How you can Follow Us!
Medieval News
al-Andalus Archive
-
Christian reactions to Muslim conquests (1st-3rd centuries AH; 7th-9th centuries AD)
Posted on April 7, 2013 | No CommentsWe in fact find a great diversity of reactions to Muslim expansion from Christian authors, depending on their particular circumstances and point of view -
Thieves of Pleasure: A vicious fraternal war rewards Alfonso VI with the artistic and poetic treasures of al-Andalus
Posted on February 19, 2013 | No CommentsAs the balance of power began to shift from Muslim to Christian, a power struggle erupted among Christian rulers that would continue for generations, even as the light of Arabic poetry burned bright enough to influences centuries of Western verse. -
Islamic Monuments and National Patrimony in Modern Spain
Posted on January 20, 2013 | No CommentsIn Spain, the Islamic past usefully differentiates Iberia from the rest of Europe, and its monuments—particularly the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra—are a source of pride. However, the Islamic past is treated as 'distant.' -
Ibn Hazm on homosexuality
Posted on December 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe most commonly used term for homosexual contacts between men in Arabic is fil (or amal) qawm Lût ("the act of the people of Lot"), from which is derived the substantive liwàt. The man who indulges in such acts is called lufl. -
The Meaning of the Great Mosque of Cordoba in the Tenth Century
Posted on December 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe Great Mosque of Cordoba is universally recognized as one of the most singular monuments of medieval architecture. Celebrated for its harmony, balance, dramatic use of light and decoration, and its overall unity and aesthetic sensitivity, the monument belongs to an established functional type, the hypostyle mosque, but amounts to more than a mere variant of this type. -
Falcons and Falconry in Al-Andalus
Posted on November 1, 2012 | No CommentsFalconry was valued as a major element of the cultural transfer between the medieval elite of western Christianity and Islam, connecting the pre-Islamic world of the Near East with the Umayyad and Abbasid courts on one hand and Christian Europe on the other. -
Iberian Uniqueness in the Arab Invasion of Spain
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsIn the spring of the year AD 711, the Visigothic kingdom of Iberia was invaded and conquered by an army from the nearby Muslim Empire. -
Translators, Interpreters and Cultural Mediators in Late Medieval Eastern Iberia and Western Islamic Diplomatic Relationships
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsAlthough linguistic competence and language knowledge were essential, rulers often looked for the cultural aptitudes of their official translators to guarantee the success fo the diplomatic missions. -
The Finest Castle in the World
Posted on October 26, 2012 | No CommentsRobert I. Burns, S.J., and Paul E. Chevedden describe how a much-besieged citadel became the focus for Christian-Muslim co-existence in medieval Spain. -
Moors and Saracens in Europe: estimating the medieval North African male legacy in southern Europe
Posted on October 2, 2012 | No CommentsOur results confirm a general correlation between historical and genetic data: Iberia and Sicily are the regions with the highest MNA male legacy. -
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise
Posted on September 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe existence of a Muslim kingdom in Medieval Spain where different races and religions lived harmoniously in multicultural tolerance is one of today’s most widespread myths. -
Dialogues between religions in Andalusia
Posted on August 27, 2012 | No CommentsThe distinctive way of life that developed in the Umayyad and Abbasid periods lasted for eight centuries in the Muslim West, in the fertile lands of North Africa and Andalusia, until 1492. -
Divine Constructions: A Comparison of the Great Mosque of Cordoba and Notre-Dame-du-Chartres
Posted on August 3, 2012 | No CommentsHowever different the two buildings may be the impulse to create them was the same. The glittering stained glass windows of Chartres share something with the elegant Kufic inscriptions in Cordoba. -
Ibn Tufayl’s Treatise on Asthma, Lost and Found
Posted on July 30, 2012 | No Comments'Asthma occurs when it is hot, and on examination the lungs are distended, a pathognomonic sign.' - Ibn Tufayl -
Women and Property Rights in Al-Andalus and the Maghrib: Social Patterns and Legal Discourse
Posted on July 29, 2012 | No CommentsThe study of Muslim women's property rights is idiosyncratic, for two reasons. -
Historia Baetica: Dramatic Play or Historical Document?
Posted on July 26, 2012 | No CommentsWhen the news of the capitulation of Granada reached Rome on the second of February 1492, it was marked by religious as well as public celebrations. -
Jewish trading in Fes on the eve of the Almohad conquest
Posted on June 24, 2012 | No CommentsThe status of Jewish communities under Almohad rule has been the subject of scholarly interest for different reasons notably in the framework of the disruption of convivencia in al-Andalus among the people of the three abrahamic faiths. -
The Survival of Nasrid Granada during the Reconquest
Posted on May 23, 2012 | No CommentsRuled by the Nasrid dynasty, the Nasrid kingdom of Granada managed to survive and go on to thrive for two and a half more centuries. -
Residential Mobility and Dental Decoration in Early Medieval Spain: Results from the Eighth Century Site of Plaza del Castillo, Pamplona
Posted on April 8, 2012 | No CommentsWhile the practice of dental decoration was virtually absent in Medieval Spain, it is common in Africa and suggests that this individual was born in Africa and brought to Spain later in life. -
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: The Culture and Practice of Crusading in Medieval Iberia
Posted on March 1, 2012 | No CommentsThis battle was both a major Christian victory over the Almohad Empire of Morocco and its Andalusian allies, and the most successful crusade of the papacy of Innocent III. As such, it serves as an ideal case study for the practice and culture of crusading in the early thirteenth century. -
The Andalusi origins of the Berbers
Posted on February 20, 2012 | No CommentsHow could the Berbers originate in al-Andalus when everyone knows they are the original inhabitants of North Africa? One of the goals of this article is to show that asking the question in this way is part of the problem and that it stands in the way of securing the soundness of historical interpretations of the past. -
Leo Africanus: The Man with Many Names
Posted on January 16, 2012 | No CommentsVery little is known about the actual life of Leo Africanus, in spite of his well established posthumous fame. He did not leave many marks in contemporary documents. -
The Search for Knowledge: Andalusi Scholars and Their Travels to the Islamic East
Posted on January 13, 2012 | No CommentsIn this paper I have analyzed biographical information concerning Andalusi scholars who traveled to the East as a part of their academic training, focusing on the ages at which they undertook their journeys, which closely relates to their ages at the beginning of their studies. -
Culture in the Time of Tolerance: Al-Andalus as a Model for Our Time
Posted on December 18, 2011 | No CommentsIt 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 Arabic, ha-Sefarad in Hebrew; the names of a half-dozen different cities when they were at its center; Castile at other moments. -
The Vikings in Spain from Arabic (Moorish) and Spanish sources
Posted on October 23, 2011 | No CommentsElsewhere Viking victories have been attributed to deficient organization on the part of those attacked. Here the best organized military force then existed, anywhere, was defeated by them.