HIST 405-02, Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain, Spring 2009

Abstract

This course investigates the roughly 750 years of coexistence between Christians, Muslims, and Jews on the Iberian peninsula, from the Muslim arrival in 711 to the end of the Christian reconquest in 1492. Readings from primary sources in translation from all three communities will consider the artistic and intellectual achievements of the era as well as the intricate political history of Spain’s many different kingdoms. Special attention will be given to the complex nature of interfaith relations, the sustained communication and commercial exchanges between the various groups and their periodical breakdown into violence. This course’s status as a 400-level senior seminar means that at least as much emphasis will be placed on the analysis and interpretation of documents as on the gaining of factual information (although clearly the latter is a prerequisite for the former). Preparedness for discussion is therefore essential. It is hoped that by the end of the class you will have a good understanding of the major historical developments that shaped and gave rise to the country now known as Spain and that you will be familiar with some of the historiographic debates that have surrounded, and continue to surround, the study of medieval Spain.