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Book
Review |
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Fletcher,
Richard. Moorish Spain (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1992), 189 pp, $21.95.
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Contact
between different religious-cultural traditions is a basic theme of most
world history surveys. As the late Richard Fletcher suggests in this lively,
reissued introductory volume, Spain between 711 and 1492 is among the best
examples of accommodation and conflict. In nine thoughtful chapters, he
explores Islamic-Christian interconnections in agriculture, the arts, language,
ideas, and politics. While the Arab impact was greatest during the Middle
Ages, it continued to shape Spanish culture long after the fall of Granada. |
1 |
Fletcher's first chapter argues that Iberia was
home to "the most prolonged and intimate encounter between Christendom and
Islam" (5) in Mediterranean Europe. One of the most significant and enduring
consequences of this interaction survives in Spanish, Portuguese, Gallego
and Catalan. For example, suq (market) became the Spanish zoco;
the plaza in Old Toledo today bears the name Zocodover. Fletcher helpfully
lists Arabic-derived place names and of words beginning with the Arabic
al. From here, Fletcher moves to a rich discussion of artistic
linkages, comparing the plastered arabesques of Granada's Alhambra to the
luxurious plasterwork adorning the sacristy of the Cartuja. In another compelling
vignette, Fletcher traces the evolution of the mosque at Córdoba, constructed
between the eighth and tenth centuries only to be transformed into a Christian
cathedral after Córdoba's conquest in 1236. |
2 |
Subsequent chapters explore the Arab invasion of
711 (and legends generated by conqueror to justify victory and the conquered
to explain defeat); conversion and coexistence among Christians, Muslims,
and Jews; the Iberian cultural florescence, and the gradual Christian reconquista.
The Moors, he argues, decisively transformed life in Medieval Spain. In
agriculture, they introduced sophisticated irrigation systems to water the
crops they introduced to the peninsula, among them citrus, rice and cane
sugar. Textile, ceramic, silk, and sugar-refining industries also owe much
to the Arab presence. Finally, the Moors integrated Iberia into a network
of international trade extending out to North Africa, Egypt, Constantinople,
the Middle East, and Central Asia. |
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One of the most useful chapters for teachers
of world history is titled "The Curve of Conversion." In the conquered regions,
conversions grew rapidly between 850 and 1000 CE. By the latter year, three-fourths
of the population accepted Islam and there were a large number of mixed
marriages. Extensive expansions of the mosque in Córdoba attest to growing
Islamic population. Fletcher also addresses Christian and Jewish efforts
to preserve their faiths in Muslim-dominated areas. |
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Intended
as an introductory overview, Moorish Spain offers no new interpretations.
Yet Fletcher's energetic writing, his intimate knowledge of his subject,
his thematic organization, and his reliance on diverse source materials
make Moorish Spain valuable in world history classrooms. |
5 |
Michael
J. Galgano
James Madison University |