BarkellWH -> RE: PBS Production: "The Ornament of the World" (Jan. 21 2020 23:12:59)
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quote: "The Ornament of the World." ....based on Professor Maria Rosa Menocal's book of the same name. The book is worth a read. I heartily agree, Mark. Even if one has seen the PBS production, the book is well worth reading. Nevertheless, I think the finest book I have read on Islamic Spain is "Kingdoms of Faith," by Brian Catlos. At the risk of boring FORO members, I have repeated below a review of Catlos's book I wrote in March 2019. An interesting new book has been published entitled, "Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain," by Brian Catlos, a historian at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Several years ago on the Foro we had a lively discussion of Al Andalus and Islamic Spain. To scholars of Islamic Spain the historiography has rested on shifting ground and the various elements that might support one or the other version of Spain's national identity. Robert Irwin, a British scholar of Arabic and Muslim history (who proudly calls himself an "Orientalist," a term that is in disfavor in our hypersensitive world) lists two early examples of these shifts in historiography. In 1943, Claudio Sanchez Albornoz published, "Espana y el Islam," in which, according to Irwin, "the Muslim occupation of the Iberian Peninsula was presented as a disaster." In 1948, the historian Americo Castro published, "Espana en su Historia: Cristianos, Moros, y Judios," in which he emphasizes the enormous contributions of Arabs, Berbers, and Jews to Spanish history and culture. More recently the debate over the contribution of Islam to Spanish history and culture has continued with, "The Ornament of the World," by Maria Rosa Menocal, a scholar of medieval history and culture. Menocal celebrates the contributions of the Moors and Jews to Spanish history and culture. She correctly writes that Christians and Jews were treated far more leniently as "People of the Book," in Al Andalus and Islamic Spain than the Jews were treated by Christian authorities in the rest of Europe. Nevertheless, Menocal glides over the fact that Christians and Jews (known collectively as Dhimmi) were second-class citizens under Islam. There were many restrictions placed on them. Another recent book, "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews Under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain," by Dario Fernandez-Morera, states that Muslim Spain "was marked by religious and therefore cultural repression in all areas of life." The latest entry in this mix, "Kingdoms of Faith," by Catlos, navigates between these two versions of Islamic Spain and presents a more balanced viewpoint. Catlos spends much time on the cultural aspects of Islamic Spain, as well as the political. The Caliphate of Cordoba, the zenith of Al Andalus and Islamic Spain, began to fall apart, not so much because of the Christian Reconquista; rather, by Berber regiments competing for supremacy and loot. First the Almoravids and later the Almohads, both Berbers from North Africa, imposed a much stricter version of Islam on Al Andalus, including pogroms against Christians and Jews. Finally, Granada fell to the Christian Reconquista in 1492, and in 1609 the Moriscos (ostensibly Muslim converts to Chrsitianity) were expelled. Many Sephardic Jews were expelled and ended up in the Ottoman Empire. This is a very good book if you have an interest in Al Andalus and Islamic Spain. Highly recommended. Bill
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