Islamic And Christian Spain In The Early Middle Ages

390 Pages·1979·5.927 MB·English

by  Thomas F. Glick

ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN SPAIN
IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Islamic and Christian Spain
in the Early Middle Ages
By Thomas F. Glick
Princeton University Press
Princeton, New Jersey
Copyright © 1979 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be
found on the last printed page of this book
Publication of this book has been aided by the Paul Mellon Fund
of Princeton University Press
This book has been composed in Linotype Granjon
Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books
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chosen for strength and durability.
Printed in the United States of America by Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
To Samuel M. Waxman
Qué amigo de sus amigos!
Qué senor para criados y patientes!
Qué enemigo de enemigos!
Qué maestro de esforçados y valientes!
Qué seso para discretos!
Qué gracia para donosos! Qué razôn!
Qué benigno a los subjetos!
y a los bravos y danosos un leôn!
—Jorge Manrique

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction
1. Traveling the Cultural Frontier 3
2. Comparison and Diffusion 5
3. Culture Contact and the Polemic of Spanish Historiography 6
4. A Question of Names 13
P art One: Society and Economy
Chapter 1: At the Crossroads of Civilization
/. The Arab Conquests: Opening or Closure? 19
2. Diffusion, Transport, Movement 21
3. The Collapse of the Visigothic State and the Islamic Conquest 27
4. The Curve of Conversion 33
5. The Arab State from Province to Caliphate 35
6. The Christian North to a.d. 1000 42
7. The Eleventh-Century Reversal: Causes and Consequences 46
Chapter 2: Agriculture, Settlement, and the Moving Frontier
/. Two Cultures, Two Ecologies 51
2. Landscape Change and Environmental Perception 53
3. The Frontier as an Image and as a Creator of Landscape 58
4. Dynamics of Settlement and Growth: al-Andalus 65
5. Dynamics of Settlement and Growth: The Christian Kingdoms 85
6. From Local to Transhumant Herding 103
7. Forests and Timber 106
Chapter 3: Urbanization and Commerce
1. Urban Structure, Urban Functions no
2. Growth and Morphology of Towns 113
3. The Urban Market 119
4. Patterns of Trade and Investment 124
Chapter 4: Social Structure
1. Systems of Stratification 135
2. Kinship 137
• Vll •
Contents
3. The Lower Classes: Freedom and Dependence 146
4. The Middle Classes: Two Failed Revolutions? 153
5. The Nobility and Social Mobility 160
Chapter 5 : Ethnic Relations
1. Ethnic Cleavages and Cultural Boundaries 165
2. “Protected" Religious Minorities 168
3. Ethnic Competition in al-Andalus 178
4. Assimilation of Neo-Muslims 185
5. Ethnicity in Christian Spain 191
Chapter 6: Structure and Stability
1. Stability and Continuity 194
2. Structural Gains and Losses 200
3. State Systems of the Eleventh Century 208
4. Feudalism 210
P art Tw o: M ovem ent of Ideas and Techniques
Chapter 7: Technology
1. Modalities of Innovation and Change 217
2. Continuity and Change in Medieval Iberian Technology 220
3. Shared Technologies 224
4. Bilateral Diffusion 230
5. Flow of Techniques from East to West 235
Chapter 8: Science
1. Science and Cultural Values 248
2. Diffusion and Synthesis 249
3. The Social Bases of Transmission 253
4. The Unity of Scientific Knowledge 261
5. Patterns of Cultural Influence 268
Chapter 9: Cultural Process in Medieval Spain
/. The Linguistic Model and Cultural Continuity 277
2. Cultural Crystallization 281
3. Modalities of Cultural Change 284
4. Balance-Sheet of Cultural Exchange 290
Bibliography 301
Notes 3x7
Index 359
• vin •
FIGURES
Figure i: Conversion to Islam in al-Andalus 35
Figure 2: Typology of Christian and Muslim Enclaves in
Medieval Spain 167
Figure 3: Components of an Animal-drawn Noria 236
Figure 4: Maslama and his School 254
Figure 5: The Andalusi Agronomical School 255
Figure 6: Ratio of Christian and Muslim Scientists 260
Figure 7: Comparative Conversion Curves 283
TABLES
Table 1: Edible Crops Introduced by the Arabs 77
Table 2: Andalusi Terms for Wheat 81
Table 3: Artisan Nisbas of Andalusi Sufis (Thirteenth Century) 152
Table 4: Indicators of Structural Gain or Loss in al-Andalus 201
Table 5: Medieval Castilian Chemical Terminology 271
Table 6: Arabisms in Castilian through the Thirteenth Century,
by Category 298
MAP
Map i : Scholarly Interaction between al-Andalus and the Magrib,
I2th-i3th centuries a.d. 287
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