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'''''La Convivencia''''' ("the Coexistence") is the period of [[History of Spain|Spanish history]] from the [[Muslim]] [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] in the early eighth century until the completion of the [[Christian]] [[Reconquista]] in the late fifteenth century, when [[Moors|Muslims]], [[Catholic Church|Christians]] and [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Jews]] in [[Al-Andalus|Moorish Iberia]] lived in relative peace together within the different kingdoms (during the same time, however, the Christian reclaiming of land conquered by the Moors was ongoing). The phrase often refers to the interplay of cultural ideas between the three groups, and ideas of [[religious tolerance]]. |
'''''La Convivencia''''' ("the Coexistence") is the period of [[History of Spain|Spanish history]] from the [[Muslim]] [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] in the early eighth century until the completion of the [[Christian]] [[Reconquista]] in the late fifteenth century, when [[Moors|Muslims]], [[Catholic Church|Christians]] and [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Jews]] in [[Al-Andalus|Moorish Iberia]] lived in relative peace together within the different kingdoms (during the same time, however, the Christian reclaiming of land conquered by the Moors was ongoing). The phrase often refers to the interplay of cultural ideas between the three groups, and ideas of [[religious tolerance]]. |
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Though there are examples of ethnic tensions in the era, such as the repercussions from the [[Siege and fall of Córdoba]] and the [[1066 Granada massacre]]. However, it has also been said that scenes such as those of Granada in 1066 were a "rare occurrence" of the era<ref>{{cite book |
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|last= Lewis |
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|first= Bernard |
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|authorlink= Bernard Lewis |
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|title= ''The Jews of Islam'' |
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|origyear= 1984 |
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|year= 1987 |
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|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |
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|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton, N.J.]] |
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|isbn=978-0-691-00807-3 |
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|oclc=17588445 |
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|pages=44–45 |
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|lccn= 8442575 |
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}}</ref>. |
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[[James Carroll (novelist)|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.<ref>Carroll, James (2001), ''Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews'', Chapter 33. Houghton Mifflin, Co., Boston.</ref> |
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The concept is critized as a modern myth bolstered by 'wishful thinking' of [[multiculturalism]] and a failure to understand Al-Andalus in its proper historical context.<ref name="Fernández-Morera, 2006, 29">Darío Fernández-Morera: [http://www.mmisi.org/ir/41_02/fernandez-morera.pdf "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise"], ''[[The Intercollegiate Review]]'', Fall 2006, pp. 23–31 (30)</ref> |
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[[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] is considered to have been a centre of ''la Convivencia''.{{cn|date=December 2011}} |
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== Criticism of the concept == |
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The modern [[Multiculturalism|multiculturalist]] interpretation of the ''Convivencia'' as a time of tolerance and peaceful and harmonious relations between the Muslim rulers and their Christian and Jew subjects is criticized as "the myth of the Andalusian paradise".<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 29</ref> According to this view, "Andalusia was beset by religious, political, and racial conflicts controlled |
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in the best of times only by the application of tyrannical force".<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 30</ref> The Catholic majority and, to a lesser extent, the Jewish minority were kept in a state of [[dhimmitude]] as groups subjected to and serving the interests of the Muslim ruling class.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 24</ref> Catholics suffered under various Muslim rulers from repression, including high taxation, confiscation of their property and enslavement, and religious persecution.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 24</ref> [[Muhammad I of Córdoba|Muhammad I]] (852–886) ordered to destroy all churches newly built since the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711,<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 24</ref> and his successors seldomly authorized the erection of new churches or the maintenance of existing ones.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 29</ref> In Muhammad's reign, [[Eulogius of Córdoba|Eulogius]], along with the other [[Martyrs of Córdoba]], was executed for religious blasphemy.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 24</ref> |
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Throughout the existence of Al-Andalus, its emirs and caliphs were champions of Islamic orthodoxy.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 26f.</ref> The role of Muslim women was confined, like elsewhere in the Islamic world, to serving the household and staying in the house away from the men.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 27f.</ref> Muslim jurists like Ibn Abdun (fl. 1100 in Seville) argued for racial segregation between Muslims and their Christian and Jewish [[dhimmi]]s.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 26f.</ref> |
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The situation even deteriorated with the invasions of the Northern African fundamentalist warrior tribes of the [[Almoravids]] and [[Almohads]] in the 11th century and 12th century respectively.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 24f.</ref> In the early 12th century, the Catholic inhabitants of Malaga and Granada were expelled to Morocco.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 29</ref> The Jewish philosopher [[Moses Maimonides]] (1135–1204) was forced to flee from Al-Andalus to avoid conversion by the Almohads,<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 30</ref> just as his progressive Muslim collegue [[Averroes]] was persecuted and finally banned by the authorities from the country.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 28</ref> Relations between the Christian and Jewish subjects were also strained and mutual ressentments frequent.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 29f.</ref> |
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Bursts of ethnic violence include the events around the [[siege and fall of Córdoba]] and the [[1066 Granada massacre]] of the entire Jewish population of the city. While it has been said that such clashes were a "rare occurrence" of the era,<ref>{{cite book|last= Lewis|first= Bernard|authorlink= Bernard Lewis|title= ''The Jews of Islam''|origyear= 1984|year= 1987|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton, N.J.]]|isbn=978-0-691-00807-3|oclc=17588445|pages=44–45|lccn= 8442575}}</ref> the Jewish death toll in Granada was higher than in the well-known Christian pogroms in the [[Rhineland]] slightly later.<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 25</ref> |
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Fernández-Morera concludes that the modern idea of Al-Andalus as a tolerant and enlightened society owns much to a dislike of [[Western Civilization]], having "the double advantage of surreptitiously favoring multiculturalism and deprecating [[Christianity]]".<ref>Darío Fernández-Morera, 2006, p. 30</ref> [[Bernard Lewis]], in his ''Jews of Islam'', holds the view that the very concept of tolerance was neither much valued nor much practiced in both Islam and Christianity. Only very recently, commentators began to project this modern idea onto past societies. He maintains that the idea of equality between Muslims and non-Muslims was foreign to traditional Islam.<ref name="Bernard Lewis 1987, 3f.">[[Bernard Lewis]]: ''The Jews of Islam'', Princeton University Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3, p. 3f.</ref> |
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According to [[Mark R. Cohen]], the "myth of an interfaith utopia" between Jewish subjects and their Muslim ruler, already lingering in late medieval Jewish thought, was forcefully advanced only in the 19th century by the leading German Jewish historian [[Heinrich Graetz]]. By portraying Jewish life as peaceful and prosperous under medieval Muslim rule as opposed to their oppression in the Christian realm, Graetz argued for a better integration of Jews into contemporary European societies to the benefit of both Jews and Christians. This view of comparative tolerance by Muslims remained largely unchallenged until the idea of benevolent Muslim leadership of the Jews was usurped in the Israeli-Palestine conflict by Arab thinkers in their struggle against [[Zionism]].<ref>[[Mark R. Cohen]]: ''Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages'', Princeton University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-691-01082-3, pp. 6–9</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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==Sources and further reading== |
==Sources and further reading== |
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*Esperanza Alfonso, ''Islamic culture through Jewish eyes : al-Andalus from the tenth to twelfth century''. 2007 ISBN 978-0-415-43732-5 |
*Esperanza Alfonso, ''Islamic culture through Jewish eyes : al-Andalus from the tenth to twelfth century''. 2007 ISBN 978-0-415-43732-5 |
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*Fernández-Morera, Darío : [http://www.mmisi.org/ir/41_02/fernandez-morera.pdf "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise"], in: ''[[The Intercollegiate Review]]'', Fall 2006, pp. 23–31 |
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*O'Shea, Stephen. ''Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World''. Walker & Company: 2006. ISBN 0-8027-1517-6. |
*O'Shea, Stephen. ''Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World''. Walker & Company: 2006. ISBN 0-8027-1517-6. |
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*[[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. |
*[[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. |
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==Additional References== |
==Additional References== |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
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== External links == |
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* Darío Fernández-Morera: [http://www.mmisi.org/ir/41_02/fernandez-morera.pdf "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise"], ''The Intercollegiate Review'', Fall 2006 |
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[[Category:Al-Andalus]] |
[[Category:Al-Andalus]] |
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Revision as of 18:26, 27 August 2012
La Convivencia ("the Coexistence") is the period of Spanish history from the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the early eighth century until the completion of the Christian Reconquista in the late fifteenth century, when Muslims, Christians and Jews in Moorish Iberia lived in relative peace together within the different kingdoms (during the same time, however, the Christian reclaiming of land conquered by the Moors was ongoing). The phrase often refers to the interplay of cultural ideas between the three groups, and ideas of religious tolerance. Though there are examples of ethnic tensions in the era, such as the repercussions from the Siege and fall of Córdoba and the 1066 Granada massacre. However, it has also been said that scenes such as those of Granada in 1066 were a "rare occurrence" of the era[1].
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.[2]
Toledo is considered to have been a centre of la Convivencia.[citation needed]
See also
- Al-Andalus (Moorish-governed Iberia)
- Moors (Muslims in Al-Andalus)
- Muladi (Christian converts to Islam)
- Mozarab (Christians in Al-Andalus)
- Mudéjar (Muslims in Christendom)
- Sephardim (Jews in Iberia)
- Morisco (Muslim converts to Catholism)
- Pablo Alvaro (a Jewish convert to Catholicism)
- Bishop Bodo (a 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.
- Catlos, Brian. The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300. 2004. ISBN 0-521-82234-3
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.
- Convivencia. International research project.
References
- ^ Lewis, Bernard (1987) [1984]. The Jews of Islam. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3. LCCN 8442575. OCLC 17588445.
{{cite book}}: Check|lccn=value (help) - ^ Carroll, James (2001), Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, Chapter 33. Houghton Mifflin, Co., Boston.
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