Bard College

Bard Digital Commons

History - Master of Arts in Teaching Master of Arts in Teaching

Spring 2020

Tolerance, Prejudice, and the Ornament of the World

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/history_mat

Part of the Arabic Studies Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, European History
Commons, History of Religion Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Islamic Studies Commons,
Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons,
Other International and Area Studies Commons, and the Secondary Education Commons

Recommended Citation
Zane, Elijah, "Tolerance, Prejudice, and the Ornament of the World" (2020). History - Master of Arts in
Teaching. 14.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/history_mat/14

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by

Elijah Zane

05/22/2020

1
 Table of Contents

Synthesis Essay 3

Documents 32

Textbook Analysis 34

New Textbook Entry 37

Bibliography 47

2
 The Rise and Fall of Al-Andalus

Spain is rarely featured in the popular imagination of the Medieval Period. Reading a

general history of Europe it might seem as if Span was born when Columbus landed in

Hispaniola in 1492, after Hispania faded with the fall of Western Rome in 756 CE. In the 8th

century, Iberia was a Muslim province of the larger Caliphate, and between 711 and 1492 this

Islamic region was known as Al-Andalus (Arabic for “Land of the Vandals”). The kingdom of

Spain, forged by the union of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, alongside

the Kingdom of Portugal, brought an end to Muslim rule in the momentous year of 1492, with

the remaining Muslim population forced out of the country at the start of the 17th century. Ever

since the death of Muslim Spain, its reputation has been debated in the historical memory of all

the Abrahamic faiths, each with their own imagination of the past.

Between 1492 to the late 19th century, the victory of the cross over the crescent was

celebrated, with Al-Andalus being imagined as part of the Islamic world, to be forgotten as a

shameful shadow of past defeat. More recent scholarship, starting intermittently with the late

Enlightenment but more seriously since the fall of Franco in 1975, has looked closer at the

medieval kingdom of Al-Andalus and found much there to admire. In a medieval world defined

in the West by intolerance, few books, and rigid theocratic limits on free thought, there existed a

religiously tolerant, medically advanced, intellectual diverse Islamic culture that boasted the

largest library in Europe.

Al-Andalus, for so long only a small facet of Islamic history, since the 1990s is seen as

the bridge between Europe and Dar-al-Islam. It was through Spain that algebra, medicine, and

3
the Greek classics filtered into Europe. Once antisemitism was recognized as a travesty rather

than a triumph after the Holocaust, greater attention was paid to how Cordoba was the center of

medieval Judaism, and for centuries was hailed as the new Jerusalem. As Al-Andalus began to

filtrate into the Western imagination, debates emerged among Western historians, who wished to

know how golden the Golden Age of Al-Andalus was, what made it possible, and what role

Muslim Spain held in Christendom and Dar-al-Islam? Historians engaged in heated debates

over Catholic Spain’s expulsion of their Muslim and Jewish populations in the century

following the Fall of Granadia, debates that were shaped with changing events of the modern

day. Most recently, the post 9/11 debates about Islamic terrorim and White Nationalist violence

directed against Muslim refugess has brought Al-Andalus into greater scrutiny as it was a

medevial dominion famed for its religious tolerance.

This essay chooses six contemporary historians of the Medieval Iberia and examines their

understanding of Al-Andalus in the context of each other’s work and their period of publication,

from 1992 - 2018 . Historians of the Al-Andalus use a unique vocabulary; a glossary of historical

terminology is offered below.

Terminology

Reconquista:​ A deeply controversial term. Traditionally, it refers to the Christian reconquest of

the Iberian Peninsula starting in the 11th century and culminating in the conquest of Granada in

1492. However, this term is debated among historians, as it suggests a more unified Christian

perspective than is historically accurate.1 Ferdinand and Isabella both use the myth of

1
Brian Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain​ (New York: Penguin Press, 2018), pg 6.

4
Reconquista as a form of legitimizing their land-grab, which is effectively the founding myth of

the Kingdom of Spain.2 The Reconquista narrative is imagined as a form of crusade, a unified

front against the Muslim invaders.3 However, as many historians, in particular Brian Catlos,

point out, actual events were more nuanced.4 While religion did play a role in the conflict, every

battle in the Reconquista saw Christians fighting for the Muslim kingdoms, and Muslims fighting

for the Christians. There was never a period of religious unity on either side of the war,

especially because these wars were rarely a unified effort. Until the mid 15th century, the

Christian kingdoms weren’t unified, and they fought each other as much as they fought the

Muslim states.5 Religion did play a role, particularly after 1250 AD, when Spanish Christians

regularly supported international crusaders in their wars. Simultaneously, many Christian armies

served as mercenaries for the various Muslim kingdoms, and visa versa.6

Old Christians:​ Technically this term refers to Christian families who remained Christians

throughout the Islamic rule, supposedly presenting a continuous faith. In reality however, the

majority of people in Al-Andalus were both Muslim and Iberian, meaning that logically the

majority of Old Christians must have been former Muslims.7 The key distinction is that many

Iberians converted back to Christianity in the early days of Reconquista beginning in the

mid-12th century, in contrast to the New Christians who converted (often forcibly) after 1492.

2
Matthew Carr, ​Blood and Faith​ (New York: The New Press Publishing, 2009) 8-9.
3
C​ arr​, Blood and Faith​ 26-27.
4
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 4-5.
5
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 371.
6
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 4.
7
​Kingdoms of Faith,​ 388-391.

5
New Christians​: Officially former Muslims or Jews who converted to Christianity, usually after

1492. In practice however, the category of New Christian was extremely vague, used both to

refer to Converso (see below) and actual Christians who continued to be “culturally Muslim or

Jewish,” such as speaking Hebrew or Arabic.8

Converso:​ A term used for Jews who had converted to Christianity but were still Jewish in

practice. It is important to note that the term was used by Old Christians to describe Jews who

kept their faith and those who genuinely converted but were believed to have stayed Jewish.9 The

Conversos were largely expelled by the early 16th century.

Morisco:​ The Muslim equivalent of the Converso, Moriscos enjoyed greater rights and

privileges, partly by having a much larger population. The term Morisco is very loosely used in

a similar manner to ​Converso.​ 10

Moor:​ A problematic and inaccurate term used for Muslims of North African origin.

Al-Andalus​: The term used within the Islamic world for Muslim Spain. Historian Brian Catlos

points out that the term is technically inaccurate, as it implies a unified Muslim political entity

when most of Muslim Iberia was divided between different rulers.11 However there isn’t a better

term since “Muslim Spain” has worse connotations, so I will be using Al-Andalus to refer to

Muslim-ruled Iberia from the year 711 to 1492.

8
​Blood and Faith,​ 7.
9
Seth Kimmel, ​Parables of Conversion: Conversions and Knowledge at the End of Islamic Spain
(Chicago: University of Chicago, 2015), 69.
10
LP Harvey, ​Islamic Spain:​ ​1250-1500​ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992),1-5.
11
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith,​ 2-5.

6
 Note on Historiography

Every text featured in this examination was written in English by American or Spanish

historians primarily. Thusly, as a set they are all in their own way limited.

Traditionally Al-Andalusian history seems to have had five historiographical

perspectives, not all of which are represented in this project. Firstly, there is the

Spanish/Portuguese tradition, which views Al-Andalus as the precursor to Iberian history, and

has often been part of a Nationalist historical tradition.12 To this day modern politicians still

invoke the defeat of Al-Andalus as a rallying cry.13 More recent Spanish historians, like Brian

Catlos, reconsider the legacy of Al-Andalus as it affected Spanish history. The second tradition is

an Islamic one, which, while largely positive towards Al-Andalus, is not tremendously focussed,

seeing it as a peripheral territory.14 This historical tradition mostly focuses on the scientific,

intellectual, artistic, and theological advancements of the period. The third school is founded in

Jewish historiography, specifically by the Sephardic Jewish community which emerged from

Spain, and the early Zionists who took an interest in the history.15 The fourth tradition is from a

larger Christian history, seeing Spain mostly in the context of changing theological notions and

Pan-European religious trends.16 The last and more recent trend is international, though primarily

12
Blood and Faith​, Pg 9.
13
​Blood and Faith​, pg XII.
14
​Muslim Spain and Portugal,​ p 11.
15
Maria Rosa,​Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians created a Culture of Tolerance
in Medieval Spain​ (Boston: Black, Little, Brown, and Company, 2002) 90.
16
Kimmel, ​Parables of Conversion,​ 8-9.

7
an Anglophone one, and started in response to the War on Terror. It views Al-Andalus through

the perspective of its religious tolerance and pluralism.17

This paper will primarily focus on the legacy of Al-Andalus as a religiously tolerant

community and concern itself with questions of bigotry, interfaith relations, and the rise of early

nationalism. It is primarily from this tradition (but not exclusively) that I draw most of my

sources, since these issues dominate English language historiography.

All of the texts under discussion were published in English, and all the historians are

American, British, or Spanish in origin.​ Muslim Spain and Portugal​ by Hugh Kennedy, and

Islamic Spain 1250 to 1500 b​ y L.P. Harvey, both published in 1996 and 1992 respectively are in

the Islamic tradition, albeit by Western writers. ​Ornament of the World​ by Maria Rosa Menocal

(2003) and ​Blood and Faith​ by Matthew Carr (2009) are some of the most influential​ e​ xamples

of the International tradition though both also come from the Spanish tradition. ​Parables of

Conversion​ by Seth Kimmel is a 2015 study in the Christian tradition, aimed at historians and

theologians rather than a general audience. Finally ​Kingdoms of Faith​ by Brian Catlos, published

in 2018, attempts to blend all of these traditions, in addition to providing an ambitious synthesis

of traditional history with sociology, anthropology, and Gender Studies. Surprisingly it works.18

Catlos goes further and argues that our entire understanding of Al-Andalus is actually incorrect,

marred by anachronistic understanding. As he points out, Al-Andalus is very much a blurry

category, Muslim Spain lasted from 711 to 1492, almost eight centuries and a multitude of

regime with little unifying them beyond place and Islam. He argues that the notion of a division

17
Carr, ​Blood and Faith,​ 300.
18
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​,94.

8
between Christian and Muslim Spain didn't exist until the mid-15th century and, following in the

Post-Structuralist tradition, claims that most histories of Al-Andalus cannot help but include

modern anachronisms.

Historical Summary

Al-Andalusian history begins in 711 AD with a Berber military commander named Tariq

ibn Ziyad, who was based in Tangiers, who effectively went rogue and invaded the Visigoth

kingdom, and in the process naming the island of Gibraltar after himself.19 While later Muslim

historians imagined the conquest as a deliberate effort, modern historians universally agree that

this was a raid for plunder that went better than anybody involved intended.20 Tariq likely only

wanted loot, but he happened to attack just as the Visigoths were suffering from a series of

political crises, and found himself in charge of a kingdom. His invasion was followed by more

official attacks out of North Africa, eventually conquering most of the Iberian peninsula save a

few Christian strongholds in the northern mountains.

The nature of the conquest has been a major topic of discussion among historians, as

those who believe that the Al-Andalusian tolerance was unique in the Muslim world look to the

conquest for evidence of why this emerged. Maria Rosa’s 2003 book ​Ornament of the World

focused on how the conquest necessitated local support, since as raiders they didn’t have the

supply lines necessary for holding territory.21 As the invaders rapidly transitioned from raiders

to rulers, reliance on local leadership made religious tolerance mandatory.

19
Gibraltar is the Spanish translation of “Mount of Tariq”
20
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ 26.
21
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World​ 28.

9
 Hugh Kennedy’s book ​Muslim Spain and Portugal​, published in 1996, focuses on the

military organization of the province, contrasting it to the earlier Muslim conquests a few

centuries earlier.22 The early conquests were based on garrison of Arab soldiers in the major

cities, leaving most of the population alone.23 This wasn’t possible in Hispania, both due to the

lack of troops and the fact that most of the armies were Berbers who had a different military

structure, leading to more cooperation with the local troops. Brian Catlos’ 2018 book ​Kingdoms

of Faiths ​highlights this as a primarily Berber affair: while the conquests are remembered as

Arab, they were in fact led by a small Arab elite, and the vast majority of the troops were

Berbers with connections to North Africa, thus explaining the unique character of the province.24

An interesting side effect of this early history is how it affected French history,

specifically the way that historians described the Battle of Tours/Battle of Poitiers in 732. In the

traditional Christian version, Charles Martel, father of Pippin the Tall, defeated Abdul Rahman

Al Ghafiqi, and supposedly halted the Muslim advance into Western Europe. Charles Martel has

since been credited with saving Western Christianity, and this version of the story was critical to

the founding legend of modern France. More pertinent to the historiographical tradition, Charles

Martel has been co-opted by modern day Islamophobic White Nationalist groups, once again

putting the legacy of Al-Andalus in the realm of modern politics.25 Most contemporary

historians reject this narrative however, assuming that Abdul Rahman was following the example

of Tariq, and launching a long term raid.26 However, this presentation of the Battle of Tours as

22
Hugh Kennedy ​Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of Al-Andalus​ (University of MIchigan,
1996) 3-6.
23
Kennedy, ​Muslim Spain and Portugal​, 16.
24
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 30-33.
25
​https://psmag.com/ideas/how-to-fight-8chan-medievalism-and-why-we-must-notre-dame-christchurch
26
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ 55-56.

10
the point where France could have turned Muslim has led to endless discussion over whether it

would have been better for the Frankish kingdoms to follow the example of Al-Andalus.

Al-Andalus was very much on the periphery of the Islamic world, and was largely

regarded as a cultural backwater, and likely would have remained just a military province had it

not suddenly become the home of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the Prophet Muhammad's death

in 632 AD, the community he created required a new leader caliphate (successor) was chosen to

lead the Muslim world (Ummah). While the first four (known as the “rightly guided”) were

elected, all but one of them were assassinated during various civil wars, which were ended when

a single dynasty claimed the title of Caliph, now imagined as a hereditary rank. The Umayyad

Caliphate, based in Damascus, reigned over a roughly unified Islamic world from 661 to 744,

building off the earlier conquests to create a powerful continent-spanning empire, and it was

under their rule that Al-Andalus was added to the Muslim world. However the Umayyad reign

was always unpopular among devout Muslims, for their role in the killing of Muhammad's

family, and they were overthrown in a sudden revolt, to be replaced by the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Abbasid moved their capital to Baghdad and oversaw the larger Muslim Golden Age, but

not before killing every member of the Umayyad family. All save one, Abd ar-Rahman, who fled

to the remote province of Al-Andalus, which had only been unified in 718 AD. There he

integrated himself into local elites and Umayyad loyalists, before seizing power in 756, where he

ruled as a semi-independent Emirate with a capital in Cordoba.27 Despite their origins, the

Cordoban Emirate was officially loyal to the Abbasids in Iraq while maintaining its own power

base. This changed with Abd ar-Rahman III, and the rise of the Shia Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt,

27
​Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 64-65.

11
which gave him the cover to declare himself Caliph of the restored Umayyad Caliphate in 929

AD.28

The renewed Umayyad Caliphate, called by historians the Caliphate of Cordoba, oversaw

the height of the Golden Age of Al-Andalus. Menocal’s ​Ornament of the World​ argues that this

was a deliberate Umayyad policy. With the Abbasid Caliphate falling into chaos, the Umayyad

hoped to make Cordoba the center of the Islamic world, and to rival Baghdad’s House of

Wisdom, the center of Sunni scholarship.29 Traditionally the Caliphate legitimacy was tied to its

support of scholars and the arts, and so all three Caliphates patronized intellectuals in the hopes

of securing a reputation of greatness. Menocal says this is especially true of the Umayyad

because the Abbasids used support of scholarship to justify their revolt. The Caliphate of

Cordoba eventually came to an end, however, through a series of dynastic struggles and

provincial revolt in 1031. After which Al-Andalus broke into a score or so of independent

kingdoms, called the Taifas. These smaller states constantly fought among each other, each

claiming to be the heirs to the Umayyad, and regularly employed Christian mercenaries in these

wars. Despite their disunity and general low reputation in the Islamic world, the Taifas

continued the Umayyad tradition of supporting intellectuals as a way to claim legitimacy.30

The northern Christian states took advantage of this disunity to steadily unify and expand,

slowly pushing Islamic control down south. This process was later called Reconquista, though

as noted under terminology, the process was nowhere near as unified or deliberate as the term

implies. Christians kingdoms fought each other, allied with the Taifas, and traded extensively

28
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ 82-84.
29
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ 74.
30
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 202-203.

12
with North Africa. Catlos argues that this narrative emerged when shrewd Christian leaders

realized they could reinforce their armies with foreign crusaders if they framed wars of conquest

as religious, eventually creating the Reconquista narrative.31 In Catlos’ telling, ​Reconquista​ was

almost an accidental process until various North African kingdoms invaded Al-Andalus in order

to preserve Muslim rule, inadvertently creating a Muslim vs. Christian dynamic.32 These efforts

collapsed in the face of Christian aggression and Spanish resentment of Berber rule. Carr instead

argues that the dream of​ Reconquista​ was laid out earlier, but that many lords were inconsistent

about applying it. Regardless, by 1250, Al-Andalus had been reduced to a single kingdom in

Spain, the Emirate of Granada, which was able to maintain its independence through a mix of

diplomacy and military force against divided Christian nations. After Isabella of Castile and

Ferdinand of Aragon unified Spain, their forces invaded Grenada, which fell in 1492.

It is important to note that in “Muslim Spain” there were always Christian and Jewish

minorities living in segregation. In fact, under the auspices of Muslim tolerance, the Spanish

Jewish community experienced its own Golden Age, to this day called the high point of Sephardi

Jewish culture. It was here that Modern Hebrew was first created by the Jewish community in

Al-Andalus, which remains a major fixation of the modern Zionist movement. Cordoba was

declared a new Jerusalem, and became a major center both for the preservation of Jewish

knowledge, and the advancement of theology, poetry, and philosophy. In this tolerant

environment many Jews were given the freedom to discuss what it meant to be Jewish, creating

the beginnings of later Pan Jewish movements. Some Jews were able to enter the secular world,

31
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 4.
32
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 276.

13
most famously with Samuel HaNagrid (Samuel ibn Naghrillah) the “Prince of the Jews” who

commanded the armies of a Sultan.

A Question of Tolerance

As with most monarchs, bragging came easily to the Caliphs of the Cordoba, who were

eager to announce to the world their accomplishments and great deeds. While they happily

claimed credit for the cultural achievements, scientific advancements, and intellectual prosperity,

all products of the Umayyad culture of tolerance, they did not brag about tolerance.33 The

stability and harmony of the realm was regularly praised, but the notions of tolerance and

pluralism were a means to those ends, not ends unto themselves.

Today Al-Andalus is primarily remembered for its religious pluralism, one of the few

places in the Middle Ages where Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in harmony and tolerated

each other's beliefs. However, this Golden Age needs to be clarified in several places. Catlos

argues the importance of not imagining Al-Andalus as a singular entity with an unchanging

history; the policy of tolerance varied dramatically in time and place. Menocal, Carr, and Catlos

all point out that the last centuries of Muslim Spain were marked by an increased in persecutions

against Christian, as a response to the success of Reconquista. Menocal notes the irony that

many Christians were viewed as Fifth Columnists, much as Muslims would be viewed by

Catholic Spain. All historians agree that even during the most intolerant periods, Al-Andalus

was tolerant and welcoming of the Jews, and none came close to the oppressive rule of a

Catholic Spain (there was, for instance, no Christian or Jewish expulsion or inquisition under

33
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ 73-75.

14
Muslim rule). This is not to say that there were no instances of massacres of Jews by Muslims,

such as the Massacre of Cordoba in 1013. Kennedy notes that these instances of violence,

however, were rare and usually part of cities being sacked during the numerous civil wars, but

the Jewish community was not free of violence.

Kennedy and Menocal agree that Al-Andalus has nothing resembling the anti-semitic

violence seen in Europe in the Medieval period, such as the pogroms or the Rhineland Massacres

in 1096 as part of the First Crusade.34 Kennedy clarifies that this tolerance should not be equated

with an egalitarian mindset.35 Christianity and Judaism were tolerated, and although members of

each group could rise to high positions, they were still an underclass. Islam was prioritized over

other faiths, and there were limits placed on the rights and privileges of religious minorities.

However, compared to almost every other place in Europe, as well as most of North Africa and

the Middle East, Al-Andalus stood out in terms of tolerance. This was doubly so for the Jewish

population; Spain was the heart of medieval Jewish culture and many intellectuals declared it the

new Jerusalem.36

While there were cases of non-Muslims rising to high ranks as the afore-mentioned

Samuel HaNagrid (Samuel ibn Naghrillah) the “Prince of the Jews”, his rise was resented by

others and his family was eventually lynched by jealous Muslims courtiers. This culture of

tolerance was largely the result of pragmatic policies rather than an ideological predilection. Said

tolerance emerged in part as a practical result of a Muslim minority to rule over a non Muslim

majority. Even after Muslims made up the majority of the population, the tolerance of Christians

34
Kennedy, ​Islamic Spain and Portugal​, 118.
35
Kennedy, ​Islamic Spain and Portugal​, 134.
36
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ pg 161-163.

15
and Jews didn’t just keep the peace, it also was necessary for the intellectual golden age that was

so important to Umayyad legitimacy. Even if this is accepted at face value (ignoring that the

Quran encouraged the tolerance of other Abrahamic faiths), the result is still a culture of

tolerance which produced a Golden Age of Culture. It is also worth noting that tolerance was

actually in the economic best interest of the Catholic monarchs in post Reconquista Spain, and

yet they pursued the expulsions against their material self-interest. Thus tolerance can’t be

understood solely through pragmatism.37

Historians Harvey and Kennedy both claim that Al-Andalus’ tolerance was simply an

extension of the tolerant attitudes of the larger Muslim world, with its Golden Age being merely

a fragment of the greater Muslim Golden Age. Menocal disagrees, arguing due to its remote

location, Al-Andalusian rulers made the acquisition of learning and the flourishing of scholarship

a top priority, as it granted them legitimacy and showed that they were a player in the Muslim

world.38 Catlos says there was a shift, with Cordoba initially a backwater, but that the turning

point was the renewed Umayyad Caliphate (929 to 1031). Both Menocal and Catlos assert that

once the Caliphate of Cordoba established a reputation for learning, its successors continued this

tradition in order to secure their legitimacy.

Thus, the Golen Age continued through every phase of Muslim rule, as the Almohad

Caliphate, the Taifa rulers, the Almoravids and the Emirate of Granada sought to continue the

Umayyad legacy. Al-Andalus status as a backwater changed with the Mongol Conquest in the

13th century.39 With the fall of Baghdad and the fragmentation of the Muslim world, Iberian

37
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​ pg 282.
38
Menocal, ​Ornament of the World,​ 92-93.
39
Kennedy, ​Muslim Spain and Portugal​, 74.

16
culture stood out all the more. As a gateway to Western Europe, Al-Andalus was a unique

crossroads between Christian theology theology in the north, Byzantine and Arabic science to the

west, and Jewish scholarship domestically. The presence of the Jews in particular was a unique

element to Al-Andalus, who contributed greatly to the thriving intellectual and artistic life of the

region until they were expelled in 1492.40

Catlos emphasizes that this tolerance should not be mistaken for a lack of ethnic tension -

just that those tensions tended to be between Arabized Spaniards and North African Berbers.

Islamic historians tend to put far more emphasis on this ethnic conflict, while Western historians

focus more on tolerance than intolerance. The majority of the Muslim population were native

Spaniards who had converted to Islam and were culturally Arabic, who identified with the Arab

populations from Syria and Berber populations in North Africa, and ethnic tension.41 These

would occasionally break into full scale wars, though none of these can be understood on purely

ethnic lines, such as the civil war which ended the Caliphate of Cordoba. Linguistics, cultural,

and ethnic differences were a constant source of disunity, especially since North Africa was the

closest Muslim ally to Al-Andalus. This tension was exploited by various Christian rulers, and

many Arabized Muslims fought with the Christians against the Berber dynasties. This element

of Al-Andalusian intolerance focused primarily on Catlos, Harvey and Kennedy, who are as

much historians of North Africa as Spain, while Menocal is more of a Middle Eastern historian,

with Carr and Kimmel being Christian historians.

40
Catlos, ​Blood and Faith​, 25-28.
41
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, pg 359.

17
 The Shadow of Tolerance

The discussion of Al-Andalusian tolerance has always been overshadowed by modern

debates about the relationships between the Abrahamic faiths. From the 18th century to the early

20th century, this discussion mostly revolved around Spanish and Portuguese nationhood. The

debate raged about what was necessary to make a state; the expulsion of the Muslim and Jewish

minorities could be seen as a necessary step in unification by establishing a single Old Christian

nationality.42 Spanish national history argued that cultural, religious and linguistic homogeneity

was necessary to create the eventual Nation-State of Spain.43 The debate changed with the fall of

Franco, and led to a reevaluation of Catholic Spain, seeing Isabella and Ferdinand not just as the

champions of ​Reconquista,​ but AS the overseers of horrific atrocities. Their expulsions of the

Jews and Muslims in 1492 to be understood within context ofSpain’s colonial empire,

specifically the question of how the treatment of the Jewish and Muslim minority led to the

development of the racial categories.44

The greatest change in approaches to Al-Andalusian historiography was the destruction

of the World Trade Center on 9/11, and the resulting War on Terror.45 Overnight, the Western

perception of Islam changed and Muslim studies were suddenly were overshadowed by

contemporary debates,specifically, the question of religious violence, and the seemingly violent

and supposedly intolerant “nature” of Islam. The “Clash of Civilizations” narrative, which posits

42
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, IX.
43
It should be noted that Spain did not become a nation until the Liberal Revolt in 1820, which fell three
years later.
44
Harvey, ​Islamics Spain 1250-1500,​ 325-327.
45
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 296-97.

18
that Islamic and Christian societies are in opposition, became widely-adopted by many political

speakers, including speechwriters in the Bush and Blair administrations. Harvey and Kennedy

are both 9/11 historians and their work utterly ignores questions of violence or cultural conflict.

Thus does Al-Andalus suddenly become a counterpoint against Islamophobia, and proof

of a tolerant, intellectually open, and culturally-accepting Islamic society. The change can be

noted when going back to Harvey’s work in the early 90s, where he presents Al-Andalus in a dry

academic tone that draws no connection to contemporary events. Islamic history in the 90s is

seen as unimportant, not a threat. While Kennedy is writing for a more popular audience, his

book spends no time trying to disprove fears concerning Islam, opting to focus on how Islamic

culture shaped that of Spain and Portugal. By contrast, Menocal’s ​Ornament of the World,​

written less than a year after 9/11, is trying to push back against such popular notions as Islam as

a barbaric threat.

The next historiographical shift came with the European refugee crisis in 2014, with

millions of Middle Eastern and North Africa refugees, largely imagined as Muslims, streaming

into Europe. This sparked a larger debate about whether it was possible for a “Muslim” minority

to assimilate into European culture, as anti-immigration sentiment led to the rise of Far Right

racist parties and hate groups. Thus, the focus switched from Muslim tolerance to Catholic

intolerance, with greater study put on the expulsions of the Muslims and Jews, and the bigotry

towards religious minorities. Catlos operates in this world. While he does push back against

narratives of Islamic violence, he focuses on questions of integration. While ​Blood and Faith

predates the Refugee Crisis, Carr’s work is a prediction of this crisis, which makes his work feel

19
closer to that historiographical era than his own. Even Kimmel, who is writing primarily for

Catholic historians, is responding to the crisis, as his work concerns questions of personhood,

citizenship, and integration, albeit through a theological lens.

The Expulsions and Blood Purity

The Exclusions of the Conversos and the Moriscos actually have been viewed from a

large number of narratives, one of which is the invention of blood purity and by extension race.46

Kimmel and Car note that while Christendom had a long history with religious and cultural

bigotry, the modern notions of race did not exist until the 15th century, and it originated in 15th

century Iberia47 ​Parables of Conversion​ spends most of its pages on the question of conversion

and theological shifts that emerged in response. Kimmel notes that during Reconquista, large

numbers of Muslim and Jewish minorities were forcibly converted in mass ceremonies under

pain of death. However these populations largely continued to practice their faith after the

conversions, which became a subject of consternation for the Christian rulers. Kimmel and Carr

focus on the legal paradoxic this created, as their technical status as Christians should have

entitled them to the equal rights and privileges as the Old Christians, but this was unacceptable to

the Old Christians. Officially, this was because many of the New Christians continued to

practice their own faith, but it is too simplistic to understand this as a purely doctrinal

persecution. All the historians empathize that there is no universal character for New Christians;

some were genuine converts, many kept their own faith, and many synchronized both faiths. The

New Christians, even those who had genuinely converted to Christianity, spoke Arabic and were

46
​ arr​, Blood and Faith​, pg 28-32,120.
C
47
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 189-191.

20
culturally North African, or spoke Hebrew and were culturally Jewish.48 Carr notes that due to

extremely segregated communities at the time, each community mostly (though not exclusively)

married within their own ranks, and over time the religious bigotry melded into an ethnic

bigotry.

Kimmel writes that the forced conversion also led to a legal problem, since forced

conversions were a matter of debate in Catholic jurisprudence, and prompted a century of

religious discussion on the matter. If the New Christians were to be understood as Christians,

then their crimes were heretical in nature, putting them under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.49

Critically, if they were Christians who practiced Islam as apostates, then their actions would

delegitimate the Spanish Crown, who were tasked with maintaining Christian orthodoxy. This

distinction became especially important during the Reformation when the Catholic church

became more theologically strict.

If however the conversions were deemed illegitimate, then they would fall under the

purview of the local lords, many of whom were tolerant of Islam, and the state wouldn’t be

responsible for their souls. This gets thornier because in Augustinian thought conversions are

only possible if willing. A Christian could never be twice-baptized. Since the Moriscos were a

mix of forced and willing converts, there was no way of telling which individuals had been

forced to convert, and those who had done so willingly, since mass re-baptism was not an option.

Parables of Conversion​ is entirely focused on the specific question of the theological

justifications for conversion.

48
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 28-30.
49
Kimmel, ​Parables of Conversion,​ 28-30.

21
 Kimmel concludes that ultimately the church deemed the mass baptisms legitimate

because the Muslims could have chosen death instead of conversion, but this didn’t solve the

legal question. Despite being officially Christian, the Moriscos were not given the legal rights of

new Christians, and the Church regularly attempted to “reconvert” them to orthodox

Catholicism. These efforts were, however, marred by being half hearted; most Morisco

communities were never sent priests, missionaries rarely spoke Arabic, and few funds were

allocated to the converted communities.50 The 16th century is marked by theologians fretting

about the Moriscos and a brief surge of missionary work and persecutions, which quickly

petered out, only to be attempted again a few years later. This neglect was partly financial due to

the Church’s efforts being primarily focused on the New World, but also from the more racial

understanding of a faith that had been emerging in Spain since the 14th century.

Carr’s ​Blood and Faith​ posits that a great many of the persecutions came from a national

insecurity felt by WHOM? across Spain about their own Muslim origins.51 Instead of relying on

theological arguments, Carr understands the expulsions as an extension of cultural and ethnic

bigotry. As much as the Old Christians claimed they had been true to their faith during the

Muslim occupation, many of them clearly hadn’t, and had opportunistically re-converted to

Christianity during early ​Reconquista. ​ Despite the wealth their colonial empire brought them,

Spain was viewed internationally as insignificant because of its Muslim origins. Catlos notes

that the new Habsburg monarchs often spoke with contempt about their backwards Spanish

subjects, especially as the dynasty found an enemy in the Ottoman Empire.52 Many Spanish

50
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 124-127.
51
Carr, Blood and Faith, 73.
52
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 410-411.

22
leaders hoped to leverage their status as a new Christian kingdom in the larger Catholic world,

and the presence of both Muslims and presumed Muslim culture in their ranks was seen as an

embarrassment.53 Carr makes reference to French court officials dismissing Spaniards as half

Muslim mongrels and supporting Spanish efforts to “purify” the Muslim presence.54 Throughout

the 16th century, Spanish monarchs and officials regularly expressed the hope to ‘purify’ Spain

by removing the Moriscos, and their presence was a form of humiliation or corruption.55 Carr

argues that this framework effectively made genocide inevitable, as there wasn’t any room in

that framework for pluralism. In contrast to Kimmel, Carr focuses less on the theologians'

discussions and more on secular writings from the period, looking at letters, diary entries, royal

decrees, and fiction books where the desire to expel the Moriscos are clear, even if there isn’t yet

a theological justification.

Once bigotry based on blood purity was normalized in Iberian culture, it quickly spread

outside a domestic context with Portugal and Spain’s colonial efforts.56 Harvey argues that had it

not been for Columbus' discovery of America, Spain likely would have had an entirely different

relationship with their minority populations.57 The wealth brought in by the New World meant

that the Old Christians did not have to rely upon them Jewish and Muslim merchants with

connections across the Mediterranean.58 As Spain and Portugal came into contact with the

Native American population and started to participate in the African slave trade, blood purity

effortlessly morphed into race ideology, eventually creating the notorious Casta system in Latin

53
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 47-51.
54
Carr, ​Blood of Faith​, 284.
55
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 262-64.
56
Menocal, ​The Ornament of the World,​ 250-251
57
Harvey, ​Islamic Spain 1250-1500,​ 325.
58
Harvey, ​Islamic Spain 1250-1500,​ 325.

23
America.59 Spain and Portugal were the first colonial powers, and their systems of racial cast set

the groundwork for future colonial empires such as Britain and France; the Expulsions are at teh

root of the racial systems we unfortunately live with today.

Bigotry Triumphs over Self Interest

One of the prevailing debates among the historians of medieval Spain are questions about

the outcomes of the Expulsions; in simplified terms, were they a practical measure or simply an

expression of bigotry? Older historians like Harvey imagine the Expulsions as an early form of

nation building. He asserts that in destroying their minority population, Spain was creating a

unifying nationalism.60 Thus the exclusions are presented as a cruel causality of the early Modern

Period, as feudal holdings slowly transformed into national kingdoms. However, more recent

books have been pushing back against a practical understanding of the Expulsions, taking the

position that bigotry was itself the primary cause of the persecutions. ​Blood and Faith,​ in

particular, points out how the persecutions were in direct contradiction with the self-interest of

the state. The Expulsion of the Jews meant the kingdom lost their banking and long distance

trading community overnight, as well as the majority of their tax collectors. Carr draws upon

royal accounts and letters from the Spanish aristocracy that acknowledge the ways that loss of

the Jewish population hurt them financially. He goes further and posits that it was this loss of

Jewish financial expertise that played a major role in the infamous financial ineptitude of the

59
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 28-31.
60
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 294-296.

24
Spanish Golden Age.61 King Ferdinand went so far as to brag about how he was willing to harm

the economy to purify Spain: a line that would be repeated in later expulsions.62

Both Carr and Catlos argue that anti-Morisco sentiment escalated once the Habsburg

monarchy married into the Spanish Royal Family. Once Spain (and later Portugal) became part

of the vast Habsburg Empire, the kingdom became part of the dynasty’s rivalry with the Ottoman

Empire. With their colonial wealth and navy, Spain found itself part of a vast war against the

greatest Muslim power in the world, which lead to many Moriscos being imagined as potential

5th columinists. Carr focuses a great deal of energy on the rampant paranoia about an imminent

Ottoman invasion, which usually led to pogroms against the Moriscos.63 As can be expected, as

persecution increased, some Moriscos communities did call upon the Ottomans for aid, but as

Carr ironically notes, the Sultan had no intention of invading Spain as it was logistically

impossible. This tension increased as the Habsburg dedicated themselves to crushing the

Reformation, and Spain was caught up in the fervor of the religious wars. Kimmel argues that

presence of a popultion of ostensible Christians with some degree of Muslim beliefs was

intolerable to a Europe which now more than ever believed that a king’s job was to ensure the

religious harmony of his subjects. These persecutions led to a series of Morisco rebellions,

which ironically were put down in part by other Moriscos hoping to prove their loyalty to the

crown. The rebellions only convinced the monarchy that the Moriscos were an active threat,

both militarily and spiritually.

61
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 37.
62
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 37.
63
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 218-219.

25
 Carr and Catlos focus a great deal of space on the self inflicted nature of the persecutions

were even more evident. Carr points out that the Morisco population were the best artisans and

specialized farmers in the kingdom, due to generations of specialized training. They also were

vital to the trade with North Africa, meaning that many local lords actively stepped in to protect

their Morisco populations from persecution, resulting in one Admiral Sancho of Cardona being

executed by the Inquisition.64 While Kennedy and Harvey simply mention the Expulsion as an

event that happened, Carr fixates on how this brutal project would require a massive state effort

to execute, and thus require a significant expense on the part of the state. Meanwhile Kimmel

focuses on the deeply complicated theological concerns over how such a project could be done.

When Phillip III finally went through with the Expulsions, it required massive coordination of

the army and navy, and the temporary creation of a kingdom wide infrastructure, all at great cost.

As can be expected, this triggered a massive economic collapse across the kingdom, both from

the expense and the loss of skilled Morisco workers. What makes this worse is that the

expulsions were designed to deal with an economic downturn, in the hopes that purifying the

kingdom would earn God’s favor. Carr proves that this was known to Phillip III, who proudly

announced that the economic damage they would suffer was proof of their commitment to

purifying Spain.65 Carr, writing about rising European nationalism as much as he is writing

about 17th century Spain, uses Phillip III to highlight the self destructive nature of bigotry.

Carr and Catlos are not shy in their views on modern Islamophobia, and both are explicit

about the self-destructive nature of the expulsions in the desertification that followed them. One

64
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 408.
65
Carr,​ Blood and Faith​, 60.

26
of the effects of the Conquest was advanced irrigation and farming techniques brought by the

North Africans, bringing life to previously uninhabitable regions. After ​Reconquista, t​ he

Moriscos mostly lived in the arid parts of Spain producing specialized cash crops, and when they

were expelled, the land went fallow once again, as it remains to this day.66 The question of

motive opens a larger debate between historians in terms of how to view the monarchs and

priests who pushed for the Expulsions. Kimmel argues that they should be understood as true

believers who took the debate about conversion seriously, and that the fate of the Moriscos

hinged upon the debates of the 16th century.67 He argues that had certain arguments been made

differently at the conclaves, Spain might have a Muslim minority today, in contrast to Carr’s

view that theology was just a cover for an existing plan for bigotry.

Carr and Catlos draw overt comparisons between their historical perspectives to modern

day concerns, specifically targeting the wide use of anti-Muslim rhetoric in contemporary

poltical rhetoric. Carr, in particular, notes how the question of “Muslim Assimilation” was a

major question prior to the genocide, and how religious and cultural intolerance quickly morphed

into racial categorization.68 Catlos, meanwhile, drawing more upon Gender History, focuses on

how the behavior of the elites still seem familiar to us today. He discusses Arabic notions of

machismo, and its focus on poetry, eroticism, and war. When discussing one of the rulers of

Cordoba, he writes

The verse so inflamed ‘Abd al-Rahman that he abandoned the campaign and galloped
straight back to Cordoba to have sex with Tarub, leaving the command in the hands of his
son, al-Hakam. The masculine culture of the Andalusi elite was a ninth-century

66
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 281-282.
67
The Crux of the Debate concerned the allegedly Christian status of the Moriscos and Conversos, and
was effectively an argument between religious bigotry and racial bigotry.
68
Carr, ​Blood and Faith​, 28-32.

27
 “gangsta”-testosterone-driven, wine-fueled culture revolving around bling, bros and
biyathces, of biting freestyle wordplay and conspicuous consumption.``69

Catlos is arguing that underneath the cultural differences, medieval people weren’t so

dissimilar from the reading audience of today, especially in the realms of vice and bigotry.

When discussing the expulsions, he directly references the Civil Rights Movement and

W.E.B.Dubois’s idea of a psychological wage.70 The difference is that Catlos does this to

humanize the past. Carr references contemporary mores to warn readers about the future.

What Created the Golden Age?

Al-Andalus is primarily remembered today not only for its tolerance, but also for its

position as the intellectual center of the Mediterranean. Muslim Spain was renowned for its

incredible architecture, poetry, music, and literature, and also for some such intellectual

advancements as bringing classical Greek scholasticism into Europe, and for the Arabic

intellectual and medical advances during the Caliphates.71 The earliest European medical

academies based themselves on Al-Andalusian texts; in many ways Spain invented our modern

conception of a doctor. The first academies that offered degrees were invented in North African

and spread to Europe via Spain, along with a revival of traditional learning during the Muslim

Golden Age. Most importantly, Al-Andalus is often credited with the birth of secularism, which

emerged in the religiously diverse environment of Cordoba. While these ideas did not last in

Spain, they spread into Italy and from there into Europe. Perhaps most importantly, Spain was a

conduit for the spread of Arabic cartography and scientific knowledge to Europe, allowing a

69
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith,​ 94.
70
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Fait​h, 420.
71
Menocal, ​The Ornament of the World,​ 273-275.

28
young Italian navigator named Christopher Columbus to develop an (incorrect) notion of how to

get to Asia by sailing west

As the most celebrated element of Al-Andalus, the Golden Age has been much debated

among historians, both for its nature and its reason. A major question posed by contemporary

historians is: how unique was the Golden Age? Such historians as Harvey and Kennedy say that

it was a famous period primarily because of its connection with Europe.72 However, Menocal

points out that Cordoba had one of the largest collections of books in the Islamic world by the

time of the Spanish Caliphate, so this isn’t a purely Eurocentric matter.73 The divide between the

historians crosses two lines, Islamic vs. European scholars, and those who predate 9/11 and those

who came after. Islamic historians like Harvey, Kennedy, and Menocal tend to downplay

Al-Andalus as uniquely tolerant, while European scholars like Carr, Kimmel and Catlos are more

impressed by the Golden Age. The Golden Age is focused on far more by post 9/11 historians

than those pre-, and they argue that Al-Andalus largely lives up to its reputation as a medieval

intellectual haven.

Menocal argues that the Golden Age needs to be understood primarily through the lense

of the Umayyad Dynasty and its continuation in Spain. When Abd ar-Rahman arrived in Spain in

755, his court became a focal point for all Umayyad loyalists, who brought with them the

education and knowledge of a dynamic court.74 Some of the most prominent thinkers and leaders

of the Islamic world went from the heart of the Ummah to Spain. Furthermore, in order to

increase his prestige and challenge Abbasid legitimacy, al-Rahman and his successors focused

72
Kennedy, ​Muslim Spain and Portugal​, pg 5.
73
Menocal, ​The Ornament of the World,​ pg 32.
74
Menocal, ​The Ornament of the World,​ 59-61.

29
on making Cordoba into a cultural center that would rival Baghdad.75 Kennedy focuses less on

the Umayyads specifically as he does on Spain’s role as a bridge between Europe and

Dar-al-Islam, noting that the greatest Golden Age comes once the Abbassids start to fail.76

Al-Andalusian history is marked by the tolerance of the leaders as much as it is by the

continual disunity of all of its rulers. Be they Emir, Caliph, Sultan, Governor or King, no leader

ever had solid control over the peninsula.77 Every ruler is beset by constant rebellions as regional

leaders take advantage of the notoriously difficult Spanish geography to attempt to assert

independence. This disunity was not unique to Al-Andalus, it beset the Christians kingdoms both

before and after the fall. This disunity is theorized by historians Harvey, Catlos, and Kennedy as

being a factor in the legendary tolerance of the region, pointing to the writings of the many

minority sects who fled to Spain for safety.78 As there was never a truly central authority until

the Spanish crown IN WHAT YEAR?, a single religious identity was difficult to implement,

leading to tolerance by default. One understudied element of this issue is the tolerance minority

Muslim sects. Spain was a haven for Shia, Khawarij, and numerous Sufi orders and numerous

smaller sects. Even if a ruler wanted to implement a uniform religious practice, there was no

centralized administration strong enough to support an Inquisition.

Conclusion

Al-Andalusian history is a good example of how historians themselves are shaped by

their era. The historiography of the region serves as a fairly good metric of how Islam was

75
Menocal, ​The Ornament of the World​, 79-81.
76
Kennedy, ​Muslim Spain and Portugal,​ 44.
77
Catlos, ​Kingdoms of Faith​, 49-50.
78
Kennedy, ​Muslim Spain and Portugal,​ 38.

30
viewed in the West. In the 1990s, Al-Andalus was largely understood as a precursor to Spain,

whose status as the first global Empire obviously played a greater role in terms of history. After

9/11, Al-Andalus began to be understood BY WHOM? as an example of a tolerant Islamic state

as contrasted with an intolerant Christian Europe. Following the refugee crisis in 2011​,

Al-Andalus was studied as a warning of the dangers of Islamophobia and the genocidal

conclusion of nationalism. Al-Andalus has no direct descendants; no new civilizations have

been founded upon its legacy. Its history has been written by strangers -- geographically and

temporally -- looking at its legacy in the context of their times, rather than on its own terms.

31
 Sample Documents

Cervantes, ​Dialogue of the Dogs

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-161679) is without a doubt the most famous and influential
writer in the Spanish speaking world. His novel Don Quixote is widely seen as one of the great
literary achievements of the early modern period, is often called the first modern novel, and is
often considered mandatory reading in any Spanish language nation or advanced Spanish class.
However while Don Quixote is his most popular and all encompassing work, Cervantes wrote
many other works, as well as living a very interesting life. He was a mercenary, a servant of a
cardinal, a prisoner of the Barbary pirates, a publishing agent, and even a tax collector before he
became best known as a novelist. In 1613 a collection of novellas were published by Cervantes
as part of a collection called​ Exemplary Novels​, including a Cervantes story called ​Dialogue of
the Dogs. ​At one point in the text the narration describes Moriscos in the following way:

“​It would take a miracle to find a single man among so many who truly believes in the Holy

Christian laws; their sole intent is to make money and hoard what they make, and to achieve this

they work and do not eat...they are amassing and accumulating the largest cache of money in

Spain. They are money-boxes, moths, magpies, and weasels; they acquire, hide, and swallow it

all. Just think how many of them there are and that every day they earn and hide away some

quantity of money, and bear in mind that a slow fever can be as fatal as a sudden one, and they

increase in number, so the number of those who hide money away also increases and will surely

continue to grow ad infinitum, as experience shows. They do not exercise chastity, nor does any

man or woman among them take holy orders; they all marry and they all multiply because sober

living favores the propagation of their race. War does not weary them, nor do they overtaxe

themselves in the work they do; they steal from us with the greatest of east and from the fruits of

our prosperity, which they sell back to us, they make themselves rich.​”

79
His birthday is still in some dispute

32
 --Blood and Faith page 194, from Miguel de Cervantes ​Dialogue of the Dogs ​in

Cervantes,​ Exemplary Stories​ pg 295-96

Later in the same text, mentions of the Expulsions are made by another character, presented in

positive terms.

“​Solutions have already been sought for all the injuries you’ve mentioned and roughly outlined:

for I’m well aware that those of which you say nothing are graver and more numerous and no

proper remedy has yet been found. However, our state is governed by very wise men who realize

that Spain is rearing and nurturing all those Morisco vipers in its bosom, and with God’s help

they will find a sure, prompt, and effective solution to such a dangerous situation​”

-- Miguel de Cervantes, The Dialogue of the Dogs

Cervantes, Miguel, Exemplary Stories, trans. Lesley Lipson. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

1998.

33
Letter from Phillip III justifying the Expulsions.

Phillip III of Spain (Born 1578, died 1621), also known as Phillip II of Portugal, Sicily, Sardina,
and Naples, as well as Phillip duke of Milan, was king of all his territories from 1598-1621,
inheriting the throne after his father Phillip II of Spain (Phillip I of Portugal ect). His father was
nicknamed Phillip the Prudent for his practical administration, focus on the expansion of the
Spanish Empire and prioritizing stability over ideology. The high point of the Spanish Golden
Age was during his rule in part due to his relatively practical style of governance. While deeply
Catholic and a defender of the Church’s battles against Protestants and the Ottomans, Philip the
Prudent made the choice not to attempt to wipe out the Moriscos as the communities brought in
more money than could be justified by their expulsion. Philip III rejected this line of thinking
and it was his reign that led to the final expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain, earning him the
name Philip the Pious. Phillip III believed that the Spanish Empire could only prosper if it was a
pure Christian state, and so he felt he could justify the economically ruinous policy of expelling
all Muslims from Spain. For all his piety, Philip III’s reign is generally considered a failure, the
economy crashed in part due to the expulsion of the Moriscos and staring Spanish involvement
in the Thirty Years War, which is why his Reign is often seen as the start of Span’s long period
of decline. Here he is writing to one of his advisors justifying the Expulsion, which was in its
last days.

“​If the precise diligence of the expulsion had not been realized in time, I would have found

myself in the pitful state of never being able to uproot the Sect of Muhammad from my Kingdoms.

It was Divine Providence that assisted me and gave me the vision and firmness to follow it

through. If those children had grown up, within a few years they would have increased the

number of enemies in our Holy Catholic Faith.

-- Letter from King Phillip III to Francisco de Castro, September 16, 1614,

in Boronat y Barrachina, ​Los Moriscos,​ vol. II, pp.399-400.

34
Moses Ben Ezra ​Longing for Granada

Moses Ben Ezra/Moses Ibn Ezra (1055-113880) was a Jewish poet, linguist and philosopher born
in the province of Granada in Al-Andalus. His poetry is still widely studied within the Arabic,
Hebrew and Spanish speaking communities to this day. He wrote extensively about theological
concepts, drawing on Aristotle, the Qur’an, the Bible and the Talmud, all of which is reflected in
his poetry which often is about the nature of the Divine. He wrote in Hebrew and Arabic, and
one of his most famous works, the​ Maḳāla bi 'l-Ḥadīḳa fī maʿnāal-mad̲j̲āz wa 'l-ḥaḳīḳa, gives
advice to other Hebrew poets on how to structure their writings in the style of Arabic poets.
When Granada was invaded by the Almoravides of North Africa, much of the Jewish community
fled, with Moses coming to live in the Christian kingdom of Castile. There he wrote many
nostalgic works about his homeland in Granada, and as far as we can tell, died in exile. This is
one of the many poems concerning his longing for his homeland in Islamic Spain. I included it
as an example of the nostalgia many Jewish intellectuals felt for Al-Andalus.

After the nobles of the west, how can I find pleasure

In sleep, and how can my heart find rest

May my right hand be forgotten if I forget it, and if

I will desire to rejoice not in their presence

If ever God returns me to the Glory

Of the Pomegranate [Granada] my will will be successful

I will quench my thirst in the waters of Snir

Which were clear on the day

That the rivers of Eden were muddy

A land in which my life was pleasurable and the waters

Of the cheeks of time were flat for me…-

From​ “Until when In Exile?” in Masarwah and Tarabieh, “Longing for

Granada” 314-315, by Moses ben Ezra

80
There is no exact date as to his death, he was last known to be alive in 1138 CE but when he died after
words is unknown. Likewise his birth year is similarly unknown, which accounts ranging from 1055-1060
CE.

35
Petrus Alfonsi, ​Dialogue Against the Jews

Petrus Alfonsi (1062-1110) was a Spanish intellectual who gained fame in the fields of
medicine, astronomy, literature and theology, with his work existing in no less than 160
surviving medieval manuscripts. He is most famous as a former Jew who converted to
Christianity to become an anti-Semitic polemicist. Born in Al-Andalus under the name, Moses
Sephardi. He followed the family tradition in becoming a doctor, where he met with enough
success to be a court physician in the court of King Alfonso I of Aragon. In 1106, he converted
to Christianity taking the name Petrus Alfonsi in honor of St. Peter and his patron Alfonso, who
served as his godfather, he later moved to England to work as the physician of King Henry I of
England. While he continued to practice medicine and astronomy, he became most famous in
this period for his writings on Jews, urging them to abandon their faith for Christianity and
attempting to theologically debunk Jewish theology. A very influential writer, his text Dialogi
contra ludaeos (​The Dialogue Against the Jews​) was widely circulated, and was used to justify
anti-Semitic violence. He wrote in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, and he attempted to convert
many Jews with little success. In contrast to the previous Augustinian understand of Judaism,
which stated that Judaism was incorrect but should be tolerated, as they held true faith. Petrus
Alfonsi argued that Jewish leaders were actively trying to subvert Christian theology and
Judaism was an affront to the Christianity by its mere existence. While Alfinos did not imagine
Judaism in racial terms, his writings provided a justification for a ramping up of antisemitism
across Europe, particularly in Spain. I included this section as an example of the type of
antisemitism which provided the justification for both the Inquisition and the Expulsion.

“The Christians love to read the poems and romances of the Arabs; they study the Arab

theologians and philosophers, not to refute them but to form a correct and elegant Arabic.

Where is the layman who now reads the Latin commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, or who

studies the Gospels, prophets, or apostles? Alas! All talented young Christians read and study

with enthusiasm the Arab books; they gather immense libraries at great expense; they gather

immense libraries at great expense; they despise the christian literature as unworthy of attention.

They have forgotten their own language. For every one who can write a letter in Latin to a

friend, there are a thousand who can express themselves in Arabic with elegance, and write

better poems in this language than the Arabs themselves.”-​ Paul Alvarus (The Unmistakable

36
Sign) , as featured in Jerrilyn Dodds, Architecture and Ideology in Early medieval Spain

(Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990), pg 66.

Ibn Arabi’s Poems

Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) full name Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn
Al-Arabi al-Hatimi al-Ta al-Andusi al-Mursi al Dimashqi) was an Arabic poet, scholar, Sufi
mystic, and Islamic philospher from Al-Andalus and is one of the most influencial poets in the
Muslim world. Nicknamed al-Qushayri and Sultan al-Arifin81 his views of cosmology and
Sufism are still widely studied today. At least 850 works are attributed to him, with a little over
700 being proven to be authentic. He is most famous for The Meccan Illuminations, a 37
volume reflection on Sufi conception of God. His writings lead to the foundation of the
Arbiriyya branch of Sufism, which still exists to this day, though he himself didn’t found the
movement. Ibn Arabi was born in the Spanish city of Murcia and was said to have visions of
god throughout his life. While most of his life was present outside of Al-Andalus, his
understanding of Islam was highly influenced by both Christian and Jewish theology, which
continued to play a role in Arbiriyya Sufi thought. This is just one of his many poems focusing
on intersectional religious thought. I picked this poem because I thought it reflected well on
how Al-Andalus was the center of Sufism in the Islamic world and in what way the faith was so
open to other Abrahamic theology.

My heart can take on any form; it is a pasture for

Gazelles and a monastery for Christian mons

A temple for Idol, and for the Kaaba of the

Pilgrims, and for the Tables of the Torah, and for the book

Of the Quran

Poem by Ibn Arabi, from James T. Monroe, ​Hispano-Arabic Poetry​ (Berkely: University of

California Press, 1974), p 320

81
Both names are references to Sufi Mystics and centers of Sufi Worship

37
Textbook Analysis

The first thing one notices about the textbook is its use of periodization, or where

Al-Anadalus is framed in terms of its place in history. The textbook has two sections on

Al-Andalus, which it calls “Muslim Spain”, one of which was part of its larger chapter on “The

Islamic Age”. So Al-Andalus is understood primarily as an extension of a larger conception of

“Muslim history”, primarily understood as an extension of North Africa. The second time

Al-Andalus appears is in the section on Spanish history, being mentioned primarily in the

context of its fall. In both instances Al-Andalus is presented as secondary to other narratives

rather than being a narrative on its own.

The textbook was released in 2010, between the two major shifts in Al-Andalusian

historiography, following 9/11 but preceding the European refugee crisis. Written by historians

for a primarily American audience, it is obvious that the textbook is trying to push back against

Islamophobic attitudes at the time. The larger Muslim chapter, and Al-Andalus in particular,

was making a concious choice to dispel bigoted notions of Islam as inherently violent, intolerant,

anti intellectual, or anti secular. The “lesson” of Al-Andalus is obviously that Islamic

civilizations historically should not be judged through the lense of contemporary news

concerning fundementalist Islam. However there is very little material on the Exclusions, which

are simply summed up as “The Christians were being intolerant” rather than any detailed

analysis or understanding of the bigotry involved. Had this been published after the rise of

Nationalist Islamophobic anti imigration groups, there would have likely been more focus both

on the racist nature of the Expulsions, and how Catholic Spain came with a loss of pluralism.

There is also no discussion as to why the Expulsions occured; in fact they are barely mentioned

38
at all. The Inquisition is mentioned but only in context of rooting out Protestants heresies and

the Jews. No mention is made of its role in persecuting Muslims. The Moriscos are not present in

this textbook, Muslim Spain ends in 1492 with the success of ​Reconquista.

The textbook also only mentions in passing the Jewish community of Spain,

which was among the most vibrant in all of Europe, and one of the four traditional centers of pre

modern Jewish Culture. Briefly looking through the textbook as a whole, here is actually very

little of Sephardi Jews compared to their Ashkenazi and Mizrahi counterparts. As Al-Andalus

played a major role in bringing back Hebrew and the establishment of an earliest forms of

Zionist thought, its exclusion leaves large gaps in the later devolpment of a Jewish identity. The

community does get mentioned later in a section on Catholic Spain when describing the creation

of the Inquisition, but it only effectively says there was a Jewish community in Spain that was

then eliminated, little is made of the Jewish Golden Age under Muslim rule.

The textbook shows Al-Andalus itself largely positively, making a point to contrast

Muslim Spain to the rest of Europe, making a point to highlight how more advanced Al-Andalus

was in terms of medicine, learning, culture, secularlism, and tolerance. Special attention is paid

to Al-Andalus as the bridge between Europe and the Islamic world, and by extension the Greek

Classics, which in effect means the textbook is presenting Al-Andalus as a step for European

development. Rather than a civilization in its own right, it is primarily understood in its relation

to other civilizations. In Western Europe, Muslim reach expanded into Iberian peninsula via

Moricco. After the successful Muslim conquest and conversion of North Africa, the region had

split into a series of smaller semi independent kingdoms, all offically loyal to the Caliph, called

emirates. Tariq ibn Ziyad, a general in the Emirate of Tangiers (modern day Morocco) on his

39
own initiative launched a raid of 7,000 men into Spain after first conquering the island of

Gibraltar (stills bears his Spanish name) Spain was then ruled by the Visigoths (see the Fall of

Rome), whose regime was shaky due to religious disputes (the Visigoths were Arian Christans

ruling over a Catholic majority) and a series of civil wars. Tariq, much to his own surprise, won

a series of major battles, and reinforced by forces from Tangier, was able to conquer almost all

of Iberia. The invasion was not endorsed by the Caliph, in fact Traiq and the Emir Musa ibn

Nasayr were recalled for their invasion, but the territory remained within Muslim hands. The

invasion was made up primarily of Berbers, a North African ethnic group, rather than Arabs. The

new land was called Al-Andalus, an arabic term for Hispania.

After a failed attempt to raid into France (See Battle of Tours under France), the territory

was quickly split between various Berber warlords. Things changed in 750 with the fall of the

Umayyad Caliphate to the Abissads. Abd al-Rahman, the last heir of the Umayyad, fled Syria to

Spain, seeking refuge among loyalists in the city of Cordoba. With the aid of other Umayyad

partisans and officials, Rahman was able to unify Iberia under his rule, though he still officially

bowed before the Abbasid caliphate, giving himself the title of Emir. The continued Umayyad

Dynasty ruled Al-Andalus until the rise of Fatimid Dynasty in the 10th century (see Muslim

Egypt). Seeing a precedent set by Cairo, Abd ar-Rhaman III declared himself Caliph of a

restored Umayyad Caliphate in 929, known to historians as the Caliphate of Cordoba. The

caliphate lasted 102 years before it fell to civil war, but presided over Golden Age of

Al-Andalus, which had Cordoba declared by European travelers “The Ornament of the World”.

As a minority ruling over a majority Christian kingdom, the Muslim leaders adopted a

policy of tolerance and acceptence. Jews and Christians could practice their religion openly, and

40
could get jobs in the various administrations and courts of Al-Andalus. The decentralization

which contributed to the regions stability also made imposing religious uniformity difficult, and

so Al-Andalus was tolerant even compared to the largely tolerate Muslim world. This tolerance

allowed Spain to become one of the great intellectual centers in the Medertarrian world.

One factor that made Al-Andalus stand out in both the Christian and Islamic world was

its role as the center of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Spain was the heart

of Sephardic Judaism, as the tolerance of Al-Andalus meant that thousands of Jews fled there to

escape antisemitism. The Muslim community was largely supportive of the Jews, traditional

histories had the Muslim invasion made possibly by Jewish communities rising uping against the

Visigoths. While this has been questioned by modern historians (these accounts only appear

centuries later) there is also evidence to suggest that the Visigoths had planned and active

genocide.

41
 New Textbook Entry

In Western Europe, Muslim reach expanded into the Iberian peninsula via Morocco in

711 AD. After the successful Muslim conquest and conversion of North Africa in 709 AD, the

region split into a series of smaller semi-independent kingdoms, officially loyal to the Caliph,

called emirates. Tariq ibn Ziyad, a general in the Emirate of Tangiers (modern day Morocco),

launched, on his own initiative, a raid of 7,000 men into Spain in 711, after first conquering the

island of Gibraltar (which stills bears his Spanish name.) Spain was then ruled by the Visigoths

(who brought about the Fall of Rome in 476 CE), whose regime was shaky due to religious

disputes brought on by the fact that the Visigoths were Arian Christians ruling over a Catholic

majority. A series of civil wars followed. Tariq, much to his own surprise, won some major

battles in 711, and, reinforced by forces from Tangier, conquered almost all of Iberia. The

invasion was not endorsed by the Caliph. In fact, Traiq and the Emir Musa ibn Nasayr were

recalled, but the conquered territory remained within Muslim hands. The invasion was made up

primarily of Berbers, a North African ethnic group, rather than Arabs. The new land, fully

conquered in 720, was called Al-Andalus, an Arabic term for “Land of the Vandals.” It is

sometimes known as “Moorish Spain.” “Moor” is a term for North African Muslim, but that term

is seen as inaccurate today.

After a failed raid into France in 732 that culminated in theBattle of Tours), the Iberian

territory was split between various Berber warlords. Things changed in 750 with the fall of the

Umayyad Caliphate to the Abissads. Abd al-Rahman, the last heir of the Umayyad, fled Syria

for Spain, seeking refuge among loyalists in the Iberian city of Cordoba. With the aid of other

Umayyad partisans and officials, Rahman was able to unify Iberia under his rule, though he still

42
officially bowed before the Abbasid caliphate, giving himself the title of Emir. The Umayyad

Dynasty ruled Al-Andalus until the rise of the Fatimid Dynasty in the 10th century (see Muslim

Egypt). Seeing a precedent set by Cairo, Abd ar-Rhaman III declared himself Caliph of a

restored Umayyad Caliphate in 929, known to historians as the Caliphate of Cordoba. This

caliphate lasted 102 years and presided over the Golden Age of Al-Andalus. European travelers

at the time declared that Cordoba “The Ornament of the World” due to its advances in medicine,

science, and academic as well as its abundant wealth.

As a minority ruling over a majority Christian kingdom, the Muslim leaders adopted a

policy of tolerance and acceptance. Jews and Christians could practice their religion openly, and

could get jobs in the various administrations and courts of Al-Andalus. The decentralization

which contributed to the region’s stability also made imposing religious uniformity difficult, and

Al-Andalus was tolerant even compared to the largely tolerant policies promoted in the rest of

the Muslim world. This tolerance allowed Spain to become one of the great intellectual centers

in the Mediterranean region and should be understood within the context of the time. While

Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their faith, this was not tolerance as we imagine it

today. Each religious sect was organized into a community with very specific rights and

privileges, called a ​dhimmis,​ where they followed different laws, paid different taxes, and had

different legal rights from their Muslim counterparts. This was a form of second-class

citizenship, and these communities were both internally and externally segregated. However,

dhimmis​ were granted a degree of self-governance and an official voice in the state which gave

them more freedom and protections than anywhere else in Europe, meaning that Al-Andalusian

tolerance should be understood as comparative. The medieval world was often defined by

43
religious intolerance and theocratic limitations on knowledge. In this context, Al-Andalus wasn't

as much the most ​tolerant​ but instead the least ​intolerant -​ a title it would hold until arguably the

rise of the Enlightenment in the 18th century.

The reasons for this tolerance were varied. In addition to the general leniency of the

Islamic world and the decentralized nature of Spain, the arrival of the Umayyads became a game

changer. In Islam, as in Judaism, a major claim to legitimacy for a ruler was their support of

scholars and artists. It was to this end that the Abbasids had built the House of Wisdom in

Baghdad (see Islamic Golden Age), and the Umayyads hoped to make Cordoba rival Baghdad.

Scholars were welcomed, books were copied, and broad tolerance was given, so intellectuals of

all sects could mingle and debate. Christians willingly adopted Arabic as the dominant language;

communities regularly practiced each other's religious holidays; and ideas were exchanged

between faiths. Cordoba was famed across Europe as the “Ornament of the World.” It was in

this intellectual setting that the notion of secularism first emerged as a coherent ideology.

Secularism was seen as quite comparable with Islam, along with the earliest notions of the

scientific method. Both would outlive Al-Andalus and spread to Europe.

Despite the Umayyads’ efforts however, Al-Andalus was seen as a bit of a backwater by

the larger Islamic world, on the periphery of the Caliphate. Cordoba was not as impressive as

Cairo, Damascus or Baghdad. Its reputation as the Ornament of the World, while not

undeserved, was partly caused by the fact that Iberia was much closer to Europe. Al-Andalus

had more cities than anywhere else in Europe, and Cordoba had more books than any city in all

of Christendom save Constantinople. With the weakening of the Abbasid Caliphate and the

eventual Mongol invasion between 1206-1258 (see Fall of the Abbasids) the Caliphate of

44
Cordoba began to truly rival its North African and Middle Eastern rivals. Perhaps Al-Andalus’

greatest cultural impact was on Europe rather than Dar-al-Islam. Al-Andalus played a vital role

as the bridge between the Islamic world and Europe. Thus the greatest accomplishments of the

Islamic World as well as the texts of classical Greece came to Europe via the medical advances

of Al-Andalus also spread north, In fact, Muslim Spain's medical texts still serve as the

foundation of modern medicine. Most influentially, Arabic cartography spread through Spain

where it inspired a young map maker named Christopher Columbus, who would forever change

Spanish -- and world -- history.

One factor that made Al-Andalus stand out in both the Christian and Islamic world was

its role as the center of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Spain was the heart

of Sephardi Judaism. The tolerance of Al-Andalus meant that thousands of Jews fled there to

escape antisemitism. The Muslim community was largely supportive of the Jews. Traditional

histories said that the Muslim invasion was made possible by Jewish communities rising up

against the Visigoths. While this has been questioned by modern historians (these accounts only

appear centuries later) there is also evidence to suggest that the Visigoths had planned to

exterminate the Jews. Regardless, many Jews gladly supported Muslim rule, even if they were

second class citizens, as they rightly feared persecution under Christian rule. In this environment

of tolerance, Jewish culture thrived, Some of the greatest poets, theologians, and philosophers in

Jewish history flourished in Al-Andalus, which has been dubbed the Jewish Golden Age. It was

here that the long-dead language of Hebrew was finally modernized and restored, providing the

basis for modern Hebrew. It was in Al-Andalus that the first notions of a unified Jewish identity

were forged. Some Jews were able to scale great social and political heights, such as Samuel

45
HaNagid (Samuel Ibn Naghrillah), known as the “Prince of the Jews,” who in addition to being a

poet, historian, and theologian, was able to rise to the rank of Vizier. The tolerance should not

be overstated, however; Samuel's family was murdered by an anti-semetic riot in the Granada

massacre of 1066, and his eldest son Joseph ibn Naghrela was crucified. (Joseph had inherited

his fathers position as Vizier, and jealous Muslim courtiers accused him of plotting to kill the

monarch. A, mob killed him before turning on the larger Jewish population.) The Granada

massacre was the single worse act of anti-semitic violence initated by Muslims.

Al-Andalus was not just an intellectual and technological center, but a cultural one, and at

the time it was most famous for its poetry and literature. Musically, the realm was innovative

and in fact it was here that the earliest guitars were fashioned. Some of the greatest poems in

the Arabic and Jewish traditions came out of this period -- most famously ​The Tale of Layla and

Majnun​. This Sufi (see Sufism) poem about a poor man who loves a wealthy woman and dies

tragically with her, established the idea of love as a force greater than family, clan, or duty.

Some scholars think it was a source for Shakespeare’s ​Romeo and Juliet.​ ) While originally in

Persian, this tale spread through Spain to Europe, and it, along with the ​Tale of Tristan and Iseult

(which some scholars assert also had Persian origins) inspired the Chivalric Romantic tradition

of Europe. A vast majority of the love poetry at the time was homosexual in nature, which was a

normal practice among the courts of Spain. The architecture of that period can still be seen in

Spain to this day, and much of the painting and sculpture would later inspire the Italian

Renaissance artists.

For all of the region’s cultural accomplishments, it was still beset by domestic problems.

Ethnic tensions between Arabs and Berbers were a constant source of destabilization, and the

46
decentralized nature of Spain meant every Caliph or Emir had to put down numerous revolts,

secession, or coups. These endless civil wars eventually ended the Caliphate of Cordoba in

1031, which caused Al-Andalus to split into a series of smaller kingdoms known as ​Taifa.​ Each

of these kingdoms claimed to be the heirs of the Umayyads and continued to sponsor

intellectuals and religious tolerance, but the corruption, incompetence, and endless infighting

weakened these rulers’ legitimacy internally. They regularly employed Christian mercenaries to

fight their wars, and their divided nature meant they were increasingly helpless in the face of the

northern Christian states. Even in the 8​th​ century, a small portion of Christian kingdoms retained

independence in the mountains of North-Western Spain. While they were imagined by later

Spanish historians as Christian holdouts, in reality these kingdoms fought with each other and

allied with the Islamic states regularly, with each monarch trying to seize more territory. With

the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, Iberian Christians expanded and grew more confident during

the decentralized ​Taifa e​ ra. The Christian kingdoms started to unify and slowly conquer Muslim

territory in the 12th century, beginning the slow process of ​Reconquista ​(the reconquest of

Muslim Spain).

​ as later imagined as a religious war between Christians and Muslims, but,

while not incorrect, this is a simplification. The Christian kingdoms usually fought with allies,

and Muslim kingdoms employed Christian merchants, and while religion played a part in the

conflict, profit and desire for territory played as much of a motive in the minds of Christian

Kings. These kings were happy to pitch the war to Europeans as a crusade to hoping to

encourage the participation of foreign crusaders and boost their forces. In response the ​Taifa

kingdoms also portrayed the war in religious terms to gain aid from North African Muslim states,

47
greatly reducing the religious tolerance of Al-Andalus. Twice Al-Andalus was saved/occupied

by North Berber kingdoms, first by the Almoravid dynasty (1086-1147) and then by the heretical

Almohad Caliphate (1180-1212), but once again the Taifa kingdoms came to define Al-Andalus.

Both of these regimes were far less tolerant of their predecessors, weakening the legitimacy of

Al-Andalus for many Christians. These disunified kingdoms were steadily conquered by the

Christians, until only the Emirate of Granada remained in the southern coast. Granada which

stayed independent between 1250 and 1492, via a mix of military and diplomatic finesse.

Until the 15th century Christian kingdoms were tolerant of the Muslim and Jewish

minorities living in their ranks, as they both wished to avoid rebellion and gain the skills of the

expert artisans each community produced. However as ​Reconquista​ continued, Christians started

to imagine their conquest as a form of purification for Spain and grew less tolerant. Many

Spanish Christians were deeply ashamed of their kingdom’s Islamic past, and this national

insecurity was projected on the minority religious populations. The Inquisition, established in

1478, would later become infamous for its persecution of Protestants (see Reformation) was

initially set up to persecute Jews, especially those who had converted to Christianity but were

believed to still be Jewish at heart (​Conversos​). When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

unified Spain, they invaded Grenada, finally conquering it in 1492. That very same year, they

celebrated both accomplishments by funding Columbus’ expedition to India, and expelling the

Jewish population from Spain, ending the heart of Sephardi Judaism. Hundreds of thousands

were forced from their homes, and tens of thousands died. In 1500, despite a promise of

tolerance, the inquisition forced the Muslim population to convert to Christianity under threat of

death. While most of the Muslims officially converted under coercion, many of them continued

48
to practice Islam.

While officially entirely Christian, Catholic Spain was divided between the “Old

Christians” and the “New Christians.” Old Christians were supposedly those who had never

converted to Islam, but in practice it included many whose families had converted to Islam in the

early days of Reconquista, and more importantly were not culturally Arabic. The New

Christians were Muslims (Moriscos) and Jews who had officially been converted to Christianity

in the last decades of Reconquista, and still kept their traditional culture and language. Some

were Christian, but many continued to speak Arabic or Hebrew, and kept their Jewish or Muslim

customs. The majority however had been forcibly converted, and so were Christian in name

only, while continuing to practice their traditional faiths. These hidden Muslims and Jews were

called ​Converso, ​and they were the primary target of the Inquisition. Despite officially being

Christian, they were denied the religious rights of the Old Christians, and legally were treated as

if they were still Muslim, regardless of their personal beliefs. Their status as officialChristians

actually caused a legal problem for Spain, because the Catholic Church traditionally forbad

forced conversions but also rebaptisms, trapping many in a legal limbo regarding their faith.

Numerous attempts were made in the 16th century by the crown to “reconvert” the

Morisco communities in the hope of making them properly Christian, but these inevitably lacked

the necessary financial backing to be successful. Their inevitable failure was blamed on the

Moriscos themselves for their faith, rather than the inept bureaucracy of the Church, which never

provided enough priests, teachers or bibles to be effective. In fact the Church during this period

were far more focused on converting natives Americans in the New World to focus on Moriscos

(see The Conquest of America). Things became worse for the Moriscos when Spain fell and

49
became part of the Hapsburg Empire in 1516, who were engaged in a great war with the Ottoman

Empire, which led to the Moriscos to be viewed as potential traitors. What is worse, the

Reformation led to the Inquisition becoming more zealous in enforcing Orthodoxy during the

16th and 17th centuries, when many church officials advocated mass murder of the the Moriscos

to spiritually purify Spain.

Not all Spanish elites wanted to purge the Moriscos, although their motives weren't

necessarily altruistic. Many theologians were uncomfortable with the mass murder of a civilian

population, while others thought that to expel them was to reject the possibility of true

conversion. A great theological debate was triggered because the Moriscos were officially

Christian, and how could Christians be expelled from a Christian nation? Even if many Moriscos

were Muslim, some were true Christians, and how could one determine the faith of an individal?

Many aristocrats were fiercely protective of the Muslim minorities living under their protection,

who were the best farmers in the ingdom andproduced the only artisans trained in advanced

architecture and specific farming techniques.

Finally, many advisors to the Spanish crown thought any purge would be too expensive

to organize and carry out. These arguments in favor of preserving the lives of Moriscos, which

came from self-interest, ultimately couldn't stand up to the entrenched arguments of bigotry.

Between 1609 and 1614, 300,00 Moriscos were expelled for Spain, with tens of thousands dying

in the process through starvation, exposure, drawing at sea, or simply massacre. This triggered a

major economic crash in Spain in 1610, but King Phillip III saw the economic damage as an

acceptable sacrifice for the purity of Spain.

Since the Moriscos were officially Christian, there couldn’t be a purely theological

50
rationale for their persecution, and so Spain instead couched bigotry in the language of Blood

purity. Thus the Moriscos were no longer imagined as a religious heresy or even a different

culture (as many Moriscos adopted Spanish cultural markers), but instead as a different breed of

humanity. Their crimes were newly understood not as different belief, but as impurity of blood.

It was through the persecution of the Moriscos that the doctrine of Blood Purity and Race was

born. This notion of racial purity would spread to Spain's colonies, and provided the foundation

of the racial caste system that defined South American history, and later influencing North

America.

51
 Works Cited

Barton, Simon. ​Conquerors, Brides, and Concubines: Interfaith Relations and Social places in
Medieval Iberia​. Philadelphia; University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.

Bennison, Amira K. ​The Almoravid and Almohad Empires​. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
press, 2016.

Boyarin, Daniel. ​Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity,​ Pennsylvania: University

Catlos, Brain A. ​Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain.​ New York: Basic Book
Group, 2018.

Catlos, Brain A. ​Victorys and the Vanquished: Christian and Muslim Catalonia and Aragon,
1050-1300.​ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Carr, Matthew. ​Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain.​ New York: The New Press
Publishing, 2009.

Fierro Bello, Maria Isabel (Maribel). ‘​Abd al-Rahman III: The First Caliph of Cordoba Oxford:​
Oneworld, 2005.

Harvey, LP. ​Islamic Spain 1250 to 1500.​ Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Kennedy, Hugh. ​Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus.​ University of
Michigan, 1996.

Kimmel, Seth. ​Parables of Conversion: Conversations and Knowledge at the End of Islamic
Spain.​ Chicago, University of Chicago, 2015.

Rosia, Maria. ​The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a
Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain.​ Boston, Black: Little, Brown, and Company, 2002.

52