coverage of events across the whole of the region from 711 to the fall of Granada in 1492. Up till now the history of this region has been badly neglected in comparison with studies of other states in medieval Europe. When considered at all, it has been largely written from Christian sources and seen in terms of the Christian Reconquest. Hugh Kennedy raises the profile of this important area, bringing the subject alive with vivid translations from Arab sources. This will be fascinating reading for historians of medieval Europe and for historians of the middle east drawing out the similarities and contrasts with other areas of the Muslim world.
  al andalus history: Early Islamic Spain David James, 2009-02-25 This book is the first published English-language translation of the significant History of Islamic Spain by Ibn al-Qutiya (d. Cordova 367 / 977). Including extensive notes and comments, a genealogical table and relevant maps, the text is preceded by a study of the author and his work, and is the only serious examination of the unique manuscript since Pascual de Gayangos’ edition in 1868. Ibn al-Qutiya’s work is one of the significant and earliest histories of Muslim Spain and an important source for scholars. Although like most Muslims of al-Andalus in this period, Ibn al-Qutiya was of European origin, he was a loyal servant of the Iberian Umayyads, and taught Arabic, traditions (hadith) and history in the Great Mosque of Cordova. Written at the height of the Umayyad Caliphate of Muslim Spain and Portugal (al-Andalus), the History describes the first 250 years of Muslim rule in the peninsula. The text, first fully translated into Spanish in 1926, deals with all aspects of life, and includes accounts of Christians, Jews and Muslim converts. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of the history of Spain and Portugal, Islamic history, and Mediaeval European history.
  al andalus history: The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 1 Manuela Marin, 2016-12-05 These two volumes present a conspectus of current research on the history and culture of early medieval Spain and Portugal, from the time of the Arab conquest in 711 up to the fall of the caliphate. They trace the impact of Islamisation on the pre-existing Roman and Visigothic political and social structures, the continuing interaction between Christian and Muslim, and describe the particular development and characteristics of Muslim Spain- al-Andalus. Together, they comprise 38 articles, of which 32 have been translated into English specially for this publication. The first volume focuses on political and social history, and looks in detail at settlement patterns and urbanisation; the second examines questions of language and covers the brilliant cultural and intellectual history of the period.
  al andalus history: Muslim Spain and Portugal Hugh Kennedy, 2014-06-11 This is the first study in English of the political history of Muslim Spain and Portugal, based on Arab sources. It provides comprehensive coverage of events across the whole of the region from 711 to the fall of Granada in 1492. Up till now the history of this region has been badly neglected in comparison with studies of other states in medieval Europe. When considered at all, it has been largely written from Christian sources and seen in terms of the Christian Reconquest. Hugh Kennedy raises the profile of this important area, bringing the subject alive with vivid translations from Arab sources. This will be fascinating reading for historians of medieval Europe and for historians of the middle east drawing out the similarities and contrasts with other areas of the Muslim world.
  al andalus history: The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 1 Manuela Marin, 2016-12-05 These two volumes present a conspectus of current research on the history and culture of early medieval Spain and Portugal, from the time of the Arab conquest in 711 up to the fall of the caliphate. They trace the impact of Islamisation on the pre-existing Roman and Visigothic political and social structures, the continuing interaction between Christian and Muslim, and describe the particular development and characteristics of Muslim Spain- al-Andalus. Together, they comprise 38 articles, of which 32 have been translated into English specially for this publication. The first volume focuses on political and social history, and looks in detail at settlement patterns and urbanisation; the second examines questions of language and covers the brilliant cultural and intellectual history of the period.
  al andalus history: Kingdoms of Faith Brian A. Catlos, 2018 Prior accounts have portrayed Islamic Spain either as a paradise of enlightened tolerance, or as the site where civilisations clashed. Award-winning historian Brian A. Catlos taps a wide array of original sources to paint a more complex picture, showing how Muslims, Christians, and Jews together built a sophisticated civilisation that transformed the Western world, even as they waged relentless war against each other and amongst themselves. Religion was often the language of conflict, but seldom its cause--a lesson we would do well to learn in our own time.Kingdoms of Faith rewrites Spain's Islamic past from the ground up, evoking the cultural splendour of al-Andalus and the many forces that shaped it.
  al andalus history: The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Dario Fernandez-Morera, 2023-07-11 A finalist for World Magazine's Book of the Year! Scholars, journalists, and even politicians uphold Muslim-ruled medieval Spain—al-Andalus—as a multicultural paradise, a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony. There is only one problem with this widely accepted account: it is a myth. In this groundbreaking book, Northwestern University scholar Darío Fernández-Morera tells the full story of Islamic Spain. The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise shines light on hidden history by drawing on an abundance of primary sources that scholars have ignored, as well as archaeological evidence only recently unearthed. This supposed beacon of peaceful coexistence began, of course, with the Islamic Caliphate's conquest of Spain. Far from a land of religious tolerance, Islamic Spain was marked by religious and therefore cultural repression in all areas of life and the marginalization of Christians and other groups—all this in the service of social control by autocratic rulers and a class of religious authorities. The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise provides a desperately needed reassessment of medieval Spain. As professors, politicians, and pundits continue to celebrate Islamic Spain for its multiculturalism and diversity, Fernández-Morera sets the historical record straight—showing that a politically useful myth is a myth nonetheless.
  al andalus history: The Literature of Al-Andalus María Rosa Menocal, 2006-11-02 The Literature of Al-Andalus is an exploration of the culture of Iberia, present-day Spain and Portugal, during the period when it was an Islamic, mostly Arabic-speaking territory, from the eighth to the thirteenth century, and in the centuries following the Christian conquest when Arabic continued to be widely used. The volume embraces many other related spheres of Arabic culture including philosophy, art, architecture and music. It also extends the subject to other literatures - especially Hebrew and Romance literatures - that burgeoned alongside Arabic and created the distinctive hybrid culture of medieval Iberia. Edited by an Arabist, an Hebraist and a Romance scholar, with individual chapters compiled by a team of the world's leading experts of Islamic Iberia, Sicily and related cultures, this is a truly interdisciplinary and comparative work which offers a interesting approach to the field.
  al andalus history: The Ornament of the World Maria Rosa Menocal, 2009-11-29 This classic bestseller — the inspiration for the PBS series — is an illuminating and even inspiring portrait of medieval Spain that explores the golden age when Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance (Los Angeles Times). This enthralling history, widely hailed as a revelation of a lost golden age, brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where for more than seven centuries Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and where literature, science, and the arts flourished. It is no exaggeration to say that what we presumptuously call 'Western' culture is owed in large measure to the Andalusian enlightenment...This book partly restores a world we have lost. —Christopher Hitchens, The Nation
  al andalus history: Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus, Volume Two John Andrew Morrow, 2020-11-26 Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus provides a panoramic view of the Shi‘ite presence in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. This second volume provides a sweeping study of Aljamiado literature. It features Morisco traditions that are translated into English for the very first time. Not only were Moriscos producing original works of Shi‘ite inspiration, they were also citing classical Shi‘ite sources that were produced by Zaydis, Isma‘ilis, Twelvers, and even Nusayris. As this book’s comprehensive coverage reveals, some Moriscos were drawing from the works of Imam ‘Ali, Kulayni, Bahrani, Saduq, Rawandi, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ibn Tawus, Mufid, Bakri, Tusi, Kaf‘ami, and even Majlisi. They were studying Shi‘ite traditions, reciting Shi‘ite prayers, marking the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, and reading about the lives of the twelve Imams. By re-examining, re-assessing, and rewriting the religious and political history of the region, Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus makes a revolutionary contribution to scholarship in the field.
  al andalus history: A Companion to Islamic Granada Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo, 2021-11-22 A Companion to Islamic Granada gathers, for the first time in English, a number of essays exploring aspects of the Islamic history of this city from the 8th through the 15th centuries from an interdisciplinary perspective. This collective volume examines the political development of Medieval Gharnāṭa under the rule of different dynasties, drawing on both historiographical and archaeological sources. It also analyses the complexity of its religious and multicultural society, as well as its economic, scientific, and intellectual life. The volume also transcends the year 1492, analysing the development of both the mudejar and the morisco populations and their contribution to Grenadian culture and architecture up to the 17th century. Contributors are: Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo, María Jesús Viguera-Molíns, Alberto García-Porras, Antonio Malpica–Cuello, Bilal Sarr-Marroco, Allen Fromherz, Bernard Vincent, Maribel Fierro–Bello, Ma Luisa Ávila–Navarro, Juan Pedro Monferrer–Sala, José Martínez–Delgado, Luis Bernabé–Pons, Adela Fábregas–García, Josef Ženka, Amalia Zomeño–Rodríguez, Delfina Serrano–Ruano, Julio Samsó–Moya, Celia del Moral-Molina, José Miguel Puerta–Vílchez, Antonio Orihuela–Uzal, Ieva Rėklaitytė, and Rafael López–Guzmán.
  al andalus history: Love Songs from al-Andalus Otto Zwartjes, 2023-08-21 Love Songs from al-Andalus presents an updated survey of the debates concerning Andalusian strophic poetry and their Kharjas. Attention is focused on the texts themselves and their literary implications as testimonies of the multicultural and multilingual society of al-Andalus. Since languages and alphabets of the three major religions have been used, these texts are studies historically, prosodically, thematically and stylistically and are related to the three literary traditions. One of the novelties of this study is the fact that it has been based upon the most updated edition and interpretations of the texts introducing emendations in over a third of its contents and making obsolete most of the hundreds of previous articles and books on the topic. Another novelty is the fact that stylistic features have been studied according to the Arabic model, casting new light on them. The survey of thematic relationships and the analysis of code-switching phenomena add weight to the conclusions of this research.
  al andalus history: From Al-Andalus to the Americas (13th-17th Centuries) , 2018-06-12 From Al-Andalus to the Americas (13th-17th Centuries). Destruction and Construcion of Societies offers a multi-perspective view of the filiation of different colonial and settler colonial experiences, from the Medieval Iberian Peninsula to the early Modern Americas. All the articles in the volume refer the reader to colonial orders that extended over time, that substantially reduced indigenous populations, that imposed new productive strategies and created new social hierarchies. The ideological background and how conquests were organised; the treatment given to the conquered lands and people; the political organisations, and the old and new agricultural systems are issues discussed in this volume. Contributors are David Abulafia, Manuel Ardit, Antonio Espino, Adela Fábregas, Josep M. Fradera, Enric Guinot, Helena Kirchner, Antonio Malpica, Virgilio Martínez-Enamorado, Carmen Mena, António Mendes, Félix Retamero, Inge Schjellerup, Josep Torró, and Antoni Virgili.
  al andalus history: Christians in Al-Andalus 711-1000 Ann Rosemary Christys, 2013-01-11 Our current image of the Christian population of al-Andalus after AD711 reflects the way history has been written. The Christians almost disappeared from the historical record as the historians of the conquering Muslims concentrated on the glories of the Ummayads.This book reconsiders, through their own words, the fate of the Christians of al-Andalus. The texts discusses two chronicles in Latin on the fate of Hispania, the problematic accounts of Christian martyrs in Cordoba, a Muslim historian's account of how his Christian ancestors survived the conquest and other texts reflecting the acculturation of Christians into Islamic society.
  al andalus history: The Mystics of al-Andalus Yousef Casewit, 2017-04-27 A study of the writings of Ibn Barrajān, an influential pioneer of intellectual mysticism in the Muslim West.
  al andalus history: A History of Islamic Spain Professor W Montgomery Watt, Pierre Cachia, 2007 The period of Muslim occupation in Spain represents the only significant contact Islam and Europe was ever to have on European soil. In this important as well as fascinating study, Watt traces Islam's influence upon Spain and European civilization--from the collapse of the Visigoths in the eighth century to the fall of Granada in the fifteenth, and considers Spain's importance as a part of the Islamic empire. Particular attention is given to the golden period of economic and political stability achieved under the Umayyads. Without losing themselves in detail and without sacrificing complexity, the authors discuss the political, social, and economic continuity in Islamic Spain, or al-Andalus, in light of its cultural and intellectual effects upon the rest of Europe. Medieval Christianity, Watt points out, found models of scholarship in the Islamic philosophers and adapted the idea of holy war to its own purposes while the final reunification of Spain under the aegis of the Reconquista played a significant role in bringing Europe out of the Middle Ages. A survey essential to anyone seeking a more complete knowledge of European or Islamic history, the volume also includes sections on literature and philology by Pierre Cachia. This series of Islamic surveys is designed to give the educated reader something more than can be found in the usual popular books. Each work undertakes to survey a special part of the field, and to show the present stage of scholarship here. Where there is a clear picture this will be given; but where there are gaps, obscurities and differences of opinion, these will also be indicated. Full and annotated bibliographies will afford guidance to those who want to pursue their studies further. There will also be some account of the nature and extent of the source material. The series is addressed in the first place to the educated reader, with little or no previous knowledge of the subject; its character is such that it should be of value also to university students and others whose interest is of a more professional kind.
  al andalus history: The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus Dwight Reynolds, 2020-12-31 The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus is a critical account of the history of Andalusian music in Iberia from the Islamic conquest of 711 to the final expulsion of the Moriscos (Spanish Muslims converted to Christianity) in the early 17th century. This volume presents the documentation that has come down to us, accompanied by critical and detailed analyses of the sources written in Arabic, Old Catalan, Castilian, Hebrew, and Latin. It is also informed by research the author has conducted on modern Andalusian musical traditions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. While the cultural achievements of medieval Muslim Spain have been the topic of a large number of scholarly and popular publications in recent decades, what may arguably be its most enduring contribution – music – has been almost entirely neglected. The overarching purpose of this work is to elucidate as clearly as possible the many different types of musical interactions that took place in medieval Iberia and the complexity of the various borrowings, adaptations, hybridizations, and appropriations involved.
  al andalus history: History of Islamic Spain William Montgomery Watt, 2019-08-08 This comprehensive introduction to the history of Islamic Spain takes thereader through the events, people and movements from 711 to 1492.
  al andalus history: Defining Boundaries in al-Andalus Janina M. Safran, 2015-12-04 Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the medieval Islamic state in Iberia, endured for over 750 years following the Arab and Berber conquest of Hispania in 711. While the popular perception of al-Andalus is that of a land of religious tolerance and cultural cooperation, the fact is that we know relatively little about how Muslims governed Christians and Jews in al-Andalus and about social relations among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. In Defining Boundaries in al-Andalus, Janina M. Safran takes a close look at the structure and practice of Muslim political and legal-religious authority and offers a rare look at intercommunal life in Iberia during the first three centuries of Islamic rule. Safran makes creative use of a body of evidence that until now has gone largely untapped by historians-the writings and opinions of Andalusi and Maghribi jurists during the Umayyad dynasty. These sources enable her to bring to life a society undergoing dramatic transformation. Obvious differences between conquerors and conquered and Muslims and non-Muslims became blurred over time by transculturation, intermarriage, and conversion. Safran examines ample evidence of intimate contact between individuals of different religious communities and of legal-juridical accommodation to develop an argument about how legal-religious authorities interpreted the social contract between the Muslim regime and the Christian and Jewish populations. Providing a variety of examples of boundary-testing and negotiation and bringing judges, jurists, and their legal opinions and texts into the narrative of Andalusi history, Safran deepens our understanding of the politics of Umayyad rule, makes Islamic law tangibly social, and renders intercommunal relations vividly personal.
  al andalus history: Homage to Al-Andalus Michael Barry, 2008
  al andalus history: The Most Noble of People Jessica Coope, 2017-04-10 Negotiates ethnic, religious, and gender identity amid turbulent social change in medieval Islamic Spain
  al andalus history: The Afterlife of al-Andalus Christina Civantos, 2017-11-21 Around the globe, concerns about interfaith relations have led to efforts to find earlier models in Muslim Iberia (al-Andalus). This book examines how Muslim Iberia operates as an icon or symbol of identity in twentieth and twenty-first century narrative, drama, television, and film from the Arab world, Spain, and Argentina. Christina Civantos demonstrates how cultural agents in the present ascribe importance to the past and how dominant accounts of this importance are contested. Civantos's analysis reveals that, alongside established narratives that use al-Andalus to create exclusionary, imperial identities, there are alternate discourses about the legacy of al-Andalus that rewrite the traditional narratives. In the process, these discourses critique their imperial and gendered dimensions and pursue intercultural translation.
  al andalus history: Iberian Moorings Ross Brann, 2021-05-28 To Christians the Iberian Peninsula was Hispania, to Muslims al-Andalus, and to Jews Sefarad. As much as these were all names given to the same real place, the names also constituted ideas, and like all ideas, they have histories of their own. To some, al-Andalus and Sefarad were the subjects of conventional expressions of attachment to and pride in homeland of the universal sort displayed in other Islamic lands and Jewish communities; but other Muslim and Jewish political, literary, and religious actors variously developed the notion that al-Andalus or Sefarad, its inhabitants, and their culture were exceptional and destined to play a central role in the history of their peoples. In Iberian Moorings Ross Brann traces how al-Andalus and Sefarad were invested with special political, cultural, and historical significance across the Middle Ages. This is the first work to analyze the tropes of Andalusi and Sefardi exceptionalism in comparative perspective. Brann focuses on the social power of these tropes in Andalusi Islamic and Sefardi Jewish cultures from the tenth through the twelfth century and reflects on their enduring influence and its expressions in scholarship, literature, and film down to the present day.
  al andalus history: Muslim Spain S. M. Imamuddin, 1981
  al andalus history: A History of Islamic Spain William Montgomery Watt, 1977
  al andalus history: The Muslim Conquest of Spain and the Legacy of Al-Andalus Shahnaz Husain, 2004
  al andalus history: From al-Andalus to Khurasan Petra Sijpesteijn, 2006-12-21 As in many areas of pre-modern history, the study of medieval Islamic history has been critically hindered by the lack of available evidence. Unlike many parallel fields, however, the shortage of contemporary documentary evidence for medieval Islam has less to do with the survival of documents and archives as with their accessibility. A rich documentary legacy survives, but because of its inaccessibility and unfamiliarity to all but the most specialised scholars in the field, it has remained sadly underutilised. This volume contributes to the redressing of that problem. It collects papers given at the conference Documents and the History of the Early Islamic Mediterranean World, including editions of unpublished documents and historical studies, which make use of documentary evidence from al-Andalus, Sicily, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and Khurasan. For more titles about Papyrology, please click here.
  al andalus history: The Legacy of Muslim Spain Salma Khadra Jayyusi, 2000-12-01
  al andalus history: Looking Back at al-Andalus Alexander Elinson, 2009-02-15 Looking Back at al-Andalus focuses on Arabic and Hebrew Literature that expresses the loss of al-Andalus from multiple vantage points. In doing so, this book examines the definition of al-Andalus’ literary borders, the reconstruction of which navigates between traditional generic formulations and actual political, military and cultural challenges. By looking at a variety of genres, the book shows that literature aiming to recall and define al-Andalus expresses a series of symbolic literary objects more than a geographic and political entity fixed in a single time and place. Looking Back at al-Andalus offers a unique examination into the role of memory, language, and subjectivity in presenting a series of interpretations of what al-Andalus represented to different writers at different historical-cultural moments.
  al andalus history: Islam at 250 , 2020-05-25 Islam at 250: Studies in Memory of G.H.A. Juynboll is a collection of original articles on the state of Islamic sciences and Arabic culture in the early phases of their crystallization. It covers a wide range of intellectual activity in the first three centuries of Islam, such as the study of ḥadīth, the Qurʾān, Arabic language and literature, and history. Individually and taken together, the articles provide important new insights and make an important contribution to scholarship on early Islam. The authors, whose work reflects an affinity with Juynboll's research interests, are all experts in their fields. Pointing to the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and signalling lacunae, their contributions show how scholarship has advanced since Juynboll's days. Contributors: Camilla Adang, Monique Bernards, Léon Buskens, Ahmed El Shamsy, Maribel Fierro, Aisha Geissinger, Geert Jan van Gelder, Claude Gilliot, Robert Gleave, Asma Hilali, Michael Lecker, Scott Lucas, Christopher Melchert, Pavel Pavlovitch, Petra M. Sijpesteijn, Roberto Tottoli, and Peter Webb.
  al andalus history: The Conquest of Andalusia Jurji Zaidan, 2011-10-01 It is Christmas Day in the year 710 AD in Toledo, capital of Visigoth Spain. King Wittiza has been dethroned, and the impulsive and tyrannical Roderic has been installed as monarch of Spain with the help of the Catholic clergy. Even so, Bishop Oppas, the deposed king's brother, is to remain as the senior ecclesiastical figure in Spain during King Roderic's reign. The beautiful Florinda is the daughter of Count Julian, the governor of Sabta, a Christian enclave in Muslim North Africa. She is madly in love and engaged to the charismatic and courageous Alfonso, son of the deposed king. But she has been moved into King Roderic's palace where she is the target of the new king's lustful desires, even though he is married. And Alfonso has been kept as a retainer in the palace so that his comings and goings can be monitored. Will Florinda manage to thwart the lascivious advances of the depraved king? Will Alfonso be able to foil the king's designs? And how will Florinda's father, Count Julian, react when he learns of Roderic's evil plans towards his daughter? What role will Bishop Oppas play -- torn as he is between loyalty to Visigoth Spain and faithfulness to his values and his family? The fast-paced story, full of twists and turns, unfolds as the Muslim armies in North Africa are poised to cross the Straits of Gibraltar and gain their first European foothold in what came to be called the land of al-Andalus. The Conquest of Andalusia is also the story of the battle for Florinda's virtue and happiness ....
  al andalus history: Performing Al-Andalus Jonathan Holt Shannon, 2015 Performing al-Andalus explores three musical cultures that claim a connection to the music of medieval Iberia, the Islamic kingdom of al-Andalus, known for its complex mix of Arab, North African, Christian, and Jewish influences. Jonathan Holt Shannon shows that the idea of a shared Andalusian heritage animates performers and aficionados in modern-day Syria, Morocco, and Spain, but with varying and sometimes contradictory meanings in different social and political contexts. As he traces the movements of musicians, songs, histories, and memories circulating around the Mediterranean, he argues that attention to such flows offers new insights into the complexities of culture and the nuances of selfhood.
  al andalus history: Ibn García's shu'ūbiyya Letter Göran Larsson, 2021-10-11 This volume deals with the medieval shu'ūbiyyah movement (in which non-Arab Muslims sought equality of power and status with Arabs) in al-Andalus, Muslim Spain. By analysing a letter composed by Ibn García during the 11th century, the tensions between Arab and non-Arab Muslims are discussed in detail. Symbols, stories and legends used in the shu'ūbiyyah corpus of writings are analysed in the light of the political and theological development in al-Andalus and the Muslim world. Authority, legitimacy and power are central both to the discussion of Ibn García’s letter and the history of the shu'ūbiyyah movement. The first part gives the historical background to the history of al-Andalus. Ethnic conflicts and tensions related to authority and power are of special interest. The second part, gives a detailed analysis of Ibn García’s shu'ūbiyyah letter in relation to the historical and contemporary situation in al-Andalus.
  al andalus history: The Moors of Andalusia Charles River, 2021-09-14 The term Moor is a historical rather than an ethnic name. It is an invention of European Christians for the Islamic inhabitants of Maghreb (North Africa), Andalusia (Spain), Sicily and Malta, and was sometimes use to designate all Muslims. It is derived from Mauri, the Latin name for the Berbers who lived in the Roman province of Mauretania, which ranged across modern Algeria and Morocco. Saracen was another European term used to designate Muslims, though it usually referred to the Arabic peoples of the Middle East and derives from an ancient name for the Arabs, Sarakenoi. The Muslims of those regions no more refer to themselves by that term than those of North Africa call themselves Moors. Maghreb, or al-Maghreb, is a historical term used by Arabic Muslims for the territory of coastal North Africa from Alexandria to the Atlantic Coast. It means The West and is used in opposition to Mashrek, The East, used to refer to the lands of Islam in the Middle East and north-eastern Africa. The Berbers refer to the region in their own language as Tamazgha. In a limited, precise sense it can also refer to the Kingdom of Morocco, the proper name of which is al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah, Kingdom of the West. The history of the Spanish Peninsula is closely bound to that of the Moors. The term Spain was not in wide use until the region was united by the monarchs of Aragon and Castile, and the Moors called the lands they ruled in the Iberian Peninsula Al-Andalus, traditionally thought to be an Arabic transliteration of Vandal, the Germanic tribe which briefly ruled the region in the early fifth century. The English name Andalusia derives from the Spanish Andalucia, which is still used by Spain to name its southern region. Not surprisingly, three religions attempting to coexist during medieval times resulted in nearly incessant conflicts, marked by high taxation, disparate societies, rigid cultural controls, and systemic violence. Despite the odds, these three religions managed to live in a state of quasi-acceptance and peace in most of the major cities in the Iberian Peninsula like Cordoba and Toledo, with sporadic warfare occurring on the borders between Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms near the Pyrenees Mountains. Muslims, Christians, and Jews would attempt to reorganize their societies several times over the centuries through warfare, always with Jews on the lower rungs and Christians and Muslims fighting it out above them. Though it's often forgotten today, the fighting that took place during the Reconquista was not originally driven by religion. Instead, the majority of the battles were fought by ambitious rulers who sought territorial expansion, like many other civilizations during the Middle Ages. In fact, the Reconquista would not gain its unique religious flavor until the 13th century, when the territories that would become Castile and Aragon drummed up religious fervor to achieve its aims and gained papal support from Rome. While the Moors have always been associated with Spain due to their lengthy stay on the Iberian Peninsula, the most famous battle they were involved in was actually fought in modern France. While the Franks were consolidating a kingdom there, Muslim forces were pushing out of North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, and by the dawn of the 730s, the Umayyad dynasty had expanded its territory from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees, a series of seasonally snow-capped mountains in Europe that forms a border between the nations of Spain and France. This would lead to Charles Martel's most famous military victory came at the Battle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers, on October 10, 732.
  al andalus history: Moorish Spain Richard Fletcher, 2015-10-22 Written in the same tradition as John Julius Norwich's engrossing accounts of Venice and Byzantium, Richard Fletcher's Moorish Spain entertains even as it enlightens. He tells the story of a vital period in Spanish history which transformed the culture and society, not only of Spain, but of the rest of Europe as well. Moorish influence transformed the architecture, art, literature and learning, and Fletcher combines this analysis with a crisp account of the wars, politics and sociological changes of the time.
  al andalus history: The Story of the Moors in Spain Stanley Lane-Poole, 1886
  al andalus history: North Africa Under Byzantium and Early Islam Susan T. Stevens, Jonathan Conant, 2016 Essays in North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam include the legacy of Vandal rule in Africa, art and architectural history, archaeology, economics, theology, Berbers, and the Islamic conquest. They examine the ways in which the imperial legacy was re-interpreted, re-imagined, and put to new uses in Byzantine and early Islamic Africa.
  al andalus history: Al-Andalus Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Patronato de la Alhambra (Granada, Spain), 1992 . Thus, the volume addresses a general as well as a specialized audience and serves both as an introduction to the visual world of a nearly vanished culture and as a point of departure for future scholarly study.
  al andalus history: Caliphs and Kings Roger Collins, 2012-05-07 CALIPHS AND KINGS: SPAIN, 796-1031 The last twenty-five years have seen a renaissance of research and writing on Spanish history. Caliphs and Kings offers a formidable synthesis of existing knowledge as well as an investigation into new historical thinking, perspectives, and methods. The nearly three-hundred-year rule of the Umayyad dynasty in Spain (756-1031) has been hailed by many as an era of unprecedented harmony and mutual tolerance between the three great religious faiths in the Iberian Peninsula – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – the like of which has never been seen since. And yet, as this book demonstrates, historical reality defies the myth. Though the middle of the tenth century saw a flowering of artistic culture and sophistication in the Umayyad court and in the city of Córdoba, this period was all too shortlived and localized. Eventually, twenty years of civil war caused the implosion of the Umayyad regime. It is through the forces that divided – not united – the disparate elements in Spanish society that we may best glean its nature and its lessons. Caliphs and Kings is devoted to better understanding those circumstances, as historian Roger Collins takes a fresh look at certainties, both old and new, to strip ninth- and tenth-century Spain of its mythic narrative, revealing the more complex truth beneath.
Myth, history, and the origins of al-Andalus: a historiographical …
Published online: 22 Jan 2019. This essay juxtaposes two recent efforts to demythologize the history of the origins of al-Andalus.

Al-Andalus - Saylor Academy
For much of its history, Al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, which at first were forced into subservience but eventually overpowered their Muslim neighbors to the …

Al Andalus: Spain Under Muslim Rule - mrcaseyhistory
In 929, his descendant, Abdul Rahman III, declared himself the true Caliph, or successor to the Prophet Muhammad, and brought greater unity to Andalus, beginning a Golden Age in Spain, not …

7: The Geography of the Islamic Empire and Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus. Al-Andalus reached its greatest height during the Cordoba-based Caliphate begun by Abd al-Rahman III. For most of the 900’s, Al-Andalus was unified, independent, and able to hold …

Al-Andalus: The Melting-Pot Culture That Created a Renaissance
It is said that the Spanish monarchs, steeped in the history and culture of al-Andalus, the centuries-old Islamic civilization of the Iber-ian peninsula, were dressed in their finest, beautiful Moorish …

JOSÉ ARVAJAL - CSIC
Al-Andalus was the result of the Islamic invasion of Iberia in AD 711, and its end was marked by the conquest of the kingdom of Granada in 1492 by the Crown of Castile.

A History of Early al-Andalus: The Akhb r Majm a. A Study of …
There are very few reliable early sources for the early history of Islamic Spain, surprisingly few bearing in mind the rich material that has come down to us from the middle and later periods. …

Culture in the Time of Tolerance: Al-Andalus as a Model for Our …
It existed in any number of different political configurations over nearly eight hundred years, and it was and has been called many names, all of them imprecise for different reasons: al-Andalus in …

The Heritage of AL-ANDALUS and the Formation of Spanish …
Abstract: This research deals with the Islamic cultural heritage in al-Andalus and its significance for Spanish history and identity. It attempts to answer the question relating to the significance of …

The Beginning and End of the Good Myth of al-Andalus: 711 …
In 711 and 1609, historical narration and myth confront one other at the beginning and end of peninsular Islam, and provide us with the hermeneutic tools to understand “the incompleteness” …

A History of Early Al-Andalus - api.pageplace.de
early history of al-Andalus has aroused more controversy, and its contents and origin have occupied the attention of leading scholars of Islamic Spain since its publication in 1867.

Introduction: The enduring legacy of al-Andalus - Taylor
In this special issue on al-Andalus I wanted to take a broader look at literary texts that engage with that Euro-Arab culture, which flourished in Spain for eight centuries and reached its zenith in …

Al Andalus- Spain Under Muslim Rule - mrcaseyhistory
Al Andalus split into small independent kingdoms, which were not strong enough to defend themselves against the growing power of the Christian kingdoms of Northern Spain. In a …

Al-Andalus, a Bridge Between Arabic and European Science
Resumen: Este artículo se propone analizar las condiciones generales de la llegada de fuentes científicas árabes orientales a al-Andalus, las cuales, en una fase ulterior, fueron transmiticas a la …

Al-Andalus in Andalusia - JSTOR
In this essay, I draw on fieldwork, recent anthropological engagements with notions of "cultural intimacy" and immigration in Spain, as well as Spanish mass media in order to trace competing …

The Role And Contribution Of Women In Andalusian Muslim …
Abstract: This article analyses the extent of the role played by women in the Islamic history and civilization of al-Andalus. Its purpose is to highlight the great capability of the Andalusian women …

9: Achievements and Contributions of al-Andalus: Exploration …
describe a selection of contributing fields of knowledge and activity from al-Andalus during the centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. list individuals who contributed as scientists, …

THE GREAT QUESTIONS FROM HISTORY - XTECBlocs
9. What is the origin of the word al-Andalus? 10. What does al-Andalus refer to? 11. What things did the Moors bring to Spain? 12. True or false: Arabic medicine and science was much more …

AL-ANDALUS’ LESSONS FOR CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN …
from the Al-Andalus model of governance. This will include detailing the history of European Muslim communities, presenting figures on those communities today, as well unpacking the meaning of …

Al Andalus- Spain Under Muslim Rule - mrcaseyhistory.com
In 929, his descendant, Abdul Rahman III, declared himself the true Caliph, or successor to the Prophet Muhammad, and brought greater unity to Andalus, beginning a Golden Age in Spain, not …

Myth, history, and the origins of al-Andalus: a …
Published online: 22 Jan 2019. This essay juxtaposes two recent efforts to demythologize the history of the origins of al-Andalus.

Al-Andalus - Saylor Academy
For much of its history, Al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, which at first were forced into subservience but eventually overpowered their Muslim neighbors to …

Al Andalus: Spain Under Muslim Rule - mrcaseyhistory
In 929, his descendant, Abdul Rahman III, declared himself the true Caliph, or successor to the Prophet Muhammad, and brought greater unity to Andalus, beginning a Golden Age in Spain, …

7: The Geography of the Islamic Empire and Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus. Al-Andalus reached its greatest height during the Cordoba-based Caliphate begun by Abd al-Rahman III. For most of the 900’s, Al-Andalus was unified, independent, and able to …

Al-Andalus: The Melting-Pot Culture That Created a …
It is said that the Spanish monarchs, steeped in the history and culture of al-Andalus, the centuries-old Islamic civilization of the Iber-ian peninsula, were dressed in their finest, beautiful …

JOSÉ ARVAJAL - CSIC
Al-Andalus was the result of the Islamic invasion of Iberia in AD 711, and its end was marked by the conquest of the kingdom of Granada in 1492 by the Crown of Castile.

A History of Early al-Andalus: The Akhb r Majm a. A Study of …
There are very few reliable early sources for the early history of Islamic Spain, surprisingly few bearing in mind the rich material that has come down to us from the middle and later periods. …

Culture in the Time of Tolerance: Al-Andalus as a Model for …
It existed in any number of different political configurations over nearly eight hundred years, and it was and has been called many names, all of them imprecise for different reasons: al-Andalus …

The Heritage of AL-ANDALUS and the Formation of Spanish …
Abstract: This research deals with the Islamic cultural heritage in al-Andalus and its significance for Spanish history and identity. It attempts to answer the question relating to the significance …

The Beginning and End of the Good Myth of al-Andalus: 711 …
In 711 and 1609, historical narration and myth confront one other at the beginning and end of peninsular Islam, and provide us with the hermeneutic tools to understand “the …

A History of Early Al-Andalus - api.pageplace.de
early history of al-Andalus has aroused more controversy, and its contents and origin have occupied the attention of leading scholars of Islamic Spain since its publication in 1867.

Introduction: The enduring legacy of al-Andalus - Taylor
In this special issue on al-Andalus I wanted to take a broader look at literary texts that engage with that Euro-Arab culture, which flourished in Spain for eight centuries and reached its zenith …

Al Andalus- Spain Under Muslim Rule - mrcaseyhistory
Al Andalus split into small independent kingdoms, which were not strong enough to defend themselves against the growing power of the Christian kingdoms of Northern Spain. In a …

Al-Andalus, a Bridge Between Arabic and European Science
Resumen: Este artículo se propone analizar las condiciones generales de la llegada de fuentes científicas árabes orientales a al-Andalus, las cuales, en una fase ulterior, fueron transmiticas …

Al-Andalus in Andalusia - JSTOR
In this essay, I draw on fieldwork, recent anthropological engagements with notions of "cultural intimacy" and immigration in Spain, as well as Spanish mass media in order to trace …

The Role And Contribution Of Women In Andalusian Muslim …
Abstract: This article analyses the extent of the role played by women in the Islamic history and civilization of al-Andalus. Its purpose is to highlight the great capability of the Andalusian …

9: Achievements and Contributions of al-Andalus: …
describe a selection of contributing fields of knowledge and activity from al-Andalus during the centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. list individuals who contributed as scientists, …

THE GREAT QUESTIONS FROM HISTORY - XTECBlocs
9. What is the origin of the word al-Andalus? 10. What does al-Andalus refer to? 11. What things did the Moors bring to Spain? 12. True or false: Arabic medicine and science was much more …

AL-ANDALUS’ LESSONS FOR CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN …
from the Al-Andalus model of governance. This will include detailing the history of European Muslim communities, presenting figures on those communities today, as well unpacking the …

Al Andalus- Spain Under Muslim Rule - mrcaseyhistory.com
In 929, his descendant, Abdul Rahman III, declared himself the true Caliph, or successor to the Prophet Muhammad, and brought greater unity to Andalus, beginning a Golden Age in Spain, …