John S. Ott (c2008)
Department of History
Portland State University
Spring 2008
HST
407/507 : Medieval Spain, Land of Three Faiths
(MW 10:00-11:50, CH 494)
Course
description
Traditionally, Iberia has been cut off from the
mainstream of medieval European historiography. Indeed, its
historical and social experiences within medieval Europe, if not
precisely unique, were unusual—Iberia was occupied
for eight centuries by adherents of the three great Mediterranean
monotheisms:
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This course examines this “land
of
three faiths” chronologically and thematically, covering the
post-Hispano-Roman
period of the Visigoths until 1500 or so, when Muslims and Jews were
forcibly
expelled from the peninsula or made to convert to Christianity.
Among
the topics we will cover: the processes of cultural assimilation and
exclusion
practiced among Jews, Christians, and Muslims; the process and
ideologies of conversion; the place
of reconquest, invasion, and crusade in shaping Spanish identity; the
cultural
achievements of the various Spanish kingdoms and caliphates; trade and
exploration,
and other themes. Above all, however, this course is structured
around assessing teh the dominant issue within Iberian historiography--convivencia, or "living together."
Required texts:
The following texts are available for purchase in the PSU
Bookstore. Course Packets are on sale at Clean Copy on SW
Broadway, across from Cramer Hall. A copy of the Course Packet is
also on 2-hour reserve (OR)
at Millar Library.
- Bernard Reilly, The Medieval Spains (Cambridge
University Press, 1993)
- Olivia Remie Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia.
Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1997)
- Maria Rose Menocal, The
Ornament of the World (New York, 2002)
- A Course Packet (CP)
Evaluation
All students will be evaluated according to the following
criteria. Failure to satisfy any part of the written or orall
assignments is grounds for failure of the course as a whole.
- Active participation and attendance - 25% (75 points).
As this is a
small group seminar that meets weekly, it is imperative that students
come
prepared to each class and actively contribute to class discussions and
group work. Students with perfect attendance who do not
contribute to class discussion in some fashion will be assessed a
participation grade of "C". Any student with three or more
unexcused absences
will fail the course.
- Formal in-class presentation of research, conducted in
coordination with assigned research group - 25% (75 points).
Details to be announced in class.
- Research paper (ca. 15 pp. for undergrads, 20 pp. for grads) -
50% (150 points). Due Friday, June 5, by the end of the day, in
my office (5:00). The research paper will form the core component
of the course, and will be broken into stages with graded segments due
at various times during the quarter. | Click here for guidelines |
Plagiarism
policy
See copy of syllabus handed out in
class.
Students with disabilities
See copy of syllabus
handed out in class.
Syllabus
March 31 – Introduction to course content, organization, and themes
April 2 – Iberian historiography, then and now
Readings:
- Bernard Reilly, The Medieval Spains, ch. 1;
- M.R. Menocal, Ornament of the World, pp. 5-49;
- Thomas F. Glick, Islamic
and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages (Princeton, 1979),
pp. 3-15 (E-Reserve);
- Americo Castro, The Structure of Spanish History (Princeton,
1954), ch. 1, pp. 3-30 (CP/OR)
April 7 - Visigothic Iberia
Readings:
- Olivia Constable, Medieval Iberia, Readings 1 and 3-5;
- The
Vitas sanctorum patrum Emeretensium, ed. and trans. J. Garvin, pp.
189-259 (see instructor);
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains, ch. 2
April 9 – Islam's arrival and the conquest of Iberia
Readings:
- Constable, Medieval Iberia, Readings 9, 12-14 (pp.
45-47, 56-74);
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains, ch. 3 (to p. 67);
- Roger Collins, The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797
(Basil Blackwell, 1989),
pp. 23-51 (CP/OR);
- Luis
A. García Moreno, “Spanish Gothic Consciousness among the
Mozarabs
in Al-Andalus (VIII-Xth Centuries),” in A. Ferrerio, ed., The
Visigoths
(Brill, 1999), pp. 303-323 (CP/OR)
April 14 – The Umayyad Caliphate I: Contest and Diplomacy
Readings:
- Constable, Medieval Iberia,
Readings 9, 12-14 (pp. 45-47, 56-74);
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains,
ch. 3 (pp. 67-89);
- 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 (CP/OR)
April 16 – Identities: Christian, Muslim, Jewish
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia,
Readings 10-11, 16 (pp. 48-55, 81-83);
- Menocal, Ornament of the
World, pp. 66-78;
- Janina M. Safran, “Identity and Differentiation in
Ninth-Century
al-Andalus,” Speculum 76 (2001), pp. 573-598 (J-Stor)
April 21 -- The Umayyad Caliphate II: Splendor and Legitimacy
Readings:
- Menocal, Ornament of the
World, pp. 79-100;
- Constable, ed., Medieval
Iberia, Reading 15 (pp. 77-80);
- Robert Hillenbrand, “’The
Ornament of the World’:
Medieval Córdoba as a Cultural Centre,” in The Legacy of
Muslim
Spain, ed. S. K. Jayyusi (Leiden: Brill, 1992) (CP/OR);
- Janina M. Safran, The Second
Umayyad Caliphate (Harvard, 2000), ch. 5 (pp. 141-183) (CP/OR)
April 23 – Reconquest and reconfigurations of power on the Peninsula I
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia,
Readings 17-21 (pp. 84-122);
- Menocal, Ornament of the World, pp. 91-146;
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains, ch. 4 (pp. 90-116)
April 28 – Reconquest and reconfiguration of power on the
peninsula II
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia,
Readings 22, 27-28, 30-31 (pp. 123-126, 143-155, 162-172);
- Menocal, Ornament of the
World, pp. 147-188;
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains, ch. 4 (pp. 116-128);
- Hanna E. Kassis,
“Roots of Conflict: Aspects of Christian-Muslim Confrontation in
Eleventh-Century
Spain,” in Conversion and Continuity, ed. M. Gervers and R. J.
Bikhazu
(Toroton: PIMS, 1990), pp. 151-160 (CP/OR)
April 30 - Convivencia:
Ideal, Myth, Reality?
Readings:
- Menocal, Ornament of the
World, pp. 189-215
- Jerrilynn
R. Dodds, “Mudejar Tradition and the Synagogues of Medieval Spain:
Cultural
Identity and Cultural Hegemony,” in Vivian B. Mann, et al., eds., Convivencia.
Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain (New York, 1992),
pp. 113-131;
- Jonathan Ray, The Sephardic
Frontier: The Reconquista and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia
(Ithaca, N.Y., 2006), ch. 7 (pp. 145-175)
May 5 - Convivencia: further
considerations
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval
Iberia, Readings 32, 49, 58 (pp. 175-179, 280-284, 327-329);
- R.I. Burns, "Muslims in the Thirteenth-Century Realms of
Aragon: Interaction and Reaction," in Muslims
under Latin Rule, 1100-1300, ed. J. M. Powell (Princeton, 1990),
pp. 57-102 (CP/OR);
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains,
ch. 5
May 7 - Convivencia: conversion
Readings:
- Maya Shatzmiller, “Marriage, Family, and the Faith: Women’s
Conversion to Islam,” Journal of Family History 21:3 (1996),
235-266 (Sage Premier Database);
- David Nirenberg, “Conversion, Sex, and Segregation:
Jews and Christians
in Medieval Spain,” American Historical Review 107:4 (October
2002),
pp. 1065-1093 (On-line: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/107.4/)
May 12 – The Late Medieval Crowns of Spain
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia,
Readings 44-47, 53 (pp. 250-275, 294-301);
- Menocal, Ornament of the
World, pp. 229-243;
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains, ch. 6;
- Suzanne F. Cawsey, Kingship
and Propaganda.
Royal Eloquence and the Crown of Aragon, c. 1200-1450 (Oxford,
2002),
chs. 4-6 (pp. 103-163) (OR/CP)
May 14 – Hardening Lines: Unification, Empire, and the Edict of
Expulsion (1492)
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia,
Readings 59, 62 (pp. 330-337, 352-363);
- Haim Benart, The Expulsion
of the Jews from Spain (Oxford and Portland, 2005), pp. 1-32,
521-26 (E-Reserve);
- Reilly, The Medieval Spains,
ch. 7
May 19 - NO CLASS, RESEARCH DAY
May 21 - Hardening Lines II: The Fall of Granada and the End of
Al-Andalus
Readings:
- Constable, ed., Medieval
Iberia, Readings 60, 61, 63 (pp. 338-351, 364-370);
- Ana Echevarria, The Fortress
of Faith: The Attitude toward Muslisms in Fifteenth-Century Spain
(Leiden: Brill, 1999), chap. 7 (pp. 171-208) (CP/OR);
- Menocal, Ornament of the
World, pp. 244-281
May 28 -- RESEARCH GROUP PRESENTATIONS BEGIN
June 2 -- NO CLASS, INSTRUCTOR AWAY FROM CAMPUS
June 4 – CONCLUDE GROUP PRESENTATIONS
***RESEARCH PAPERS DUE NO LATER THAN FRIDAY,
JUNE 6, AT 5:00 IN MY OFFICE***