La Convivencia

La Convivencia ("the Coexistence") is a term used to describe a postulated situation in Spanish history when Jews, Muslims, and Catholics in Spain lived in relative peace together within the different kingdoms. It lasted from the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 until 1492, concurrent with the Reconquista ("Reconquest"). The phrase often refers to the interplay of cultural ideas between the three groups, and ideas of religious tolerance.

James Carroll invokes this concept and indicates that it played an important role in bringing the classics of Greek philosophy to Europe, with translations from Greek to Arabic to Hebrew and Latin.

Toledo is considered to have been a centre of la Convivencia.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain)
• Mozarab (Christians in Al-Andalus)
• Mudéjar (Muslims in Christendom)
• Muladi (Christian converts to Islam)
• Sephardim (Iberian Jews)
• Pablo Alvaro (Jewish convert to Catholicism)
• Bishop Bodo (Catholic convert to Judaism)
• Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain

Sources and further reading

• Esperanza Alfonso, Islamic culture through Jewish eyes : al-Andalus from the tenth to twelfth century. 2007 ISBN 978-0-415-43732-5
• Vivan Mann, et al., eds. Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain. George Braziller: 1992. ISBN 0-8076-1286-3.
• Pick, Lucy. Conflict and Coexistence: Archbishop Rodrigo and the Muslims and Jews of Medieval Spain. Oxbow Books: 2004. ISBN 0-472-11387-9.
• O'Shea, Stephen. Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World. Walker & Company: 2006. ISBN 0-8027-1517-6.
• Maria Rosa Menocal. "Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain." 2003. ISBN 0-316-56688-8.

Additional References

• Rageh Omaar. An Islamic History of Europe. 90-minute video documentary for BBC Four, 2005.
• Catherine Bott. Convivencia. Music CD of Spanish and Moorish songs from the period.