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January 02, 2007
515 years ago today Muslim rule ended in Spain
Lisa Ramaci-Vincent emails me a quote from some history book, about the anniversary of the end of an era:
It was 515 years ago, on this day in 1492, that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella captured the city of Granada, the last major Muslim stronghold in Spain, bringing to an end more than 700 years of Islamic influence on that country. Muslims from North Africa had first invaded the country back in the year 711, capturing most of the major cities and then ruling without challenge for three centuries. They turned the city of Córdoba into their capital, and it became one of the biggest and most diverse cities in the Western world, rivaling Constantinople and Baghdad. It also became home to the third largest mosque in the world.But starting in 1085, Christian military leaders began to push back into the land controlled by Muslims. After centuries of war, the Muslim kingdom was pushed into the southern part of Spain. The sultan built a fortress in the city of Granada called the Alhambra, where Moorish rule continued for another 200 years. But in 1469, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella got married, uniting the two major kingdoms of Spain, and they set out on a campaign to capture all the remaining territory of the peninsula.
The Alhambra was never captured in battle, but the Muslim ruler surrendered it on this day in 1492 after Ferdinand and Isabella promised not to convert or expel any of the Muslims in the city. They didn't keep their promise. Instead, there was a campaign of forced conversion under the threat of torture and prison. Speaking Arabic was outlawed, and Arabic names for children were forbidden. Ferdinand and Isabella chose to take the Alhambra as their own royal palace.
Later that year Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all the Jews from Spain. They were single-minded bloody people, who did one right thing, very imperfectly.
Judith | 01/02/07 at 05:25 PM | Categories: - Across the Pond
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Comments
Well, two right things.
someone | January 2, 2007 09:03 PM
And the Muslims are still annoyed about this.
Andrew Ian Dodge | January 3, 2007 05:59 AM
Judith, one related comment:
The politically-correct (as well as Islamic revisionists) have managed to convince the planet that the Reconquest replaced loving and tolerant Islamic administration with far more horrible, repressive Christian rule.
But that view is complete nonsense. Ferdinand and Isabella may have expelled the Jews, but so did the Moors periodically. (The Rambam was forced to flee Moorish Spain.)
Moreover, Islamic lands have NEVER been a tolerant or reliably safe place for Jews or any other dhimmi. Islam has often been as brutal and murderous as Christianity, with just sporadic periods in which it was only marginally less hoffiric.
Here is a detailed study of the barbarity of life under the Moors during the ostensible "golden age" of Spanish Andalusia:
http://www.mmisi.org/ir/41_02/fernandez-morera.pdf
I urge everyone to read this study.
Independent Observer | January 3, 2007 11:03 AM
Later that year Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all the Jews from Spain. They were single-minded bloody people, who did one right thing, very imperfectly.
"They" being F & I, I assume, not the Jews.
It would interesting to compare today's Muslim world with that of medieval Spain. My hunch is that in many respects, any careful analysis would show there has been regression.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) | January 3, 2007 11:16 AM
The Alhambra has a delicate and profuse beauty.
michael | January 3, 2007 06:49 PM
Until pretty recently the Jews were still upset about it, too.
You know the 500 year ban on traveling to Spain for pleasure. It was only recently revoked when the King apologized for expelling the Jews.
I certainly learned about it in Jewish religious school.
Although as luminaries such as Paul Johnson pointed out in the past - Jews got the best revenge. The expulsion took seriously damaged Spain's economic development from the time of the expulsion on. Essentially, between Jews and Muslims, they ousted their mercantile class.
For more on the topic, see Paul Johnson, The anti-semitic disease Commetary Magazine.
Alcibiades | January 4, 2007 12:05 AM
"You know the 500 year ban on traveling to Spain for pleasure."
I never knew about that. I certainly learned about the expulsion (especially that it took place on the same day as Columbus sailed forth), but not the ban.
Judith | January 4, 2007 01:25 AM
Judith:
You're not alone. My father and mother took a European tour in the late 1950s that included Spain and Portugal and it's not as though my father was unaware of the Inquisition and its meaning to the Jews. I remember him talking about my grandfather hitting the ceiling when my father was asked to play the part of Ferdinand in some primary school play about Columbus.
Lynne | January 4, 2007 12:32 PM
Well, by and large countries have found that expelling Jews isn't likely to improve the country much. Doesn't stop them from doing it, of course.
When you get back, Judith, I'll get in touch with you and see if you can explain in simple words of one syllable how I can post. My first post will explain everything by announcing the Bensky Bifurcated System of Middle Eastern Political Analysis.
Pending that, it's interesting that the Arabs are still smoldering over over the Reconquista and no one in the west seems to be suggesting forcefully that they get over it.
Alex Bensky | January 5, 2007 10:37 AM
