John S. Ott (c2015, 2019)
Department of History
Portland State University
Winter 2019
HST 491/591 :
Medieval Iberia, Land of Three Faiths
T, TH, 2:00-3:50, CH 494
Course description
Traditionally, Iberia and its history existed outside the main stream
of medieval European historiography, which centered on the national histories
of France, Germany, and England. In the past several decades this situation
dramatically changed, and today scholarly attention on Iberian history is
in the midst of a renascence. To be sure, the peninsual's historical experience
compared with northern Europe was, if not precisely unique, unusual -- Iberia
was occupied for eight centuries by adherents of the three great Mediterranean
monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This colloquium examines the
so-called "land of three faiths" chronologically and thematically, covering
the post-Hispano-Roman period of the Visigoths down to 1250 or so, by which
time significant numbers of Muslims and Jews had come under the authority
of Christian monarchs. We will cover various topics and historiographical
debates, among them: the processes of cultural assimilation and exclusion
practiced among Jews, Christians, and Muslims; the process and ideologies
of conversion; the place of conquest and reconquest in shaping medieval
Iberian identity; the cultural and intellectual achievements of the various
Spanish kingdoms and caliphates; and we'll assess the long-prevalent historiographical
discourse surrounding convivencia,
or "living together." This class prepares students for the completion
of a major research paper in Iberian history in Spring term 2019.
Course objectives
- To gain an understanding of the major contours of Iberian history
from the post-Roman period through the Middle Ages (culminating in the early
sixteenth century);
- To master the critical analysis of primary and secondary historical
source materials, especially historiographical debates, through the course
readings, in-class discussion, and written assignments;
- To prepare students to write an outstanding research paper in Spring
term (HST 492/592) based on primary, secondary, and tertiary source materials,
by discussing how to identify a research subject and begin the research
process;
- To produce an historiographical essay laying out the current state
of scholarship in the subject area connected with the course content.
Required texts
- Olivia Remie Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia. Readings
from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, 2nd edn. (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011)
Evaluation
Undergraduate students will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Participation
in class discussion and attendance - 20% (200 points, divided into attendance
[100 points] and participation [100 points]). In this colloquium, your regular
attendance and oral participation in discussions will be essential. An attendance
sheet will be passed around daily; it is your responsibility to sign in.
"Participation" assumes your thorough preparation of the readings in advance
of class and active, regular involvement in class discussion. Please
note that excellent attendance without oral participation will usually
be assessed a final grade of "C" (or about 75/100 points).
- Quiz on Iberian
patronymics and polities - 5% (50 points). Taken at the start of class,
Thursday, January 17. Template will be distributed in advance.
- Review/precis
of one assigned secondary source (from readings on 2/5) (ca. 3 pp.) - 15%
(150 points). Due in class on February 12.
- Review of periodical article
(ca. 5 pp.) - 20% (200 points). Due in class on Tuesday, March 5.
- Annotated list of three potential primary sources (ca. 1-2
pp.) - 10% (100 points). Due in class on Tuesday, March 12.
- Historiographical essay and
annotated bibliography (ca. 10-12 pp.) on selected research topic - 35% (350
points). Due in my office by 12:00 on Wednesday, March 20.
Graduate students will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Participation
in class discussion and attendance - 20% (200 points, divided into attendance
[100 points] and participation [100 points]). See above for expectations
regarding class participation.
- Quiz on Iberian
patronymics and polities - 5% (50 points). Taken in class, Thursday, January
17. Template will be distributed in advance.
- Review of 2-3 related periodical
articles likely to pertain to your research topic (ca. 6-7 pp.) - 25% (250
points). Due in class on Tuesday, February 12.
- Annotated list of three potential primary sources (ca. 1-2
pp.) - 10% (100 points). Due in class on Tuesday, March 12.
- Historiographical essay
and annotated bibliography (ca. 15-18 pp.) on selected research topic - 40%
(400 points). Due in my office by 12:00 on Wednesday, March 20.
Plagiarism
policy
Please refer to copy of syllabus handed out
in class.
Accessibility notice
If you have, or think you
may have, a disability that may affect your work in this class and feel you
need accommodations, contact the Disability Resource Center to schedule an
appointment and initiate a conversation about reasonable accommodations. Students
who require additional consideration for the timely completion of any of
the course requirements due to accessibility needs should speak to the instructor
at the beginning of the term, and must be registered with PSU's Disability Resource Center.
Syllabus
Please note that a significant number of our readings this term will be
placed on Course reserve at Millar
Library.
1/8 (T). Introduction to course content, organization, and purpose
Reading (in advance of class):
- Anthony Grafton and James Grossman, "Habits
of Mind," The American Scholar
(Winter 2015)
1/10 (TH). Histories of Spain: Foundational myths and ideas
Readings (please read in order):
- Américo Castro, The
Structure of Spanish History (Princeton, NJ, 1954 [orig. pub. 1948]),
pp. 3-30 (Course reserves);
- Claudio Sanchez-Albornoz, Spain, A Historical Enigma,
trans. C.J. Dees and D.S. Reher, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1975 [orig. pub. 1956]),
pp. 207-215 (Course reserves)
Optional reading:
- Jocelyn N. Hillgarth, "Spanish Historiography and Iberian Reality,"
History and Theory 24:1 (1985): 23-43 (JStor) [Offers
a broad consideration of key enduring myths/ideas about Spain, medieval
and modern, and their historical roots]
1/15 (T). NO CLASS, PROFESSOR ATTENDING WORKSHOP
1/17 (TH). Medieval Iberia: Geography and Hstorical Periodization
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia, ed. Constable, Reading #1 (pp. 3-4);
- Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia
of the Ancient World, ed. Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, vol.
6 (Leiden, 2005), cols. 387-400 (Course
reserves);
- Teofilo F. Ruiz, Spanish Society,
1400-1600 (Harlow, Eng., 2001), pp. 11-16 (Course reserves);
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains (Cambridge, Eng., 1993),
pp. 1-12 and study Maps 1 and 2 (Course reserves)
QUIZ ON IBERIAN POLITIES AND PATRONYMICS
1/22 (T). Assessing the Visigothic kingdom: Sources and source types
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia,
ed. Constable, Reading #2 (pp. 5-11);
- John of Biclar, Chronicle, in Conquerors and Chroniclers
of Early Medieval Spain, ed. and trans. Kenneth Baxter Wolf (Liverpool,
1990), pp. 66-80 (Course reserves);
- Roger Collins, "Visigothic Kingdom, Toulouse and Toledo," and
"Visigothic Kings," both in Medieval Iberia. An Encyclopedia, ed. E.
Michael Gerli (New York, 2003), pp. 839-843 (Course reserves)
1/24 (TH). Assessing the Visigothic kingdom: Retrograde kings or stable
state? Historiography and critical studies
Readings:
- Roger Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711 (Oxford, 2004),
pp. 1-8 (Course reserves; also in our library as an e-book);
Choose either:
- Sam Koon and Jamie Wood, "Unity from Disunity: Law, Rhetoric
and Power in the Visigothic Kingdom," European
Review of History 16:6 (2009): 793-808 (Taylor and Francis Social Sciences and Humanities
Online)
Or (grad students read both):
- P. Diaz and M. Valverde Castro, "The Theoretical Strength and
the Practical Weakness of the Visigothic Monarchy of Toledo," in Rituals
of Power: From Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages, ed. F. Theuws
and J. Nelson (Leiden, 2000), pp. 59-93 (Course reserves)
1/29 (T). The Muslim Conquest of Visigothic Hispania -- Sources and source
types
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia, ed. Constable, Readings #6-8
(pp. 32-46);
- Ott, "On the Trail of the 'Pact of 'Umar'" (handout to read in conjunction with Constable
#7)
- 'Umar II and the 'protected people', in Norman Calder, et al.,
ed. and trans., Classical Islam. A Sourcebook of Religious Literature
(London, 2003), pp. 90-93 (Course reserves) (read alongside Constable
#7)
1/13 (TH). The Muslim Conquest of Visigothic Hispania: Between materialist
and ideological readings
Readings:
- Dario Fernández-Morera, The Myth of the Andalusian
Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain
(Wilmington, Delaware, 2016), pp. 19-39 (Course reserves);
- Brian A. Catlos, Kingdoms of Faith. A New History of Islamic
Spain (New York, 2018), pp. 20-36 (Course reserves)
2/5 (T). Umayyad al-Andalus I: Sources and historiography on acculturation
and identity
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia,
ed. Constable, Readings #10-12 (pp. 55-66)
And
either:
- Luis A. Garcia Moreno, "Spanish Gothic Consciousness among the
Mozarabs in Al-Andalus (VIII-Xth Centuries)," in A. Ferreiro, ed., The Visigoths: Studies in Culture and Society
(Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 303-323 (Course
reserves)
Or:
- Ross Brann, "The Moors?" Medieval Encounters 15:2-4 (2009):
307-318 (On Course reserves / Academic Search Premier / Ebsco Host)
Or:
- Janina M. Safran, "Identity and Differentiation in Ninth-Century
al-Andalus," Speculum 76 (2001): 573-598 (Course reserves and
JStor)
Or (
Grad students, pick 2 of the 4)
- Thomas F. Glick and Oriol Pi-Sunyer, "Acculturation as an Explanatory
Concept in Spanish History, " Comparative Studies in Society and History
11:2 (1969): 136-154 (JStor)
2/7 (TH). INSTRUCTOR ATTENDING CONFERENCE, NO CLASS
2/12 (T). Umayyad al-Andalus II: Sources and background
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia, ed. Constable, Readings #14A-B,
15, 17A (pp. 75-90, 93-98);
- Hugh Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal. A Political History
of al-Andalus (Harlow, Eng., 1996), pp. 82-108 (Course reserves,
and available through PSU's library as an E-book)
REVIEW/PRECIS
(UNDERGRADS) / REVIEW (GRADS) DUE, IN CLASS
2/14 (TH). Umayyad al-Andalus
II: Approaches and historiography
Readings (choose 2 of the following; grad students choose
3):
- Robert Hillenbrand, "'The Ornament of the World': Medieval Cordoba
as a Cultural Centre," in The Legacy of Muslim Spain, ed. S. K. Jayyusi
(Leiden: Brill, 1992), pp. 112-135 (Course reserves);
- Antonio Vallejo Triano, "Madinat al-Zahra: The Triumph of the
Islamic State," in Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain, ed. Jerrilyn
D. Dodds (New York, 1992), pp. 27-39 (Course reserves);
- Ross Brann, "Andalusi 'Exceptionalism'," in A Sea of Languages.
Rethinking the Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, ed. S. C. Akbari
and K. Mallette (Toronto, 2013), pp. 119-134 (Course reserves);
- Jose Maria Martin Civantos, "Working in landscape archaeology:
the social and territorial significance of the agricultural revolution in
al-Andalus," Early Medieval Europe
19:4 (2011): 385-410 (Wiley Online Library/Academic Search Premier)
2/19 (T). Umayyad al-Andalus III: Iberian Jewry. A Golden Age? --
Sources and background
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia,
ed. Constable, Readings #16, 18-20, 21A, C, D (pp. 91-92, 103-116, 117-122,
125-130);
- Yitzhak Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain,
trans. L. Schoffman, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1992 [orig. pub. 1961]), pp.
28-77 (Course reserves)
2/21 (TH). Umayyad al-Andalus III: Iberian Jewry. A Golden Age? --
Historiography and debates
Readings:
- Menahem Ben-Sasson, "Al-Andalus:
The So-Called Golden Age of Spanish Jewry -- A Critical View," in The
Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries), ed.
Christoph Cluse (Turnhout, 2004), pp. 123-137 (Course reserves);
- Jonathan Ray, "Images
of the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia," Journal of Medieval Iberian
Studies 1:2 (2009): 195-211 (at Taylor and Francis Online)
2/26 (T)
-- Reconquest and political reconfiguration on the peninsula: the taifa states
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia,
ed. Constable, Readings #22-25 (pp. 131-153);
- Bernard F. Reilly, The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain,
1031-1157 (Cambridge, Mass., and Oxford, 1992), pp. 50-73 (Course
reserves)
Readings:
- Joseph O'Callaghan, Reconquest
and Crusade in Medieval Spain (Philadelphia, 2003), pp. 1-23 (Course
reserves);
- John V. Tolan,
"Using the Middle Ages to Construct Spanish Identity: 19th- and 20th-Century
Spanish Historiography of Reconquest," in Historiographical Approaches
to Medieval Colonization of East Central Europe, ed. Jan M. Piskorski
(Boulder, Colo., 2002), pp. 329-347(Course
reserves)
3/5 (T) -- A frontier society: the twelfth-thirteenth centuries. Sources
and source types
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia,
ed. Constable, Readings #26-28, 30, 35-38 (pp. 157-171, 174-179, 203-224);
- Brian A. Catlos, The Victors
and the Vanquished. Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300
(Cambridge, Eng., 2004), pp. 71-100 (Course
reserves)
PERIODICAL ARTICLE REVIEW DUE, IN
CLASS
3/7 (TH) -- A frontier society: the twelfth-thirteenth centuries. Muslim-Christian
interaction
Readings:
- Medieval Iberia,
ed. Constable, Readings #51-53 (287-302);
- James Powers, "Frontier Municipal Baths and Social Interaction
in Thirteenth-Century Spain," The American
Historical Review 84:3 (1979): 649-667 (J-Stor)
3/12 (T) -- An Iberian paradigm: Convivencia.
Readings:
All read:
- Benjamin R. Gampel, "Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval
Iberia: Convivencia through
the Eyes of Sephardic Jews," in Vivian B. Mann, et al., eds., Convivencia.
Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain (New York, 1992), pp.
113-131 (Course reserves)
And pick
either:
- Jonathan Ray, "Beyond Tolerance and Persecution: Reassessing Our
Approach to Medieval Convivencia," Jewish
Social Studies 11:2 (2005): 1-18 (Project Muse)
Or (grad students read both):
- Maya Soifer, "Beyond Convivencia: Critical Reflections on
the Historiography of Interfaith Relations in Christian Spain," Journal
of Medieval Iberian Studies 1 (2009): 19-35 (Taylor and Francis Online)
3/14 (TH) -- Conclusions and looking ahead to Spring term
**RESEARCH PAPERS DUE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, AT 12:00
IN MY OFFICE**