The Victors and the Vanquished
Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300

An evolutionary study of Muslims living under Christian rule in medieval Spain.

Brian A. Catlos (Author)

9780521036443, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 May 2007

480 pages, 7 maps
22.6 x 15 x 3 cm, 0.71 kg

'… a ground-breaking study that … is a remarkable, and also highly readable, work of scholarship.' The English Historical Review

This is a revisionary study of Muslims living under Christian rule during the Spanish 'reconquest'. It looks beyond the obvious religious distinctions and delves into the subtleties of identity in the thirteenth-century Crown of Aragon, uncovering a social dynamic in which sectarian differences comprise only one of the many factors in the causal complex of political, economic and cultural reactions. Beginning with the final stage of independent Muslim rule in the Ebro valley region, the book traces the transformation of Islamic society into mudéjar society under Christian domination. This was a case of social evolution in which Muslims, far from being passive victims of foreign colonisation, took an active part in shaping their institutions and experiences as subjects of the Infidel. Using a diverse range of methodological approaches, this book challenges widely held assumptions concerning Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle Ages, and minority-majority relations in general.

List of figures
List of maps
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Note on the citation of sources, dates, places and names
Glossary
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Muslim Domination of the Ebro and its Demise, 700–1200: Introduction
1. Thaghr and taifa
2. Christians and Muslims: contact and conquest
Part II. Muslims under Christian Rule: Introduction
3. The financial and judicial administration of Mudéjar society
4. Muslims in the economy of the Christian Ebro
5. Mudéjar ethnicity and Christian society
6. Muslims and Christian society
Mudéjarismo as a social system
Part III. Individual and Community in the Christian Ebro: Introduction
Case study 1: fiscal and confessional identity: the Galips, templar vassals in Zaragoza (1179–1390)
Case study 2: Franquitas and factionalism in Daroca: the Lucera family vs. the Aljama (1267–1302)
Case study 3: litigation and competition within the Muslim community: the Abdellas of Daroca (1280–1310)
Case study 4: administrative corruption and royal complicity: Abrahim Abengentor, Caualquem of Huesca (1260–1304)
Case study 5: overlapping agendas: the career of Mahomet, Alaminus of Borja (1276–1302)
Case study 6: the good, the bad and the indifferent: Christian officials in the Ebro region
Personal histories: the individual, within the community and beyond
Conclusions: Mudéjar ethnogenesis
Appendix 1: currency of the thirteenth-century Ebro region
Appendix 2: toponymical variants in archival documents
Appendix 3: rulers of the 'Crown of Aragon', 1050–1300
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Islam [HRH], History of religion [HRAX], Interfaith relations [HRAF], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]